Reflections, Nostalgia, and a New Beginning

I'm sitting in a Santander Work Cafe in Ñuñoa.  Outside it is a scorching 37 degrees, but luckily it is air conditioned here.  

As I sit here, I am overcome with a wave of nostalgia.  I started this blog in January 2010, a little over 9 years ago.  At that time little did I know the adventures I would encounter over that time period which included earthquakes, traveling around South America, getting to know a beautiful country and its people, and making new friends all along the way.

My time started working as a teaching assistant at a school and living in a house in a run down area of downtown Santiago.  I then moved to an apartment living with 2 Chileans in the neighborhood of Ñuñoa, and after being there for 6 months I got my own apartment.  After 7 years there I made the transition to a larger one bedroom apartment but only 4 blocks away.  Come to think of it, I am around the corner of the apartment that I shared here in Ñuñoa.

As for my career, I was barely scraping by when I first arrived.  Living in Santiago is doable if you work hard and keep your costs low, but that isn't always easy.    Starting out earning 360,000 Chilean pesos a month, I was naive and didn't understand the cost of living.  I was able to make the transition to teaching at institutes where the pay and conditions were much better, and from there I moved up in earnings through new opportunities.

If you had asked me in 2010 if I would still be living in Santiago and if I saw myself being my own boss, I would have probably laughed in your face.  But here I am.

Now that I have my own website, I feel it's time to take my professional plans more seriously.  One part of this sadly means bringing an end to this blog.  

I will continue blogging, but all new blog posts will be on my website, www.danielguim.com.  There I plan to update regularly with posts about what's happening in my life but also posts about English teaching in Chile and in general.

Thank you for everyone who has read and commented over these past 9 years.  I don't get notifications when comments come through, so if I somehow missed your comment along the way feel free to get in touch through my new website and blog.  

Nos vemos!