I need to do posts more regularly. I feel overwhelmed that it's already halfway through the month. Anyways, the big news is that I am moving to Providencia (the neighborhood where my work is located) in 2 weeks! Katie and I found a place walking distance to both our jobs and most of our friends- we will be sharing a big apartment with two Chileans, Leonardo & Loreto. Leonardo owns the apartment. He's 27 and has just recently finished his degree in law. I haven't met Loreto yet- Katie moved in on Friday and seems to be hitting it off with the new roommates. I'm really exciting to get out of Nuñoa; it's been great living with María Victoria and Isaias, but the location is a pain. There isn't enough public transportation around this neighborhood and I am spending WAY too much on taxis. Also, with this new place I will feel more comfortable having people over (as I am currently in more of a "host-family" situation)...I have missed being able to cook for my friends!
I've only been here a couple months (feels like longer, right?) and I'm settling into a rhythm here. Every Monday afternoon I teach a private class to my friend Celine's land-lady's boyfriend. It was really random, but it's going really well. His name is Fernando and he's a great student because he is such an eager learner. I get paid 15,000 pesos for an hour and a half ($30). It's outrageous, but that's less than the going rate for private English classes!
I've been making more friends and I'm happy to report that I am speaking more and more Spanish everyday. I should be fluent by 2015 now. I've been meeting more of my Chilean colleagues at Duoc...one in particular has taken a liking to me. Pamela is her name and I'm pretty sure she wants to adopt me. She always finds other teachers to give me a ride home and she wants to have me over for lunch and to watch American movies with her and her family. Things at Duoc are normalizing. I feel like an official teacher now because they finally gave us passwords to enter "blackboard" (the site where we manage our classes, post homework, send emails...etc). I am still enjoying classes and even my most shy students are warming up to me. We have a lot of fun, it's bordering on the edge of rowdiness, but fun...nonetheless.
I was given a book on "chilean street spanish" which I hope to put into full affect someday with my students and blow them out of the water. It's called "Chileno Callejero" by Emilio Rivano Fischer and it offers a complete guide in utilizing chilean slang & sayings. It gives you scenario/conversation and then breaks it down phrase by phrase. Chileans don't speak the kind of spanish that they teach you in school. My only advantage is from my experience in Seville because the accent is very similar. Yes, not only do they speak slang and use words that are unrecognizable even by other hispanohablantes (spanish-speakers) but they have an accent too. It far exceeds "wicked" and "pahk the cah in hahvahd yahd".
Here's your Chilean lesson for the day:
'ta güena, hue'ón! = está buena, hombre (in "normal" Spanish) = it's all good, man!
....more on this later. it's FASCINATING.
Aaaaand here's the part where I just post pictures of food and offer elaborate descriptions of what I have been eating. hah.
After it rains there is excellent visibility of the Cordillera.
Usually you can hardly make out the mountains because of the
smog in the city.
This is a Fried Empanada de carne (beef) at the Fuente Suiza.
So. Good.
Google it.
A Ceviché sampler tower! We ordered this at
a Peruvian restaurant in Barrio Brasil when we
went out to celebrate Celine's birthday. Ceviché is
typically raw fish marinated in lime juice with spices.
This was a little excessive. :)
