Our New Kombi

I decided that I would surprise the family with a VW Kombi for Christmas – there are tons of them on the road here because they were made in Brazil until very recently and they’re a common workhorse. I looked around, did my research and finally found a ’92, former Church bus, but was subsequently owned by a Yoga teacher (from whom I bought it). He hauled his family thousands of km in it from the deserts of the North to the glaciers of the South. It’s in great shape – all accessories work and it’s cleaner than most houses here, and came with lots of good karma. As soon as I picked it up on Tuesday, I couldn’t contain my own excitement, so I put the kids in the back and picked up Alison from the bus stop. I don’t think she expected it.

Wednesday was a national holiday – Conception Day - so I decide it was an auspicious day to take the Kombi for it's first family road trip. We headed for a colleague’s family ranch about 120km away.

Cruising in the Kombi is a great sensation – the kids love it, you go slow, you have a panoramic view out of the windows and seated right at the front. Plus you have to dig the rattle of the mechanically simple, air-cooled engine. The sun was out, the sky was clear and it was the perfect day for a trip to the country.

Well, here is what happened on the roadtrip. I had to take the highway transponder out of my Subaru, but it didn't work in the Kombi; I think the nice people who own the highways are going to track me down for a big fine. Then, I was pulled over in a routine police inspection (they seem to target old cars) and as it turned out, my emissions test is overdue. The cop confiscated my license and gave me 9 days to get the car certified. Ouch! Well, that wasn’t going to kill my Kombi buzz. I'm back in my groove. Cruising at 85km/h I came to a big hill as we were crossing a valley, so I needed to drop it down to third gear. Wow big hill, I say …does she need a lower gear? Okay down to 2 - the engine is at high RPM, and I wonder how much that air cooled powerhouse can put out. Suddenly, something doesn't sound quite right - and the battery light comes on. Smoke starts pouring in from the vents - light at first, enough to convince myself it's from oil on the outside of the crank case burning because the engine got hot on the climb- but then I look back and William is holding his stuffed animal to filter the smoke...I think, uh oh, better pull over. Alison was also freaking out because she was convinced to Kombi was on fire and that it was going to blow up.

Okay okay, I say, I will pull over and take a look. I go around back and open the engine hatch and think, hmm, I think there was a belt between those pulleys...and I look down and by coincidence, there is a perfect belt lying under the engine. How, I ask, does that happen, I don't know. Kombi Gods? The Kombi still could start and run, but the smoooke, the smooooke!

I waited for the engine to cool down, and said, well to hell with this, I'm gonna put that belt back on. And I did, with nothing but a key as a lever (felt like McGyver). But I go to start it and the battery is drained – while the belt was off, the alternator wasn’t charging the battery. Damn.

We sit on the side of the highway, waiting for my buddy to show up (he was going to back to get his truck and some rope to tow me). But he was way ahead, and I was anxious about sitting at the side of the road, so I pushed the Kombi (with the family inside) up a slight hill in the hopes of getting some momentum for a jump start. I almost got there but go too tired.

Well, I did manage to get her started again with the momentum of the tow. We got to the ranch, had a nice day with the horses and barbeque, but I was anxious about getting back to Santiago…would I have more problems on the way home? Would I get back today?

The Kombi started, and I managed to get us on our way. But something happened to the carburator setting because at low idle, it'd stall out. Everything was fine until we had to stop at a toll booth....she conked out about 3m from the payment window. I had to run up to the lady at the booth, pay my money, and say "lo siento, mi Kombi no va, uno momento por favor" and a couple people came out to give it a push and got me through the gate. I got it started, but had to learn to manage the clutch, gas and break at every stop.

We got home safe, and earned about 10 friendly beeps, a bunch of thumbs-up and the kindness of strangers. What a day it was.

Now, off to the Kombi doctor for a Revision Buena and a trip to the Planta Tecnica for my emissions check - I can't wait to have her back. Whoever comes to visit can have the keys to their own Kombi adventure.

The Story of the Christmas Tree Acquisition

With Christmas now less than one month away, we are pushing ourselves to get into the Christmas spirit, despite the rising temperatures and the magnetic pull of the swimming pool (instead of the mall). William and Jackson are particularly excited; William is hoping that Santa will bring him a black bunny rabbit this Christmas and has been feeding our dog and cat daily to demonstrate that he's responsible enough to have his very own pet.

Thus is the backdrop for the Christmas tree acquisition story.

Jeremy is particular about Christmas trees and refuses to settle for anything but a real tree. Unfortunately real trees are much less feasible in Chile (due to the climate they only grow in certain regions, mainly to the South) and 95% of Chileans have artificial Christmas trees. Determined, Jeremy has been talking about our "tree strategy" for weeks now and devised a plan to buy a potted tree from the nursery at the Sodimac (Home Depot equivalent) to use as a Christmas tree. As such, we ventured out last weekend to pick the tree before the rest of the gringos got the same idea. We spent close to an hour sifting through the wreck of nursery trees, trying to find one that was straight and bushy enough to make the cut to be our Christmas tree. After many debates, we decided on the perfect tree only to discover that we couldn't fit it in our car... so we needed to get it delivered.

We had a very detailed conversation with a sales person, in Spanish of course, about how this tree was specifically the tree we wanted. He put sign on it and assured us that it would be the tree that was in fact delivered to our house. Given how many times we have been burned by terrible customer service here, I gently suggested to Jeremy that we carry the tree to the delivery desk and reiterate the requirement that this specific tree is the tree that is to be delivered. Jeremy insisted that the sign and the diligent sales person had it covered and that I was too pessimistic.... so with two mischievous boys pulling at my nerves I reluctantly agreed to trust that the correct tree would be delivered.

Of course, when the tree arrived at the house the following Monday it was the most crooked (at least 30 degrees off the vertical), "Charlie Brown" tree you have ever seen... they must have searched the warehouse and pulled the worst one they could find to deliver to us. Our gardener was disgusted when he saw the tree and managed to work some magic to straighten it and trim it to make it look somewhat respectable. He then told us that we should have never bought a tree from Sodimac and that he has access to much better trees... but who knew! We considered returning it but decided that the hassle was not worth it.

In the spirit of not sweating the small stuff, we have a pathetic little tree - which has been made beautiful by our family spending Saturday morning decorating it together. It's a symbol of our will to survive here and determination to make the best of things that don't necessarily materialize as planned!

Chile - A Nation of Imports

I think we have progressed from the "overwhelmed" stage of our ex-pat experience into the "aware" stage. Rather than merely trying to survive the day-to-day, we are becoming keenly aware of our surroundings and taking it all in. Jeremy had an "Ah ha" moment the other day which sums it all up:

Chile is a nation of imports. The Chileans essentially shopped around for the best source for all their expertise.

For example, the military was imported from Germany - which was particularly apparent on the 200th Birthday of Chile on Sept. 18 when we witnessed the army goose-stepping to German marching music, in the traditional Prussian uniforms with feathered helmets, just outside our temporary apartment. The navy was imported from England. All practices relating to the navy are inherently British, including the uniforms, drill practices, etc. The police were imported from Italy. The police here are even called the Cabinero and they wear the same brown uniforms.

All this sounds logical and is obvious, but the real revelation for us was when we realized where they imported customer service from - France. Enough said!

Halloween in Santiago

A quick blog post on Halloween in Chile...

The concept of Halloween is relatively new to Chileans and is something that has only gained popularity in the last 5-10 years. As a result, the holiday is far less commercial than back at home and trick or treating is only common in certain areas of the city.

Although the candy selection was very narrow (mostly traditional hard candies and gummies), we loaded up on what we could find in preparation for trick or treaters - as colleagues and friends assured us that Halloween is celebrated in our neighbourhood (Vitacura). Sure enough, the trick or treaters arrived in droves starting around 6 PM - despite the fact that the sun was still high in the sky, and it was hot! A far cry from the dark, freezing Halloween nights that we're used to at home.

We hosted a dinner party with some of Alison's colleagues - a family from Houston with two boys about the same age as William and Jackson. The other mom, Karen, and I took the kids down our street to do some trick or treating... with a crowd of Chilean princesses as our guides.

The challenges trick or treating in Chile:

1) Walls: As I mentioned before, all the houses in Santiago are surrounded by high walls and gated, to prevent opportunistic intruders. As a trick or treater, this means you need to ring the gate bell and yell "Truco o dulces" ("Trick or Treat!") into the intercom, exactly when prompted, so that someone can come to open the gate and give you candy. It usually takes about 5 minutes for this process, so if the house is not participating it can be a bit of a let down.

2) Pumpkins: Pumpkins are uncommon here, at least in October. We bought a very small one at a grocery store for over the equivalent of $10 US - one if 6 that were in stock. No one has pumpkins carved on display. Also, with the gated nature of the houses, there is no place to put the pumpkin so the kids can see it from the street. We placed ours in the bushes, lit, but we don't think anyone noticed given the blaring summer sun!

3) Religion: Most Chileans are Catholic and the idea of wandering spirits and festivities of Halloween is somewhat contrary to most people's religious beliefs. The princess gang that led us around our street had changed their chant to "Angels or Candy" and gave out little cards with a picture of the Virgin Mary, because their mother did not like the concept of Halloween but didn't want to stop her kids from participating in the fun parts.

In short, like everything else here, Halloween was an education for us. Next year we will know what to expect and wear light costumes and choose different decorations, that stand out when it is light outside!

Hope you enjoy the photos of our little dragon and devil :)

A Month of Darkness

Apologies for the long delay since our last blog post! It was difficult keeping up the blog without having internet at home. After a month of darkness we are now reconnected with the world and feeling much better.

October was a month of adjustment for the Weyland family. We have been working furiously to settle into our house and getting our lives more established here in Santiago.

Here is a brief summary of our progress:

1) Setting up: We underestimated the time and effort required to set-up our lives from scratch, using the bags of stuff we brought on the plane as our base of essentials. It has taken us many weekends to get this far, but our house is now furnished with the essentials and is really starting to feel like home. It reminded me of my first weeks living away from my parents after moving to university - when you decide to make a cake for the first time, for example, you actually need to have the forethought to plan ahead and buy the bowl, the spoon, the pan, the oven mitts, etc. in order to accomplish the task at hand. After many years of being established with all you need, it is humbling to be back in that situation once again!

We struggled with everything from getting our appliances installed, carpets cleaned, garden weeded, locks changed, etc. and now have our bearings on where to go for most of what we need. In the process, we have found some real gems in Santiago, such as the La Vega market (which is like St. Lawrence Market on steroids) and an amazing antique market in Barro Brazil.

Also, after deciding to buy a used Hyundia Terracon and experiencing a lot of challenges viewing used vehicles, we opted to make our lives easier and buy a 2007 Subaru Tribeca from another Canadian family. As a result, the buying process was hassle free but now that we have the car, we are having challenges getting insurance, the necessary transponders, etc. The drama never ends! Note: Incidentally, the family we bought the car from has been a great resource for all things on Chile and even has a lovely teenage daughter who loves to babysit.

2) Kids: The kids have been in pre-school for about 4 weeks now and are loving it - no more tears for Jackson each morning, but both kids are very excited to see Angelica (our nanny) when she picks them up each day at 12:45. William has picked up a fair bit of Spanish already and launches into full sentences in Spanish, without even realizing. Jackson is at the stage where he is a parrot - repeating everything he hears in a perfect Chilean Spanish accent - but only saying a few things on his own in Spanish. This has demonstrated how much easier it is to pick up languages at a young age! The kids' Spanish learning curve is exponential and picking up quickly, so they are bound to surpass us in the next few months.

Our nanny Angelica continues to work out really well. While the kids are at school in the mornings, she has been managing all the contractors/deliveries (furniture, locks, garden, phone, internet, cable, carpet cleaning, appliance installation, etc.) we have needed to hire for various things. In addition, the landlord has installed new windows in the house and is well underway in installing a pool in our yard (we have a giant pit and piles of mud everywhere!), so she is kept busy making sure all that activity is happening as it should, plus cleaning up after the contractors. As a result, she is much more than a nanny - more like our "manager of all things related to home" - so this has taken the pressure off us significantly. She is also wonderful with the kids and has been instrumental to them learning Spanish as quickly as they have been learning.

3) Work: Work has improved dramatically for me (Alison). I am now staffed on a project for a massive retailer here in South America and am working with a team of Americans, as the office here doesn't have much experience in the subject matter. I am learning lots and having to work in both Spanish and English, as we're interacting with a lot of American companies as part of the work, and some of my colleagues don't speak any Spanish. No longer am I the worst Spanish speaker in the office, which is confidence building and liberating! My Spanish is improving a lot as well - my written Spanish and comprehension (oral and written) is now very respectable, and I have come to realize how bad Google Translator really is!!! I am getting much better at speaking as well, but have a long way to go before I will be able to run meetings and make presentations in Spanish.

Work has required less of an adjustment for Jeremy, but he is now starting to transition more into his new role in Projects here in Chile.

That's our update for now! I'll post a few separate posts on Halloween and interesting Chilean factoids in the next day or so. Over and out!

Progress: Moving into a house in Vitacura

Things seem to be improving with “Mission Chile”. Since my last post, we moved out of the tiny apartment hotel and into a really nice house in a beautiful area of Santiago, called Vitacura. Like most comunas (communities) in Santiago, Vitacura is quite large and includes a number of different neighbourhoods, so it is more accurate to state that we live in Vitacura Antiquo (Old Vitacura) in Jardin del Este. This part of Vitacura is walking distance to William´s school, coffee shops, bakeries, grocery stores, restaurants and public transit, which fits our lifestyle perfectly.

The neighbourhood was built in the 1960´s and is famous for the architectural style of the homes. The house itself is a spacious bungalow, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a lot of windows and walk-outs into a large walled garden with remote activated electric gates, which is typical for Chile. The house was renovated right before we moved in, so it seems fresh and new despite its age. The owner lives next door to us and will be making a few additional improvements in the coming weeks, including new windows and the installation of a pool (with a safety fence to keep the kids out). Hopefully the pool will be complete in time for the summer weather.

Another major breakthrough that came along with moving out of the hotel was getting Hasso back from the kennel.

With progress comes complication. Most rentals in Chile are completely unfurnished, which also means that they have no appliances. Knowing this, we spent the weeks leading up to the move buying furniture from Expats leaving Santiago and ordering appliances from a local retailer, just so we would have the basics when we moved in. Unfortunately 6 days after moving in (and four service calls later) we have only just gotten our stove and oven working properly. Like everything here, something as simple as connecting an oven to the gas line in the house ends up being super complex. We are also without some key pieces of furniture, so we have spent the week having picnics on the floor with the kids and have recently brought some patio furniture inside the house to act as a make-shift table. While all this was happening Jeremy had to go on a business trip to Copiapo, followed by a trip that didn´t happen (due to an unfortunate stomach flu that he acquired after drinking tap water in Copiapo) to Toronto.

The next tasks include getting the internet, phone and cable connected, which are also proving to be extremely bureaucratic exercises. I think we will also need to have the house fumigated and the carpets cleaned because Hasso picked up a lovely case of ticks in the kennel and brought them home with him.

This coming weekend is a long weekend in Chile as well. The kids are bored out of their minds from staying home all week waiting for service men to fix our cocina (oven) and we´re all about ready to kill each other, so I think we may go stay in a nice hotel for a night to take a break from all of this!

We´ll be thinking of you all enjoying your turkey dinners this weekend!

Week Three Success Stories

In addition to the stories about our house set-up woes, I thought I’d let you know about some of the success stories.

1) Conquering the Bus System:

Living in Vitacura is beautiful and safe, but the downside is that the comuna is not on any metro lines (which is one of the reasons it is not the target of “opportunistic crimes” like some of the other easily accessible neighborhoods in Santiago).

Fortunately Jeremy can walk to Kinross’ Santiago office in less than 30 minutes, but I need to navigate my way on the transit system to mid-town, in Providencia. On my first workday morning in the new house I decided to test out my new commute, on the bus (which is an entirely different class of transportation than the subway).

I experienced a welcome nugget of Chilean generosity on this first morning when I got on the bus and presented the driver with a metro ticket. Unlike the TTC, the buses do not accept cash or tickets, only a swipe from a BIP card. In summary, the Santiago transit system is far more advanced technologically than the TTC and has chargeable touch-cards (BIP cards) that you can use to ride the entire system. In any case, when I tried to give the driver the ticket and he said something in rapid Spanish in response, I said I didn’t understand and he just shook his head in disbelief and waved me onto the bus. This is how I learned to ride the bus system in Santiago. In 5 days I’ve become an experto on the 405 bus route from Providencial to/from Vitacura, and have figured out the tricks of minimizing travel time by avoiding busy times on the wicked traffic circle that is enroute to my office.

Bus drivers in Santiago are the cowboys of the city. They drive like maniacs, but know exactly what they’re doing and navigate through the busy streets during rush hour with cunning speed. We were warned about driving near buses in Santiago, because they think nothing of side swiping cars that get in their way, particularly in the crazy traffic circles. They also seem to have free reign to decorate their buses as they wish (with their names embossed with stickers at the entrance, frilly curtains across their front windows and other trinkets hanging here and there) and select their own music to blast for their patrons to set the mood for the white-knuckled rides. I thought the King Street car had character, but the 405 bus takes the cake!

2) My first Deloitte Chile Learning Day:

Today was my first Learning Day in the Deloitte Chilean firm, and the theme was “Industries” and the day was hosted by Clients & Markets. It goes without saying that the entire day consisted of presentations in Spanish, so I had my work cut out for me trying to a) piece together what each presenter was saying, and b) try to absorb the valuable content on the Chilean marketplace.

Although I dreaded going, the day turned out to be great. The combination of Power Point and speakers made most of the content a lot easier for me to understand, and colleagues made themselves available to answer my questions after each session so I could fill in any “blanks” in my understanding. The presentations on the economic situation in Chile, water scarcity and telecom industry were extremely interesting and gave me some really good background of the business context in which I am now working.

3) Jackson is Wearing Underwear:

Although the non parents reading this will think it is really lame, I am pleased to declare that Jackson (age 2 years, 2 months) has renewed interest in toilet training and has decided that Spiderman underwear and his Tomas potty seat are super cool. We have had quite a few little potty successes over the last few days and see a small glimmer of hope that we may rid ourselves of diapers in the near term. Fingers crossed that the successes continue! (oh, and Jackson now calls Hasso "Haho" instead of "Papa" too, which is a major break through in his pronunciation of H's!)

Preliminary Observations - Working in Chile

Thanks for all your encouraging and sympathetic emails, blog posts and Facebook wall posts! I know my last blog was a bit disturbing - but it will be something that we can all laugh about in a year (I hope!).

Progress is being made here on many fronts. For example, we should have our house on Saturday and a bank account on Friday, which is huge for us. There are still lots of lose ends but I am confident we'll close them off in due time, as things seem to be accelerating.

I wanted to share some preliminary observations on working in Chile:

1) Kissing:

How many of your co-workers have you kissed? Since coming to Chile, I can safely say that I have kissed each and every co-worker, at least once, if not daily. Each morning there is a steady stream of people coming into the office that stop by to say "Buenas Dias, como estas?" and give me a nice kiss on the cheek. I'm learning to reciprocate but it isn't something that comes naturally to me... as we're so used to respecting people's space and NOT touching each other, no matter what!

I had my first client meeting today. When the senior client came into the room, he approached me to introduce himself and I automatically put my hand out to shake is hand (just from habit), then quickly retracted my hand and offered my cheek for a kiss. He smiled and said "Oh, sorry, you aren't a Chilena, are you?" I was a dead giveaway by putting my hand out, without even speaking any bad Spanish. It turned out fine because he spoke English perfectly, had been to Toronto many times and we had a connection through another client, but it was so funny that the kissing custom gave me away as a Gringo before I could stumble through any bad Spanish. Note: offering two cheeks for kisses also is a dead give away that you are a foreigner.

2) Lunch Time:

It is a well known fact that people in Latin America take long lunches. I can now confirm that this is true. For the most part, even in Consulting, people take a 1 to 1.5 hour lunch, starting at 1 or 1:30 PM. I have been participating in this custom as it is a great way to get to know my co-workers, network and practice Spanish, however it is something that feels so unnatural after many years of wolfing down sandwiches at my desk.

At lunch people typically eat a large meal - more like what we would consider to be dinner in Canada. The lunch places near work all seem to have fixed menus, that come with a starter, entree, dessert or coffee and a drink (for about $6 with tip). Everyone looks at me like I'm from another planet when I skip the dessert and opt for a coffee (and refuse the pisco sour).

Someone in HR told me yesterday that they had an issue when they sent people to Canada for training because the lunches were too small and people were getting really hungry during the day. Hilarious!

2) Cookies and Synthetic Sugar:

At meetings first thing in the morning and first thing in the afternoon, it is typical that drinks (pop, coffee, tea, juice) and cookies are served. Just like in the US, people will drink pop first thing in the morning, but they'll also eat cookies (and many cookies). Also, they have all these different sugar products that we don't get at home - namely sugar pills (small tablets that come in tic-tac-like containers) and sugar syrup. All of this sugar is super concentrated and synthetic... so if you accidentally drop more than one pill into your coffee, you get a serious sugar overload. It is sometimes difficult to get real sugar for your coffee, as the synthetic varieties are rampant here.

There are so many nice people in Strategy & Operations here in Santiago, and I can see myself becoming good friends with many of them. We are discussing getting together weekly for wine, cheese and Spanish/English, as many people here are eager to help me with my Spanish but also get my help with their English. It is a great opportunity to become friends with real Chileans, and really get to know the country and the culture.

The First Week of Work - Alison's Perspective

A dark storm has blown in and "Mission Chile" has become turbulent.

In retrospect, I had a hint of what was to come when I received the agenda for my first day 100% in Spanish. But here is the story of my first week at the Deloitte Santiago office...

My first two meetings were with the admin folks in HR and Consulting to complete the standard documentation (e.g., Visa stuff, Code of Conduct, technology, etc.) and all of it was in Spanish, which didn't phase me because everyone spoke to me slowly and clearly, and I completely understood what was required. By 11 AM I was delivered to the area where the Strategy & Operations (S&O) group sits and met my buddy, Claudia (who is Chilean but lived in the US for a number of years, did her MBA in Europe and worked in Denmark where she met her husband, so she speaks English quite well). She actually told me that she was instructed to speak to me only in Spanish (which was my second hint that something was brewing), but was lovely and helped me by translating when I didn't understand.

Claudia then took me to meet one of the two Partners that run S&O here. As soon as Claudia introduced me to him, he said something to me really fast and in a very think Chilean accent. I thought I knew what he asked me, but wasn't sure - I was a bit fried from three hours of Spanish so far that day, plus a little intimidated to meet this guy, and I second guessed my reaction and didn't answer him. At this point, he threw his hands up in the air and said "What am I going to do with someone who doesn't speak Spanish?" in perfect English. Then he asked me "What is your plan to become fluent in a few weeks?". I was so taken aback, I didn't know what to say - I explained that I had 9 weeks of Spanish classes before coming (two hours per week), and was to continue classes ASAP here in Santiago once HR is able to coordinate them for me. Claudia stepped in at this point with a number of things she thought I could help with - some proposals and projects that were required in English, and other ways that we could leverage my expertise and get around this temporary issue, but it was a brutal first meeting.

In typical Alison fashion (and if you know me well you'll know exactly what I'm talking about), my first reaction was to blame myself for this situation. Here I am in another continent - I've uprooted my entire family (husband, kids, pets), rented out our house (which we have spent loads of blood, sweat and tears renovating, not to mention money), taken a huge career risk by leaving a great job in Toronto, sold a ton of our possessions for a huge discount, etc. - and now I'm completely useless (apparently) to the office here because my Spanish skills are not up to par.

The same Partner called me into his office about an hour later and to talk about some more constructive ideas for getting me up to speed, including full immersion - I am to attend as many meetings as possible to get my ear tuned to Chilean Spanish and I am to speak only in Spanish (even if it is wrong). The entire department now has the mandate to only speak to me in Spanish. I attend 3-4 meetings in Spanish each day and am working on two proposals (in Spanish). I have lunch with different sub groups in my department and have awkward kindergarten-level conversations with them about things I know the verbs to say - like where do you live in Santiago, do you have kids, how long have you worked at Deloitte, etc. It is humiliating and exhausting. I have absolutely gone from being a high performing consulting professional in Toronto, to being pretty useless. To make matters worse, my Canadian computer's hard drive is dead, so I have no access to my files or archived emails - a resolution is in the works but is slow coming. On the bright side, many of the junior staff and two of the female Managers I work with have been quite lovely and supporting. One of them even invited us (including Jeremy and the kids) to a picnic on Sunday, which was wonderful... but it really has been a completely different welcoming than I expected.

On the home front things have been rough going too. We had a temporary nanny this week, as our full-time one can't start until next week. Both kids got a terrible cold and fever (and passed a lower grade version to us)... so they were touch and go all week. Each day I left to a chorus of crying boys, who were clinging to me and wiping their snotty noses all over my suits. A wheel on our stroller broke, so the nanny had difficulty taking the kids to the park with one flat tire (but did anyway). One day William purposely locked himself in one of the bedrooms in the hotel, kept leaving the hotel room and going into the hallway and threw up (after a coughing fit) all in one day... so we came home to an irate Spanish speaking nanny.

We are also still homeless and Hasso is still in the dog hotel. We changed our housing strategy after walking to the two houses in Santa Maria de Manquehue and finding that they are completely removed from the city - we couldn't even push the stroller from the park to the house (for the Hollywood one) as the hill was too steep, so there was no way our middle aged, portly nanny was going to be able to do that. Also, we were increasingly nervous that William and Jackson would need to take a bus to school/daycare. So, we revisited one of the runner up houses in Old Vitacura that was really overpriced, and put in an offer that was accepted. We are now neck deep in the BS of contracts and payments for the house, but are hoping to move in next weekend. The house is 1 block from Alianza Francesa and numerous parks, Jardin Infantils (daycares), bakeries, grocery stores, gyms, transit, etc. so although it doesn't have the view, it is still in a fantastic neighborhood and fits our lifestyle much better. If you want to see where we'll be living, reference the map at http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=110908962556855004094.00049131af458e56d0057&ll=-33.393272,-70.582159&spn=0.010534,0.015407&t=h&z=16. The house is at the corner of Espoz and La Perouse.

AND, Jeremy starts traveling for work this week (but only to Vina del Mar and is driving home each night for all but one night)... but next week he's gone for the entire week to Copiapo and also back to Canada. On the bright side, I am hoping he can bring back loads of maple syrup, Children's Tylenol, and some hard liquor to help us get through the next few months. Maybe he can even take back my dead laptop to get fixed.

Funny quotes/situations from this week:

1) I came home from my first day at work and invited William to go swimming with me, because I had a rough day and needed to do something fun. He asked me why my day was rough, and I said there was a mean person at work. He said "Mommy, not again?!!! This always happens to you!" So funny... what have things come to when your four year old becomes your shrink?

2) On Saturday night we were having dinner together as a family and Jeremy says, "this is so nice - for once no one is crying, or fighting, or yelling and we are having a civilized meal together". As if on cue, William (who just chugged his entire glass of milk in about 2 seconds) throws up his entire dinner, in a waterfall of milk. Ouch.

Hopefully things look up this week! Luckily in all the disasters that happened last week, no one was seriously injured... for that I am thankful. We can only go up from here!

Horseback Riding Two Year Olds and Gringo Torta

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday, so we started the day in the traditional Weyland family way... with a freshly baked Kringle for breakfast. Restricted to the hotel implements, I peeled fresh Chilean lemons and chopped up the rinds instead of grating them, so the Kringle was super ZESTY but delicious!

With the Chilean Bicentennial holiday fast approaching, the festivities were already in full-force. We received several recommendations to visit Padre Hurado Communal Parque in La Reina (a region of Santiago with a great view of the Andes), so we hopped in a taxi and headed there for the day. The park was set up with tons of activities for kids and adults, including bouncy castles, animals, games, airplane/army vehicle displays, etc. They also had traditional fondas set up where there were bands playing Chilean folk music and lots of delicious traditional foods, including melt in your mouth sausages and meet kabobs.

The best part of Padre Hurado Parque was the horseback riding. When we first approached the ride we figured they might let four year old William ride a horse, but there was no way they'd let two year old Jackson! I inquired about the price (equivalent to $4 per kid) and before we knew it, both kids were saddled up and riding ponies across the track with massive smiles plastered on their faces! I kept thinking that there was no way they would let a two year old ride a pony back home in Canada and despite the otherwise incredibly strict rules in Chile, I think this place is pretty cool :) Hopefully this means both kids will be riding horses AND speaking fluent Spanish before we come home in two years!

We rounded out the day with a dinner out (sin los ninos) in the Belle Arts area of Santiago (which looks a lot like areas of Paris) at a Basque restaurant for some very traditional Spanish cuisine, which was incredible. Angelica (our new nanny) babysat the kids and did remarkably well given that Jackson kicked off the evening by flinging a full glass of milk across the living room. I think she might be a Saint! Angelica speaks no English, so working with her has stretched the boundaries of our Spanish abilities and necessitated a lot of use of Google Translator. At the end of the night, she was talking about the "Gringo Torta" and how Jackson kept asking for "Gringo cake" so she kept giving him more... where the whole time Jackson was actually saying Kringle. From now on Kringle will be referred to as Gringo cake in our house!

Today Jeremy did some reconnaissance on "autos usados" (used cars) - we're looking for a large vehicle with seating for 7, so we can hit the slopes every weekend in the winter and truck around our visitors. No luck on this front yet, but there are lots of interesting options available that you can't buy back home. We also borrowed a friend's car and did some more driving around in the neighborhood where we now have two offers out on houses (and should know the status by Tuesday). I have to say that it is going to be very different not living downtown, but living on the side of a mountain Hollywood style is pretty cool, so we're willing to take the plunge for two years (especially given William's school and Jeremy's office is still less than a 10 minute drive away). No matter how you cut it, living out here will be an adventure!

Making Progress & Super Dog Gets Evicted

We are now ending day three of our Expat experience here in Chile.

The Good News:

1) Visas/RUTs: After the mad bureaucratic scramble of lawyers over the last few days, we have our temporary work visas and RUT (Chilean version of Social Insurance Number) now in-hand, so we can work, get paid and spend all our money! What a relief!

Note: Without a RUT you can not open a bank account in Chile, make any big purchases or sign any leases. According to our local friends "You are nobody without a RUT". I feel like somebody now.

2) Housing: We had our first official house hunting day with our relocation consultants. The good (or bad) news is that we have fallen in love with an outrageous house in Santa Maria Manquehue in Vitacura, which is a posh district of Santiago near Alianza Francesa (where William will go to school). The house is in the hills overlooking the city and the snow covered Andes - it is a spacious bungalow (mostly windows), with a huge lot, lovely garden and in-ground pool and tons of room for guests. It has TWO servants quarters. What a waste it would be not to fill both of them!!!

3) Nana Hunting: Nannies are called Nanas in Chile, which is bound to cause mass confusion given that our kids call their maternal grandmother Nana too! In any case, we need a Chilean Nana to take care of the kids when they are not in school/daycare (and frankly, take care of us too). Nothing replaces our Aunty Glyn, but we will hopefully find her Spanish twin somwhere here in Santiago! We met a great prospective Nana today and will continue to interview tomorrow. None of them speak a word of English, which will provide endless entertainment going forward.

The bad news:

1) House Hunting: If we cave and go for the dream house, it will be very painful moving back to Toronto in two years. Even with our new Craig List dishwasher find and swanky ductless air conditioning, our house in Parkdale will seem so non-Californian in comparison to living the Vitacura dream.

2) Eviction: Our Super Dog (Perro Super!) has been evicted from the hotel. Hasso has been turning heads around all of Santiago - people stop dead in their tracks and stare at him when we take him places, particularly when it is four year old William who is walking him (perhaps they think he will break free from William and attack them!). German Shepherds are not uncommon here, but the only place you see them is as guard dogs (Presidential Palace, landmarks, exclusive communities). The non-stray pet dogs in Santiago are mostly small, wimpy dogs that are more appropriate for apartment living.

The goodwill of the hotel management has expired when it comes to Hasso. The maids are fearful to clean our room. The breakfast people do not come around anymore and when they do, they forget to leave key items (yogurt), as they are distracted by our giant dog on the balcony scratching at the window and barking. The straw that broke the hotel management's back was a complaint from a neighbor about a blubbering dog on Sunday, when we were out on a city tour. So, unfortunately, Hasso will be making his way to the somewhat sketchy dog hotel tomorrow...

3) Feeling Like an Idiot: OK, so my Spanish is limited - I had 9 weeks of Spanish classes (2 hours each week) before coming to Chile. My reading comprehension/writing is fairly decent, my listening is getting much better but my pronunciation is pathetic. I tend to get caught in these useless conversations where I reveal myself as a foreigner with my terrible Spanish. For example, at the grocery store they asked me if I was a member of their loyalty club - which I understood and replied "no". They told me how much the purchase was so I handed them cash, then he said something about whether I had X pesos to make the change easier and I understood but got confused and couldn't answer. There was an awkward silence, with the cashier, the bag guy and the lady behind me all looking at me like I was some sort of blubbering idiot. After a few moments their looks turned more sympathetic when they realized that I'm a Gringo. Ouch.

There are more little vignettes to tell you about - like the fact that our cat is not handling the change from Iams to Purina Cat Chow very well - but I won't bore you with the details. At some point this adventure will get very trivial, but until then, hopefully you are finding our stories entertaining as we attempt to grow roots here in Santiago!

The Big Migration

We have finally arrived in Santiago, Chile... our new home for the next two years.

The last few days have been really crazy clearing out our big old house in Parkdale, which we have painstakingly renovated over the last 5 years, to prepare for another family to lease it. It was also a humbling and perspective-building experience to rationalize all of our material possessions to fit into 7 giant suitcases (plus two car seats). I will never shop the same way again - everything screams "Garage Sale!" now when I walk into stores like Canadian Tire :)

The adventure to Santiago began in a highly civilized manner. The logistics were daunting, but through a multi-stage drop-off process, we checked in our dog at Air Canada Cargo, and the rest of us in the main gate with the help of grandparents, Jeremy's siter Laura and the Super Elite concierge.

Fun fact about traveling with pets: We learned that you can't put carry-on pets (i.e., Missy our cat) through the X-ray machine at security. In addition to the chaos of two young kids, a pile of carry-on and three laptops to take out of our luggage, the security personnel had me take Missy out of her carrier and go through the metal detector. If you know our cat, you'll be flabbergasted to know that she was not at all daunted by this - there was no mountain lion-type growling, clawing or trying to get away. Cat nip is the key to success on this one.

Never to make the same mistake twice, we didn't drink too much in the lounge and attempted to time our boarding of the plane perfectly. A large diaper incident and a defiant two-year old sabatoged that plan and we were one of the last groups to board the plane, and struggled fiercely to find stowage space for our carry-on luggage.

Fun fact about traveling with kids: You never want to be the first to board the plane, as the kids will get restless before take-off and are likely to have a tantrum. But, the only thing worse than boarding too early is boarding too late, as all your essentials need to be stuffed below the seats as there will be no carry-on stowage space anywhere in the vacinity of your seats.

The flight went reasonably well - much better than the same flight 6 months ago. Most of the people around us (including the crew) were void of personality and gave us cold stares when our children did anything child-like. The jumping on the seats and kicking a neighboring passenger when she was searching for a rolling water bottle didn't help Jackson's case, but we made it through relatively unscathed.

Bringing a cat into Chile was a breeze via carry-on. I translated (with my limited Spanish) the forms for the vet on duty, and they ushered us through nice and quick :) Bringing a >70 lb dog via cargo is not a breeze. It took over 6 hours to get Hasso released... Just when we thought we had all the paperwork and payments complete, the whole cargo terminal went on a nice long lunch/siesta break, which delayed the process further. We're already feeling the wrath of Chilean bureaucracy!

Our work visa paperwork is now well underway (after the lawyers visited the hotel earlier today) and the lovely hotel management gave us the green light to keep our animals with us, so we are no longer sending them to the mysterious "pet hotel". We have the day to ourselves tomorrow before the serious relocation agenda begins in full-force.

After spending hours waiting for Hasso's release from cargo, and eating lunch at 4 PM with two exhausted kids, then testing out the hotel pool (and accidentally breaking the bathing cap rule), William declared that he "had a great day spending time with Mommy and Daddy". Thank goodness for children - they put it all into perspective :)