The May/June Digest

May 2nd

After the world’s briefest rain, I decided to drag Rubén up the Funicular to see Santiago. The aim was to see a the views of the city after the rain eliminated some of the contamination. As you can see from the photos, the plan failed miserably, but it was still a great date day!

That afternoon, I read on the Gringo pages that Tim Tam’s had come to Chile. Once again, I dragged Rubén off to a supermarket chain we don’t usually visited and picked up $20 worth of Tim Tam’s… or 4 packets! Stacey was a happy snacker with the chocolately goodness bringing all sorts of memories of Australia, and Rubén was a happy banker discovering that this new supermarket brings incredible savings on our usual bill. Little does Rubén consider, that the money we save now at our new supermarket is pretty much invested back into Tim Tams.

The price of the chocoaltey goodness is now about $4 a packet- a considerable difference from the 60c biscuits we usually get – but it is definitely now a ‘sometimes snack’!

At said supermarket, we also picked up the board game of Monopoly. Annoyingly, the streets are named after those in the US, and there are no doggies or irons to move around the board with; but everything else is pretty standard. I lost the first game (graciously, I may add), and Rubén lost the following 4 games by either storming away from the table, throwing the money and cards into a big pile, or both!

May 5^th

Autumn has made its way to Chile. The trees turned beautiful shades of orange and red before falling in a twirl of wind. The leaves have bought much happiness to the young students at work giving lots of activities to play and do. However, the cleaners at work would disagree it is joyous as they have spent the past 6 weeks constantly sweeping leaves as more fall upon them.

May 8-10^th

Mother’s Day fell in the second Sunday of May. The students made cards for their mothers. This card featured is by far my favourite. Written in Spanish, she has used English sounds to make the words so there are quite a few mistakes (eg “muy” was written as “mooi”. Also, the change in colour does not signify it is a new word or sentence!

The general gist goes like this: “The best mother in the entire world. You are very beautiful. I love to watch TV with you. I love to study with you. I love to be with you.”

For Mother’s day, Rubén and his siblings took his Mother and Grandparents out for the most delicious meal I’ve ever eaten! An all you can eat restaurant, there was a huge variety of home cooked Chilean food. From every type of Barbecue meats, salads, potatoes, unique Chilean one-pot meals, and a tall fridge stocked of every sweet dessert imaginable, Rubén and I went home feeling very full and uncomfortable. It took our bodies a full two days to digest all the goodness, but we didn’t regret it for a second!

After lunch, we headed back to the Mother-in-law's house where I picked my very first bucket of avocados. It was so much fun :)

Also on that weekend, Rubén and I went to visit our new abode to check the progress of the construction. Whilst I can still technically say “Our house is a hole”, it is now a multi-level hole with visible underground levels being formed.

On our way to visit the house, a  now frequent occurrence happened. Two little dogs saw us on the way and decided to accompany us from the metro to our new house. These dogs need no encouragement, they just beeline straight for us. I love it everytime! We are now having to master the art of losing the dogs as we near our destination.

May 30th – 31st

Rubén turned the big 3-2!

Celebrations were had by having dinner at a high-class steak restaurant. We indulged in the best cooked, best cut of steak we’d eaten in a long time, and like a fortnight earlier, did not regret it at all!

On the Sunday, his Mother and sister came around to celebrate. We had a tres leche cake- Did you notice I craftily recycled the 2 candle from my 29^th birthday cake this year?

June 5^th

After a week of tendinitis and the nasty cold (again!), my body decided to throw a new problem into the mix. Conjunctivitis!

Yet another day off work, a trip to a new doctor, $40 worth of medicine (Yes… 8 packets of Tim Tams) and three days looking like a pirate whilst not actually looking at anything in the world.

Like all things though, it too has passed and I can now write this blog with 20/20 vision I’ve always had.

June 11^{th –}14^th

Copa América has begun. Chile is hosting the event, and everyone here is a little bit excited. Everyone, except me that is.

On the first game of Chile, I tried to get into the spirit. I put on a Chile jersey and watched the first half of the game. 0-0. What is the point of running around for 45 minutes to have a score of 0- all?

The second half of the game was spent in bed. When I heard the “goooooooool!” I rushed out and did a happy dance with Rubén, before retreating the calmness of our room.

Yesterday’s game was spent much more constructively. I decided to defrost the dinosaur of a fridge this apartment has. Even though it was only 3 months of ice, it was very difficult for little old me. However, I felt very proud of myself to finally get the freezer frost free.

Actually, that’s a lie. There is a heap of ice behind the freezer box and on top – but I don’t know how to get to it – so I’ve just refrozen it.

And where am I right now. I’m in bed, with the door closed whilst Rubén watches the football.

Kill. Me. Now.