We Have Arrived!

Here we are in Santiago and so far so good! So much has happened in the last week I'm not even sure where to start.  Prior to our departure, we had made contact with a pastor here through a friend of ours at church who knows someone who knows the pastor. We had emailed back and forth with him and asked if he knew any good places to live or anyone who had a room to rent in their house. He emailed us back and told us there was a family in his congregation who had an extra room we could rent. So we had dinner with them and they are very nice so we moved in! They live on the eastern edge of Santiago in a commune called Las Condes and have 18 and 16 yr old daughters and a 4 yr old son. We also met the pastor and his family and a young married couple from the church during our first few days here. So far we have been so impressed and blessed by the hospitality and kindness that we've experienced here. People are so welcoming and willing to help us even though we just met.

We also had our first week of work. We went through a training program and met the staff and other new teachers- all of whom are also very nice. Our first classes start tomorrow. Mine are in Providencia and Vitacura which are areas close to our office. Ryan's class is at a factory on the west side of town, almost out to the airport. Considering that we live on the east side, this is going to be quite the commute for him. However he will be right next door to the Barbie factory so that's a major plus :)

We've done a good amount of exploring the city too. We went on a free walking tour around the city, visited Pablo Neruda's house in Bella Vista, and went to the top of Cerro San Cristobal ( a big hill overlooking the city that has a giant statue of the Virgin Mary and a park and allegedly a swimming pool on top of it). We also adopted a new pet:

Kidding..... it would be fun to have a llama though. You will notice that it is winter and cold and that even the llama is wearing a hat. 

All for now.

Tracy