Lookout Las Condes...I am now on the road

This week as Engineering Week at work.  The HR Team didn't win, but did a great job putting together the offshore platform crane.  Sebastian, Maida, Carmen, Barbara, and Mauricio are pictured below. Engineering Week here is a much bigger deal than in the Dallas office. Everyone came down to watch the competition and there was even a DJ for the event.

This week Frank and Jack came to visit South America. Here they are at Starbuck's with Barbara. We had a good time!!

I finally got my wheels this week...here is a pic of my temporary car...Suburu Forester.  My parking spot is so tiny and is next to a wall, so it takes me forever to park.  Maybe the Chevy Captiva, my permanent car, will be easier to park.

Today, I attempted to go to Jumbo, but after missing my turn, I decided just to go to the regular grocery store, Unimarc.  My apartment has a grocery cart in the parking garage, so I used it to wheel my groceries right into my kitchen.  Pretty darn convenient!

Today is an important day, as it the one year anniversary of the 8.8 earthquake that struck Concepcion at 3:34 am.  Santiago is extremely well built and did not suffer significant damage. We've had two earthquakes since I've been here but I haven't felt either.  It's interesting how many earthquakes happen each day. Here is a website that tracks them: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/S_America.php

Off to watch the Oscars en espanol...no english broadcast :(   Have a great week everyone!

Party, Party, Party

Busy weekend!! Friday my work friends came over to my apartment for a happy hour. Before the party, Trinidad and I stopped for lunch at Domino, which is a famous soda fountain here (fuente de soda). I had a brazilian sandwich (filet, cheese, avocado on a hamburger bun) and fresh squeezed OJ. They have great juices here!

Here are some pics from the party. I wish I had a pick of the food...Trinidad made the best looking plates of cheese, peanuts and crackers with Chilean flags for toothpicks. 

 

 Saturday some friends took me out for a full day of fun! We went to eat sushi at Too Much Japanese, then we rode the metro and a bus to Parque Arauco to go see The Tourist. I took some pics of the movie theater...

This is a popcorn machine...they still have popcorn that you can buy at the concession stand..but this was neat:

Look at the chandeliers in this place (might be a little hard to see...cell phone camera)

 Mis amigos

We walked around the mall for a bit afterwards and took a pic by the fountain

Then we walked past two girls dressed as princesses which confused us...until we later ran into three people on stilts. It was some type of carnival/royal themed event the mall was putting on. The mask one guy was wearing was creeping me out...but none of the kids seemed to think twice about it. 

Dinner was at the same pizza place in the mall that I had gone to with Elvia a few weeks ago. Pizza and an appetizer plate of cheese, shrimp, toast, and meats. Good stuff...except the shrimp still had their heads on and they were staring at me.

These are the straws I had at the party..I love them and have a ton left over...so today I am using one...lol

Some of my valentine's flowers were dying, so I made a new smaller arrangement. I think Martha Stewart would be proud!

I guess that just about wraps up this post of random weekend activities. I am going to go meet some other friends for brunch at Cafe Melba in a bit. Cafe Melba serves American style breakfasts....very unusual to find here.

Have a good Sunday everyone!

Eyelashes

Just got my eye lashes tinted and curled...they went from clear to black..which is great...but now I think I need some thickner/extensions...lol. I wonder how long the curl lasts....will report back!

Off to shop for my housewarming party!

Howdy

Yesterday Trinidad and Maricela took me to Al Fresco, a Peruvian restaurant in Las Condes (http://www.alfresco.cl).  It is listed in my 100 best restaurants in Santiago guide.

We had a Peruvian pisco sour...which I have to admit was better than the Chilean ones I have had. We also ate salted puffed corn....I don't know how they cook it...but it's not hard like normal corn kernels. 

We ate ceviche and the main course below...two typical Peruvian foods. On the left is chicken in a creamy sauce, the middle is rice with giant Peruvian corn, and the left is lomo something....steak, onions, french fries and an egg (I think it was a quail egg based on the size).

Me, Trinidad, and Maricela

Afterwards, Trinidad and I decided that we will have my house warming party next Friday after work. So off we went to the mall to get some things. We went back to Casa&Ideas and I bought a table cloth and some candle holders. Then off to HomeCenter, which is like Home Depot! Lots of good stuff in there! I found bath mats and a scale.  Trini told me there was a store next to HomeCenter that is similar to Jumbo that I will have to go to today to stock up on food for the party. I am also going to try to make some chocolate chip cookies for the folks at work...first time cooking in my little oven...so we'll see how it goes!

Milk update: I found this type of milk that comes with a pour spout. Much better than the first milk I purchased!  

Ciao!

Feliz Cumpleanos mi saltita!!

Happy Birthday Boogie Baby! Today my little girl (mi guagua) turns 7 years old.  Here is a pic of her enjoying her birthday treat Mom bought for her:

Cee Cee decided to come to Boogie's birthday party too. She has that all too familiar "don't even try to touch my bone or I'll kill you" look in her eye.

Two other good things happened today!

1) I finally found a manicure/pedicure place.  There is a park called Parque Peru right next to my apartment building. There they have an underground parking garage for the area....well it turns out there are also shops down there!  Who knew! I had been looking at that parking garage entrance for two weeks now and never realized what was down there!  

2) My parents booked their flight to come see me in April. Grandparents are coming in March. Space is booking up! Get your reservations in early :) 

Gotta go clean my apartment...my new maid starts tomorrow...cioa!

Week in Review

Hi everyone!  Here is a recap of my week:

On Sunday, our visitors from California and Atlanta arrived to help us with some of our processes at work. But before reporting to work on Friday we headed out to Vina del Mar and Valpo to do some sight seeing.  We had lunch at a beachside restaurant and went to the casino. This picture shows what the majority of the drive looks like to get to Vina. 

Monday night when I left the office I noticed a bunch of teenagers hanging around on the corner near the Ritz Hotel. I didn't think anything of it because it was summer, but when I arrived to work on Tuesday morning there were at least 50 people outside once again. The numbers kept growing and growing and eventually we figured out that Selena Gomez (Disney channel star....I think)....was staying there.  The fans were chanting and waiting out in the hot sun for days...they were there from Tuesday till Thursday night. They kept us entertained all day since we had a good vantage point of the spectacle from our meeting room. Our visitors were staying at the Ritz so we were able to get near the building. In fact they even saw Selena at the pool one evening and got her autograph for one of the super fans outside. Dan snapped a pic of me in front of the smaller crowd Tuesday morning. 

Thursday was a monumental day....I rode the metro twice!  It is very nice and clean down there and user friendly. They have random stores that sell everything from underwear to empanadas to jelly. I will try to venture out somewhere on my own soon to see if I can master it. 

On Thursday night, Michelle and I got invited to a birthday part of a fellow co-worker. We had a good time at the bar/night club/restaurant and drank some margaritas.  It was very nice of them to let us in their circle!!  The bar played the most random mix of music...hip hop, Elvis, Beatles, 80s music....it was fun!

Friday night Michelle had to fly back to the US, so after work we went in search of Chilean food. We found it at a 130 year old restaurant...I think the waiter was telling me it is the oldest restaurant in South America...but I am not certain if that is correct.  We had empanadas de carne (beef), shrimp in spicy sauce (that is not spicy at all), shrimp in an avocado, and these little corn cakes that you split open and put pico de gallo inside.  Delicious!!  We also ordered pisco sours but decided they were not our favorite.  Side note: there are passion fruit pisco sours at the Ritz, so I hope to go over there sometime and try one!

After lunch we grabbed some ice cream and then boarded the Touristik bus that runs you around the city and points out the important landmarks.  They are double decker buses like in London. 

This is the Parque Arauco mall...wanted to point it out since the latter part of this post will be mainly about shopping. It was the theme of my weekend.

Before we go onto the shopping...look what I did to my dishwasher the second time I used it.   (The first time I used it I was putting rinsing agent in the machine and not detergent...thanks Michelle for pointing that out!!). The second time I dumped waaaaaay too much soap in there. LOL!!! I know Michelle will laugh at this!  All is better now and I successfully completed a load of dishes today.

Grocery shopping has not been much of an issue at all. The produce in this country is great..and you can pretty much find anything you are looking for (other than jalapenos).  For example, I found Quaker Quadritos cereal that tastes just like the oatmeal square cereal I used to get in the US.

Shout out to Barbara for telling me about Casa&Ideas. This place is like IKEA but smaller and without the furniture. It has tons of home good items for cheap!!!  

My floors in the apartment are wood and tile...and going onto the balcony makes my feet so dirty...so I found a pair of inside and outside slippers at Casa&Ideas. The outside pair looks like green marshmallows..but that is ok!  I am sure they do not pass the Grimmett fashion test....lol!!

At Casa&Ideas I got these picture frames and candle holder so my apartment will start feeling more personalized.  I went back there today and bought bedding, so I will post pictures of that once I finish decorating my bedroom.

I bought these fun hair bands at Falabella.  Look at the shopping bag they came in..it's like a gift bag.  Lots of the shops and restaurants here seem to take a lot of pride in wrapping the goods they sell. Makes purchases that much more fun I guess!

So after hitting up two malls and j\Jumbo, I pretty much laid low the rest of the weekend. Thanks to some expert who posted on the Expats In Chile website, I was able to find a site to watch US tv for free!!! I have been catching up on all of my shows.  

I did manage to get out of the house last night and go for a walk to explore my neighborhood more.  I like looking at all of the painted benches around town.  I posted a pic of one before and will keep posting when I can sneak a pic!  Nothing makes me look more like a gringa than whipping out a camera.....well that and the fact I am the tallest person on the street and have blue eyes. Anyway....all is well in Chile! Can't wait for people to come visit!!!

Chow for now!