What does it all mean

As I spend my last full week in Santiago and prepare one bag to go to Peru on Saturday and the others to go back to the USA, I've been thinking about how easy it is to begin to questions one's decisions. I think when you're getting ready to close the door on something it's a lot easier to overlook the things that may have sent you packing in the first place...

Winter is coming. It's been beautiful and will reach 70 degrees today, but the cold and rain isn't too far behind...

Let's just say that some things about the institute that I work for are less than desirable and probably aren't going to change for awhile...

A lot of expats that you meet and get attached to are here temporarily, if I were to be the one to stay, they would be the ones leaving eventually.

As sad as I am about leaving, the bottom line is that although I'm ready to go home to see my family and friends and tie up some loose ends. I have some boxes to pack at the school that I left behind. I have some more boxes to pack at my townhouse that I'm turning over to someone else for another year...

I can thank my experience in Chile for giving me the tools to take each day at a time and worry about things as they come up.  My "one year ago" self would never have survived the premise that in a week I'll technically be homeless and unemployed. My "10 months later" self knows that I'm meant to move on from Chicago and go somewhere else, that it's time to leave Chile (at least for a few months), and that if my job opportunity back home doesn't pan out that it's because I'm meant to do something else.

Killing Time

I like most parts of the English teacher gig, mostly because it is so different from my old lifestyle as a teacher, always in one place, same schedule everyday, no time to ever go out and do anything during the day except for the occasional Friday race to order and eat a Jimmy Johns sub and be back at school in 50 minutes.
Here I have the opposite problem, sometimes I have so much time to kill in between things that I wish I could stay in one place. It's not really worth it to take the metro home in the late afternoon because that would just mean having to take it again at the busiest time of day in order to get to my night class. I usually end up with about 2-3 hours to kill depending on if it's a day that I meet with my private student at 6:30. Sometimes I'm gone for 12+ hours and realize that I've only been teaching for about 4 of them, but it really comes down to what time and how far away your classes are. I think most English teachers must be master time killers, knowing exactly what coffee shop is where, how good the wifi is, and exactly how long it will take to walk or ride from Point A to Point B.

Here are some of the ways I have been killing my time:

1. Starbucks
Pretty much the only place with soy milk, so bring on the wifi, lattes, and comfortable chairs. I'm pretty sure I've spent more money at Starbucks here than I ever did back home.

2. Journaling
I've actually filled up 2 whole notebooks since I've been here, not bad.

3. Itouch surfing
See number 1

4. Lesson Planning
Sometimes...

5. Eating lunch at 4:30
Too early to eat lunch before I leave the house and by the time I get to my next stop it´s around 4:30. I eat the lunch/dinner combo and then have a late night oatmeal with apples snack. Nothing wrong with just moving the foods around to different times of day, and grabbing lunch somewhere is a great way to kill at least an hour and have a place to sit for awhile.

6. Walking an extra couple of metro stops when it's nice out
I love walking, but when I'm weighed down with a lot of books it makes it a little less enjoyable. The best part is the people watching, I can't get enough.

7. Reading the magazines from El Mecurio
Some days I try to listen to my own teacherly advice...to keep improving at a language, spend some time reading to help learn new vocabulary.

8. Yoga
I'm lucky enough that my yoga place is within walking or biking distance from my house. Walk to class, hop on the metro for the day, and off I go, or sometimes the reverse plan is also true.

Regardless of what I'm doing, sometimes it's just better to be out and about rather then hanging out in the casita!

Trekking: Cerro Manquehue

Yesterday was my second trek with the group, this time up to Cerro Manquehue, located in a suburban area in Northeast Santiago. Cerro Manquehue is about 1600 meters high and in Mapuche means "place of the condors".  This particular trek was a little bit slower going than the last one I did due to the larger rocks and looser soil. You know that you have to be careful when the descent ends up taking almost as long as the ascent. I think our guide Daniel scared everyone just enough to use extra caution when he told us that not only could we slip and fall in the loose dirt and twist our ankles, but if we did fall we would probably also cut ourselves on one of the large rocks.
A similar incident occurred with my brother several years ago while skiing, so I took Daniel's word for it, and thankfully we all managed to escape unharmed, except for me getting stung by a yellow-jacket. He decided to crawl up my pant leg and probably stung me in response to his own stupidity when he couldn't find his way back out.
I'll try not to whine and sound like a baby about a silly little bee sting, but it happened to get me right before we headed back down the hill, so nothing like a little swelling and pain right next to my knee that's already working extra hard to stabilize me. Thankfully Daniel also lent me one of his trekking poles that had also been used at one point to hike the Himalayas, and in keeping with the Nepalese tradition, he also led us in a pre-climb prayer to the mountain, asking that we all climb it safely and without incident.

There's our final destination

Pep talks, prayers, etc.

Look at my friends climbing up ahead, these things are always steeper than they look

Claudia, one of my partners in crime

What smog?

Here's to a safe descent

My battle wound starting to swell up

Finally some flatter land

Trekking: Horcon de Piedra

A couple of weeks ago I bumped into my friend B. at the institute and she was kind enough to invite me along on the the next adventure of a local trekking group that she had discovered in Santiago. One of the disadvantages of not having a car here is the fact that you're a bit limited in terms of visiting some of the beautiful areas within about 40 minutes of the city that are pretty inaccessible using public transportation. Fortunately, this group meets at the metro, all of the participants hop into the cars of whoever is willing to drive, and everyone pitches in for gas at the end.
I wasn't sure exactly where we were going, and as you've probably noticed from some of my pictures, there is quite a varied terrain here in Chile, so I was a little relieved when I discovered that we were heading south of the city to climb a cerro at a private natural reserve called Altos de Cantillana and not straight up into the Andes somewhere. This particular area has an impressive view of the Cordillera de la Costa, a coastal range that runs parallel to the Andes.
The last time I attempted a full day trek was last winter and it resulted in quite an adventure. I'd like to say that this latest attempt wasn't as action packed, but I'd be lying if I said that we didn't get lost, have to climb over locked gates, discover a bunch of beehive boxes, or stumble upon a rather threatening looking cow/bull that didn't appear to be tied up.
If you don't believe me, ask the group who returned yesterday to hike a different area of the same reserve and was this time accompanied by a park ranger sort of fellow. Unfortunately, I now have to work on Saturdays again so I'm not sure when my next trek with this group will be. At any rate, here are some photos of the beautiful parts of the adventure, and sadly enough, I was too fearful to stop and capture all of the hazards mentioned above.

still looking pretty horizontal at this point

this is why we needed to bring 2 liters of water

am I back in Arizona?

pretty cool shadows from the clouds

check out the range behind those clouds

now we're up pretty high

I'm guessing this is a really old cactus

Summer

I loooove summer, but it's hot! Just to give you a little idea of HOW hot, you might remember a picture from one of Otto's last haircuts....

pobrecito

This time the official peluquero de perros showed up and went to work. This is the result...

I think he's digging his new hairdo, but his ego is taking a beating. Poor guy's been called a rat, a giant chihuahua, you name it. Most of all he's totally sick of the paparazzi following him around to take pictures of his new look.

Christmas with friends

This wasn't the first Christmas that I have spent away from my family, being that we are spread all across the country and sometimes being together on the actual holidays doesn't work out exactly right. I always have friends at home who take me in and for that I'm forever grateful. This year I was lucky enough to spend Christmas with M and J, my first two visitors!

They came prepared with the essentials, summer clothes and Santa hats

 

It is difficult to find restaurants open for dinner on Christmas Eve since most people are home with their families to eat a late dinner and open gifts at midnight. Since M and J were staying at a hotel, they got some recommendations and we chose this place, Los Adobes de Argomedo. It caters to tourists and serves some "typical" Chilean food. They were offering a set Christmas Eve menu and show representing typical music and dance of the different regions of Chile.

Luckily Christmas turkey was on the menu

Christmas decorations and Chilean flags

Even Santa stopped by to play the sax

And the show begins

And the crowd goes wild!

Everyone hugging and celebrating after the countdown to Christmas at midnight (so it felt like New Years Eve to us)

Since all of the celebrating and gift opening happens at midnight, Christmas is more like a day of rest. I slept until 11:00 yesterday morning without even waking up. It was by far the quietest day since I've been in Santiago with absolutely no noise to wake me up. Happy Holidays everyone!

My "Central Perk"

I love how lush and green it is in Santiago now, a complete change from when I first arrived in August. There are some really nice parks around, and now that it's rather warm outside I've also become one of those people who prefers to escape to a bigger outdoor place rather than bake inside my tiny room in the casita that suffers from direct late afternoon sun.
Parks are a great place to people watch, and I've witnessed many different things while passing by this particular park. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of a Saturday morning exercise class or ride by on my bike when they're watering or sweeping up trash from the night before. I've seen both people and dogs swimming in the "pool" out front and boyfriends and girlfriends engaged in PDA that might make you folks back home feel a tiny bit uncomfortable.
There's a cafe literario in this particular park, and it's a great place to go when Starbucks isn't calling my name. It's a library with an indoor/outdoor cafe with wifi and I love the relaxed environment compared to the libraries at home. Yes, I can actually sit and drink a coffee or a soda here and not be scolded for bringing in a water bottle like I commonly was at my old library. I actually remembered to bring my camera the last time I decided to take a stroll, and yes, I have been watching a lot of Friends re-runs here!

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Happy Halloween

We've had some fall weather here in Santiago just in time for Halloween on this side of the equator. A few days of cooler temps, a night of pouring down rain, and a couple of mornings in the 40's later, I was really feeling like I was celebrating this week of pumpkin carving and costume selecting with all of you at home. I've even been participating in spirit with some Granny Smith apples dipped in manjar, a pretty close caramel substitute that's even available in the "light" variety. It reminds me a lot of my former habit of dipping in the individual Marzetti's tubs. Yum.
The talk in the teacher's lounge this morning was all about the Halloween related activities that we were all doing with our students. Scary stories, quizzes on random Halloween knowledge, and just overall discussion about how/if they celebrate were some of the topics that came up. Many of my teenagers indicated that their celebrating was limited to the possibility of going to party where they might wear a mask, and all I have personally seen is an increase in candy and some masks from the Scream movies. Here's to you Courteney and David, and here are a few shots that I documented with my camera on my bike ride home.

Scream mask or notebook case anyone?

Happy Halloween everybody, I hope you're all enjoying your parties tonight and that all of the kids are dressed up in their best costumes yet!

Taking time to smell the roses

I've been so busy and a little stressed with my teaching schedule lately that I feel like I haven't had a whole lot of time to do anything else. It's not so much the teaching part as it is the random hours, and just when I thought I might have 2 days to breathe in between terms, I got a new class that starts on Monday on one side of the city that will give me just enough time to get back to teach my night class on the other side. That also means having to take the metro at the busiest time of day in the hot months...yuck.
Luckily, I'm always able to ride my bike to my Saturday morning class, and this Saturday I noticed so many of the beautiful flowers that have popped up around the city. Because of my winter arrival in August, I have really appreciated the winter/spring transition, and this Midwestern girl doesn't take these kinds of things for granted. I enjoy the little container gardening that I can do at home and it never involves any of the tropical plants that I've seen here. Geraniums come and go during our 3 hot summer months, and the roses never look anything like this. Other than those two, I'm not even sure what all of these flowers are, so jump in if you are good at that sort of thing!

When where you live becomes your home

After a long travel weekend last weekend (more on that to come), it struck me that I was ready to go home, and that "home" was Santiago. It might not be my permanent home, but sometime into my 3rd month here in Chile, it became the place that I wanted to come back to. I craved the familiarity of my "own" bed, my space in la casita, my comfort zone here in Chile. As much as I've enjoyed running around each weekend trying to see and do as much as I could fit in, I decided this weekend to do the opposite. I enjoy Santiago on the weekends since there is a certain tranquility that you just don't experience during the week. I can ride my bike and not have to carefully weave through both people and cars on every block, I can take the bus or the metro without being a piece of some sweaty sandwich, and I can sleep in on Sunday without having to set an alarm. I did the things that people who live here do. Instead of going to a museum or a new restaurant, I disinfected veggies from the feria, soaked and boiled beans, and organized my winter and summer clothes. I went to yoga, rode my bike, and even went to see "Eat, Pray, Love" with some gringa friends. Although I'm not taking a year to travel around Italy, India, and Indonesia, I am taking a year to go where I want to go and do what I want to do, so I definitely identified with Liz Gilbert's journey. Right now I'm just enjoying the peace that comes with living in a different place in the world and having it be comfortable enough to be called home.

Noises in the Night

I'm lucky to live in a pretty peaceful neighborhood, all things considered. I think using the word "quiet" would be a stretch, but overall I'm really grateful to live where I do and know that when I come home that I'll be able to sleep. It's pretty sheltered back here from a lot of the typical noise that one might hear in a big city. In any new living situation, it takes some time to become accustomed to the little noises that makes a house its own. At home those noises were usually a result of something my cat was doing, but here those little noises are due to a number of things. Random car alarms sounding in the night, someone deciding to park out on the street at 4am with the radio blaring as loud as possible, something that sounds like dripping water but isn't, and many days very early in the morning, cats on the roof. None of these things are severe enough to keep me awake for any great length of time, but they do have me waking up more often. In fact, as I reach over to press the light button on my little travel alarm clock, my internal dialogue sounds a little like this: It's 3 am/I think I have to go to the bathroom/but it's cold if I get out of my bed/I'm too lazy to go all the way downstairs/my roommate's alarm is going to go off in 3 hours/I think I can make it 'til then...

This usually results in me getting out of bed anyway, and then sleeping for a few more hours until the alarm clock madness begins. First I hear her alarm, then my alarm, then usually my snooze, then my phone as a back up, then snooze again, etc. We have enough alarms in this place to wake up 10 people, but I'm extra paranoid lately since I overslept and was 15 minutes late to my Saturday class a few weeks ago and I have a new class 3 days a week that begins at 8am.

Last night the light switch in the kitchen stopped working, a common occurrence I've been told, but this resulted in Ita coming in at about 10pm with a big roll of packing tape and trying to tape it flat against the wall so it would stay off. We thought she was successful and went to bed as usual a little later. I heard some noises and hit the clock at 2am, and wouldn't you know, Ita was back downstairs working on the switch since evidently she had gotten up to take the dog out and seen the light back on in the middle of the night. I learned this morning that she had given up and just turned off the breaker, so when I went downstairs this morning there was no power at all anywhere. Luckily by 6:45 it's pretty light out now so I was able to see, but I didn't know where the breaker switch was so I just dragged the electric kettle upstairs to my bedroom and plug it so I could make my coffee.

By the time I got home from class, she already had an electrician here repairing the switch and she also showed me how to turn the power on/off should something like that happen again. I wanted to ask her about my eggs and yogurt and other perishables in the refrigerator, since obviously that is connected to the power source downstairs, but I'm not so good at cracking jokes in Spanish. :)
It's all pretty amusing to me, but I wonder why I've been so tired lately?

Mean Green Machine

I've had some requests from the fans back home, so here's a little follow up on my biggest purchase in Chile to date. In all reality, my new Merrell hiking shoes that I used to hike in snow the first time I wore them had a much heftier price tag, but that makes talking about my bike even more fun since it was really cheap and such an economically sound investment.

I had been considering buying a bike just as an alternative to taking the Metro all the time since most days I'm already at the 4 trip mark. In addition, on Saturdays I go to class in the morning and them come back home, then leave again for yoga, and then perhaps I leave again to do something social, so the back and forth gets a little repetitive. I love walking but sometimes there just isn't enough time for a 30 minute walk both there and back.

I starting looking online and struck gold within 2 days on a website very similar to Ebay.  The best part was that the bike was here in the Santiago metro area and was owned by a female and even better was actually big enough for me (no one who is 5'10" should even bother looking at a mini-bike, as cute as they are) wasn't too new nor too old, and already had a basket (an obvious slam-dunk.)  She even dropped it off at the house which was a little weird for me since in the US I would just assume that anyone that you made a deal with on Craigslist or a similar site you wouldn't want coming over to you house, but I got the ok from the fam' and it was out front just before the holiday.

The next step was getting it fixed up a bit since the tires looked a little low and the owner mentioned that it had been sitting idle for some time. I was ready to head out to San Diego Street to hit the bike repair shops when Ita mentioned that there was a bicycle repair man right down the street and with that advice she offered to accompany me. If you want someone to visit the bike repair man with you, it's Ita. I have seen her in action at the tire place when someone tried to rip her off and I'm glad that I was on her side.

My favorite part was when she told me not to say a word and to let her do all of the talking or he'd charge me the gringa price. So I stood there obediently while she asked him to check over certain parts of my bike and I said nothing and watched. In the meantime, a stray dog even came by and peed on the basket while it was flipped over and he was inside checking one of the inner tubes. Officially broken in.

My total price, 700 pesos (approx. US $1.50)

This guy seemed really honest, so I gave it another go on Saturday and went back myself this time to have him help me adjust the seat and put a super cool flashing light on the back.  This time he only asked for 500 pesos ($1) and even offered to sell me or any of my gringo friends or students some of his paperback Danielle Steel novels that he had in the back. I heart Chile on days like this.

Flashing light and all

I even made my own little bike parking lot out front in case someone accidentally leaves the front gate open for a few minutes. Rest-assured it is locked to the swing.

You can even see my cheese empanada in the shopping bag in the basket. ;)

Time to be a Tourist

I arrived in Santiago just in time to begin working, so this was my first weekend to really get out and explore the city a bit.  Thankfully, I have found a good partner in crime, my friend A, who is better at reading maps than I am and can get to where she's going and then patiently wait for me after I phone her to ask which way I'm supposed to turn after I exit the metro.  I really do have a good sense of direction, I swear, it just hasn't quite kicked in for me here quite yet.
Yesterday, we decided to head up Cerro San Cristobal, which is a big "hill" in the middle of Santiago that is actually a little spur of the Andes and from there you can usually get some great views of the city. You can ride to the top on a "funicular", which is like a little cable car on a train track, and I have to say that it seems that I went on an extra smoggy day.

Smog exhibit A

A better view of the mountains as the sun is beginning to set

Today we paid a visit to the Museo de Bellas Artes.

Across the street, me posing in Parque Forestal

A stroll through the Plaza de Armas

 

So many hot dogs everywhere, sometimes I feel like I am still in Chicago.

Sundays are a great day to be out wandering around since there are so few people out and about.

That also amounts to fewer restaurant choices since so many places are closed on Sundays.  Here we are enjoying a nice Peruvian lunch.
Cheers!