Becoming Eagles

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We are beginning our third week at Nido de Aguilas . The school is about the size of three football fields, which is considerably larger than TCS.  Back in Atlanta, every grade had two classes. Here, every grade has five or six. I’ve been put in 4C, and Jack is in 2D. There are people from all over the world in my class. I have a few boys from Chile. A girl from Denmark. And a girl who has just moved here from Turkey. My brother has even more countries represented in his class. There is a boy from Australia.There is a girl from Boston, a boy from Asia and a kid from Paraguay. My teacher is from Ecuador, but speaks perfect English. All the classes are in English, but I have Spanish class every day.

My mom has absolutely no idea what to give us for breakfast, let alone what to pack in our lunches, so we’ve been getting hot lunch at the school cafeteria. It is normally not that good. For instance, one day there was this weird fried meat and I couldn’t tell if it was chicken or fish. And for dessert there was blueberry-flavored foam. But the Pizza Fridays I can live with. A slice of pizza is 1000 pesos which is  equivalent to two dollars in the States.

We wear uniforms at Nido. It is a little disappointing because I don’t get to do any back-to-school shopping, but then again, they are not the scratchy skirt and collared shirt that you would expect from a uniform. We actually get to wear sweatpants and t-shirts that say  “Nido de Aguilas” across the front. They are very strict though. You’re not allowed to wear any non-Nido sweatshirts and if you have any non-Nido clothes on, you need to cover them with something “Nido” and you can’t take them off. There is also a swim suit you have to wear for swimming (Nido has its own gigantic swimming pool).

Jack looks hilarious in his swimsuit!

We started after school activities last week. Nido has everything from introductory golf to cooking. I’m taking Climbing and Trekking on Mondays. Introductory Golf on Tuesdays. Art Reinforcement on Wednesdays. And Girl Scouts on Thursdays. Nido doesn’t have options for Fridays. (I don’t exactly know why.) I was a little disappointed to learn that Girl Scouts don’t sell cookies here. I’m going to need to ask my friends back in the states to mail me some Thin Mints.

At recess, instead of your teacher choosing a playground and sitting down to watch you play and make sure you don’t get hurt, they just say, “it is recess time, go explore the school.” You are allowed to go to the art room, to the library,or you can play on the playground. You can also use recess as time to catch up with your friends in other classes (not that I have many of those yet). And at the end of the school day, instead of waiting for your mom or dad to arrive, they just say, “Goodbye Madie.” and let you leave. You can play soccer with your friends (which Jack does every day) while waiting for your mom or dad to arrive. Nobody escorts you to and from the buses either.

I take the bus every morning. It picks me up right outside the giant gate to my house. (I think it might crash if it went down our 20-foot almost vertical driveway). The only bad part about school is that the bus picks me up at 6:53 a.m. and school starts at 7:45. Back in Atlanta, we were not even our of beds until 7:45. My mom tried to take a picture of us getting on the bus the first morning, but it barely came out it was so dark out.

You can see my backpack as I gets on the bus.

I was really, really sad to leave TCS, but I think we may have found something that is (almost) better!

I’m no longer worried about the ants

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We have ants in our entryway. This stream of small ants that are defiantly traipsing through our entryway because it is warm inside and cold outside. I decided to talk to our gardener Pablo to see what he might suggest to get rid of them.

Pablo and I have difficulty communicating. I speak very little Spanish. He speaks absolutely no English. I gestured for him to come with me to the entryway and pointed to the ants. Through a series of hand gestures and spanish words, I understood “Raid” and realized he suggested I buy a can of Raid and spray it along the exterior of the front door. Makes sense. He continues…..the only bit I piece together from what follows is “Bedside Table,” and “Raid.” I think Pablo explained I should also get a can of Raid for my bedside table. Sounds very odd. Surely I must have missed something in the translation.

The next day I share my funny misunderstanding with Leonora. Leonora goes on to explain that Pablo wasn’t telling me to put Raid in my bedside table but telling me I should spray the Raid around my bedside…….Hmmmmmmmm

Leonora goes on to tell me of a spider in Chile called the Corner Spider. Let me quote from Wikipedia:

The Chilean recluse spider is a venomous spider, Loxosceles laeta, of the family Sicariidae (formerly of the family Loxoscelidae). In Spanish, it (and other South American recluse spiders) is known as araña de rincón, or “corner spider”; in Portuguese, as aranha-marrom or “brown spider”. This spider is considered by many to be the most dangerous of the recluse spiders, and its bite is known to frequently result in severe systemic reactions, including death.

Wow. So much for worrying around about ants in my entryway.

According to Leonora, while the corner spider stays away from people, they will bite when threatened. She recommended we don’t put our beds up against the corners of the room and we should be sure to shake out the sheets before getting into bed. She also suggested shaking hanging towels in the bathroom or shoes in a closet. She shared a story of her husband getting bit and having to go immediately to the emergency room. Apparently he was lucky because in his case they caught the spider and I should try and catch the spider if ever bitten.

Right. Catch the spider. Sure.

Oh, and tarantulas, they are all over Chile too, but those don’t bite and are harmless. I guess the Rose Tarantulas are commonly imported to the United States to be sold in pet stores as pets.

Needless to say I have become TOTALLY FREAKED OUT about this idea. People assure me that they are mainly out in spring and mostly in wooden houses. I don’t love the wood trim quiet as much as I used to.

Bohemian Lemonade?

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We went downtown to Barrio Bellavista to have lunch on Sunday. Barrio Bellevista is a wonderful Bohemian neighborhood with lots of restaurants, shops and seems to always be a buzz with people. The energy comes from a number of colleges around the area creating an artistic and intellectual energy. The neighborhood has demonstrated this character since poet Pablo Neruda was a student and his house is a famous landmark in the area. I also understand this is one of the fun areas to go out at night if you are still young 🙂

A smaller enclave of Barrio Bellavista is Patio Bellavista which is a more touristy group of shops and restaurants. In fact, like many “bohemian” areas in big cities, Patio Bellavista seems to cross over into the more unauthentic tourist trap, but as tourists, we really love it.

Madie in the central square at Patio Bellavista

The tourist factor has probably also lead to an increase in security in the area. Our friends have warned me that I need to always be careful with my purse. While I’m always careful, I was surprised to see how far they take it at Patio Bellavista. I first thought these giant lanyards might be for college kids to carry an oversized cocktail around their neck. I learned that they are actually used to strap your purse around the table, preventing a thief from running away with it.

Straps provided at restaurants at Patio Bellavista to secure your handbag to the table.

As for dining out, We continue to struggle with translating an average menu to figure out what the kids will eat. Everything is just a bit different, no matter how similar if appears to be at first glance. Our latest example of this was our order of lemonade by Jack. We were so pleased when the waiter acknowledged that they had lemonade…until we received it.

Turns out what we ordered translated to a shot glass full of lemon juice and two packets of sugar. We all had a great laugh! And, in the spirit of “going with it” we asked for a glass of ice and managed to create our own lemonade.

Lemonade Santiago-style

Skiing in August

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Madie skiing at Valle Nevado.

We should have bought a car today. We really needed to do that. But when we heard that people in the office were organizing a day trip to go skiing, we figured that was much better than buying a car. Friday night we met at the Mall of Sport (Yes, an entire mall based on sports) and purchased a bunch of ski gear and went to bed early for the 6 am wake up.

The drive up to the ski resort, Valle Nevado in our hired bus, was terrifying. I can not even imagine trying to wind the treacherous turns with snow or any ice at all. You feel like your fate is held with the random driver who is at the wheel and any slight distraction or just soil and rock erosion will land you tumbling down the mountain. We learned that despite first impressions, very few accidents happen. After a rather nervous hour of driving, we made it to the ski resort at the top.

Our only experience skiing has been in Lake Tahoe Nevada. This was quite different in that there is not a tree in sight. The runs were amazing, it felt almost empty and there was not a cloud in the sky. I can’t imagine a better day for skiing. And, how great to think that it is only a 90 minute drive from our house.

Unexpected Delay

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The drive to school on Tuesday was incredibly slow. We couldn’t figure out what was the hold up. Finally we saw that there was a horse and her baby walking down the middle of the street. We have now seen this pair many times either going to or leaving school. We think they live at a house near school and they are allowed to roam free.

The Opposite of Packing Light

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Jack and Madie on the airplane to Santiago.

We flew through New York to Santiago, Chile. We had 16 pieces of luggage. I’m not sure how we felt this was a manageable number. We were focused on how many bags we could possibly take on the airplane, not on how easy it would be to manage those bags. We had to get 16 pieces of luggage from one terminal to another in Kennedy Airport. We had three trolleys, all overloaded and just two adults to steer them. We finally made it by taking turns pushing them forward and running back for the last one, slowly making it to the check-in spot.

After our New York experience, we dreaded our arrival in Chile. Contemplating how we would manage all of this luggage yet again. Turns out, these kind men immediately saw us struggle, each grabbed a cart and helped take it out to our car. The experience is so emblematic of people in Chile. Our experience so far is that people are very kind and generous.

Our New Home

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Av. Golf Los Lomas de La Dehesa 9956

While we enjoy our urban existence in Atlanta, it became clear that in Chile, living in downtown Santiago would not be a real option. The kids were accepted to Nido de Aguilas, the International School in Lo Barnechea. Leonora and Soledad, the two women helping us from Relocation Chile suggested our children may not have a playdate if we lived too far away. So we decided to chose Golf Los Lomas which is considered a “condominium” because is is a gated community, but thankfully doesn’t feel like a uninteresting subdivision. Our house is beautiful and incredibly comfortable with lots of light. We have a beautiful garden and a swimming pool.

We feel very lucky we found such a great place. But, we need to be sure we maintain a connection to downtown. I want to be sure we make it into the city regularly.

Hello Santiago, Chile!

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Welcome to the Murnanes in Santiago Blog.  My husband accepted an opportunity to relocate from the Atlanta office to the Santiago office of his company.  Now our family of four is off on an adventure in a new country.  This blog will chronicle our experiences of acclimating and living in Chile.