Ocupada, ocupada, ocupada ....

I finally have a little time to blog! We have been super busy this week but it's been so much fun! Lots of "cultural" training going on .. toured one of Pablo Neruda's houses ("La Chascona"), visited a Mapuche cultural center, learned all about the chilean educational system, etc. Of course we've done some of our own "cultural" training by hitting some bars and clubs and socializing with the locals! :) I've also met up with a few Chilean friends I've kept in contact with which has been SO great!

Next week starts our DuocUC training, meaning we'll be finding out our schedules and seeing the campuses and figuring out how to plan a lesson ... apparently it's pretty intense and I'm kind of nervous!

It's been really easy for me to get back into the "Chilean way of life." My Spanish is coming along a lot better than I expected ... I feel comfortable speaking and haven't had too much difficulty with comprehension. That's not to say I don't have a ways to go before I will consider myself to be fluent, but I think I'm doing pretty good. I also love that fact that Chileans are never on time ... I fit right in! AND I've already lost a couple pounds, which is rad, since the Chileans here have a much smarter eating schedule - normal breakfast, big lunch, small dinner (called "onces") - and because I've been walking all over the place.

Definitely ready for a free weekend! Tonight I'm meeting up with a couple other Chilean friends I haven't seen yet and plan on spending all day at the pool tomorrow, followed by a barbecue (called "asados" - they're really popular here and usually turn into quite the social gathering). Rough life!

We're here!!

Arrived safely in Santiago yesterday around 3 p.m. ... everything went very smoothly except for about a 2 hour delay in Toronto - some minor leak or something. Spent the rest of the afternoon in Santiago relaxing in our hotel, walking around a little bit, and drinking pisco sours while watching the Oscars. Good day!

Today we had lunch with the rest of our American group, had a short group orientation/meeting, and I got my cell phone recharged. So if you have a phone card (or an international plan) you can reach me on my cell by calling 011-569-8-468-5754 ... yeahhh!

That's all for now!

In case you didn't know ...

I figured most of you have an idea of what I'm doing down south but I thought I'd give a super quick run-down just in case ...

So I'm moving to Santiago, Chile to teach English at DuocUC, a division of la Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile from early March to late December 2009. My good friend, Brooke Palmer, will also be moving down there with me ... we've been planning this since last fall and it's so surreal that we're leaving in just a couple days!

That's about it ... working, traveling, improving my Spanish, meeting new people, etc.! But first, time to pack.