Day One

We've landed, gotten through customs, and settled down. I spent a good five hours walking today. There isn't that much to say. High points were a broken conversation with one of the hostel owners (She doesn't know English, yo no comprende castellano) and successfully buying electrical equipment. Low points? Many. Getting around is really tough when you don't know where your goal is and can't ask anybody where to go. I'm still in that zone where I don't know where to shop or anything. Cooking will be tough until I get a place and eating out is expensive. Most all, Peter and I are utterly alone.

We're the first wave. Nobody else is coming for at least a week. The hostel owners and other rentersare nice and friendly, but the owners are older than us and the hostel folk are equally removed from the culture. Peter knows little Spanish and I less. We will probably not have any Chilean friends until our work starts, and maybe not even then. We have no guides or mentors. We are experiencing the city completely removed from all of the life and energy around it.

I'm really starting to empathize with the UChicago international students. Not knowing the language cuts you off from everybody. I can already feel the temptation to hide in our own circle and never experience the city. The alienation hurts that much. The pragmatic difficulties of navigation do not help either.

It's not all complaining, though. Slowly I'm learning more Spanish. And I think I've figured out a way to meet some people, especially people who know a bit of English. There's a park three blocks north in which I'm going to try a juggling bit. Peter and I may have found a place for the next two months. I've successfully done some daily activities. The first week is gonna be rocky, but that's what we wanted. That's why we're the vanguard.

I spent a lot of time walking around the city but no time taking pictures. I'm not yet comfortable enough to play the tourist. Another part of it might just be the natural laziness that comes from unfamiliarity with cameras in general. There was one picture I just had to take, though.

I don't know anything about the place. I just thought it was striking in a way, something so different from the rest of the city that it deserved the first picture. I think it was a church. Maybe I'll explore it if I wouldn't get in trouble. I don't know. I don't know how the next ten weeks will evolve, aside from the fact it will be interesting and possibly life-changing. Best laid plans.