Una Prueba en el Metro - A Test on the Subway

It was hard to get up today, as the days seemed to catch up with me as the alarm went off early. For some reason, the effort that you exert in a foreign country is not directly related to the amount of time you are awake and moving around. It seems that you expend extra energy thinking, sitting, reading, watching, talking, laughing, doing anything at any time in any place.  Yet, we also seem to be fitting more into the Chilean pace of things, starting off easy, making the most of each moment and keeping in the mix.  

After getting ready, Sarah and I went to try and get our ID cards, which are required for everyone here in Chile, both native (nativo) and foreigner (extranjero) alike.  After getting in the line, we were called in and it turned out that my document registering my VISA here in Santiago, which I had done yesterday at the Police station was wrong. The spelled my name "Wiliam" instead of "William". Well with one letter off, like trying to find an address on a Web site, nothing was able to work. From there, our only option was to turn our attention back downtown and see if we could get help and fix this error.

After a brief stop at UMCE, where we met with Claudio and Taty, we embarked for the Metro via Taxi.  At this point, Sarah and I were entering new ground, not being lead around by hand or by car or on foot, but really trying to solve a problem of our own using our own resources and wits.  We made it to the Subway station (the Metro) and found our way to purchase cards (BIP cards) and made our way onto the line. We set our sites on downtown, which required making connections on other lines and transferring, just like adults do in the real world. 

We emerged downtown and made it (by ourselves) back to the police station, got a number (by ourselves) and waited until called. Once inside, we made our case for the needed change (in Spanish) and were finished with the correction in hand in only a few moments.  We felt like winners!  Anyway, we made it back to the Metro, went to another part of town (Provindencia) and looked for the location of a Spanish class that Sarah is thinking of taking. We even found it (without asking anyone) and went inside and talked with the staff (in Spanish) about the course costs and schedule.  After a brief victory lunch, we made it back to the Metro, made a transfer to another line, got off and emerged on the street, and took a bus (we did inquire as to the correct line, we are not all grown up yet) and made it back to the plaza in Nunoa.  

We high fived each other on the plaza and made our way for our little apartment in high spirits.  Along the way, we rode on 4 of the 5 subway lines, made it all over the city and back via Metro, bus and walking.  All in all, we seemed to have emerged from our infancy and have entered full fledged adolescence in Santiago, if we can only avoid the pitfalls of changing hormones and acne... Yet, I am encouraged that we are making a plan, making decisions and relying on each other, and hopefully, becoming real world adults here in Santiago.