As the plane descended into Santiago this morning, the breathtaking views of snow-capped mountains at sunrise added to my excitement. An older man named Victor took me under his wing and accompanied me throughout customs and even took the same bus as me to make sure I would be okay my first day in South America. He gave me his phone number and email in case of further need before he reached his house.
Little did we know the bus company somehow lost the full address of where I was supposed to be staying and the school had only given me the name of the Residencial. This meant that I rode around for quite some time before we were able to get ahold of the school, and I was finally dropped-off at the school instead of the place I´d be staying! There I was greeted by a few other teachers and we joked that I´d actually be living at the school since I had all my luggage with me.
Chile´s independence day is next Thursday, September 18, so everyone leaves the city I hear. One of the teachers informed me that a group of about 10 are headed to the beach, so it looks like I´ll be joining them on the voyage. Perhaps it was to my advantage to detour to the school so I´d be invited along...vamos a ver.
I finally took a taxi to my Residencial where Georgette greeted me. She is an older woman who lived in Los Angeles for awhile and speaks more Spanglish than I know how to handle. She gave me some instant coffee to drink and then her friend arrived to pick something up. Georgette asked me to close the kitchen door behind me to keep the heat in, so naturally I closed the front door to the house after me as well. Oops! The key was in the house and the door was locked! Way to make a good first impression, Andrea. Fortunately, the other girl who lives at the house had her key with her at the school and about 20 minutes later we were in the house.
Georgette then made me a sandwhich for ¨breakfast¨around one and we´ve been running errands ever since. We met the neighbor, Joaquin, who she suggested I date. We went shopping and bought groceries. We took a taxi from there and the driver commented that he knew I was not Chilean because I closed the car door so forcefully. We bought a BIP card and metro tickets so I´m ready to venture out. I finally made it to an internet cafe where my patience is tested by the slow connection. In just a couple hours I´m meeting my facebook friend, Sandra, at the metro station.
Walking down the street affords me a view of the mountains and the weather feels like a chilly fall day. I start training at the school tomorrow at 2:30 and I´m looking forward to really delving into life here. I feel at peace and have not been nervous about anything, which is all to normal for me!
