the thing about digital photography...

so to no one's fault, i've been hearing a lot of, "wow, looks like you've been having a good time in chile" talk. this has led me to two mostly unrelated conclusions:

1) i should really clarify some administrative aspects of this program

and

2) the advent and subsequent proliferation of digital photography has lead to some really misleading documentation of people's lives

the first leads into the second so lets start there. from day one, which was the 8th of february, we have been staying in the andes hostel in "santiago centro" - pretty much the center of this 6,000,000+, concentrated city. this means several things - pollution, homosexuality (we are in the gay-fillet of the city), readily available eating options for us to use our wholly insufficient stipends on, several tourist attractions within walking distance, several thieves within walking distance, many options to meet english speakers, many options to meet spanish speakers, and perhaps most disastrous, beer on every corner.

we are all together in said hostel until the 7th of march when we will say our goodbyes and head to our host families in various parts of the country. i will head to la florida, which is also where my school (pictured in earlier post) will be. of the 20 of us, 6, including myself, will be teaching at "mall plaza vespucio." six is a good number and i'm big fans of all of my co world-teachers. mind you, everyone in the group is pretty awesome in their own idiosyncratic way. which leads to another thing about the hostel experience: though undeniably trying at times, we do have fun. it's great being around 20 people who are all sharing an experience and indefinitely ready for the unexpected. the second this is over, we will miss it.

that being said, during the week, we work it. days are usually 12 hours long. that is to say, we leave the hostel around 8:30-9:30 and return around 20-21:00 (chileans love them some military time). during this time, we train for the teaching, train for the spanish, do us some culture, and recognize us some immigration processes. fun can be had during some of said activities, but it ain't no walk in a mullet ridden park filled with adolescents rounding 2nd base (more on this later). this is what we look at for most of the day:
and here's where we get to the latter aforementioned point. no one takes pictures of us failing to recognize the present progressive in spanish class. no one takes pictures of us waiting in line for 2 hours at the civil ministry. maybe "they" should, but who would want to see it? so yes, on facebook there's pictures of people on city tours, people getting down on the boogie floor, people having the laughter on the rooftops, and people generally having a good time. we are having a good time, but we are working for the weekend, believe you he she keith me.

blogger's bonus:

last friday, our dear non-english speaking spanish profe, jorge, took us all around west-santiago - to places we hadn't been yet - and all thoroughly enjoyed. the group has been divided into three subgroups for spanish class. all of us are instructed completely in the "target language," which is what we will be doing soon with the english. it's a great experience, sometimes frustrating, but usually worthy. this is us outside la bliblioteca de santiago, a very advanced, modern library with tons of murals produced by kids who frequent the library all up inside (pictured). a lovely place that i've already been back to. nim - you'd love this place. also, i made jorge laugh, in spanish. i feel unaccomplished most days, but if i can make someone laugh in the language, i can't be doing too bad.