The new girl at school

This week I started work and moved out of the amazing, yet solitary 22nd (21st) floor studio flat. I've also had a cold since Monday, probably as a result of exhausting myself and not being quite adapted to the weather. I'm pretty sure that bike ride had something to do with it too. Fortunately the worst is past and the sun came out today, glowing just warm enough for me to bask in it over lunch, so that made me feel better.

Following Sunday's adventures, I was invited to a BBQ, with the unrefusable offer of a lift there and back! Another group of chilenos, this time making no allowances for me and speaking in full flow. Slang and all. An interesting night, and a privilege to be invited but hopefully next time I'll be a little more energetic! Group situations aren't always the easiest of interactions in a foreign language at the best of times, let alone after a 50km bike ride! Fortunately I had Monday to recuperate, pack up my stuff, and try and eat the last of my supplies before getting a lift to the guesthouse, my new home for the next 2 weeks.

At INACAP, my week has consistent primarily in introducing myself and attempting to pique the students' interest in me, enough that they might pluck up the courage to ask me something and actually speak in English. I've also spent the week lying about my Spanish proficiency, with varying levels of success. It won't take too long before they all realised it's all a terrible fraud, but hopefully by that time we'll have set the precedent in classes and it won't matter any more. It's the strictest I've ever been in terms of language use, and probably good training for everyone involved, not least the other English teachers!
Not too much to report on the work front, just to see how it evolves. I've also been roped into English club - more fun than it sounds, (when I get to take charge anyway!).
Most of INACAP's students are on some sort of vocational course, and English is taught in areas where students are likely to need it, i.e. hospitality, tourism, culinary arts etc, and I've been making the most of this to encourage students to tell me all about the best places to visit in Chile, how to go about it, and what delicacies I can't afford to miss.

The one thing that everyone is all too eager to tell me about is the celebrations starting this weekend, and continuing until the following weekend, in honour of the first meeting of the Chilean government. It's a big deal, and means that September is a month of partying with lots going on. I've got a few invitations to things, so we'll see how that goes.