Escuela Espanol Bellavista and more

Week 7 has just passed by. Christmas and the New Year draws closer and Christmas lights have started to appear everywhere. Ít´s quite strange when it's warm and sunny outside.  I actually feel quite sorry for the Father Christmas's in the stores... it's Ho, Ho, Ho .. but I am sure they are saying HOT, HOT, HOT!  They also seem to be mostly slim line and female, without the beard thank god!. Eli has been super efficient and all the presents have been bought, wrapped and under the tree which went up yesterday. I wonder what she has bought me?

Two weeks ago I started the Spanish classes at Escuela Espanol Bellavista. It is good fun. I am undertaking a three week intensive course to refresh my Spanish. I felt a little happy as their assessment put me in an Intermediate Class, so I have improved a little. 


My classmates come from around the world. a German, a Mongol, a South Korean and another Brit, a Brazilian and a Swede. The South Korean calls himself Pedro as he believes that his real name would be difficult to pronounce... well he is right, the teachers have a real problem with his name. The Mongol.. looks like Genghis Khan ( fits the stereotype perfectly just give him a sword and put him on a horse) until he starts speaking . He is Austrian, having moved there when he was 13, passing via Russia and Germany and speaks fluent German. The Brit seems to be lost, going through a 'trying to find himself phase'. A nice guy, but has a very irritating habit. He clicks his tongue when he does not remember a word, and that´s in English too. The Brazalian is a female who is really nice and speaks Spaninsh with a wonderful melodic Portugese tone.  The Swede is engaged to a Chilean and he is looking for wedding venues at the moment. 


There are some other characters - for example a 'Gringo´( what they call Yanks here) who is married to a Chilean. He knows f..king everything! You name it he knows it. He has lived in Chile for six months and he knows the entire Latin American problem, the Chilean tax system etc. I just thank god he is not in my class. The other day in a coversational session he was arguing with the teacher about the Chilean identiy card and he was convinced he was right , you could see the ot have a clue. Another charater is a Scot, who obviously comes from a wealthy background and is hoping to travel from the bottom of Chile all the way to Alaska.

I have three 'profersors' , Sergio, Jenny and Vanessa. Sergio and Vanessa are a little reserved whilst Jenny is the complete opposite..mad as a hatter and good fun. The school itself is a very happy place and they arrange many activities in the afternoon and evenings to help improve the langauge.

Well, I have finally got my current account and my cards.. woooohooooo. Absolutely amazing seeing that I have not got my Visa yet. My bank executive was saving that I was very lucky as the banks here never open accounts for foreigners without residence visa´s. What´s more they gave me a Platinum visa, which really pissed the other half off as she only has one of those 'normal' cc´s. Ha Ha!


Last Saturday we went out with a another couple to a restuarant is the so called French quarter of Santiago. The restuarant Peluqueria Francesa, has a french barbershop on the ground floor, where one can still get a wet shave.The food was very good, it came to about seventy pounds for the 4 of us, three courses, coffee and two bottles of wine.. increíble! It also rained that evening, first time in six and a half weeks.

This weekend is a quite one, preparaing for a class on Monday.. going to go through some slang and swear words..which should be interesting. I have also got to write Cinderella in Spanish for Monday´s homework. So I better stop. Muchos saludos all.
 http://www.boulevardlavaud.cl/english/history.html

A month since I left UK

It will be four weeks today ( 25th Nov) since leaving the UK and time has flown by.  Last week, mainly involved the continuing trauma of trying to open a bank account with El Banco de Chile. Maybe it is a good thing, after what banks got up to in the UK and US, but it appears that the banks here are very risk averse to opening accounts . They need to see all your documents, your money, they take your photo and your thumb print. I actually thought at one point they were going to want to measure my penis... well if they had, they definitely would have opened an account for me.... oh yes be afraid! be very afraid!..ha ha ha ha ha ha ( in a shrill demented  voice).


I have met some interesting and some odd characters at the English Spanish group. V who organises the group is a petit Chilean lass who is an architect. She is lovely, friendly and makes sure the group sticks to the rules. That said, I have yet to discover why she runs the group and spends a considerable length of time organising other activities. 


Then there is a Al, a Brit, who is a bright young female  with a doctorate in Astronomy, She and her team has just discovered , wait for it, a unique and exotic star system with a very cool methane-rich (or T-) dwarf star and a 'dying' white dwarf stellar remnant in orbit around each other and apparently it is a 'Rosetta Stone' for T-dwarf stars. All very interesting if I had a clue what she was taking about.. but really.. she is nice and speaks Spanish and teaches at the University of Chile.


E, a Chilean guy.. well he is weird.. always looking down on the floor, slagged off Chile, had enough of it people, slagged off the Bank he worked for and wanted to be anywhere but Chile.  I could not find one thig about Chile he liked. I tried to get away from him as rapidly as I could. 


J also from Chile who was with his girlfriend, spent most of the night eyeing up every female that moved.. he would cut a conversation short and head straight for the women. As for his girlfriend, an American - whose bright white teeth dazzles, was a stereotypical gringo,  so false and pretending to be really interested in what you had to say. I think they deserve each other.  


There were many more  a couple of Swiss guys, a Frenchman, Germans, Brazilian, Chinese .. a fantastic mix of people..

http://www.morande.cl/

The weekend was spent down on the coast. We had a lovely time in El Quisco and Valparaiso with our friends Jorge and Ximena. We had lunch at The House of Morande in the Casablanca  Valley. It was good but at the moment El Cuadro and Santa Rita are ahead in the wine and food stakes. 

El Quisco- view from the house

After a lovely lunch we got to El Qisco, which is a seaside town but not of the same standard as Valparaiso or Vina or Algorobbo but it made some of the loveliest empanadas I have tasted. We spent the night at Ximena´s unlcle´'s place by the sea side chilling out and playing cards until 3am. 

The following day was spent in Valparaiso. We ate at a Belgium Art Deco Hotel restuarant. called Via Via Cafe. I recommend it highly.  

Well I will sign off with reports of my first quake experience. There was a loud rumble whilst the house shook for about 3 or 4 seconds about 11pm last night. It was amazing. Eli was non plus! but I got some quake advice from Eli.. like don´t stay in bed, Get out to the street or get up open the door so that one can get out quickly it needs be.  

Valparaiso Bay

Week Three : November 8th to 14th.

The week started with the excitement of my first job in Chile and that was fun.

Tuesday was relatively quiet as Eli was at a conference in town and I spent the first day in the house alone. I decided to go to the supermarket and do some shopping. It wasn’t too far away so I walked, that said I had no option but to walk. It’s amazing how a simple task of going to the supermarket made me feel nervous. I was worried that I could be asked questions which I would not be able to answer. No, actually, it was the fear that I would be asked questions in rapid, quick fire Chilean Spanish and that I would be left floundering like a fish out of water. In any event I managed it, and the only difficult question I faced was one that is asked by thousands of checkout staff all over the word. Yes, you guessed it! ´Do I have a loyalty card or collect points?’Ahhh!

Wednesday I decided to join the Santiago English Spanish Group. They meet every Tuesday, yes stupid me.  I went to the meeting and not a soul was there. Eli had dropped me off and had gone off to meet some friends miles away, so I had a couple of drinks and wondered the streets of BellaVista for a few hours. But I will be going tomorrow..

Thursday was my second English class. I got an extra student, more dosh. I am beginning to enjoy it. I led some role plays of airport scenarios. I think the guys will progress very quickly.

Friday, I saw my doctor in the morning. He gave me three options. Have the whole colon out so will never have any more problems or take medication again for it. But it is major surgery. The other was remove the mass using endoscopy, and start a regime of regular surveillance or do nothing with a 50:50 chance that I might become cancerous. Have to think about it. So Friday was a little depressing but drank the night away with a wonderful barbecue at Marco´s house.  

Saturday and Sunday was quiet as Eli was away and it gave me a chance to sort out some of my books, notes, CV etc. Great win for ENGLAND against the Aussies.. great match – watched it this morning on ESPN. Unfortunately CHELSEA lost . Flycick also kept me company online..thanks Flychick.

Hey, I have not described our house to you have I? As you can see it is a new build (just about 4 years old) in a suburb called Valle Grande. It’s situated in the north-west part of Santiago called Lampa, a 30 minutes drive to the center of town. La casa has 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms, a small kitchen and a living room. There is a back garden and a driveway to park the car. Eli’s dog, Almendra, usually sleeps out the front. The garden has got lemon, lime, orange and avocado tree. The house faces north and from the side of the house and garden there is a wonderful view of the Andes. It withstood the rigorous testing of 8.6 magnitude earthquake and therefore I think it’s been built well.  

Well another week beckons.. still waiting for news about my visa, my bank account and my health scheme. 

Hasta lueo

First teaching job

Sunday(7/11) was awful, it rained all day and it was cold. It was very unusual for this time of the year. That said , Monday the day of my my first teaching experience the weather improved significantly.
I got to the office at CODELCO early and it was a little awkward as the students were not available until 1230, so I sat in reception revising my lesson.
I was really nervous but when we started the class it went off better than I thought. I had four students : Eduardo, Claudio, Cesar and Cristian. All four are engineers' and have a good level of English but just don't get the chance to practice speaking very much. They wanted to learn and were good fun. I started off with a get to know each other session  followed by a question and answer game. The hour went by very quickly.

Surprise Party

Wow had an amazing surprise 'Welcome to Chile' party at Casana Lonquen http://www.casonalonquen.cl , where we had our wedding. I thought I was going for a quite lunch with Eli, our friend Kena and Elvira, the boss of Lonquen - but boy was I in for a shock. It was hell of a shock and a fantastic surprise. Hidden in the back garden were all my friends and new family waiting to give me a huge welcome to Chile. I was taken aback and apparently my face was a real picture. I am waiting to see it..will put it on Facebook . It was a great day, started at 2pm and finished at 10pm.. lots of drinking and eating and dancing and more drinking etc. I was so emotional that I could barely eat all the food that had been prepared. Thanks to my friends and family in Chile.

My first job

Hey all, last few days have been very quiet, just getting on with domestic stuff and important visa related things. I have got a temporary RUT ( equivalent to a National Insurance number) and I am in process of opening a bank account.  I sent off my visa forms today, so fingers crossed that should go okay.
I have also got an appointment with a eminent gastroenterologist to sort out my colon. Hopefully that should go well.
The most important thing is I had an interview for a teaching job, and I start next week. It is with CODELCo ( one of the biggest company's in Chile). I will be teaching a small group of students twice a week. It's not great money, but great place to start and get experience and network. So a big Pisco |Sour for me later. 
The weather has been great , a mild 25 today, a warm 29 tomorrow..woohooo.
Love to you all... missing |England. but not the weather.

It's beautiful outside

It's Sunday, the sun is shining and Eli is making me breakfast. We had a lovely day yesterday, finally finishing sorting out our things. The house is looking very organised.
Jorge and Ximena came around and we had a lovely lunch. I cooked a Sri Lankan curry and a stir fry. Yum Yum. A few cervezas and vino and the evening went down well.
We are going shopping, lunch and then the cinema. Then later .............?

First day's in Chile

Had a great trip to Santiago. For the first time in a long time , everything went to plan. All flight connections on time and went smoothly. Even cleared immigration and customs quickly straight into hands of Eli. It was so good to see her.
Went straight home, Almendra ( Eli's Boxer) waited at gate and was very excited to see me. Eli and I had 'breakfast'. He He!
Having recovered spent rest of day spent emptying all my boxes which arrived from London and my four suitcases. I have so much crap, I really don't know why I was not harder on selecting stuff before I left. Anyway virtually all done, just a few more boxes and the bicycles.
Cooked a curry for Eli and had dinner by candle light as there was a power cut.
Work up late this morning, no power as yet, so remained in bed.
Got going about 12 , more organising and cleaning... and we have nearly finished. The house is looking clean and tidy and organised. Had lunch at 4, watching '2012' in bed.
May not bother getting up. Update tomorrow.

Tuesday 26th Oct - two days to go.

Great night last night with Ian and Gerald. I need to go on a diet. I have been stuffing myself over last six weeks and I feel like a pig, although technicallly I cannot be one anymore. I will start the diet when I get to Chile.

Anyway, having lunch with Conor after taking my car to the dealer. Boo hoo , my poor car, best car I have ever had  -VW beetle.. it served me well over the last 12 years and still going like a dream. It will be nice to see Conor , it will be very sad to see Conor. I don´t know when I will see him next and I will miss him terribly.

Little shocked after seeing the consultant.. let you know after letting ELi know.

Monday 25th

Estoy muy aburidooooooooooooooooo hoy but going this evening with my friend Gerald and Ian at the Gate. Looking forward to it. I will miss Gerald and Ian dearly.

Also have appointment at Central Middlesex re my colonscopy .. hope results are okay.

Sunday 25th Oct

Should have met my son today, but he had someting urgent to do. Started cleaning my room with vengence. Went out in afetrnoon with my friend Anuar, here from Malaysia and had a Malaysian would you believe.  . His daughter just started at Oxford Brooks Uni.. I could not believe how quickly she had grown up. Otherwise a quiet day.
I am getting impatient .. wanted it to be Wednesday.

Saturday 24th

No more internet...boo hooo. Returned from Swindon early. Had meeting in town with old friends....Mike, Veronica and family at Selfridges Food bar... had a hot salted beef  sandwich... absoulutely amazing... I recommend you all try it. It is worth the queue. I got some great news from them... made me very happy, but I cannot tell you all at the momemnt , sworn to secrecy.
Later took a nostaligic walk around Trafalgar Square, the Embankment along the River etc... i will miss London.

Friday - 5 days to flight

Woke up this morning to a message on my TV saying 'we are going to cut your links to Sat tv and www' - disconnecct all our gadgets and send it back.  This means no blogs until I an find a connection.
Did not bother going out last night, pigged out and continued watching my box set of the entire series of West Wing.

Spent rest of day doing bugger all. Then decided to drive to Swindon.. spent the evening drinking with John and Maxine. John , is very old and good friend , my best man at the wedding and I will miss him but will not miss occasioanl madness.

 Cooked Max and him a chicken curry whilst drinking some lovely Chilean wine. John and I spent the rest of the night tracking down all our old tracks we used to listen to at Poly.  Finally went to bed at 2am. Great night.

Day 1 Civilain - 6 days to flight

Hello all... used my Oyster card for the first time. Weird, since some of the station guards know me and were baffled when I paid to use the Underground. I went to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes to get my final document legalised. Then a trip to the Chilean Embassy and more money for legalisation of documents. I tell you what-  get into the notary business.. loads of money in it.

More packing and organising today. My room starting to look empty , bags are starting to get heavy though. Closing down my TV and broadband connections on Saturday, so I may not be able to post anything until I get to Chile.

I am going to chill out tonight, in fact I might go to the movies, I have two free tickets. It's a toss up between Inception or Wall Street.

Let you know I did tomorrow.

Retirement Day Part 2.

Well I have joined the civilian ranks, handed my warrant card. Ahh have to use my Oyster card to use the tube and trains.. no more free travel. I am pleased to say that people I have a lot of time for came to my farewell do, bar one. It was lovely , got two great England rugby tops and a pair of England team cufflinks, chocolates, wine and much support. I will miss Chris, Gerald, Donna, Tracy, Peju and Karen and many more.
Going out this evening with Ian and Simon for a Sri Lankan.. looking forward to it..Hope to have a few beers tonight to celebrate. I will let you know if I have headache or not.

Final Day at Work

Arrived at worked this morning as usual at 745am. I had coffee with the boss and the rest of senior management team. I will miss this early morning coffee and the mixture of piss taking and serious talk. I had my last Metropolitan Police sausage role for breakfast... the pastry that surrounds it is unique.-- yummy.

I have bought cakes and drinks for a lunch time goodbye session. It will be interesting to see who turns up. I hope that the extremely small bunch of useless, belligerent and arrogant members of the people I have had to manage don't turn up. I will let you know later what happened. Bye till then.

Chile here I come

Hi all, I am starting this blog to keep you informed of my new life in Chile. This is my first attempt at blogging so I will keep it short. I retire tomorrow and start getting ready to go. I leave next Wednesday afternoon from LHR and arrive in Chile the next day. Wow, I cannot believe it. Am I apprehensive ?, Yes I am. But at the same time I am so happy that I can join Elizabeth in Santiago. Go to go now, I have to finish organising all the stuff in my room.