Update on Plans

Just a brief update....we finish our semester at the college, DuocUC, this week (July 8th). Because the Peace Corp told us their appropriations were cut and we cannot go to Africa until Jan/Feb/Mar of 2012, we are hoping to stay in Chile until then, at least. But, we cannot work at DuocUC again because there was a deadline that we missed intentionally because we were supposed to be doing the Peace Corp in September. Once the Peace Corp informed us of the changes in our date it was too late to keep our jobs at DuocUC. But, no fear! We have a plan. We have a potential job in a town called La Serena, which is smaller and north up the coast from Santiago. This job is dependent on receipt of a grant. If the school gets the grant they applied for, then we have a job in La Serena. If they don't get the grant then we don't have a job in La Serena. We will know something by mid to end July. If La Serena doesn't work out then we plan to stay in Santiago and will look for jobs here. Actually, since we finish our current job this week, we are going to go ahead and start looking for work here in Santiago. It seems we should be able to get work here. We also plan to move apartments at the end of July, so will start that hunt next week, too. Our current apartment is very nice but it is more expensive than we planned, especially as we are finding out that hot water and electric are very expensive and other costs in this building are making the bills higher than we were told they would be. So, that's the update....as we look for jobs and a new apartment in the next few weeks we'll also probably take a couple little weekend trips to see a few more parts of Chile and celebrate having taught a whole semester at a college in Santiago, Chile!! Thank God for getting us this far. It's been a challenge but very amazing and fun, too.

 

 

I know this isn't the best picture. But, its a good memory for us this week. We were out for a walk making the best of the sunshine in order to stay warm (see former post on staying warm). This random ledge was warm from the sun and we sat here until the sun passed over and warmed us through. It was awesome!

Our first Chilean soccer game. Yes, they are CRAZY about soccer here. We're starting to understand the obsession a little better.

Wild Dogs with "Coats"

In previous posts you've heard us talk about and show pictures of all the wild dogs here. Well, here are a few of them. The guy above is wearing a winter "coat". It is just hilarious and cute....the locals put coats or neck scarfs on these dogs. Not all of them have them but every day I pass a dog with something like this or some kind of scarf on to keep them warm since it is winter here. The picture immediately below is one of the dogs with a neck scarf on, and then there is another with a red "coat" on. These dogs have no owners. They just live on the street.We want to adopt them all.....!

 

 

"Bio-Bio"

So, "Bio-Bio" is Santiago's massively, monstrously, gigantically huge ....um what might we call it?....flea market...? Of sorts? Anyhow, it goes for so many blocks we never found the end of it. And, I think you can buy just about anything there....legal or illegal. So, our friend Rodrigo took us there last weekend to help us with an "illegal" purchase. It was quite a hoot. Basically, Rich was upgrading our laptop and was trying to figure out how to do it and it became quite a complicated process, including a completely erased hard drive (intentionally). We kept trying to get something we needed from the Mac stores here but they didn't have it because some new version is coming out so they no longer had the item we needed. But, Rodrigo was quite sure we could get a ripped version of what we needed at "Bio-Bio" and he was right! It took a little looking around for the secret person that was selling it (because it was illegal), but we finally left with a ripped off version of a Mac disk that we needed. It still took a little more fenangelling (if that is really a word), but Rich in all his computer wisdom successfully got our computer upgraded and running even better than before. I am so impressed. Here are some photos from Bio Bio. It's just crazy there!! But really fun.

 

Rodrigo is the guy in the lower right corner. This is the aisle we found the disk in.

One of the hundreds of aisles.

Yes, you are correct, that is a gun for sale (to the left is a hand gun)...or a few of them, amidst the other variety of items.

Walking around...

We had lunch at one of the mom and pop vendors. We're getting used to this Chilean food....see below some very typical food.

Instead of chips and salsa, or bread with butter or vinegar and oil, this is what you get in Chile as the free-bee on  your table. You get it at EVERY restaruant...I think only once we got nothing. It is simple slices of white bread, with a bowl of salsa (called "pebre"). You dip the bread in the salsa and eat it! It's a little wierd at first, but we're really into the pebre. It's spicy and good.

I can't remember what they call this, but in English terms this is pot roast with mashed potatoes and rice. Also, there is a tomato and onion "Chilean" salad (it's just tomatoes and onion but they call it "Enselada Chilena"....it grows on you).

This is called "Consuelo" but is basically just a brothy soup with large chunks of meat, potato, corn, sweet potato, and rice in it. It's really good!

Some more of my students....

So, today was my last class!! So hard to believe. Rich's last class was yesterday. I really enjoyed my students and this experience has even made me think that I might like to be a teacher in the US. Seriously. I never thought I would say that. But, it is valuable and rewarding work. Here are some of my other classes and students that I didn't post in an earlier post.....

Beginner English - mixture of careers....sound engineering, advertising, culinary arts.

Beginner English....also a mixture of careers such as advertising, culinary arts, and sound engineering.

Beginner English.....these kids are all culinary arts students.