Stolen phone. Stolen camera.

I wish this posting could be full of all of my great pictures from Thanksgiving in Chile and the amazing Deloitte year-end party I went to last Thursday and Friday, respectively, but sadly it cannot be. My phone and camera were both stolen on Friday night. I learned my lesson and will be more careful from now on.

Not to deprive you of a good story due to my misfortune, I will attempt to paint a vivid picture of both events, nonetheless. To begin, I will retell the events of my Thanksgiving. For those of you who worried that I wouldn't get to eat turkey and stuffing or spend the day with friends, your worries were all for naught. I went to California Cantina with Jackie, a friend from work, and some of her new friends. They had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and cinnamon pisco sour! It was actually really good. One of the Chilean guys eating with us had done his research to understand the meaning of this crazy American holiday and retold a rather complementary story about how the even commemorated sharing a meal with the Native Americans who were all dying off from the diseases that the whitemen had given them. The details were a little off what we learn as children, but worthy of a good toast at the end of the story. We all went around (after I pressed the group to do it) and said what we were thankful for. All of the Chileans, and one Spaniard, said that they were thankful that they knew Americans so that they could eat and drink on a Thursday night. Works for me!

The other big event of my weekend was the Deloitte year-end party. It was really something else. The event was held at the Movistar Arena where the Chilean MLS soccer team plays. They had rented out the whole thing for the 1200 guests in attendance. There was a seated dinner, followed by a live band that carried on into a DJ set that lasted until 5 AM. I took off around 3:30 with Lauren, another fellow gringa only to realize when I got home the missing articles from my purse - my iPhone and camera. So sad. I emailed HR on Monday to see if there was a lost and found or anything that was turned in from the evening, only to get a response back saying "Lo siento." My friends and other colleagues I have spoken with suggest that one of the waiters probably stole it. Now I know that nowhere, even a work party, is safe to leave your purse while you dance. Sucks to learn the lesson the hard way. Guess I have some personal Christmas shopping to do for myself. Aside from that, I was really impressed by the party. A friend and I got interviewed for Deloitte TV (haha...ya, they have that). We'll see if I become famous in the Chilean firm when the next episode comes out. If so, I will be sure to post the link.