life, etc.

Well I've been quite busy these past few weeks. I began a new 10 hour a week intensive English course, which is keeping me very busy, and I'm beginning a new conversation course next week for Chilean Fulbright scholars. I'm very happy to have the opportunity to teach. I can feel my teaching skills improving and every week I feel more confident in my abilities. And I have great students, so I enjoy the work.

Santiago is, to put it charitably, a less than charming city in the winter. The smog is horrible. The city is a victim of "thermic inversion": it's always a smog pocket because it's a major city surrounded by mountains, but in the winter, when the temperatures drop below zero, this prevents warm air from rising and carrying the particulate matter in the air out of the city, so it stays trapped. Last week was the first "pre-emergencia" of the year. In the United States, a smog emergency is when the particulate matter in the air reaches 50-60 parts per million (very few places in the United States have levels this high, but one such place is California's Central Valley). However, in Chile, a smog emergency is anything over 500 ppm. Last week, we were in the 460s and it was pretty awful (it's not much better this week, though the rain and evaporation cleared some of it out.) The city is brown and gray and a block or two in the distance looks hazy. You cough and rub your eyes and your snot turns black and some people get headaches and lots of children end up in the hospital.

But at least it's freezing cold. (That, of course, was in homage to the perfect joke at the beginning of Annie Hall: "Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of them says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions.")

At night, I sleep with long underwear and wool socks and sweat pants and undershirt and long-sleeve shirt and sweatshirt and polar fleece and wool cap, under four wool blankets and three comforters and getting out of bed can be agony. Yes, I know, I'm just a spoiled Californian. But this spoiled Californian cannot understand why people decide to put up with this kind of weather (at least without indoor heating)!

On the other hand, the time is flying by. I'll only by here for about 7 more weeks, and I've already lived here for 4.5 months, which is hard to believe. I'm certainly glad I made the decision to come. All in all, it's been a very valuable experience. My Spanish has improved immensely and I've made some great friends. Moving to a foreign country by myself and all of the challenges it has entailed has made me feel capable of handling whatever life throws my way. And I feel much calmer than I did in the United States. I've tried to really soak in the philosophy of doing what makes you happy in life rather than focusing on goals and achievement, as we are taught to do in the US. And I've finally learned to enjoy doing nothing, at least every once in awhile.

I'm including some photos and videos below of friends. I hope they make you smile.


Lauren, cooking in her kitchen


Marcelo and Vero demonstrating the "flaite dance" at a dinner party at Lauren's house


Lauren and Marcelo "flamenco dancing" in my living room before karaoke night


Marcelo, patron saint of dish washing


A none-goofy picture of Marcelo (upon request)


Silly Katy


My friend Daniel (from Berkeley) and Vero at my burrito dinner party


Cool concert nearby


Vero at a concert nearby


Lauren at a concert nearby