CIEE

CIEE

            Teaching English in a foreign country is not the easiest of jobs, and sometimes a little guidance is necessary.  The organization CIEE provided this help. For a fee, this program gives pre, during, and post trip assistance for both study and teach abroad experiences.  Though it seems a bit counterintuitive to pay money to volunteer, sometimes a familiar face is worth every penny/peso.  CIEE provided some benefits that made the first few days in Chile quite memorable.

            Guys, if you are reading this, I have some great advice: study or teach abroad.  If not for the life changing, best month(s) of your life, do it for the girls.  My CIEE program had 20 young new English Teachers ready to share their knowledge with the youth of Chile, 18 were girls.  Now don’t get me wrong, I was in heaven, but if it wasn’t for the other guy, I don’t know if I would have made it.  Spiders, bees, jumping out of airplanes---- cake--- girls… pure terror.  Many of you have been subjected to my jokes related to this subject, if not please ask, and I’m sorry in advance, but jokes aside (pun intended), that many girls in one place is an experience in itself.  However, these girls are all wonderful and through my 24/7 captivity with them, became great friends.

            CIEE provided an orientation of not only useful Chilean phrases, and wonderful introduction to high class dining (more on that in a future post), but also a tour of some of the spots in downtown Santiago.  We visited the house of a famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.  He, like many writers, found inspiration from the sea. Since there is no ocean in Santiago he did the next best thing; he built his house like a big boat surrounded by a moat.  A low, everything made of wood, secret rooms, narrow staircases and authentic boat regalia truly “rocked the boat.”

La Virgin  Guadalupe 

            A couple of the other highlights from these first few days was a hike up to visit The Virgin de Guadlupe on top of a hill overlooking the city and a few of those earthquakes.  High above the rest of the city the view presented a great look at the entire city, and made me want to visit the Andes towering the horizon. A few people experienced their first earthquake their first night in town, and we were all in for a big surprise a few days later when a 7.2 quake hit Chile.  Though these small compared to the one the next night.  Being quite intelligent, Riley and I left are door open wide open and were awoken at 4 am from the bed shaking yet again, this time however from our so called friends jumping on our beds after we’ve been asleep for hours. 

            If we thought getting sleep in our suite hotel was tough during these first few days we were in for a big surprise come next week.  CIEE orientation was a great experience, but like most things, had to come to an end.  Where one doorway closes, another (slightly less lush) doorway opens.