Country #2

So we left Ecuador last Sunday. It was sad to leave our family there. The school basically through a party for us on the Friday before we left and alcohol was served at it. Now I only bring this up because it was technically illegal to drink that day, and the next day and actually the next day...it was illegal to drink that entire weekend. Why? because of the elections. Yup, when there are national elections in Ecuador, no one is allowed to drink for the entire weekend in order to ensure the sobriety of an entire nation. That's democracy for ya.

So we left Ecuador on Sunday. I sat next to a guy on the flight from Ecuador who proceeded to tell me about how he does not like to read but the few books that he did read his favorites were the ones written by and about Hitler. Fortunately he got off in Lima. We arrived in Santiago at 1:30 AM and we greeted by the 3 people already down here in Chile as part of the group before us. They will be here for another 3 months.

My new family picked me up that afternoon. We got to the house and i met the father. A very nice man who can speak some spanish. As we got out of the car at our new house they began to joke with me in spanish about how my new room is on the roof of the house. I played along until they took me up to me room, i saw the mother get down in a crouch, open up a 2 x 2 'door' and crawl through. I turned to the sister with a confused look and she motioned to me to crawl through. And so I entered my new bedroom. That is me in the picture in my room.

Yup, every day I crawl through a 2 x 2 door. I have to walk though my new brother's room to get to it which is a bit awkward when he is sleeping. My room is the attic. And in the daytime it is my new mother's office. There is only a very small section in which I am able to stand up straight. I smacked my head about 5 times on the roof the first day. I am not looking forward to the first night I come home after drinking. A concussion is nearly inevitable. The family is great though. They have an 8th grader, 6th grader, 1st grader and a three year old. The oldest speaks pretty good english as well as the father, but he only speaks to me in spanish as he knows i need the practice. Oh, and the family has a house at a ski resort in the Andes about 30 minutes from here and the father has season tickets to one of the big soccer teams down here.

The school I am now working is called St. George's. 2500 students with over 220 teachers. It is a catholic K-12 school. All we have done the past week, and all we will do for the next month and probably more is watch teachers, help out a bit and kind of just get to know the place...not bad.