Going home.

Leaving for Pennsylvania at 6:50am tomorrow. Bright and early taxi coming to pick us up at 5:15! I hope everyone enjoys the holidays wherever you are.

I'm making a point to disconnect from the internet for a few weeks. I will, however be checking my email occasionally, and will probably have to chat on skype with family in Chile. I can't remember the last time I really disconnected, so it will be a new experiment. I plan on reading Don Quijote, making pies, and watching lots of TV.

Milk and Honey

I'm really not a big fan of milk. I love milk products: all kinds of cheese, yogurt, ice cream. But it used to make me gag as a child.

I'm also lactose intolerant. This has faded with age and now it barely bothers me. Pretty much now I just can't drink whole milk or eat a pizza covered in cheese. Well, to be honest, I'm not sure if it's gone away or if I'm just so used to having stomach aches it doesn't bother me anymore.

My uncle's an orthopedic surgeon and my aunt grew up on a dairy farm and I remember that as children my cousins used to sit down for every dinner with a giant glass of cold milk. I would get poured a glass, too, and struggle to choke it down. It was really the only time anyone ever put a glass of milk down in front of me and said, "Drink."

I'm a little bit scared I might develop osteoporosis, but my diet has always included plenty of cheese and yogurt, so I assume I have always consumed the daily minimums.

But finally, at 24 years old, I bought a bottle of milk two weeks ago and was actually surprised at how good it tasted.

The reason I drank it was because my doctor recommended taking a certain medication with a glass of milk at bed time so that it wouldn't irritate my stomach. She even said that warm milk might help me sleep, even though it's rumored to be just a myth. Since neither O. nor I drink that much milk, I bought one of the smaller containers that was an expensive kind of milk, but less expensive than the full gallons and half gallons.

It was called "Promised Land" Milk from Floresville, TX. When I warmed up my mug of milk and took a sip, I was shocked at how good and different it tasted. There was no bitter bite to it, no wateryness. Just creamy, dreamy milk. So I took a slug of the bottle, cold. The taste was full, sweet and creamy. So much creamier than other milk's I have tasted. It was sweet and clean going down.

No stomach ache later, either.

I didn't think much of it until I bought another, bigger and cheaper bottle again at the supermarket. I though, hmm, maybe I finally like milk. Nope. When I got home and made my glass of warm milk there was a strange after taste and it seemed like bitter, milky water. I emptied my mug down the sink.

What is with this Promised Land stuff, I thought. Is it heroin-laced?

Well, this is what Promised Land says on their website:

Is there a difference in milk products?

We think so...
At Promised Land Dairy our milking herd is made-up of all Jersey cows. Jersey cows are known for their rich creamy tasting milk. Although, Jersey cows produce a smaller volume of milk than the much larger, more commonly used black and white Holsteins; Promised Land Dairy milk is 20% higher in calcium and 10-20% higher in protein (seasonal variations).
All our milk comes from our All Jersey Co-op. Because we know the source of our milk and control the herd, we know the quality of the milk. The cows in our herds are fed a diet to produce the best milk and healthiest cows possible.
The herds are not injected with rBST hormones. We believe a healthy herd, fed an all-natural diet, produces the best milk. Many, perhaps most, dairies inject their cows with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, rBGH or rBST. These artificial hormones are used to increase milk production. *Although the FDA states that they find no significant difference in milk from cows that are injected and not injected, we choose not to use this artificial hormone. You can decide for yourself if the use of this artificial hormone is something you or your family wish to ingest, by entering "recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone or rBGH and rBST" in your browser's search engine.

So there you have it. The secret lies in the Jersey Cows. If you ever have an opportunity to try this kind of milk, I highly suggest it. It's really heaven in a glass. Heat it up and mix in some honey. I promise you, you'll be sleeping like a baby. I just finished off my mug and I'm already drowsy. Goodnight!

Love.

I just had one of the nicest days with my stepdaughter, ever. I don't think I'll ever forget it. She watched movies while I typed away on my computer snuggled up in our bed. Midday we took a break and looked at the turtles in the river. In the afternoon we had healthy chocolate chip cookies (I'll post the recipe later) and milk.

I'm chipping away at my paper.

I don't want her to leave! She has become so sweet, mature and well-mannered. I can't even believe it. I love her so much!

Quick update

Oh just normal end of the semester unraveling:


I'm pulling an all nighter tonight. I barely slept yesterday because I was so nervous about step daughter's solo flight.

Happy Birthday to me, O. lost his job, I'm seriously behind in papers and I had to go out and rent 4 movies for his daughter to watch tomorrow so I can get some work done.

I feel like I'm so used to ups and downs at this point it doesn't even phase me anymore. I am so glad I'm on SSRI's or I'd be at complete melt down stage.

We're trying to take it all in stride. I said, well at least you lost your job today and not the day that F. leaves. At least now you can spend more time with her.

That and, I'm kind of considering coming back to Chile. In a really rational and intellectual way. Thinking about what's really better for my family as a whole. Slap me out of it, please.

But believe it or not it was actually a nice birthday, I had a great dinner at an awesome Mexican cafe. Hello, less than $7 entrees and frozen sangrias, hello! Made me miss my little Manuel Montt Mexi restaurant, Los Cuates, quite a bit, though.

Barefoot Rebellion

I'm afraid to write this entry, thinking I'm going to jinx myself into contradicting pneumonia, or the Asiatic flu. But I wanted to point out that I've been in the US for 8 months now and neither O. or I have gotten sick. In Chile, especially during the winter, I would get sick at least 3 times and it would usually last for over a month. The worst I've ever been was during my wedding when I was sick for so long that I got tonsillitis and had to take antibiotics. The bad thing was that they were so strong they made me want to puke. The good thing is that they made my skin so clear for my wedding that I barely had to use foundation.

I was certain that O. would probably get sick here. In Chile everyone talked about the different "bichos" that existed in each country, so I figured that the new ones would make him sick like they made me sick in Chile. Nope. Not at all. He does suffer from slight seasonal allergies and takes an OTC Claritin when it's bad. But in Chile he used to get a sinus infection at least once a year and have to take antibiotics and so far so good. Changes of temperature? Nope. This past week the temperature has ranged from a high of 70 one day to a high of 41 the next. Still not sick. Walking around barefoot? Tampoco. We don't wear shoes in our apartment. I also let my hair air dry. Still not sick.

Guess what Chile? I think there are three things that make everyone sick all the time and they don't include drafts of cold air or pies pelados: 1. Crowded transportation 2. No one fricking washes their hands 3. The ESMOC.

So honestly. Get over it. I will walk around barefoot with wet hair in the middle of winter no matter what you tell me! And I'm still not sick!

My step daughter LOVES being able to go around in pies pelados in our house. The other say she whispered to me, "Amanda, ¿tengo que usar pantuflas todo el tiempo en la casa con ustedes?" (Do I have to wear slippers all the time in your house?) I said, no, of course not. She said, "¡Yipee!"

Wedding photos, revisited.

Looking at Kyle's amazing wedding photos not only puts me in awe about how amazing her photography is, but also makes me a little bit sad about not liking my wedding photos. I shouldn't complain, we paid about $200 for the shoot and the prints. Put I decided to take to iPhoto and attempt to edit a few to get prints for Christmas.

This one is a photo my Dad took, which I edited and I'm actually pretty pleased with how it came out.

I'm a soup nut.

There are two things I'm obsessed with. One is the Gmail Tea House Fox. This little guy lives in my Gmail. Every two hours he changes his activity, which range from sweeping his cute little house, to having tea with a monkey friend, to picking flowers to sleeping while ghosts play a board game on his little table. At nightfall, he lights his little lanterns and at daybreak he practices tai chi with rabbits. It appears he eats a bowl of soup and vegetables at night, and sometimes you can catch him serenading some little chicks with a flute.

Is it weird I'm obsessed with a little computer fox? Probably. That I want to make a house identical to his and live a happy little zen life like he does? More so. And the fact that I changed the time settings on my gmail within every 2 hour zone so that I could see his daily activities in succession? Scary. But the good news is that I wasn't alone, my best friend, Magdalena did it, too. I think that's why we're best friends.

The second is soup. I'm a soup nut. This term was coined by Mike Myers. Well, Mike Myers's mom. He was on David Letterman in 2002 and talked about his mom being a soup nut. Well, I guess it's much funnier if you read it, sorry I couldn't find a video. I guess 2002 was pre-You Tube:

Letterman: -How is your mom doing?
Mike: Oh my moms awesome, you know my moms name is Bunny, she's getting on, we call her the Energizer bunny.
(audience laughs)
Letterman: And she gets things, but kind of in a different version, she gets a different version of everything, right?
Mike: My moms eccentric..uh..she has no internal monologue. Um ya..you know when we were driving there we were stuck in a car jam, and it was hot, like a million degrees, and my mom said (imitates mom in English accent) 'You know, I'm a soup nut.'
(audience laughs)
I said what do you mean? She goes (imitates again) 'I love soup, don't give me a steak, I'll take a soup every time. I'm like 'What the hell I'm going to get a star in the walk of fame!! It makes no sense!' It's crazy! It's just weird things like that, we were at the restaurant afterwards, and she went (imitates) 'Michael, I seem to be short of lap', I go 'What the hell is short of lap?' (imitates) 'I'm short of lap! She gets mad like I'M the idiot! 'Short of lap!' And I look down, and her napkin had fallen, and I said 'Oh your napkin fell' (imitates) 'Yes, I don't have enough lap, and it fell' and I said 'What are you an English wind talker!?'
(audience laughs)
It's like you're telling me these things, so the Germans won't find out or something!
(laughing)
We don't want to give unnecessary information to the enemy!
Letterman: God bless mom.

But really, I love soup. Like Mike Myer's mom, I'll take a soup every time. I eat soup at least once a week, if not twice. If I lived alone it would probably be every day. That's why when I came across this resource at MyRecipe.com I got really excited and needed to share.

I know this post is silly. My brain is fried. I just finished a 15 page paper on feminine space and hidden eroticism in the poem "Nocturno" by José Asunción Silva. I needed to post about something silly.

My advice for Visas, Tramites and immigration paperwork

Heather asked me to post about the process I went through applying for my husband's U.S. Permanent Residency from the embassy in Chile.

First of all, I have to say that I love the U.S. Embassy in Chile. They get a bad wrap because they deny a lot of people visas (it's happened to many people I've known) but we had nothing but a great experience with them. They were fair, clear and respectful to us every step of the way. They promptly responded to any email that I sent and for me, it felt like heaven compared to the horrible time I had trying to get my temporary resident visa in Chile.

I arrived in Santiago on June 22, 2007 and got married a month later. I am so glad that we decided to apply for Oscar's greencard in Chile rather than do it here in the States. People who I've known go through the process in the U.S. wait so much longer for it all to be complete. Some have waited nearly two years to get everything together. For us, the process took 3 months and we were in the states only 4 months after submitting our initial application. Obviously these windows of time vary based on how many people are applying, but I felt so blessed when it was over so quickly.

My only complaint about the whole process was the cost. At the end we had spent nearly $1000 on all the fees and paperwork. So if you're planning on doing it, save up! We luckily were both employed and just happened to have that money saved and were able to pay for it. But for a lot of people it's a huge cost.

The embassy has a list of all of the directions here. Obviously things may have changed since I applied a year ago, so I highly recommend that you use that as your guide. In fact, I'm not even trying to type out step by step instructions of my own because it's very possible it has changed and it's also possible that I have forgotten something. I am going to write out the things that surprised me or that I wish I would have known.

1. You must be physically in Chile for 6 months prior to your initial application in order to be eligible to request the visa from the U.S. Embassy. Otherwise you have to do it at home in the States. Let me tell you, it's worth waiting six months to do it in Chile. The six months can be proven from your entrance stamp in your passport. It's not six months after getting your visa. For example, I didn't get my Chilean temporary residency visa stamped into my passport until November 2007, and I applied at the end of December, 2007 for the U.S. visa for Oscar.

2. Read EVERYTHING, inside and out. I must have read every single form about 5 times before beginning to fill them out. Make photocopies of every single form before you send it in. At one point of the process they had lost one of my husband's forms and luckily we had it in our folder and just brought out the photocopy. It totally saved us time.

3. As an English teacher in Chile, I was completely too poor to sponsor my husband on my own. Instead of trying to prove that our assets took us above poverty line, I got my mother to co-sponsor Oscar. This part of the paperwork is very confusing because I wasn't sure if she was a member of my household or not. Well, she wasn't, instead it counted as a co-sponsor and that person can be anyone with the US passport, it doesn't have to be a family member. She had to complete her forms in the U.S., get them notarized, and then send them to me with a copy of her passport. Even though my mother was a co-sponsor, I still had to fill out the forms as if I were applying, too, and submit my paychecks. That was also confusing, but we ended up doing it all for good measure.

4. There's a lot of confusion about whether or not you have to get your forms in Spanish (like marriage certificates, etc.) translated. We had them translated and it ended up not being necessary. The language is vague in the instructions, but it turns out that as long as all the documents are in Spanish or English you're fine, it's just if you have documents in another language that you have to get them translated.

5. O. and I never had to prove our relationship. I'm glad because at the time we didn't have a joint bank account and my name wasn't listed on our apartment. We did however have copies of our family insurance policy and wedding photos prepared, but those were never needed. I have a feeling that me being in Chile was proof enough for them, but we were ready with everything just in case.

So basically, all you need to do is go to the website, read up, and plan in advance. If you plan on moving to the States in the next 6-12 months, it doesn't hurt to start the process early. I believe that after getting the resident visa in the passport, you have 6 months to enter the U.S.

Entering the U.S.

1. They give you a sealed envelope with all of your information to turn into immigration officials when you enter the country. So, we both went together through the U.S. Citizens/Permanent Residents line and they made us go to the immigration office. This step took about 2 hours, so I really really really recommending having plenty of time to get onto your connection flight. We also go there at like midnight, so there weren't that many people working. We flew in from Bogotá so quite a few people in the office were there with problems, so the wait was long. However, the people there were also amazing and so nice and respectful. The officers made jokes and were so kind to us. I really didn't feel like they were out to get us at all. They just had to go over everything and processed the information that O. had arrived to the country.

2. Technically you can work as soon as you step foot into the U.S. You use your visa in your passport as proof of eligibility until you get your Social Security number. Employers were a little paranoid and didn't really seem interested in hiring O. until he had a number, which I uunderstand, but it is in fact legal.

3. O. got his Permanent resident card in the mail a few weeks after arriving, however, his social security card never came. So he had to go to the office and they requested one for him. This card never arrived to our house. To be honest, I think someone stole it. However, after that, they had one sent to the actual office and O. was able to go there and pick it up. This was a little bit shady and we are going to be really careful to make sure no one is working illegally with O.'s number every year. You check this by doing free annual credit reports and verifying your tax information.

4. I recommend getting an international driver's license before you leave Chile. The U.S. honors it for up to a year after you arrive, so it allows you to drive before you get a proper license in your respective state. PA was harder than others, so had to take a test, then get a permit, then take the driving test before he got his license.


In truth, the process really wasn't that bad. Sure it's been long, but we're all set and have been in the States only for 6 months now. It felt so much smoother than doing things like this in Chile. It was so easy to get O. in a bank account and get him a check card, which something that in Chile would take hours. The only semi-frustrating experience we've had was with his SS card and then also getting his TX driver's license because of the wait. But really, in retrospect, I feel like we are now champions of paper. We're now moving into the MBA applications, and in comparison that's been a breeze.

If your spouse is planning on studying in Chile, there's a whole other set of steps he or she must do to translate and validate their transcripts and degrees. That's also something I recommend doing with tons of anticipation, because it took about a month for everything and it also put us back about $100.