Friday, June 5, 2009

We all want to learn

For the last two hours, I have been unable to connect to the Internet which led to a minor freak out.  What now?!  How will I communicate with the outer world?!  I could just go to bed given it is midnight and deal with it tomorrow.  But, I really wanted to record my day because I feel like I had so many new connections that left a little print on me.  

Every morning, the first thing I do is turn on CNN (I let it play in the background whenever I'm home to constantly fill my ears with Spanish), open all the curtains in the apartment, and walk out onto the patio to take a big breath of fresh air and soak in the sun for a second before I caffeinate myself.  I started my day by reading the Spanish news from the indoor foyer which has an great 180 degree view of my neighborhood.  I don't say I have an amazing view of of the "city" because I am on the 5th floor of a 20 story building, so I am not quite high enough to see over the 10+ story apartment buildings that are to the south or west.  But, from the patio I get an amazing view of downtown to the north and the Andes to the east (when there is no smog). The place I am staying in has a multitude of windows which I love because it gives the apartment so much light.  

My next task was to find a gym.  The man who is renting me the apartment told me about a pilates studio not too far from here so I stopped there first.  My intro in Spanish was, "I moved here from the United States 4 days ago and need a gym"...very advanced opening to a conversation.  Ha.  Once they know I'm an American, they use a lot of hand gestures to help explain things.  They offered me a free pass to come back and try a class.  My next stop was "Pacifica" gym.  Eh...very small, not too clean, but the cheapest ($35/month).  I asked if I could get a free pass to try it out.  He said something, pointed to an email address on the card, and told me to send an email.  I was confused, said thank you and left.  Third stop is a gym that Katie's friend (Molly's Katie) recently introduced me to over Facebook.  It's funny how once I told people I was moving here, all these Chilean connections popped up.  Jose is from Spain but has lived here 8 years.  He used to live in my neighborhood and recommended "Sport Life." The guy at this gym was really nice, made an effort to speak slowly, and gave me a tour.  It was cleaner than the last gym, bigger, and more expensive (about $70/month) but still not all that. The machines were just okay.  I asked if I could get a pass.  He said it would be $20 for the week.  I couldn't help but wonder if this was a charge only for gringas.  I said I would think about it and left.  There are two more gyms to check out - one that is a French gym and the other called "Club Providencia".  I have a feeling all the gyms here will be sub-par.  Once I make a decision, I will have to have a native come with me to sign the contract so I make sure I'm not signing my life away - literally.  

Pio picked me up at 5:30 and we went back to his place.  Tonight I would meet his other English tutor who he's been working with for years.  Pio told me he does not want to get rid of his other tutor since they are good friends.  He said if he doesn't learn English in these next 6 months, he never will. Pio is such a sweet man - always smiling and so polite.  I still cannot pronounce his tutor's name so I will call him Victor.  Victor comes every Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours each night to practice English with Pio.  He works for the big Chilean-American institute here. Victor is from Peru and moved to Chile 10 years ago.  He became fluent in English when he was in college.  He is now an attorney and teaches English on the side.  Pio warned me "he is very formal man."  I said a sentence to Pio in Spanish and Victor complimented my speech.  I told him I didn't feel like my Spanish was good at all.  He said that when he moved here he couldn't even understand the Chileans because they spoke so fast and he speaks Spanish!  He would have to constantly ask them to slow down.  He said do not worry. It's not you.  If you can survive here, you can survive anywhere.  I laughed and said how much better he had made me feel. :)

I could not tell how old Victor is since he has no wrinkles, no gray hairs, and also no animation. He wore a sullen expression so I was not sure if he was a happy person or not.  As the conversation unraveled, I realized he actually was very amiable.  The three of us sat in the living room for 2 hours talking...Pio just wants English conversation.  We talked about the top economies, populated countries, and trafficked airports of the world.  Both are infatuated with the United States.  Victor thinks it is the best place to live because "it has everything and everyone is very friendly."  His siblings live in Miami and NY.  We talked about how to renew my Visa and they informed me that only Americans have to pay entrance fees into Chile, Brazil, etc. because we charge them to enter our country.  Interesting.  I didn't know that.  Pio is a pilot and Victor wants to be a pilot so we then got into the Air France tragedy.  Pio then segued into some story about a friend who crashed a plane 30 years ago.  He was trying so hard to explain what happened in English which is hard because of all the technical terms.  Pio held his hand level, looked down at the ground, and demonstrated with his hand and his body, the plane crashing to the ground.  Victor interjected saying, "it took a nose dive."  "Nose dive"...that is a hard slang U.S. term.  You could tell by the end of the 2 hours, Pio was beat.  Victor left and we sat down to dinner.

Veronica informed me at dinner that Pio and Peta are dyslexic.  Hm...that could explain why learning English has been so challenging for Pio.  On the drive home, Pio told me he was very tired.  He said when Victor comes over he tries so hard to focus on what Victor is saying and understand.  I totally feel his pain.  Eventually he would like me to teach Negro and Peta English. They need to feel comfortable with me first though.  He said the reason Peta talks so much and so fast is because she is nervous.  That's cute - I thought she always talked a million miles a minute.  Pio tells me when he is by himself with them, they say they would like to learn. Hearing this gives me inspiration.  I would love to teach them both.  They're both really cute kids.  Now, I will focus on bonding with them in an effort to gain their trust.  Baby steps.  I'm looking forward to the months to come. :)



2 comments:

  1. Wow!!! Every gym in Santiago has been covered by Ms. Turnbull. ;) Sounds like it was a great day!!! :)

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  2. Great stuff Jen!! When do we get to see pics???

    ReplyDelete