Kyle Hepp

August 26, 2010

Ok, I’m finally able to get a quick personal photo post about Spain up! We’re leaving on (another) jet plane tomorrow so I’ll write more later. These photos are all from sunny Santander

My idea of paradise. Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

Either that’s a big slug or that’s a small foot.

One of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Fned, buzzed up to Santander to see us!!!

Mmmm, tapas and Francine. I love them both

And dude. Santander is like the most happening place in the world. We went to this spot that they call “The Square” on approximately three separate occasions and each time it looked like this.

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August 24, 2010

As you’ve probably realized by now, we’re mildly obsessed with Spain and the idea of going to live there at some point — or at the very least try to base ourselves there for a month next year. Brides in Europe, contact me!

So I emailed one of my lovely brides for next year. She lives in Barcelona.

And I did exactly the same thing to her that I hate when other people do to me.

I emailed her gushing about how much I loved Spain, with nothing more than my stupid tourist observations, which probably aren’t true at all.

When a woman emails me saying, “OMG, I LOVE Chile. The people are SO nice!” I kind of want to punch her in the face and say, “No they’re not.”

That’s in part because I’m evil, but also in part because I hate when someone who has been her for a month or two as a tourist, or an exchange student or some kind of short term living, idealizes life in Chile and makes it out to be completely something that it’s not. Then I’m put in a bad position — of either lying, or crushing their dreams.

Anyway, I totally did that to Cynthia (sorry!!!) and she responded basically the same way I respond to people who do that to me — that yes, Spain is very nice, but no, it’s not perfect. She said that she feels like people look at her like a “bicho raro” sometimes, which is exactly how I feel in Chile (a lot of the times). The literal translation for bicho raro is weird bug, but the figurative translation is probably something like odd duck.

In the end no place is perfect. We all know that. But the grass really is greener in Spain. I still want to go live there (even if it’s temporary) next year.

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August 23, 2010

I’m about to go all “When I was a kid, we walked to school in our bare feet, in blizzards every day, uphill both ways,” on you.

But seriously. When I first got to Chile, being an expat was…less comfortable than it is now.

For starters, let’s just talk about products. Now a days I hear expat women complaining about how expensive tampons here are (truth). But at least they’re commonplace enough that they’re in every store. When I first got here you could find tampons, but they weren’t in every grocery store or pharmacy. It was hit or miss, back in the day, but they were quickly becoming more popular.

What about Jumbo and Lider? Jumbo didn’t used to have the wide range of gringo food that they have now. Sure, the ranch dressing they carry sucks, but they carry it. Peanut butter has gone way down in price. Swiss Miss hot chocolate is in the coffee aisle. There are taco shells and taco mix and taco sauce easily found. Lider now has an entire section devoted to imported Walmart gringo products.

And. AND. Word on the street is that there are now bagels in Santiago — supposedly there’s some kind of ridiculous super Unimarc on the corner of Manquehue con Los Militares where they sell bagels.

Bagels definitely didn’t exist when I first got to Chile.

But what mostly makes me think that expat life in Santiago now is better than expat life there used to be, is that information is readily available. 6 years ago when I had decided I would come back to live permanently, I started googling for information on what expat life in Chile is really like. This was all I found — one very angry gringo who seemed to hate Chile. Which was ok, because everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and underneath the anger C.hileno often made valid points. Then, a few months later, this blog popped up and I started reading her. She also despises Chile. But when I found Rachel, I was so happy to have met one other expat that I took the train all the way to Linares to hang out with her and her adorably squishy little baby.

Now, try googling anything about life in Chile and I challenge you not to stumble upon a gringa in Chile written blog. It’s impossible. The blog network here is so huge, that not only can you find other women living in Chile but you can also probably find other women who have something in common with you, who are of your same age range, who have kids, who don’t have kids — you name it, it’s out there. Part of that is my fault, as I tell everyone I meet to start a blog

Or if stumbling across blogs and meeting internet strangers doesn’t fulfill your expat needs, you can also just stumble into your local Starbucks and probably find oodles of expats or at the very least, exchange students. I bet you can guess where I’m going with this one…

There didn’t used to be a Starbucks on every corner! There really didn’t! I can remember when they built all of them! Turns out the first Starbucks store ever opened in Chile in 2003 (in El Golf). By 2008 there were 29 Starbucks in Chile. I remember them building the Starbucks on Pedro de Valdivia — which was the first Starbucks that I ever knew existed, mostly because I didn’t frequent fancy neighborhoods like El Golf.

There are now cool bars you can go to in order to catch football (U.S.), basketballs and baseball games if you’d like. There are more expat networks and websites than I know what to do with.

In short, just like life for me was way easier than it was for women who arrived 40 years ago, I think life is easier for those who have just arrived than it was for me 6 years ago. Thank your lucky stars that you have gringa friends, or at the very least, that you have the option to meet gringa friends should you want it.

And yes. I am a cranky old lady. I walked to school barefoot, uphill both ways, every day.

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