First impressions in Santiago

Hi all,

So I thought that I would have a go at this blogging thing, because well right now I have time on my hands and facebook is a bit restrictive in what you can do.

Firstly, I must apologise for the lack of apostrophes in this post. I know that English teachers (or prospective English teachers at least) are supposed to know all about apostrophes, but the fact is I cant actually find them on these South American keyboards. I also cant find the little at symbol used in emails. It is amazing what you can do with the copy and paste function though, which is thankfully the same the world over (the save function isnt though, which I found out after some rather disasterous losses of time). Anyway, enough on South American keyboards!

I arrived in Santiago about 10 days ago, pretty worried about everyting and unsure if I was doing the right thing. Thankfully Chris and Paulina were waiting for me at the airport, and took me to Paulinas sisters house and generally looked after me (helped me get some money and a new cellphone SIM etc). Booked into my hostel that night, after being warned again and again by them to hold onto my bag, dont go out at night by yourself, be careful in crowded places and that sort of jazz. Was pretty fair to say they freaked me out quite a lot, but I am sure they were just trying to be helpful. It is true that I stick out worse than someone watering their lawn in Melbourne.

Spent the first few days visiting a few schools and dropping of my CV, begging for a job, things like that. Turns out there is no work until the start of March, so I have the whole of Feb to waste. Have managed to have a few interviews though, and a couple of places want me to teach a demonstration class for them, so things are actually looking relatively promising on the work front. No one has looked at my CV and turned me away outright, so I guess that has to be positive. One of the schools, Grants English, have been really helpful, photocopying a whole grammar book for me to brush up a bit before my practice class. The owner is a Scottish lady who is full of enthusiasm, really easy going and has given me lots of pointers for fitting in and learning Spanish. I would like to work there, especially as they seem to have a high retention of teachers which is always very encouraging. Unfortunately I know that there are at least three of us doing semo classes and I have no idea how many jobs there are...

Speaking of Spanish, mine is not even passable. The first few days I couldnt even manage to seem to order anything to eat! So I start intensive Spanish classes on Monday for two weeks, which will hopefully give me the confidence to give it more of a go than I am at the moment. Everyone keeps telling me that the best way to learn is to get a boyfriend who speaks no English, and go from there. One guy even told me I will be married by the time the year is out. I dont think he knows me very well!! It is true that the men here stare at you, look you up and down, turn in the street and make comments (which thankfully I cant understand). I guess I really do stick out of the crowd - quite literally as I am a good foot taller than most of the women and some of the men! Anyway, tell Dad not to worry, no Chilean boyfriend yet.

Am staying with Miguel and Tuca at the moment, friends of Chris and Paulinas who spent 8 months in NZ. They speak very good English, and have a lovely apartment in a good area. There is a massive supermarket a few blocks away, so I have spent quite a it of time perusing the shelves. It is really very similar to NZ or OZ, except about four times the size and stocks absolutely everything - from electronics to school uniforms to fruit, veges, and alcohol. It really is a one stop shop.

Santiago itself is really big, as I guess a city of 6 million people should be. It is a mix of beautiful colonial buildings and plazas, ugly 1970s and 1980s style apartment blocks, bohemian brightly coloured streets, and poor areas where it isnt safe for me to go (I have only driven through one at speed on the ay from the airport). The area I was staying in first, Barrio Brasil, had truely amazing streets that reminded me of Barcelona, except everything was painted brightly in blues, reds and greens.

Barrio Brasil. I was surrepticiously taking photos from a park bench because I had been told to be careful with my camera in this area!

The area that I am going to Spanish classes in, Bellavista, is the well known night spot of town, that also does long lunches and dinners. It is more leafy than Barrio Brasil and the houses are quainter.

Bellavista. Very bright colours, with a laid back atmosphere. This is the area I am going to study Spanish in, starting Monday!

Plaza de Armas is the main square in the centre of the CBD. It is bustling with people, and is a very impressive square. I do suspect that most of the people ther were tourists though... Anyway, here are some pics.

I also went to Parque Santa Lucia, which was a pretty amazing piazza type thing with really old spanish archetecture, and a fair old climb to the top. The pictures illustrate a little bit what it is like here though with all the new development, and the smog! It was Sunday so the smog actually wasnt too bad as most people were at home or at church or something. The mountains that circle the city are simply enormous, I think that you can nearly see them in some of the pics. It was 33 degrees, and there is still snow on the top of some of the higher ones, demonstrating just how big they really are. I have never seen anything like it. I thought we had mountains in NZ, but they are nothing compared to these! The pictures really dont do them justice. Dont believe me - come see for yourself!!

And just to prove that I was actually there too - I havent just sent my camera off on this huge adventure without me!

Also went to Viña del Mar and Valparaiso last weekend with Chirs, Paulina and her sister and Aunty. Was a great day out at the beach about 1.5hrs from Santiago. Forgot to take my camera though. AM sure I will be back there and wont forget the camera next time! The two cities while lying side by side are total oxymorons to each other. Viña is a wealthy, modern beach resort, and Valpo is old, not very safe down on the flat area, with a big dirty port. However, when you get up into the hills of Valpo it is all tiny steep oneway cobbled streets with tiny terraced houses painted brightly hosting some of the trendiest restaurants, and nightlife in the area. Sush a contrast! Anyway, apparently my Spanish school runs trips to Valparaiso with a Spanish teacher to explore the area further and pracice Spanish, so I might try and go one weekend, and I will remember my camera!

Anyway, thisis a pretty huge post (see I am filling in time), and if yu made it this far you are probably doing quite well. Hope that everyone is doing well, and would love to hear all the news from you all.

Bye for now,

Karen the adventuring kiwi.