Sometimes I feel like a real Chilean, a person who is a card-carrying citizen of Santiago (santiaguino). Yeah, I feel like all the other adults, going to work, meeting with people, creating projects, assembling new ideas and making decisions (tomando decisiones). Yet, in one brief and sudden moment, that dream was crushed and the reality of the fact that I am still just a stranger (un extranjero) living in a foreign land came rushing back full force.
The other day (un otro día), after returning from work at UMCE and heading home for some lunch, I was feeling like things were somewhat on cruise control, meaning I felt I was managing things well and getting my work done in an effective and timely way (una manera efectiva y en tiempo). Yet, when I came to the apartment building that day, I was greeted by the doorman, who looked at me with a dour expression and said that he had some bad news (malas noticias). He told me that a person had come to the building and cut off the electricity to my apartment. I asked him why and he just shrugged his shoulders and mumbled something about a bill (un cuento) not being paid.
After this, I ran up the 10 flights of stairs to get to my apartment, not wanting to wait for the elevator in the least, and sure enough, it was true. No lights, no power, nothing (nada). So, I tried to call my owner (la dueña) for information, but she was unavailable, as well as here assistant (su ayudanta), who was at the moment busy and unable to help. I then called Sarah who was practicing Spanish with her friend Nacho, who is from Santiago. Nacho told Sarah that we in effect had to pay (pagar) the bill, which to me contradicted all the arrangements we had previously made with the landlord. Yet, I took his advice to heart and after a series of phone calls and Internet searches, my job (mi trabajo) was to hit the road and pay the bill.
When I tell people here that I thought the owner paid the bills for services (los servicios), such as electricity and water, and then she billed me in turn, they just roll their eyes at me and say, “never in Chile (nunca en Chile)”. So, a bus ride away, I found myself at the cashier (la cajera) of the electric company and I paid the bill in full with the promise that I would have electricity (la electricidad) in about 5 hours. Funny enough, when I got back to the apartment (el departamento) and prepared for what I believed would be a much longer time and a night filled with darkness (con oscuridad), the lights came on within 2 hours, even before Sarah returned from her Spanish lessons.
Suffice it to say that I had another useful learning experience (una otra experiencia de aprendizaje) that verified the fact that although I have traveled far, I will have a long way to go.
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