Some differences...

Ok...so I thought I would write about some of the differences that I have encountered during my time here in Chile. They are not good or bad...just different. We must keep an open mind!
1. My older chilean sister works at a Blockbuster in the grocery store. She only makes 8000 pesos an hour (around $1.60). That is not a lot at all. She said that there was not really a minimum wage. When I told her that I made around $50-60 a day at Johnny Rockets as a waitress...she was floored. She said that waitresses here do not make that much either. It just does not make sense because the cost of living is higher here and the people make less.

2. We eat white bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now I am not complaining because it is good bread, but it is not really healthly. So today I bought wheat bread to eat. I am trying to be a little healthy here. I try to eat fruit and vegetables a lot. But I do not know what goes into the food that my grandmother here cooks, so I do not know if it is healthy or not. I know it has a lot of salt which is not good.

3. When you eat out here (despite pizza/italian, chinese, fast food, etc.) it is exactly what you would eat in your house. Now maybe this is not weird because I guess in the US we have Applebee's and Ruby Tuesday's and people order chicken or meat that you would eat at home...but in my family when we go out, the food in the restaurant is not like the food at our house. But here, most restaurants have salads (tomatoes and avocados), rice, meat, soup, spagetti...just so normal and plain. This is what I eat at home, so why go out? But I like going out...so this is the problem that I face.

4. They do not have dryers for washing clothes because it uses a lot of energy. I have to hang all of my clothes up on the balcony outside. And washing clothes is interesting too because in order to conserve water, I use the same water for my whites, darks, and jeans. I have to wring out the whites and then put the darks in the same water. It is kind of hard to explain, but it is an interesting process.

5. Pharmacies are everywhere here. But the annoying thing to me is that everything is behind a counter. There are few pharmacies where things are out where you can pick out what you want and then pay. It is even more difficult for me (a gringo) because I do not know the word for "razor" or a specific type of medicine I may need. It is so fun to describe everything I need...I think my acting skills are improving too! I have not been able to find shaving cream for women either...not really sure why. So I just use soap for now (which is working fine...I guess shaving cream is a luxury). School supply stores are the same way...everything behind a counter.

6. Most families do not have coffee makers. My family does not even drink coffee in the house. If people do drink coffee in their house, it is instant (gross). You can find real coffee in cafes, but in homes, hot tea is really popular. I like hot tea so that is good. My family has a theory that you should not drink cold things in the morning or a night. They thought I was really weird drinking cold juice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They think that hot beverages expand your stomach in the morning to help with digestion and calm your body at night. I like hot tea at night...it does relax you.

7. The Starbucks here are awesome!! They are usually 2-3 stories with lots of seating and comfortable chairs. And they have Wi-fi. The Starbucks in the US do not have lots of seating usually. This is probably because in the US everyone is on the move...actually sitting down for coffee and conversation is a little rare. But in Chile, they combine the goodness of Starbucks to-go with area to stay! I like to do my homework there. And on that note, I did my homework in about 1.5 hours (that is unimaginable at Wofford).

8. As my mom pointed out, you may be wondering how my younger sister helped me make cookies on Friday morning. Well here, because the schools are small, 11th and 12th grade students have class in the morning until 1:00pm. Then 9th and 10th grade students have class in the afternoon until 7:00pm. I like it though because my younger sister is here to hang out in the morning and my older sister is here in the afternoon (when she is not working).

I think that is all for now!
Chao,
Jennifer