and so it begins...

Here I am, back in the ring for another round. I'm sitting at Duoc, in room S12, with "Welcome Back" and the date written neatly on the board and my trusty posters stating, "Respect, English, Effort" sticky-tacked to the board. But one major part of the education equation is missing: the students! Today is the first day back for second semester and while I'm not surprised no one showed up to my first class, it is nonetheless disheartening. It's like they stood me up. I wore my work clothes and everything. C'mon!

Sadly, this behavior is common at Duoc -and in Chile- during the first few weeks of classes according to Jorge, the English coordinator. (With one semester under my belt, I´d venture to say that skipping class is as normal as going to class).

Oh well, at least I'm out of the grip of my cozy Chilean home. After four straight days of breakfast, run, lunch, internet/reading, onces, internet/reading, bed, I was experiencing many symptoms of "cabin fever," a Minnesotan term applicable to my life at times in Chile. I can say, though, that I am once again moderately informed of US and world news thanks to npr.com. (I can also stream The Current which makes me miss driving and the Twin Cities.)

I guess you could say I've really embraced Chilean culture lately...sadly, the embrace makes me feel useless and lazy. In this sense, I can't seem to shed my uptight American lenses and see it like the Chileans do. I like being busy. I like task completion. Chileans like eating, watching reality television, gossiping, video games, and grocery shopping multiple times per day. Obviously, Chileans also value many other things, but as far as efficiency and work ethic, I think Americans have the upper hand. Because my future here isn't terribly long term, I view my discomfort with idleness as an ok roadblock in the way of my complete understanding of Chilean culture. I think I'll tuck away the relaxed part of Chilean culture and bring it out when I'm sprinting to and fro in my car, working 40+ hours per week and the words "to-do" and "stressed" creep back in to my vocabulary. Then I'll know it's time to pack my bags again.