I know, there are other dangerous cities in the world. You just have to be careful. But I'm not in other cities, I'm in this one, and the effort of keeping myself out of harms way is exhausting. Add a dash of homesickness to the pot and it's a perfect recipe for discouragement. So after that uplifting preface, let's talk about my week!
Monday, Dec 10
Talking about Monday is pretty much just a result of how anal I am and my inability to change my blog's day-by-day format. Honestly, I did nothing on Monday. I had class at Tata at 8.30 and my first evening class at 6.00. It was nice to have a big break in between--I think I took a nap. My 6.00 sure is a talker, but an extremely boring one. Actually, he has interesting things to say, it just takes him a ridiculously long time to say them, and not because of his English skills. However, I now know quite a bit about the Chilean mining industry and about copper mining in general.
Tuesday, Dec 11
My normal 7.30 had cancelled for Tuesday, but another student who had a 7.30 class was absent a teacher for the week, so I took that class over. It's a little nerve-wracking for me to step in to the middle of someone else's class, but I think it went pretty well. Rosie's lunchtime class got cancelled, so we took the opportunity to go visit Cerro San Cristobal
and the sanctuary of the Virgin Mary
I can actually see her from my bedroom window as well.
Also got a good view of Gran Torre Santiago, the currently-under-construction tallest building in South America at 71 stories.
I had read somewhere that it was going to be 62 stories, which is one shorter than the tallest building in Korea (although they are actually building a new tallest building in Korea atm) and I've been teasing Rosie about that. Guess I owe her an apology.
That evening Libby made some sangria. I've never made it before, but I'm pretty sure it's going to need to become one of my new summer traditions. And speaking of the glories of the summer:
Wednesday, Dec 12
Another mostly uneventful day. Class at 8.30 and at 12. It was my second time with the noon class, and towards the end I was a little discouraged. I felt like the student didn't have a good English foundation and that he should still be in the fundamentals book instead of the elementary business English book. I could sense that both of us were frustrated at different points throughout the class and I was afraid that he was disappointed with the class and perhaps me specifically. Then, at the end of class, he told me we "have good feeling." Apparently I was wrong, and he likes me being his teacher. Feels good man.
Thursday, Dec 13
Rosie's later classes were cancelled again on Thursday, so we took a little trip! Caught the train to Rancagua, a smaller city to the south of Santiago. It was nice to see the countryside, with the trees, vineyards, and other crops in the foreground and the Andes to one side with the coastal mountains to the other. Very cool.
We walked down Brasil street and checked out the market that was going on, but our first priority was food. We found a little restaurant that had your basic traditional Chilean food. We got chicken with rice, a salad, and this delicious bowl of beans and corn
I'm not sure what this statue is for, but yeah, the guy is trampling some other guy with his horse. Hardcore.
Also, Christmas!
...with palm trees.
Friday, Dec 14
Friday is my busiest day with 3 classes, but I woke up in a much better mood than I had gone to bed in. In fact, I was in a fantastic mood. My first two classes went really well, and even the overpriced yet not very good Caesar salad I got in between couldn't bring me down. By the time I got to my last class my enthusiasm and energy levels were beginning to wilt, but I got through the class fine, went to Bridge to get all my paperwork in order for whoever will be my substitutes next week, and headed home. Got some mediocre sushi for dinner and stayed in with a bottle of wine and a movie. Did you know that Soylent Green was people?? haha! But they throw the bodies in the big vat still in the body bags. So it's not only people, but it's plastic and nylon or whatever body bags are made of. Maybe that's how they can mold them into those nice bite-sized squares.
Rosie and Andres left on Friday to take a trip up north, so no playing with them this weekend.
Saturday, Dec 15
I had been planning to go to a couple of museums on Saturday, but when it came down to it, I just didn't feel like it. And since it's my vacation, I decided I didn't have to if I didn't want to. What I did end up doing was going to see the Hobbit at Cine Hoyts.
I thought it was pretty good. I'm not sure I liked the very beginning much, but it had some of the elements that made Lord of the Rings so spectacular--good acting and stunning visuals. I also liked that it was funnier than LOTR, because I felt like the book had been like that too. I also dig how they put some of the songs from the books in the movies. When I'm just reading the books, the songs don't really do much for me and sometimes I just skip them. It's neat to actually hear them and have them be part of the story in the movies. Also, there was a lot of stuff that happened that I didn't remember from the book, but it has been years since I read it. I guess I have just forgotten a lot. Maybe I'll get out my old copy when I get home and brush up before the 2nd movie comes out. Anyway, all in all highly enjoyable.
Afterwards I went to a little French restaurant in my area that I had found on the internet called Normandie. I got the crepe stuffed with duck and vegetables and smothered in cheese. It was fantastic!
Sunday, Dec 16
Today I am taking my time packing up for a week-long trip outside the city! I am going to an eco village near Catemu to take yoga classes, do some organic gardening, and learn some vegetarian cooking. I'm very excited to be getting out of the city for a while. Perhaps it will be just the rejuvenation that I need. If you'd like to know more about it, the website is here: Eka Chakra
Have a peaceful week :-)
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that sufferes from homesickness on long excursions such as this. But it looks like you still managed to have a pretty good week despite all odds. :)
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