Shakin'

On Thursday, I felt my first earthquake. I knew it had to happen sometime. So I was more or less waiting for it. Chile is a earthquake zone. This tremor was not strong. In Santiago, it was of a magnitude 2 or so. I was home at the time. I felt something, but I didn't know for sure what it was. Luis had told me that with most earthquakes, you will hear a rubble noise and lots of dogs barking. I heard neither, so I thought it wasn't a earthquake. It felt as if a strong wind had blown against the building. (Though thinking about it now, it would be impossible for wind to move our solidly-built building.) The next day, there was several aftershocks that I didn't feel at all. Hey, I don't have time for seismic activity – I've got a wedding to plan!
However, I did take a minute to take some photos of the lovely plants growing near our apartment. Yes, that's real fruit growing on the trees!

Chile: where nothing is accomplished in just one day

Chile has many wonderful qualities, many worth moving here for. In future posts, I want to write about how things differ here from in the US. There are so many differences, that I think I should break it down into topics, such as: food (possibly my favorite part), getting around, shopping, social interactions, and nightlife, etc.

But before I get to all those cool, wonderful things about Chile - I need to vent my frustration. Maybe I bit off more than I can chew with the wedding planning here. However in my defense, we both thought Luis would finish his thesis much early and would be available to help me.

I shouldn't have underestimated how difficult it would be to do the wedding preparations in a new country, with another language, and with the wedding location being an 1-1/2 hours away. Though I couldn't anticipate some issues. The main problem that keeps coming up is that you can't do anything or find anything online here. And in most places you can't call to get answers on the phone. Everything is done by going to the business. And finding various services, seems to be done all by word-of-mouth. Well... you can imagine my frustration!

I am pleased to report that we got pretty much all the wedding vendors picked up. We found two rental condos for our guests. We attended some four catholic pre-matrimonal classes. BTW: The problems we had with both of our baptism certificates with be a source of humor for many years to come. Also, we started the chilean marriage paperwork and started my VISA paperwork. And much much more.

All the while Luis was working very hard on the thesis! I thought he would lose his mind! But he remain pretty cool thoughout. About a month before the due date for his thesis, I asked him , "Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel?". He answered blankly, "There is no light."

About a week before the thesis defense, Luis started to return to his normal self. He child-like humor came back. I am hoping that the hard work is behind us, and that we can enjoy the rest of the planning. I am definitely looking forward to the arrival of my first guests Sara and Jessica on 12/28!!! New Year Eve in Viña del Mar is going to incredible. Then, the wedding day is 1/3/08...

OK, so I only wrote about some negative things here. To lighten the mood, here are some photos from our recent trip to a vineyard and to the coast. The wine was fabulous. I got a case!
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Photos
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Bienvenido a Chile

Welcome to my blog about my time in Chile.
I arrived in Santiago, Chile at the end of July. And its been non-stop discovery ever since. I am finally starting my blog, which I have been meaning to do for some time. Here I hope to share some of the fun, excitement and down-right confusion that comes with moving to a new country.

Its hard to summarize my four months that I have spent here, especially while typing into a boring white square on the screen. I hope to use lots of photos to add some life to my blog. And to let the photos speak their 1,000 or so words. This is my absolutely first blog post ever! I guess I'm kinda of late adopter. And I am trying to ease up on the self-imposed moratorium of creation of new log-in's, that started earlier this year. (Its was fun when I could say that I gave up creating new social-networking profile for lent.)

The big news is that Luis is now Dr. Luis Chavarria! After some 11 years of post-high-school education, Luis completed his thesis defense on Monday 11/24/08. Luis is now a PhD in astronomy. After all the hard work, he is feeling quite relieved. And is started to act more like his old self again, which is to say that he is back to be a real joker, and a big, grown-up kid. Now, its time to look for his first job, well... ever!
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Photos (of limited quality)
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