Long time no post...

Hey everyone, sorry for not having posted in a long time. My computer lost its mind last week, and I had to take it in. The good news is I have it back, the bad news is that I lost all my new Chile pictures and now my computer has the Spanish version of OSx running on it, so all my pages, including Facebook and this blog, show up in Spanish. 

In regards to recent news, the biggest things that have happened are that I have found a job and possibly an apartment. In all likelihood I'll begin working sometime after the 15th of this month at the Universidad de Desarollo, or the University of Development. There I'll be working with the dean of their public policy department on several interesting projects. Right now it seems that I'll be administering an exchange program that is going on between the university and an American university, though I'm not yet sure of the details. Also, I will be conducting research here and comparative research with the U.S., attempting to discover ways to change labor laws so that more women can enter the workforce here in Chile. Although Chile is certainly a leader in most things in South America, especially in comparison with more backward countries such as Bolivia and Ecuador, one area where they lack development is in the percentage of women in the workforce here.

The professor with whom I'll be working, Eugenio, seems to be a pretty awesome dude, one of those crazy geniuses- he's fairly scatterbrained. He also said he wants me to teach Spanish to the struggling gringos at the university, in addition to tutoring English.

After finding out I have a paying job, I set out to look for apartments. I've narrowed it down to this one area of Santiago, and within that area I'm pretty sure this one apartment is the ideal choice. I'll be making my final decision today and hopefully will be moving in this weekend or early next week.

Anyway, that's the biggest news that I have to offer. I'm still having a great time and loving the mountains, the weather, and especially the people. By the way, I've discovered the origin of the word "gringo." Apparently it all started when an American company first brought stop-lights to Chile at the end of the 19th century. They couldn't speaking Spanish at all, so in attempting to explain how they worked, they would say: "Red means stop, and green means go. Red stop, green go." Say "green go" a few times out loud and you'll discover the tender name that we've been given by latinos. 

Hopefully my next post will have pictures, including new apartment photos. Otherwise, until next time!