Yin...

Written on Tuesday 6/5... Sorry, I’m still not caught up.

The last couple of days have been a lesson in universal equilibrium. That is, in the last few days, everything that I enjoyed about one day, was perfectly and equally offset the next. Allow me to explain...

The picture to the right is Meghan holding up one of the Jurassic sized leaves from the trees in our neighborhood on a random, fun, but not entirely worth writing about night about two weeks ago. It is entirely unrelated to the story, but I included it, because I like it.

OK. I guess the explanation begins around Saturday late-afternoon, just before I started my shift at Flannery’s. Having observed the general pattern that no one really shows up on time for anything in Chile (not even work), I decided that it wouldn’t do any harm if I prolonged my lazy day of catching up on episodes of “Lost” and messing around online until about 5:25. Normally it takes at least half an hour to get to the Pub, 45 minutes if the buses aren’t running, and about an hour if I am walking. Not thrilled about the idea of working from 5:30PM until 4AM, I figured it would be best to hold out as long as possible. Fortunately, I miraculously caught a bus without waiting very long, transferred to the metro, and was at work at 5:45PM. It is true that I was15 minutes late by absolute time, but once converted to Chilean time, I was still about 10 minutes early and was among the first of the waiters to arrive.

The night was busy but otherwise pretty uneventful, in large part because Verena, the waitress under whom I trained, wasn’t there to cause drama, complain at every possible moment, and patronize and condescend to me as often as possible. I got off at about 3:30AM, made about $30USD for the night which was right about at my average of $3/hour working at the bar. On the whole, it was a very average night: nothing great, nothing horrible. I did have to miss another one of our house’s blowout parties (this one in honor of André’s birthday), but even that I consider a wash, because the parties, while definitely a good time, also cost each house member a fair amount of money (for booze, DJ, cleanup, etc), and I still can’t get comfortable with hundreds of random strangers drinking, smoking, and ashing all over the house.

I waited a little while outside the pub for a cab but gave up after about 15 minutes and once again ran home (those of you outside of Atlanta may be noticing a trend; however, as my Atlanta friends will attest, this pattern of behavior has long since been well-established). When I got home at around 4ish, there were still easily over 80 people in the house rocking it out. I tried to make a b-line for my room but was thwarted by a very drunk Nayara (Brazilian) telling me that I should talk to Adam (hitch-hiker gringo) because apparently the neighbors wanted to fight him. Unsurprised and apathetic, I moved onto the kitchen, where I was accosted by the unattractive and annoying female friend of Adam and John from California, who stopped me to inform me how much she missed me the other night when I bailed on the rest of the gang early (see “A Night to Forget”). I offered a terse and ingenuine apology, assured her that I would be right back, and went in my room and locked the door. Call me anti-social, but I just did not have any desire to stay up until 9AM dancing and mingling on a floor littered with cigarette butts and broken glass with a bunch of incredibly drunk randos, most of whom I hardly know.

The thump-thump-thumping of the music kept me from sleeping until I finally threw in my headphones around 6, and was fast asleep shortly thereafter, completing a very neutral night.

The other TIPs and I had tentatively planned a brunch or picnic or both in the park on Sunday in order to plan our vacation for our break between semesters. By the time I finally rolled out of bed at about 11:30, I had already received a couple text messages about the plans for the day. The last word was to meet at an ice-cream place near our school at about 1:15. Given that it was nicest weather we had seen in weeks, I decided to give myself plenty of time and walk out there. Thinking we had abandoned the picnic idea based on the venue for our little rendezvous, I figured that I had better fuel up before-hand, as ice cream for breakfast is probably not the best way to start your day. I made myself my signature egg and cheese sandwich and was on my way. For 25 glorious minutes I just got to enjoy beautiful 70-degree weather on my way out to meet the gang. I arrived right on time to, predictably, find that no one else was there. Unfettered by this minor setback, I sat down on the patio outside and pulled out the book that I had cleverly brought along for just such an occasion. About 20 minutes later, the first of the others showed up, and the second arrived shortly thereafter. The last of our little party let us know that she would be about an hour late, so we ditched the ice cream idea, and headed to the grocery stores for supplies for the park. Ashleigh offered the wonderful suggestion of mimosas, so I threw a bottle of champagne, orange juice, a few plastic cups, and a banana (you can never get too much potassium) into a bag, and waited for Meghan. We found her just a few seconds after making our purchase, and after a quick stop into a fruit stand for Meghan to pick up any necessary sundries, we were on our way.

As promised, we made our mimosas and sat in front of the fountains watching a little girl drag a curly haired little mutt against his will through the lawn behind us. We talked in general terms about our plans for the break, realized that we couldn’t really make any progress without internet, and instead just decided to enjoy the mimosas and the sun. After taking down the last of the champagne, it was on to the city center to check out the artisan fair and Cerro Santa Lucia so that we could get a better look of the now snow covered cordillera to the east. Ryan bailed in typical Ryan fashion, but Ashleigh, Meghan and I continued on, no worse for the wear.

I wasn’t able to find any posters for my room at the fair, which was the primary purpose of my visit, but it wasn’t a total loss because at least Ashleigh found some earrings she liked. Meghan was jonesin’ for some ice cream, so we made a quick detour to a gelato shop in the city center, and then headed over to Santa Lucia. The weather wasn’t as warm as the last time I went (in early march), but it was nevertheless a gorgeous day, and (relatively) clear from the crazy amount of smog that normally lingers over Santiago. We took a few pictures (included), wandered around a bit, and then I had to go back to the pub to start my shift for the night.


Thinking that I was in for a miserable and painfully boring night at the pub, I was pleasantly surprised by the way it unfolded. For one, there were enough clients early on to keep me busy, though not stressed out. It was even enough to enable me to forget about how incredibly rude and condescending Verena (the waitress that trained me) was when she interrupted me WHILE I was taking an order to tell me to write things down so that I wouldn’t forget.

...An aside: Saturday night I waited on a number of tables at once including one with 12 people who asked for food and drinks without writing anything down. This table was 6 people, all men, and they were just ordering beers, yet Verena felt the need to stop me mid-order to make her oh so well received recommendation...

Either way, the night went faster than I expected, and because the dishwasher was out, the waiters got to share his pay for the night (of course, that also meant that we had to rotate in and out of dishwashing duty all night). Plus, the last couple of tables that came in was a group of 2 guys and about 10 girls who were from New York and were in Chile to perform “West Side Story” at one of the Duoc (the institute where I teach) sites. The only guys with them were gay, and they had the hots for the gay guy that was working at the cashier for the night. The girls knew I was the only one who could speak English fluently because I had run into some other members of their party the night before. They ended up inviting Franky (the gay cashier) and me to their hotel after the shift.

Well, on account of the pretty big tips that Franky and I received from those last two tables, plus all the money we got from the dishwasher’s pay, the waiters ended up making more in 6 hours on a Sunday night than we did in 10 on Saturday, and I walked away with about $35USD.

Franky insisted that I join him at the hotel where the theater group was staying, and being that I didn’t really have any excuse to turn him down, I decided to chaperone his little field trip. We went up to the hotel room of a couple of the girls from the bar, and hung out with them and their two gay friends for a while in their hotel room. Only one of them had any ability to communicate in Spanish, and even he wasn’t faring too well, so I basically played translator for a couple hours, shared some beers with them, and left at about 4. As I expected he would, Franky stayed behind while I woke up a cabby sleeping in his car outside the hotel, and had him take me home. Before I left, the girls invited me to come see the show the following day, which would be followed by a free cocktail party. So a night that included netting about $30, mimosas in the park, beautiful weather, a walk around the city center, a glorious panoramic view of the city, and a comical conversation with a couple of crazy girls and gay guys, concluded with an invite to a free play and cocktail party. Needless to say, I was quite pleased by the way everything unfolded.

Monday, however would be a different story.