Mondays through Fridays I teach classes during the day. Right now I only have three classes: a private lesson with a 35 year-old marketing manager who works for Bell Microproducts, a group class with 6 students from Movistar, and another private lesson with a finance manager at Cardif insurance. The first two are level one, so beginner/intermediate. We do a lot of grammar and basic conversation practice. The finance manager is level 4, so he is pretty advanced. I try to find authentic texts (podcasts, articles, or other things that are made for real people rather than the classroom) on subjects that will interest him to make the hour and a half class go by quickly. When I'm not teaching I have to check in at the Comunicorp office every day. I use the time there to plan my lessons and familiarize myself with their resources.
My boss is a nice woman, but she can be pretty intense. She is always willing to help me out, and she seems to have a great mind for business. Everything she does is to improve the Comunicorp image and sell more classes, so it's important for her to make sure that we know what we're doing and get all the help we need. Recently there has been a lot of turnover in the teaching staff, so my roommate and her veteran friends and just getting to know me and the other knew recruits. Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a little tension in the air. I hope that after the next staff meeting we will get a chance to know each other better and hopefully make friends.
Outside work, I go to yoga Mondays and Wednesdays with my roommate and a couple other teachers, and I go to capoeira Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I used to practice capoeira in the US with a Chilean teacher, and he recommended this school to me. I was a little nervous about showing up by myself, hoping I would be able to understand all the instructions and that the other students wouldn't look at me like a crazy gringa (always a risk...), but when I showed up I was greeted with hugs and kisses, and the group was really happy to have one of Bucho's students join them all the way from America. I confess to enjoying not just a little the room full of young Chilean men in perfect physical form, many of whom seem to find my blue eyes and light hair exotic. I don't necessarily mind the attention. Although there aren't many other girls in the class, they are also really nice and welcoming, which I haven't experienced very often among Chilean girls. There is definitely a sense of community there, and I am glad I found the group so quickly.
Unfortunately, my social life so far has been a bit lacking. I have my roommates, and a few random contacts to hang out with, but somehow on weekends I spend a lot of time waiting to go out and do something, often to be let down at the end when the rest of the crew decides they don't feel like doing anything. I enjoy hanging out around the house with them, but either I need to bring the party and animate them to go out more, or I need to find a group of friends who is always up for an adventure. I am thrilled to be in Chile, but these are the moments when I miss the awesome group of friends I had in Baltimore, where there was never a boring weekend!
Until I find a crew like that down here, I am trying to make the best of time spent relaxing at home, which I never did enough of in Baltimore. I've only been here for three weeks and I'm sure that in time as I get to know my fellow capoeiristas better and make more contacts, I will probably be just as busy as I was back home.
What else can I tell you about daily life? Feel free to send me some questions and give me an inspiration of what else to write about...
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