Recovery Complete

OK OK I'm back, geeeez, you folks don't let a guy have a few days off to enjoy himself during Chilean Independence week. This is starting to feel like homework and I don't mean fun stuff like make a volcano. I mean like buying a book from the Scholastic Arrow Book Club and doing a book report.

I would have bought the Mad Libs... OK, maybe the Miley Cyrus book too.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that I am still alive and still happy even if I am a little stuck in the apartment hunt. I've seen about 6 places, most of them suck because the good ones go fast. By fast I mean two days after appearing in the Sunday paper, these rentals are already spoken for. "But, Hans", you may ask, "why do you check the paper for listings like some 60 year old man that hasn't caught up with the times?" A fair question, smart asses. The reason is because if I use the INTERNETS, most all of those listings are up because of a broker, which I am trying to avoid for more reasons than just saving some pesos. Because I stupidly quit my job followed my dream I no longer generate a pay stub, of which I need three to fulfill a standard requirement for most anything here, that is unless you know someone. More on that later. So I'm trying to rent directly through an owner who I can sweet talk and/or bribe into renting me their place. I did see a place yesterday which is quite promising due to the fact that the construction company that built this new building is renting directly themselves and they have three units left. I have an order of preference, but beggars can't be choosers. Actually, that's a lie. One time I saw a homeless man outside of Blimpie's and on my way out I tried to hand him a cheese danish. He took it, looked at it and gave it back to me. This actually happened, so don't ever use that saying again, I forbid it.

"Keep your danish. Do you know how processed that is?
I wouldn't give it to my dead dog. I'll just order something online, thanks."

So back to the whole "who you know" thing. I thought that practice had slowly been eradicated in place of the much more sophisticated "what have you done for me lately." Apparently it is still rampant. While it has worked to my benefit more than once already with the whole bank account thing with my uncle and more recently special guest tickets behind the President for the Independence Day military parade, I still can't help but feeling a little upset when I encounter this and guilty when I take advantage of it. Its a system that not everyone can take advantage of because not every class level rubs elbows with people who can do them favors and while I could say I worked hard saving my money so I should feel like I earned this right, I don't. There's something different about being able to score some sold out US Open tickets through a friend and trying to stabilize your life. I know I've been lucky to get this far with so little trouble so I hope you all remind me of that when I start whining about things later on.

That little perk of seats to the military parade was an interesting experience for many reasons. Firstly, if it wasn't for my photography hobby I would have said "I'll pass" in a heartbeat because I HATE PARADES! If you ever want to recreate hell on Earth for me just tell me to stand still for 4 hours in the heat while things go by at a snails pace. Unless it's because the Yankees won the World Series (lets be honest, that's more realistic than my Jets winning the Superbowl) then I want no part of it. However, this time I said why not, let's play with the old zoom lens. I did actually kind of enjoy it, the whole pomp and circumstance of it all; everyone but me decked out in their Sunday best, the president right there presiding over it all, all the generals grinning proudly as their branch strut by making them proud.

Chilean President Sebastian Piñera. I like Obama better,
but I can't get that close to Barack.

There was something uncomfortable about it all, though, and again it had to do with the difference in classes. Every time I come to Chile I feel like a slightly bigger fish in a slightly smaller pond. I mean, lets be honest, in New York I'm nobody and I love it that way. Here, one week in and I'm rubbing elbows with the elite snobs in the special seats while across the way a big group gathered to shout, at the president in particular and us as a whole, arguing for cheaper/free education, a stop to a profit driven and corrupt educational system. And while I do feel there is a time and a place for such protests, the middle of a parade honoring your country and those who protect you not being one of them, I do find myself identifying with them. They were definitely audible, unlike what one of the prez's men said in an interview that he could only hear applause. I definitely felt like if I were back home I would find myself standing out there in the grass, not even in the general audience cheap seats,  instead of perched up looking down at the rest of the world. Ahhh, who are we kidding, if I were in the States I'd be on my couch watching Sportscenter. ESPN North America, I miss you so much!

Parade in the foreground, protestors in the background, and me sitting pretty in my perch.

A couple other things about the past few days in bullet-point format. It's late, I'm tired, deal with it.

• The fonda I went to was a lot of fun. Guys doing tricks on horses, long lines for everything, good kebab, delicious terremoto (white wine and pineapple ice cream) and the best cheese empanada I've ever had.
• Went to my uncle's house the following day and again ate like a pig, had some chicha, and went undefeated at the pool table. I welcome all challengers, but you have to drink more chicha than me first. Those are my rules.
• I found an HSBC here. That is only exciting news for me.
• I made THREE cheesecakes today because whoever made the recipe I followed must have made theirs in a bathtub. Trust me, it will not go to waste, but it will go to waist. HA! See what I did there?! I switched the ah, whatever...
• To those of you that are friends with me on Facebook, I added a lot of pictures of this past weekend. Hope you like them. To those of you that aren't friends and want to see, I'll figure out a way to show you. OK, mom????
• Apparently a satellite, this one, has run out of fuel and will be crashing tonight. Location? You guessed it, off the coast of Chile. This country is finding progressively weirder ways to stay relevant in the news. First an earthquake, then the miners and subsequent rescue in that fallic pod, and now a satellite breaking into exactly 26 pieces, according to "experts", right over my head. So, if a few days go by before my next post, don't bug me about it this time, blame NASA.