A couple interesting and very unrelated things:
1) I don't know if I just didn't notice it when I first got here, or if it has just started cropping up, but today while walking along La Florida (a big shopping district), there were people outside of nearly every other store or so announcing that they would exchange pesos for dollars or euros (this is illegal). I asked a couple of them what the rate they would sell dollars at was, just out of curiosity. For reference purposes, the official exchange rate as of today is 4.55 pesos/USD. One lady told me she would sell me dollars at an exchange rate of 6.7 pesos/USD. I don't know if I just looked particularly easy to scam, but that is the highest black market rate I have heard yet! I usually hear rates more around 6 pesos/USD. (Another guy told me he would sell them to me at whatever price I wanted... clearly asking a 20-something year old guy was not the right move on my part)
2) I am running out of shampoo. What to do, what to do. I plan to get my hair cut my last day here, so that takes care of my last hair-washing. But I calculate around 4 more showers before that. Hmm. Skimp it is...
3) My roommate Deborah is moving out tomorrow due to tensions with my host mom. For me, living here has been stressful in terms of certain issues, mainly food and adapting to her very particular ways of doing things. But Lita has always been very nice to me. In Deb's case, Lita has never been very nice at all. Neither of us are particularly sure why, but when Lita seemed supremely uncaring as to Deb being pretty fairly sick this past week, Deb decided enough was enough, and is moving into an apartment until she leaves on Sunday. This could potentially create a pretty awkward situation for me, as all will be explained after she leaves tomorrow, but I won't have to deal with it for very long at least!
To continue this subject a bit, I'm still a little unsure what to do or say about my host experience after I leave. On the one hand, it has been amazing – couldn't ask for a better location, wifi, I am left alone to do work, she changes my sheets and towels regularly (that definitely didn't happen in Chile! haha), and Lita has been very helpful and nice in all my interactions with her. But on the other hand, living here is like living on pins and needles. We have to wash our dishes, dry them, and put them away – if we forget, or leave something out to air dry, we will hear about it later. Leaving a light on definitely gets you a talking to (this one I understand more). If we don't flush the toilet right, or leave our laundry out on the wrong day, we will get a note left on the toilet seat or on the table informing us of our error. If we don't notify her days in advance about missing a meal, she will passively-aggressively recount a hypothetical event that she would have to miss by someone not telling her about missing a meal with enough advance notice. Not finishing a meal one day leads to an impossibly small meal the next day. And on it goes. None of those are very big things, and they aren't completely illogical, but we ARE paying to stay with her after all. A little bit of warmth, or making us feel like we belong and aren't just a nuisance would be nice.
I personally honestly don't have many real complaints – lack of food led me to actually lose weight in a foreign country, a huge first for me (haha), and I wasn't looking for a very home-y environment anyway. But I can see how it could be really tough for other host students looking for more of an immersive experience to live here, or for people who Lita for one reason or another takes a disliking to. I tread that line in the beginning, but managed to avoid any bad feelings between us luckily!
So in conclusion, writing this has led me to the decision that I will not say anything, unless the housing coordinator specifically asks me about it. Deb has already complained anyway, so they know that some people are not comfortable here at least. I may, however, mention something to Lita about the little stresses of living here, especially since I think a conversation may come up with the departure of Deb...
4) I ate at a restaurant so good today that while eating I found myself planning a trip back in January, this time with my mom so she could try the food. It was just THAT good (Papa, I think you would like it too, but it's more up mom and my alleys – I had a broccoli/squash tarta and soy pancakes with cheese and onions for instance). Ooh! I have a picture:
As usual, I forgot to take the picture until I had already started. And it's not a very good picture (especially since it mysteriously disappeared from my phone and instagram isn't being nice about downloading pictures so I had to take a screenshot of it). But maybe it gives you an idea of how good it was?? Also, the bag contains two large cookies and an apple crisp thing, which also went in my stomach as well, despite the fact that the waitress had apparently determined from the large amount of dessert in my order that those parts were "to go".
Looking forward to my last few days here, and excited for my next stop: San Francisco!
No comments:
Post a Comment