Job Hunting in a Foreign Country

To tell you the truth is was kinda intimidating hitting the streets in a foreign country looking for work. I found all of the language schools in Santiago in the white pages, found where they were on a map and went door to door trying to sell myself. In all I stopped by 7 schools and by the end of the day got called back for two interviews. I went to the interviews and they seemed like they went well. They pay is decent. All of these companies send their English teachers out into companies who subcontract them. I'll get paid depending on how far away the job is. I'll be averaging around 10 USD per hour...not bad. The picture above is the view from one of the schools that I interviewed at.

I met some really cool people while I was out. I stopped in one office that was run by a guy who studied at the University of Colorado. He was really helpful in pointing me in the right direction. He told me how much I should be working for and which schools to steer clear from. He found out that I was a Christian and invited me to their English speaking mens Bible study. I'm going to show up this Monday but I have a feeling that I'm going to be the youngest guy there.

The CITY

Yesterday I walked all over the city in search of Havianas sandals. They are really popular in other parts of South America....but I couldn't find any here in Santiago. I think its because Summer is almost over. While I was scouring the city I took some pictures of the graffiti and the socialist propaganda.
You can see more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/xjamesax/

Santiago!

I've made the move and am now living in Santiago Chile. I worked out a sweet deal here in town and am working 18 hours a week cleaning a hostel in exchange for free room board and breakfast. You can check out the hostel at www.hostaldesammy.com My day has consisted of getting ready, eatting breakfast and exploring the city.

Yesterday I went to one of the centeral markets called El Mercado Venga. Dont be fooled by the pictures. The market is located in the oldest neighborhood in town and it looks like mexico or a third world country. I'll post pictures of other parts of the town later this week. Its very clean...aside from the grifitti. It reminds me a lot of Los Angeles. The city is very spread out and has a lot of smog.

Monday I will be walking around town handing out my resume to the English schools.I bought a cell phone down here so if anyone wants to suprise me and give me a ring the number is 6-253-6049.

I'm here!!!

Hello everyone,

I sent out invitations to follow this blog on facebook and got an overwhelming response. After traveling something around 20 hours I arrived in Buenos Aires. In the Washington DC airport I was holding my breath because there were 18 people trying to get on the plane stand by. Where was I in the line of 18? I took the scary position of #15. After a lot of sweating and praying my name was called for a seat.

It turned out that I was seated next to a lady from Paraguay who didn’t speak a word of English.

Getting off of the plane was a shock in itself. I went from 30 degree weather in Colorado to 85 degrees here in South America. I grabbed my carryon bags and headed for customs and immigration. Standing in the hour and a half line to get my passport stamped I started talking to people around me. I met two super cool guys who were staying at the same hostel that I was. Adam was from New Zealand and had been working on the Colorado Ski slopes for the last three months and Tommy was from some small Celtic nation in the UK. We ordered a taxi and were off to the center of Buenos Aires.

On the short ride from the airport to the city center I could tell that I was going to love this city. It’s a mix of European architecture and Latin culture.
We checked into out hostel, secured out things and were off exploring the city. We walked 8 blocks to La Casa Rosario where Evita Paron addressed her people upon her return. Right next to the Casa Rosario is a huge cathedral. What I found interesting was at the very front of the church where Jesus Christ usually is portrayed on a cross they had a huge statue of Mary instead with a little statue of Jesus under her.

We explored the city for hours and by the end our feet were so tired we were forced to go back to the hostel. We met some girls from the UK during the day and ended up going out do dinner with them and some of their friends.

I ended the night chatting and drinking beer on a rooftop terrace under the stars in the warm air with people from Brazil, New Zealand and the UK....Man this is what living is about.

Click here to see some more pics from the day.

Ready or Not...Here I Come





Hello friends and family. Thanks for joining me on my adventures in South America. I'll use this blog to keep everyone up to date with whats going on my wild ride. I'm not the the best scribe nor am i eloquent with my words. So I'll try my best to keep you entertained with my quirky stories, sweet pictures and I'll even try to include some videos.

While i've been home I've grown a beard.

...why?

Simply because I can. No employer to answer to...No girlfriend to tell me to shave.

On Tuesday I will fly from Denver to Charlotte, NC to Washington DC to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When I get there I'll update you with pictures.