Sunday, May 13, 2012

Feliz Día de la Madre!


Just wanted to jot a quick little blog post to wish a very Feliz Día de la Madre to all the fabulous mothers in my life.  A big shout out to my Mama Girl who inspired my curiosity in other cultures from a young age and sparked my love for travel.  Without her I probably wouldn't be here (Chile...and also, earth).  I love you so much Mama.  Thank you so much for everything you've done for me!

  I'm also thinking about my sister today.  Katie Bear, you're such an amazing mommy.  Thanks for popping out two of my favorite little rug rats and nurturing them into the wonderful little people they are.   

I'm also so grateful for my adopted moms in the US and in Sweden and Brazil.   Thank you for taking me in and treating me as your own.  I love you all and appreciate everything that you've done for me.  Moms are rad.




Happy Mother's Day
 Feliz Dia das Mães
Lycklig Moders Dag 
(although technically speaking that one doesn't happen for 2 weeks) 
& Feliz Día de la Madres

Thursday, May 3, 2012

A few thoughts on why I love Iquique and hate butterflies




In an attempt to end the cycle of beginning each blog with an apology for not blogging enough, I will start this post in a different fashion; with a tirade about butterflies.  "Butterflies?", you might wonder.  One of only two likable insects known to man?  Yes, beautiful butterflies; the anomaly of the insect world...those butterflies. 

Allow me to explain.  As stated in my last blog, my two roommates and I recently moved out of the hostel and into a new apartment.  The apartment has a fabulous location and a gorgeous view of the ocean.  There's not much to complain about...except pretty much everything about the apartment itself.  The woman who lived here before was....how do I put this delicately?  A dirty, filthy bitch (sorry Mom).  

The carpet is stained within an inch of its life, everything is a heinous shade of pink and there is enough dog hair under the futon to form a German Shepard (or two).  Most things are either falling apart or have already done so and everything (and I mean everything) is covered in, you guessed it...butterflies.  Butterflies on the doorknobs, butterflies on the closet doors and yes, even butterflies hanging from the ceilings.  There is also a myriad of other old, dirty and otherwise hideous decorations around the house including wooden cats and gold plastic poinsettias. After about three weeks of damage control, we've finally managed to make a dent in the butterfly population of our apartment.  We're still working on the jungle of ugly house plants but sacrifices must be made for a view like this.


 

In other news, Kate and I are now teaching at the same language institute where we drink copious amounts of coffee together, sing in the hallways and occasionally even teach English classes.  Our silliness gets so out of control at work sometimes that we've adopted the mantra "teacher, not creature".  As you may have guessed, creature still prevails most of the time.

Ruby, Kate and I are still working on our own private tutoring company, Cachai English.  We're hoping to get some private students ASAP since the institute isn't paying us much and the work visa situation isn't looking so good.



For now, we'll just have to hop over the border and renew our tourist visas every 90 days and get paid through someone else, in cash, from the institute.  Ruby read that Chile is the hardest place to get a work visa in South America.  Who knew?

The border hopping life isn't so bad though.  A few weeks ago, we went back to to Arica for the night and then crossed over to Tacna, Peru for the day.  Kate and I only have one day off of work a week which kind of puts a damper on travel plans but luckily we're relatively close to the borders of Peru and Bolivia.  Tacna was not spectacular but it's always cool to see a new place.  I'm definitely anxious to explore more of Peru.  I'm hoping for a trip to Arequipa in September and maybe Machu Picchu in October.



When we got back to Iquique, we had a big housewarming party which was a lot of fun (except cleaning up in the morning).  Day-to-day life includes jogging on the beach, laying out, chilling with friends and working every night from 6-10.  During the week I work with adults and Saturday mornings I have a class of 8 kids which I really enjoy.  I'm still liking my job quite a bit and loving life in Iquique overall. I can't believe that it's already May!  My time in Chile is speeding by so much faster than I could have ever imagined.  I'm excited for what this new month with bring: more beach time, fun adventures and, last but not least, Jeff!