Saturday, June 14, 2008

Man its COLD down here!

Not too much has happened this month. I've been working a lot and saving money to travel and see South America. Below are a couple pictures of my students and a going away dinner that we made for some friends that left.

The first picture is of a lady named Francisca. When we started class she was getting married and moving to Brazil in three weeks. She wanted to brush up on her already fluent English because she was going to be forced to speak Portuguese in Brazil. She hired me through an institute to give her lessons 3 hours every morning (I had to get up at 6AM to go out to her office outside of the city) for three weeks! I want to see you try to plan a three hour class for a person who can already speak English just fine. So I taught her for two weeks until she decided that she was "too busy" to have class.



The second group of students are from Carrier, the multinational air conditioning company. They are forced to speak English with their counterparts in other countries and the owner hired me to teach the whole office English. I teach the beginners Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The intermediate and advanced (pictured) classes I teach on Tuesday and Thursday at lunch and after office hours. It has been fun because I have gotten to know everyone in the office.



I am well acquainted with the Santiago public transportation, to say the least, and I have made it a habit to bring a book with me everywhere I go. I read on the subway, on the bus and when I'm waiting for my students to show up. I just finished a book called A Sever Mercy. It wouldn't have been my first choice of a read but it was sent to me from my friend Heather in L.A. and I actually enjoyed it a lot. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a book that will spark some deep thinking.



I just started a book by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape letters.



Here is a picture of the Andes mountains that border Santiago. I have a perfect view of the reflection of the sunset against the mountains on my way to my evening classes.



It has been getting colder and colder down here. A few weeks back we had a week and a half of straight rain. After it stopped the moisture brought a bunch of bright green moss all over the city.



The last few pictures are of a dinner we prepared as a going away party for two of the staff leaving for Sweden. Johan and Ursula are a Swedish and Peruvian couple who have been working with us for the last month. Ursula made this super good Peruvian meal for us all.






No comments: