Un Año en 8 Minutos

This one is for the folks that always tell me that they've fallen way behind on my blog because of  crazy schedules.  Don't worry, I get it.  For anyone that wants to know what I've been up to for the past year but doesn't have time to click through hundreds of pictures or read through dozens of blog posts, this one is for you.  As I mentioned in a previous post (that you may or may not have had time to read), a picture is worth a thousand words (stop me if you've heard that one before).  That means that by watching this video, you'll essentially be 299,000 reading words in 8 minutes.  That's 37,375 words a minute.  That's impressive.  I'd brag about that if I were you.

Anyways, If you hadn't heard, I just wrapped up my first year in Chile.  It's been a crazy one.  I worked hard, I played hard (ok, pretty much all of my pictures are of the later... but I swear, I fit working hard in there too somehow) and, overall, it was a pretty frickin' amazing year.  Don´t believe me?  See for youself.  

Lo Que Significa Un Año en Chile

 A year ago today, the 23 hours of travel (back when that was a big deal) from California came to an end and I arrived at my final (or so I thought) destination, Santiago de Chile. I had written this post the day before and was about to write this one, the next day.  No post that day though.  I was too busy getting my first taste of Chilean cuisine at the empanada shop down the street and organizing way too much luggage into my cute little blue room in Las Condes.

I had never been to Chile before and I had 0 experience teaching English.  My Spanish was decent but I had no idea what cachai, weon or CSM meant.  I had never surfed, never been paragliding and never hiked Machu Picchu.  I had never heard of Pucón or Iquique and had no idea that I'd be spending a significant amount of time in either.  I'd never seen warning signs for volcano eruptions or tsunamis nor lived near people who considered the constant threat of one or the other to be a normal part of everyday life. I had never tasted cherimoya, pebre, humitas or a terremoto.  Come to think of it, I had never actually met a Chilean person before (to my knowledge, at least).

Needless to say, 366 (leap year) days later, all of that (and so much more) has changed.  Here are a few more things that one year in Chile means....

1. One year in Chile means one year since I've driven a car.

Yup, if you thought I was a bad driver before...watch out.  I'm coming back in July, crazier than ever.  I may be forced to practice in my high school parking lot with my dad until I brush up on my skills.

2. One year in Chile means one year since I've had real Mexican food or decent tequila.

Best believe the Cazadores will be flowin' when I get back.

3. One year in Chile means one year since I've greeted someone without kissing them on the cheek.

If this is how I respond when we see each other again, please do not be startled. 

4. One year in Chile means one year since I've thrown toilet paper in the toilet instead of in a trash can.

I'll try to remember this one when I come back ;-)

5. One year in Chile means one year since I've had a bowl of soul from The Naked Lounge, a jasmine green tea from Empire or an iced coffee from anywhere besides Starbucks.

No Chile, "café helado" is not the same thing.  An iced coffee does not come with sprinkles, an ice-cream cone and a cherry on top.  This concept seems to be lost in translation.

 

6. One year in Chile means one year since I've gone bike-riding through Bidwell, downed an Irish car-bomb at Duffy's or gone skinny dipping at One Mile (not that I would ever do the latter, of course).

7. One year in Chile means one year since I've sent a piece of snail mail.

Sorry about those post-cards I promised.  I'll try to get that accomplished at some point before I leave .

8. One year in Chile means one year since I've used a stove without lighting a match (or occasionally using a lighter).

Electric stoves are very rare here.

9. One year in Chile means one year since I've used a dryer.

Nothing but clotheslines for me.

10. Sadly (almost as sad as #2), One year in Chile also means one year since I've seen a whole lot of people I love :-(
 

On a happier note, Today I celebrated my anniversary with a day off, a delicious little pie from Suiza Pucón and the silly little lake-side photo shoot pictured above.  I wasn't sure whether it was appropriate to make a resolution or a wish as I blew out the candle so I made something that I don't make very often, a plan.  I got a little nugget of good news this morning via e-mail which was just enough to finalize an idea I've been mulling over for a while.  The details will not be revealed quite yet, but you'll see soon enough. 

Cheers to the first year Chile, here's to the rest of our time together :)

Estoy Agradecida.

Hey there, I know I'm a little late for Thanksgiving (almost a week) but since it is my ten month month-a-versary with Chile, I thought I'd do a "what I'm grateful for" post today instead. Here are a few of the things I'm feeling thankful for on this lovely Wednesday evening...

I'm thankful for the ability to spend half of my

walk home from work with my toes in the ocean.

20 minutes by sea and 20 minutes by land :)

 

I'm thankful that I met this little (ok, HUGE)

 guy on land instead of on his turf, in the water.

(eeek)

 I'm thankful for a job that I love, working with
crazy, silly, fun students like these...

I'm thankful for this amazing man who
came all the way down to Chile to spend 
the past 6 months with me.  Te amo mi amor.

I'm thankful for the wonderful friends that I've met 
in Chile.  Without them, this experience wouldn't be  
half as amazing as it has been.

 

I'm thankful for all of the fabulous folks back home
that have made an effort to stay in my life, 
even though we're almost 6,000 miles apart.
 I miss ya'll like crazy and can't wait till we're reunited at last.  
(Looking through old pictures to find these sure confirmed that)

I'm thankful for opportunities
to enjoy gorgeous places like these ...

 

Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil

  

 Chico, California

Värmdö, Sweden

Machu Picchu, Peru

 

Angel Island, California

Iquique, Chile

 Small Print: Photo creds for Machu Picchu & Iquique go to two of my friends.  The rest are mine :)

Although (for now) there are still a lot of things up in the air as far as the future is concerned, I must say, I am very very thankful for this crazy, beautiful life I'm living.  Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone and happy month-a-versary Chile!

Los Días Pasan Volando

A big hello to all of you good people who keep up with my little blogski here (I know, it's really difficult since I update soooooo often...)  Here I am again; now with seven months of life in Chile under my belt (can you believe it??).  The last month has seen a few exciting events although, to be honest, nothing too radical has changed (sorry to disappoint).  For one, August brought me back to the beach.  Now I'm back to running and surfing once again which was a bit of a shock to my post-death-bed body al principio.  I'm still readjusting, but luckily I've come a long way from my level of strength and stamina the first week back which was laughable...to say the least.  

August also brought me my first NON-laughable paycheck of the past seven months, whoot whoot.  I've now been working at my "new" job for about a month and a half and I'm still loving it.  I'm really lucky to have such great students and coworkers and I honestly enjoy what I'm doing (much more than I ever enjoyed being threatened and cussed at by teenage boys). Even when I have one of those days when making it to a class seems like a chore, I can push myself by thinking about my students and I'm genuinely motivated to keep chugging along through my (often very long) day.

Being an English teacher has really given me the opportunity to give my mother-tongue a nice hard look and think about things that had never before crossed my mind.  Like what the hell does "got" actually mean?  And why DO we use auxiliary verbs in some questions and not in others?*  Sometimes I feel like my English is actually getting worse, the more I dissect it.  As far as Spanish goes, sometimes it feels like it is improving and some days my brain just doesn't function in either language, let alone both.

There are some words that have been irrevocably changed into Spanish in my brain, so much so that the English translation has left my vocabulary entirely.  Examples include: palta, teraza, salvavida,chauchera, banano & chocopanda.  Side note: thank goodness we've seen less of the latter up here in Nor Chil (Yes, that's short for Northern Chile).

Although my vocabulary is growing (slowly but surely), my grammar still needs a little love and attention which will HOPEFULLY be happening shortly when my boss gets a move on with this whole Spanish class thing at the academy.  I'll keep you posted.

Jeff has been understanding more and more, which is great, although we still agree that he would benefit from a formal class which we plan to get started real soon.  He's still working at the institute where I use to work and seems to be enjoying it for the most part, although he still doesn't feel like a "real teacher".  He's learning more and growing with his teaching style all the time which is pretty cool to see.  However, I do think he misses the whole being threatened and cussed at by teenage boys thing (to each their own I guess).

We are planning to take a trip to Machu Picchu in the beginning of October (before raining season) if we can pull it.  We still haven't solidified anything and (as you've noticed if you've been following along with my blog posts) plans change quite a lot around here.  For now, we're just taking things day by day and enjoying the little things like our little beach-side bike ride today and the delicious homemade pesto that I made (first pesto I've eaten in 7 months, yikes!)  Ok, that's all the news for now.  Un besito, chauuu!  

 

*I would be happy to explain either of those things to you in great detail...for a small fee of course.  Teachers gotta eat.

6 meses en 16 fotos y 600 palabras

In celebration of my 6-month-a-versary here in Chile, I bring you a collection of 16 of my favorite photos from Chile so far.  I can’t believe how fast the time has gone.   I know I always say that but seriously…it really blows my mind that I’ve been here for half a year already.  I could spend this whole blog entry waxing poetic about my time in Chile but I guess I should conserve my 600 words and let you all in on some recent updates in my Chilean adventure. 

First of all, as of last Thursday, I am 100% E. Coli freeeeeeee which is pretty exciting.  Tomorrow morning I’m going surfing for the first time in over a month.  It’s been such a bummer not being allowed to get in the water so I’m pretty stoked to be back.  Hopefully I haven’t forgotten everything I’ve learned so far, we’ll see I guess. 

The second bit of news is that I recently got a new job working at a different language institute in Iquique (the same one where Ruby works).  I’m bummed about leaving my co-workers at my old job but really excited about this new opportunity.  I’ll be making considerably more money which will help take the financial stress out of my life finally (whoot whoot) and I will also be teaching in a completely different environment.  At my old job, all of our lessons were pre-prepared with corresponding powerpoint presentations.  It was nice because it required little to no lesson prep but it didn’t leave much room for teacher creativity.  After teaching each lesson a number of times, it starts to get a little super boring.  I’m excited for the chance to have more control over my classroom and mix it up.  It’s also nice to have the same students in each class because I can tailor my class around their specific needs and weaknesses.       

I started the job on the 17^th and so far everything is going great.  I haven’t met that many of my co-workers because I teach most of my classes in the office building where the majority of my students work.  It is a mining company that is pretty close to my old work (about a 30 minute walk from my house).  The past few weeks, I’ve spent a considerable portion of my day there; teaching, lesson planning, paper working and trying out all of the flavors in the Nescafe “Alegria” machine (sorry Dad, Nestle owns this country…what’s a girl to do?”)

My plan (as of now) is to stay at this new job from July to July so I can have a full year at the same place on my resume.  I’m really enjoying it so I don’t think that should be a problem and they also allow me to take free language lessons there as a perk of the job.  It seems like the process of getting that off the ground might be a little tricky but I’m excited to get that started.  I am also allowed to take vacation there any time I want which is great.  I’m definitely okay with keeping Iquique as my main hub if I am able to launch off and travel from here.

Jeff also got a job (at a different language school) and will be starting this week!  That will probably allow him to extend his ticket and stay out here with me for longer, although we haven’t solidified any plans yet.  About the only thing that we know for sure is that we will be back at least for a visit in August 2013 for Mallory’s WEDDING!  Beyond that I’m not sure about any plans to visit home although I suspect I might be back sooner to see all of your lovely faces.  Stay tuned for updates.

    

Cerro San Cristóbal in Santiago

 

"Spanglish" Language Intercambio

 

Graduation from Bridge TEFL with our IDELT certifications

 

Sunset in La Serena

Viña del Mar

First dinner in Iquique

Hostel living

 

New job!

 

Iquique Love Fest with Danillo and the girls

 

Surfing in Cavancha

 

Jeff in Chile!

 

After an English lesson with Alvaro and Eduardo

 

El Morro de Arica

 

Fiesta de La Tirana

My adorable students

\ 

My beautiful home

Amor en el País de las Maravillas

Well hello there.  Long time, no blog (per usual).  I guess I should start with the most exciting news...Jeff (pictured above) finally made it to Chile, yay!  He got here on May 27th and just passed his one-month-a-versary in Iquique a few days ago.  Since he arrived, he's been keeping busy learning Spanish, meeting new people, surfing and eating all the churros in Iquique.

He got his first chance to see Arica a few weeks ago when we bussed up with our two roommates and a couple other friends.  The original idea was to do a border hop so I could renew my visa but Jeff really liked Arica and we didn't want to rush things so we just opted to spend some extra time there and do another trip in a couple of weeks.  We checked out a few bars on Saturday night, and went to the Maui and Sons World Star Tour at El Gringo (although we woke up late and really only caught the last few waves and the award ceremony) on Sunday.  The runner-up ended up being a 16-year-old kid from the North Shore, which was pretty cool.  We ended the trip with one of Schopdog's famous beer rockets and hopped back on the bus around 9:30 pm for a 2:30 am arrival in Iquique. 

Back on the home-front, Iquique life hasn't changed all that much.  Kate and I are still working nights at the same English Institute (although she'll be gone for the whole month of July...wahhhh!).  Ruby just got an awesome new job this month so she's been pretty busy as of late.  The three of us have a few private students, which is great (although it can be a little unreliable at times).

So far no more news on future travel plans or when this Chilean adventure is coming to an end but I will definitely have a better idea of both of those things by the end of July (details to come).  In the meantime, hope all is well with all of you lovely friends and family members that care enough to keep tabs on my little blog. Que estén bien.  ¡Cuídate! ¡Chaoooooooo!