Quick update

I seriously don’t have time to write. I try. Every day I come from work and plan to write for the blog at least a tiny bit. But after two sentences, I usually stop and go to sleep. Working is quite exhausting! The worst thing is, I don’t even know what to write: lots of things happen and none of them is more important the others.

In general, I am working quite a lot. A normal working week in Chile has 45 h, so 9 hours a day- 10 if you count a lunch break. When you count the time to get to and from the office, not really much time in the day is left (it takes the bus about an hour both ways). So, I take a bus at 7 to start work at 8. In the evening, I finish at 6, but come home at 7:30- takes a bit longer because we stop on the way to get dinner. After that, all I can think of is my bed. And, can you imagine, I haven't spent a day in bed since I came here! Surprisingly thought, working so much is not terrible. It’s actually quite funny- and the main reason for that is the interaction of two completely opposite cultures that I observe every day. There are the Germans and Austrians, whom I know and who are rather serious about work and punctuality. And there are the Chileans, who say “10 minutes” but mean something about a year. I thought, in a project like this, these two groups must work together. And they do. But how hard is it...

I could tell a hundred stories to show how it looks like but I won’t. I write this blog to not tell the same stories over and over again, but sometime, when I’m back in Europe, I’ll be able to actually tell some of the stories and I'm sure they will be funnier and more interesting than their written versions.

What do I do? I spend the weeks in my little house in Cajon del Maipo and work and on the weekends I go to different places- it’ll usually be Santiago, but last weekend we went to Vina del Mar to enjoy the, probably last, hot days. It’s amazing how perfectly everything works out. For example, before going to Vina, I had a colleague who offered to drive us there on Friday but then, on Thursday, apparently because of some personal reasons, he cancelled. We were supposed to go by bus then, but in the morning, while getting a coffee in the kitchen, another guy asked me what my plans for the weekend were (I have no idea why he did. I didn’t even know his name). When I said I wanted to go to Vina, he said he came from there and that he would take us with him! And because of a forest fire on the way, he had to drive through the place where our hostel was instead of letting us out where his house was, so that we’d need to take a bus. Things like that always happen all the time. I’d almost dare saying that it must be some kind of magic!

In exactly 2 weeks I’m moving to Santiago for good (I’ll travel to work every day but it’s not a drama. Also it’s not for good but only till the end of the internship!). But even here, in my tiny house in the end of the world, it is quite all right. Apart from the insects and animals, the place is quite lovely. The view is terrific, I don’t really need to go shopping cause I get food at work and, if you can forget about the insects, it’s a perfect place to relax. But I can’t forget about the insects. Nor animals. Nor earthquakes. I took a short bath in Pacific on Saturday, but the thought of a possible earthquake taking me to the ocean bottom didn’t let me enjoy the moment much. And there’s been nothing since I arrived- still, it’s hard to forget about the possibility.

Generally, I am really happy. Everything is going super-smoothly. It’s like I wish for something to happen and it immediately does. Every time. And I have literally no problems at all at the moment. Everything is going well. But I can just write here how wonderful my life is, so I will leave you with this: there are lots of scary and disgusting things. Here are just a few pictures I took. (you should be able to get a good resolution by clicking on the picture)

I am not posting the picture of a poisonous scorpion i've found in my flat, because I've probably sent it to everyone already. However many scary things there are though, still, the beauty of the place is overwhelming...

Days one to three

When I started writing this blog a month ago, I wanted it to be funny. Today, I’m too tired for funny. As everyone is asking me whether I’m alive and how am I doing, here is the description of my last few days:

I arrived to Chile on Sunday morning. Apparently, the Sunday before the worst Monday of the year- here, as the seasons are different than those on our hemisphere, here the children go back to school at the beginning of March. To me, it made absolutely no difference, but I guess it is a fact worth mentioning. The flight was surprisingly quite pleasant (I watched the Birdman- why, och why does everyone says it’s so good? I didn’t like it.) and I arrived on time. My bag wasn’t lost which was a big surprise too.

A funny thing happened at the airport. Chile, as someone told me later, is the only South American country which managed to avoid plagues. This is due to their extreme carefulness when it comes to what they let in- you can’t bring fruit, vegetable, honey, mushrooms etc. Theoretically I knew about it, but still- when I was waiting in a line for the luggage control, a dog approached a guy I was talking to who sat next to me on the plane and started scratching his bag. “Och dear” I thought “a drug dealer. I’m sure he put something into my bag too, like in the Bridget Jones!”. But he wasn’t a drug dealer. He’d just had an apple in a plastic bag in his handbag. He threw it away before the dog approached, but it still smelled it. Not a Bridget Jones situation after all.

Another important thing about Chile is that they don’t speak English. I read somewhere that only about 3% of the population does. And so, even in the hotel, I had quite some problems communicating. My Spanish is very, very basic as well, so it wasn’t easy. The hotel guys do speak English, but only at the reception. When I tried to order something to eat and all I said was “No comer carne. Quiero comer algo” (I don’t eat meat. I want to eat something), they didn’t know how to talk to me. In the end I just took the dish of a day which was not my dream food but at least I survived till the evening. Later, I met some friends from Poland who live in Santiago. We went to a hill called San Christopher, from where you can see the whole city. I decided to make use of my new camera for the first time  We had some traditional Chilean drinks (with a bit wild name, I don’t think I will ever remember it) and later food. It was all lovely and felt like holiday. Some pictures I took at the hill:




I stayed up till 11 pm (3 am our time) and fell asleep like a baby. On the next day, Monday, I had a health check. It took a half of the day, from 8 to 13. After that, the woman who was accompanying took me for lunch to a Chilean place in the highest building in South America- Costanera. And then, I was sent to the place which was supposed to be my home for the next 5 months.

I can’t express how I felt when I arrived. The place is lovely, no doubt about it. I have a tiny little wooden house, with a bedroom (double bed again! Hurray!!!) and a small living room. But… well. There are four houses like mine on the piece of land, surrounded by a high fence. But only my house is being used, which means… I am alone here. It is really a middle of nowhere. Santiago isn’t far away- about 50 km- but in this place- there is nothing. No shops (to the nearest market, you need 10 minutes by car), no people, really. Nothing. When I arrived, the land lord showed me the place and I told him I only had one piece of fruit, so he drove me to a shop. That was an exceptional situation. I have literally no idea how I am supposed to go shopping in the future. And there is no internet… I sat on the bed and I would probably have started crying but I was too tired, so I just fell asleep.

So the situation wasnt’t good. But… But there is the view. And it is lovely.



Today I went to work for the first time. I’m too tired to write about that. The important fact is that I got a phone which has an internet connection, so I can post this for everyone to stop worrying! And I will write again soon. Besos!!!