When the wheels of my plane touched down at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport a big smile came on my face. I was back in the US!!! It was just like a scene from Lost were the plane lands and Jack is no longer on the island. Already my CSC experience is starting to seem more like a dream rather than a reality..
The very first thing I did after getting thru customs and security was to run and buy a Mountain Dew. The $2.43 I paid for a 20 ounce soda seemed like a bargain. It was nice to be able to ask simple English questions and get simple English answers. I found myself having to force myself to stop replying si and gracias when I was asked a question. It was nice to have an Internet connection that was reliable. I could not believe how quickly I was able to upload nearly 90 pictures.
As for becoming a world traveler. I don’t think so. Planes aren’t very comfortable for tall people. Going thru customs was easy, both in the US and Chile, but that didn’t make it any less stressful. I really do not like lines. I like even less having people looking at my passport picture saying I don't look like the person in the picture. This did not happen to me, but it did happen to the person in the lane next to me. The person I had in the US barely looked at my passport and just waved me thru without asking any questions. I can handle that.
Another interesting experience was boarding in Santiago. I did not know that they were going to hand check my carry-ons. One of my carry-ons had locks on it. The walkway to the plane was dark and I could not read the numbers on the lock. I told the guy checking the bag that combo, but he couldn't see the numbers either. He just let me board without checking.
When I woke I this morning I remembered that there were two observations that I wanted to mention in a blog entry that I never got to. Doing it now is a great way to kill some time. I'm now in Plhilly. One more short flight and I'll finally be home.
The first observation is that by the end of week 2 I was feeling like I was in the movie, Ground Hog Day. It seemed like I was stuck in a time loop - repeating the same morning again and again. My cell phone alarm would wake me every morning playing the same tune. I would open my eyes to see an unfamiliar room. I would roll out of bed in the dark. I would look out the window and see a cruise ship parked in the bay. After looking at the ship I would take a shower, get dressed and go up to the 8th floor for breakfast. The breakfast buffet was the same every morning. The same woman greeted me every day. I ate the same thing every morning. I’d sit with the same people (more or less). We’d sit in the same general area. Evan would ask me for a precise time to meet him and Gayathri in the lobby. I’d respond with “around 9:45.” I’d usually arrive 5 or 10 minutes late. Evan would be upset because he only understood the 9:45 part. Gayathri, Evan, and I would then walk into work. Every morning Evan and I would joke about an American and Chinese guy working together. Gayathri would just laugh at us. When we arrived at Canales our day became more varied, but even there we encountered repeating patterns such as our constant communication issues.
The second observation is that while we were the foreigners in Puerto Montt, it really did not seem like it. This was especially true in the beginning when we moved in bigger groups. We tended to be our own little island of English speaking people. I often wondered what the local Puerto Montt people thought of us. I remember feeling uncomfortable on day 2 when we went to a local restaurant for lunch. With Piera, Eric, Dan, and Marcia we were a group of 16 very loud English speaking people sitting in the middle of a busy restaurant. I remember thinking to myself that if I was back home in a restaurant with a table of loud non-English speaking people nearby that I would not like it.
I thought I’d learn Spanish while I was here, but that was not the case. Often people did not understand what I said in Spanish. When people said something I actually understood it too me too long to comprehend what they said. I think I was better at speaking Spanish before I left on my CSC assignment than I am now.
Some team member could speak a little Spanish, but for the most part we got along knowing a few basic phrases, like hello, goodbye, please, check, and how much. In the latter case the answer was often communicated using a calculator. Ordering lunch or dinner was often done by pointing at a menu. When ordering food I always assumed the next question was what do you want to drink? When ordering fast food there was always a third question: here or to go? Generally I would answer by motioning. Whenever we were asked something we did not understand we just smiled with a confused look on our face. I did a lot of smiling in Chile. I often tried to make an educated guess at whether the answer should be yes or no. I could usually tell if the answer was right or wrong based on what they did next. Generally if they asked another question it meant I gave the wrong answer. Asking questions to people was even more difficult than answering. Some team members like Evan would use their smart phone to translate a few simple words and then point to them.
In general the people of Puerto Montt did not speak English, but they were very willing to try to understand us and communicate with us. Maybe that's a function of being a tourist town, but I think it was more of function of their friendly nature.
Well, should be boarding that final flight soon. That it for now.