happy happy happy

It's been brought to my attention that all I ever do is complain. Oops. I have to say--there are a whole lot of things I don't like at all about Santiago and about not being in Seattle, but I'm having a fantastic time here. Well, "fantastic" sounds like a strong word. I'm enjoying things.



Well, I wasn't really enjoying being cold in the rain today, but, I generally am enjoying things.

The best part about being in Santiago is meeting all sorts of interesting people. Some of them I don't even get the opportunity to meet (like the strangely dressed man running, stumbling, through the metro today; he was amusing), but I know that I would find them interesting, if I met them.

I met an interesting Brit on the bus (an interesting place to make a friend, admittedly) and I have met lots of his interesting friends--which is a nice set up for me, because I don't have to go through all the trouble of meeting people in interesting places, like on busses and in alleys late at night.

Just the other day, he introduced me to a couple of his friends who, interestingly enough, all play jazz together. I sat in a soundproof studio and listened to them practice for hours. I sat on the floor with the pooch (who is taken care of by a man with a limp, who refers to himself as "El Cojo" ["The Lame One"] and told me that this dog, Krone, "ladra en inglés" ["he barks in English"]) in this soundproof room--which was another interesting thing, because don't dogs have particularly good hearing? And wouldn't that be quite malicious to trap a dog in a soundproof room and force him (or her) to listen for hours to four men jamming away on an array jazz standards? Well, in any case, Krone and I got on famously.



Why can't you see these people's features? That's frustrating, and interesting. And they don't know that they are on my blog. That's interesting, and strange.

Another interesting thing. Today was a holiday in Chile, to celebrate the victory of a naval battle against Peru. I went for a little excursion to Valparaíso where I walked for hours in the rain with my friend and sat on a nearly-covered bench. There was a deceptive structure constructed above the bench--which looked very much like it would shelter someone from rain. Instead, they were just slats of wood about three inches apart. Interesting.



The metro, bustling as usual.



A power outlet in the metro. It's thoughtful, really. But interesting, as well.

This is just an introduction to my interesting life in Santiago. You have my word that more happy happy happy stories will follow. ... I'm not sure that means much, because I'm not very good with words, but, there you go.



Yeah, I'd like to. But I don't know where.