No, I don´t want you all to think all I do is work. I don´t. The other day I went to salsa class. I visit and spend time with friends. This past weekend I had a four day weekend. So, I packed my backpack and walked out the door with no real destination in mind. I stopped by the garage of a friend and he asked me where I was headed. I said, I think I will go to Talca and from there I will head to the coast, but where I don´t know. He says...oh, there is a really pretty place called Pelluhue along the coast and a little surf town called Curanipe. I smiled and said...alright, I will head there. With that, he gave me his number and told me that if I found a cabin to rent he would bring his wife and kids, so we could all spend the weekend together. So, when I arrived to this beach area, which was an adventure in itself, I stayed at a hostal the first night...then the family met up with me in the afternoon. We found a nice cabin on the beach. We ate alot of good food! Egg a la copa, disc (which is a bunch of meat cooked on a disc), and poor man´s lasagna. We had alot of fun. Because we are going into winter, the towns were pretty dead, but it was still enjoyable.
I was on the beach with little Juan (their son) and a ragged looking german shepard approached us, wearing a old leather collar with rusty old nails for spikes to protect him from other dogs (I would think). A gentleman on the beach started talking to me and this dog kept staring at me and giving a little bark from time to time, wanting attention...the gentleman says..he wants cariño....I thought to myself...I understand that, but I just don´t know that I want to give him love right now..ha ha...There are so many stray dogs around here and they all have character...and I can say you almost want to take them all home with you...but, I just don´t know where they have been. I already work in a school where they never use soap to wash the dishes, nor do they ever have soap in the bathroom...I just don´t know if I want to invite myself to more germs. Oh well...
So, I just want you all to know that I am ok..I am going to try to get back into blogging...I just thought I would give an update for now...
Alright...take care!
jami
Saturday, May 30, 2009
New Food
My life hasn´t been all work. The other day I came home from work and the family offered me dinner. I asked them what we were eating, as I was sitting at the table. They said it was a special treat and that it might be better to ask after I am done eating what we ate. I took their advice knowing that I was probably eating something I said I would never eat. In the same moment I was visualizing the meat counter at the super market or in the carnecerias (meat markets), the stomachs, kidneys, livers, tongues, pig heads, beef, chicken, chicken feet, etc...trying to guess what this mysterious meal was.
I will be fair, it wasn´t bad and at some point, I found it to be tastey. I had soup with chicken kidney´s, followed by friend liver and onions with fried egg on the top (yep, heart attack on a plate). It was good. I cannot say that I will crave it...but I would be open to eating it again.
The next evening, I was given the same chat before I ate a mystery sandwich meat....it turns out I was eating head cheese. From what I understand, the head part of head cheese is true, but not the cheese part. Hmm...is this what they use pig heads for??
I will be fair, it wasn´t bad and at some point, I found it to be tastey. I had soup with chicken kidney´s, followed by friend liver and onions with fried egg on the top (yep, heart attack on a plate). It was good. I cannot say that I will crave it...but I would be open to eating it again.
The next evening, I was given the same chat before I ate a mystery sandwich meat....it turns out I was eating head cheese. From what I understand, the head part of head cheese is true, but not the cheese part. Hmm...is this what they use pig heads for??
FINALLY!
Hello hello, How are you all? Hope everyone is happy and healthy, as well as enjoying the nice summer weather! I am about to begin my forth winter...I can hardly believe it.
Well, if you didn´t know before, you know now...I am back in Chile. Yep. I came back to visit friends, Santa Cruz, and Chilean life, AND I decided to stay. Am I happy with my decision? Ya, sure you betcha! I haven´t doubted my decision since I have been here. In fact, the other day, while I was walking to work, I was thinking...wow, I am living a dream.
Ok, so what am I doing, some of you may be wondering....well, after I decided to stay here, I started dropping off resumes (or CV´s as they are called here) to schools and businesses. After a long day of running around and waiting, my friend and I stopped at a friend´s resturant to say hello and have a bite to eat. After a late afternoon lunch, the mother of the family we were visiting was reading the paper and said, There is a job available at José Gregorio Argomedo College (aka school). Her son got on the phone and set me up an interview. I went there the next day to talk to the administrator. They didn´t hire me right away because they had other teachers with proper papers who were interested...but, in the end, they called me and said I had a job.
So, I am working at a school, teaching English to a variety of ages, 3rd grade through 12th grade. It is a mixed school, so boys and girls. It is a semi private Christian school, so they work hard to maintain positive connections with students. I love it! We laugh alot, although I must admit I have my moments, like the other day when two little 3rd graders stood up on top of the table and leaped into the air as though they were superman. Yea, there may only be fourteen 3rd graders in this class....but, wow, it is like having 40 kids. Very high energy...but I am learning to work with them! The other grades are good. There are a few sticks in the mud, but that is life. I just try to stay positive and keep laughing, because that is about all I can do.
The school I am working at is in San Fernando, so as of now, I am still commuting. (I live with a friend, her spouse, and two kids. They have been over the top with opening their house to me. I have my own room and can come and go as I want. ) But, my day starts at about 5:30 a.m. when I wake up to take a shower and have a cup of coffee. I try to take my time in the morning and enjoy every moment of silence, because it is the only quiet, solo time i have all day. I walk out the door and catch the bus to San Fernando around 6:30, arriving to San Fernando at about 7:30. I walk to school and sign in. School starts at 8:00. Everyday is a different schedule with different age groups. Most classes I only see once a week for 2 hours. Some of the classes I might see an additional hour at some point during the week, but nothing more than this. At 1:00 (13:00) we have lunch. I stay at school for lunch. Often times, my co-workers that stay for lunch, will offer me food, but usually I just eat a school lunch. At 2:15 (14:15) we start classes again. Then, at 5:25 (17:25) classes are over. We are expected to stay at school until 6:00 (18:00), however, because I am arriving a half hour early to school, I opt to leave whenever I want after school. (They haven´t told me I am not allowed to do it yet...ha ha...and I haven´t bothered to ask if it is ok!). But, I get back on the bus to Santa Cruz and get home around 7-7:30. Thursdays we have a staff meeting that starts at 6:00 (18:00) and ends around 7:00-7:30 (19:00-19:30). Friday´s are half days, thank God, so I am done at 13:00. I usually take my time going home on Friday, just because I can. San Fernando is bigger and has more shops, so if I need something, it is better to buy it there.
I have a second job as well, working at the St. Paul English Institute. Next week, I will start working at NESTLE, teaching english to business professionals. I don´t have to teach the theory, I only have to hold a conversation class. The class will be 1-1 1/2 hours of conversation. So, I will head home around 8pm. Monday´s will be a long day. I have already started working Saturday´s with this institute. I have two students that I converse with for two hours each. Right now I am just getting to know them, so it is easy to hold a two hour conversation, but I will have to work on finding some new topics and building vocabulary and grammar skills with them. But they are both agronomists, working for seed companies... one of them works for Monsanto and the other for a company that is part of Bayer (a german company). It is a nice break to work with adults after a week with school aged students and crowd management. :)
So, as you can see I have been very busy with just work alone. SO, just because I have been TERRIBLE at communicating, I have thought about everyone and send you all a big hug!
Well, if you didn´t know before, you know now...I am back in Chile. Yep. I came back to visit friends, Santa Cruz, and Chilean life, AND I decided to stay. Am I happy with my decision? Ya, sure you betcha! I haven´t doubted my decision since I have been here. In fact, the other day, while I was walking to work, I was thinking...wow, I am living a dream.
Ok, so what am I doing, some of you may be wondering....well, after I decided to stay here, I started dropping off resumes (or CV´s as they are called here) to schools and businesses. After a long day of running around and waiting, my friend and I stopped at a friend´s resturant to say hello and have a bite to eat. After a late afternoon lunch, the mother of the family we were visiting was reading the paper and said, There is a job available at José Gregorio Argomedo College (aka school). Her son got on the phone and set me up an interview. I went there the next day to talk to the administrator. They didn´t hire me right away because they had other teachers with proper papers who were interested...but, in the end, they called me and said I had a job.
So, I am working at a school, teaching English to a variety of ages, 3rd grade through 12th grade. It is a mixed school, so boys and girls. It is a semi private Christian school, so they work hard to maintain positive connections with students. I love it! We laugh alot, although I must admit I have my moments, like the other day when two little 3rd graders stood up on top of the table and leaped into the air as though they were superman. Yea, there may only be fourteen 3rd graders in this class....but, wow, it is like having 40 kids. Very high energy...but I am learning to work with them! The other grades are good. There are a few sticks in the mud, but that is life. I just try to stay positive and keep laughing, because that is about all I can do.
The school I am working at is in San Fernando, so as of now, I am still commuting. (I live with a friend, her spouse, and two kids. They have been over the top with opening their house to me. I have my own room and can come and go as I want. ) But, my day starts at about 5:30 a.m. when I wake up to take a shower and have a cup of coffee. I try to take my time in the morning and enjoy every moment of silence, because it is the only quiet, solo time i have all day. I walk out the door and catch the bus to San Fernando around 6:30, arriving to San Fernando at about 7:30. I walk to school and sign in. School starts at 8:00. Everyday is a different schedule with different age groups. Most classes I only see once a week for 2 hours. Some of the classes I might see an additional hour at some point during the week, but nothing more than this. At 1:00 (13:00) we have lunch. I stay at school for lunch. Often times, my co-workers that stay for lunch, will offer me food, but usually I just eat a school lunch. At 2:15 (14:15) we start classes again. Then, at 5:25 (17:25) classes are over. We are expected to stay at school until 6:00 (18:00), however, because I am arriving a half hour early to school, I opt to leave whenever I want after school. (They haven´t told me I am not allowed to do it yet...ha ha...and I haven´t bothered to ask if it is ok!). But, I get back on the bus to Santa Cruz and get home around 7-7:30. Thursdays we have a staff meeting that starts at 6:00 (18:00) and ends around 7:00-7:30 (19:00-19:30). Friday´s are half days, thank God, so I am done at 13:00. I usually take my time going home on Friday, just because I can. San Fernando is bigger and has more shops, so if I need something, it is better to buy it there.
I have a second job as well, working at the St. Paul English Institute. Next week, I will start working at NESTLE, teaching english to business professionals. I don´t have to teach the theory, I only have to hold a conversation class. The class will be 1-1 1/2 hours of conversation. So, I will head home around 8pm. Monday´s will be a long day. I have already started working Saturday´s with this institute. I have two students that I converse with for two hours each. Right now I am just getting to know them, so it is easy to hold a two hour conversation, but I will have to work on finding some new topics and building vocabulary and grammar skills with them. But they are both agronomists, working for seed companies... one of them works for Monsanto and the other for a company that is part of Bayer (a german company). It is a nice break to work with adults after a week with school aged students and crowd management. :)
So, as you can see I have been very busy with just work alone. SO, just because I have been TERRIBLE at communicating, I have thought about everyone and send you all a big hug!
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