Whoosh

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of activity, and I like it.

First, I have gotten two, yes TWO, more classes!  I am super excited.  One started yesterday, and it went well.  It is in a fancy office building out in Las Condes.  The building is pretty snazzy, much like a nice American office building.  The view is fantastic.  The other class I will be starting next week.  It is a night class for a group from Ernst and Young.  The fact that they work at Ernst and Young is kind of intimidating, but then I remember, I know English, and that is why I am there.  I believe Ernst and Young participates in the government subsidy for English classes, which means I am going to have to be really good at filling out paperwork.  I can't cross things out or use white out.  I am super excited to have more classes now!

Even though I have more classes assigned to me, many of the classes aren't actually happening.  The bicentenario  is coming up on the 18th, so everybody is taking long holidays.  Friday and Monday are also national holidays, so everything is shut down.  So yeah, I had to work on American labor day, but I get two days off for the bicentenario, and end up with a 4 day weekend.  Not to mention the fact that my Wednesday class got canceled, I don't have a Thursday class this week, and my early Tuesday class will probably be canceled as well.  I essentially have more free time the next few days than I have had since I got here.

That is probably a good thing because I will be moving to a new apartment!  It is actually kind of a big mess, so I don't really want to talk about it.  I am just glad things are (kind of) progressing.  I am hoping that once I get moved, everyone will stop telling me about how dangerous it is for me to be out by myself after dark near my apartment.  I understand things can be dangerous, but I apparently live in a real seedy part of town after dark the way people talk about it.

I have also been trying to work on my volunteering things.  It is intense.  I have been busy making lists and making profiles and generally worrying I am not going to raise enough money or something disastrous is going to happen.  You can read all about what is going on with that bucket of stress at Allison Volunteers.

Today, I got to go arbing with Clea.  We went out to Pueblito de Los Dominicos.  It is a bunch of shops that have hand crafted Chilean stuff.  It is really cool, and there is a nice variety of things.  I think sometimes things like that get to be all of the same thing over and over, but there was lots to look at out there.  They also had flags hanging up everywhere for the bicentenario.  It was cute.

Chilean Flags at Pueblito de Los Dominicos

Current Tunes: Crystal Castles (I keep listening to them because I am sad I can't afford the 25.000 pesos for the tickets.  I also don't have my carnet yet, so even if I could afford them, I don't have a RUT to buy them with.  I just try to tell myself that the universe has it's own way of doing things, and if the universe doesn't want me to see Crystal Castles, there is no way I will be able to.)