Santiago (no, not you Dad)
If you happen to like waiting in line to get through customs (and you want to pay $100 for the privilege) go to Santiago, Chile. Nothing like a DMV-esque experience after a flight to put you in a good mood. After finally making it through, I hopped in the group transfer bus and we set off. Unfortunately, all I had was the address to my home stay and not the directions. Luckily one of the other passengers was able to call my host Mom and find out where I needed to go. I finally made it there and was happy to see that the house is located on a quiet tree lined street. My Chilean Mom, Maria Fransisca, is a very sweet 70 year old woman. Also in the house were Carmelita, the 50 year old Nanny, Thomas, the twenty something German student and a friend of Maria's from Costa Rica. Upon my arrival, I was offered a tasty Mango Pisco cocktail which went down very nicely. My room is great, with two big windows and a very comfortable bed. I slept like a baby.
In the morning, I said hello to the dog in the backyard - Master - a large, old German shepherd who was very friendly, and then went in because Maria had prepared me a delicious banana milkshake in addition to assorted breakfast items. Muy sabrosa. She even drove me to school for my first day. Thanks Chilean Mom! When I arrived (the school is also located on a picturesque block in a great neighborhood) I was immediately given my placement test. Once that was graded, I was assigned to my class - Principiante 2B. In addition to my teacher, Isabell (who is great) there are 4 others. Three from Switzerland and one from England.
After an hour and a half, the school has a twenty minute break where we grab some snacks and sit outside in the courtyard to chat. Since it's the tail end of spring the weather is fantastic (I'm wearing flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt) and it stays light until around 8:30pm. After some more class, we have another 10 minute break, then we go till 1pm. 4 hours in total. The program had a welcome lunch for the newbies which consisted of some tasty empanadas and then I was off to explore, change some money, and buy some books for class.
The city of Santiago is beautiful. Tons of trees, parks and plazas. I've heard people complain about the smog, but I haven't really found it to be a problem. Around 6pm I went back to the school for a Ceviche cooking class. A lot of fun. After that I was off to dinner with my Chilean family. To get back, I took the Metro which is super clean and efficient and very easy to figure out. It's similar to D.C., also in the fact that they shut it down around 10:30pm. No wonder it's clean.
When I got home, I found out that Master had died that afternoon! I was stunned. I felt so bad for my host Mom who was very sad. It sounds like he had a good run though. He was 14 years old, which in dog years is like 1,000 I think. Someone suggested I buy her a new puppy, but I think I'll hold off on that.
Class today was good, especially when we played Spanish Taboo. Did I win? Ya darn right I did. After class we had an excursion to the Museo Historico Nacional which had exhibits discussing the invasion by the Spaniards back in the day. Interesting stuff. From there, we went to a huge Church that was next door, also in the Plaza de Armas. It was funny to see some workers creating a huge fake Christmas tree in the middle of the Plaza, especially considering it's sunny and about 85-90 degrees. The church was very nice, but what do I know about churches? One thing I found interesting was that, in order to confess, you would sit face to face with the priest with no barrier in between to maintain your anonymity. Not only that, but the line was not too far behind you. Hope you don't mind other people knowing your business.
Off to explore some more now and practice my verbos en pasado. Tomorrow night we head to a disco, Chilean cinema on Thursday and this weekend to Valparaiso.
Hasta Luego.
P.S. This morning my Chilean Mom made me a batida de frutilla a.k.a Strawberry milkshake. I could get used to this.
In the morning, I said hello to the dog in the backyard - Master - a large, old German shepherd who was very friendly, and then went in because Maria had prepared me a delicious banana milkshake in addition to assorted breakfast items. Muy sabrosa. She even drove me to school for my first day. Thanks Chilean Mom! When I arrived (the school is also located on a picturesque block in a great neighborhood) I was immediately given my placement test. Once that was graded, I was assigned to my class - Principiante 2B. In addition to my teacher, Isabell (who is great) there are 4 others. Three from Switzerland and one from England.
After an hour and a half, the school has a twenty minute break where we grab some snacks and sit outside in the courtyard to chat. Since it's the tail end of spring the weather is fantastic (I'm wearing flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt) and it stays light until around 8:30pm. After some more class, we have another 10 minute break, then we go till 1pm. 4 hours in total. The program had a welcome lunch for the newbies which consisted of some tasty empanadas and then I was off to explore, change some money, and buy some books for class.
The city of Santiago is beautiful. Tons of trees, parks and plazas. I've heard people complain about the smog, but I haven't really found it to be a problem. Around 6pm I went back to the school for a Ceviche cooking class. A lot of fun. After that I was off to dinner with my Chilean family. To get back, I took the Metro which is super clean and efficient and very easy to figure out. It's similar to D.C., also in the fact that they shut it down around 10:30pm. No wonder it's clean.
When I got home, I found out that Master had died that afternoon! I was stunned. I felt so bad for my host Mom who was very sad. It sounds like he had a good run though. He was 14 years old, which in dog years is like 1,000 I think. Someone suggested I buy her a new puppy, but I think I'll hold off on that.
Class today was good, especially when we played Spanish Taboo. Did I win? Ya darn right I did. After class we had an excursion to the Museo Historico Nacional which had exhibits discussing the invasion by the Spaniards back in the day. Interesting stuff. From there, we went to a huge Church that was next door, also in the Plaza de Armas. It was funny to see some workers creating a huge fake Christmas tree in the middle of the Plaza, especially considering it's sunny and about 85-90 degrees. The church was very nice, but what do I know about churches? One thing I found interesting was that, in order to confess, you would sit face to face with the priest with no barrier in between to maintain your anonymity. Not only that, but the line was not too far behind you. Hope you don't mind other people knowing your business.
Off to explore some more now and practice my verbos en pasado. Tomorrow night we head to a disco, Chilean cinema on Thursday and this weekend to Valparaiso.
Hasta Luego.
P.S. This morning my Chilean Mom made me a batida de frutilla a.k.a Strawberry milkshake. I could get used to this.
posted by Jordan at 1:17 PM
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