I had another new class this week, on Monday afternoon for 3hrs with an intermediate lady at El Mercurio, the newspaper. This is all good but it is in the middle of nowhere. No metro or bus route - that means I had to tackle a famous Santiago colectivo for the first time. Colectivos are communal taxis, which travel on fixed routes for fixed prices. Basically it is a guy with a car, and when the car is full he goes. It is quite a good concept really, though timing is always a bit dodgy. Luckily Mercurio is on a fairly popular route. It does require a basic level of spanish though to communicate what you want. Luckily Jo had told me the number of the car I was looking for and it turned out to be quite easy. The ride out there was fine, I was holding onto my seat the whole way and was the only one in the car with my seatbelt on (they drive like madmen), but we made it in one piece. Coming home was more difficult, as you basically have to flag one down. I was first waiting outside Mecurio, then a couple of old ladies came, and then a man. Finally a colectivo showed up, but already had a person in it, so there were 4 of us wanting three seats.... At this point I expected the usual latin manners to kick in and the man to give way to the ladies, especially as we were all there first. How wrong I was! I forgot that when it comes to public transport all courtesy goes out the window, when usually these are the most polite people in the world. The man runs to the car and jumps in the back. I arrived about the same time as the old ladies, but I wasn't about to be rude and make them stand in the cold for another 15min, or worse still, split them up. So I ended up standing on the side of the road for another 10min until the next one came along. Apparently I have a lot to learn about colectivo ettiquette! And the second colectivo was filled with men, and I ended up in between two very fat men. Couple that with very fast crazy driving that doesn't slow for corners, and it wasn't the most pleasant ride. But it was good that I have finally tackled the famous colectivos. And class was good. Three hours one on one is fairly demanding, but she is a good talker so I think it will be OK.
So with this new class I have a lot of hours, I think including my private students I am up to about 28hrs a week which is quite a lot when you account for planning time as well. I look forward to the weekend! This weekend is a long weekend too (we haven't had a public holiday for nearly a month!) so I am planning on relaxing and organsing all my materials which have gotten quite out of control over the last few weeks!
I am of course going out to a party tonight. It was Naty's birthday (one of the Chileans) on Monday, so she is having a praty tonight. It is a fancy dress party (I think) but I don't know the theme, something about masks (I think). I (think) I have a ride there lined up, but absolutely no way of getting home as it is miles away. Hopefully it will be a big party (I suspect yes) and I can get the metro home tomorrow morning at 8. Otherwise I am crashing on the floor uninvited... The invitations were all verbal which is impossible for me as I can't compute things fast enough in my head. At least when they send me messages I can use my dictionary to figure it out, and I can read it three times until I understand. Anyway, I have a homemade mask, and if I wear all black I will look a bit like something out of the Mask of Zorro, so hopefully I will fit in. Won't matter what I look like after a couple of rums I guess.
Went to Cueca on Thursday, I am improving but its a slow process. Wasn't as fun as the week before because there were less willing male partners and our table was extremely female heavy. Thats OK though, us girls dance together too. I haven't managed to flick anyone else in the eyes, and I didn't stand on anyones feet, so I guess that is improvement. Its always a fun night out, though Friday morning is aways difficult. Luckily it is an elementary class who are working from a book so it doesn't require quite so much thought or preparation.
So not the most exciting week. Will see how this party goes tonight. It might be interesting to see how accurate my translation has been (or inaccurate!).
Chaochao,
KiwiKaz.
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