Greetings from Santa Maria!

It´s been a minute since I´ve written, but it´s been a minute since I´ve had internet access. But here I am finally with a new entry to my blog.

We arrived in Santa Maria only to discover that instead of temperatures in the 50´s and 60´s that were promised us, we are experiencing an unusually cold winter--global warming at it´s finest. In the day time we´re in the 30´s, maybe 40´s if the sun is out, so you can imagine the nights.

There is no central heating in any house in rural Chile. For that, you have to go to a restaurant or church (thank goodness I found the church building and attended today). In my house we have two portable gas heaters (called stoves here), and they don´t turn them on until later in the day. I wake up and spend my mornings seeing my breath, and it´s usually much colder inside than it is outside. Those of you who know me know how much I hate being cold. Apparently now I have to get over myself and "acostumbrarme". For a while we had only one "estufa", but my madre decided that because the winter was so terribly cold we should buy another one. To take a shower with hot water you have to light the gas in the kitchen (which almost never works in the morning). There will be no heat in the school either--teachers and students go around "abrigados".

Tomorrow is my first day of school. The director is preparing a big all-school welcome and has been practicing our names for days. I will have internet access there, so I will post again very soon and let you know what it´s like to teach in Chile.

I´ve complained alot in this post, but really I´m still amazed that I´m even here. My Spanish...no, my CHILEAN...is getting better by the day. I will write again soon.

¡Hasta pronto!