A Day in the Life

I think it’s safe to say that if you’re “lucky” enough to know my blog address, I consider you more than just an acquaintance; and thus, you probably know me well enough that the next four statements won’t come as a surprise. 1.) I’m not a city gal. 2.) I like to run or get some sort of daily exercise, and I try to maintain a balanced, healthy lifestyle. 3.) I’m basically a tidy person. And 4.) I’m relatively conservative, especially compared to others my age. So now, I will elaborate.

1.) According to the latest statistic, Santiago – as the fifth largest city in South America – has a population of 6,061,185 inhabitants, which is more than one-third of the country’s total population. I was generally aware of this before coming to live here, which augmented my anxieties. The city sprawls vastly, nearly to its geographic limitations – the Andes Mountains to the east and hills to the west. The city center is like any other metropolitan area with tall, closely-spaced buildings and multitudes of people, clad in business attire, tourist apparel, or blankets. Smells range from fragrant flowers and trees, fried food sold from street carts, putrid urine, and dog poop from the many stray dogs wandering about. Thankfully, I do not live in the city center, nor do I have to frequent it. Ñuñoa is still part of the city, however, so I hear traffic well into the night, I have to hold tightly to my belongings when walking about, and houses and apartment buildings are gated for security purposes. These next three weeks will certainly be a character-building experience.

2.) That city description transitions well to my next point. Before moving, I also feared that I would not find places to run here in Santiago, but fortunately that has not come to pass. There is a park relatively close to where I live which provides some trails for me to use. It is simply a corridor between opposing directions of traffic on a busy street, so it is by no means as pleasant as running through the Fall Creek trails of Ithaca, the Putah Creek trails of Davis, or my own private running courses home on the farm, but it certainly beats what I had in Reus. I also pass many people taking advantage of these paths, either running or biking, so I don’t feel like I stick out like a soar thumb, as I did in Reus. I’ve even seen several women running.

Nonetheless, I still decided to join a gym. I can go there when I want something different to do. I can lift weights, and there are spinning classes, which, for those of you that have kept up with my blog know, I took a liking to in Reus when my running options were limited. I went to my first spinning class the other day. The gender spectrum weighed heavier on the female side, and many seemed more interested in flirting with the instructor than in working out. But, I just let them attend to their business, and I attend to mine.

And finally, as many of you understand or can at least imagine, with an active lifestyle comes a healthy appetite. I consider my food preferences to be wholesome. I’m glad to be out of the pork-laden diet that I had in Spain and into a culture where fruits and vegetables are fresh and readily available. But, I don’t think Lony completely understands my metabolism. She has frequently made comments to me about how I should be careful about not getting fat. It has actually occurred enough that it’s getting pretty annoying, but I’m doing my best just to bite my tongue.

3.) I don’t consider myself a messy person. Sure, usually my desk has its piles, running clothes may hang on a doorknob, and toiletries may sit on the bathroom counter instead of in the medicine cabinet, but I have never considered my room/apartment messy because of these things, just “lived in.” It has become apparent however, that Lony doesn’t like things out of place. Under the agreement of my rent, I get a bedroom for myself and a bathroom to share with the other student, but Lony insists on doing the cleaning, and she does it compulsively – daily. I often return to my room to find that shoes have been moved from the floor to my closet, windows and/or curtains have been opened or closed, toiletry items have been put away, and dirty laundry set aside has been taken away and then returned clean (which I suppose is not a bad thing.) I’ve learned that I can’t keep a book sitting on the coffee table, my water bottle in the kitchen, or my running shoes next to the door, as all will be moved if left out of place for too long. I have supposed that I could just talk to her, but I’m passive, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, and I figure it is her house after all. Nonetheless, my desk was “organized” the other day after a cleaning spree, and having things moved on my desk is one of my biggest pet-peeves, so I may have to talk to her about that. I know she’s not doing this with malicious intentions; she just has her idiosyncrasies, just as I have mine.

4.) I try to be a diplomat. I don’t like talking about politics or other controversial issues, but when the subjects arise, I try to look at both sides of the coin. Even if I do have an opinion, I generally keep it to myself, as I consider it my own business. But if someone requests a stance, I’m usually on the conservative side of the line. Although, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have moderate or even liberal tendencies from time to time.

I’ve discovered that Lony’s tendencies are generally conservative too. We’ve discussed how we don’t understand some of the modern fashion trends, the appeal towards cosmetic surgeries, and – pardon the expression – the crap that’s on TV. Nevertheless, a couple issues have come up where, in fact, her tendencies are more conservative than mine, and I find myself biting my tongue. For example, she doesn’t understand our generation’s fascination with computers. That’s fine. However, one night she expressed some opinions on the progression of women into the workplace. It could have been that I wasn’t understanding everything she was saying, but it seemed like she was blaming high divorce rates and the downfall of family values to the fact that women are not staying home, having babies, and then caring for them 24/7. I didn’t really know how to respond to her being a 26 year old, single woman, wandering the world for a year alone, with plans of beginning a doctorate program in a year and then furthering a career in agriculture – not traditionally a field for women. I think I just shrugged my shoulders, pretended not to understand, and waited for the conversation to die as I wasn’t in the mood for a debate.