Friday, November 14, 2014

Shifting

"Are you missing Santiago at all?", my friend asked.

Since moving to Chile in 2011, I had previously only left for the summer because hot weather and I are not friends and I have no air conditioner in Chile.

When I moved there, I went with the idea of permanency, but this year, I've been out of Chile more than not. I even bought a small condo in the US during one of my visits. So now I have a place to go when I'm not in Chile. It has air conditioning and central heating. Though it's a one-bedroom, it's almost double the size of my two-bedroom Santiago apartment. I have my own parking space and I can easily run to Walmart, Walgreen's, or Whole Foods at almost any time of the day or night.

Do I miss Chile at all? Yes. I prefer walking across the street and shopping at the woefully understocked Lider where I have to time my visits so that I'm not there immediately before work, during lunchtime, or after work unless I want to stand in a long line.

I miss tasty food that is not (yet) completely GMO-tainted, eating things that are in season like we used to do when I was a kid. I miss good olive oil and delicious, inexpensive wine. I even miss marraqueta.

I miss my view of the Andes Mountains though the snow is probably melted by now.

The Metro in Santiago is overcrowded and malfunctioned on a grand scale recently, but it generally works fairly well. And then there are the micros, buses, and also swarms of taxis, not exorbitantly priced. I dislike driving and I miss mass transit, awful as it can be, because apparently I'm a city chick.

I miss my friends and wonder if it's really possible to maintain intimate relationships long distance.

There are many things I don't miss too, but that's for another post. With one foot in Chile and the other in the US, I should feel balanced and grounded. Oddly, I feel just the opposite, as if I'm shifting from one foot to the other, not sure I belong in either place.

2 comments:

  1. I hear you about belonging everywhere and nowhere, and also re: friendships maintained. A/C is comfortable, as is being able to walk to the supermarket. That's the problem with having been somewhere that's not where you're from. Squeezing all those elements into a single place to live seems impossible. But do let me know if you'll be appearing on these shores any time soon (or are you here?) Would love to see you!

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    1. Thanks for your comments, Eileen. I am away until next year. Let's catch up then.

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