Countdown

It has been such a good week at home. So good that I really really don't want to go back. The weather has been perfect and I've gotten so much done - mostly outside where the most work was needed.

And now it's time to go. Errands are run, my suitcase is all packed except for a couple of last-minute things. It's just after 5:30 and in another 45 minutes I will call for a cab to pick me up about 7. This is always the strangest time. No time to do anything and yet I will spend the next 90 minutes walking around doing things that really don't need to be done because I need to fill my time. I'll do things like vacuum cat toys. Detail a trash can. Stupid stuff. The best thing about the last 90 minutes is finally getting on the plane and realizing there is truly nothing more I can do.

I had lunch with a friend yesterday and she mentioned that I don't talk about Santiago as much as I did about Tokyo. This is because it isn't as totally different as Tokyo. In Santiago I can read the letters on signs even if I am not sure what the words mean but usually I am sure. In Santiago lots of people look like me, mainly because of the German factor. I've been lucky enough to get out of the city and see some smaller towns briefly and I assure you it is different in those places but Santiago is a big cosmopolitan, international city and while there are things distinctly Santiago they are not so completely different that they take my breath away. There is a different concept of time (they don't care). There is a different class structure (people truly are judged by what university they attended and what their name is). They do that damned kiss cheek thing although it could be worse. In Chile it's a kiss on the left cheek. But in Europe it's a kiss on both cheeks and god forbid the freaking Swiss kiss left, right then left again. Save me from Zurich.

OK. Time to get on with the leaving thing.