God is Bigger

I forgot to post this a few posts back. When we were struggling at the hostel we saw this billboard (!) on our walk one day. Very cool! It says, "God is bigger than your problems".

Our School

Well, I'm excited to show you pictures of our school. For a little perspective, we are teaching at a college called DuocUC. They have 13 campuses throughout Santiago and a few other Chilean cities. Rich and I were assigned to the same campus. It is called San Carlos Apoquindo. It is on the far east side of Santiago, literally at the base of their "foothills" (the foothills of the Andes). The city ends there because it runs into the mountains. It is also in the wealthies part of Santiago, called Las Condes. We were told that we are teaching lower to middle income students. We hope this is true...we really don't know. The college does charge tuition but were told it isn't too expensive. But, since it is located in the rich neighborhood it is a little wierd to us because we feel like we are in a really nice part of California or something, but we expected to be in a much rougher area. I guess the other 12 campuses are not as beutiful as ours. They are more inner-city. But, this is what we got so we are just going with it. When you see the pictures you will see how pretty it is! This campus seems to be focused on technical skills such as sound engineering, culinary arts, design, fashion design, ecotourism, etc. Actually, Rich got assigned a fashion design for English class! He has a whole class of girls he is teaching the terminology for fashion design. He finds this quite funny. Here are some pictures of our lovely school....we have had a good week and are getting used to our classes and enjoying the students:

There are two primary buildings at our campus. This one is in the shape of a semi-circle. It's pretty cool. Oh, I forgot to say that we both have afternoon and evening classes, no morning classes. It is different, but pretty cool. My latest class ends at 7:45, although there are classes that go until 10:45 (I'm glad I don't have one of those).

We use the train, bus, or walking to get everywhere. This is a picture of the buses we ride very day (and some local construction). Our commute is 45 minutes to an hour. We take the train to the end of the tracks and then get on a bus the rest of the way. The commute isn't very fun. A lot of times it is shoulder to shoulder and hot and stuffy. But, it's sort of nice not to be driving.

This is one of my classrooms.

One of the building entrances.

A hallway.

These are four of the five students in my wed/thurs class that is from 6:15 to 7:45. Oh, and the campus dog. He's there almost every day. He has a bum leg but seems pretty happy and fed well enough somehow.

To the right is a climbing wall, although you probably can't tell. This is for the "eco-tourism" students. The court is for playing soccer.

The view from the top floor of the semi-circle building (and some construction). It is beautiful.

More of the view.

Rich talking to one of the other teachers.

Where the people are standing is the bus stop we use to go home every day. Only by the time the bus comes there will probably be 35 people standing there.

Patience, Etc.

Hey All, So we got an apartment! We are soooooooo excited. We were in the hostel for exactly three weeks. Last week I didn't get any blogging done because even though I kept thinking of cool things, we were just surviving from day to day. I don't know why changing places and things in one's life and living in the unknown is so exhausting, but it is. So, last week consisted of lots of apartment hunting. We slowly learned how to interpret apartment advertisements in Spanish, with a few mistakes along the way. I washed laundry by hand for the first time in my life. This is because there aren't any do it yourself laundromats. You have to pay someone to wash your clothes for you and it is about $8 per load. So, that adds up quickly! So, we decided to hold out on washing clothes until we got an apartment. I learned that you really can wear the same shirt several times if you need to, but eventually I had to wash at least some underwear. Luckily Callie had given us some packets of travel, liquid laundry detergent before we left so I used this to wash the clothes (yeah Callie and yeah Woolite).  Somehow I learned in this week that things don't have to be just right....I'm a bit of a germaphobe/perfectionist. Alllll of this did me some good and helped me loosen up. We lived with lots of noise, a barely functional kitchen, a gross bathroom, but we lived. And all is fine! We still struggled with finding food all week...somehow we constantly felt like we were starving because making, buying, keeping food was a challenge. But, yesterday was our first full day in the apartment and we finally felt like we didn't get famished even once all day. It was wonderful. So, I don't have pics of the apartment yet but I will soon and will put them on here. It is an awesome little apartment! We love it! It was actually the first one we ever looked at. But, we misunderstood the price and when looking at it a week later realized we had gotten the price wrong. We thought it was out of our price range, but it wasn't. So, we called back and within minutes our apartment search ended and we had a key in the next few hours. It is basically the size of a studio apartment (or a hotel suite) but it does have a separate bedroom (versus studios that don't). And, we have a balcony!! I love it. It makes it feel like we have more space, and provides an eating area at a table - outside. If we have visitors we will get a fouton matress for them to sleep on.


Lastly, you are probably wondering about school and classes. Wow! This has been an adventure as well but of course we expected it to be. Chile is what they call a "high context" society, which means you are expected to gather information from your environment yourself, versus being fed everything that you need to know. America is NOT a high context society. We are "low context", which means you are told everything you need to know and there is little to figure out on your own. So, we have gone with the flow and slowly figured out...where to get books for the students, where to make copies, some of the student's books are two weeks late and the first test is this week, how to print, that you have to bring your own printer paper, how to get a computer or cd player for class, how to use the computer system, how to give the placement tests, and much more. Sometimes I just learn by mistake....I didn't return a classroom key immediately after class - oops I didn't know I was supposed to so they tracked me down for it and I got corrected strongly in Spanish. Also, Chilean students tell their teachers "no" in grade/middle/high school and it is ok. The teacher will just go on to someone else. They warned us that they might do this to us as well, but it isn't too common. Well, I had it on my third day of class and ended up having to ask a couple students to leave class. Wow. That was hard. My boss told me I did the right thing though. The students are allowed to be 15 minutes late for class but no more. I've had to tell several students that they can't enter because they were past 15 minutes late. Not fun. They are allowed to miss 7 classes before they fail. But, I must say, they are gracious here. Because they don't provide as much information, there seems to be grace given when there are mistakes or errors. They yell at you a little (or they don't) but everything really is ok. Versus in the US if you make a mistake I feel like you are in much more trouble. I sorta' like the relaxed-ness (if that is a word). They just don't get quite as up tight. Everything will work out. I like it! And, it does work out.


I always feel like I am rambling on the blog. Just trying to get info out. There is so much, I don't know where to start or what all to say so I just go with what pops into my head. - Cherith

Skatepark and a Walk

The last two pictures are on the walk to find a skate park. Last weekend we found a skate park for Rich. It was pretty fun trying to find it. We just pulled out a map and walked into some new parts of town to where we were told it would be. It was actually there! It took about an hour to find it, so was a nice walk. It was a descent park and Rich skated a little. For me, I was most excited by the huge, huge, huge used furniture market we came upon on the way back. I wish I had some pictures to show but I don't. But, here are some pics from the walk and the skate park. The parks here are cool...they seem to have a little bit of everything for a lot of different activities. For example, a basketball court, skate park, soccer fields, roller derby park, and lots of other sports, all in one place, as well as just grass and lakes for those that want to relax in the park...

 The park is called Parque de los Reyes (park of the kings)

There were some beautiful palm trees.

 The biggest bowl here was about 6 feet. Rich usually skates 10 foot bowls but this was still exciting to see. There were tons of kids and some parents, etc. here.

Overlooking the skate park below.

Me by a lake in another part of the park.

Hostel Providencia

Hey - Here's just a few pics of our hostel (following up on the last blog), which has awesome people running it and good people staying here with us....

Above the entrance doors to "Hostal Providencia" - our temporary home.

The lobby

The TV, computer, hang out room.

Five in the kitchen....oh, you can fit more if you try.

We are paying to have a private room and bath versus living in a bunk area. So, that is nice. The sheets are tied on...they come off as soon as you get into bed :).

This room does have a little space so that is nice. And, it actually has a TV with cable. There are three channels that show things in English with Spanish subtitles.

There is a window over the shower that has a bank of dirt outside it and there's no screen or glass. So, water drips from somewhere above and dirt falls into the shower. We woke up to this this morning.

This is the shower floor the dirt fell onto. The cleaning ladies took care of it quickly though. They were very sorry and sweet.

The view from the shower....there really aren't bars on the window...they are on something else outside. If we are lucky the water has about 1 minute of hot water. Maybe once we are in Africa this will feel like nothing....this is a great pre-third world country experience....very good for us in a variety of ways. I feel like a woose today, but I guess that is ok sometimes. There is a girl here who just finished the Peace Corp in Africa. She showed us pictures of the hut she lived in. It was actually looks nicer than this I think. At least cleaner....but...she didn't have any running water or toilet inside. Ah, ...........

Time to blog

Hi All, I guess it is about time to blog again. Honestly, I think we both feel a bit whip-lashed right now and are trying to keep our heads up. Although it has honestly been a good week, I'm starting to think that two weeks is about how long it takes for someone to start realizing this isn't vacation, it is for real. Also, not only are we adjusting to a new culture, and new jobs, but also we are still living in the hostel (for those of you that don't know what a hostel is...it is a hotel of sorts, but more like you rent a room but share a kitchen and living area with everyone else that is here. There is space for probably about 50 people to sleep here and share living quarters. It is cheaper than a hotel, but also not as nice). Anyhow, living in the hostel is a challenge. We don't want to complain but the reality is reality...our bathroom is disgusting, this morning we woke up to dirt fallen in from the window (a window with no screen or glass) outside all over the shower floor and into the toilet area, there is never a quiet moment - either there is a party until 4 am or people laughing and talking loud, or car alarms going off, or traffic, or children playing while your trying to sleep....it's quite the ordeal. In part we have loved getting to know so many people from all over the world, and many of them that are teaching like we are (and looking for apartments as we are), but on the flip side this communal living is tiring. So, we ARE on the hunt for an apartment. We really, really hope to have something in the next few days, but....all on Chilean time.... and as we figure out how to understand the apartment listings in Spanish. But, we are getting some help from others that know Spanish better than us. It will work out. Also, eating is a challenge....without a kitchen we can really use (there is one here but there is barely any room in the fridge, it is disgusting, and there are usually about 6 people trying to cook in a 5 foot square space), we have eaten a lot of PBJs and cheese/advocato sandwhiches....Meals are actually pretty close in price to those in the US, so eating out all the time is expensive....and we aren't very good at reading the menus yet. I discovered ice cream two days ago. This may keep me alive - ha! Oh, and eggs and milk are never refrigerated. Rich was tired of warm milk so bought a single serving milk and put it in the fridge and it froze! So, he had frozen milk...well, he drank it as it melted....... Rich is actually excited about Nescafe in the morning now (read previous post on coffee)! We also tried out the Chilean passtime of hanging out in the park today. We were so exhausted today we pretty much just slept late (we don't know what time it is in our room because it is so dark), looked for some apartments, took a nap, and hung in the park for three hours just laying on the grass (that is what they do...lay in the grass) and watching people. It is now 7:30 PM and I think I'm starting to fee normal (Sunday is my only full day off so I'm trying to recover today). And, I thought I'd just blab on here if any of you might be interested in listening. Typing this is actually a bit therapeutic.

Fin de Semana (the weekend) en Vina del Mar (in the vinyard by the Sea)

We took a bus from Santiago for 1 1/2 hours to Vina del Mar. It was $12 each round trip. Per this clock we arrived around 1:34. Our classes start today (Monday) and Cherith has class 6 days a week so we wanted to take advantage of our long weekend to travel before school starts. Rich has class 4 days a week, but his days are more packed than Cherith's which are spread out.

This is a plate of Churillanos. It is one of the truly Chilean foods we've had so far. French fries topped with scrambled eggs and onions, topped with cubes of beef. It was pretty good, especially because we were really hungry.

There are "wild" dogs everywhere in Chile. But, it seems the custom is that everyone takes care of them, so they are actually not skinny, mostly well fed. They are also very friendly, although they are a bit dirty so we are encouraged not to touch them much. But, this guy really liked Rich's french fries.

This guy turned up his nose at Rich's french fries.

A castle by the sea....by the way, there is a lot of German influence here. Some parts of the country even still speak fluent German daily. This was a suprise to use.

Although the weather has been perfect, warm, and sunny in Santiago (where we live) every day, it was colder and overcast in Vina del Mar. The sun would come out around 4PM though, and the beach would fill up with Chileans from 4-8PM (the sun sets around 8:30)

We were quite popular...not sure why. We didn't even really give them attention, and no food.

This guy hung with us for about 4 hours on the beach....he used us for shade and company.

A dip in the cooooooool sea. All those white bodies in the background are English teachers.

Breakfast, and Coffee

Part of the fun of visiting other places is all the new things we experience that are different from our lives back home. At the hostel they give us breakfast every day...quite a unique breakfast...All you can eat Corn Flakes with warm powdered milk, baguets with butter (that I swear has turned already), and slices of cheese. Also, Nescafe - this is their version of coffee. One of the MOST interesting things so far for Rich (and he is handling it quite well) is that Chileans are not really coffee drinkers. Well, at least not "real" coffee. Nescafe is what they have everywhere - literally. It is an instant coffee that has little "umph". I guess we just thought all South American countries grew and enjoyed rich, bold coffees, but not so. The Chileans enjoy cheap, instant American coffee. But, if you look hard, you can start to find "real" coffee. The other day we went on a hunt and after 1 1/2 hours found an espresso machine at a "cafe". It was awesome! Also, we finally found a Starbucks! Not that you don't see enough of them in the States, but here is us at a Chilean Starbucks. Today Rich is on his last packet of instant Starbucks he brought from the US. It's good he has some for his first day of classes today. Once we get an apartment we'll get a coffee maker and hopefully find some beans to grind.