Ay yay yay...what a week

It has certainly been una semana largísima (a long week), and the weekend without plans has warmly been welcomed.

After spending last weekend in Viña, Christian and I returned to Santiago on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, later that evening Christian got sick with a stomach bug. He had to go to the doctor on Monday, who then ordered him to 3 days of bed rest along with various medicines to minimize the symptoms. Luckily, by Tuesday he was feeling better and was able to still rest before having to go back to work on Thurs.

Speaking of work, I had my first day with KPMG Chile on Monday. I started out in HR, filling out paperwork, signing a contract, and I even had to go to Impuestos Internos to get a temporary RUT (similar to a social security number in the States). I already have a RUT, from when I studied abroad here, but since my student visa expired, the RUT did as well. So, I had to head down to get a temporary RUT and then when all of my residency paperwork is processed and approved (1-2 months), my old RUT will be activated.

So I'm working in the IFRS Global Conversion Services which is really cool because it is a HUGE tema (topic) globally. Many countries--Chile included--have to start reporting under IFRS in 2009 which means that they also have to convert their 2008 financial statements to the same system for comparability purposes. Apart from the fact I will be learning a ton about IFRS, how to implement it, and accounting in Chile, I get to work with people from all over the world. The partner in the Santiago office is Australian, there are 2 or 3 German managers, a Mexican manager, a French senior associate, and myself, the gringüita Staff member. Of course, there are also Chileans, but it almost seems that in my division they are outnumbered by extranjeros (foreigners).

The first week of work was bastante long. The typical office hours are Monday-Thursday from 8:30am to 6:30pm and Friday from 8:30am to 5:30pm. Apart from a typical work week being longer than the 40 hours in the States, I worked late 2 nights of the first week. I definitely wasn't expecting to have to work late the first week of work, but así es la vida (that just life). It's been quite the schedule change to wake up at 6:30am every day and get home around 7 or 7:15pm, but the commute could be much worse. Luckily, it only takes me about 25 minutes to get to my office in Las Condes. I'll have to post some pictures of my office building when I get a chance.

Not much else is new...Christian and I finally stayed in Santiago este fin de semana (this weekend). Today we slept in, went grocery shopping, bought a vacuum, and went to the mall/movie theater in Las Condes. We saw "Definitely, Maybe" which I think came out a long time ago in the States. It was a good movie....and a nice change of pace to just zone out for a few hours. Tomorrow, we're going to Skype it with my parents in the afternoon and probably clean the house and of course relax some more. I'm going to post a few pics from the past month here...disfruta (enjoy)!

Breaking open the chanchito that Christian had been feeding with coins for over a year & a half! We had over $80 saved up!!!--which was put towards a celebration of our anniversary.

At Wasabi for a delicious sushi dinner.

At Como Agua Para Chocolate for dessert!!!

In Rancagua, the 14th & 15th of this month with Christian's side of the family. Pictured here in the Plaza Rancagua are Naty, Cata, Patrick, Bernarda, María Isabel, Me, Juan, & Eric.

Our bed with the beautiful, personalized pillow covers that my mom made us and snuck into my suitcase before I left. I found them when I was unpacking my suitcases!!!

What was left of my Pasta Primavera the 2nd time I made it. I found the recipe in Shape Magazine and it is YUMMY and healthy!!!