Gringa Adventures

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Hola mis amigas!

So, if anyone actually even reads this, I apologize for the delay! The past week has been a whirlwind. I know I haven’t written much, or at all, about what I have actually DONE here so far. I don’t anticipate that this blog will work like a journal; I want to share a combination of my experiences here, but also my observations and reflections about traveling/living abroad and Chilean culture as a whole.

Having said that though- I do want to share what I’ve been up to. So without further ado, here are the highlights of the past week:

Orientation with Teaching Chile:

Okay, so this was over a week ago (actually it was our second day here…) but this was when we met with our program coordinators, Andrea and Bruce. They gave us the run down about what to expect here and they focused mainly on safety. Chile is the safest documented country in South America, HOWEVER, it, ironically, has the highest rate for petty theft. Pick-pocketing, snatching phones or cameras out of peoples hands, etc. They gave us a free strap that buckles that allows ones bag to be secure to your belt loop. Too bad I wear a lot of skirts and dresses! But no worries, I am a master of guarding my bag like gold on the subway, and I use a lot of cross body bags, which are much harder for thieves. I never carry more money than I need on me and I only bring my camera when I feel the journey may lead to new photos. I also lock up my valuables in my room in my locked suitcase, and have a bike lock that attaches to the foot of my bed. It may sound a little overboard, but better safe than sorry! And so far so good! I had a scare earlier today when I couldn’t find my iPod, but I realized it was tucked away in my computer case. But of course, why would I think to check where it should be?!

We also got our Chilean cell phones- it’s so tiny and basic! Figures, I get an iPhone for Christmas and within 2 months I’m back to an old school phone. But it was super nice of them to purchase them for us and put some money on them and it is a relied not to have to walk around using an expensive phone. We also got our BIP! Card which functions both as a subway and bus card. But man that money goes fast. I was thinking at first how nice it would be not to drive and worry about gas, but it probably evens out considering how much money I’ve already put on and used with this card! 

Exploring Cerro San Cristóbal:

We were told that are two “hills” (cerros) here that are very well known and beautiful places to visit in Santiago. The “little” one, Santa Lucía, we planned to explore first, but once we learned there was a pool halfway up the bigger one, Cerro San Cristóbal, we were sold. However, everyone was so exhausted after our first weekend in Santiago (more about that later!) that we all slept in, and didn’t really get to the base of the hill until 4. The pool closed at six, and as it cost $6,000 CLP ($12 USD) we figured we would wait until we could make a full day out of it to go to the pool. But we hiked on until we got to the top! Two hours later, after stopping to take pictures and take in breathtaking views, we made it to the top and stood under the towering Virgin Mary statue. Us “Gringas” (Spanish word for foreigner that can vary from derogatory to endearing, depending on how it is used) stood out like a sore thumb among the Chileans, who clearly took a taxi to the top, as many of them were dressed up. For many it was their last day of summer, it’s back to school time here! We took a bit of a short cut back down and made it home before dark. The following Sunday we planned better. We got up early (well, before noon) packed some sandwiches, and spent the day at the pool. It was glorious. There are gorgeous trees all around and you can see the mountains all around you while you swim in the giant pool or bask in the sun. Speaking of the latter, I got quite the interesting sun burn! But it wasn’t awful- I tried to reapply sun screen as much as I could, and by the next day it had calmed down. Unfortunately the pool closes for Fall on the 14^th, and as I have my first class to teach tomorrow (more about that later, too!) it looks like it’s adios to paradise for now!

The Language Company:

Okay, so now we’re at why exactly I’m here! I will spend my time here in Santiago, Chile as an English teacher for The Language Company. They serve both youth and adults in Santiago who wish to learn English to broaden their opportunities in life. Currently Chile has about a 3% English fluency rate. The President has made it a national agenda to make Chile a bilingual country. This is where we come in. Teaching Chile is a company that started as a purely volunteer organization called English Opens Doors. It expanded when a past participant, our coordinator Bruce, decided to put his business background to use. He founded Teaching Chile where native English speakers would come to Chile to teach English and earn a teacher’s salary, thus making it more accessible to young people who wish to travel and work abroad while simultaneously benefitting more Chileans as with more teachers, they will have more exposure and opportunities to learn English. They send teachers to work in schools (“colegios”), universities, or other agencies (TLC!!) to receive teaching placements. There are about 65 Teaching Chile participants at the moment, and 15 of them, including myself, are directly employed with The Language Company.

 Within TLC, you will either work with children or adults/businessmen to wish to learn English. I believe I will be teaching mostly if not all children, which I am very excited about! It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the classroom and I’m excited to get back at it! Though technically, that “classroom” may be their living room. TLC sends teachers to the clients’ home or office, which is a pretty cool concept when you think about it. Remember taking a foreign language class in school? Trying to memorize things and engage in dialogues when there are 20 other people around, either distracting or judging you, and you have a million other things on your mind instead of conjugating verbs. TLC makes learning both organic and fun. Children will feel comfortable learning in their home environment and generalizing their English skills to objects in their home and activities they do- (and likewise businessmen in their offices) it makes it so much more personal! Plus a full analysis is done on each “client” so you know exactly what level they are at, what areas they need improve, and the areas either they or their parents wish to be focused on. TLC also encourages games, as sessions generally meet only once or twice a week. To maximize retention, children (and adults!) need to be fully present and engaged, and what better way to do that then to make it fun? I planned my first lesson which is happening tomorrow from 6:00-7:30. It is a group of 3^rd grade triplets! I was told though that I would work with each student one on one for 30 minutes, so it will be nice to get to know each of them on a personal level. I will definitely post about how that goes later this week!

Last week we had a full week of orientation. The TLC office is absolutely beautiful. Everyone who works there was once a teacher themselves, and thus they are extremely friendly, helpful, and quite funny as well! I really can’t say enough good things about these people, especially the HR manager, Emily. The woman is a saint. Everyone took turns doing various presentations on everything from icebreakers/getting to know you games to behavior management and logistics such as paperwork and tax forms. Emily though has also held several (both official and impromptu) sessions on apartment-hunting, a topic that is the bane of my existence at the moment I can’t even bare to elaborate on it! She has called people for us, set up appointments, and for those who speak no Spanish, gone or arranged for other admin. workers to go with them. At the end of the week, we had a “social event” mixer at a bar/restaurant near our hostel. They graciously told us the first round was on the house, but as we proceeded with the night, continuing to buy food and drinks, one of the founders showed up, and further extended the company’s financial generosity. Have I mentioned how much I love these people?!

Food, Drinks, Nightlife and Hostel Fun!
While there are times when sharing a room with four other girls is difficult and the lack of privacy and, more importantly wifi and hot water, at times, are rather annoying, I am really enjoying my rent free time at our hostel. I’ve never stayed at a hostel before, but I had pretty bleak expectations. Our place is really pretty beautiful though. Everything is painted in vibrant covers, we get free breakfast, staff who clean our rooms daily (usually..) and a beautiful courtyard and backroom that host both planned parties and hang out spots on the week night. It’s like being back in the dorms in college again! I really will miss everyone once we find our own apartments.

The food to eat: empanadas. It is similar in nature to a crêpe, in that it’s a breaded substance that you can stuff with anything, but they are so much thicker! They don’t have quite as many kinds (at least not that I’ve seen) but two popular ones are Queso (cheese) and Pino (a combination of beef, onion, a part of a hard boiled egg, and an olive). They are delicious quick and cheap meals!

The drink to drink: pisco sour. It’s essentially a popular type of liquor that you can mix with virtually anything, though the two popular ones are sprite or coke (“pisco sour” or “pisco coke”). I haven’t explored greatly the vino here (Chile is quite famous for their wine!!), though I did find a delicious Sauvignon Blac that I enjoy- that is from a local vineyard. The hostel hosts Bike & Wine tours, where you literally bike in the vineyards. I definitely want to try that!

I’ve also found coffee rather strange here. It seems like it’s either instant coffee (NesCafe) or espresso. There is no middle ground! There is a dunkin donuts at the sub centro of our metro and I didn’t even see just “coffee” on the menu. So far the hostel coffee is so-so, resulting in my severe undercaffination until I get to the TLC office. BUT the instant coffee here is actually pretty good. Not as strong as the real stuff, but much better than the instant I had back in the states

The place to go at night: Barrio Bellavista. There are tons of restaurants, clubs, and bars to go to within walking distance. The hostel got us in for free at this great club called Urban on both Friday and Saturday night of our first weekend AND gave us a one free drink voucher. We had so much fun both nights. We got some salsa lessons on Saturday, and later danced the night away to a combination of both Spanish and English dance songs. I instantly knew I was at home when EVERYONE freaked out when Danza Kuduro came on!!

Subways, Buses, and Spanish, oh my!

Now, those of you who know me, know that directions aren’t exactly my forte. And my Spanish is rusty and so-so at best. Good thing I chose to live in the capital of a Spanish speaking country where I am totally dependent on pubic transportation! But I also love a challenge. The first few days were super overwhelming, and I’d be lying if I said I still wasn’t overwhelmed, but I never expected this to be easy. Every teacher knows that’s now how you learn! The metro is pretty straightforward though. It’s actually a beautifully run system, it is clear and color coordinated, and very clean, as they close around 11:30 to keep it looking nice. There is one large exception though: rush hour. Oh sweet Jesus. This is not for the faint of heart, overly polite, and definitely not for the claustrophobic. Imagine the most crowded you have been on a subway and multiply that by at least 10. I experienced this after my first day of orientation when Deirdre and I decided to check out the mall after work. Mind you, that put us about 4 or 5 stops from our destination instead of 8 as the mall was in between “work” and “home”.  We were warned that it would be crowded during rush hour, but I never expected the extent to which it would be. Countless people pushed their way on at every stop we made, pushing us farther and farther back from the one and only door that opens. I practically took some poor bystander out with my hangers that I had purchased. Luckily a lot of people seem to get off at our stop, so we didn’t have to shove too hard to get off. But- the solution to this we learned, is obviously to avoid traveling at this time OR just get to the side of the door, grab the bar, and hold on for dear life- don’t move!!

I’ve had less experience with the buses, but they will soon become a part of my daily commute as I begin my lessons. I rode it for the first time today as I did a trial run about how to get to my first class just to make sure I knew where everything was (which was a success!). We were told the buses could be equally crazy- in that they don’t always stop at every stop if people aren’t there. Thus, you must be very vigilant about when you need to get off, either pushing the button ahead of time, telling the driver when you get on where you need to get off, or both. However, I had an absolutely lovely time on the bus today! Granted I rode it around 4, which is far before rush hour and far before when my class will be tomorrow… But it was very pleasant. One of my bosses advised when helping me plan the route that I get off a few stops before the actual stop where I NEED to get off, incase for some reason the driver were to fly past it (the next stop for this route would be very far away, in which case, good bye class). So I simply asked the driver when getting on if he would stop there, he said yes, and then he reminded me as we were getting close. All in Spanish I might add, haha. I know it’s pretty basic, but it’s good to know I can ask for and receive directions when I am traveling around the city. I don’t always get 100% of what is said back to me, so sometimes gesturing is necessary, as is smiling and nodding, and asking another person a little while later. We learned that it is typical of Chilean culture to want to help people so much they may give false directions as it is more favorable to them than saying they don’t know. So always ask at least two people! But it’s true that Chileans are so eager to help. Later when getting back on a different bus to go home, the driver told me when I enquired that it wasn’t in fact the correct bus, but he gave me detailed instructions about how to get to the correct one. Then while on the correct bus, the person sitting next to me asked where I was going, and as we approached it, he along with another person who overheard us, reminded me we were close. Sometimes it pays off to be a Gringa!

My class schedule is extremely light this week, so before I get more work in the weeks to come, I may take a weekend trip with some friends to a nearby beach town called Viña del Mar and it’s neighboring famous town Valparaiso. Stay tuned for updates about how my first class went, and how this weekend adventure pans out.

¡Hasta entonces!