Go Take a Hike...

What do you do when you don't want to make lesson plans and have been in a city of 6 million inhabitants for over 7 days?
Go take a hike.
Exactly, that's what I did by taking off to the Andes. I decided to explore Cajón del Maipo.
This morning after leaving Marie Jose at her bank, I boarded the Metro and then switched to a collectivo, and finally got dropped off in San Gabriel, where I thought I'd be able to simply walk up a mountain, or find a path. A collectivo is like a taxi, but they have pre-determined routes and cost much less. My ~30 minute ride was about $5. After 30 minutes or so of walking up a dusty dirt road with huge trucks passing me, I decided to turn around and walk down towards Santiago until I found a picnic area to enjoy the day and the rushing river. On the way up I saw a bunch of places, but I guess I forgot I was in a car with a driver going faster than he should, so there I was with no real plan, walking down the road.
But I didn't really care, it was quiet, the flowers smelled sweet, the river was on my right, and the air was clear, free of smog. What more could I want? Maybe a travel companion? Or an idea of where I was or how to find a trail head? Probably, but I was content. I only had one time where I felt my heart race when a large dog jumped at me(luckily there was a fence to protect me) at the same time a double bedded truck zoomed past me about 2 feet away. But after about 20 km, and a little over three hours I was ready to sit down, eat my ham and cheese sandwich, with avocado and peach that I packed in the morning. When I finally found a place to picnic in San Alfonso, I was in heaven. I enjoyed my sandwich and proceeded to take a nap for a little over an hour near the river.

I think I'll try to go back and do the hike the park offers. It looks like a nice hike and there is a cool looking waterfall to find on the other side of the river. By the time I got there, my feet were not ready to pedal me uphill.
All in all, it wasn't what I expected, but it was nice. It was peaceful, especially once I found the relaxing park. Next time I'll either buy and bring a book with hiking routes, or try to coax someone with a car to bring me to the sights. There is a glacier and thermal springs in that area.


Another view from the afternoon hike.

On Sunday I took a walk around the city, and decided to take a picture of my school. So if you were wondering what my school looks like, here is it.

Fun Times and Great food with Chileans

The last couple of days have been great. Thursday morning my "mama" and I went to Vega Central, which is the huge farmer's market in Santiago. It is huge and my mama and I estimated we bought about 20-24 kg of food. We bought 4 kg of potatoes(patatas), 4 kg of onions(cebollas), lemons(limóns), oranges(naranjas), a couple different lettuces(lechugas), bananas(plátanos), apples(manzanas), avocados(paltas), corn(choclo), carrots(zanahorias), 2 dozen eggs(huevos), broccoli(bróculi), and probably some other things I forgot. Here's a picture of my mama buying some cilantro.



My hands we really sore after we got back, but it was worth it to have tons of fresh food for meals. I've been craving fruits and vegetables since I arrived and had heard about this mythical place were everything is super barato(cheap) and finally I capitalized on it.

Friday night was spent in the house cramped around the tiny kitchen table. There were six of us in the kitchen, and no one mentioned we go into the living room. Oh well. Vinnie came over with a bottle of Pisco after I finished work. We had a little dinner of palta, jamón(ham) and queso. Then my mama, my sister, her pololo(boyfriend), my brother, Vinnie and I hung out till the early morning talking and enjoying our cultural experience of imbibing Chilean drinks and telling stories. It was great. Here's a picture from the that night.

Saturday was the day of eating. I woke up and made a beautiful omelet, then a couple hours later Marie Jose(sister) prepared a wonderful almuerzo(lunch) of humita and veggies, so I couldn't resist the invitation to join her and Juan(her boyfriend). After that feast, I got a text message from one of my Duoc co-workers Veronica, asking if I wanted to come over to her house for an asado(bbq). Of course I'll go to someone's house and probably be the sole gringo. Around 7:00, Vinnie and I took off on the Metro and she picked us up and the next thing we knew we were sipping Heineken with her family and friends. I'm getting comfortable with meeting family members now. Veronica turned 30 on Wednesday, and her husband also had a birthday two weeks ago so it was a big party for them. Strangely enough her husband of 5 years, Casey is from Michigan. We instantly bonded by sharing the same trait of describing our state with our hand. Casey brought two snowboards down and said I can use his old snowboard if I can't figure out how to get mine down here. When we(USA residents) think of BBQ we usually imagine hot dogs/brats/ burgers with chips, maybe a salad and some beer. Here in Chile an asado is an event. We showed up around 7:45 and the charcoal was lit a little after 8:00. When it was all said and done we finished with homemade birthday cake around 12:30am. The order of serving for an asado is the following: appetizers of pretzels, chips, peanuts and beer/wine/or liquor. Then later, the Chilean version of hot dogs are served. After this, you are feeling content only to look at the grill and see the equivalent of a couple chickens, and a sizable portion of a cow sizzling, and then the main dishes are brought outside consisting of a salad, rice/corn dish, tomato dish, and breads. When all the dishes are cleared everyone is full beyond belief and there is usually some food left over. I swear when Chileans plan for an asado, they think, "ok there will be about 15 people at our party, but just to be safe, let's get enough food and alcohol for 30." The guests were a mix of other co-workers, my site coordinator and some family members. Since the majority of the people were Chileans who teach English they were having fun teaching us gringos Spanish verbs, and pronunciation. It was nice because I wasn't the worst Spanish speaker at the party and was able to explain myself when they asked me questions.
One again, my belief that the people here are incredible was reinforced. Good times, food, people, learning. I feel blessed everyday I'm down here, because so far things are working out for me.

(Last night we had our daylight savings, so I believe Chile is now in Eastern Time Zone)

World Class(less) Runner

This picture was taken last year, when I was a running star at Madison

http://www.crazylegsclassic.com/

Mark it

For the count, I've been asked by Chileans twice now for directions while walking down the street. At least I look the part.
Today I walked to the Civil Registry and picked up my Cédula de Identidad Extranjeros (ID card for foreigners).

This afternoon my class will be filling in the blanks to Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet it is(to be loved by you)" The words you, my, eyes, Thank you will be obmitted for the beginners, and a few more will be out for the intermediate. I would have used the James Taylor version, but I only have a live version, and didn't want to spend 24 minutes listening per class.

Teach your children.

Two weeks of teaching and I'm still unsure of how I'm doing. I feel like the students go from feeling really bored and checking their watches, to having a lot of fun. Along with that feeling, I don't know if they are actually learning anything. Last week I lectured on the Wh-questions, then had them ask each other questions like, "How old are you, where are you from, what's your name...etc. I had them practice with each other before I brought in my real life "friend" who they didn't know. I went to the door and looked down the hallway, and motioned for someone to come in. I then walked into the classroom and pulled up a picture of Snoop Dogg. Everyone laughed, and I had them ask him questions while I answered for Snoop. Then I told the class, "Actually, my girlfriend is out in the hallway too. Let me get her." The picture I showed was of Shakira, and had the students ask about her. For one of my classes that is all male, and fun because they try hard to understand English, I had them get in groups. I then set up a scenario where they were in the club and "Sara Dalton" walked in, and she spoke no Spanish, so they had to come up with questions to ask her in English. I had fun, my students had fun, but I'm not sure if they will remember anything. I guess I'll find out soon. The first quiz is next week.

Last weekend for Easter break, Vinnie and I decided to take it easy and head to the coast again. One of our friends got hit by a car two weekends ago, and Vinnie was having troubles with his bank, and finalizing his contract. My travel buddies were either in cast, or without money/contact and suffering from blisters form walking 4 hours home due to not being able to pay for a bus. It worked out well. Thursday night our friends Kat, Kathleen(fellow ciee teachers) and their roommate Mario had an asado(Chilean barbecue). Then Friday a couple of us rented bikes and biked up the coast to the next city and had a long, relaxing lunch. I had raneka, with rice and tomato and my new favorite Chilean Beer, Cristal red. After that we walked up and down the beach, and read for a little while before biking back home. That night Vinnie and I cooked a spaghetti dinner for Katie, who hosted us for a couple nights. Then we looked and found the perfect bar. It is called Blamo, and underneith the sign it reads, "All Beer." They were not kidding when they said all beer. There were five coolers filled with liters of beer. It was great. Each liter costs 1000 pesos, which is a little over $2. Saturday we visited Steve, our fallen friend in the early afternoon and then walked back to the beach for coffee and ice cream. Everything is within walking distance in Viña and Valparaiso or a short taxi/subway ride. That night we went back over to Kat and Kathleen's place in Valpo and taught Mario some games and then went to a bar in Viña for a birthday party. It was a dance club, where they played a variety of US tunes ranging from Spice Girls, to Shania Twain with other old hits in there as well. Oh and they played some other music that I couldn't understand. When the Spanish songs were played I looked around, and realized that the whole club was at a different level than us. For us, the Spanish songs were simply beats, and for Chileans, the English songs were simply beats. Interesting.
Easter was spent with Vinnie as we bussed it back from Viña to Santiago. We enjoyed a great churrascos from a fast food restaurant in the bus station in Santiago. I picked up some kind of cold, or allergy so I went to bed around 10 last night and woke up at 11 this morning, because I can.
My goals now, are to find the fresh food markets. Kat and Kathleen went to one in Valpo where the three of them spent $16 and have a fridge full of fruits and veggies and a bag full of corn and potatoes. I'd enjoy that. I also want to find day trip destinations and hopefully head out this weekend on one of them, and finish lesson plans a week at a time, instead of day to day.

A story or two

Ok, last weekend I went with Juan Pablo and his wife to visit his Grandparent's home about an hour and half south of Santiago. On the way we checked out a house Juan Pablo is helping to build for a friend of his dad. The house is huge and may be done by June. House warming party? Old School style?
Then we made it to the casa, which was basically set up for huge parties and barbecues. They had a huge stone grill set up, and a big table under a canopy of grapevines. There is a little stream nearby, and it is clear, quiet and relaxing. For lunch(served around 3:00) we had chicken, pork, a lettuce based salad, tomato and onion salad, tomato, potato, bread, and a homemade salsa, some wine and coke. It was great. I found myself lost in conversation when the family was having table talk. Giving each other a hard time, making fun, telling stories etc. I mean, that's what I think they were saying. Every once in a while someone would turn to me and ask, "¿entiendas?"(do you understand?) to which I liked to answer, "un poco"(a little) so they will continue to talk and not solely focus on me. Seated with me at the table was JP's Grandma, and Grandpa, Gpa's friend and his wife, and another friend of Gpa, Juan Pablo, his wife Stephanie, and JP's cousin, oh and me. Here's the family, with me. I'm the guy in the back. But after lunch and dessert of freshly picked grapes from above, I talked with some of the old guys. For those one on one conversations, I was able to understand and explain myself. For one they involved simple vocabulary, and the other I've been answering those type of questions for the last three weeks. So after some nescafé we left back to the big city. On the way back we bought some pan(bread) from some street vendors for dinner. The street vendors have huge earthen, fire stoves, and the bread is extremely cheap, and tasty.

Let's see. One week of teaching under my belt. It's a blast. Some classes are more fun than others, but every class has some huge disparates in ability. Some students can't make introductions in my intermediate classes, and some students in my basic classes are able to have conversations with me after classes. Some funny stuff: When asked for their favorite musicians, I got a wide variety, ranging from Phil Collins, Snoop, Reggaeton, to Staind. Also, I brought my ipod player in and played, "It's not unusual" and in each class everyone started snapping fingers and singing along. I couldn't help but laugh, and in one class I was motivated to do the Carton Dance when someone else asked if this was from the Fresh Prince. Well, it wasn't quite like Carlton's.
The coast was beautiful, like expected. My Vinnie and I had sore legs from the hills. I swear all of my friends who work on the coast will have rock solid legs by the end of the year. We visited two of my friends' homes, and both have excellent views of the ocean. The majority of our time was spent relaxing on the beach and sharing stories from week one of teaching. I'll be going back again sometime soon.
Tonight, there was a classical concert outside my house at the municipalidad, so I watched that while the weather is still awesome. I've been here almost a month and it's rained one night. Not too shabby. I'm going to enjoy it because I hear winter is a different story.
This week I only have two days of teaching. We are currently coming up with some travel plans.

Pictures of my new home

Below are some pictures of my new place. My first week of teaching is almost over. I have three, back to back to back classes of 1.5 hours this afternoon. It's going well, and is pretty intense to come up with lesson plans basically all on my own. The students don't have text books for my basic class, and my intermediate, no one has text books. Neither have arrived yet, which is normal here, I guess. This weekend Vinnie(a friend from CIEE) and I are going to the coast to visit Steve(another guy from CIEE) and see the sights of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.


^Here's one view of my room, as you walk through the door.


^And my closet, which is on the right when you walk in. Notice how clothes are neatly organized, a spectacle not to be repeated anytime soon.



^And the view of my wall which is on the left as you walk into my room. I think the last person who lived here, or a friend of Elizabeth's son painted that. Sometimes I just nod my head when I don't completely understand things, and it's not important. If I ever have guests I'll probably tell them I painted the wall.



^The living room. Like most living rooms, it is usually empty. We also hang out in the kitchen even though it is tiny. No matter what culture, people also congregate in kitchens.




^From the window's to the wall.. Here's the whole apartment. From the end of the kitchen and the window of my room in the background

Some Maps!

It will help to click on the pictures so they enlarge, but they're some decent pictures taken from Google Earth.



^Here is a close up view of where I'll be living, and where I'll be teaching. I'm really excited about living so close to everything, in a quiet neighborhood, and close to the Metro(subway).


^And here is where I am situated, looking at the big picture.

On the move

Great news. I don’t know how, or why, but the cards have really fallen my way in the last week. On Wednesday, Hector, one of the CIEE program coordinators sent out an email asking if anyone who is teaching in Plaza Oeste wanted to switch sites to one in Providencia. The difference between the two are night and day. Plaza Oeste is about an hour and fifteen minute commute from the nice part of town, and the other site, Antonio Varas is in a nice neighborhood, and close to the subway, cafes, and restaurants. Antonio Varas(the campus name) is also where we have been having our orientation, so I kind of know the neighborhood and the area. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity to switch and hoped my email was sent before everyone else. The next day, I got a confirmation email from Hector saying I was switched! That afternoon I went to three different places and found a place to live, three blocks from campus with a sweet mother and her daughter. Her son just moved out, I think, and her daughter works at a bank in town. My “madre,” Elizabeth has some basic English knowledge, which is basic nouns and verbs. That day was fun because I had to use and comprehend Spanish at all three places, and by the third visit I was able to speak fairy confidently. It also didn’t hurt that by the third visit I could anticipate what questions they would ask me, and I had been corrected two previous times on my pronunciation, and word choice. I felt really comfortable with the mom and the daughter, we were able to joke around a little and they seemed like great people. The daughter, Maria Jose, who I think is about my age, is excited to practice, and learn English. It is such a weight off my shoulders to know that on Monday I’ll have a home to move into, and finally settle in, start cooking, and get situated with a family.
Also, I emailed Juan Pablo to tell him the good news of my site change, and he replied with encouraging things to say about my neighborhood and asked if I wanted to go with him and Stephanie to visit his grandparents about a half hour outside of Santiago. Of course I couldn’t turn that down, so on Sunday I’m going to meet los abuelos (the grandparents). Why not?
And last night I got my teaching schedule, and it is pretty good. I teach Tue/Thur at 4:00-5:30, and 7:00-8:30, and Wed/Fri 4:00-5:30,5:31-7:00, 7:01-8:30. Yeah my Friday runs a little late, but I don’t teach on Monday, and don’t start again on Tuesday until 4:00, which leaves me with a lot of traveling time, especially holidays, when we have a Friday off. Some of my friends teach 8:00am-2:00pm on Saturdays, or until 10:45pm on the weeknights. One girl has one class at 9:30 on Monday, and then the next is Tuesday night. All in all I’m happy with my schedule. I keep forgetting that people go out to eat around 9:00, 10:00, so teaching until 8:30 isn’t that late. And my school is a five-minute walk from my apartment. I think that just about covers this week. We have to go back for one more class this afternoon, then CIEE is taking us out for a “farewell dinner.” Tomorrow the guys who work on the coast, about half of our group take off.
Then on Tuesday I start teaching after our “intensive” four day training period. It should be interesting.

All my pictures

Here's all the pictures I've taken so far here in Chile. Enjoy.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bjcreagh

Today we went to the Cerro San Cristobal, which is where the pictures of the Santiago skyline were taken.

Mi nuevo casa.

This afternoon we moved from our "Rent A Home" condos to our temporary housing(or permanent if we don't want to leave) about five blocks down the road. It is a little more realistic here. In our old place we had two tv's, an AC unit, kitchen, I had my own room and bathroom, my two roommates shared a room and had their own bathroom, and two couches. Writing this at 7:30, it is 83 F in my room. It's like the last week I forgot that it is hot in the summer. Here we have basic accommodations. This afternoon a couple guys and I wen to the grocery store and bought some "easy" foods to eat. We don't have culinary or pots and pans, so we are kind of limited with what we can eat. I plan on moving into a apartment with a furnished kitchen so I'm hesitant to buy pots and pans for the next couple weeks.
Yesterday we went to Pomaire, about 65 kilometers southwest of Santiago and ate some enjoyed another huge lunch of traditional food including, pastel de choclo, and huge empanadas. Pastel de choclo is a typical Chilean dish made of ground fresh corn (choclo) with basil served in a earthen style bown. Then we walked around the town for awhile checking out the shops. It was such a nice town, and I think I just really enjoyed it because it was outside of the city. It will interesting to see how much city life I can take, or if I'll come to love the big city.
Last night the ciee group went out and sampled the Santiago nightlife, again. It was fun to hangout with everyone, and see what the Chileans like to dance to. Dr. Dre really made the dance floor bounce.



^Here's looking into my massive room. To the right is my closet, one of the coolest parts of my room.



^And the other view of my room. This view is looking towards the door. As you can see, it's pretty basic, but I don't need anything much more expansive than this.



^Here's the view from the street of Pomaire. It's wild that in Santiago, you rarely can see the Andes because of the smog but out here it is a lot more clear.



^Willy the potter was able to made a bowl, vase, candle holder, piggy band, you name it and he can make it, and in under two minutes. It was amazing watching him take a clump of clay and make a piece of art.



^Those crazy Chilean kids, what are they going to come up with next? The street is meant to read, "Roto Chileno" which translates to broken Chilean, but it now reads, "Poto Chileno." Poto is slang for ass, or butt, so it is proven that the entire world is still laughing at potty jokes.



^Here's a view of the sunset from my third floor room.