A lot here is just like it is at home. We work. We take public transportation. We grocery shop and make dinner. We see the doctor when we need to and hail a cab when it’s getting late. The water apparently flushes the other way, but I’ve really never paid attention. Still, there are many things that prove to be “random” when you move somewhere brand new. Here’s a Top 5 List for your amusement.

Random: Seeing a reminder of home in and amongst it all.

Of course, the longer I’m here, the less random they seem:

1. I could walk right by a famous Chilean athlete, television star, musician, newscaster, etc. and have no idea I’m in such close proximity to celebrity. It’s not that I’m gaga for fame, but having lived in New York City, it isn’t so strange to share a street corner with Jack Black, say, or an elevator with Kevin Bacon (I swear to you this happened, people, so you are now only separated by one degree!) or even to see Mike Meyers twice in one day. Similarly, if anything fame-oriented is going on in Chile, it’s most likely going on in Santiago, but with limited Chilean TV watching and getting all my news in English online, I haven’t quite tapped into Chilean pop culture. Sometimes, I think about that as I’m bustling down the street with so many others: Which one of you might I recognize otherwise?

2. Along a similar vein, I never expect to run into anybody I know, but it has happened. I couldn’t tell you the exact number of people I know here in Santiago, but considering expat groups, my students, and coworkers of mine and Ryan, we have run into a few of them out amongst the throng of six million. So far, it’s happened in the wee hours of the morning at the airport, on a street near home after dinner, and on a metro car (twice). When it happens, it makes everything else going on feel, well, a little less random.

Finding a decorated lama tied up to a door could be construed as just a little random.

3. Sometimes I can place a Starbucks order and sometimes I can’t. Sometimes they understand “Quiero un té verde. Grande.” Annnd sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they think I’ve asked for a Chai latte and ask me what size I would like, for instance. If only everything on the menu at Starbucks was in Italian instead of just the serving sizes–then ordering would be just as streamlined around the globe as are the green mermaid logos, purple chairs, and glass shelves of cinnamon buns, muffins, and yogurt parfaits.

4. Finding a boiled egg in and amongst the contents of a traditional Chilean entree, be it an empanada or pastel de choclo (some variation of a meat and corn pie). I’ve also seen really “artistic” things done with canned tuna and stumbled upon a Kraft-like cheese slice in my burrito.

5. I no longer expect things to work on the first attempt. In fact, now it strikes me as a little random when it does.

For instance, things that have not worked on the first attempt: getting my visa; joining a pool; paying the water/gas/electric bills (they require a third party), paying for groceries; buying a cell phone (that took four attempts and then it was promptly stolen); taking a best guess at arrival time etiquete and arriving to a birthday party on time (should have arrived two hours late) vs. arriving at a work pool party late (should have arrived on time); locating the medical office that was apparently just across the street; and using the oven (I’m still not 100% convinced as to what each symbol represents, so I just turn it to the same one every time, no matter what I’m cooking).

Need I describe?

Meanwhile, things that have worked on the first attempt that I never expected would: mailing a letter, getting furniture delivered; being seen by the doctor at precisely the appointed time; communicating in Spanish with Chileans for an entire night (the Pisco helped); and finding my way on the metro and then a bus out past the old airport to my first class with my first student.

As I can now deduce from these two sub-lists, I tend to blog about the things that did not meet with success on first pass. I suppose that’s when I need to vent a bit to you all in order to make sure my intentions or interpretations were at least sound. Plus, conflict always makes for a more interesting story–that’s one of the first rules of fiction. Who wants to read about the always-serene characters who never struggle or rise to the challenge? That’s not to say I haven’t spoken of the surprise and delight that is this adventure. We’ve had our first Dieciocho to celebrate, friends to gather with, a spring to revel in when it arrives when fall used to, and fellow gringas to thank for their kind welcome and continued help as I navigate all the randomness.

Any guesses on what the building on the far left is modeled after? If you guessed one of the first cell phones, you’d be correct. (I don’t think the cellular company still occupies the building.)

Looking back over these posts, a lot more is making sense because all the struggle and surprise add up to nearly a year where Chile (and all its contents and discontents) really is my new normal.