Just another week

And its Sunday again. It seems to come around so fast!

I have had a good week, just teaching during the week, and trying to stay warm to fend off the impending cold. Teaching is quite busy for me at the moment, especially as I had quite a few classes changing around their times for various commitments this week. Am getting more used to the workload, and am getting more organised with my preparation. My chef cancelled his last three classes and then wanted a 3hr marathon session on Friday afternoon before flying out to Malaysia on Saturday. Given that our 1.5hr classes are usually quite difficult as he loses interest quickly, I was quite surprised by the request, and overjoyed about having my whole Friday afternoon taken up with potentially the most difficult class of the week... It turned out to be better than I expected, though I was still exhausted at the end of it and in need of a very large beer!

Friday night I joined Shawn and Tyra to see some friends of Shawn's play. They are in a Led Zepplin cover band, and I was dubious heading into it. They were pretty awesome though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After them was a Doors cover band, who were also good, so we spent most of the night singing along. Then we went back to the band's house and continued on singing etc... until I had nearly no voice left... at which time we retired to Shawn's to sleep (7am). Was a great night with lovely people.

I was woken at 10am by my housemate calling to ask where I was. I am not sure if I should be flattered or worried that he cares so much. I don't remember any of my previous housemates keeping such close tabs on me.... He also spent most of last week trying to convince me to go to the doctor because I had the beginnings of a cold - but was't actually sick... I think he thinks he is my mother, except he is more annoying (sorry Mum - your only annoying sometimes). Anyway, I answered the phone "Halo", and only a squeak came out, so I tried again with not much more than a whisper. Oh dear... no voice, that's a small problem. So I spent Saturday trying not to talk. Then on Saturday night one of my Chilean friends called to ask if I wanted to go and watch the football at a friends house. Picture this, we are on the phone and I don't understand what he is saying, have no idea what I want to say, and can't say it anyway because I have next to no voice... It would have looked (and sounded) like a comedy skit show, but was really quite frustrating. Eventually I managed to get the details sorted, and joined the others for a spot of football (Chile beat Paraguay 2-0 so it was celebrations all round). I am always the entertainment, but last night it was even funnier for everyone because my voice was so squeaky that everytime I opened my mouth we weren't sure what was going to come out. They were delighting in the fact, but we had a really fun night with just a small group of people.

I feel like I have had a bit of a breakthrough with the language. I have managed to actually have short conversations where necessary, and I understand a lot of what goes on (though definitely not all). The ferria is easier because I usually understand what they are asking me, and even the supermarket isn't so daunting. I even understand about a quarter of what people are saying to me on the phone (which is a quarter more than three weeks ago). It is so frustrating that I can never say exactly what I want, but at least I can say something. Even if it is as ridiculous as "Shawn wants to eat Mauro" which was completely not what I meant to say and has all sorts of overtones that weren't lost on the Chileans... (and was the joke of the night last night).

This week I am going dancing Cueca again with the same friends - they are determined that I learn before September. I wimped out last week because it was cold and I worked until 9.30 and was trying to hold this cold at bay, but they made me promise I will come this week so I guess I have to. And at the weekend I am off to Pichilemu again with the whole crowd which will be tons of fun. I don't think that Shawn is going, so I might be the only English speaker, which will mean a gruelling weekend, but lots of practice. And I love getting out of Santiago, and I love Chilean asado so there is no way I am not going!!

Anyway, I hope that my voice comes back soon, as it is going to be very difficult to teach without it - lots of listening exercises maybe... Luckily I only have one class on Monday and it is in the evening, but it better be OK by Tuesday because I have 7hrs of talking that day...

I think these posts are probably getting less interesting as life falls into some routine. Things like the riot police cordoning off streets and closing the metro station I want to go to seem quite normal to me now, and not really worth mentioning. The people having a road-rage fist-fight in rush hour with cars whizzing past don't really rate talking about, and the undercover police officers who pulled a gun on the guy just along from me on the metro the other night were merely a passing interest. One of the Uni campus' has been closed for the last month because there is a big student protest going on there, and there are about 50 people camping in tents down by the river in the freezing cold protesting the impoverished conditions that the poorest people live in, but because I walk past both sites at least twice a day it all seems quite normal. I guess by NZ or Aus standards both these things would seem fairly outrageous to me, but by Chilean standards if it isn't a riot with a water-cannon it isn't worth mentioning.

Anyway, I am going to spend the day NOT talking trying to stay warm.
Chao chao,
KiwiKaz.