An update in brief:

1. My birthday passed

2. My host family threw me a nice birthday party in which all of the family was invited.

3. My mother did not call me. At first I thought she was trying to reach me because I had a number of missed calls throughout the day. But after she didn’t call when I was obviously available like around nine at night and after my brother told me that a couple of his friends were trying to reach me, I realized that she wasn’t trying to call.

How did I justify this…this inconceivable lapse in memory? Obviously, first I didn’t, or rather I couldn’t, believe that my mother forgot. She carried me in her stomach for nine months, so at least you would think that her body would ache with pain and anger at least in memory on that day. I assumed that I might receive a letter or a care package from my family in the mail. No letter. Then I thought that maybe, in a moment of panic, they were coming down here to visit me as a surprise. Quickly, I dismissed this as impossible. At my lowest point, I thought that something awful must have happened: my grandfather passed away, my dad went into surgery, or perhaps my brother ran into another guard rail at thirty miles per hour.

I called.

“Oh my gosh,” she said, “you know what? Your birthday passed.”

Yes, I know it passed. But, at least, I am glad for the confirmation of my birthday. For a while, I was beginning to doubt if my memory had been inconceivably altered without my knowledge. When I hung up, I felt unwanted.*

4. My host dad made fun of me a lot. It turns out later that day, my mom calls my house here and asks for me (in Spanish, impressively). I wasn’t there, so my host mother told my mom to call back at 8:30 pm. Before 8:30 he told me that my mom forgot my birthday and just remembered (without knowing that I had to remind her that it was my birthday). After 8:30, when my mom still hadn’t called, he laughed louder and told me that she forgot me again! It was pretty funny, although somewhat anxiety-producing.

5. My host siblings threw me a surprise party over the weekend.**

6. I went to McDonald’s in celebration of America and all that is American. It is the first time I have gone to an American fast food restaurant since I don’t know when (probably sometime during the spring semester last year). Of course, I am not counting Starbucks in Mexico, but I went there for the free internet. It was horrible, worse than in America, which ironically says a lot. How can people formulate a good opinion of the United States when they only image of America is a cold hamburger with soggy french fries?

7. I have been horribly sick. I have lost my voice, so for a couple of days I was croaking like a frog. My host dad made fun of me a lot for this as well.

8. I have changed the template of this blog because I think trendy internet things are cool, despite myself. I was thinking about moving to Word Press as well, but I won’t because I don’t want to start over again. That and I have been with Blogger for awhile now. Ain’t no carpetbaggin’ northerner.

9. I read a blog of a conservative blogger who talked about the pity party over New Orleans. How can conservatives like her whine about how people have forgotten September 11^th and then in the next post complain about how New Orleanians are sucking the blood out of American taxes? By her logic, burning in a corporate building is worse than drowning in a house? Is she saying that one person’s suffering is more pitiable because there is a global-political connotation to their catastrophe?

10. My Spanish still sucks.

*Of course, birthdays are moments of materialistic hedonism in United States, where people like to attract attention to themselves and indulge in the attention. I don’t like this at all, but I would like at least my mother to wish me a happy birthday (I don’t care so much about my siblings based on the pure fact that I forget their birthdays as well).

** Normally I don’t and still don’t like that type of celebration, especially when I don’t know half of the people there. When I am in the States, usually I am alone on my birthday due to the fact that I don’t want to tell people that it is my birthday nor do I want to be the reason why people get together to spend money. I had gotten used to sitting in a college dorm room, eating cheez-its, and trying to figure out that stupid chord progression of “Sovay” by Andrew Bird. Here there was loud reggaton music, females (yeah I know, big change), lots of booze, and the like.

Labels: chile, complaints, musings