Getting Oriented!

We have officially started New Teacher Orientation and things are looking good. After spending time with my parents in Monterrey and in Santiago and surrounding area, I had a chance to settle into my apartment. I had no idea what to expect and this place is definitely beyond anything I could have imagined.

It is officially a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. However, it includes a third “small” room which is actually quite large. Right now it has in it a desk and our ironing board; I’m not sure what we will use it for. There is a huge living room/dining room which opens onto a small outdoor patio. There is the kitchen with lots of cupboard space (but no drawers?!) and a laundry room with washer/dryer and laundry sinks as well as a rack on which we can hang clothes to dry. Fro the laundry room you can go out into this small cement area which leads to the “servants” quarters – a decent sized room with another bathroom (not included in the two bathroom count!). Its not fancy – but if anyone wants to come and stay, you can have your own place!

The two bedrooms are both very large and came with double beds, two side tables and a six drawer dresser. I arrived before my roommate Laurie, so I had to decide which room to take. It was a very tough decision, as one room had an ensuite bath while the other had a huge closet with built in shelves. I went for the closet. My room is all set-up but still looks a little bare. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for some interesting stuff to put on the walls.

We are in one of the main floor apartments of a three story building. Each story has only two apartments. Occupying the other main floor apartment are two other elementary teachers (Lindsay, a Canadian and Libby, from Kansas). Of the four remaining apartments, 2 others are filled by teachers from my school.

Last night we had a Welcome Dinner for all the new teachers living in our area. Our apartment is literally a two minute walk from the elementary campus and there seem to be lots of teachers in the area. There were about 20 or so people at the dinner last night and everyone seems pretty great.

This morning all the new teachers (elementary and middle and secondary) had breakfast together and then we broke into our sections for the beginning of Orientation. Everyone (new and old) is so positive about the school and the city and what you can get out of the experience. I got the keys to my classroom and my new laptop (a Mac!) and had a little bit of time this afternoon to putter around in my classroom and start to sort things out.

Tonight we had a dinner hosted by the PTA Hosting Families to introduce us to some of the traditional Mexican dishes. We are all “adopted” by parents of students and the mother’s seem willing to help us out in any way possible (take us shopping, help us find domestic help, give us advice on finding services around the city). Some of the notable foods I tried this evening:
-cactus in some sort of slightly spicy sauce (texture like green pepper, very yummy)
-chicken in mole sauce (a sauce made of 17-ish ingredients including nuts and chocolate – also very good!)
-dessert called “three milk” something (all names in Spanish, of course; this too was very good)

After dinner a Mariachi group came (live music – men with violins and guitars and trumpets who play and sing) marching into the backyard where we were all seated and performed for us. They played some traditional Mexican songs as well as some versions of songs I could recognize. A group of us left the dinner around 9:45 and headed to the Sierra Madre Brewing Company for a drink (una copa de vino blanco – a cup of white wie – for me) before heading home to what we are beginning to call “Melrose Place”. Libby had her camera so I can hopefully get some pictures from her.

Tomorrow night there is another party at a staff member’s house and the weekend is going to comprise of a hike in Chipinque National Park (the mountains I can see from my bedroom!) and a city tour and a trip to a Market before we really get going on Monday!