Happy Blirgthday To Me

May 18, 2008

No, that’s not jibberish…today is my blirgthday. Just Married Chilean Style was born one year ago to the day!

I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has ever taken the time to read, link or comment here, even if it’s just to tell me that I should leave Chile! I love this little online corner of the world so much that I don’t even mind the haters :)

Back in college, I had been harassed on my old Livejournal blog. I was ripped to shreds by people in my hometown because my beliefs are different from theirs…I’m a Democrat, I’m sometimes atheistic, sometimes agnostic, I love gay people, wish they could marry and don’t think they’re going to hell and I don’t think all illegal immigrants should be deported or forced to learn to speak “American.” My feelings were so hurt by nasty comments about those topics, from people I had known my whole life, that I made my blog private and then just eventually deleted it. Blogging had soured for me.

But, after a few non-blogging years, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed an outlet for my frustrations, more than ever once I moved to Chile. So I began this blog because I wanted to be able to publish my posts. Although I didn’t mind if anybody that I had never met before read me, I was hoping that it would stay a secret from people that I know in the flesh and blood. After about a half a year of not telling anybody about it, I “came out” as a blogger to my mom and sent her the link. After that, I told just one or two really close friends that I was keeping a blog. And finally, I decided that I would go all out…I put a link on Facebook. I’m past caring if people judge. I am who I am, I like what I like and I believe what I believe (profound, I know :P ). That’s not going to change. I’ll continue to post my perspectives on the way I view my life.

Any negative comments or emails that I’ve received along the way have far been outweighed by the good stuff that has come my way because of JMCS. Hearing responses from people around the world who have left their home countries and ended up moving abroad to Chile and elsewhere, for love or other reasons, have been so cool! Sometimes I can’t believe that from Japan, to Spain, to Russia to Chile, so many of us expats connect because of the similar emotions and experiences that we’re living. And I’ve also connected with people like housewives, or Chilean sociologists,that I may have never met in the “real world.” Without this blog, the chances are much slimmer that our paths would have crossed.

This blog and the friendships and support that have come along with it, truly enrich my life.

In celebration of the blirgthday, I decided to try something new and I uploaded a video of my night…stormy in Santiago. If you watch, mute it…my voice is annoying.

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Amigas


Gringa party last night…we had a great time! And yes, our Chileans were all there too. They got jealous when we started talking about blogging so according to S. they’re going to start a “manblog” about what it’s like being married to crazy gringas :)

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Happy Belated Mother’s Day

May 17, 2008

To all the moms out there reading this, happy belated Mother’s Day! We celebrated today by taking S.’s mom and aunt (who is like his second mom, she’s lived with them her whole life) out to lunch. We were supposed to be back in Santiago on the actual Mother’s Day but we were photographing a wedding about 5 hours away and we had hours of car trouble so we didn’t make it in time to celebrate with the family.

Lunch was amazingly delicious and overabundant, which is unfortunate because I have a barbecue to attend tonight and when I opened up my internet I was greeted by a COME HUNGRY email detailing all the food and drinks that the hostess made/bought.

And last night was all about the food too. I’m part of a group of hundreds of women who live in Chile and are married to or dating Chileans. So some of us from the group had a get together at a restaurant owned by one of them and oh my word, it was so good, but so stinking expensive! The women were all older, most of them 50+, so that was a little strange for me. Also, some of them have been here for over 10 years. When I arrived with a friend who is my age, we immediately started talking to the two other girls who are our age as well. The older women began cracking jokes about how we could look at them and see ourselves in 20 years. I forced a smile and laughed politely, all the while thinking in my head, “Hell no, I better not be in Chile 20 years down the road from now!” There’s nothing wrong with that decision if that’s what you want, but for S. and I, this just isn’t the life for us. Then one of the older women began asking us what our plans are for the future. All of us younger girls talked about what we’re doing in Chile and when we plan to leave.

The woman slowly shook her head and said, “That’s what they all say.”

She added that many Chilean men say they’re willing to leave permanently but after a few years outside their country they’ll try and convince you to come back.

I really can’t imagine S. wanting to come back. He’s dead set against living here. But, now the seed of doubt has been planted. I can’t help but wonder if he’ll change his mind in a few years. Good lord, I hope not!

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