We have reached that time of year, finally. The days are growing cooler, the nights are becoming colder, and the tree leaves are floating to the ground. School is in full swing, boots are back in style and yet... it's APRIL?! Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere! Yes, though I have lived here a little over a year and a half now, I still seem to struggle with matching seasons to months. My brain often likes to think that Halloween is around the corner, followed by Thanksgiving with Christmas quickly trailing it. And yet, the calendar still reads April. Bother. I now have a whole new understanding of the "Christmas in July" that so many speak of. Seeing how our Christmas/New Years cards for the Chilean family arrived in February and we have not had time to send them out, we may be just join in celebrating a June/July Christmas anyways. Better late than never, right?
I know it's been a while since I last posted but we have been very busy. Antonio's Dad, Prudencio, came home from the hospital in late February / early March after a little over two weeks in the hospital. He is now fully recovered from his infected hernia operation wound, but Antonio continued to work at the family store full time until the second week or so of March. Unfortunately, Segundo, the employee, decided to disappear for a week and a half so Antonio was back in the store again until the first weeks of April. This time was very stressful and difficult for us as Antonio not only had to work weekends, but we were not able to spend much quality time during the week together, either. Now Antonio is finally able to dedicate himself completely to his studies and is doing quite well in his last year and a half of law school.
The other stress factor of the past few months has been my job. The end of March was when my three months of training ended. However, at the meeting with my bosses, the told me they did not feel confident that they wanted to contract me yet. They gave me two options: I could start to look for another job, or do another month of training and see how that worked. I obviously requested an extra month of training, but found myself questioning whether or not I wanted to continue working with them for the next few weeks. Last Friday I finally decided that this job is not the best fit for me. I really miss interacting with people in person and being able to utilize this talent of mine on a daily basis. I realized that the stress and pressure to improve faster, without the stability of knowing whether I would actually have a job at the end of the month, was not worth it. I am now looking for a job where I can use my people skills on a daily basis. Completely computer jobs, without much human interaction during the day, are just not my cup of tea.
On a brighter note, I will be applying to a Study Abroad part-time position and a job at the US Embassy this week and plan to send my CV to every headhunter office in Santiago, so I have faith that something will work out. If not, I can always go back to teaching.
Outside of work, I have continued enjoying my English-for-dance class exchange with my wonderful, adoring Chilean friend, and have been adopted by a group of Chilean elementary school teachers who I met through the sister of my friend's Chilean boyfriend. We go out every few weeks for drinks and usually message each other during the week. It's nice to have a group to hang out with! I have also really enjoyed getting to know my coworker, Alissa. It will be sad to not be working with her anymore, but I look forward to maintaining our friendship and eating lunch with her anyways when I can!
Other excitements: This upcoming Saturday, April 27th, Antonio will turn... 29! Woohoo! I have some plans up my sleeve so it should be a fun and super exciting day for the both of us. :p
Antonio and I managed to go Salsa dancing once this past month and have started attending the occasional Sunday tango lesson! Also, if all goes well and timing and money work out, my hope is to spend Christmas in Oregon this year to see everyone and now to also attend my cousin's wedding. Yay! I've got my fingers crossed, and will start stalking the flight sites looking for cheap flights. Let me know if you see any!
Hugs to you all! Hope you are all enjoying your spring. :p
Abrazos (hugs) from Chile!
Love, Kaia (^_^)
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