Last year at this time I was busy finishing my school year and beginning the organizational stages of my summer away in China. It seemed like everything revolved around that trip. Nope, can't do that, going to be in China then. Sorry, won't be back from China until right before school starts. This year I am kind of feeling the same way. My usual 11 weeks of bliss are going to be packed into about 9 (cue the tears, I know) since I will be spending my last week in the U.S. in Boise for my brother's wedding and then I take off for Santiago the week before school would normally begin. This compresses and intensifies the social calendar a bit. No complaints on this end. Cubs games, barbecues, extra yoga classes, Tuesday lunches with friends just because, none of it a bad thing. I like to socialize. I like to walk around Target for 2 hours on a Wednesday morning, just because. This summer it will be interesting to see if I can that without actually buying anything since it's a little counterproductive to pack up most of your belongings and then hit up Super Target for more "just in case" things. Kitchen towels? Don't need you. Flip-Flops? No way. Certainly no more cute outdoor garden stuff either. Adios. This is a habit that I hope to break while living in Chile, shopping...just because. I've already been practicing detachment to all of my "stuff" and I think it's a practice that would lead a lot of us out there to more fulfilled lives, but that is a topic for another day.
So as I pack away my house and my classroom on my final day of school, I wonder what the future has in store for me. It hasn't really all sunk in yet, as my decision to leave next year is still a part of the future and not quite yet a reality of the present. Should I be crying as I take down my posters and hug my students goodbye? Should I have some sort of regret about giving up the familiarity of the last nine years? Not yet. I'm sure at some point in the next two months the weight of it all will finally catch up to me. But until then, I will enjoy Target, Starbucks, Dairy Queen, Tacos el Norte, and all of the other comforts of home.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Hot Dogs, a cultural phenomenon
When your assignment for Spanish class involves a "tour" of a Spanish speaking country, the most logical food sample to share from Chile is a completo, right?
Chicago and Santiago, not really that different?!?
Side note: 45 degrees in Chicago today and 73 in Santiago. Hmmm, I thought it was spring here.
Side note: 45 degrees in Chicago today and 73 in Santiago. Hmmm, I thought it was spring here.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Why I Chose Chile
Lately, the most common question that I have had to answer is "Why Chile?" According to a colleague of mine, I chose Chile because a palm reader in Hong Kong told me that she saw me living in a country south of the equator. I can assure you that there was no self-fulfilling prophecy at work here. While I can credit my seminar in China studying English teaching methods for inspiring me to teach English abroad, I had actually forgotten about my fortune teller until about a month ago. I found the tiny piece of paper that she had given me with some notes about my "future" and it actually indicated that I would be heading to Australia. The ironic thing is that my original intention was to go to Spain, and it appeared that I was hitting wall after wall in terms of trying to choose a city or lock in a job. I also had to consider taking a leave of absence from my current job and how it would coincide with the school year here in the States, which of course wouldn't naturally direct me toward a country the Southern Hemisphere where the school academic calendars would be different.
So, to answer the question as directly as I can, I actually chose Chile due to a natural process of elimination. I won't mention any other countries, but you know who you are. When I started reading about Chile I already felt welcome there, even without my feet ever having stepped on its soil. It will pay me a decent salary to teach others a second language, the only job that I have ever been employed to do since I graduated college. It won't freeze me out in the winter (OK, so I am learning that I might be wrong about that), and as I keep reminding my Mom, it will provide me a pretty safe and modern environment to enjoy the next chapter of my life.
I have read multiple perspectives written by those who are just beginning, continuing, or even ending their love affair with Chile. Whether they went there originally to study or just to explore the geographical wonder that is Chile, it strikes me how many people are returning for the second, third, or even fourth time. I spent my study abroad time in Costa Rica, and although I loved that time of my life, in no way did I feel such a strong pull to lead me to live there a second time. To me this speaks volumes about the kind of experience that I'm hoping to have. While I know that being an English teacher in Santiago is not all that unique, I know that my own experience will be unique from everyone else's and that is what I'm looking the most forward to.
So, to answer the question as directly as I can, I actually chose Chile due to a natural process of elimination. I won't mention any other countries, but you know who you are. When I started reading about Chile I already felt welcome there, even without my feet ever having stepped on its soil. It will pay me a decent salary to teach others a second language, the only job that I have ever been employed to do since I graduated college. It won't freeze me out in the winter (OK, so I am learning that I might be wrong about that), and as I keep reminding my Mom, it will provide me a pretty safe and modern environment to enjoy the next chapter of my life.
I have read multiple perspectives written by those who are just beginning, continuing, or even ending their love affair with Chile. Whether they went there originally to study or just to explore the geographical wonder that is Chile, it strikes me how many people are returning for the second, third, or even fourth time. I spent my study abroad time in Costa Rica, and although I loved that time of my life, in no way did I feel such a strong pull to lead me to live there a second time. To me this speaks volumes about the kind of experience that I'm hoping to have. While I know that being an English teacher in Santiago is not all that unique, I know that my own experience will be unique from everyone else's and that is what I'm looking the most forward to.
Monday, April 26, 2010
My Spanish...oops
I spent a great deal of time during my spring break reading blogs, researching, and basically doing anything and everything that I could to prepare myself mentally for my move to Chile. I'm trying to be proactive about tuning into Chilean Spanish so that it doesn't take me 6 months to finally understand what people are saying to me. As one of many millions of fans of "The Office", I was thrilled to discover clips on You Tube of "La Ofis" (the Chilean version) and wasted a lot of time watching those and trying to convince myself that I could understand everything just fine without the English subtitles. Riiight.
Another one of my bright ideas was to try to find podcasts to listen to since I am huge fan of using these in my classroom, especially Notes in Spanish. I stumbled upon the opportunity to stream Chilean radio stations and spent hours listening while packing boxes and lingering near the computer waiting for the music to stop playing so that I could hear some callers engaged in actual conversations. I mean come on, it's kind of embarrassing to be a Spanish teacher going to a Spanish speaking country and then be like, um, yeah, I don't understand your Spanish!
Great idea Heather, I'm thinking that one of the many pop-ups that I allowed was infected with some vicious malware that slowly started taking over my school computer. By the time I was back at school the second week after spring break, I had to throw my hands up, hand it to the tech guys, and wish them luck. Outlook is crashing, Word is saving nothing, Internet Explorer is closing every two seconds, I swear, I wasn't looking at anything bad! So, I guess I will stick to my harmless blog reading and learning from all of the blogger experts out there who are a few steps ahead of me on this journey.
Another one of my bright ideas was to try to find podcasts to listen to since I am huge fan of using these in my classroom, especially Notes in Spanish. I stumbled upon the opportunity to stream Chilean radio stations and spent hours listening while packing boxes and lingering near the computer waiting for the music to stop playing so that I could hear some callers engaged in actual conversations. I mean come on, it's kind of embarrassing to be a Spanish teacher going to a Spanish speaking country and then be like, um, yeah, I don't understand your Spanish!
Great idea Heather, I'm thinking that one of the many pop-ups that I allowed was infected with some vicious malware that slowly started taking over my school computer. By the time I was back at school the second week after spring break, I had to throw my hands up, hand it to the tech guys, and wish them luck. Outlook is crashing, Word is saving nothing, Internet Explorer is closing every two seconds, I swear, I wasn't looking at anything bad! So, I guess I will stick to my harmless blog reading and learning from all of the blogger experts out there who are a few steps ahead of me on this journey.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The 3 piles
I'd like to think that I'm a pretty organized person by nature. In fact, I'm pretty sure that friends (Meg) would say that I am a little TOO organized. Well friends, said organization has been crucial to the 3 pile process.
Pile #1= this is definitely going to Chile and I am so sure that it's not even getting used/worn until I get there.
Pile #2= (sometimes gets split into 2 sub-piles) Repeat Street so I can maybe get like $4 back for a dress that I paid $60 for and wore twice, and the NCCS Truck who gets all of my other non-fashion sense donations.
Pile #3= this is getting boxed and going to my parents giant basement and hopefully I saved it for a reason and will want it when I come back...yes? no? maybe? And now that it looks like I might have someone to live in my townhouse, (fingers crossed) this process is becoming all the more tedious. Please let me sell some furniture on Craig's List and live to tell about it.
So far, my process hasn't failed me. It's April and I have so much done already that I should be able to enjoy most of my summer. Thank you D127. Early school start=early school finish. May 20th is not that far away.
Pile #1= this is definitely going to Chile and I am so sure that it's not even getting used/worn until I get there.
Pile #2= (sometimes gets split into 2 sub-piles) Repeat Street so I can maybe get like $4 back for a dress that I paid $60 for and wore twice, and the NCCS Truck who gets all of my other non-fashion sense donations.
Pile #3= this is getting boxed and going to my parents giant basement and hopefully I saved it for a reason and will want it when I come back...yes? no? maybe? And now that it looks like I might have someone to live in my townhouse, (fingers crossed) this process is becoming all the more tedious. Please let me sell some furniture on Craig's List and live to tell about it.
So far, my process hasn't failed me. It's April and I have so much done already that I should be able to enjoy most of my summer. Thank you D127. Early school start=early school finish. May 20th is not that far away.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
The transition
Time to dust off the blog and get it ready for my adventures in Chile! I don't know how it could even compare to the other amazing expat blogs out there, but at least it will be a way for my friends, family, and students to keep tabs on me. I figure if I could compose a halfway decent post at midnight after a 14-16 hour day in China, then I can set my standards for future posts a little higher starting now.
There is lots that I have left to do before August, but thankfully the school year is wrapping up very quickly and I'll have a lot of time to finish my preparations and see my little bro get married on August 7th, and then board a plane for Santiago on the 11th.
There is lots that I have left to do before August, but thankfully the school year is wrapping up very quickly and I'll have a lot of time to finish my preparations and see my little bro get married on August 7th, and then board a plane for Santiago on the 11th.
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