Week 12.

I have now been living with Neka for one week. She will be my "mom" for the next three months, and she's super sweet! I'm still living in Las Condes but a very different neighborhood. I live in a house and all houses here have big gates, padlocks, and watchdogs which I didn't really like to begin with. Canela, our dog, used to be a homeless dog and now she's taking care of us : ) I´m getting used to having three keys to get into my house, and I´ve realized that all houses, parks and buildings in Chile are surrounded by gates. The YFU office too. Our house feels more and more like home and we have a lemon tree in the backyard which I LOVE! I'm also taking the bus to work now that I'm not living with Andrés any more, and luckily I only have to take one bus which makes it's very easy! Neka´s boyfriend, Camilo is in Germany at the moment so I've only "met" him through skype. He seems very nice and I'm looking forward to meeting him in real life when he returns at the end of the month. Right now Neka's mom and her puppy Petunia are living with us. She has done a lot of work for YFU, is super sweet to get home to after a long day a work, and she's always up for speaking a lot of Spanish with me. Last week Neka and I went to Pueblito de los Dominicos, a "Chilean village"/tourist attraction with lots of animals, shops with things from Chile, and restaurants with Chilean dishes. The village was very dry, dusty, and different from anything I've seen before. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera but I'm sure I'll get to go again some other time.

Last Friday, after work I went to Bellavista with two friends. Bellavista is a bohemian, colorful, and antique neighborhood en central Santiago. The area's numerous bars, restaurants and cafés all buzzes from street artists and students after a hard week of classes. Here I tried my first PISCO SOUR, Chile's national drink. It reminded me a little of tequila and was drinkable : ) After a couple of hours, the guys decided it was time to try a "terremoto", another Chilean drink named after earth quakes. We took a taxi (super cheap!) to another bar to buy the terremoto, and it sure was a strong earth quake. Later that night there was a real earth quake but none of us felt it. I didn't realize there had been an earth quake until the next morning, when Neka told me. I was super disappointed as I really wanted to experience an earthquake. We finished the night off at a third place with a Chilean honey beer that I've fallen in love with.

Saturday Neka got visitors from Switzerland and at night we all went to a gallery en Barrio Italia, a neighborhood known for its antiques. The streets were full of old furniture, books, clocks, and many other strange things for sale. All were they dusty and looked like they had been hidden away for many many years. We watched street artists with fire shows and "chinchineros" who with a long drumstick and a rope tied to their feet played a drum that was strapped to their backs - all this while spinning around themselves at a very high speed. It was super entertaining and once again I forgot to bring my camera!

Saturday I explored the city with Ella, the Sweedish intern, and was for the first time being a real tourist with map and camera. We walked around the city all day; visited Plaza Baquedano, Plaza Italiana, Bellavista, Museo de Bella Artes, and Cerro Santa Lucia, spend hours in the sun in Parque Forestal, and ate Chilean empanada for lunch. Afterwards I met up with another friend and we went to the cultural house/museum GAM, Tribunales de Justicia, La Moneda, Plaza de Armas, Barrio Londres and Paris, drove a cow-cap, visited a little market and finally ended the tour at Parque Bustamente where we sat down to have some juice. No wonder my feet were sore the next day! At the café the craziest and most amazing thing happened while we were in line. I suddenly I felt dizzy and thought I was dehydrating or something from the long day. But then I realized the windows in the café were shaking and the lamps above me were dangling. The boy behind the counter got really scared and several of the costumers went outside but I couldn't help smiling. The earth quake was not as bad in Santiago as shown in the pictures from TV where things are falling from the shelves because the epicenter was further south. It felt like the ground was moving like a wave and as if I was dizzy. It only lasted for few seconds and then everything went back to normal. We got our juices, drank them and went home.

Today I went to get my Chilean ID. Here everybody has to carry their ID at all times, and now I'm a "real" Chilean too with a cédula de identidad extranjeros. It has picture, signature, fingerprint, a social security number, and everything!

Chao chao, ya nos veremos