sarah friedlander

Imperfect perfectionist living life to its fullest.

  1. Why I Love the Santiago Metro

  2. Being Thankful: Expat Style

    While life as an expat is normally seen as glorious there are some days that hit you harder than others. To the rest of Chile, today is Thursday, not Thanksgiving. The work week continues, stores are open and most grocers would scratch their heads if you asked for cranberry gel or a full turkey. I’m thankful that there are a few restaurants that put on a spectacular Thanksgiving dinner and I will get my fair share of turkey and other delicacies tonight but that’s not what this post is about.

    Every year we are supposed to give thanks – and while I am extremely grateful for my friends, family, fantastic job, my boyfriend, dog, health, etc… I thought about mixing it up a little bit and sharing some of the things that make being an expat about 5000% easier and couldn’t imagine my life without.

    ~*~

    Skype Landline Phone

    For expats Skype is one of those services that you really can’t imagine living without.  Before I moved to Chile I took it a step further and bought a phone that connects to Skype.  The phone plugs into an ethernet line and can also be used as a dual phone – for a landline + Skype.  It’s made my life so much easier because I can make and receive calls without having to remember to connect to Skype via my iPhone or a computer.  I also love the ease of being able to pick up the phone and dial numbers like a US local.  The version I have is an older model but you can buy the RTX Dualphone 3088 via Skype’s website.
     

    Virtual Post Mail

    Virtual Post Mail is probably my favorite expat service.  It’s an online postal mailbox with a sexy Apple-like user interface.  You get a real US address that you can use to receive postal mail and packages.  They also provide a ton of other awesome services like cashing checks.  I love their service because I am able to maintain my identity even though I don’t live in the US.  Did I mention that their customer service team absolutely rocks?  More importantly I’m able to quickly read or discard mail, and continue to support Amazon.com and have things quickly shipped down to Chile.  I know most people would say they don’t need this kind of service because their parents can open their mail but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I’m a grown woman and I would rather pay a fantastic service to manage my mail, packages, etc.. than rely on family/friends.  Plans are cheap and start as low as $5.  For more info visit virtualpostmail.com

     

    Golden Frog VyprVPN

    There are many services offered in the US that aren’t available internationally including Pandora, Google Voice, ABC Player, Hulu, etc…  Yet I’ve never had a problem with this because of VyprVPN.  The service works on my iPhone, iPad or various computers and I’m able to still enjoy the same services I had in the US.  They offer a ton of different locations to connect to (US, UK, France, Asia) and are constantly expanding.  There are definitely cheaper VPN services out there but Golden Frog is the best and I’ve been happy with their service for a few years. Plans start at $14.99/month.  For more info visit goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn

     

    Google Voice

    Over the last few years my parents have become huge text messaging fans.  This still makes me scratch my head but they seem to enjoy the ability to quickly write a text as opposed to picking up the phone.  Google Voice has been my savior for this one – you can get a US number and text messages are free.  I have the Google Voice application installed on my iPhone so I’m able to very quickly write back and forth.  The best part is that my parents don’t even need to know how its setup – I can just give anyone my Google Voice # and they can text me from any cell phone – whether its a smart phone or not.  More info on Google Voice at google.com/voice.  Please note that in order to sign up with Google Voice you will need to first login to your Gmail account to activate the service from a computer in the US.  If you do it from an international location it will say that the service is not yet available.  

    ~*~

    So this year I’d like to give thanks for some technology that has made my expat life easier.  I hope this helps a few people that are either expats already or are looking at living abroad.  I’m always looking for new services so if there is something that you use that makes expat life a lot easier please let me know.  And of course, Happy Thanksgiving!

  3. Introducing MonkeyContact (or, Why I Haven’t Blogged in Forever)



    I very much enjoy blogging but as of lately my loyal readers have been stuck seeing a picture of my GAP “Hello Chile” bag since October 14th! So not cool.  And while I have many blog posts in my head that need to be written (maybe over Christmas?) there’s a reason for my disappearance: work!

    I’ve been heavily involved in an awesome startup since January and the work we’ve been doing has finally been coming into fruition. MonkeyContact has been and is an amazing and exhilarating process.  I often relate it to the feeling of falling in love – everyday I love the product and my team more and more and I view it with such pride and I truly feel like we are making a dent on the industry.

    I know you didn’t ask, but here’s a bit more information about MonkeyContact.

    MonkeyContact is the ability for you to find everyone you know, everywhere without the hassles of synchronization or management.

    MonkeyContact allows you to find people by name, company, location, job function or a combination. It does not matter what social network you are contacted to them by. MonkeyContact is your personal people search right within Gmail, Google.com search or the web.

    With MonkeyContact you get:

    • Simply the best search within Gmail
    • Easily search for your contacts right within Google.com

    MonkeyContact is ideal if you have:

    • Multiple Google App or Gmail accounts
    • Difficulties knowing which contacts are located in which account
    • Want to easily to find and connect your contacts on a variety of social networks
    • Want to easily retrieve contact details through the applications you already know and love

    So please, visit our website (http://monkeycontact.com), download, signup and of course let me know what you think!

  4. GAP in Chile

    Look what my awesome boyfriend picked up for me today!  These bags were only reserved for the first 100 purchases at the store today.  I feel very lucky to have one and also amazed that my boyfriend knew that I’d want it!

  5. Without Words


  6. Key Lime Pie


    I think I’ve finally found the best outlet for my cooking – bringing delicious things into the office. It all started innocently enough back in March when I brought in Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick’s Day. From then on I realized how nice it was to bring in other things muffins, cupcakes, etc… At our 18th of September (Dieciocho) barbecue I made a cheesecake and tiramisu.

    So now I present you with tonight’s creation – a delicious key lime pie. Graham cracker crust made by me. Fresh lime juice squeezed (thanks to the Kitchen Aid). Can’t wait to bring this into the office and watch it disappear in a matter of minutes!

    For anyone that is interested here is the recipe: Key Lime Pie VII

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