Work concerts and parties.

Wow, I have had a busy week and an eventful weekend. The week was long because I had 4 new classes, which is always challenging! Especially when one was right on the outskirts of the city and I had to take a bus for an hour just to get there! Peñalolén is a really long way out of the centre of town!! But it is a good class because Joanne has given it to me as a private class, and its 2hrs (one hour with the daughter and one with the mother), so the money is pretty great and makes the long trip worth it. The other new classes are with two different banks in town, and Sanofi-Aventis a pharmaceuticals company. Each case is a one on one class with one of the high level managers, but they all seem nice, if quite ambitious! So I am officially on a fairly full teaching load of 25hrs a week. I am getting much more efficient with my planning that is for sure! There is also a public holiday on Thursday this week which gives me respite from the four classes I have that day which will make a big difference I think. They do have a lot of random public holidays here....

On Firday night I went to a concert with Shawn and a couple of her other teacher friends, and I have never laughed so hard. It wasn't comedy - it was rock! And I had tears streaming down my face. The lead singer of the first band came out dressed in LYCRA wearing a BICYCLE HELMET!!! I kid you not - these guys were like the village people on speed. There was a clown, a cowboy, a guy in a suit, an army dude, and a grandad. They were all completely unattractive and insisted on strutting around the stage wiggling various parts of their anatomy, or trying body rolls and hip grinds. The music was a cross between Sublime and some thrash metal, and only about 1/3 was even remotely enjoyable, but man it was funny! I of course forgot my camera, but the image of the lycra clad lead singer is a memory burned in for eternity I fear. I have ripped a photo off the internet so you too can share the joy. If you are really interested, try googling "Sinergia", there are some fairly amusing video clips on YouTube.


The second band was marginally better, and their costumes were normal. Their antics were fairly extra-ordinary though. The symbol of the band is this crazy pig thing, and lots of people in the crowd had their own pig. There was a sort of competition to see who could dress their pig the wackiest, and they hold them up high throughout the concert (which must have hurt their arms because these things are the size of a small 2yr old). Anyway, I saw a Batman and a red riding hood, a gnome, an alien and a magician, but the funniest was the normal looking pig with a swine flu mask on. Hehe, that made me giggle.

Was a fairly crazy night, and as usual it was done Latin style so the crowd was going totally crazy and the mosh pit looked more dangerous than at a Metallica concert. Everyone was singing and dancing and no one was holding back! It was tons of fun, even if the music and the sound was quite average at times.

Then last night (Saturday) I went to a birthday party of one of the guy's from the Viña's cousins (did I get those apostrophes correct - damn English teacher who can't even write apostrophes correctly. Please don't tell anyone). Anyway, only met the cousin yesterday afternoon when I was at his house for lunch, and when I turned up to the party at what I thought was a suitably late time (11.30pm), there weren't many people there and I knew only the birthday boy (and not well having only the afternoon's experience with him). Was OK though, as people spotted me as the odd one out, and came to practice their English on me, and laugh at my attempts at Spanish. The dancing started pretty soon after, and three other guys from the Viña turned up, and I had a great time. I have not danced so much in the longest time, and they played English music (think Guns n Roses and Michael Jackson) as well as Latin music. There was plenty of Salsa, which I still suck at, but luckily no Tango because I really suck at Tango! Some of the girls were again trying to teach me "Latin hips", and although I am improving (I think) I am always going to be the slightly wooden gringa at the Latin party! Hehe, I don't really mind, just wish I could dance with people a little better. I guess it is like language though, practise practise practise - and I seem to have plenty of willing teachers so it isn't a big problem. All in all it was a great night, and I arrived home when the party ended about 5am.

So today I have been to the ferria (vege market) and have some planning of classes to do. A nice quite day en mi casa not doing too much sounds just good. Who knows what this week will bring...

Love and hugs to all,
KiwiKaz.