Mountains and two dates

Ok, I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. I was told the classes that i will have next year. My normal class load will be 4 classes a day and 3 preps but for about the first two months, i will have 6 classes a day as i will be covering the classes for one teacher that is due to give birth in about a month. Down here is Chile, women are given one months leave prior to the due date and nearly 2 months after without the risk of losing their job for at least one year after the birth. This teacher, she actually left one week ago so i have been covering her classes lately. The first class i covered for her was in a rather large room and all the students were seated in the back of the class when i walked in. I said to them, "what's wrong? do i smell or something?" then i pointed at all the empty seats in front of me. Immediately, nearly ten girls jumped up and occupied those seats closest to me. Teaching down here will be easy...which leads me into my next update...

A date. Yup, i was talking to this woman named Consuelo, yes she was a woman not a girl, at out halloween party for about 25 minutes and that was it. Her friend, who happens to work on my school, saw me about a week later and told me that her friend wanted me to call her (yes, those are the mad skills that i have...25 minute conversation, in spanish, and i get a number). On the phone, she offered to pick me up from my family's house, but i quickly threw that idea aside to avoid the awkwardness that surely would have ensued. We met up at some plaza and got dinner and talked for over 2 hours all in spanish. She asked me how old i was, and i told her, but obviously i refrained from asking her, even though i am dying to know because the running bet is that she is 32 years old. We are actually meeting up tomorrow for sushi but i am completely not interested in anything more than friends. She is really nice, and seems eager to show me around santiago so i feel bad not hanging out every so often (i am such a nice guy).

Two weekends ago, we hiked up the "mountain" Monquehue which the chileans really consider only a hill. we did it on saturday. we made it up these in about 5-6 hours to a view overlooking most of santiago. it was very beautiful but some of the girls struggled with getting up to the peak and climbing back down it. But that was really only practice for this past weekends hike...

This past weekend we hiked up to Punto de Dama. It is named that because there are two peaks shaped liked a woman's...Anyways, 5 of us went, Matias, our guide, myself, tony, jillian and katy. It was a weekend long treck. We all had to carry an overnight hiking backpack with enough food for two days, two tents, warm clothes for the night, sleeping bags, and a few other odds and ends. We hiked up the mountain for nearly 8 hours with breaks almost every hour. We finished much of the water we brought with us and started drinking the water from the streams, which we had planned on doing anyways. We hiked through snow, climbed over rocks and finally made it to the site Matias had aimed for.

The view we had from where we camped was amazing. At night, we could see the entire city of santiago lit up. In the morning we were above the clouds that covered the entire valley below us. However, it was also freezing at night. My sleeping bag was not nearly warm enough, and i was too tall for the tent we used. So my feet we touching the edge of the tent and they froze. I also forgot to bring a hat with me so i wore my underwear on my head to stay warm (and yes they were clean). The next morning we hiked up a bit higher to a point where there was a cross and from there you could see the other mountain ranges around us. Me and Matias also sprinted down the mountain (at least a 45 degree downward slope) to protect our campsite from some other travellers that were passing by it. We literally ran down the mountain in a straight line, meaning not using the trails, using a running strategy where you drag your walking stick behind you and lean all your weight on it while you sprint (kind of like Bear Grills on the Man v. Wild show on the discovery channel). I felt kind of like brave heart running through the mountains...

Afterwards we packed up our stuff, kind of skiied/slid down some snow, took some rediculous picitures, i nailed Katy in the eye with a snow ball, and made it down the mountain by six that sunday evening. Oh and for the most part we only ate tuna mixed with roman noodles, hard-boiled eggs, and some bread. it was awesome.

I went to the Uraguay vs. Chile world cup qualifiying match the other week two. It was electric at the stadium. Chile lost 3-0 on some horrible goals, but the highlight was definitely when the announcer announced the names of the visiting teams line up. After each player's name was announced, the entire stadium, (70,000 people) in unison would shout somethin like "cuncha tu madre" which depending on who you ask, is literally translated as "F___ your mom" or "son of a bitch". it was rediculous.

It has taken me two days to do this post so i should update that i went out with Consuelo again last night for sushi. This one was definitely a date as she was decked out and all. I felt like such a child though because she clearly has several years on me (now the running bet is that she is pushing 34), she picked me up from my house in her car (that was slightly weird for me), her spanish is clearly better than mine so the waiter talked to her and asked her all the questions and passed the bill to her...I am pulling the plug on it. My father down here warned me about those chilean women at that age.

Pictures in the collage: all are from our hike to punto de dama. top left is santiago at night, rediculous pic in the snow, the cross atop the mountain, me and matias making it to the cross, a sunset photo of the hiking group with underwear on my head, our campsite, awesome shot of the girls with santiago in the backgroun, katy about to get hit in the eye with a snowball (you can see the snowball in the photo and she let me throw it at her, she said i could have one free shot as she thinks my aim is bad...silly katy), and us hiking to the cross with santiago in teh background coverd in clouds.