It’s fall in Santiago. You can tell because the city suddenly seems a lot more crowded. The metro is filled with groups of students in their black and white catholic school jumpers and uniforms (los pinguinos). The nights come sooner and are getting colder. I had to bring the blanket back out of my closet and onto my bed. It’s much more difficult to find chirimoyas at the fruit and vegetable market.  In fact, I haven’t seen any chirimoyas for quite a while.  The traffic under my window seems twice as loud at night (or maybe that’s not a sign of fall as much as proof that I’m slowly going crazy from lack of decent sleep due to those “weones” with their loud motorcycles).

But the days are still beautiful and sunny, and I hope this nice weather sticks around for a while. A student told me he heard predictions that it would stay this way until well into May. Good for me, since I really hate winter. But not so good for Chilean farmers who rely on the rains that come in winter, which seem to arrive later and later each year.

I’m a lot busier with classes, yet another sign of fall. My students have all returned from their summer vacations, are slowly getting caught up at work, and are finally ready to devote themselves (ha ha) to the grueling task of learning English.

While my guitar lessons are temporarily on hold due to changing schedules (and I need to be more self-motivated with my practicing), I’ve been listening to other people make some beautiful music (although I must say that no one compares to Damien Rice).

Keane came to Santiago in March. Great music, and some interesting lighting/technology effects. But I saw very little of the actual band due to my height (or lack of) and having tickets to the “cancha” (no seats, standing room on the floor only). I left the show with a crick in my neck from trying to lean/ twist/ stretch/ look around the tall people standing in front of me.

 

Ed, me, Ale and Marcela at Blondie

Then I had an opportunity to get a cheap ticket to see Blondie, Rick Astley, and a-ha in the same arena. I verified that this time I would have a seat to the side of the stage. Blondie was great, I’ve only recently discovered how many Blondie songs I love! And I was surprised that Debbie Harry looked so young; I know she must be about 60 now. I only knew one song each from Rick Astley and a-ha, and I remember watching their videos on VH1 when I was about 8 years old, so it was really fun hearing them live.

 

I have a vivid memory of my mom taking me to school at Longfellow Elementary in our tan Astro minivan, and Rick Astley’s song came on the radio. “Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you….” “I hate this song!” I yelled. “It’s been stuck in my head all week!” Well, I guess I don’t hate it so much anymore, since I sang along with it at the concert!

 

The road to Mendoza.

I made a very quick trip to Mendoza, Argentina, where I went shopping, laid in the park reading a book, and ate some deliciously cheap food in outdoor cafes (where they played Blondie AND Rick Astley on the radio while I was eating, but no a-ha).

 

 

All of the bathrooms in Argentina have bidets..

I’m really curious about this. Do people really use them? How? Can anyone explain to me how this works?

 

 

And finally, I’m not sure if this is good or bad news; I bought a one-way ticket from Santiago to the U.S. My scheduled date of departure is July 1. So I plan to really take advantage of the few months I have left in Chile. I may not return quite so soon this time.