Latest happenings and pictures!

Life is finally settling down into some form of routine and it's hard to believe I've been here nearly a month. Language school has been really good and my teacher last week finally managed to explain the differences between the imperfect and indefinite past tenses in a way that makes sense! Also nice to know that Chileans simplify things by only using one of the 4 past tenses for everything. Perhaps a little confusing meaning-wise but easy to communicate! My Spanish is definitely improving although I really need to get stuck into some solid vocab learning...I also cooked for the family this week which went really well. Spaghetti Bolognese was a novelty and the Chileans don't really use a lot of herbs when cooking either and they loved it. Not typical NZ food but then I struggled to think of anything "typically" Kiwi except lamb and pavlova. Ideas??? 

Today (Sunday) me and Emy, the two boys and Emy's mother Yaya (not her real name but it's what everyone calls her) walked up Cerro San Cristóbal. It's the big hill in the middle of Santiago and has a statue of the virgin Mary at the top. Obviously at 2-year-old speed we didn't make it all the way but it was a very fascinating place anyway. I didn't like the dust and the heat - I felt very dirty afterwards! It reminded me a bit of Mt Victoria in Wellington except on a bigger scale. There's a zoo and a cable-car and a swimming pool and picnic areas and lots of pretty gardens. Best of all, stunning views of the city in all directions. A little crazy to think that there are more people here than our entire country.

I've been taking pictures of things requested in the last blog so please enjoy!

My room

Horse rides with Pedro (his new favourite game, good thing the knee is holding up!)

Music time with David (one of Filipe's friends)

West Santiago

North Santiago

Santiago East (the big building is the largest in Latin America)

My street (Cuadro Verde)

My compound (many people live in these little side streets that have a locking gate. Everyone also has a locked gate with a high fence and spikes into their property. Many house also have grates over their ground floor windows. Guess the crime rate everyone...)

My house (the orange one)

We have the front half and Filipe's parents live in the back half