Two days' worth of stuff

To be honest, more like one days' worth: today was pretty darn slow. No update yesterday because the Internet decided to fail me at a most inopportune moment. I must learn to type faster. Also: I did something weird to my arm, so this update will be a bit shorter than usual. (Too much typing X))

Yesterday I went to the clinic and to the mall. The clinic with Myriam and the mall with Cristobal. Two very different experiences.

The clinic is a little state-owned deal that functions as a sort of mini-hospital: if you have a cold, just don't feel good, or need medicine or nutritional supplements of any sort (prescription), you come here. We went to pick up medication and supplements for Myriam's mom, and talked most of the way there and most of the way back about the differences between state-run and private health companies and the way things function in both Chile and the States. She concluded that having no state health care option is silly and that it's a good thing Obama's pushing that health care bill. When we got back to the house I showed both her and Jaime my Group Health card and they thought it was interesting-- as was my Social Security card and my school ID, which is how I learned there's no such thing as school mascots in Chile.

I tried to explain the Richland Bombers and all present agreed that having a nuclear bomb and the attendant cloud as your mascot is pretty terrible, regardless of whether or not you're used to mascots at all. They figured animals made more sense. And Vandals? Why have as a mascot a barbarian tribe that brought down the Roman Empire, if you're an institution of learning?

The mall. BIG mall. Three stories, escalators everywhere, full of US companies. I was there to buy a towel; Cristobal ended up buying shoes and a pair of headphones. Cristobal is a big spender. We met a friend of his at the mall (whose name I can't remember, though I should-- she was pretty cool and will be going to the Catolica) who described him as 'flaco,' which I take it is slang for 'dork.' The three of us hung out at the food court (which was a pretty sorry food court, by my high standards: the little Chinese stand was manned entirely by Chileans and sold basically wontons and rice) for quite some time, never buying food and talking about Chilean slang and Bush and cell phones and actors and what a doofus Cristobal is (that was just me and the girl, after he went off and got himself lost while we went and got some ice cream. It was good ice cream).

This is how you learn Spanish, I figure. Hang out with people and talk. And don't worry about making mistakes, because mistakes are hilarious and it's good to be the comedian of the group, right?

I, Paige Orwin, am a funny foreigner.

I did pick up my towel eventually (it's green) and walked back to the house after dropping the girl off at a bus for Valparaiso (there are no bus stations, you just wait until you see a bus driving by with a sign that says your desired destination hanging in the window among the ten or so other signs and then wave frantically until it pulls over). Ate food, talked a lot after dinner-- because after dinner you always talk for an hour or two-- and went to sleep after trying to write an email and watching in dismay as the Internet went off and shot itself.

Today: pretty much nothing. I stuck around the house, listened to music, doodled randomly, talked a bit with Cristobal, and spent dinner trying to keep up with a two-hour conversation about movies and geometry and surnames. Apparently everyone in Chile is named Maria-Fernandez. Or Juan.

Will do more tomorrow!