I've arrived. . . Finally!

---

Well, I finally arrived! I left New York on 12/27 at 6:45 AM, flew to Bogota, Columbia where I had an 8 hour layover in a very tiny terminal - I was bored! Finally got into Santiago at 7AM on 12/28.

On Sunday, I did unpacked and set up my apartment - luckily there wasn't much to do except hang up my clothes. I went to an Ikea-like store and bought a few things like nicer pillows and towels and went to the grocery store, which was an interesting experience. First of all, I had to laugh to myself when I couldn't read the packaging ... I wanted flour - who knows how to say that in Spanish?? LOL Also, you'd think you could just tell my looking at the packaging but no, everything is in very odd containers - milk in in a box and eggs are in a paint can type tin. Also, the MILK and eggs are on the shelf and not refrigerated. I thought I bought milk but it was yogurt (in a white bottle in the fridge section). When I got home and sat down to eat some cereal I realized what it was and went I went back to get milk, I realized it is warm - weird!

Let's see - that night I went to dinner with a person from the reception desk at the apartment building and a friend of his. Neither one of them spoke English so it was interesting. But, I was happy that I was able to maintain conversation and luckily they were very patient. So, I guess you could say I made my first 2 friends in Chile! YAY!!!!!!

Today (12/29) I met with a representative at the school I will be working at. It is a very nice place and I am very excited to start, which is in the 6th! Other than that, I bought a local cell phone (information below) and sat by the pool and worked on my tan - maybe I won't stick out so much! HAHA

The weather is amazing - it was up to 90 today BUT there is absolutely no humidity . . . so it was very nice - and sunny. Also, it stays light until about 9:15PM and the sun comes up at 7, so I LOVE the long days!

I am uploading some pictures of my apartment also and my views of the Andes from my living room and bedroom. I will upload more pictures soon. I just wanted to get my blog going. I copied the direct link in the email that I sent everyone, so save it and check for updates regularly. This is easier for me to let you all know of my where-abouts versus sending individual emails.

Well, I think that is all for now! I hope everyone at home is doing well- don't worry about me - I am loving it here and think it is just the change I needed!

My Chilean cell phone number is. 56 828 33 845 so from the US you will dial 011 and the number. Feel free to call anytime! I am keeping my US number but it will be turned off. I am working on getting a number on Skype that you can call and have those calls forwarded to my cell phone that way both of us avoid international charges . . .I will advise once that is completed. For now, I will probably be calling from Skype when I am at my computer.

---

Comments

[Russ]

Nice Apartment!!
Hey I am coming to Chile on Feb. 27th to teach English and I was wondering... How much per month do you pay for that apartment?