I heart Special K

So despite yesterday's unexpected downpour--that left me very near to being stranded once again in the middle of my street (though this time without a friendly car-toting Chilean in sight)--I woke up to a gorgeous spring-like blue mixed with gorgeous spring-like brightness and even some gorgeous spring-like warmth. Quite the day for Alex to finally arrive. I'll have to remember to never take international flights with him--wherever he tries to go, he attracts hurricanes and freak thunderstorms like tiny magnetic filaments...though, admittedly, they're probably really destructive filaments. Anyway, it was great fun calling him from outside the hotel window as he was in the middle of having lunch with his group. His leader joined in on the fun and started taking pictures with his camera phone, first through the window and then later outside with us on the street, as we said hello. The 21 or so girls in his program thought it was quite cute. And now I have a gigantic box of Mexican-style Special K sitting in my armoir in my room. It may look like it's been through a few wars--and I suppose the situation in the zocaló of Oaxaca wasn´t too far off from that--but I couldn't be happier. How strange it is, after so much time bitterly eyeing the montón of couples mauling each other on every single bench in every single rincón of Chile, to finally find myself next to Alex again. It's fairly surreal, but in a good way.

After our short reunion, I met up with my UV advisor, Pepe, to complete the matriculation process for my three recently decided upon courses. While we were waiting for one of the secretaries to get back from lunch, we chatted about all the places he's been and how neither of us can stand the bureaucracy that is Chile. He also told me that I have a very resistant quality that not everyone has. I don't think it translates very well to English, but I promise it sounded like a compliment--something about being independent, I believe. He seemed impressed that I was managing to live between/within two different worlds--that of the typical extranjero experience, replete with lots of Americans and group activities, and that of a stronger immersion experience. I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but I definitely feel like I'm managing to construct some sort of balance between spending time with friends on the program and spending time trying to truly live as a Chilean. At the very least, I'm super-excited by the fact that I have Chilean friends--friends who seem quite eager to let me copy their homework and tests, which I find odd. Cheating is apparently the norm in this country. But anyway, I'm off to San Antonio for the weekend...which feels kind of odd given the fact that Alex just got here, but I'm excited.