So today has been the first day since I arrived where I have had any semblance of homesickness, and whilst it has been by no means severe it has meant that I have been on something of an emotional rollercoaster this afternoon. The day started by meeting a bunch of new people as I attended the first training for the year of the Santiago Saints, South America's most successful football team! It was an interesting session with the number of locals exceeding the number of Aussie expats. Ball skills as always were a touch rusty as you would expect for the first session back, but there is a significant amount of promise in the group, and the social side of having a post training brew makes it a great start to Domingo.
After running home, I threw myself through the shower before heading to Parque Arauco so that I could stock up my wardrobe, fridge and get the relevant electronics for my computer and home theatre system. Chile is quite a proud country, actually I have noticed thus far that Latin Americans as a whole are extremely patriotic and especially vocal about it. I am a proud Australian, and I love my country - however I don't actively express it anywhere near as much as they do here in Latin America (or perhaps as much as I probably should do really!). Here, Chile is the best country, whilst on the plane across here I sat next to a lovely Peruvian chap who was adamant that Peru, Peruvian food, Peruvian women etc were the best in the world.
This pride goes hand in hand with fashion, and Chileans are rather careful about the way they dress. Brand labels are rather important and being seen wearing large fashion brands is well respected, particularly those which have some sort of connection with animals. Ralph Polo Lauren, Lacoste and La Martina Saddlery are all extremely popular, along with Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani Exchange and Calving Klein. Nothing really different there, back home they are popular brands also, the thing that struck me is just how many people wear them, and how there are several outlets for each of these in all the major shopping centres. These clothes are status symbols, and it seems to be important to wear them. I got some interesting (maybe a slightly PC way of saying disparaging) looks walking through these fashion stores wearing boardies, a Richmond polo and a pair of thongs.
After finishing acting on Robin Sparkles wishes of Going to the Mall.... today! I went to catch a taxi home from the shops, laden with all my new items to finish setting up the apartment I put it all in the boot and got in the car. "Yo voy para Pio XI por favor" I said with a smile. "Es una y medio kilometro" pointing he says. "Si" I reply, "Es una y medio kilometro" he yells. "Si, final de calle, direcho." I then had the one form of cursing I know in Spanish "Puta Madre Gringo" (if you're under 18, don't google that!) before taking off and saying that the fare was going to be "dos mil pesos" (2000 pesos, the equivalent of $4). It should be around 1000 pesos and I managed to negotiate it to 1300, so by no means the end of the world, just an interesting experience where the ability to moot in Spanish would have been highly valuable.
I guess what this post is trying to say is that homesickness is a combination of forking out money for expensive fashion brands, kicking a football for the first time in several years and really missing the ability to curse effectively at people. I guess that there is probably some small amount due to missing family and friends so, to those of you out there who are reading this, I miss you all. To those of you whom I don't know, I hope my sentimentality doesn't make you feel too excluded.
