Did you know that it wasn't until after the First World War that the pocketwatch went out of fashion and that both genders began to wear the wristwatch? It makes me wonder how people determined the process of time before then and how the simple minute hand has become a subconscious commander of our modern lives. And yet I find that time in fact has no tangible essence in my life as I think back to only a matter of weeks ago when I was sitting at my desk in a cold office space in Sydney and now I am constantly being stimulated by the pleasures and struggles of living in Santiago, Chile. Yes, one month ago I quit my comfortable life and travelled to South America where I was greeted by a local handsome young man who welcomed me with open arms into his Chilean home. My first week here was spent meeting my new Chilean family and revisiting old friends from my previous travels. I certainly have experienced mucha suerte in these initial stages of my journey down a new and unpredictable road as everyone has been most hospitable.
If only the Chilean work environment was so accommodating. Ok so I cheated a little in coming to Chile as a tourist but this fact only made for a smooth entrance into the country and a limited choice of job possibilities. I found a Language Institute that will help me gain a working visa as part of my contract of 60 hours per month of English teaching. Sounds like hardly any work, doesn't it? Well I can assure you that the money is almost not worth it and then the amount of times I have already travelled a fair distance to a classroom void of students because of plain bad communication is shocking! So the search continues for more work and for the moment, I try not to think about money and try to focus more on the intriguing personal stories I am learning about everyday from my students.
And of course my spare time is consumed with touristy pleasures as well as social gatherings. Sushi is the latest phenomenon in cuisine here, which means the first suggestion of what to eat is of course these sticky rice rolls stuffed with sweet cream cheese (no Chilean dares touch the wasabi or the ginger), although I have now managed to get my hands on some empanadas and other traditional Chilean dishes. In addition to this, I am trying to introduce new platos to my Chilean family - add a little bit of spice and variation with a Thai curry, Tandoori chicken or apple tart washed down with a Chai Tea. So far it's going pretty well, although finding ingredients here has proven to be quite tricky. It makes me miss the black bean sauces and other stir-fry mixes one can easily find in the supermarkets of Australia, not to mention that Asian food is so expensive here! Or even finding puff pastry wasn't easy!
Not to worry, my local handsome young man is taking good care of me. I am struggling to understand how I have only been here for one month because so much has happened already. I now know the metro system like the back of my hand, although it is going to take me some more time to get used to the disorderly way of life here. It's not the manana mentality of Mexico; it's more like if you don't push for something to happen, it never will. And I mean never...
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