I thought since this is our blog and Annie has been razzing me to write a bit that I would do just that. I think the most important thing about this first couple of weeks here is how comfortable I feel. In general I do pretty well adjusting to new places, cultures ect and of course the fact that I speak decent Spanish and have studied Latin America for the past several years makes it all the easier. And while I feel I am comfortable here, I think my subconscious is still catching up. Most recently I have had a reoccurring theme to my dreams where I dream that I am in the States telling some friend that I need to either go to or go back to Chile. In the dream I am really worried that I am going to miss out on something important, in the most recent dreams a day or two of school, and I try to figure out how I can get back to Chile quickly. I have been waking up from these dreams, looking around and reminding myself that I am in Chile. When I was traveling through Asia last year I remember having vivid dreams of this same style and I find it interesting that they are now occurring here.
Dreams aside, I really am enjoying Santiago. As a lover of the city life I find myself fitting in perfect here. It is busy, congested, colorful, noisy, polluted with people and traffic and alive. At the same time it is lush and oddly peaceful. And while I thought San Francisco was green, I now believe it has nothing on Santiago. The street we are now staying on is very popular for upper class Chileans and tourists to dine and drink $$$, while one street away is very popular for Chilean college students to get drunk. Needless to say this neighborhood, mixed with perfect weather in the middle of summer, has given us a view into the partying habits of Chileans and I am very impressed. The Metro here is clean, utilized, rapid and convenient. I think it rivals anything I have seen in other major cities. The architecture here is an amazing combination of classic European styles and modern design. I constantly find myself just looking around in awe. I love the little subtleties like cobble streets and decrepit buildings everywhere we have been. In general it has been a visual theme park.
Since this is my first post(thank you Annie for being a bit more diligent)I could go on forever but I am not going to. I have many other things to share about this experience so far and I am sure I will have more in the future but I will end this here before it becomes a novel.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Teaching!!
So much happens each day, and I wish I could remember every tiny thing and blog it. I need a little voice recorder!
There are so many reasons why Santiago is wonderful. I feel so excited to be in another culture, and another culture that is not obsessed with material things and marketing and food and money and petty discourse and rigid work ethics.
Chileans are SLOW. They take their everlovingsweeatasstime doing everything. Going to work, standing in line at the grocery, eating, drinking, talking, walking. On Sunday's the couples lie in the park making out for hours. Few shops are open. The streets are barely patronized. During the week though, it's like a jungle. It is absolutely crowded, packed, disorganized mayhem. People jaywalk constantly and cars just honk and do not slow down. I am terrified of seeing someone get plowed down in the next moment. You spend your time winding your way around people as you walk down the street. It's enormously annoying for me, and I am hoping that wears off!!
Last Saturday at the "asada" (Chilean barbeque) we had a fantastic time. Our host, Joanna, who is friends with my friend in San Francisco, was so wonderful. She made sure we had drinks and food and sat with us and chatted and also pointed out who spoke English (from a bit to a lot) there, which was mostly for my benefit as I certainly do not have conversational Spanish squared away! :) We talked with Joanna's husband as well, a Santiagoan, Jorge. He is a journalist and has written a book recently which has received a lot of attention. It's quotations from prominent Chileans covering the last 200 years. Jesse and Jorge got along great as they both are interested in history and music, and Jorge took Jesse off to introduce him to Pisco, a Chilean favorite alcohol while I chatted with Leslie and David, more locals. Leslie's English was almost perfect. She understood everything I said, which really made me feel spoiled in my luck to find her to chat to! She wants to teach English in the schools in Santiago and is entering a Masters program to get her certificate. So we exchanged numbers so we can meet up and do language exchange! Our second Chilean friends! So exciting!
After the asada we headed over to the California Cantina to watch the Packers game. Our classmates, Walt and Chelsea joined us and we had a great time watching the Packers steal the show!
On Sunday we did not do much. Went to the huge market and bought veggies and fruits. We have found that some of them go bad very quickly, even though we put them in the fridge. We then took a walk down to the supermarket to get some supermarketish kind of things. We walked through this gorgeous old neighborhood called Belles Artes. It's called that because the huge Museum of Belles Artes is there. The neighborhood looks like it was lifted right out of Paris. Beautiful stone buildings with tall, wide windows and shutters. Street cafes with the young and chic lounging and socializing. We saw a "For Rent" sign on the edge of the neighborhood and went to look. It was affordable, but was unfurnished. Sad!
Yesterday Jesse and I taught our first class! We were teaching the servers at the bar next door, the California Cantina, and they were beginners. I taught numbers and Jesse taught greetings and names. It was, obviously, rather flawed, but I found it fun and really exciting. We teach again tomorrow!
Jesse has been cooking our dinners and we have been bringing sandwiches to school to save money. We eat chicken and veggies and rice, spaghetti, etc. It's so hard not having a Trader Joes!!!!
That's all for now!
Hasta Luego!
There are so many reasons why Santiago is wonderful. I feel so excited to be in another culture, and another culture that is not obsessed with material things and marketing and food and money and petty discourse and rigid work ethics.
Chileans are SLOW. They take their everlovingsweeatasstime doing everything. Going to work, standing in line at the grocery, eating, drinking, talking, walking. On Sunday's the couples lie in the park making out for hours. Few shops are open. The streets are barely patronized. During the week though, it's like a jungle. It is absolutely crowded, packed, disorganized mayhem. People jaywalk constantly and cars just honk and do not slow down. I am terrified of seeing someone get plowed down in the next moment. You spend your time winding your way around people as you walk down the street. It's enormously annoying for me, and I am hoping that wears off!!
Last Saturday at the "asada" (Chilean barbeque) we had a fantastic time. Our host, Joanna, who is friends with my friend in San Francisco, was so wonderful. She made sure we had drinks and food and sat with us and chatted and also pointed out who spoke English (from a bit to a lot) there, which was mostly for my benefit as I certainly do not have conversational Spanish squared away! :) We talked with Joanna's husband as well, a Santiagoan, Jorge. He is a journalist and has written a book recently which has received a lot of attention. It's quotations from prominent Chileans covering the last 200 years. Jesse and Jorge got along great as they both are interested in history and music, and Jorge took Jesse off to introduce him to Pisco, a Chilean favorite alcohol while I chatted with Leslie and David, more locals. Leslie's English was almost perfect. She understood everything I said, which really made me feel spoiled in my luck to find her to chat to! She wants to teach English in the schools in Santiago and is entering a Masters program to get her certificate. So we exchanged numbers so we can meet up and do language exchange! Our second Chilean friends! So exciting!
After the asada we headed over to the California Cantina to watch the Packers game. Our classmates, Walt and Chelsea joined us and we had a great time watching the Packers steal the show!
On Sunday we did not do much. Went to the huge market and bought veggies and fruits. We have found that some of them go bad very quickly, even though we put them in the fridge. We then took a walk down to the supermarket to get some supermarketish kind of things. We walked through this gorgeous old neighborhood called Belles Artes. It's called that because the huge Museum of Belles Artes is there. The neighborhood looks like it was lifted right out of Paris. Beautiful stone buildings with tall, wide windows and shutters. Street cafes with the young and chic lounging and socializing. We saw a "For Rent" sign on the edge of the neighborhood and went to look. It was affordable, but was unfurnished. Sad!
Yesterday Jesse and I taught our first class! We were teaching the servers at the bar next door, the California Cantina, and they were beginners. I taught numbers and Jesse taught greetings and names. It was, obviously, rather flawed, but I found it fun and really exciting. We teach again tomorrow!
Jesse has been cooking our dinners and we have been bringing sandwiches to school to save money. We eat chicken and veggies and rice, spaghetti, etc. It's so hard not having a Trader Joes!!!!
That's all for now!
Hasta Luego!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Classes!
We started our classes on Monday! They go all day from 10:30 - 5:30. There are four of us in the class. Us, and another couple from Atlanta, Chelsea and Walt. They are very young, 22 and 23, and just graduated from college. Since they are from Atlanta, they are Falcon fans and Green Bay plays the Falcons in their 2nd playoff game on Saturday. So Jesse is excited to watch it with them. We found an expat bar called the California Kitchen and Bar, and it is right next to our school!
Our teacher James is really great. Very friendly, and eager to help us with everything we could need while here. He is from Modesto! Which is in California! And is only 40, so is closer to our experiences. He's been in Santiago for 6 years and was in Spain for 4 years before that.
We figured out the shower! So it's nice to have longish hot showers!
Jesse has been cooking dinners and we have been taking turkey sandwiches to school for lunch. I have had some stomach (gas) problems for the past 3 days, and I think it was because when we ate out I would get soda because a lot of places only had alcohol or soda and I wasn't going to drink the water. It was pretty painful and annoying to start school with, and I was suitably dramatic about it all. :)
Last Saturday we went to see a friend of a friend who lives here. She is from Seattle originally and has been in Santiago 6 years. She moved here to teach English, but quickly got a resident visa, another job, and met her husband. Now she's pregnant with her first child who will arrive in February. We had brought a mycoach running trainer for her husband from the States since electronics are much more expensive here. So we met up and had lunch, and it was really great to have someone answer all our questions and relax with while speaking English!!
We have to run off to class now, so I'll write more tomorrow.
Our teacher James is really great. Very friendly, and eager to help us with everything we could need while here. He is from Modesto! Which is in California! And is only 40, so is closer to our experiences. He's been in Santiago for 6 years and was in Spain for 4 years before that.
We figured out the shower! So it's nice to have longish hot showers!
Jesse has been cooking dinners and we have been taking turkey sandwiches to school for lunch. I have had some stomach (gas) problems for the past 3 days, and I think it was because when we ate out I would get soda because a lot of places only had alcohol or soda and I wasn't going to drink the water. It was pretty painful and annoying to start school with, and I was suitably dramatic about it all. :)
Last Saturday we went to see a friend of a friend who lives here. She is from Seattle originally and has been in Santiago 6 years. She moved here to teach English, but quickly got a resident visa, another job, and met her husband. Now she's pregnant with her first child who will arrive in February. We had brought a mycoach running trainer for her husband from the States since electronics are much more expensive here. So we met up and had lunch, and it was really great to have someone answer all our questions and relax with while speaking English!!
We have to run off to class now, so I'll write more tomorrow.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
First Few Days
Finally got some time to blog! Jesse has gone downtown to pick up some stuff that we need, and I am hiding in the shady house. It's 90 degrees out there!
Traveling out took a long time. About 23 hours. Our layover's were not too long, so we kind of had to rush in LA and Bogota, which was slightly stressful, but helped to shorten travel time.
We flew into Santiago very early in the morning, so we could only see lights! Which was too bad. We paid our $160 to enter the country for the first time, which lasts for the life of the passport. The customs agent also didn't seem to care that we only had a one-way ticket! Then we went to get our bags, not sure if they had made it through the short layovers. Two of them had. Of course, the one missing, was mine. I had packed for a few days in my carry-on, so it wasn't too devastating. But it's been almost 2 days and no word, so I'm a little apprehensive!
We took a cab to our apartment, and our landlady, Mireya, was waiting. We came in and chatted with her for a while. Jesse did most of the chatting of course, since I speak about 30 words of Spanish. But she was really nice and amiable. Then we slept! We knew we couldn't sleep too much so we could get over our jetlag. We woke up at 1pm and took a much needed shower! And yes, the shower is touch-and-go regarding hot water. :) Sometimes it's hot, really really hot, and sometimes it is randomly cold. Poor Jesse had a totally cold shower this morning!
Then we headed out to explore. We had found out we needed a plug adapter for the computer, so we wanted to get that right away. We went to ask Mireya, and while we were there, her other tenant, Karen, who lives in our apartment with us, offered to take us herself. Which was lovely, because we got an extensive guided tour. Karen is here on an internship to study veterinary medicine. Which is ironic!
Santiago is beautiful. It is very European looking. There are many old buildings still standing, and the streets are narrow and winding like European cities. There are street cafe's everywhere, and there are tons of people everywhere! The sidewalks are always packed with people. There are also street dogs, which is so heartbreaking for me, but they do not look malnourished and they don't have rabies. Karen took us to a huge produce market, and we are very excited to have access to cheap, fresh, fruits and veggies.
After wandering we took another nap and then headed out again to walk around in the cooling evening and find dinner. We had a pizza and some great Chilean wine for dinner, then a drink in our neighborhood, which is quite the nightlife location! As we were walking down the street a street dog started following me. She followed us all the way to the bar, then waited outside for us. So we went to sit outside and she slept near us and barked at any dog who came too close. I had saved some empanadas from lunch but left them in our room. So when we were done with our drinks we woke her up and she followed us back to our apartment and we fed her the empanadas. So of course she waited by the door to the apartment after we went inside! It was so sad, but she didn't look hungry or dirty, so I think she has a decent life in the touristy area of town. :)
Today we walked up to see our school. Classes start on Monday, and we thought it would be a good way to see more of the city. Then we came home on the Metro. It was our first time on the Metro, and it was really easy and clean.
And now I am hiding from the heat and getting over jetlag and Jesse is off on his own city adventure looking for a wash cloth, toilet paper, notebooks, sunscreen and something cheap for dinner!
Hasta Luego!!
Traveling out took a long time. About 23 hours. Our layover's were not too long, so we kind of had to rush in LA and Bogota, which was slightly stressful, but helped to shorten travel time.
We flew into Santiago very early in the morning, so we could only see lights! Which was too bad. We paid our $160 to enter the country for the first time, which lasts for the life of the passport. The customs agent also didn't seem to care that we only had a one-way ticket! Then we went to get our bags, not sure if they had made it through the short layovers. Two of them had. Of course, the one missing, was mine. I had packed for a few days in my carry-on, so it wasn't too devastating. But it's been almost 2 days and no word, so I'm a little apprehensive!
We took a cab to our apartment, and our landlady, Mireya, was waiting. We came in and chatted with her for a while. Jesse did most of the chatting of course, since I speak about 30 words of Spanish. But she was really nice and amiable. Then we slept! We knew we couldn't sleep too much so we could get over our jetlag. We woke up at 1pm and took a much needed shower! And yes, the shower is touch-and-go regarding hot water. :) Sometimes it's hot, really really hot, and sometimes it is randomly cold. Poor Jesse had a totally cold shower this morning!
Then we headed out to explore. We had found out we needed a plug adapter for the computer, so we wanted to get that right away. We went to ask Mireya, and while we were there, her other tenant, Karen, who lives in our apartment with us, offered to take us herself. Which was lovely, because we got an extensive guided tour. Karen is here on an internship to study veterinary medicine. Which is ironic!
Santiago is beautiful. It is very European looking. There are many old buildings still standing, and the streets are narrow and winding like European cities. There are street cafe's everywhere, and there are tons of people everywhere! The sidewalks are always packed with people. There are also street dogs, which is so heartbreaking for me, but they do not look malnourished and they don't have rabies. Karen took us to a huge produce market, and we are very excited to have access to cheap, fresh, fruits and veggies.
After wandering we took another nap and then headed out again to walk around in the cooling evening and find dinner. We had a pizza and some great Chilean wine for dinner, then a drink in our neighborhood, which is quite the nightlife location! As we were walking down the street a street dog started following me. She followed us all the way to the bar, then waited outside for us. So we went to sit outside and she slept near us and barked at any dog who came too close. I had saved some empanadas from lunch but left them in our room. So when we were done with our drinks we woke her up and she followed us back to our apartment and we fed her the empanadas. So of course she waited by the door to the apartment after we went inside! It was so sad, but she didn't look hungry or dirty, so I think she has a decent life in the touristy area of town. :)
Today we walked up to see our school. Classes start on Monday, and we thought it would be a good way to see more of the city. Then we came home on the Metro. It was our first time on the Metro, and it was really easy and clean.
And now I am hiding from the heat and getting over jetlag and Jesse is off on his own city adventure looking for a wash cloth, toilet paper, notebooks, sunscreen and something cheap for dinner!
Hasta Luego!!
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