Finally settling down...

After officially being here for over a month, I feel like I am settling into life in Santiago.  I have been teaching for two weeks and am slowly settling into a routine. I teach Monday through Friday and my schedule is so different each day. Most of my students want to learn English. Some of them have basic knowledge and are able to help the other students who don't understand. I basically have to follow exactly what the book says and teach to the book because that is what the test is based off of. I do have some flexibility with activities so that is fun. The students have learned the verb To Be, family members, Yes/No questions, present progressive, jobs and schedules, and so forth. It is really cool to be walking around campus and see students who are excited to see me and say "Hi Profe!!!" There are also other teachers at my campus (Foreign English teachers are called "TIPS" - Teacher Intern Practicum Specialists") so I see them a lot and hang out with them. One of the TIPS and I usually go to the Mall next door during our break to get food or explore. So life as a teacher has been pretty good so far :)

My roommate Abby and I moved out of the hostel. We lived in the hostel for a month and it was really fun to live with a bunch of people and form a mini family amongst Americans and Chileans. Abby, another girl and I all went to a bar with one of the hostel cleaning ladies and had her try a "terremoto" for the first time so that was fun. The hostel front desk guy named Lucas even took us on a Trek in the Andes a few weeks ago so that was fun. One night we had a "wine and cheese" night which was really fun. We also had an "Asado" on the last day we were living there where Álvaro another hostel worker grilled for us a feast of Steak, Chicken, Mariscos (seafood), Chorizo, rice, Pebre (pico de gallo with avocado) which was delicious. I am excited to go back to the hostel and see all the new friends I made.

After living in the hostel, Abby and I found an apartment in Santiago Centro about ten minutes away from the metro. The apartment is really cute and girly so it fits us perfectly. We have an INCREDIBLE rooftop with a spectacular view of the city and the Andes. We also have a pool and a gym on the roof which is on the 26th floor. My goal has been to take a picture every single day and so far I have been able to do that. Even if it is of just something little. Here are some pictures from my new apartment:

Abby and I have been making some Chilean friends at the bars. We hang out with her friend Sebastian a lot which is cool because that means we are speaking a lot of Spanish. I can slowly tell that my Spanish is definitely improving. We go to the bars and speak to the locals and learn a lot of local songs which is cool. I can't wait to see how much better my Spanish is come December. 

Earthquakes: Earthquakes are inevitable here in Chile. On Friday night, I was sleeping in my new apartment for the very first time and apparently around 4:30 in the morning there was a 5.2 TEMBLOR (tremor). I was sound asleep so I felt nothing. On Sunday, Abby and I went to see a movie and we took the metro back to our neighborhood at around 7:30 pm. We were walking back to our apartment when all of the sudden her friend Sebastian calls us and asks us if we felt the "TEMBLOR". We told him he was lying and that we didn't feel anything. As we arrive in our apartment lobby, SO many people are in the lobby. All of the sudden we start hearing people saying "Tan Fuerte" or "how strong", meaning that they felt the ground shaking too. Abby and I got into our department, turned on the TV, and sure enough there was a 7.2 TEMBLOR in Chile. The epicenter was near the coast so the shaking was a lot stronger in the coast but almost everyone else in Santiago felt it. I still can't believe we didn't feel it but I am pretty sure it is because we were walking. All of these TEMBLORs have been "aftershocks" from the 2010 massive earthquake that hit Chile. There will be a lot of aftershocks for years to come. According to scientific reports, there isn't supposed to be another big earthquake for 20 years (knock on wood). 

I do miss some things back home in the United States: I really miss Spicy Food. The food here is good but it hasn't been incredible. I know that I will find that incredible restaurant with an awesome meal that I just can't resist (maybe it is a good thing I haven't found it so I don't constantly eat there), but as of right now the food is kind of bland. Yesterday Abby and I went to the movies to see The Hunger Games (SO GOOD btw!) and we ordered popcorn of course and I was so excited to eat salty popcorn but it was caramel corn and sweet. I love caramel corn but in small amounts and eating caramel corn throughout the whole movie made me crave salt haha. I do miss the fast paced life of the US, like when I am walking in the metro station I constantly get stuck behind slow people who are so clueless to the fact that people are behind them. However, I know and appreciate the fact that time here isn't the be all and the end all so I need to eventually learn to slow things down just like Chileans do (My students almost ALWAYS arrive to class 15 minutes late). Even though I do miss some things from the States, I am beginning to fall more in love with the Chilean way of life and la ciudad de Santiago de Chile :) 

It's official...

Welp I am officially a teacher! I don't know how accurate that is but I have officially completed my first day of teaching Basic English 1 to Spanish speaking students. In my opinion, it went a lot better than I thought. Yesterday at this time, I was a stress ball.  I had NO idea how I was going to plan my first class. Luckily, I have 6 other co-workers who are all still living in the hostel with me to help me out. It was not an easy task. After spending 2, almost 3, weeks in straight vacation mode, getting down to business took a lot of motivation. Normally, during the first 2 weeks of orientation, we would go to orientation, come back to the hostel, take a nap, eat dinner, and then relax at the hostel or go out. Yesterday, the day before our "reality check," was a slap in the face. I laid out all of my papers, books, guides, etc. and tried to organize. Here is proof of all my teaching material:

The first day of class in pretty much any school usually consists of "syllabus day." It is pretty much the same here in Chile. All 6 of my classes are Basic Level 1 English so I can plan all of the lessons to pretty much be the same. My lesson plan went as follows: I introduced myself, had the students introduce themselves, went over the "reglamentos" (the rules) of the class, talked about basic classroom language, and did some more ice breakers. I know the rest of the semester will be a lot different but as of right now I feel pretty good about teaching. It is pretty neat to think that I am more or less the students' first real exposure to English but it is also a lot of pressure.

It is VERY weird that I am on a different schedule now. I have been so used to living in the hostel with the other teachers in my program and all being on the same schedule but now some of us have morning classes and some of us have evening classes. Also, some other teachers in the program left for the coast this past Thursday so the hostel is a lot more quiet. But we had a good last night with everyone in the program and I am sure we will all reunite in the middle of the program.

As I am slowly adjusting to the Chilean culture and Spanish, I know that, come December, I will feel so much different. I know teaching will be a challenge, but I enjoy challenges. I like diving right in and seeing how fast I can swim. I also look forward to knowing my way around a MASSIVE city. Seriously, Santiago is SO big. I have been here for almost 3 weeks and I feel like I have barely even seen a fourth of it. It is weird going from a city where I drive everywhere to a city where I take the metro every single day to and from work. Almost every single time I get on the metro it is PACKED. Even though Santiago is so big, I know that the coast is only an hour and a half away and ski resorts are about the same. Teaching, speaking Spanish, living in a big city and finding new friends are all part of the new adventure that I have just embarked upon :)

Mi Ciudad Nueva: Santiago, Chile

I have officially arrived in my new city for the next 10 months: Santiago, Chile! I cannot believe I will be living in this beautiful city until December. I met with my Teach in Chile coworkers and I am currently living in a hostel with them in Providencia, a really nice area of Santiago. Everyone seems really nice and we all have similar backgrounds with studying/traveling abroad. We had orientation, ate at some really nice restaurants, learned about transportation and housing in Santiago, learned about our universities (DuocUc) and have done some sight seeing throughout the city. The weather has been gorgeous: about 80 degrees each day and blue skies with some smog over the mountains. The hostel has been great: the location is right near a metro and a running park. I am sharing a room with 4 other girls, including a mother and her 9 month old baby (who is adorable), and then there is another room with 5 girls and we all share one bathroom. I celebrated my 23rd birthday on the first day we were here which was really fun. We went to a restaurant for lunch (which is the biggest meal of the day) and my friend Mary Kate was squirming in her seat when all of the sudden she screams that there was a slug in her food. There literally was a slimy, wiggly slug moving around on her plate. It was hilarious. The guys have been cooking food for us which has been great. We all usually hang out in the patio at our hostel at night and drink some wine or beer. We are living in the hostel until the end of March and then we are on our own for living. I am living with a girl Abby in my program and we are currently in the process of apartment-hunting which is proving to be somewhat difficult. There is a lot available but we want to find a good location next to a metro stop because I have to commute at least a half hour outside of the city to my University.

The Chilean culture is definitely a lot different. The Spanish is INCREDIBLY difficult to understand: they drop their "s" at the end of words and they speak super fast and have tons of slang words ("Cachai" means "Do you understand?", There are different words for the stages of relationships: Pololo is a boyfriend and Novio is a fiance, they say "Huevón" almost all the time and it has a ton of different meanings). I am mostly speaking English right now in the hostel with all of my friends but I know I will be speaking Spanish more when I go out and at my university. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Empanadas and completos (hot dogs covered with mayonnaise and tomatoes and avocado) are EVERYWHERE. Pisco Sour is their drink of choice. Chileans are not as focused on time and getting places quickly which is really nice. I am slowly starting to learn the city. It is nice because I don't need a map as much right now because we are staying in the same place but when I move I know I will need a map. When I was in Spain I constantly used my map the first month and I stood out like a sore thumb. The metro system is pretty easy to follow but it is kind of expensive. A lot of the stores are closed on Sunday. It is SO weird how the seasons are completely reversed: March is back to school month and winter break is in July. Whenever you ask for water they always ask "sin gas" or "con gas" for mineral water. The coffee is "Nescafé" which is just instant coffee and I am not its biggest fan but I will get used to it. I feel like culture shock has not hit yet because I am hanging out with a bunch of Americans so when I move and start to teach I know it will be a lot different. I am SO excited to be here though and I know this will be one of the best experiences of my life :)