Salud to Friends
This post goes out to my Chile girls Bonnie, Jen, and Stef. One of the toughest parts about expat life for me was saying goodbye to an amazing network of friends and family in the U.S. and moving to a place where I knew absolutely no one. For months, there were weekends where I was ecstatic if I had one social thing to do, because I had friends. And then, I met Bonnie, Jen, and Stef, all on the same night and the friendships sort of fell into place naturally and life became really, really fun. These were not fake friends, these were the friends you could call when you lost your keys, had a bad day, or when you just really needed to drink a bottle of wine. They were family when family was on the other side of the world.
Since returning to the U.S., I’ve given frequent presentations about work in Chile, but recently I was asked to give one about my life in Chile outside of work. It was a challenge to package the experience of a year and four months into a brief Powerpoint presentation. Then watching the story of my life and the adventures with my friends unfold was surprisingly nostalgic. There are moments when I miss many things about life in Chile, but mostly I miss my friends and our adventures. So here’s to my girls and some of my fondest memories spent in Chilean wine country. I left out the photos and story of our adventure to Mendoza, Argentina. It’s impossible to put the calamity of that trip into a blog. Let’s face it, we traveled, ate, drank, and rolled back over the border looking like a scene out of the Hangover, only with sweet leather jackets.
Back to Chilean wine country, it is gorgeous.
Valle de Colchagua
The Famous Carmenere
My favorite area was the Santa Cruz and the Valle de Colchagua. Located just a few hours south of Santiago, it’s the perfect weekend get-away. Here are some highlights from two lovely trips.
Wine Tasting at Viu Manent
Carriage Tour
Jen and Me
Lunch at Rayuela was fabulous, more than once.
Lunch and Wine, Rayuela
Champagne and Oysters Galore
Bonnie and Me
It doesn’t get better than accommodations at the comfortably rustic TerraVina Hotel, relaxing by the pool, running in wine country, and the best pasta in Chile at Vino Bello for dinner, lunch or both. Why not repeat a good thing?
TerraVina
Vino Bello
Sunset Vineyard Walk
Grapevine
Me, Stef, Bonnie, and Jen
Salud amigas. Les echo de menos y les quiero hasta siempre.
Go Sabres!
Sports are a way of life here in Buffalo.
I am embarrassed to admit it, but this Seattle girl had never actually been to a hockey game. Not only are people in Buffalo all about the Sabres, but hockey is practically religion for our Canadian neighbors. After two months living in Buffalo, it was time to see what all the fuss was about.
Lucky for me, my friend Katie scored fantastic company tickets and my boring Friday night on the couch was spent front and center at the First Niagara Center.
After my first hockey game, I’m a convert. Sorry football, but hockey is the best spectator sport EVER. Here’s why:
1. It’s fast. Ice skating instead of running … yes, please.
2. It’s physical. Who doesn’t what to see players body slam and fight each other?
3. It’s hilarious. Canadian fans actually out-crazy the American fans.
My First Hockey Game.
Fight! And Hilarious Canadian Fans.
Do you notice the Canadian fans with the “Asian Awareness Week” shirts and “Support Your Local Buffet”. They were almost as entertaining as the game.
Although the Sabres lost the game in the shoot out, it was an exciting introduction to hockey. Go Sabres!
somewhere far from seattle 