I don't think that I can scream, "Hey I'm an American!," louder than having blonde hair and blue eyes. Oh, did I mention that my Spanish is incredibly rusty? I'm pretty sure I've already been called a "stupid American." Why is it that I can travel all across Europe by train, bus, and plane without really knowing the language and be perfectly fine? I feel completely at home in Europe, but as soon as you drop me off in a Spanish culture (besides Spain) I immediately feel uncomfortable and am completely lost. Therefore, I am... I hate to say it... a stupid American. I am pretty uncomfortable hanging out in the Starbucks at Santiago's airport. I even had trouble ordering a coffee! That's so unlike me. I think it's because I am uncomfortable with my Spanish skills and talk very softly to where they look at me funny... in which I'm pretty sure the thought of, "Oh, that poor little American girl... she is so lost," has crossed their minds a few times. I also stand out like a sore thumb with my massive High Sierra internal framed backpack on. I'm clearly embarking on some kind of adventure and have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going. My flight doesn't leave until 19:00, I landed in Santiago at 8 am, so I have not yet been assigned a gate.
I have the nastiest ear infection in the world. Yes, in the world. I've accumulated all of the ear infections around the globe and it has gone straight into my right ear, and being in a plane for 9 hours made it even worse. I have another 3 hour flight at 19:00. I'm hoping that as soon as I get into Punta Arenas, I can ask to go see the company doctor. I could curl up in a ball and die... it hurts so bad. Fingers crossed I don't lose my hearing in my right ear because of this! I feel like a little baby when they tug on their ear because it hurts. Believe it or not, it actually feels better when I'm tugging at it, which I'm sure that I'm only making it worse. But I just can't seem to leave it alone.
Enough of my complaining and back to the point of why I am in South America. I can't believe that I'm actually going through with this. Did I mention that I am stuck here for 3 months and cannot leave, no matter what? O contracts and their insane rules of suing you and the work that you do if you break them... There's a massive crowd around Starbucks and, yet again, I'm being stared at. At least I look like I know a little of what I am doing. Although, at the moment I am writing this, I cannot seem to figure out how to connect to the Internet. Thank God for Word Documents and coffee! By the way, as much as I hate Starbucks, the coffee here is actually really good. Smooth, not bitter, yet very strong in taste. So delicious! No cream and sugar for me. I like my coffee black. My mom thinks it's incredibly weird that I do. I'm just like my dad though, he and I are the black coffee drinkers... Rae and Mom are the ones who have to overload their coffee with copious amounts of sugar, cream, and milk. I think that's weird.
It's 9:34 right now (for future references I go by military time, it's much less confusing). It's about 40 degrees outside, cloudy skies, and completely flat... until the clouds expose parts of the mountains that surround the airport. It's very much the country, at least the part that I'm looking at is. Somehow is gives me a peaceful feeling to look out the windows into the wilderness that's begging to be explored. I'm excited to arrive in Punta Arenas, where my front yard will be the ocean and my backyard, the wild country of Patagonia. I think I'm going to like it a lot more than I did Huntington Beach, California. Here, I will be nothing but busy. I feel like I wont get but a few seconds to recuperate from the long flight to the end of the world. I cannot wait to unpack get this heavy pack out of my way.
Now that the crowd has cleared, I think I'm going to man up and ask for a password to the Starbucks WiFi network. Hopefully I'll be able to write again soon. I'll leave you with a picture of me and my mom before I left the states. Ciao.
I have the nastiest ear infection in the world. Yes, in the world. I've accumulated all of the ear infections around the globe and it has gone straight into my right ear, and being in a plane for 9 hours made it even worse. I have another 3 hour flight at 19:00. I'm hoping that as soon as I get into Punta Arenas, I can ask to go see the company doctor. I could curl up in a ball and die... it hurts so bad. Fingers crossed I don't lose my hearing in my right ear because of this! I feel like a little baby when they tug on their ear because it hurts. Believe it or not, it actually feels better when I'm tugging at it, which I'm sure that I'm only making it worse. But I just can't seem to leave it alone.
Enough of my complaining and back to the point of why I am in South America. I can't believe that I'm actually going through with this. Did I mention that I am stuck here for 3 months and cannot leave, no matter what? O contracts and their insane rules of suing you and the work that you do if you break them... There's a massive crowd around Starbucks and, yet again, I'm being stared at. At least I look like I know a little of what I am doing. Although, at the moment I am writing this, I cannot seem to figure out how to connect to the Internet. Thank God for Word Documents and coffee! By the way, as much as I hate Starbucks, the coffee here is actually really good. Smooth, not bitter, yet very strong in taste. So delicious! No cream and sugar for me. I like my coffee black. My mom thinks it's incredibly weird that I do. I'm just like my dad though, he and I are the black coffee drinkers... Rae and Mom are the ones who have to overload their coffee with copious amounts of sugar, cream, and milk. I think that's weird.
It's 9:34 right now (for future references I go by military time, it's much less confusing). It's about 40 degrees outside, cloudy skies, and completely flat... until the clouds expose parts of the mountains that surround the airport. It's very much the country, at least the part that I'm looking at is. Somehow is gives me a peaceful feeling to look out the windows into the wilderness that's begging to be explored. I'm excited to arrive in Punta Arenas, where my front yard will be the ocean and my backyard, the wild country of Patagonia. I think I'm going to like it a lot more than I did Huntington Beach, California. Here, I will be nothing but busy. I feel like I wont get but a few seconds to recuperate from the long flight to the end of the world. I cannot wait to unpack get this heavy pack out of my way.
Now that the crowd has cleared, I think I'm going to man up and ask for a password to the Starbucks WiFi network. Hopefully I'll be able to write again soon. I'll leave you with a picture of me and my mom before I left the states. Ciao.
December 2, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Good Luck to you Shae...I will come visit so you can show me around.
December 2, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Thanks Dan! You should come visit me! We'd get into all sorts of trouble. Haha