Geese That Shit Golden Eggs

I should be at the university right now cramming for my political science final, but since my host grandma is in the bathroom taking her daily hour and a half-long shower and I still haven't had mine, I have some time to kill.

I've noticed by the exchange rates posted on the casas de cambio (places where you can exchange dollars for Chilean pesos and vice versa) that the dollar is falling more and more everyday. Up until recently I've been able to avoid the pains of the economic crisis that the U.S. is experiencing, since I haven't really been there for an extended period since last August. But now I'm starting to feel it, because Chile is gradually getting more and more expensive for me. When I first got here in January, the exchange rate was about 640 pesos to the dollar. Now it's fallen to 590 pesos to the dollar, and things like food and drinks are putting a bigger and bigger dent in my budget. I'm already in debt, and living abroad renders impossible my ability to make money, since I have no work visa. Why couldn't Stanford host a program in Argentina or Bolivia, where the dollar is strong? I think I know the answer to that, though. Stanford has to protect its precious student resources, so it sets up shop in the most developed countries. Plus, since most of us are rich, buying mundane stuff like food and drink is no problem, no matter how expensive it is. And I guess Stanford is afraid we might get caught in the line of fire where, in Bolivia for example, the president just implemented agrarian reform and decided to expropriate all the rich people's land. Or maybe it doesn't want to expose us to the constant civil strife in Argentina caused by its plastified bitch of a president. But anyway, Stanford preserves us in a bubble of steel wherever we go. Great way to expose us to the real world.

Speaking of which, I didn't realize it until Facundo pointed it out, but Stanford really does treat us like geese that shit golden eggs. The process of entering the program center here in Santiago is kind of ridiculous. The entrance to the center is always locked, and you have to enter a code into a special key pad in order to unlock it. It's kind of like a less high-tech version of Minority Report, where you can only enter high security locations once your eye has been scanned by a laser. I brought Facundo with me to the center the other day and had to ask permission for him to be there. When the receptionist first saw Facundo, an uneasy look came across his face, and he went and fetched the program coordinator to make sure Facundo was allowed. It's as if anyone not in the Stanford program is guilty until proven innocent, some South American terrorist whose mission it is to assassinate Stanford students. One time a woman came to the entrance and knocked on the door since she didn't know the special code, so I let her in without thinking twice. Afterwards I received a stern lecture from the program coordinator about letting strangers into the center. WTF man.

Oh Stanford.