Top Notch

It's about time for an update. Life here is pretty good (see: title).

School isn't too tough, but I read Spanish very slowly, so homework is time consuming. I'm taking freshman classes, so the content is accessible. U Católica has a funny program where the street dogs who live on campus are taken in periodically by the veterinary students for vaccinations, baths and general upkeep. They get red collars and names and everything. They're put up for adoption, but mostly they just wander campus and sleep in the sun. Here's my favorite pooch, Celia. She got a bite of my hotdog for hanging out with me on the grass one afternoon.

Last Tuesday I started my volunteer position. It's through English Opens Doors, a program started by the Gobierno de Chile. I'll go once a week to a high school and act as a teaching assistant in some junior/senior English classes. Jaqueline, my teacher, is welcoming and flexible. She let me come along on Friday to an inter-school spelling bee, where one of our students got 3rd place! Booyah. Oh, and it's a Catholic, all girls high school. Makes for some interesting dynamics.

I wrote up a list of some things I love about Santiago:

-people watching on the Metro (especially the high rate of super well dressed old men)

-Chilean lack of frisbee skills (I look like a wizard)

-sunny, 75º days in the southern hemisphere equivalent of early march

-THE ANDES

-the musicians, but NOT the clowns, on the micro (bus)

Alright dear readers, keep those sticks on the ice.