Week 6 in Chile

Another eventful week in Chile! Here's the recap:

Monday, July 8, 2013
-Work all day; worked more on the e-learning courses; Sebastian and everyone are swamped so he hasn't had time to look over my work and give me feedback, so for the time being, those projects are at a stand still for the time being
-Went to the bank at lunch and learned how to cash a check in Chile! I'm learning how to do things in Spanish and almost act like a normal person here
-Came home and had some dinner and hung out; chatted some more with Keku; she is really cool and gives me great advice, and we are becoming pretty good friends I'd say; always nice to have dependable people in your corner

Tuesday, July 9, 2013
-Worked all day again; finally finished all the e-learning courses, so now I am fully versed on the rules and regulations of my company, and all in spanish too!
-Had lunch with a a coworker named Cristina; she's from Spain, and moved to Chile about 2 years ago; we had an "intercambio" lunch, meaning that we spoke in spanish for half of the time and then in english for the other half; it was really fun and successful because it was mutually beneficial; she wants to keep doing this lunch every week; she also invited me to come hang out with her and her friends from Spain, so that's exciting! more friends!
-Came home and had some dinner; some of Keku's friends came over and I hung out with them; the two women that came to visit used to work with Keku as english teachers; we all had some very interesting conversations; most interesting was the conversation about what they each remembered from growing up during Pinochet's regime, mostly human rights abuses and having a nanny that was tortured by the regime, very gruesome and scary stuff; I also learned that the street "11 de septiembre" which is named in honor of the day the coup occurred, will be changed to "nueva providencia" very soon because many people did not and still do not support Pinochet or his regime and thus want the street name to be changed

Wednesday, July 10, 2013
-Worked all day again; Sebastian finally finished looking over all of my work, so I could get started on my projects again; I also had my meeting with Ricardo, a partner at the company today, about the powerpoint presentation that I made last week; I was fully prepared to present in english, but as soon as I walked into his office, he told me that I needed to present in spanish... I was a little frazzled and unprepared, but I did it! Todo en español! I guess I know a lot more spanish that I give myself credit for. I was really proud of myself; He wants me to give the presentation again, with more detail and more confidence on my last day of work, which is a week from Friday
-Came home and hung out; Skyped some friends and got a good night sleep; let met tell ya, working is exhausting!

Thursday, July 11, 2013
-Work all day today; I'm learning a lot about Excel and am starting to get quite good at manipulating the spreadsheet so it does what I want it to do, which is exciting
-After work I came home and chilled out for a little bit and Skyped some of my friends; now I am getting ready to go meet some of my Ecela friends at the Hard Rock Cafe, but it was really crowded so we went to a bar over by the school that was really cheap and fun! We had cheap terremotos, a Chilean classic, and I had a completo, which is the Chilean version of a hot dog with palta (avocado), tomatoes, and mayo. This particular one was huge - 30 centimeters!

This is the last weekend that most of my Ecela friends will be here, so it only seems fitting that the students from Tufts in Chile arrive today and that my program starts a week from Monday. It's almost time to end this first chapter of my time in Chile.

Friday, July 12, 2013

-Work all day again today; finished my second powerpoint so that's exciting! I have one more week left at my internship, so I am starting to wind down on my projects. Working in Chile has been a really good experience so far and I have learned a lot about business here as well as business terminology in Spanish

-Came home and hung out for a bit; when I got home Ximena had 2 of her oldest friends over and so I joined them for some tea and cake and practiced my Spanish a bit; they were all very sweet ladies and clearly very good friends

-After I met up with some Ecela people (what's left of them at least, because as I've said most of my friends have already left) for yet another BBQ and then a night at Mito, our favorite bar/disco; everyone was tired though so we called it a night fairly early; it's my friend Sarah's last weekend in Chile, and she also happens to be one of my sorority sisters, but from a different college - obviously we had to commemorate this coincidence with a classic AOII picture

Saturday, July 13, 2013

-After a long week of work and socializing, it is nice to just have a lazy and relaxing day where you can sleep in and just hang out in your pajamas all day; that is basically what I did all day, give or take a trip to the mall to pick up a few things that I have been desperately needing; I did my laundry and made myself some food, watched some Netflix and just hung out; it was a very nice and relaxing day

Sunday, July 14, 2013

-Meeting up with Kris to go to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, which is the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. It commemorates all the lives lost during the Pinochet regime as well as all those who suffered at the hands of his regime, were tortured by his regime, or disappeared because of his regime. The Pinochet dictatorship is still a very touchy subject in Chile, as many people who supported him are still alive today and the fight between left wing and right wing still is just as strong today as it was back then. Because I am not extremely well versed on the subject of Pionchet and Chilean politics/history just yet, I do not feel entirely comfortable attempting to explain what happened on my blog, because I do not want to get anything incorrect. Please check out the wikipedia page of the museum website for more information about the human rights abuses that occurred under the rule of Pinochet.
-After the museum, Kris and I went to Patio Bellavista for a late lunch at this great burger restaurant called Mr. Jack; we were speaking English at lunch because Kris doesn't speak Spanish and a man next to us at a table asked if were were from the States and we were like yeah we are... and so was he. His name is Mark and he's a pilot from California. He joined us for lunch and we chatted for a bit. I'm always meeting such kind and interesting people from all over the world.
-After lunch, my friend Valentina met up with us and then we took the metro back to my house and then watched a movie and caught up; a great end to a very lovely weekend!

Check back next week for more updates!
Besos,
Lesley