A Hill with a View

So, three weeks ago I arrived in Santiago and the cold slapped me in face. Now, it's spring, or even summer, weather. Yesterday was a beautiful Sunday. I went to an expat brunch at a French restaurant. Generally, I love meeting people while abroad, expats and nationals, but there was a pushy lady from Rochester who "strongly counsels me against making education my career." And she hates little kids and is appalled at the thought of teaching them. Okaaay.

I met up with my Polish friend, Magda, at brunch. Then we walked to the big hill that is in the middle of the city. It's call Cerro San Cristobal. We decided to take the cable car to the top.

The ride was super steep and rickety and we laughed nervously at ourselves for having chosen the bottom-most car that looks straight down the hill. It's much steeper than it looks in the photo!

This is the city. But wait  . . . 

Here are the mountains. They loom even larger when you are also at a higher elevation. I can't explain the awe they inspire in me.

100 Little Sandwiches

Today I met up with a friend at the Museum of Human Rights. It documents the Chilean military coup of Sept 11, 1973 and the political kidnappings, torture, and murders that occurred during the Pinochet dictatorship. It was sobering. We had to leave after seeing only about half because there is only so much one can take in of a subject like that.

Then we went to a neighborhood called Bellas Artes to eat at . . .

I lovey love love this is a Spanish chain. Montaditos are little baguettes the length of your finger. They come topped with a 100 different things, like Spanish dried ham, chicken and cheese, potato omlette with ali-oli sauce. My friend was also an au pair in Spain for a summer and when we tasted the tinto de verano drink it brought us right back. I've met a lot people that have studied in Spain, and they all go nuts when I mention 100 Montaditos: "The food! The drinks! It's so cheap! It's SO delicious!" We also had fries with ali-oli sauce, which is like garlic mayo. I told my friend that I could bath in ali-oli sauce. I'm so dramatic when it comes to food!

After all the goodness you see above, I had a chocolate bread montadito filled with nutella and toasted almonds.

We took a long, long walk home, skirting the Bellas Artes neighborhood, which is, well, artsy.

It reminded me more of the Latin America that I've experienced in other countries. On the other side of the river is my neighborhood, Providencia, which feels more European.

Juicy

I love eating and drinking normal things in unexpected flavors.

I bought these juices at Lider, a grocery store near where I live. The pear one tastes like Bartlett in a bottle. And the raspberry is sweet, sweet nectary ambrosia. Today after my second class I was suddenly desperately hungry. I stopped by a little shop and had a spinach and cheese empanada and fresh kiwi juice.

Today one of my students had to leave class a few minutes early. As he was leaving, he said, "Good-bye, classmother." I said, "Mother?" The other students and I looked at each other and one said, "What happened?" And we all burst out laughing. I think he meant classmates, but there's no way for me to tell.

Pronouncing Names

Man, tonight I got sucked down the rabbit hole of watching BuzzFeed videos on YouTube. This one about Americans trying to pronouncing Latino names struck a cord with me. Today one of my students was named Claudia. It's so hard for me to pronounce this in the Spanish way because the a and u make a funky nice sound together.

I like the way Spanish speakers pronounce my name. When said with the strongest accent it sounds like yes-E-ka. It's sweet when they immediately shorten it to Jessie. It's like they don't time for the formal version and want to skip to being friends as soon as possible.

Another funny video is If Latinos Said the Stuff White People Say. Just let the channel run. It's hilarious.

First Class, Pass

I taught three students today. I love them. They are so happy. We shared some laughs and learned vocabulary words related to team work. We worked on the different pronunciations of passion and patient. I never realized how similar they sound.

Alejandra told me her favorite song is "Let Her Go" by Passenger. She said she has listened to it 100 times, trying to understand the words. Dedication.

Museo de Bellas Artes

Today was a gray day. I decided to go to a museum since I won't want to spend my time inside once spring is here. The Museum of Bellas Artes is free on Sundays, so off I went with an emergency chocolate bar in my purse and my comfy hiking shoes on my feet.

The museum is small and manageable. It felt like art for a normal person. I didn't feel overstimulated by art from floor-to-cathedral-ceiling, like at the Met.

Some pieces have an air of the whimsical, like this one. This was in an exhibit showing work from Chilean art students from the 80's and 90's. A docent gave me a guided tour of part of the permanent exhibit. She was really good; she wanted to know what I thought and which pieces called my attention. I shyly answered in my best Spanish and smiled when she liked my ideas.

A flying golden balloon bull graces the great hall because why not?

I walked through a park to get back to the metro, digging into the chocolate bar as I went. This is the view I saw before I went underground:

I'm going to bed early tonight because tomorrow I teach my first English class!

Ahem, a Toast

Literally. And this is how I make it:

I'm not sure why toasters aren't a thing here. This pan works but it takes longer. After I flip it, I melt the butter on the already toasted side. When it's done I spread honey on it.

This morning I had honey-butter toast with tea. The tea I like in a large part because it warms my hands, which are perpetually icy. I woke up late today. Last night I met up with coworkers at a bar where they brew their own beer. A pint was about $3. I had a blonde ale that tasted like a summer shandy. The bar closed at midnight on a Thursday. Crazy.

After breakfast this morning I did yoga to the Garden State soundtrack. The soundtrack is amazing, dynamic, and compelling. All the lyrics speak to me.

In the afternoon I went to work for our last day of training. We did visa paperwork. Oye. It was as painful as it sounds. When my British supervisor heard I'm American he said, "It's not your fault." Huh. Okaaaay.

I got my first class! It's on Mondays and Wednesday from 12:30 to 2. I have three students; they work for LG.

Good Food, Good Meat

Last week when I was looking at apartments I saw one near a university. I figured there'd be something cheap and yummy for lunch in the area. I stopped at a hole-in-the-wall type place with tables out front on the sidewalk. I ordered a cheese empanada. Now, if you think an empanada is like a Hot Pocket you're WRONG! Imagine the butteriest, flakiest, bestest croissant you've had, and then put cheese in the middle. Well, here's a picture but it doesn't do it justice, I promise.

Yesterday I went to happy hour with the other people in my work training. I had my first pisco sour, which is the Chilean national drink. It's delicious and strong, like a mojito. We had meat and cheese plates. The butter had herbs in it--so delicious I wanted to eat the whole pad of it, like a piece of thick cheese on bread. 

Today after training I went to the mall in the tallest building in South America. I was with a Chilean and an American. We went to a crepe restaurant. Remembering when my Spanish host dad called me out for it, I asked my Chilean friend if it's considered poor manners to cut your food with the edge of your fork. She said it's not, but like it Spain you shouldn't eat with one hand in your lap. My raspberry and caramel crepe was so good that I asked, joking but with a little hope, if it was socially acceptable to like your plate clean. It's not.

My Apartment

I found an apartment! I'm living with two Chileans, a guy and a girl. Check out the best part about the apartment . . .

This is the view from my living room window! There are so many mountains that I couldn't fit them all in the photo. I just want to reach out and touch them. I can't believe this is the view I get to look at while I'm eating my cereal every morning.

Other good things about the apartment are that it's in a nice neighborhood, it's a 15 minute walk to work, there are parks and yoga studios nearby, and it's walking distance to two metro lines.

This is my bedroom. There is also a big closet and a little desk. Those cards on my nightstand are birthday and bon voyage cards from my family. It makes me smile to read them.

The Best Way to Get Around

I took a super long walk today. On the way back I brought a street food fried doughnut for 30 cents. On the next corner I smelled warm sugary peanuts and bought some of those too (45 cents) just because I was in a street-snack type of mood. As I walked along, munching, I noticed a lot of bikes. Most people weren't wearing gloves either, which is hardcore b/c it's freezing. There is even cool bike graffiti along the river. It's very low right now--I think because it's winter.

And there is even dun-duh-duh-dun bikeshare! I definitely want to check this out when it's a little warmer, which sounds a little crazy because I biked in D.C. all winter long, but I feel like spring is a time for exploration. In the winter I just want to scurry from one building to the next. But then again the buildings here don't have heat, so the scurrying is probably what does me the most good.

On Sundays the street in front of my Airbnb is closed until 2 p.m. so people can bike, jog, and roller blade on it. This means I had to walk a couple blocks to take a taxi to . . . my new apartment!

More Than a Little Chilly in Chile

To give you an idea of how cold it is here, this is what I wore to bed last night:

Yep, all that. And I had three blankets. I could hardly turn over.

I looked at a couple apartments today and the woman that owns one of them told me that spring begins Sept 21 (weird!) and by then it will be warm.

A New Adventure

This morning, I woke up to this . . .

The sun rising over the Andes Mountains! I gasped when I saw them.

And so I begin a new adventure teaching English in Santiago.