inside the ministry

Wow - this is incredible. When I went to the ministry of housing and urbanism here in Santiago I expected bureaucrats and lots of paper-shuffling, but what I found was the contrary. Maybe it's because there are not too many European students visiting them, but they are soooooo friendly!!! The boss invited me for lunch and then I talked to people in charge of the quarters I look at, scrolled through reports and spent the last two days accompanying them through the city to meetings (of which I understood half). It's funny knowing a programme, supposedly designed by an impersonal institution, and then getting to know all those faces that are behind it! And they seem really into it... Plus they can make arrangements for the interviews!!! ;) Yippie...