La Presidenta

As I mentioned before, I've been working at this nonprofit called ComunidadMujer. And apparently, every year they host a big luncheon to hand out the ComunidadMujer prize. And this year's guest speaker was President Michelle Bachelet. And I was invited to the luncheon. And it was amazing.

The luncheon was held at the top of Cerro Santa Lucia - a hill in the city that doubles as a quaint little park most of the time, but was gated and locked in preparation for this event. So I had a little bit of trouble getting to the top (the only gate open was for cars to go through! So I walked around the whole hill trying to get in...) But I eventually made it to the top and up to the beautiful Castillo Hidalgo, built in 1816 as a fortress to protect Santiago! I was pretty excited that this awesome event was being held on Cerro Santa Lucia- Lucia was my name in high school spanish classes!

The event started with lots of schmoozing and cocktail-ing and appetizer-ing. I enjoyed a mango sour and a pisco sour...mmm. While awkwardly standing around staring at people, realizing that I was not only the only gringa but also the only person under the age of 28 at the event, I was fortunately introduced to a nice alcaldesa (mayorial) candidate from Santiago's 8th region. She was one of the women who participated in the Liderazgo Politico Femenino program that I've been helping out with, so it was cool to get her insight on the program. She was also just really friendly in general - gave me her cell phone number and told me to come visit her house on the beach anytime (sweet!) and then started gossipping to me about ugly Chilean men at the luncheon and then about some of the interesting outfits that the women were wearing...haha too funny.

After schmoozing we went inside the castle and sat down for lunch. I was a little confused when I sat down and saw three glasses at my place setting. One was filled with water, one with red wine and one was empty. But then the waiters started coming around and filling the empty glasses with cold chardonnay! Red AND white wine? Not one or the other? These Chileans are crazy.

Ate some yummy salmon and salad and delicious chocolate mousse and then heard the keynote speech from La Presidenta! I understood her for the most part, but she definitely spoke quickly like a true Chilean.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo taken with the president. I'm a little annoyed about it too. You see, I took a picture of my mayoral candidate friend and the President, BUT before we could do the switcheroo to get my picture taken, the President was already squeezing her way out of the crowd. Bummer.

Now I am not generally a pushy person. [Some might argue otherwise...] But generally I'm a pretty firm believer that people should be rewarded for being patient and waiting their turn- thanks mom and dad :). 

Unfortunately, I've come to realize that this rule doesn't work too well in certain life situations. There are some occassions where it is necessary/just pays to be pushy.

For example... 

1)  (for women) when your water breaks: obviously, you have every right to be pushy. and hopefully people will make way for you when the time comes.

2) in any urban metro station at peak travel time. Waiting your turn there will just mean that you'll spend all day at the metro station, watching other people elbow their way through crowds to squeeze onto any metro car that still has a pocket of air to spare.

2) when meeting famous people: Now that I have JUST nearly missed autographs from Bill and Hillary Clinton and photo ops with Chelsea Clinton and Michelle Bachelet, I've realized that I just might need to be a little more aggressive in the future. Sigh.

Anyways, the afternoon was still quite enjoyable. Things brightened up when we got our goody bags upon leaving the event. Goodies included: $10 to Paris (department store), 2 full size bottles of Dove body wash and cream, a big huge DARK chocolate candy bar (dark chocolate is oh so rare and oh so expensive down here!), a Nescafe mug + nescafe samples, and a few other random things. Fabbbulous. Rode down from the hill in an outdoor glass elevator. Then headed off to mountaineering class.

Tuesday night, my fabulous friend Ashley Gunn gave a speech at the Republican National Convention. Thanks to CNBC worldwide live-tv streaming, I got to watch her live! It was great to hear her southern twang and I was glad to see that she didn't trip in her high high heels. Yayy Ashley for being a superstar. 

Wednesday:

Class. Library. Mall (wanted to find a book, but couldn't find it. wanted to find new shoes but they were either too expensive or not cute). Work. Rained all day. And down here, rain means it's necessary to make sopaipillas. Which Victoria did. And they were delish. Then had dinner of Carbonada (yummy stew...perfect rainy-day food). 

More to come. 

Un abrazo,

Lindsay