Y bailamos!... (and we dance!)

We started our first day with a trip to Escuela de Bella Vista, which is the school where we will be taking 3 weeks of intensive Spanish classes.  The school is maybe a 20 minute trek in all.  A quick metro ride, (the public transportation is really easy to use and really clean, reminds me of Barcelona) followed by a  short walk.  We didn't need to be there yesterday but decided to check it out.  We met with Sim, who works the front desk.  She amazes me because she's originally from Malaysia where they speak Manderin, she now lives in Chile speaking Spanish and when these two Gringos (Kim and I) walk in she speaks English with them.  I was curious, so I did ask, and she speaks about 7 languages in all.  

Since we were there already we sat down with our teacher and took a verbal Spanish test, which was just a little conversation between the three of us to figure out what level class we'll be in.  We'll both be in level "basico" but she made it clear that there are two basic levels and we're in the second one...or maybe she was just trying to make us feel better.  As we were leaving the classroom I said to Kim, "she might think we're a little slow but I think we did a really good job"...and I meant it.  

Escuela de Bella Vista does activities after class everyday.  They're like optional field trips but they seem like great opportunities to speak the language with other people and we're excited to take advantage of them!

 

This strap comes with the chair...avoids all the petty theft

We ended up on the patio of Sur Patagonico (Southern Patagonia) with a couple glasses of white wine, pulpo a la parilla (grilled octopus), and croker/salmon ceviche.  Deliciouso!  Diego, who is from Uruguay, was our waiter and we were doing our best to talk to each other about what we're doing here and what we think about Santiago.  Once we couldn't understand each other anymore he grabbed his friend, Ignacio the Bartender, who speaks great English to translate for us.  Their shift happened to end as we finished our meal and they invited us for drinks down the street.  It turned into a little class, we teach English-they teach Spanish, Kim even had her notebook out!  We told them we'd keep in touch and invite them to "Language Roulette" on Thursday which is like speed dating for the languages; 5 minutes of only Spanish speaking and then 5 minutes of only English speaking, when the buzzer goes off you switch partners.

Afterward, we threw on some heels and met up with other TeachingChile participants to go Salsa dancing.  We met Scott and Danielle who have been here for about 10 months.  On top of that, they both have a Spanish speaking history so their Spanish is awesome.  They take a two-hour Salsa class every Sunday and their class goes to Mi Gente Salsotecha on Fridays so we tagged along.  Needless to say it was a blast.  But the fun started when we actually found the place.  We got off at the correct metro stop but literally walked right instead of left and ended up on some streets I never want to walk on again, in heels no less.  

Us & Danielle

Going back to Mi Gente Salsotecha, Scott and Danielle's Chilean friends came by to dance.  It doesn't matter what language you speak or where you're from, the language of dance transcends all cultures.  Between the eight of us, we salsa danced for a couple hours (some better than others), swapping partners after each song...it was so much fun and we're both looking forward to doing it again.

Scott & Kimmy.  He's from Tennessee but has a great Chilean accent!

Once we decided it was time to go we hailed a cab and actually got him to take us to the right apartment!  The ride cost 2,150 pesos but with a big smile on his face, the driver told us to only give him 2,000 pesos (less than $4) which goes to show the amazing people we've been running into everywhere and it's only our second day!

Y que tanto? ... (and what does it matter?)

*in the supermarkets the Pantene and Tressume are locked up!

*there are stray dogs and cats everywhere

*milk and eggs are not refrigerated

*instant coffee is served even though Columbia is on the same continent

*American movies and television shows are shown in English with Spanish subtitles

                      





            



   

Bienvenido a Chile!

We had a really smooth trip today.  As the flight attendant said "as long as everyone makes it safely to their destination, it was a good flight". (Very true, but it would have been better if our overhead lights and the audio to the TV were working!)  It really was a great day of travel...then we landed in Santiago and were heading through customs and Kimmy was stopped for having dos manzanas en el bolsa (two apples in her bag).  It did hold us up in the airport for about 45 minutes, but the security and office people were really nice, and even waved a fine of $110,750 Chilean Pesos ($250 USD).  Those would have been some expensive apples.  

Just as we were told, a car was waiting for us outside the airport and our names were flashing on the screen in the TransVP booth.  We hopped right in and were dropped at #744 Mojitas, downtown Santiago.   

Andrea, the woman in charge of this whole program, was downstairs in the lobby of our apartment building waiting for us.  She greeted Kimmy and I with "I was assuming the two girls with the huge suitcases were who I was looking for".  She's really sweet and I'm so glad we have her to depend on.  

She took us up to our apartment, which is adorable and if Kimmy and I were to have picked out an apartment for ourselves it would look just like this.  2 bed/2bath (even though we slept together last night, I mean...it is the first night) and more hot water than we have at home!  Best of all it's up on the 26th floor and has a panoramic view of Santiago, including the Andes mountains!  

After showing us our fully stocked kitchen...including 10lbs of  pasta (Andrea thought it would be a necessity after seeing our last name...seriously) she talked to us for almost 3 hours about our schedule for the next 8 weeks, the city and its outskirts, safety issues, eating out, and how the Latino men will love us.  Kimmy said right to her "you're like our personal secretary and Chilean mother".   

We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day with nothing on the agenda.  We're going to check out where our Spanish school is, the fruit and veggie markets, and explore a little.  The rest of the weekend is really just to explore, socialize, and relax which is exactly what we'll be doing.

What is TeachingChile?

TeachingChile is a two-month program whos main goal is to help advance the English language in Chile.  To date, just about 450 students from the USA have participated in the program.  There are six, two month sessions throughout the year each of which can take up to 16 students.  For this round, April 27-June 26, Kimmy and I are the only ones going.  It just so happens that TeachingChile has planned a reunion for April 30 for previous students of the program.  So even though we're the only two participating for this session we will be given the opportunity to meet with others who have done this in the past.  This is our invite.   

We'll start our journey with a three-week intensive Spanish course that goes Monday through Friday for only half days so depending on what type of work-load we have we may have a little time to do some exploring in the afternoons but the weekends are ours for sure!  After those three weeks are up we get placed into public schools and work with children to help them with the English language.  

The Challenge:  We don't speak great Spanish and the kids don't speak ANY English. 

Real Quick...

This morning, Eamon introduced Kimmy and I to a family member of his who has been back and forth to Santiago for 12 years (residing in the Hyatt and the Ritz during his stays).  He helped start a telecommunications company called VTR.  He, along with the many others, commented as to how beautiful Santiago is; he compared it to Los Angeles and then proceeded to say it is nicer.  It's just ironic because up until this last week we really thought we were going to be visiting a "developing" country.  We may fit in better than we thought!    

1 Week

One week today and we'll be taking off for Santiago, Chile!  Lately we've been bumping into friends, co-workers, and just plain strangers who have been to Chile, have a dog in Chile (I'm not even kidding), read a book about Chile, so on and so forth.  So between the two of us we've created some connections in hopes to better our experience in Santiago and its nearby cities.   

It's kind of like a car that you never knew existed; all of the sudden you see this really sweet advertisement about it and then you realize that everyone and their mother has that damn car and you see it in every color while your cruising down the highway, almost like it's the only type of car left on this earth.    

The General Manager at my restaurant has offered to set something up with some of our wine reps in hopes to possibly do a winery tour.  Last night at work I waited on a couple that travels the world showing dogs and aside from the fact that they invited me along (too bad I don't like dogs more than I do) they have a Chilean friend, who has one of their show dogs, that lives their and has helped us exchange some info.  On top of that, Kimmy came home from work today and told me that she had a new nurse on her floor who lived in Chile for two years studying Spanish and also offered to set us up with some people.  It's six degrees of separation at its best!

Of everyone that I've ran into and mentioned our excursion to, the one thing about Chile I hear the most is how gorgeous it is.  A co-worker actually told me to think of all of the most beautiful places I've ever seen and put them all together in one spot...and there you have Chile.