top 5 food and drink

1. Beer- Kuntsmann Miel
2. Seafood- Machas a la parmesana
3. Liquor- Pisco Sours at Mercado Central
4. Fruit- Kiwis from La Vega Central; Tomatoes and Avocadoes from anywhere!
5. Vendor Food- Napolitana Empanadas

someone's going to die

this is the thought i have every day, at least twice a day whenever i hear a motor vehicle. now i'm not sure if they have poor rubber quality down here or what but the screeching of vehicle tires is so jolting that scott and i haven't stopped looking every time, expecting to see an accident. there never is.

unity is hope

Barack Obama has inspired those across international borders. anyone who needs any sort of proof should just look at the pictures sent around post-election 2008 (people hugging random people/kids sharing flags/celebrations in Japan, Australia, Europe, Africa). above is a bit of a sketchy painting but you don't have to look long to figure out who that is (unidad and esperanza- that has to be the new US president!).

now there isn't too much discussion about the US. in fact, Chileans only seem to know random folks in the US. fact of the day, people generally love Whitney Houston internationally, not sure if it was "the bodyguard" or her voice. anyway, i would say pretty consistently i am surprised by who Chileans know and who they don't. They might know Angelina Jolie but not Johnny Depp. pretty rando...

this collective belief in Barack Obama was highlighted by a class i had during the first week of school. the assignment was to look through 3 popular magazines (Time, Newsweek and People) and find three images or articles and write about them. students completed the assignment with varying degrees of motivation and interest. the one i was most impressed with was inspired by a photo of an african american hand (not clearly Obama's- but could've been) holding onto many different hands all in a chain. the students wrote a montage of qualities that emanated from the photo for each of them: words like fraternity, strength, equality, power and union. they wrote more and with more interest during that assignment when compared to any other so far. they also wrote sentences like "Mr. Obama is the first black man to be president." they could have written about Batman, Heath Ledger, Britney Spears or any other cultural influence the media produces from the United States but they decided to write about him.

kind of exciting to see a mural of our president in a country populated by pictures/phrases/paintings of Che Guevara and other revolutionaries.

clean-up of rando thoughts on aisle 5

1. scott saw a large tub of mixed pasta at a market and really wanted to eat it, turns out it was for dogs. scott undeterred.

2. you can't have your deli cheese sliced here because there's no machine for cheese, says the man while he's slicing our ham.

3. a young man came within inches of the back of my head in an attempt to throw a rock at a car- no camera was available. scott- previously aching to witness a riot- took off running in the direction of safety.

4. bus driver takes time to explain to us that we can't ride his bus unless we can beat him to the bus stop two blocks away.

5. cow blood isn't scary and doesn't stain your shirt. we saw a lady throw three packs of steaks under her arm like a large clutch atop a nice silk shirt. kind of where you might throw your screaming child to hold him in place.

6. evangelism takes on a new meaning when you dress up like jesus with a flowing white cloak and sandals and ride a bike with rainbow streamers, attach a front basket with a large cross and fly like the wind.

7. aloe may not be native to santiago parks. i stopped to pick some off a plant to put on scott's lips (which have been sore), telling him i know it doesn't taste great just try not to lick your lips, i promise it will help. long story short, it was not aloe.

8. chocolate is kept locked away like cigarettes in the US. you know the plastic containers with the metal locks in the middle? testament to Chileans' sugar addiction.