Hi all,

So those of you on Facebook already know, that yes I did get two job offers on Friday (much to my relief). I have accepted a job at the second (smaller) school that I described in my previous posts, and have to go in for some training on Tuesday so will find out more then. I have to tell the other school on Monday what is happening. Turned out they were quite keen to have me and spent quite some time in Friday outlining some of the advantages of working with them, making me think quite hard about my decision. In the end it came down to working somewhere that would challenge me and allow me to be more creative with my classes. I also feel that the small school environment where the teachers know each other and can be supportive to one another would suit me better than at the larger school where I would become a teacher initial, among 70 others. I hope that I made the right decision - only time will tell.

This weekend I was home alone again. Yesterday was threatening rain, and although we had some impressive thunder and lightening but no rain, I opted for an inside day. Today I went exploring to Plaza Nunoa. It is quite a pretty spot with restaurants and cafe's around it. Apparently at night during the week it is very busy - not so much on a Sunday afternoon though. Here are a couple of pics, but it looks fairly standard for a Chilean plaza on a nice day!

The other weekend I went to Parque Quinta normal. I don't remember if I wrote about it or not. Anyway, I took some pics there too which I am just going to add on the bottom here. It is a large park on the other side of Santiago to where I am, containing about 6 museums. It has a massive boulevard through the middle, but there is no public traffic so it is quite peaceful. Its a really popular spot on a Sunday (when I was there) for families, as it has lots of trees, soccer fields, fountains, a lake, and a pool. People weren't just swimming in the pool either.... There is a bizarre looking theatre at one end of the boulevard, which is very ornate, down to the jester sitting in the railings on the first floor.

The outside of the modern art museum is covered in very cool graf art, which I got some shots of. Actually there are quite a few places in the city that has really good street art.


Santiago is really almost like two cities it seems. There are the affluent, safe and prosperous neighbourhoods lying to the North and East, and the poorer areas in the South and West of the city. The area I am staying in, Nunoa (East), is really like any suburb in Christchurch, but with more trees. There is also a strange dichotomy of really beautiful old colonial style buildings which look as though they have stood for a few hundred years, flanked by enormous ugly apartment blocks that extend to the sky for 20 floors or more. While I find it hard sometimes to believe that this is a third world country, I am guessing that it is just that I live in a different part of the city to other people, and it is this gap that characterises the development of the country.

This week I am back to Spanish classes, which I am really looking forward to. All the time I am understanding more and more about what is going on around me, but I still struggle to answer people. I don't know enough words, and conjugating verbs to get the tense right is still often beyond me. It means I do a lot of hand waving.... I am off to Vina del Mar for the weekend in two weeks with Tuca, Miguel and a whole bunch of their friends, many of whom don't speak Spanish, so I would really like to try and get a handle on a bit more before then. For anyone who is interested, the BBC have a fantastic site for learning Spanish phrases for travelling, which has a 'soap opera style' movie that goes along teaching you things. I have found it fairly basic, but good for practice, and quite entertaining! Have a look: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/

Went to the movies all by myself this week too. Managed to get there, and buy a ticket to the correct film at the correct time. I was very proud. Saw Slumdog Millionaire, and absolutely loved it! Most of it was in English with Spanish subtitles, but there parts that were in Hindi with Spanish subtitles which was challenging. I understood what was happening though which was good. It made me laugh and cry, and I would recommend seeing it!

OK, thats enough for now.
Hasta luego,
KiwiKaz