2008 July | Kyle Hepp

July 30, 2008

Contrary to some people’s popular belief, Santiago is not totally devoid of all culture and beauty. Sure, I bitch and moan…I’m an expat, it’s what we do. But, this city has it’s moments for me and last Friday was one of them.

I went out exploring with friends throughout Barrio Concha y Toro, Barrio Brasil, El Centro through to Barrio Lastarria. Good times. Of course, I had my new camera with me, but let’s not lie, I was NERVOUS. Carrying around thousands of dollars worth of equipment is more than a little nerve wracking in a part of town that’s featured nightly on the news showing bands of petty thieves. I didn’t want to get caught being the stupid gringa, waving my gear around, taunting fate and thieves with temptation. So I didn’t take a ton of pictures. But, this was my first time using the new cam in low light, and oh my gosh, I think I’m LOVE. Everything that S. and I make from photography sessions, we invest right back into the business buying more equipment. We bought the 40d with money from the past couple sessions we did, plus a generous gift certificate from a friend, and it’s seriously the best purchase I’ve ever made. The camera’s capabilities over what my Rebel XT could do are above and beyond what I expected. Needless to say, I’m thrilled. And I feel like I’m now better prepared to push myself to new levels in photography.

Here are a few smatterings of the photos I took last Friday. Yes, I know I’m slow, but it takes me a long time to edit photos to get the mood perfect. I usually have a specific idea in mind of what feel I’m trying to get and I’ll play around in Photoshop until I get it exactly right.

Note: These pictures are cross posted everywhere. They’re already up on Facebook. I’ll make some of them public on my Flickr, and for the full set, check out my photography blog.

And in other random news, I’m now blogging for TONIC. I’m SO excited about this, as it’s more original autobiographical type content than what I’ve been doing for other blogs and I feel very free writing for them. The theme is environmental issues, and I’ll be focusing on what it’s like to try and be “green” while living in Chile. Leave me a little love on my first post so I don’t feel like the loser new kid on the blog.

PS. Does anybody know how to widen the main column in Wordpress and in Blogger? I want to be able to post larger photos here and on my photography blog and I’m HTML impaired.

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July 24, 2008

Someday I would like to have roots. The nomadic life has been good to me up until this point, but in the distant future I think it would be amazing to live in one place for more than 5 years and really make a home there.

I feel I’m getting to that point in Chile. I’ve been here for 3 years now. And I do feel comfortable and at home here. The only problem is, I am not in love with this country. I used to feel guilty saying that. If a Chilean asked me how I like living here, I would dance around the question and answer with something like, “Heeeey, ummm, yeaaah. My husband is Chilean and he’s GREAT. I really like living with him.” Because that’s the truth. My husband is amazing and I could live with him in a shack in rural China, or a mansion in L.A. and be happy.

Now, I don’t feel guilty. Just because I choose to live here, doesn’t mean I have to like it. It’s what’s best for my life right now. We save much more money living off of my U.S. salary since it goes farther in a cheaper country. Lots of immigrants live in the U.S. or other countries because they know it’s best for their financial situation, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to go home.

I’ve been in love with a city before and Santiago just doesn’t give me that happy, giddy feeling you get when you really like a place. I lived in Tampa for 4 years and it gave me that feeling every single day. You can’t have a bad day in a place that has so many good restaurants, great culture, physical beauty, nice people, a fun nightlife scene, the longest connected sidewalk in the world and balmy weather. I can’t wait to someday find a place like that, where I want to buy a house and live there and make it permanent. Here, an underlying transitory current runs through my life because we don’t want to be here forever. I can’t put down real roots because I’ll have to dig them up myself in a year.

Today I read this, which made me feel like, maybe Brussels is a city that S. and I could fall in love with. After the homogeneous culture of Chile, I feel that such diversity could be refreshing.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the grass is always greener. Every city has it’s ups and downs. I don’t expect anywhere to be perfect. But, if you’re in love with a city, just like a person, it’s so much easier to accept it’s flaws.

Can you believe that we are leaving from our trip in less than a year and a half?!? I know the time will fly, but I already get butterflies just thinking about it because it’s starting to seem real.

Reading about Brussels just got me so excited for our round the world trip because I know that we’re going to find someplace that we’re both crazy about and we’re going to want to stay there forever. I can’t wait! Finding home might end up being even more exciting than seeing the world.

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July 23, 2008

Ever since I’ve been diagnosed with asthma I’ve been making more of an effort to stay away from smoking. And no, I don’t mean trying not to smoke myself. I don’t. In fact, my first and only experience with inhaling was when I lived in Chile when I was 14 years old. I tried a cigarette at a party because I wondered whether people did it because it was “cool” or it actually felt good. It didn’t feel good. After that, I lost all interest.

So basically, the doctor told me that I brought the asthma upon myself, by exercising outside, and frequenting places with people who smoke. I was a bit nervous to bring the subject with my husband. He doesn’t smoke either but literally every single friend he has does. Duh. We’re in Chile. This country has one of the highest percentages of smokers in the world. So when I told my husband that I would no longer be able to sit around shooting the shit with a room full of lung killers, I knew that had the possibility of putting a serious damper on our social life. With his close friends, it’s not a problem. If I say, “Guys, would you mind smoking outside?” They will. No questions asked. But, I was more concerned about acquaintances, not best friends.

Our first test was last Saturday. We went to play poker with friends of S.’s from work from his newest construction site. He had never done anything social with them before so I was petrified to tell them they couldn’t smoke around me. Fortunately, the unthinkable happened. We walked in. One of the other guys began to light up. And the host’s girlfriend sent him outside. I didn’t even have to say anything! I was shocked to put it mildly. This rarely happens in a Chilean residence. Most people don’t even ask before they start destroying their lungs as well as the lungs of everyone else in their proximity.

Note: Let’s just tell it like it is. I think a smoker who smokes anywhere that any non-smoker could possibly be breathing the same air, is a selfish asshole — here, in the U.S., everywhere.

Anyways, later on in the evening, I figured out why the hostess was allowing no smoking. The telling conversation went a little something like this.

Hostess: So you two have been married now for a year and a half, right?
Me: Yep, that’s right.
Hostess (excitedly): You must be thinking about kids then. You’re probably trying to get pregnant right?!?
Me: (Makes face like this). I hate kids, so does my husband. We want to wait another 10 years before we start trying to ruin our lives.*
Hostess: I’m 5 months pregnant.
Me: (Sits in awkward silence) Ummm….congratulations?

Hahaha, and you all wonder why I only have one Chilena friend. This strange friendless phenomenon may be caused by a severe case of foot-in-mouth syndrome.

*Disclaimer: Notice how I said OUR lives. I have utmost respect for people who have children and raise them successfully. That actually kind of amazes me. But, it’s not for us right now. We also really don’t hate children, I didn’t actually mean anything that harsh when I said it. That’s just how it came out. Both of us really like cool, non-obnoxious children.

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July 18, 2008

I’ve never been to New York City, but I hear that the pace of life there is insane. People walk so quickly that if you don’t keep up you better get out of the way. I always dreamed of living in a paradise like that. I’ve forever been a speed walker. When traveling in groups I usually end up blocks ahead, having to stop and sigh impatiently as I wait for people to catch up with me. S. is constantly asking me to slow down because he hates walking fast.

Since Santiago is also a booming metropolis I kind of expected the street speeds to be similar to N.Y.C. but boy was I wrong!

Santiaguinos do not speed walk. In fact, they barely even walk. I would consider what they do more like meandering or lallygagging than the act of walking.

The pace of this city is a snail’s — and probably an ill and dying and barely able to move snail at that.

One of the biggest causes of the aforementioned slowness seems to be the Chilean women’s desire to wear heels at all times, at all ages. I mean, we are talking women who are at least 180 years old shuffling their feet across the street in four inch heels. And those who are forced to wear comfortable footwear, or any kind of geriatric podiatry support on the feet, do so in the form of platform tennis shoes. Flats haven’t caught on. You’ll see the occasional ballet slipper or maybe even gladiator sandals on the rare fashionista in this country, but they’re few and far in between.

I don’t want to get too deep into this, but women here dress pretty provocatively — cleavage baring shirts, and pants that are so tight they cause both muffin top and camel toe are the norm. While I totally agree that people in the U.S. are totally over sexualized, it cracks me up when Chileans make comments on how bad that phenomenon is in the U.S. as if they were somehow immune to it. Umm, have you looked around the streets of Santiago lately?!?

So anyways, clubwear as officewear, as my friend Emily has commented on numerous occasions, is totally acceptable. That means, throw on your lacy/satiny/tiny tank and your hooker heels in the morning and you’re good to go!

This results in millions of women who can’t walk fast clogging the arteries of Santiago sidewalks.

That, in turn, results in me going crazy.

I often resort to walking in the actual street, preferring to dodge cars and micros (buses) than dodge this strange breed of snail people. When I’m in enjoyable happy places like forests and the beach, I’m happy to slow down and enjoy the scenery. But, when I’m on the polluted streets of Santiago, all I want to do is get from point A to point B and run my errands as quickly as I can. But, I’ve learned that in this country, getting anything done quickly, including just walking down the street, is nearly impossible!

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July 16, 2008

Sometimes I really confuse Chileans with crazy gringas things I do. For example, I try to order takeout food. Try, being the operative word in that sentence. Ordering “To Go,” meals isn’t common, at all in this country. A few restaurants have started to catch on, like TGI Fridays or other places that gringos frequent. But, for instance, last weekend, I had a craving for the chicken from one of my favorite restaurants in Santiago, Pinch of Pancho. So I asked my husband to call and order and tell them we would walk over there and give them a container to put the food in and pick it up. I was working under the assumption that they wouldn’t have to-go containers. S.’s conversation with them lasted little over 10 seconds.

Him: “Hi, I’d like to order some food to take home with us. We’ll bring our own…”

Them: “We don’t do that.”

Him: “Ok, bye.”

That’s one thing about this country — they’re quick to say no, to anything you ask. Without even thinking about it, or wondering if they can try to help you in any way, if you ask for something that’s even a little bit out of the box, the knee jerk reaction is, “Nope, can’t do it. Goodbye.”

And Chileans are quick to take no for an answer. Because they expect the worst possible customer service when someone denies them what they want, they just hang their heads and carry on their sad little way.

So back to the food thing. Being the obnoxious gringa that I am, I told S., “Well call back, that’s ridiculous, why would they say no, when we’re asking if we can give them money in exchange for putting their food in our own box?!? Of course they can do it, it’s just a matter of talking to the right person.”

S. (begrudgingly) called back to argue on my behalf. He asked to speak to a manger, and when he put it in terms of, “We are trying to give your our money, why in the world would you say no?!?” the manager agreed.

We walked down to the restaurant, opened the door and said, “Hello, we’re here to order takeout food,” and guess what the hostess said? Yep, her immediate response, was, “No, we don’t do that.”

So eventually we got our food. But, I still don’t understand the no reaction. And this post is not just about takeout food. It’s about everything. In the U.S. in every job I ever worked, if someone asked me for something I hadn’t done before I would say, “Well, let me ask my boss and we’ll see what we can do.” The motto back home seems to be, if it’s all possible to help the customer, you should do it.

But, not in Chile. Here the motto is, “No. End of story.”

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July 13, 2008

I guess this has been all over the news, but I somehow missed it.

Ha! And they say Chileans are prudes…

My only issues is that never again will I be able to touch a pole in the metro again. I mean, did you watch the video? I have zero problem with nudity, but huge issues with germs…and that girl’s vayjayjay was ALL up on the pole. This was basically the nail in the metro’s coffin for me. From here on out I’m taking a bath in bleach after every time I take public transportation.

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I wrote about a little cultural difference incident for Pocket Cultures (a really awesome website about other cultures/traveling/foreign relations, etc). It’s up under the My Partner is a Foreigner section, and I talk about how pissed off I used to get when my father in law would call me fat. Check it out here!

And while we’re clicking on links, if you’re interested, I uploaded pictures from my last session over at my photography blog.

PS. I’m FINALLY not sick anymore. It took me two weeks to get over the virus that I had and during that time I was also in and out of the clinic, busy getting diagnosed with asthma. I have three years of Santiago smog to thank for that. I’ve been a little down in the dumps and didn’t want to bring the negativity to the blog, but I’m back now. Real posting to resume shortly.

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July 4, 2008

Ha! These two pictures slay me. My mom just sat down on a bench next to the old lady and they both ended up looking the exact same way at the exact same time. Funny! These are just outtakes but I blogged some pictures from a session I did with my beautiful mother while she was here. Check it out at my photography blog.

Happy 4th of July. It’s my favorite holiday, but I’m not able to celebrate this year. I’m sick and doing my best to not get tonsillitis like I have every winter that I’ve ever lived in Santiago. Last time the doctor threatened me and said that if I got it again I’d have to get my tonsils out…and there is no way I’m getting surgery in a hospital here. No way.

So I’m resting, taking care of myself and doing everything I can to get better. I went to the doctor today and he gave me some medicine to help me now, and then also wrote me a prescription for tonsillitis medicine…just in case. Doesn’t that sound ominous?

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July 2, 2008

Yes, I said staycation, not vacation. And no, it wasn’t as lame as it sounded. My mom has been to Chile like ten thousand times now, so we didn’t really need to revisit all the touristy stuff. Instead we just spent a great week together, enjoying each other’s company! In the interest of saving time, and my health (I’m sick and desperately need a nap, but can’t sleep yet because I’m awaiting the announcement of the birth of Angelina’s twins so I can post it as soon as it happens), I’ll just list off a few of the highlights of our trip.

Climbing the dreaded hilltain three times.
Eating at two of the best restaurants in Santiago, Akarana and Zanzibar.
Going to Starbucks every day.
Walking all over Santiago.
Cooking together.
A wonderful party with all my awesome gringa friends. They found out where I inherited my tendency to overshare from.
Shopping for a new desk chair.
Wearing new clothes every day, dressing up and doing our makeup together.
Eating gringo candy that you can find here.
Pedicures
Talking.
And talking some more.
And talking even more.

And now for some pictures. Get ready because there are a LOT.

My mom is a goddess. She brought me so many different types of salad dressings, sauces and things with flavor that you cannot find in Chile! Oh, and not to mention about 50 pounds of candy. The gringa party mentioned above was a gringo candy themed party. We made quick work of everything!