Random Thoughts about Chile

I read somewhere that after seatbelts became mandatory in the US, car crashes went up because people drove a tad more recklessly (ie. moral hazard ... from a public health standpoint it was successful because fatalities were reduced). If this is the case then in Chile the drivers should drive more cautiously because no one here wears a seatbelt. But thats definitely not the case. Note: despite being crazier drivers here than in the US it nowhere approaches the craziness of driving in India where in most cars the backseats don't even have  seatbelts.

Because of the dust, people's windshield are always dirty.

Nancy means nobody here.

They say ciao here instead of adios but spell it chao.

My family spends more time cooking food here then we do in the United States. Almost everyday includes a trip to grocery store and home stove cooked meal (my family doesn't have a microwave). They usually go to the store to pick up fresh bread and vegetables, but since they go almost everyday they will also pick up whatever else they need when at the store. Last Friday, I cooked lunch for my family (baked fish with mustard and black pepper). We left the house at 1 pm and didn't started eating until 5:30. During that time we probably walked 4 miles between buying groceries and trying to go to the bank (it turned out it was closed because it was Labor day). Now we had to walk a little farther then normal to get fish because the local supermarket doesn't have them so instead we had to go to the outdoor market. But still that was a lot of time mostly devoted to making a meal. The meal was good and the family made salsa and salad to go along with it. But it was a lot of prep time for just one meal.

My family doesn't have a credit card.

May 1st is Labor day here. I think this is the case for much of South America

While at the outdoor market, I saw a man a man slap another man hard for saying something to his wife/girlfriend.

Kids playing on a playground in Chile sound exactly like kids playing in the United States. A sea of screams, laughs and shrieks.

Along with the typical school chaos there is only one printer for the school, which is kept in the director/principal's office. The office is usually locked and only a couple of people have the key. So often when I print something I am unable to pick it up until the following day ... and sometimes the following day the printout has disappeared. I never knew how much of a luxury easy printer access was at the BLS.

Right now some kids are pretending to sneak into my class room and everytime i look up they run away.