6 months in a nutshell. Part 1

So the blog is back after an un-eagerly anticipated 6 month absence. I can't really explain why it's taken so long to doing this again. I had previously claimed that I had been too busy to write this, but anyone who knows me will be quite sure that is a load of bollocks and the evenings spent watching Friends repeats, drinking Escudo and complaining about being too busy should demonstrate the huge flaws in my this theory.

So the first blog back will be a brief recap of what has happened in the last 6 months that hasn't involved my three principal pastimes, watching telly, drinking beer and whinging.

For some strange reason, I'm still in Santiago, still in Chile and still working for VE. It's been a weird transitional stage, most of my good friends from when I arrived in November have buggered off back home, leaving behind my current wardrobe ( thank you Paul Mannix), the laptop I'm using (to you too, Cody Rothschild) and a large supply of ladies' scented shaving foam (Jessica Ellerbach, I am forever in your debt).

Whilst a lot of good people have moved on, many still remain as Mariah is still here and will have to put up with me for 9 months more, no matter what I seem to do, Jen still wants to hang out after 5 years of me and Suggett is making great gains in destroying both our livers.

For an even stranger reason, I'm now a director of VE, to give my full title, I'm Director of Institutional Relations. Quite how I got the job I don't know. If I had known that I'd have to sit in the office listening to my American colleagues doing horrendous British accents all day, I might not have taken it. Asides from listening to Ann say "Wud ya loik a cappa tay?", my job despcription includes having to suck up to evil old director witches, phoning a hogar 15 times to get through, writing long, rambling and attrociously incorrect emails in Spanish and trying not to use Facebook all day.

I love working in the "office", I get to listen to Mariah sniggering continously about drinking Colun, Matt plays Bob Sinclair, MGMT, Muse and then plays them all again and Brooke wears some amazing slacks and brown shoes, plus I can drink as many cups of tea as I want. My Spanish has got miles better and I can now finally write properly, (With the exception of the word "institution", which, ironically, I spell wrong all the time). The Chilean work day is pretty sweet, we start at 10 and as I live in the building next to the office I can get up at 9.55 and be on time to work.

The only downside is that I spend less time in my hogar, Entre Todas. One day a week is not enough, especially considering the amazing changes over the last 6 months. But, I'm getting bored and my hangover is coming back with avengence, so I'm going to write about ET next but sign off with the nicknames I gathered there this week: Tío Sid the Sloth, Tío Flacucho, Tío Perezoso and my favourite, Tío Morbidly Obese. That's all