Casa & Ideas

This morning, I woke up, snoozed my alarm 5 times (guess that's not just an American thing), and finally rolled out of bed to get dressed. I learned one of the first, but certainly not the last things I will learn here - how to iron a suit...well sort of. First of all, I didn't know that you actually could iron a suit, since the dry-cleaners have always returned them magically wrinkle-free. After reading the care instructions twice to be sure, I convinced myself that it was okay to use a low iron. If only the iron setting said "Low" or "High" instead of Lena or Algodon. Fortunately, my internship at Glamour gave me a little familiarity with the various names for fabric in Spanish and I was on my way to looking smart to meet HR at Deloitte.

I walked into Deloitte promptly at 9:55 for my 10:00 meeting and soon learned that people weren't joking when they said that nothing, even meetings, in Latin America runs on time. By 10:15, Rodrigo from HR had come out to meet me and took me in to meet his manager. They both told me I had good Spanish, which was a nice confidence booster, in contrast with the way that what they were saying made me feel. Despite the fact that they thought my Spanish was good, I only caught about every 3rd sentence. Something about coming back on Friday, my visa, a lease...and then Hasta luego! Un beso! Ciao!

Let's just hope I actually understood what they rapidly said. Five minutes later, I was out the door and on my way to enjoy the day. Since the Apart Hotel I'm in for the next three weeks only has about 8 hangers (none of which are skirt hangers), I decided my first stop would be the Chilean equivalent of Bed, Bath & Beyond. Well, if I went to Chile's Home Depot yesterday, I certainly went to their BBB today. I could have been in America! They had everything I could ever want (and when that comes to kitchen stuff, that says a lot). I really had to constrain myself to buy only hangers. As soon as I find my own place though, I know I'll be back to Casa & Ideas. I think I have a new favorite store.

The grocery store, on the other hand, was not quite what I'm used to. I decided it would be wise to get myself some essentials, milk, olive oil, cereal, etc. so that I don't eat out every meal. Luckily, there is a supermarket nearby, so I didn't have to walk far with my groceries. It wouldn't have made much of a difference, anyhow, because I think I bought everything in the store that looked familiar. I ended up with a 3,000 peso packet of turkey, more gouda cheese than I can eat before it goes moldy (note to self - 1/2 a kilo is FAR too much), a mango, tortillas (duly labeled Tortillas Mexicanas), a bell pepper (sitting above the title Pimiento Norteamericano), what I thought was chicken breast, but turned out to be turkey breast (next time I'll read more closely; pavo  pollo), a giant bottle of water, and a 2,500 peso bottle of Chilean wine. Something is wrong when the wine is cheaper than the cheese. What I learned about myself today: my comfort food is fajitas.

I wonder what adventures Day 3 will hold. It's supposed to rain, so hopefully the broker I have plans to meet tomorrow has a car.