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)
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