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.
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