Ipswich to Santiago

“Daddy has become Spanish.”

— Mia Lehrer at Customs Day 1

It is hard to imagine that we have only been in Santiago for just three days, as we have already met so many wonderful people and accomplished so much. In retrospect, it is fairly remarkable that we were able to pack up our shipment, store our belongings in a storage unit, sell our house, sell our cars, say goodbye to everyone, pack our eight suitcases, secure a house, obtain visas, and buy a car in Chile. We could not have done it all without the Kobbs, Bendles, Harrisons, Knights, and Tingers who entertained our kids while we raced to clean, pack, and sell.

Though we missed our connection in Houston and arrived a day late, our social buddy, Vicky greeted us warmly at the airport in Santiago on July 9th, one day after Max’s 9th birthday. Right away, we had a tour of the school, which is an enormous and beautiful campus at the foot of the Andes. We visited our house, which is nearby in a sweet cul-de-sac with a playground in the middle. The kids already befriended a cat, who lives on our doorstep and two boys, Rafa and Leon. I nearly cried watching the kids all play soccer together.

Our stay at the Hotel Pettra in Santiago is a luxurious one. It is near the school, our house, and an enormous indoor/outdoor shopping plaza. We have been stocking our two hotel rooms with pillows, duvets, blankets, pots, and every other necessity we will need until our shipment arrives. It is very satisfying to purchase the things we need on our own. Chileans do not give out any plastic bags at the stores, so what a sight I must be walking past the doorman with my air mattress boxes and cat food. The money has been tricky for me. The conversion is roughly ten dollars to $7000 pesos. I feel like a fumbling child holding out my hand to the cashier with a handful of coins. Unfortunately, Portuguese continues to come out of my mouth, though I can understand a great deal of Spanish. My new Spanish phrases for the day? Pucha! (What a pity) Cachai? (Did you catch/understand it?)

Today we took a trip to the coast to acquire our Chilean identification cards. We went to Vinas del Mar to expedite the process. Our appointment at the police office was uneventful; thankfully, our chaperone, Juan, caught a critical error before we left. Then we went to a dmv type office, and it took roughly two hours to finalize our documents and obtain our cedulares. We are official. Now we can conduct business ie.. obtain a bank account, driver’s license, credit cards, utilities, cable, etc… To celebrate we had a lovely lunch on the sea in a restaurant on a cliff overlooking sea lions and pelicans. The kids are embracing the experience, trying out some Spanish phrases, and taking it all in. We look forward to meeting other new teachers at a welcome dinner tomorrow and then moving into our house on Saturday. What a whirlwind start to our life. We feel like we made a great choice to be here.