Zeroing In

Hola!

When we last left, i had just come back from my adventure to see Vina del Mar. that was a week ago and honestly, not too much has been going on. because i can't remember anything, i'm going to go in an insanely out of order.... order.

i'll talk a little bit about my time in la reina first. la reina is the section of Santiago south of Providencia. i went in search of a park that was supposed to be out there. i walked and walked and walked and walked and walked for about 4 hours but i couldn't find it. i even got a kind of terrible sun burn on my neck/face. this sun is brutal out here. it was an incredibly long and unproductive walk. La Reina looks a lot like suburban florida. nothing picture worthy but still kind of cool.

last wednesday i went for an interview with Sam Marsalli. i have heard terrible things about them online but i decided to hear them out for myself. after that first interview i got the impression that although it was an incredibly low salary, i could see myself working there. especially for a part time shift monday through friday 6-10. if that was all i could work, i would be very fine with that. also, as i was leaving the interview i said "i'm sorry, i didn't get your name" to the guy interviewing me. he matter-of-factly just said "i'm Sam Marsalli" which i thought was kind of hilarious that i never picked up on. any way, i showed up to interview #2 a few days later and this time around they had me wait around for an hour. AN HOUR. it was so boring. i watched an entire episode of a Spanish soap opera and then a show similar to MXC but with spanish women that looked like supermodels. when I went in for the 2nd interview Sam asked me if i had any questions. i asked a few and then casually mentioned that getting a work visa would really benefit me to which he interrupted me by saying "i'm not sure if you can work part time and get a work visa here. i'll have to check on that" and then the interview pretty much ended there. he told me to call back on monday. it was a little weird. they are a little weird. i waited around all weekend only to finally call Sam Marsalli back on Monday and have them tell me that they've "hired everyone they're looking for right now". all that work and anticipation for nothing.

So after that business with Sam Marsalli yesterday, I went to this institute in Providencia called "Polyglot" for an interview. it's very similar to Burford in that it also does private tutoring. the main difference is that it's a little bit more prestigious and pays slightly more. that interview went well. i have a demonstration lesson on wednesday on "greetings" and then they're going to tell me whether or not they want to hire me.

and then it hit me. i realized how I wanted to work. all this time i feel like i've been zeroing in and getting closer to choosing a job. in that interview with polyglot, it just felt right. it's like a temp agency back home but instead of any job, it's always going to be private tutoring teaching english. this is what i want to do. ideally, it'd be great if i could do both polyglot and burford. it would definitely increase my chances of finding work faster and getting more hours more quickly. but if things don't go well with the demo i do for polyglot, then i'd be fine with doing burford.

so i have made the choice to be one of the apparently many english teachers that work on a tourist visa and take the bus to argentina every 3 months. but apparently it's a really cool bus ride through the andes and the town they drop you off in has a lot of cool shops and stuff in it. plus i could say i've been to argentina. how cool is that? so really, i think this choice i've made for myself is ideal. in a SUPER ideal world, i'd have no morning classes and still get lots of hours. but we'll see about that.

so that ends the "work" portion of this blog. during the week days this past week, i've just been lounging and seeing alice pretty frequently. the real fun was in this past weekend.

Friday I ended up going out with Alice and hanging out with a lot of people from her program. They were eating at a restaurant and there were about 20 or so people total. it was brief and fun.

on Saturday we did trip 2 to Vina Del Mar because our first trip only allowed for about 2 hours of beach time. we made sure we left super early and got to do a lot of walking around the city. we spent about 4 or 5 hours at the beach this time. the waves were massive again and despite it being hotter this time (92 degrees!) the water was muy frio. i thought i was pretty good with the sunscreen but i ended up burning several parts of my body that NEVER get sunburned ever! these include:

- feet
- a random patch on my back near my left armpit
- legs! including behind my knees! that has NEVER happened!
- my right side (so random)
- under my left eye
and - a line of red directly under my hair

so random. but still way worth it. after our beach experience, we went down this boardwalk area to this place called "tiki tacos" and ate some DELICIOUS tacos there. mine was con vaca and alice's was con vaca y con pollo. both with guacamole and cheese and really really delicious onions. that's right. i actually really liked the onions. i never thought that would happen with any food because i hate onions. we also saw quite possibly the cutest stray dog we've seen thus far. it wouldn't leave us alone but it wouldn't beg for food or eat it when we offered it. it was so cute but eventually it left us.

after that we pretty much took the bus right back and that was beautiful as always.

Sunday we went to the Museo De Bellas Artes. since it was Sunday, it was free so that rocked pretty hard. there were cool sculptures and really awesome paintings from France, Spain and Chile. they dealt with abstract art, religion, censorship and traditional stuff you usually see in museums. it was a blast. we even got a little creative with the sculptures there:




yesterday was the whole business with Sam Marsalli, Polyglot and Burford but after THAT i went to Alice's place and spent about 2 hours sitting around and talking to her 2 room mates and their 3 friends. all in Chilean Spanish! it was so cool! i didn't even feel stupid because i didn't know the language that well or anything. i even made the room erupt in laughter twice while only speaking Spanish. they even taught us phrases that were specific to Chile which were kind of cool. some of them were really offensive and they were like "don't ever say this to anyone unless you want to get beat up". i also taught them the phrase "party foul" when someone spills a drink at a party. overall, it was fun. her room mates are really cool guys.

Other than that, not much else has been going on. I bought a Spanish to English dictionary. OH! i successfully made myself some spaghetti con carne as well as a concoction i created that tasted so good that i may have it for lunch shortly. It was basically just a quesadilla but i cut up an entire avocado and just spread it all over the top. it was absolutely delicious. i'm cooking delicious things! that makes me happy.

and that's really all I got for now. i plan on checking out a park that's like a 5 minute walk from my apartment and also seeing San Cristobal which will involve taking a gondola up to the top of a hill, seeing a giant statue and walking down a floral pathway. did i mention that there's also talks of going to a zoo and a fun shopping area in las condes? all will be reported later. until then... hasta!