Homeruns and Rainy Days

The last  few weeks have been spent enjoying our normal settled life in Santiago.  No traveling, just staying put in our little world enjoying the bipolar weather and day to day city life.  

I have been taking Spanish lessons with the wonderful Profesor Andres along with my friend Annie once a week.  Tea and conectores and discussions of politics and the like... all in Spanish.  

We just wrapped up our Fall Season with the AMCHAM (American Chamber of Commerce...although I don't think anyone on our team actually worked for the chamber) softball team with a record of 1 and errrrr...   The team was different every time we played (as is the trend with anything mostly made up of EXPATS), but we had a great time.  Season highlights include an in the park home-run by Michael, a game ending outfield catch on the "warning track" by yours truly and an out at home made by one of the Chilean brothers playing catcher (who caught a ball thrown from centerfield by Michael... really the miracle was that he CAUGHT the ball.  Baseball... not a Chilean sport).  In the true American spirit, we celebrated our 1 win season with an afternoon of burgers and beer at the California Cantina on a Sunday afternoon.  I should also mention that the baseball field at the International school included a backdrop of mountains and afternoon reggaeton blasting from the neighborhood.  

There are leaves... big ones... on the street.  I have never seen this before, and it makes me so happy.  

Although for the last week we have enjoyed basically verano, the week before included 2 straight days of rain which caused Santiago to collapse.  I got dropped off at a bus stop near my school after I finished teaching one of my private classes and after standing and watching 15 buses drive by the huddled mass waiting at the bus stop, I decided that walking in the rain was better than standing in the rain.  Head down, hood up, I started on the trek to the metro, eventually being dowsed with water from passing cars from every direction.  By the time I made it home, there wasn't one dry centimeter on me.  It was like something out of the movies, with sad music playing in the background as the character walks along the sidewalk only to be showered with the grime of the city.  Honestly, it was all pretty comical.  When I got home, Michael was going across the street to the clinic because a street dog bit his leg while he was riding his bike home.  (He was fine, but you have to be careful with that nonsense).  Soon, I got a call letting me know that classes were cancelled the following day for all schools in Santiago.  A Rain Day.  Who knew this existed.  I spent the following day continuing to thaw out.  

Those are the big highlights.  Other things include Michael going on field trips with his exchange kids, me venturing to Calle Bandera downtown to battle the crowds in the used clothing store Mecca, nights out with friends and getting excited about visiting Texas in July.  

Unintentional Sick Day

Everything is an adventure.  That is the positive way to word and look at all of the crazy things you learn unintentionally when trying to live in a country that isn't your own.  A country with a sistema all its own... oh yes... an adventure.

We will take this story in reverse.  I went to work this morning and was immediately informed (ok, not immediately, first they asked me lots of questions stemming from clear confusion as to why I was there in the first place) to go home.  It was apparently illegal for me to be at work today.  After a few "buts" and "are you for reals", I put on my coat and did my commute in reverse, as if in rewind.

I was sick.  Nothing dramatic, your typical virus of this time a year, magnified by foreign germs and foreign ninos in close proximity.  I made the decision on Tuesday that I would have to, after 8 months, try to navigate the health care system.  I called and made an appointment (yay me... because Spanish on the phone is a whole different language) and set off for what I (even knowing better) hoped would be a somewhat painless experience.  What I mean by knowing better is that nothing... absolutely nothing... is easy here.  Every time I think that I have all the information, that I have prepared adequately for a task, I am slapped across the face by the giant hand of Chile (te acuerdas donde estas weona?)... yeah... si... Chile... lo siento... te cacho.  Needless to say,  there was something with my insurance ( has pagado 3 meses... no yo creo que he pagado por dos meses... ahhhh si, entonces no lo tienes... no entiendo, por que?... SLAP duh es CHILE biatch)  Eventually our conversation led to me saying... ok, can I just pay you to see a doctor, like with cash?  Fifty bucks later (that is without insurance people... my co-pay was that much), I saw a doctor and she gave me 3 days licencia... which translates to 3 days off of work.

When this morning came and I was feeling better, silly me, I went to work.  I didn't see the reason to miss another day of work if I didn't need to, but the Chilean government thinks otherwise, and thus my unintentional sick day.

In other news, I earned my "Hair cut in Chile" merit badge today (thanks to my free day). You guys, I have been mentally preparing myself for that for weeks.  I told the nice ladies at the salon that I had been afraid, and so they joked with me by motioning that I wanted my hair cut above my ears... jajajajajajaja.  Not cool ladies.  Not cool.  Michael started working a little while back in an intercambio department of a University (a job he is enjoying immensely), and we also managed FINALLY to secure a fully functioning Chilean Bank Account each... so this past pay check, I didn't have to transport my entire salary in 10,000 peso bills from school to the drawer beside my bed.  The bank account debacle was just like anything else in Chile, regardless of my preparation, and included a trip to one place to sign the papers, a trip to another place to pick up my card, which included a line of 100 ish people, that I found out AFTER I waited in it, I didn't actually need to wait in it, but actually another line that as soon as I got in that line, the girl went on her hourly texting break and I ended up back in the original line just the same.  (run on city you guys..).  Also, we are playing softball in a league of mostly gringos, but some desperate to understand the rules of baseball Chileans.  It is very entertaining.

Also, it is freaking cold, and it isn't even winter.  My school is in the mountains and there is no heat, so I will be spending the winter months playing the role of a Popsicle.  Luckily, winter vacay here means a trip to visit the good ole US of A during summer.  I can taste Rosa's already!

 

Interruption

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to update you on a few things.  Honestly, I just haven't been very good about sitting down and writing to share lately... there are still so many things about our trip down south (which was actually about 6 weeks ago now), and the trips we took with my sister in town that I need to document... good stories folks, I'm telling you; however, I feel the need to document this past week immediately so I don't forget anything.... along with a few random observations as well.

Here is what you've missed:

1.  We moved into our own apartment in the more hiphappenin area of Santiago.  Read: right next to the metro line and uber convenient.  There is an ice cream place around the corner called Bravissimo... trouble, and just about everything you could ask for within walking distance.  We are now going to truly experience "big city livin" y'all, view included.   Also, the apartment is furnished to make our lives easier.  We did buy ice cube trays that make ice in the shape of small fish however... week... made.

2.  I started my job.  It just so happened that we found our apartment the week that I began.  I only had to do the commute from Michael's grandparents house twice.  Now I skip down to the metro and there ya go.

3.  My job is chalked full of "news".  I don't mean news as in noticias, but news as in the plural of new things.  My first couple of days were extreme Spanish overload.  Turns out inservice type things are about the same no matter what the language, although I can say I have never attended mass as part of teacher training.  Funny story:  I asked during the mass if I needed to cross my arms when I approached the priest for communion, at which point it became quite obvious to me that many of these people might not know a person who isn't Catholic.  One lady said, "No, I grant you permission", to which I thought to myself... yeah, not sure if that is how it works... but anyway.
I had to introduce myself multiple times to large rooms of people... which here doesn't mean "Hi I'm Meghann, and I teach English"... it includes your entire life story.  In one room, I finished and they erupted into applause for me.  I am thoroughly established as the gringa.
Coworkers hug and kiss.  All of them.  I have to admit, I think more people spoke to me in my first day at this school than in my entire five years at Alamo.  Also, during the first big meeting, they "played a game" where each person turned to the next person and said "Te regalo... algo"... I gift you... patience... happiness... etc. etc.  I had to suppress the American in me that was trying REALLY hard to roll her eyes and not gag from the corniness of it all... but what is wrong with teachers wishing each other well, knowing each other's names and hugging... Nothing... that's what.
I get to wear a lab coat looking thing all day every day... maybe I'll take a picture someday.
The children wear adorable uniforms with ties, jumpers and smocks of their own.
I had my first "duty" turn during little boys recess.... I have never seen anything so nutso... EVER.  They ran in a full sprint for 30 minutes straight... some of them with rulers (not the best idea).
The school feeds me lunch every day, and when I told a teacher that I used to only have about 20 minutes to scarf down food for lunch, you would've thought I'd told her that they made me eat nails.
Classroom discipline is..err... different.  More on that later.
I work in a department with 18 women... nice women, but definitely a big change from the old "band of brothers".  These women ask me often if I understand what is being said.  I kindly reply that yes, when only one of them speaks at a time it is really easy to understand, and then we laugh.  But I'm dead serious.
So far, I haven't had too much to do.  I am having to really get used to a slower pace.  I finished everything that the department head asked me to work on in about 3 hours, and then I made myself a schedule to help co teach classes until my room is ready.  She told me to put two a day so I had plenty of time to rest... I tried one day with only two and quickly made it four.  Suffice it to say I don't know how to chill... yeah...

4.  There is a clinic outside our apartment that has a parking garage that rings like a school bell every time a car exits.  At about 6pm, it is like a bell choir of one.  We are almost used to it :).

There it is... a quick, rambling update about what is going on.  We are looking forward to settling into a routine and enjoying our new neighborhood.  Keep your eyes out for the continuing story of our trip to the tip of the world... coming soon... maybe :).