Not your Average Teacher

Hey strangers! Miss me? Sorry, life has been a little bit chaotic, but I'm back now to fill y'all in on the juicy details. For starters, I moved back to the good ol' US of A. More to come on whats next for this not-average-teacher, but in due time, grasshoppers... First, let me fill you in on Rio de Janeiro: Exactly a month after I arrived home, I jetted back to South America. Looking in, it seems rather odd. You were literally just there Kim… Well, my Chilean friend Flo (who

Hello friends! I’m currently writing to occupy myself in the awkward silence as the handyman installs a new porcelain throne in my bathroom. Why you ask? Let’s backup to yesterday afternoon. I was trying my best to enjoy my Sunday afternoon (Sundays are my least-favorite day of the week) when I had the urge to pee. Like most, I went to the toilet and completed my mission without issues. I had recently dropped one of those things into the toilet tank that makes the water turn

Well hello! It’s been a while! Let’s back it up all the way to mid-September when I returned from Easter Island (see previous post). I actually hopped on a plane a day later and headed back to the USA for a very brief visit home. It was an impromptu trip –one that I was not thrilled about having to take. As many of you know, I am leaving Chile at the end of December. As a result, I am currently trying to close all of my accounts and collect my pension. I have a significant am

For anyone that knows me, you know that I'm obsessed with elephants. Disclaimer: I received some flack over my current profile picture of me riding an elephant. Please know that the elephants at this particular village were under the best care and conditions possible. The village was designed for them. The government checks on such sites on a weekly basis to ensure that they are following all the codes. Elephants are sacred in India, and therefore they (at least the ones I en

Touring India If you're going to fly 20 hours to India, you might as well see the country! Before the teaching portion of the trip, my mom, her co-worker and myself met in Delhi. We had a week of touring before heading to Hyderabad. We started in Delhi, the capital of India. In comparison to the other cities we visited, Delhi was very large with a lot more modernity to it. But still, unlike anywhere I'd ever been before. We didn't see much of Delhi, basically we just staye

Heres an insight into the complex culture that is India, based on my personal observations: The Scene: The amount of cars and people on the streets is unfathomable. The most shocking part of India is the driving. Oh my god. After the first ride I was ready for a Xanax and I wasn't even driving!! The cars drive at full speed and weave in and out of traffic, again, at full speed. And when I mean weave, I mean there's about half a foot space between you and the car next to you.

Hi friends, so we meet again! This time, I’ve just returned from my trip to San Pedro de Atacama. Where is that you ask? It’s a desert located in the north of Chile. The trip was incredible, San Pedro de Atacama is actually listed in the top 5 best places to visit in world on Lonely Planet because it’s so geographically diverse. They have over 70 volcanoes, however only 4 are active. They have salt flats, geysers, miles and miles or desert, mountains, lakes, lagoons and the b

Hello to all my wino friends out there! This post is dedicated to my experiences at two very well known wineries here in Chile. Let’s start with a disclaimer. I know very little about wine, in fact, I don’t even like most wine. However, I think it’s classy as heck and you look pretty cool with a glass of wine in your hand rather than a beer, so I’m trying to develop a taste for it. Slowly but surely, I’m starting to not hate wine. Baby steps. So why go on a wine tour? Well, t

Hello friends! Feliz Navidad! My sincerest apologies for the late post –it has been a busy week to say the least. Let’s back it up to the beginning of the week. We only had to work until Tuesday which was wonderful. On Tuesday, the school threw a party to celebrate the janitors and security guards. Everyone chipped in about $7 USD so we were able to give them each a nice cooler as a gift and buy a delicious cake. I’m glad we got to celebrate them; they do so much for us and t

I’m so excited to share my experience at my first Chilean wedding this past weekend. It was quite different from an American wedding. Throughout this post I’ll point out the moments that stood out to me, and the differences between American and Chilean weddings. The Invitations and Presents: When you are invited to a Chilean wedding, there are no ‘Save the Dates’ and the invitations come just a month of two beforehand. Even if you’re not engaged or married, you get to bring a

Hey there friends! It’s been a short but eventful week here in Chile. For starters, it was our last week before sending the kiddos off to second grade. I’m a little sad to send off my first graders, we’ve become like a little dysfunctional family :P I’ve also been running around the city trying to get my visa paperwork in order. I spent the morning on Wednesday waiting 4 hours to register my visa at the International Police Station. It’s always a fun time there, luckily this

Hi there! I’m so excited to tell you all about my weekend in Valparaíso! I decided to take initiative and just go! Viña Del Mar and Valparaíso are the two most popular weekend getaways from Santiago. Unfortunately none of my friends were available to accompany me, so I flew solo for the weekend. As much as it would be nice to have a travel partner, I’m not going to sit around and wait for one to come along because life is too short! I took a bus from one of the metro stations

Hola! This is a quick post because I am going away for the weekend. School is quickly winding down, and I’m doing my best to tackle the mountain of tasks we still have to finish. We had a pretty good week this week –it flew by. Ceci was sick on Monday so I was in charge of the whole show. Sometimes I think the kids can smell my unease at being the only teacher all day. This week I started to feel awful, I had a fever and what seemed like a terrible head cold. I sucked it up a

Hola people! Hope you all had a lovely week, I know I did! I cannot believe we only have 4 more weeks of school with the kids before they leave for summer vacation! This week we had a class bake sale in efforts to raise money for Teletón. Teletón is a huge organization here in Chile that raises money to provide care for children with disabilities. The fundraising seems to be an annual thing where the whole country works to raise money. Families that qualify receive free care

Hi there beautiful people! I’ve had such a great week! For starters, it was a short week because of Columbus Day. We had 3 normal days of school and then Friday was Teacher Appreciation Day. Finally, we get some recognition! Here in Chile, this is National Holiday that all schools celebrate. The kids brought us gifts, the school had an assembly in our honor and a very fancy lunch after school. It was such a nice day; it felt like my birthday! The assembly was interesting, but