Anonymity

I stand out quite a lot in Chile- over 6 feet tall, white skin, blue eyes, 'blond' is not your average Chilean. And Chileans do love to stare, a trait they share with all their South American cousins. After close to six years, it really doesn't bother me at all. I normally use my foreign-ness to make my life easier in Chile and have become quite used to being stared at.

One thing I love about New York is that no matter what you look like and no matter what you're wearing, nobody else is even slightly interested in you. It's really liberating to start with...

But I don't think I could live my life being anonymous. I've actually grown to enjoy being a curiosity in South America. I'm happy in my own skin and don't feel self-conscious when people stare. It's nice that people recognise me and that I'm remembered when I go into shops and restaurants. I think it makes me feel a little special. And that makes me happy.

New York

So I have a few minutes free to post some photos from my first few days here in the US.

We arrived on Saturday, 4th July. Incredibly, we got through customs and immigration in about 25 minutes. At JFK this is unheard of. The immigration officer even smiled. Wow.

Saturday was spent brunching, watching a free Conor Oberst concert in Battery Park and then watching the 4th July fireworks from the rooftop of a friend's apartment building. Having seen two new years in Valparaiso, the fireworks were a bit of a disappointment. As someone said after last new year, "Valpo has ruined fireworks everywhere else for me forever".

Now in upstate New York, back to the city for the weekend, up to East Hampton for a couple of days to visit a friend, back to the city again for a wedding and then off to Seattle. Busy...but fun.

Now for the photos. Sorry about the quality but I forgot my camera so these are from my phone.

Looking east from around W 43rd St next to the Hudson just before nightfall.


Fireworks- in the distance you can see that Jersey got a head start on Manhattan.




And finally...I seemed to be the only person enjoying the irony of 100 people arriving at 'land of the free' in the US anthem with a giant CCTV camera directly in front :)

Away

I've had precisely no time at all the past week to blog...and later this afternoon I'm heading off on a one month trip to the US....New York, Seattle and San Francisco. I really can't wait to be on that plane, the last few weeks have been really crazy with work and other things. I've finally got everything organised, including a house and cat sitter who is recovering from swine flu...I hope it doesn't mutate into feline flu :)

Anyway, chances are I won't be doing much blogging on my trip although I'll try to post a few photos of various places. And when I get back, I'll have just a couple of weeks more in Valpo before moving to Santa Cruz where I'm really looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life (although I'll be doing the same work- that's real estate in Chile in case you didn't already know...).

So I'll leave you for now with a photo of where I'm leaving, a photo of where I'm heading to in August and proof that my cat deserves his name 'Tonto'.