obviamente gringas

Friday:
I finished work at 11, which was pretty sweet. Got to go back to the hostel and catch up on some sleep. At night, about thirteen of us went out to go eat. There were a few neubie TeachingChile people from Duoc. There are Duoc teachers and Eduteca teachers. I have no idea what I am affiliated it. The cheese stands alone. Oh well, going out, we might as well have held up a large sign, saying "we are foreign, stare at us." The restaurant Lewis wanted to go to was packed since its was a Friday night in Bellavista... So were the other three restaurants that we checked out. Piper, Megan, and Laura decided to eat somewhere else, because there was no way in hell that we were going to find a place to seat all of us. We actually did find a small sandwich place around the corner that was pretty empty, which isn't a good sign, but we were pretty desperate and wanted to end the search. Karen and I split this seven mini-"burger" dish that came with two beers, Cristal, which sounds classy, but is just the cheap Chilean beer. 

hamburguesas 

(Dan, Hannah, Ashley, Chrissy, Karen, Lewis, Ann, Ronna, me, Flor)

We then went to Bar Constitution, which we all heard was amazing from a ton of people. However, it was really early and we were with a huge crowd so they were pretty rude to us "gringas." Even Flor, our lovely new Argentinian friend was mistaken for a gringa. After a long tedious process to get drinks, we each had one drink, left, and then ran into a few more people from the hostel and tried to go to an Irish bar. Once again our plans were thwarted since there were so many of us. We headed back toward our hostel and went into a restaurant/bar. This place was definitely more restaurant than bar since the place wreaked of grilled asado. Ashley, who was at her breaking point went into a little lounge/bar next door. Amy and I left to keep her company. The rest stayed since the staff was sweet and put together a large table for us.

At the lounge bar next door, we became best friends with the waiter, bartender (Carolina), and owner (Ramon). Amy was requesting music, while Ashley was asking how to say small limes in Spanish. Since they were our new best friends, they gave us a few drinks for free. The rest of the girls joined us and we danced there in the very small area and made a new Colombian friend. The night was basically all about Pisco Sours and Piscolas. Pisco Sours, I think taste like LITs, while Piscolas taste like rum and coke. In Chile, the bartenders pour about 2/3 of the cup with the liquor and then the rest with the mixer. Let's just say, you get your moneys worth. We were told of a discoteca that was down the block that had reggaeton and all sorts of music. Ramon told us that it was a really bad club since it was full of young people.

(Me, Bartender Carolina, Amy, Owner Ramon, Ashley, Waiter nearby)

We went anyway since it was so close and Alex wanted to go there. It was her birthday! Feliz Cumpleanos. But boy was Ramon right. The crowd there was sooo young. I felt like if I knew my high school students better, I would have run into a whole group of them. It was a very bizarre club... there was a male and female stripper there. The girl was a nurse and the guy was an army dude. Talk about stereotypical and degrading. We then left to go to another bar. We took a cab to a shady part of town only to find out that we had to pay another cover. Instead a few of us decided to call it a night rather than waste 2 luca (2.000 Chilean pesos), they also use a "." rather than a "," when writing out money to separate the mil/thousand. In Chile, you have to go out past 12:30, and stay out until like 6. Chileans always run late when it comes to time. 


Saturday:
This was a nice lazy day with the Wire and my bed. It was raining, so it was nice to stay in. However, I did go with Kelsey to get my first baked empanada. While we were sitting there eating, a lot of student-aged kids ran by with animal masks on dancing. I have no idea what they were doing, but it was not that uncommon. Regina decided she wanted to come back to Santiago for the weekend, so of course I HAD to go out. : D


We went and got delicious Peruvian food. I had some shredded chicken with rice in this mustardy sauce. Sounds terrible but it was DELICIOUS! I remember Jorge making something with the yellow peppery sauce before. Mmmmmm. Ooh and I also had a mango juice since I am tired of paying more money for bottled water at restaurants. Instead I just have a huge water jug that I keep refilling bottles with. 

We got some drinks and hung out at the hostel. Lewis, my amazing British friend with his British accent and words taught us some games, that I will definitely be bringing back to the United States. Then we went out to Bar Constitution again, but only a few of us went since everyone was tuckered out. Ashley vows that she will never go there again since they were so rude. But Flor and so many locals said it was really nice and I wanted to give it another shot. It was a lot easier with a smaller group. There were 6 of us, and 4 girls were part of the Duoc wave of TeachingChile teachers. There was a room of techno music, and a room for "reggaeton," which was really just America's Top 40 list. Stayed there for a long time dancing, and the tour guide was wrong. Chilean men are pretty aggressive dancing and with personal space. I wanted to get out of that area so just spent some time talking to Regina and her non-aggressive, but really cool, intelligent, and speaks English dance partner. Went home and ended up talking to Roberto, Mexican backpacker travelling by himself. We had seen each other a bunch in the hostel and had a few short conversations, he seemed pretty shy in the beginning, but we talked for over an hour outside. Our conversation finally ended because it was about 5:30 in the morning (Only a few days before that is about the time I was waking up for work) and because someone asked us to be quiet. Apparently we were that loud. Flor told me later on that she also heard us from her room upstairs and was wondering who was laughing so loud in the cold. 


Sunday:
Slept late, for obvious reasons. Got lunch with Flor and Ronna at my new favorite and frequently visited hole in the wall restaurant. (Same place I went on the first day). Then Flor and I just spent the day walking around. We got coffee, Regina joined us and entertained us with stories. Reggie and I went back to her labyrinth of a hostel, since my hostel was booked for the month by TeachingChile. I swear you had to go through the living space, through the kitchen, outside, down the stairs, across the courtyard, through another two buildings, just to go to her silent, unlocked room. Pretty cool yet sketchy. 


That night we went salsa dancing. On Sundays and Wednesdays you can take salsa classes and then stay later to dance like in a normal club. My partner, I think he worked there or was a frequent visitor, was a good lead dancer. Now I know what Antonio meant, when he said I just needed to follow his hands and body language to dance salsa. It was really good to learn more officially, and to feel like I had rhythm. We basically only stayed for the lesson and then went home. 

Ladies at Salsa - "Apparantly its BYOB here, bring your own man" - Regina

(Laura, Flor, Karen, Marissa, Regina, Kelsey, me)

Only after we went on a wild food chase for the hungry people with us. Regina got a completo, which I still have yet to try. It is a hot dog with ketchup, mustard, avocado, tomato, and mayo. I hate mayo, so if I ever have one, I will ask for completo sin mayo. Ooh there was also a little pricey creperie stand where some people got delicious looking crepes with nutella and ice cream and goodness galor! Went back to the hostel, talked to Roberto and went to bed. Roberto is going to salsa with us on Wednesday. Who ever heard of a Mexican who didn't salsa!?! Roberto, Karen, and Flor are going to Valpariso tomorrow, wish I didn't have work so I could go too...

Nutella ad

Monday:
I finally had company on the metro. People are finally starting to go to work and I am not the only sad sap leaving at seven in the morning. It was my first real day with my classes that I will be having all semester long. The freshmen are defintely noiser and do not take English as seriously. I also had three classes of workshop, which is worse than actual lessons, since they were just given workbook pages to do. A lot of students would copy and goof off, but for good reason. Who would want to sit there for an hour and half doing workbook pages? I need to find a new way to do workshop and make it more interesting...


I ate lunch in a nearby the park with a teacher and sat and talked. She always goes there, so this little dog, wearing an army jacket comes and joins us. I have learned that dogs like bread, salami, cheese, Frosted Flakes, but not oranges. I think I have to give him a name, he's a little cocker spaniel. I also got a soda in a glass jar. Apparantly if you return any glass or large plastic bottle to the store, you get money back. What a good incentive to recycle!
At home, I went grocery shopping, so hopefully I can start saving some money by eating in. Apparantly my food was in the "free food" bin so some of my pasta is gone along with my pasta sauce. I better go get more since I have some ravioli that I want to eat. I hope that my ramen noodles are still there...


 I have friends that love games just as much as me!!! I played Spanglish/bilingual bananagrams with Dan, Piper, Kelsey, and her Chilean pollolo Jaime. I love those words now, pollolos (couple), pollolo (boyfriend), pollola (girlfriend). The students keep asking me if I have a pollolo, they are definitely not shy. 


Since I don't have work til late on Tuesdays, I wanted to hang out with people. Flor, Roberto, Karen, and I got some pisco (the liquor stores have bars at the entrance. You can't go inside the store, but just tell the man what you want to buy and they bring it to you through the gate) and coke to make our own piscolas in the hostel. I taught Flor and Karen poker. Glad that casino gambling environment came in handy. We then played a fun rendition of "spoons," or "tounges." I then taught them how to play "boobies." Man I have weird sounding card games. Flor is going to bring "boobies" back to Argentina with her. I am so glad it caught on. Flor and Roberto are leaving the hostel on Thursday/Friday morning. :( Que triste... I'm going to miss them, but hopefully I can plan a trip to Argentina in the summer. 

Roberto, Karen, and Flor buying pisco

Oh we also unanimously decided that the man who works at Hostal Providencia (not the owner Mario) is an extremely rude and unlikable man. I have had several encounters with him, where he just rubbed me and everybody else there the wrong way. We decided we are going to talk to Mario about him. Everybody else that works at the hostel is very nice and helpful. Except him. He sucks. 


Tuesday:
No work until 11:30, so I left the hostel around 10:30 and had to put 7.000 more pesons onto my BIP (metro) card. One of the English teachers did not come to school today so I am teaching all of his classes solo. It was quite different. My first class was basically all girls, and they were pretty well behaved. Some of the students there were really fascinated by me and America and I had a really good and long conversation with a few of them. In my second class of all boys, a bunch of boys were trying to hit on me and making me heart-shaped souveniers. I took of my jacket and got cat calls. My last class made me nervous since both the director and English Department Head came into my class. Lets just say it was a very interesting day and I hope I am not teaching by myself all the time. It is hard to do crowd  control. I have found out that high schoolers in Chile like hi-fives and they also like smiley faces on their paper if they did a good job! No teachers showed up to my after school English class today. They are supposed to promote it more. Oh well, it gave me time to write this post. I wonder what will happen tonight. I am quite hungry, time to go home and eat dinner.


A few more things to note:
1) While I love the Metro here since it comes so quickly and it is clean and safe, during rush hour it sucks. There are so many people that you get pushed on and off the tram, rather than walk. 
2) I don't know if I had bed bugs but something was biting me. I haven't been bitten yet in the past day or two. Let's hope it keeps up. I did get all my bed sheets changed and they are doing my laundry for free.
3) I think I am going to start buying groceries in Maipu and then bringing them to Providencia because Providencia is kinda an expensive town. I need to invest in one of those carts, and no not a shopping cart Ronna.