We first found a studio that we really liked, and without looking anywhere else called to try and bargain the construction company down. At that point both Seba and I were pretty desperate to get out of his parents’ house, even though we’re only there on the weekends when we’re in Santiago. Anyway. Seba called. They came down $6,000 dollars. The next day we called back to see if they would come down $4,000 more and if they did, we were ready to buy.

The person in charge of selling this (entire new) building was out of town for two weeks. There was no one else we could talk to in the mean time.

Ummm. WTF?!? We are trying to GIVE YOU TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS and no one is around to take our money? Seriously, country of Chile, seriously?!?

Although, in the end, I’m glad that guy wasn’t around to take our money, because while he was gone, we found a couple other places that we also really liked and realized, there’s no rush. But, how stupid of them. Had someone been around to take our call, we were prepared to buy that same day.

So we found another apartment that we really liked, but it seemed pretty overpriced to us, for various reasons. It was priced the same as other apartments in the sector, but it’s on a second floor (meaning less security, no view, etc.), the entire bathroom is in dire straits and needs to be redone, and it’s a much older building, so it doesn’t have the amenities that other places we looked at have – for me, a pool is of utmost importance. But, we figured we’d make a lowball offer and that then the owner would lower the price a little and then we’d offer again and eventually negotiate down to what the apartment is actually worth, rather than the inflated sticker price.

Seba calls and tells the owner – an old lady – that we want to make an offer. She gets really nervous and tells him, “Well, I have someone else interested so just uhhh, err, send me your offer via email.”

So we send the owner our offer, explaining our reasoning, with links to comparable apartments for cheaper that were on higher floors, in newer buildings, and didn’t need their bathrooms redone.

She responds and says, “Someone has made me a higher offer than yours…” Dot. Dot. Dot. I think that means she wanted us to respond back to her and raise our offer.

We didn’t though. We told her good luck with her other offer and to contact us if it falls through. I do want that apartment if it’s cheap, if we can negotiate the price to what’s reasonable, but not for the same price as newer places in better shape.

There’s one other place that we’re really interested in, but the owners are out of the country until December. *Sigh. Won’t somebody PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY?!?

PS. If you’re looking into buying real estate in Chile, talk to Matt. He’s the man.

And Christian rocked it like a GQ model once he got warmed a little. He told us he was nervous in the beginning so we had to work a little to get him loosened up — note to clients: If you’re nervous, just tell me! I’d so much rather know than just keep going through the session assuming that you’re comfortable with everything we’re doing. Once I explained to Christian that he didn’t have to be looking at the camera the whole time, and once I showed him on my camera screen how a couple of the photos were coming out, he started trusting my photography insanity (Stand here! Lay down in the dirt! Stare directly into the burning sun! Sit by this crumbling building on a bed of nails!).  As I told Christian and Keri, I pose people in spots where the light is good, or where there’s something cool to use as a backdrop or where I can get a really cool angle. But within that, talk to each other, hang out, make out do what you want. All I’m doing is putting you within the photographic parameters that will make you look good while you’re doing your thing.

Love these two.

Keri laughs so easily, she could charm the pants off of a angry mountain bear.

This is their thing. After they eat Christian always lifts Keri up like this…and then maybe almost drops her? Haha, I don’t know, but she got nervous when we were going to take this shot on concrete!

These last two are my faves!!! First Seba’s view…

And then mine.

I’m going to post their second round of pictures tonight in a couple hours, stay tuned.

Yo creo que todas las mujeres del mundo desean verse asi de lindas embarazadas, pero muy pocas lo logran!

Imposiblemente bella. No puedo creer que nace su guaguita en solo pocos dias!!!

Y ademas, Hernan quiso aprovechar de sacar algunas fotos con su moto. Los dos son Harlistas! Van a regalar una motito a su hija apenas sabe caminar, jajaja

AMOOOOOOOOO esta foto. Pero LA AMO. Yo creo que una mujer embarazada nunca nunca nunca se ha visto tan ROCKSTAR!!!!

Seba Beba is not actually coming to America anytime soon. However, I am going to answer a question someone asked in the survey about how my friends and family reacted to meeting my Chilean, then boyfriend now husband, when I first brought him back with me to the U.S.

Seba was beyond excited to go to the U.S. Previously he hadn’t been outside South America so it was a big trip he was making. He had also never lived anywhere but his mom’s house prior to coming to stay at University of Tampa, sharing a twin mattress in a dorm room the size of my current desk in a school owned apartment shared with three other girls we didn’t know at the time (one of whom is now my bestie Molly), sharing a meal plan so I had to sneak cafeteria food out for both of us in a take out box for one. He thought it was heaven.

However, after his initial excitement subsided, he realized one small thing — he had to speak a foreign language that he didn’t know much of. Anyone who knows my husband knows that he’s not a man of many words in any language. So put out of his element, his speaking prowess, on a scale of 1-10, went from like…a 4…to a 0. He became practically mute.

Honestly, this made it pretty hard for my friends and family to get to know him. My mom, stepdad and brother were probably the first to get him out of his shell. My mom speaks Spanish, Tim speaks hilarity and my brother is fluent in I’m charismatic and everybody loves me. My dad was another story. The first time he met him, he barely spoke to Seba. I think he was in denial over the fact that his baby had a serious boyfriend who came all the way from Chile to be with her.

The second time my dad saw Seba, he took us out to lunch. Seba had begged me not to tell him that we were engaged, but of course, I was so happy, and I’m such a Daddy’s girl that I wanted to share the news right away.

We ate. My dad and I chatted, Seba didn’t speak, of course. My dad got the bill and right before we were about to get up and leave I’m pretty sure I said something along the lines of, “Thanks so much for lunch, Dad, and by the way, we’re getting married pretty soon.”

I remember that at that particular day we were sitting at the bar because the restaurant we were at had been crowded when we arrived. My dad looked at me with his eyes and mouth wide open and rocked so far back in his bar stool he almost fell off it. He gave me a hug and a disbelieving congratulations and shook Seba’s hand, hugged him and patted him on the back (you know — that thing men do to greet and say goodbye to each other). I’m pretty sure he didn’t say anything else except for, “Woah. There’s no way I’m going to be able to go home and continue being productive after this!”

To his credit, he did call back later on that afternoon after he had absorbed the news, and called to properly congratulate us. Needless to say, my engagement to a Chilean was quite the shock. Now, however, he loves Seba like a son and I’m pretty sure he couldn’t be happier for us if he tried. Only took him a few years to get there. Kidding, Dad, kidding!

As for how the rest of my friends and family reacted, to Seba in general, some of them amazed me. I wrote about how losing touch with people that were once best friends is so hard, but you might be pleasantly surprised by who does stay in touch. To be honest, some of my once best friends really disappointed me. A few lost touch completely during college, and then even more during study abroad. Obviously I’m at fault here too. Friendships are just like romances — only the strong can survive a long distance relationship. When I went back to Tampa after being in Chile 1.5 years without visiting once, it was hard. I felt like I didn’t know people I was once close to anymore. That, combined with Seba’s lack of speech at first, made it difficult for me to resume relationships, and difficult for Seba to start them, even with friends who were once a big part of my life. So it was kind of a mixed bag.

Anyway, just so you guys know I am trying to make the improvements that people asked for in the survey, if you comment I will respond. I stopped because one of the hate mails I got from someone told me how big of a loser I am for commenting on my own blog. Aside from the fact that that person is a loser just for taking the time out to write a mean email to a perfect stranger, after that I commented less and less because I sort of wondered if that was what everyone secretly thought of me!

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PS. Take my survey! Win a photo! K, thanks, bye!