Having met one of those people you can't believe hasn't been in your life forever, my best friend here, I debated whether or not I should write one whole post about him. But he's the only thing that makes the idea of leaving Santiago difficult, so I suppose there's no reason not to. Besides, he'll likely come up a lot, so you may as well know who he is.
I met Jason, who's originally from Cincinnati, at the last Real Life English party in Santiago, in February. I think it was February. I knew at the time that it sucked I'd only met him with a few months or so to go before I left, and now it feels like we've known each other for years. So it isn't that easy to pinpoint precisely when we met. I remember asking the usual question about how long he'd been here, he said 2 months, and that he'd just gotten his residency visa approved. Ah, I thought, he's one of those irritatingly enigmatic people who loves it here, what with his residency status, and said as much. At this point, my memory is that he looked straight ahead, took a drink, and said, "I fucking hate it here." Once I'd said, "Oh thank fucking GOD!" the deal was sealed. He is my new Rita since she left, only more so.
Because he has the great good sense to love Indian food, I invited him over since my friend Rahul was coming over to cook Indian food. The unfortunate part of that was it was a Sunday, and Jason is even more of a drinker than I am. I passed out, failing to set my alarm, and woke up just in time to be missing the start of my Monday morning class way out in Pudahuel. Jason, who'd crashed on the couch and is completely fluent in Spanish, laughed as I tried to explain I was sick in hungover Spanish to my company's receptionist. Sadly, when he was trying to supply me with the fully coherent version of what I'd just said, Maiza was talking, so it wasn't much help.
2 days later, Jason was on his way to Chicago, because why wouldn't you have to fly back to the US to pick up your Chilean visa? At least his job, which plucked him from his beloved home in Colombia to Chile, pays for absolutely everything. 10 days without him around dragged, though it was mitigated by his texts that he was considering making an anonymous call to the embassy to tell them that his visa should be denied.
Since then, we're the other person's right hand, particularly when it comes to supplying some semblance of sanity after each day in purgatory.
It won't suprise... any of you that I could form a deep friendship with someone out of hatred. Jason half-laughs, half-mourns this, because he says he's not a bitter person by nature. And the thing is, Kristina et. al., he doesn't think I am! When I insist it as my birthright and nature, he says he just doesn't see it. But then, as plenty of you know, we're different people abroad. If there was any doubt that living-abroad Jen is different than the stateside Jen you've all somehow managed to know AND love, it's that Jason and all of the other friends I've made here don't see my biggest flaws... at all, actually. Jason can tell I have a temper, though he hasn't seen it yet. But as for my characteristic moodiness/grouchiness/bitterness... I left it in my storage bins, I guess, lol. I mean, OBVIOUSLY I get angry/cranky/normal Jen/mom-like here, but only while I'm in the midst of what's pissing me off or remembering it to explain it to all of you. As soon as the irritant is gone, so is my bad mood. And that's in a place I hate. I wonder what'll happen when I'm actually in a place I like! Here's hoping we get to see that soon, very soon. Likewise, I hope abroad-Jen isn't going to leave me at customs, so you guys can see it for yourselves. So here's to what June will bring!
