Kyle Hepp

December 14, 2007

Sometimes life is just way too good to blog about. When I know there’s no possible way to put into words all the awesomeness that is happening I tend to think that one day I’ll write a huge giant post and explain everything…but then I sit down to write and I feel like I just can’t describe it all.

The new apartment is AMAZING. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life. To be honest, it has changed everything. S. and I both feel so much more free here. Being in the heart of Santiago is really nice too. We walk out the door and we’re surrounded by bars and restaurants, and transportation.

Our move has really highlighted the differences between lower and (upper) middle class for me. Middle class doesn’t really exist here, so I guess that would make us upper class even though I don’t feel like we’re rich or anything. Anyways, for instance, near where we live there are bus stations but there are never any huge long lines of people waiting. Back in my old neighborhood people would have to wait for hours to get on their bus. Just walking down the street is different. I have yet to see a stray dog in the week since I’ve been here. Before, while running, I felt like I playing dodge the dogcrap every time I stepped out the door. Strays and the souvenirs they left behind were all over the place. Streets in Providencia are so much cleaner! And, let’s not even get started on how much better (and not full of dangerous chasm like holes) the sidewalks are.

I used to live three blocks from a supermarket called Lider. When I first moved in with S. I thought that I would do all my grocery shopping there. WRONG. All the vegetables and fruits in their produce section were putrid. And the few times I managed to find ones that didn’t look rotten, low and behold when I’d get the red pepper home and cut into it a few hours later, it would be slimy inside. At my new Lider all the produce is shiny and ripe and perfect. I still don’t shop there, though. I’m scarred for life. But now that I’m not in a poor neighborhood…I have options…GASP. There are two other supermarkets within walking distance, and several fresh fruits and veggie stands nearby as well.

Speaking of options. Twice, when we lived back in Estacion Central we ordered pizza and our order was delivered wrong (and incredibly late). Each time we called back to have them fix it and the phone operator was a total bitch and acted like it was our fault that they made the wrong kind of pizza. We were never offered any kind of discount or even an apology for having waited over an hour for our food. I wonder why. Could it be because they know that not one single other pizza company exists within delivery range from our old house so if we wanted pizza we had one option and one option only???

After moving into our new apartment, we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. We thought it was prepared wrong.

And if you’re wonder why we have all these pizza dilemmas, it’s because I eat my pizza without cheese. People just can’t wrap their minds around that.

Anyways, we called back, the manager apologized profusely, told us to keep the original pizzas and said he would have both remade (even though one was correct already) and would have them sent as a delivery (even though we had went to go pick it up and paid takeout, not delivery price). Could this be because in my new rich people neighborhood there are at least five pizza places within walking distance from us (yes, not even within delivery distance, within walking distance)? Yeah, I think so.

Oh, and in the end it turned out there wasn’t cheese on my pizza, the dough was just really mushy and white and looked like cheese. I’m an idiot. We called back and the manager said we could still have the remade pizzas if we wanted to come get them. Holy customer service batman!

It’s not just the pizza and the grocery store. It’s everything. On a grander scale, if we had kids their options for schools around here would be so much better. If we were thinking about actually buying a house we would have tons of places to choose from. The differences in neighborhoods is just unreal.

I never had any illusions about where I lived before. I was one hundred percent clear that where we lived (not the actual house, the casa itself was quite nice, I mean the neighborhood alone), was crap. And I also actually spent a semester living in Providencia as an exchange student, so it’s not like this is my first time being here. But, in that first semester, your vision of everything isn’t the same. You don’t truly understand what real life in Chile is like if you’re an exchange student.

Now that I’m here as an adult and a semi-permanent resident in Chile, it feels a lot different. And I LOVE it.