The Empanada Diet- El Primero de Febrero

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday before I collapsed into a pile of sheer exhaustion and knocked out for the night. One day I hope to establish some kind of regular sleeping pattern here in Chile, one day. Yesterday, we visited La Chascona, one of Pablo Neruda's three houses. It was very cool and has an interesting history but we were told, by our tour guide Gonzalo, that the best of the three houses is in Isla Negra (the only one that was not damaged around the time of the Chilean coup d'etat in the early 70's). A few friends and I are thinking about going there this weekend but we haven't decided between Isla Negra, Valparaíso, Pichilemu and Viña del Mar. We were also considering Mendoza, Argentina but after we found out it would be hotter than Santiago, we thought better of it.

The tour cost us about 3.500 pesos (seven dollars) but I think it was worth it. It definitely sparked my interest in Neruda more and our tour guide was pretty cool. We stopped at a little outdoor market in Bella Vista on the way home and I bought a pair of funky earrings for pretty cheap. My roommate and I got home around 6:30, made dinner and spit a bottle of wine. Chilean wine is so cheap and so good.

Today after class, we had an organized school field trip so we just hung out in the teachers' lounge and ate lunch while we were waiting for it to start. We had some empanadas (much like every other day that I've been in Chile...hints the title of this blog) and talked to some of the people that work at Bridge. Everyone from school is extremely nice and helpful. I'm very happy with the program I chose and I would totally recommend BridgeTEFL to anyone thinking about teaching abroad (and yes Bridge, if you'd like to pay me for that shameless plug, I'd be more than happy to accept cash or check).

Marisol, one of the Bridge Spanish teachers, was our guide to El Cerro de San Cristobal. It is a beautiful hill with gorgeous views of Santiago. We hiked up it and wandered around a lot, stopping at a very nice restaurant for a pisco sour on their deck, which overlooked the city. It was such an amazing view. After we reached the summit, we took a trolley car that rides on tracks down the side of the hill and back to the bottom. It was pretty awesome. Pictures coming soon!

El Primer Día de Clase- 30 de Enero

Today was the first day of school and, as luck should have it, my freaking alarm didn't go off. So, instead of waking up at seven with plenty of time to cook breakfast and get ready, I woke up at twenty to nine in a state of sheer panic, trying to put my makeup on while simultaneously getting dressed and shoving a piece of fruit in my mouth before running out the door. Luckily my roommate and I were playing it safe by planning to leave at 8:30 and were only a few minutes late when we left closer to 9:40. I got placed in the advanced Spanish class and, since there were only three of us, we got out an hour earlier than the intermediate and beginning classes. The course was challenging and I'm really glad I decided to take it (apparently eight months without Spanish drains your memory of all knowledge regarding verb conjugation...¿Quién lo sabe?)

After class, I went to grab a cup of coffee with the other two students in my group. One of them will be in my TEFL class and the other will be going back to Germany in two weeks and is only here for the Spanish lessons. At 2:30, I went back to the school to meet up with my roommate. She was hanging out with another girl from her class so the three of us decided to wander around the city for a bit and do some exploring. We got some lunch at a little sidewalk cafe and I got the empanaditas y un schop (cerveza). Yummm. Then we walked around looking for a place to buy a pre-paid cell phone but to no avail. However, we did explore a cool park, a gelato shop and a handful of over-priced malls. Luckily we stumbled upon an enclosed ATM where I could finally take out some cash. Victory!

Our expedition ended up lasting about six hours total. We were ready to go around about hour five but the metro was packed with commuters so we just waited it out and got some refreshments to ease our tired bodies and minds (Santiago was in the 90s today and the ozone layer is pretty much non-existent so the sun can getcha good). I got a bottle of water from an "OK! Market" which I didn't notice was carbonated. I also didn't know that it was all shaken up and and, of course, as soon as I paid for it and unscrewed the lid on my way out the door, it exploded all over the place. iAy, la gringa pendeja! Luckily, we ended the day with another victory when we finally found some cheap watches with Layla and Ruby had been keeping an eye out for the whole time. My roommate and I took the metro home and retreated back to our respective caves of relaxation and quietude. Now it's time to clean some things up and get ready to do it all tomorrow. iChau!

¡Saludos!

Cheers everybody, to drinking a nice class of Chilean chardonnay after a long and hot day. My sleep pattern is totally screwed right now so I feel pretty much exhausted even though it is just after nine pm here and I took a three hour nap today. I guess wine was a bad idea...but it's so good. The new roommate showed up around nine this morning. Turns out she's a California girl too and also twenty-three. She's from LA but went to UCSD. Small world. We walked down to the mall together (between ten and twenty blocks away) and scoped it out. Clothes are expennnnsive! So if you're planning on coming to visit me, plan on bringing me some. We did some grocery shopping at Supermercado JUMO (basically Chilean Super Wal-Mart) and carried everything home. I tried to take her to the empanada place around the corner but I guess it's closed on Sundays. We just came home and ate a little at the house and then chilled. Ruby crashed out early and I just stayed up and messed around on the computer and then took the dog for a walk with Brett and Andrés around ten. Spanish classes start tomorrow! Got to get some sleep so I can be rested and ready to brave the metro. ¡Chao!

Aquí Estoy en Chile- El 29 de Enero

¡Hola famila y amigos! I can finally say that I made it to Chile safe and sound…and not a moment too soon. After twenty-three hours of traveling (door to door), I arrived at my new place in Las Condes around noon yesterday. I had a few minor issues at the airport in Santiago but overall my trip was pretty smooth. Initially, they rejected the 140 dollars cash I brought for my visa because there was a tiny bit of ink around the edges of the bills. I started panicking a little bit because my program told me that I needed to pay in cash but it turns out they took credit cards so all was good there. Then I couldn’t find my shuttle and a whole bunch of people were bombarding me with taxi information and trying to convince me that my ride wasn’t going to show up and that I should just go with them. Luckily, I got that one resolved too. I sat next to this cool old man on the shuttle and he showed me some pictures of his trip down to the southern part of the country. He also told me a little bit about what was going on around us as we drove through Santiago (which, by the way, is a gorgeous city).

I was met at home by my host, Andrés and another student named Brett that is renting one of the three rooms in the house. A third student, named Ruby, should be showing up in a few hours. All the people that stay here are members of my program and Brett just went through it so he was really helpful in terms of getting some insight into the program. Looks like I’m in store for some pretty intense nights of studying and preparing lessons. Time to get back into school mode!

Amazingly, I didn’t crash out as soon as I got here and I actually unpacked and organized all of my stuff. Brett and I walked down to a little empanada shop nearby and grabbed a few of those which was great since I hadn’t really eaten much since In-N-Out in LA before I left (24 hours before that).

Andrés gave me the lay of the land over her and it seems like a pretty sweet set up. The house is beautiful, my room is nice and the neighborhood is pretty cool. There’s a little farmer’s market on Saturdays just around the corner that I’m planning to check out next week. My classes start tomorrow but it’s just a Spanish course so it won’t be as intensive as my TEFL course which begins early February. Overall, things are looking good and I’m excited about getting things started! Besos everyone! More soon :)

Saludos de LAX- El 27 de Enero

Hola a todos. Saludos de LAX. Here I am, finally about to embark on this Chilean adventure that I have been planning for and talking about for so long. Unfortunately, this extensive planning didn’t actually include the packing park… Thanks to my absolute hatred for packing and my unparalleled ability to procrastinate, I ended up working until a little after three in the morning on Friday; just in time to get up at seven and drive to LA in rush hour traffic. Then I hobbled around LAX with my little family of awkward luggage: a giant suitcase that I could have smuggled at least a few small children in, a duffle bag that I literally had to strattle to zip up because it was so full and a thirty-pound backpack, packed so unevenly that it felt like I had a family of angry koalas on my back, plus a SECOND backpack and my purse. Of course the only shirt that hadn’t been packed happened to be long sleeved so I was nice and sweaty when it came time to get felt up in the security line. (It was good for me. Was it good for you?)

I wish I could share some video footage of me trying to maneuver myself around the airport for the first twenty minutes, but alas you’ll you have to use your imaginations. Alright, well I have a good 40 minutes before boarding. Sounds like time to blow up my inflatable travel pillow and take a napski. Besos! See you on the other side!