Working for the Weekend

Bellavista...close to where I take Spanish lessons
Still not used to having mountains around me all the time!
At Mercado Central...Santiago's fish market
At La Vega...Santiago's biggest fruit and vegetable market

This week I moved into a new apartment and started training for my new job. My new apartment is great! I live with 2 Chilean girls and an American girl. It’s in a great location and more importantly there is always hot water when I shower. In related news, either the weather is starting to get a bit better or I have finally adapted to the cold. Twice this week when I was in my apartment I went sans winter jacket. How Chilean am I?!? Most of my week, however, was spent in full winter gear training for my new job. I think this job is going to be great for me. I will be working with adults at all different levels. It seems like the company is pretty supportive and organized but still allows you the freedom to modify lessons. Many of the training sessions were taught by Dave who is far and away one of the craziest SOBs I’ve met in Chile thus far. Dave is what would happen if Steve Irwin and Harry Carey had a 70 year old son. Some of Dave’s favorite activities include switching subjects at random, swearing, and talking about swearing. Dave is a huge fan of hands on learning. We literally spent 40 minutes one day learning and demonstrating how to play and then pause DVDs. Apparently this is CRUCIAL to being a good English teacher. According to my extensive notes on this subject it is helpful to look at the remote to locate the buttons BEFORE pressing them. Who would’ve thought?! So now, if nothing else, I will leave Chile just a little bit better at watching movies. In all seriousness, most of the training was very helpful and I am looking forward to my first class this Monday! I am also beyond excited because next week Chicago is invading Chile. Natalie, Amanda, Allison, Jenny, and Kristen will all be in Santiago for 2 weeks!! I hope Santiago can handle us.