MoGrath14

Yet again, over 2 months have passed without me writing a word here. Once you boil it down, my life here is just like my life at home. I go to work, I eat, I sleep, and I do some things in between all of those. So really during much of the past 10 weeks, there hasn't been too much exciting stuff going on to write about, but now that I sit here and actually think of it, I suppose there are some pretty cool things about living here that you should know about. First, my new apartment/community that I moved to at the beginning of October continues to charm me everyday. Despite my initial fears that it would be too far from things, it's turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Close enough to ... read more

So it's been quite a while since I've written anything here and there are a couple of reasons for that. First, back at the end of June/early July when I last posted, there really wasn't anything to report on. I went to work, went to my private classes, cooked, ate, went to the gym, and slept. It was so cold and miserable here that I really became a hermit for a while and had NO desire to step foot outside my apartment. The second reason I didn't write much here is that I was keeping a big secret. And since I have no idea who actually reads this , or when they do, I didn't want to slip up and put anything here that could give it away. Which brings me to my third reason, which ... read more

This is a blog post that I've actually worked on to prepare for a little bit. I've been completely neglecting studying for the LSAT and instead either being a completely lazy bum, or writing in my journal and making some notes/thoughts about differences in culture that I notice here. Obviously, Santiago is very different from NJ, although similar in many respects. But I want to write for a while about things that I find to be interesting/unique/odd/terrible/awesome, etc. In no way is this meant to be an exhaustive list on differences in Chilean culture and also note that it is simply my observations. So, here we go! Most people here have two last names, one taken from their mother and another from their father. I've yet to ask/figure out how they determine which last name gets ... read more

I didn't realize it's been over 2 weeks since I wrote anything here! Crazy how time flies. Fortunately the past two weeks have been keeping me pretty busy, both at work, but more importantly, during my free time. Since Labor Day, aka Workers Day, is celebrated on May 1 almost everywhere but in the US, I had May 1 and 2 off from work (how did I never know this before? It was cool to learn that the US does not celebrate Labor Day on May 1 because they originally want to disassociate themselves from any potential ties to socialist/workers reform movements that were common in the late 1800s, despite the fact that the holiday originated out of the Haymarket Riots in Chicago!). So I made good use of my free time and was able to ... read more

Nothing is constant in this world except for change. I came here with the expectation that I'd teach for 5 months, move back home, and move on with my life and career. Yet here I am almost exactly 2 months into my time in Chile, and all of that has changed. I'm now staying here for 10 months (maybe a little longer if I can afford to travel when I finish teaching), then I will be moving back home to move on with my life and career, but in a much different and more positive way than I originally envisioned. I have decided and made the commitment to remain here to teach for the entire school year and while it was a decision I really agonized over, all along I've known it's the right choice for ... read more