The End of Winter, Adventures at the Gym, Food, and More Musings about Linguistics

So now that it is mid August, the weather is starting to warm up.  During the day it has been sunny, and it has been getting up to 65 or so.  It is still cold in the evenings and mornings, but it is not as bad as it was in July.  I heard that this winter was the coldest winter in Santiago's history since they started keeping records 90 years ago.  It somehow is just my luck to be home in Jersey for a winter of recordbreaking snowfall and then come to South America for its coldest winter on record.

The gym continues to be an adventure.  The branch located closest to my apartment has been closed for the past month or so due to a gas leak of some type, so I actually found another branch that is right on the way home from teaching classes.  It is also a short bus ride from my place, which is pretty convenient compared to all of the other locations.  I was there on Saturday, and after being on an elliptical for about 10 minutes the staff came around and told everyone that we had to leave and the gym was closing.  Why was this?  Becuase they had scheduled to take out ever single machine in the gym to be tested that they were in good working order.  When would they be opening again?  At some date in the future.

Now what would make sense to me would be to have this happen closer to the time the gym was actually closing (This was a Saturday at 12:00, and the gym was supposed to be open until 5).  If that wasn't possible, it would also make sense to me to put up a sign warning people on their way in.  But then I remembered that I am in Chile, and things don't happen in that way here.

Luckily there was beautiful weather, and so I walked home.  It was about a 45 minute stroll, which was the amount of time I planned on spending on the elliptical anyway.  I am looking forward to the warmer weather and being able to enjoy time in the sun again.

Talking about the gym takes me to the next logical topic: food.  So there is this chain restaurant in Santiago called Dominó.  They make sandwiches and quick meals, but they are also healthy.  All seating is pretty much at a counter, and so you eat quickly and everything is pretty fast paced there.   They also have a great breakfast promotion.  You get a paila (which is like a small round shaped pan) of eggs with ham, toast, fresh squeezed orange juice, and tea for 1650 pesos.  That´s equal to about 3 bucks:

I love this for a few reasons: 1. It´s affordable.  2. It´s healthy.  3. It´s quick. 4. They are all over downtown Santiago.  I like getting it as a second breakfast after I finish teaching my morning classes during the week.  I feel like you can´t find a deal like this with a portion size like this and that is healthy and quick in the States.

Now one food that I think looks really disgusting is this:

This is bread covered with avocado.  My friend Luis ordered it when we met up for coffee this morning.  It reaffirms my belief that Chile is in love with avocado and will put it on any food possible: hot dogs, hamburgers, bread, etc.

And in surprising news I found a place to buy Kit Kats in Santiago!  I went up to a kiosk in downtown Santiago near my work to buy some breath mints, and I noticed that they had Kit Kats.  They were only the smallest size (that you would get in a big bag like you would buy at Halloween), but they are still Kit Kats.  They cost 200 pesos each (about 40 cents), and so I was good and just bought one.  It has the same text on it (partially in Spanish, partially in Arabic) as the Kit Kate I found in Peru.  I have the feeling I will be stopping by every once in a while to get my Kit Kat fix until Dana can bring me a bag when she comes down to visit in September.

I am loving teaching English to business people here.  My students are motivated to learn, and they all have interesting personalities and stories they bring to class.  And they also have really good questions.

For example:

1. In what contexts do you use the verbs carry, hold, and bring, and what are the differences?

2. Why do you get on a bus but get in a car?

3. Are there any verbs that you do not conjugate in the 1st or 2nd person (saying I, you, or we as your subject) in English?

If you would like to post your answers to those 3 questions I am curious to see what you think.  I will post my response in a few days.

Back to Santiago, time flying by, and preparing for another adventure

Time has gone by way too fast in the past two weeks.

The last part of my trip in Peru involved our tour guide not showing up to take us to the bus station when he was supposed to, and then telling us that we would take a later bus.  We literally got to the bus station and had to run to catch our bus.  The bus took off the second we were both inside.

Once we were seated, we realized that this was a local bus and not a tourist bus.  It was nowhere near as nice as the other busses we took, but they told us we would have a nice bus like we took before.  I still can't decide if the most interesting part was the smell of chickens or determining if the huge packages wrapped in multiple blankets were the local's luggage or their babies.

We took it easy in Arica and mostly hung out at the hostel, and then we caught the flight back to Santiago.  I went around shopping with Isabel, and it was cool exploring the markets that I walked by every day but was too busy to visit before. 

The Friday and Saturday after I arrived was a conference for the International Association for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language.  It was like other conferences in the mix of useful and not good workshops,  conversation, and coffee.
It was different than past conferences I had been in a lot of different ways:
1. There were a lot less handouts in the workshops.
2. There were also no free textbooks from companies.
3. There was no heating, so most people were wearing their coats and hats inside.

I also learned that textbooks and workbooks are incredibly expensive here.  The prices are double or even triple here, and so I think I am going to try to have some friends bring some down to me.

In other news, I have started my new full time job, and I am loving it.  My students are motivated and want to learn English.  About half of my classes are in downtown, which is about a ten minute walk from the office where I plan my lessons and hang out between classes.  I feel so much better about my working situation compared to before.

I also joined a gym!  Pacific Gym has 20 some locations throughout Santiago, and with the deal I got I can go to any location.  I found one that is on the way home from my evening classes, and I can time it so that I can leave my class, hop on the metro, go to the gym, then catch the bus home all on one metro ride.  It might be hard to understand how awesome that is unless if you know how expensive the metro is or live here.

My first time at the gym I successfully embarrassed myself.  I'm somehow an expert at that, especially in new situations.  I was walking to go to an eliptical glider and didn't realize that there was a step down.  It took me going about 4 feet forward to regain my balance, and of course this happened at the peak hour of the gym. 

In a few hours I am off to the airport to go to Pucon.  It is south of Santiago, and there is a volcano that you can climb and then slide down.  There are also some hot springs, and this trip will make up for missing the hot springs due to my altitude sickness.

More World Cup Fever

So today was Chile's 2nd game in the World Cup.  They played against Switzerland, and they won.  I heard stories about riots in Plaza Italia and the police using teargas in order to keep the crowds calm.  Part of me wishes I was there, but part of me doesn't.  Then I found this article online:

http://www.thepulse.cl/2010/06/21/disturbances-in-plaza-italia/

Then I was glad I wasn't there.

At school we watched the game in the gym since it was on at 10 AM here.  Here are some pictures:

Now it will be interesting to see how Chile does when they play Spain on Friday at 2:30.

In other news, I am loving teaching English classes to business people.  I started working for an institute here that sends teachers to companies to teach English to their employees, and they all have been very motivated to learn.  I am currently teaching at Johnson and Johnson's headquarters in Santiago, and the institute also has clients like LAN airlines, Chiquita, BanChile, and even the Chilean government.  I started one class already and will have another two new classes this week.

I am also contemplating joining a gym.  While I am walking to and from school, I feel like I need more exercise.  There is a gym that is about a 20 minute walk from my place, and it's open 24/7.  It has the standard classes and enough equipment to work out, and there's an online special of about $24 per month if you sign up for a year.  I am planning on being here for next year, so I am really considering it.  Oh yeah, and when you work out on the 3rd floor you have an amazing view of the Andes.

And becuase I'm a dork I had to take a picture of this as I was leaving class at Johnson and Johnson tonight: