Mission incomplete

Well, I just got home from Santiago. I have my electronic dictionary and my stipend payment, but no Visa stamp. argh.

This morning I woke up and went to a training class with the new volunteers because they were talking about how to get your Chilean ID card...something I thought might be imortant to know. From there, we got on a bus to go to the United Nations Program Development Offices for our stipends. The English Opens Doors Program is a UN sponsored program and our money, stipends, come from the UN. However, we cannot say we work for the UN.

This has been the first stipend I have received since I have been here and we all needed our passports to get our first check, which we then turned around and cashed in the same building. This was the first time they took a bus of Volunteers to pick up checks because they changed the rules on the procedure. Volunteers used to only need a passport to pick up stipends at the local bank, but now we need to have these ID cards. So, this is why stipend payment number one was a bus trip. The process was ridiculously slow. But, afterwards we handed in our passports to have them taken in for their stamps. The program rep took my number so she could just call me when my was done and so I could be on my way.

Well, after lunch, she comes back and nobody was able to receive stamps...the office closed at 2pm. She had told me this was a special case and it was still possible....but, evidently not.

So, I came back without a stamp and now I will wait for further direction on when and where to go in the near future. Bummer.

I did meet some nice people, so I cannot say that all was lost. And, because this group was getting a textbook and I didn´t get one with my group, I asked if I could have one, so I got a textbook out of the deal too. I am still bummed I had to take two days off at school to travel to Santiago, especially since I had planned lessons and was ready to get back to worok...but, this is Chile and this is how they roll!

I watched Gladiator on the bus ride home, too. Man, that was a good movie....very violent and graphic, but good.

Well, if I don´t write for a few days or a week, don´t worry about me. I am trying to get my Spanish brain back on track. Being on vacation and working the English camp with other volunteers really got me accustomed to talking in English and, although I still use my Spanish, I can tell it has taken a beating...so I am turning my Spanish brain back on! Wish me luck!

Jami

PS...so my spanish electronic dictionary..:I was trying it out on the bus ride because I was watching the movie in spanish and it had spanish subtitles too...so, I can look up the word sword and to annul...but I cannot look up to knit. Hmm...oh well, it has solved some mysteries for me, so maybe that is $40. :)

Cheers!