Observations

Right now I am literally chilling at work.  I can technically work from home, but since there is internet at work and none at the apartment so far, I am here waiting until a meeting at 3 pm.

Here is the view from my apartment. STUNNING! So exciting to be able to wake up to this every morning and have tea on the balcony :)

I've enumerated some observations I've made thus far:

1. Chilean people stare.  Everywhere Meryl and I walk, people (mostly guys) are always staring at us! Maybe because she's tall and I'm Asian we stick out like sore thumbs, but by golly it's creepy! We have had people whistle and honk and straight up examine us from head to toe and back up.  It definitely makes me uncomfortable haha

2    2. Chileans eat very late dinners around 9:30 pm.  Last night, the restaurant was empty when we ate dinner at 7 pm.  Also they eat salsa with their bread and don't heat up the bread! Strange, at least it doesn't make me indulge in bread. I had some sort of mashed corn, beans, and carnitas soup thing. It was interesting. 

      3. Chileans always kiss on the right cheek when greeting each other.  It gets kind of icky when I greet men with facial hair, but it's the thing to do!

      4. Chilean time is usually 30 minutes after. We scheduled to meet with my boss, Daniela, when we first arrived to go to lunch at 1:30 pm, but she didn't arrive until around 1:50 pm, but by that time, Meryl and I were worried that they couldn't  find us or something was wrong. Turns out they just aren't as punctual, which I don't mind! Daniela was like "just come to work whenever, leave whenever, you can work from home, just whatever! as long as you get your job done." In fact, she's not even here today!

  

      5. I have to be wary of pickpocketing.  Apparently violence is very rare, but people do snatch phones out of your hands and open your backpack, so I have been on crazy alert with a face that says "don't mess with me!" So far so good.

To be continued!

Ciao