Hola!
Ahora, life is fabulous! My new friends from the viña are so lovely. On Thursday night I went to a birthday party of one of them with Shawn, and had a wonderful time, trying to speak in Spanish, understanding about half of what was going on, having some drinks and then going dancing. I got home about 3.30am and had class the next day - which was no problem. It has just been quite a while since I have had to deal with working when I am that tired! People were so patient with me though, and I managed to have some very good conversations with a couple of people (I think - who actually knows if we were talking about the same things!)
Then I laid low on Friday, but on Saturday we went for a BBQ tea up Cerro San Cristbal (the big hill in the middle of Santiago). There were about 10 people, and Pachi had her daughter, Sophia, with her. Sophia is three, and after overcoming her initial shyness was seemingly fascinated with me. Probably helped I can't really answer her back or tell her off..... So we spent a lot of time playing and generally being silly. After dark the views out over the city were amazing and spectacular. Santiago is a big place and is really lovely by night.
After delivering Pachi and Sophie home we went and hung out at a couple of different people's houses. I was understanding more all the time, and they were forcing me to speak in Spanish, and everytime I slipped up was told about it! I think that I have arranged an 'inter-cambio' with another girl, me teaching her English and her teaching me Spanish, and I am getting Salsa lessons from another guy. English is quite the tradeable commodity - who knew?!
The salsa lessons started last night. Apparently everyone here can salsa except for me, which is fine. I am going to learn. It is so much fun!!! And quite addictive I suspect. And at least dance is a medium where the language is going to be less of a problem. So we danced salsa until the small hours and then came home. What a wonderful couple of weeks! I feel so lucky to have met such a lovely group who are willing to be so patient and nice to me!
Work has also been going really well this week. I have a new class which started on Friday. Was quite tricky as I knew nothing about it - just had to show up with my boss Joanne and teach some random people of an unknown level for 1.5hrs. Not exactly what they teach you to do in your training! Luckily they are two very chatty men of a good level who just want conversation mostly anyway - and talking is something that I can do! This week I have two classes starting at Lufthansa - yep teaching English to Spanish speaking employees of a German company. They are 3hr classes and are at the airport which is about 3/4 of an hour out of town. It should be interesting. And I have no idea how I am going to fill 3hrs - I suspect it isn't as easy as just planning two back to back classes. Anyway, will see how it goes and learn as we go along I guess. That approach has been working well for me so far.
Next week it is Labour day on Friday, which means a long weekend. My tourist visa is about to expire, and with the problems getting stamps and notarisation etc because of protests, general red tape and my lack of Spanish, I haven't yet got my work visa submitted. So I am going to go to Argentina for the weekend. Mendoza is apparently about 8hrs on the bus through the Andes, so should be an interesting trip. Mendoza is the area that produces most of the wine in Argentina so I don't think I will be short on things to do. I haven't (yet) managed to convince anyone that they want to come with me, but I am feeling a bit more confident that I can manage on my own. I managed when I got here (with help admittedly), and I speak and understand much more now, how hard can it be? (I know, famous last words).
Anyway, that is the plan. Right now I have a whole bunch of lessons to plan for next week.
Nos vemos,
KiwiKaz
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Hola,
I have had a pretty good week and an exciting weekend. My week consisted of teaching (of course) and avoiding protests and football fans. Thursday I decided that I needed to get the stamps for my visa, so I went into town where the official buildings are, near the government buildings La Moneda. As I came out of the metro I was very confused by the sheer number of people around, and the music. I thought I had walked right into some form of party at 11 in the morning! Until I saw the hoards of police and realised that I was in the middle of what was about to become a very serious protest.... After establishing that the office I needed had locked the doors because of the protest, I decided that perhaps it wasn't the best place for me and hot footed it off to the office. Turns out that there were 4 protests on and that half the city was shut down. When I left the office around 12 it was eerily quiet and the people that were around were scattering fast. There was no trafiic on Alameda which is usually four lanes deep either way and a constant traffic jam, no buses, and no people. Was really bizarre, but I decided that it wasn't a good thing and headed home for safety. One day I might get brave and go and check out the water canons and tear gas up close, but really one trip to the hospital a week is plenty.
On Friday I left
Santiago with Shawn, one of the other teachers, bound for a farm outside Cauquenes in the south (4.5 hrs from Santiago) for a weekend of grape picking. After getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night we were taken to a paddock where we put up our tents along with 10 other Chileans. There was a party going on and we were immediately made to feel welcome with a glass or two of Chicha (like cider but made from grapes) and homemade red wine. There were a couple of guitars and a box they were using as a drum, and everyone was singing. It was awesome.
It was a fairly late night, and we were up early in the morning to pick grapes. The vina was quite old, and not of trained grapes like I am used to seeing, but small untrained vines. They don't really take much care,
just prune and pick whatever they can get to sell in bulk to other wineries. Basically we would fill a basket which would be transferred to a sack which was transferred to the back of the truck to be sold. Was tons of fun with plenty of jokes and banter in the field, and a lovely sunny day. Lunch was eaten at an enormous table at the house, and consisted of traditional soup with chunks of meat, potatoes and veges in it. It was cooked in a traditional cooking room, with a large fire in the middle and spaces under the eaves for the smoke to escape. No electricty of gas here! There was plenty of it as they seemed determined to stuff as much into us as they could. Shwan and I were of course something of a novelty, and because they had never met me (and I have blonde hair, blue eyes and smile a lot) I was the source of constant amusement. The father who spoke no English was fascinated with me, and there were many good humoured jokes at my expense. When it came to him trying to pair me off with his toothless old friend I had to feign that I had no idea what he was on about while he hammed it up to his own (and everyone else's) delight. It was a lot of fun though, and really I was just so greatful that these people would take us into their family home and treat us like family even when I could hardly speak with them.
After a short rest we worked another 3hrs in the vina before tea. Then the party really began, out by the fire. Both the guitars and the drum were going and everyone was singing. They danced the Queca, a dance with hankerchiefs where the man pursues the woman and she fends him off until eventually they are united at the end. The old guy who was singing for it was actually making the words up freestyle as he went along, and he made one about me. I don't really know what exactly he was saying, but there was definitely mention of my blonde hair like the clouds, and blue eyes like the sea.... They gentle natured pick-up lines continued most of the night and I am fairly sure that although I understood more than they know, I still didn't understand everything!
To begin with no one spoke any English, but as people warmed up I discovered at least three of the guys spoke quite well, and they each came and had conversations with me, keen
to practise what they knew. And the more of the home-made wine I drank from the petrol container (I kid you not - one of those big red ones), the more I would try in Spanish. Everyone was very friendly and there was lots of singing and dancing, and general hilarity. I was getting free Spanish lessons from all over, most of which I forgot, but I had the best time. Again, we went to bed late, and then were up early in the morning picking grapes. And Sunday was hot!! Luckily there wasn't so much to do, and we started later. Lunch was again amazing, and after fiddling around for a few hours (Chilean time is similar to Island time), we said our farewells to our new friends, caught a ride to Cauquenes and got the bus back to Santiago.
It really was a priviledge to be so warmly accepted into a close family and friends type gathering with such warmth. There were about 30 people there, and all of them made me feel welcome, even when the language was a real problem. I have never been so much the centre of attention, I am afraid it doesn't matter what I do I am always going to be different and I don't know I will ever get used to it. I think that the fact I dealt with all the teasing by just going along with it helped though, even though it was tiring and at times embarrassing. Thanks goodness for the laid back kiwi in me! Many of the people there live in Santiago, so hopefully I will see some of them again.
I did learn some useful things though.
1) Buses will stop anywhere. There is no public transport for the countryside, but still many people do not have cars. They just flag down any old bus that is passing (tourist, long haul or otherwise) and pay a dollar to stand in the isle until they get to where they need to be. Also, these enormous coaches will drop you off wherever you want, not just at the designated stops. It is quite different to the regimented western system!
2) Chilean women are suspicious of foreign women. It took quite while for most of the Chilean women to warm up to me. Apparently they are a little jealous and not so trusting at times, and believe that foreigners might steal their husbands. It pays not to talk to anyone's boyfriend for too long! While this did not become a problem for me, I could see that there was that potential.
3) Kids are universally curious and don't mind if you can't conjugate your verbs properly. was woken up on the first morning by two girls, age 6, at the door of my tent. I am not the best in the morning, especially after a large party, but they had a lot to tell me that I did not understand. All I could manage was hi, how are you, whats your name, and something about breakfast. Apparently whatever I said was very funny, and enough to let them know that they were indeed smarter than me and therefore I was part of their group, not an adult, and was also fair game to be bossed around because I was clearly stupid becaue I couldn't speak much. So I spent quite a bit of time doing what I was told, and learning things form Fernanda and Antonia because I became their pet project.
4) If you have blonde hair and blue eyes you are going to be flattered about being beautiful until it is painfully embarrassing. This was definitely the case with the father there who managed to evolve flattery into some kind of sport. And come on - I had been working in the vina all day and hadn't showered and was a mess!! It was probably good that I didn't understand everything.
5) Alcohol improves your fluency in another language (or at least you don't notice how much of the conversation you are missing). I was having great conversations with people in my broken Spanish English mix. I have no idea if we were talking about the same things, but it was lots of fun.
6) If you go with every opportunity presented to you, and are polite, laid back and smile a lot, many lovely experiences can come to you.
I was totally exhausted when I got home, and getting up for class today was such a struggle! I had to hve a wee nap on my bed this afternoon... I am feeling much better now, and wondering where the next trip might be! Unfortunately it is getting much colder at nights (still 25 - 30 during the day), so this might be the end of camping for this season. I was talking about going skiing with some people though when it is cold enough which would be pretty awesome....
Anyway, until next time, stay cool!
KiwiKaz.
I have had a pretty good week and an exciting weekend. My week consisted of teaching (of course) and avoiding protests and football fans. Thursday I decided that I needed to get the stamps for my visa, so I went into town where the official buildings are, near the government buildings La Moneda. As I came out of the metro I was very confused by the sheer number of people around, and the music. I thought I had walked right into some form of party at 11 in the morning! Until I saw the hoards of police and realised that I was in the middle of what was about to become a very serious protest.... After establishing that the office I needed had locked the doors because of the protest, I decided that perhaps it wasn't the best place for me and hot footed it off to the office. Turns out that there were 4 protests on and that half the city was shut down. When I left the office around 12 it was eerily quiet and the people that were around were scattering fast. There was no trafiic on Alameda which is usually four lanes deep either way and a constant traffic jam, no buses, and no people. Was really bizarre, but I decided that it wasn't a good thing and headed home for safety. One day I might get brave and go and check out the water canons and tear gas up close, but really one trip to the hospital a week is plenty.
On Friday I left
Santiago with Shawn, one of the other teachers, bound for a farm outside Cauquenes in the south (4.5 hrs from Santiago) for a weekend of grape picking. After getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night we were taken to a paddock where we put up our tents along with 10 other Chileans. There was a party going on and we were immediately made to feel welcome with a glass or two of Chicha (like cider but made from grapes) and homemade red wine. There were a couple of guitars and a box they were using as a drum, and everyone was singing. It was awesome.It was a fairly late night, and we were up early in the morning to pick grapes. The vina was quite old, and not of trained grapes like I am used to seeing, but small untrained vines. They don't really take much care,
just prune and pick whatever they can get to sell in bulk to other wineries. Basically we would fill a basket which would be transferred to a sack which was transferred to the back of the truck to be sold. Was tons of fun with plenty of jokes and banter in the field, and a lovely sunny day. Lunch was eaten at an enormous table at the house, and consisted of traditional soup with chunks of meat, potatoes and veges in it. It was cooked in a traditional cooking room, with a large fire in the middle and spaces under the eaves for the smoke to escape. No electricty of gas here! There was plenty of it as they seemed determined to stuff as much into us as they could. Shwan and I were of course something of a novelty, and because they had never met me (and I have blonde hair, blue eyes and smile a lot) I was the source of constant amusement. The father who spoke no English was fascinated with me, and there were many good humoured jokes at my expense. When it came to him trying to pair me off with his toothless old friend I had to feign that I had no idea what he was on about while he hammed it up to his own (and everyone else's) delight. It was a lot of fun though, and really I was just so greatful that these people would take us into their family home and treat us like family even when I could hardly speak with them.
After a short rest we worked another 3hrs in the vina before tea. Then the party really began, out by the fire. Both the guitars and the drum were going and everyone was singing. They danced the Queca, a dance with hankerchiefs where the man pursues the woman and she fends him off until eventually they are united at the end. The old guy who was singing for it was actually making the words up freestyle as he went along, and he made one about me. I don't really know what exactly he was saying, but there was definitely mention of my blonde hair like the clouds, and blue eyes like the sea.... They gentle natured pick-up lines continued most of the night and I am fairly sure that although I understood more than they know, I still didn't understand everything!
To begin with no one spoke any English, but as people warmed up I discovered at least three of the guys spoke quite well, and they each came and had conversations with me, keen
to practise what they knew. And the more of the home-made wine I drank from the petrol container (I kid you not - one of those big red ones), the more I would try in Spanish. Everyone was very friendly and there was lots of singing and dancing, and general hilarity. I was getting free Spanish lessons from all over, most of which I forgot, but I had the best time. Again, we went to bed late, and then were up early in the morning picking grapes. And Sunday was hot!! Luckily there wasn't so much to do, and we started later. Lunch was again amazing, and after fiddling around for a few hours (Chilean time is similar to Island time), we said our farewells to our new friends, caught a ride to Cauquenes and got the bus back to Santiago.It really was a priviledge to be so warmly accepted into a close family and friends type gathering with such warmth. There were about 30 people there, and all of them made me feel welcome, even when the language was a real problem. I have never been so much the centre of attention, I am afraid it doesn't matter what I do I am always going to be different and I don't know I will ever get used to it. I think that the fact I dealt with all the teasing by just going along with it helped though, even though it was tiring and at times embarrassing. Thanks goodness for the laid back kiwi in me! Many of the people there live in Santiago, so hopefully I will see some of them again.
I did learn some useful things though.
1) Buses will stop anywhere. There is no public transport for the countryside, but still many people do not have cars. They just flag down any old bus that is passing (tourist, long haul or otherwise) and pay a dollar to stand in the isle until they get to where they need to be. Also, these enormous coaches will drop you off wherever you want, not just at the designated stops. It is quite different to the regimented western system!
2) Chilean women are suspicious of foreign women. It took quite while for most of the Chilean women to warm up to me. Apparently they are a little jealous and not so trusting at times, and believe that foreigners might steal their husbands. It pays not to talk to anyone's boyfriend for too long! While this did not become a problem for me, I could see that there was that potential.
3) Kids are universally curious and don't mind if you can't conjugate your verbs properly. was woken up on the first morning by two girls, age 6, at the door of my tent. I am not the best in the morning, especially after a large party, but they had a lot to tell me that I did not understand. All I could manage was hi, how are you, whats your name, and something about breakfast. Apparently whatever I said was very funny, and enough to let them know that they were indeed smarter than me and therefore I was part of their group, not an adult, and was also fair game to be bossed around because I was clearly stupid becaue I couldn't speak much. So I spent quite a bit of time doing what I was told, and learning things form Fernanda and Antonia because I became their pet project.
4) If you have blonde hair and blue eyes you are going to be flattered about being beautiful until it is painfully embarrassing. This was definitely the case with the father there who managed to evolve flattery into some kind of sport. And come on - I had been working in the vina all day and hadn't showered and was a mess!! It was probably good that I didn't understand everything.
5) Alcohol improves your fluency in another language (or at least you don't notice how much of the conversation you are missing). I was having great conversations with people in my broken Spanish English mix. I have no idea if we were talking about the same things, but it was lots of fun.
6) If you go with every opportunity presented to you, and are polite, laid back and smile a lot, many lovely experiences can come to you.
I was totally exhausted when I got home, and getting up for class today was such a struggle! I had to hve a wee nap on my bed this afternoon... I am feeling much better now, and wondering where the next trip might be! Unfortunately it is getting much colder at nights (still 25 - 30 during the day), so this might be the end of camping for this season. I was talking about going skiing with some people though when it is cold enough which would be pretty awesome....
Anyway, until next time, stay cool!
KiwiKaz.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
A trip to the hospital
Hiya,
Well its Easter, so most of Santiago has gone away for the weekend, and everything is pretty much shut, so it has been a fairly quiet weekend.
On Friday I went for tea at my housemate Bruno's Aunty's house. Another Aunty came over too and one of his cousins was also there. They are really lovely people, who were very keen to find out what would bring me to Chile, and wanted to know all about my family and New Zealand. Luckily they speak very good English having lived abroad at some time in their lives, so the conversation came easily. I had a really great time with lots of laughing, and enjoyed their 2yr old black labrador who was full of energy!
Unfortunately I woke up on Saturday morning early with really bad stomach pain and vomitting. I don't know what I ate (as it was the same as everyone else), but it was bad. I have never had stomach pain like it! It wasn't abating so we decided to go to the hospital (big decision for me as I am usually the 'ride it out' type person), and they decided it was bad enough to put me on a drip, painkillers and anti-nausea medication. Of course my Spanish is bad at the best of times, let alone when I am so sick I can't stand up! Luckily my poor housemate came and acted as interpreter for me. I understand why I am living with someone who speaks English and Spanish now! Poor guy, he is probably wondering what has hit him. Oh well.
So I am taking it easy as I still don't fell 100%, and was in quite some pain when the painkillers wore off last night. Today is going to be about lesson planning and sitting still.
Degrees and things for Visa arrived on Thursday (thanks Mum), so hopefully I won't have to take a trip to Argentina through the snow to get my tourist visa renewed. Next weekend I might be going to some grape picking thing down south with one of the other teachers at the school. I still have to organise it all with her but it's looking promising.
So only the minor drama of a visit to the hospital this week - otherwise nothing exciting to tell.
Adios,
KiwiKaz
Well its Easter, so most of Santiago has gone away for the weekend, and everything is pretty much shut, so it has been a fairly quiet weekend.
On Friday I went for tea at my housemate Bruno's Aunty's house. Another Aunty came over too and one of his cousins was also there. They are really lovely people, who were very keen to find out what would bring me to Chile, and wanted to know all about my family and New Zealand. Luckily they speak very good English having lived abroad at some time in their lives, so the conversation came easily. I had a really great time with lots of laughing, and enjoyed their 2yr old black labrador who was full of energy!
Unfortunately I woke up on Saturday morning early with really bad stomach pain and vomitting. I don't know what I ate (as it was the same as everyone else), but it was bad. I have never had stomach pain like it! It wasn't abating so we decided to go to the hospital (big decision for me as I am usually the 'ride it out' type person), and they decided it was bad enough to put me on a drip, painkillers and anti-nausea medication. Of course my Spanish is bad at the best of times, let alone when I am so sick I can't stand up! Luckily my poor housemate came and acted as interpreter for me. I understand why I am living with someone who speaks English and Spanish now! Poor guy, he is probably wondering what has hit him. Oh well.
So I am taking it easy as I still don't fell 100%, and was in quite some pain when the painkillers wore off last night. Today is going to be about lesson planning and sitting still.
Degrees and things for Visa arrived on Thursday (thanks Mum), so hopefully I won't have to take a trip to Argentina through the snow to get my tourist visa renewed. Next weekend I might be going to some grape picking thing down south with one of the other teachers at the school. I still have to organise it all with her but it's looking promising.
So only the minor drama of a visit to the hospital this week - otherwise nothing exciting to tell.
Adios,
KiwiKaz
Monday, April 6, 2009
My birthday - camping in the Andes
I spent the weekend camping in the Andes, not far from where I went last time to see the glacier. Was a trip organised by Joanne (the boss who has three dogs) and another teacher (Ann) and her partner Rodrigo. I had a fabulous time - what better way to spend my birthday!We left Santiago in the hired truck with two dogs on the back and one in the cab with us (he gets car sick) mid afternoon on Friday, heading for the hills. The campsite was at the thermal pools on the side of El Volcan, a long volcano high up in the Andes which separates Argentina and Chile. It was deserted when we got there apart from four condors circling the springs high overhead, so we set up camp before dark and made some delicious BBQ pork ribs over the fire for dinner. We had a number of drinks, and as it started to rain climbed the hill to the hot springs. There were only four other people around so we had a pool to ourselves to enjoy
a few drinks and stay warm. The night was freezing, though thankfully it stopped raining before we went to bed. In the morning we were greeted with snow capped mountains and ominous clouds.When I finally crawled out of bed (it was freezing cold) there were condors circling above the next valley. I counted twenty, which is unheard of, usually you are lucky to see one or two. One even fly right over us quite close, and gave us an impressive show of its sheer size and grace. They are amazing birds, and some were flying higher than the mountains most of which were towering over us at 6000m.
After picking up another friend from down the road, and stopping to let the truck cool down a bit (Rodrigo had drunk a l
ot of coffee and was driving it like it was a racing car), we set off to walk up to the glacier (the same as my last trip). I was relieved that we drove much further this time, and Jo was astounded that they made us walk so far last time - her estimate was about 16km each way, and I would tend to agree with her. Turned out the weather wasn't great, and some in our party weren't as fit or prepared as they might have liked, so we turned back at halfway, which was fine. It really was cold and while I am sure it would have been beautiful up at the glacer with the fresh snow, it would have been so cold! We polished off the birthday champagne on the way down the mountain so all was not lost!Back at camp we chilled out, made some dinner, drank quite a bit, and went up to enjoy the hot springs again. There were lots of people up there on Saturday night, everyone having arrived from Santiago in the morning. However, the night was clear, and the moon just past full, so we could see the entire surrounding valley and peaks, as well as millions of stars, which was truely magic. It really is surreal to be so high in such an intimidating and beautiful landscape. I was much warmer the second ni
ght having gone to bed wearing nearly every item of clothing that I had with me. One of the dogs was sleeping in the tent with Joanne too, which helped keep it warmer, and one of the other dogs came in in the middle of the night and slept near my feet on my sleeping bag which was also a great warmer.We broke camp early on Sunday morning in order to get the hire truck back to Santiago by early afternoon. The ride back was uneventful, and the dog positioned himself across all three knees in the back seat and went to sleep which made for a cosy trip. I had such a great time that really can't be put into words. Can't wait to go back and have some real hiking expeditions around those mountains. There are just so many areas to explore!
There are a few more photos interspersed through here of the area. I didn't get any of the hot springs because we only ventured up there in the dark, and as pointed out by Mum there are actually none of me. Thats OK, I was pretty much too busy having fun to take many pictures! The last picture here is the view from my tent door - I kid you not!!
OK, enough prcrastination, back to lesson planning.
Hasta luego,
KiwiKaz
Saturday out with a couple of my students
Here are a couple of pics from last weekend when I went sightseeing with a couple of my students, Virginia and Cristian. They are really lovely people who took me to their favourite places in Santiago in their car. These pics are from Cerro San Cristobal, where there is a giant Virgin Mary overlooking the city. The hill is big, and almost right in the middle of the city, surrounded by houses, and smog! The smog was particularly bad this day so the pictures didn't come out particularly well. We also had some delicious lunch - a pancake type thing covered in a cheese based sauce filled with shrimp and other delicious goodies. I had a really great day - these people really are so lovely!
Where I live
Here are a couple of photos out the window of my room. Yes you can see the enormous mountains, but only when the smog clears. Often the sunset is really pretty, and the mountains turn pink and purple. I live in quite an old building, in a fairly modest neighbourhood. My street is quite ugly, but I live on the corner and the adjacent st has a narrow park running down the middle of it (Parque Bustamante) which means there are trees which is good. The traffic noise can be fairly horrendous though as I live right between two main thoroughfares which are busy all the time. I am no stranger to traffic noise though so it doesn't really bother me.
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