Happy New Years, Everyone! Welcome, 2013!
I hope you all are doing well and enjoying your first week of
2013. For us the year seems to be starting with quite a bit of heat, but
then again we are in South American summer. We had a wonderful New Years
with Antonio’s family that included shish kabobs on the bbq, cake, champagne,
salads, and the Christmas presents mom sent for Antonio's family that arrived
the last day of they year -- perfect timing! The party ended at 3 am with
all very happy. Antonio and I decided to start the year off right by going
to a salsa club, too. We didn’t get home until 7 am. So welcome, 2013!
This past year was full of challenges, new experiences, and joys.
Antonio has really enjoyed his new university where smaller
classes have enabled him to get to know his professors better and helped him
make many wonderful friends. He had his last exam last week and is
happily adjusting well to summer vacation. (I did however catch him
reading a law book before bed the other night. These law addicts!)
If everything goes as planned, he will be graduating from law school in a
year and a half! After that he will have a 6 month paid internship (so in
2014) and then he can be sworn in as a lawyer in Chile.
I, too, am glad the year is over despite all the fun I had with my
students this year. I had more than 30 students in total though not all
at once. Almost all of them were kids with a few adults. As fun as
it was to travel to new parts of Santiago, I am really excited to spend less
time on the bus and metro. I enjoyed most of my classes and am a little
sad to know that I will never have class with my students again. Buuut, that
means that I will never have to plan classes again. Yay! I will
continue classes with the restaurant owner’s daughters every Thursday or Friday
evening, and will also continue my English-class-for-excersise-class trade off
with a young Chilean dance instructor I met on the bus a few weeks ago.
With her help, my posture has improved dramatically, and I am slowly
getting back into shape. Yay!
Lukas is well and just as attached to us as ever. He sends
all a lick and an enthusiastic tail wag. :)
Our biggest challenge recently has been house and dog-sitting for
my ex-boss of the institute. We have enjoyed the beautiful neighborhood
close to the metro, the bicycles, the much needed personal time for the two of
us, and the cool apartment (Antonio’s dad’s place gets hot!), but have had to
deal with two very badly trained dogs and a not fully working kitchen. Despite these drawbacks, the dogs are
very sweet and are getting better in some aspects.
The most exciting prospect that the new year holds is my new
job! As some of you may have heard, my Christmas Eve gift was getting
offered the position of "Travel Planning Assistant" with the tour
company Liz
Caskey Wine and Culinary Experiences. Liz Caskey is a US
business-woman-gone-chef-and-wine-expert who, with her Chilean photographer
husband organizes these personal tours for mostly US and Canadian travelers to
experience the best, most authentic wine and food of Chile, Peru, Argentina
and/or Uruguay. What I will be doing is communicating via email and phone
with the clients and potential clients to help them plan their trip to one or
more of these destinations. I'm really excited and looking forward to
learning more about wine, travel and food in the Southern Cone.
My first day is
January 7th and my hours will be 9 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday, with one
hour for lunch! I will also have the emergency phone some weekends in
case a flight gets delayed or missed, etc, but that apparently doesn’t happen
all that often. The office is farther from my house and the apartment I'm
taking care of than my teaching office was, but from my house I will be able to
take one bus to get there, and from the apartment (where I am living until the
18th), I can easily take the metro. I haven't seen the office yet, but
there will just be two of us employees, Liz and her husband Francisco. As
far as I can tell, they have yet to hire the second employee, but I haven't
heard it from them officially yet.
The best part of having a regular day job is that I will have a
steady monthly income that is much higher than what I was making as a
teacher! After the first three months of training/trial, they will offer
me a long-term contract which includes a raise and benefits including health
care, which is also really exciting! If all goes well, this will be
Antonio and my first step towards being able to find our own apartment.
May you all have a wonderful 2013,
filled with daily delights and small wonders!
I will renew our invitation to come visit,
and I hope to see at least some of you here or in the States in 2013!
Thanks for reading my updates, despite their length. I really do
appreciate and love each one of you and would like to thank you for all the
support you give me. Please find attached a warm hug, and our Christmas
card: Lukas, Antonio, his Dad Prudencio and I.
Enjoy! Feliz 2013!
Love,
Kaia, Antonio, and Lukas
