I’ve realized that it’s been 6 months since i last blogged! I even forgot my username!
You are amazing if you are still checking out this space…hahaaa… So many things happened that I don’t even know where to start. To make up for lost time, I will have a super long entry. I shall start with some thanksgivings…
I learnt driving in Chile! It was an achievement for me cos i had to learn everything in Spanish and the theory test was in Spanish too. Also I had to accustom to driving here cos its left hand drive here and the roads are off an opposite direction. Plus the drivers here honk a lot and drive recklessly. I didn’t pass my first practical test cos on the test day, i realized the car I had to drive was a new car. I accelerated the car too rapidly; the poor instructor was hanging on to the seat for his dear life.
Then I went for my second test 15 days later. I drove from my driving institute to the test place and I was all geared up for the test. Then I had to wait for the examiner with my driving instructor. He was explaining to me that there were 3 instructors. One who was very lenient, the other was strict and the third was very strict. My previous examiner was the middle one. He told me that he had 5 students the other with the super strict instructor and everyone failed. I told him to look for the lenient examiner and we were joking that we had to hide our examination slip from the third examiner in case he asked us to take the test with him. Just then the third examiner walked by, he looked at me and he said “vaya conmigo.” Which means come with me… I was groaning… I mean buy toto also not so “zhun”.
I went into the car, checked the mirrors, stepped on my brake, released my handbrake, changed the gear and all ready to go. The examiner was checking my test slip, just then I saw my driving instructor standing in front of the car. He was trying to tell me something… I didn’t put on my seat belt! Gosh…just in time…heheee…
I drove according to his instructions and everything went well. I returned to the parking lot but I didn’t park well. The back of the car wasn’t straight. He said “Estacionas mal” which means you park badly. My heart sank. Then he told me to park again. So I changed the gear and accelerated but the car couldn’t move and it went dead. I tried that a few times and I didn’t know why I couldn’t move the car. He asked me for the reason but I couldn’t tell him. Just then, I realized that I didn’t release my handbrake!! Que tonta! I kept telling him “perdon. Perdon” (sorry, sorry). I managed to park well this time but in my heart I didn’t think I could make it. After parking, he asked me a question (something about the distance) in Spanish. He spoke very fast and I couldn’t understand. I told him to repeat and that my Spanish wasn’t good. He gave me a good 5 minutes lecture on why I shouldn’t have a license in Chile if my Spanish wasn’t good. In order to appease him, I just told him 10. He asked me 10 what? 10 animals, 10 persons or 10 what? I said 10 km. He said no. I said 5. He said no. The answer was 1 km. I thought that I was a gonner and my heart sank…cos if I failed this time I had to wait for a month or so and to convert my license in Singapore I needed to have the license then.
The examiner then passed me my test slip and said “toma”. I asked him if I passed and he said yes!! So I passed and I have a chilean driving license! Ok… I know after this entry, I may have problems borrowing cars from my dear friends… But trust me, I can drive! So long if I release my handbrake =P
Another thanksgiving, God has been providing us! Christine has found a new job as a teacher’s trainer, something that she has wanted to do. Karen has a job from Singapore in which we can work from home.
We are also organizing an event at the end of July. This event is an exhibition for companies who are interested to do business in China. There are about 50 of them and mega food companies in Chile. So for now, I have to hunt for Chinese who can be ushers and actors for this event. It’s pretty fun and difficult at the same time. I realized that there aren’t too many Chinese in Chile.
We are having and also starting a number of kids’ classes. I’ve never thought that i could teach kids and it’s really not easy. However the satisfaction is tremendous. Our 2 year old kids can sing Chinese songs and a 5 year old boy can speak mandarin with our accent. Not bad indeed! With these open doors, we are thinking of the possibilities of starting a children church cos we have a few couples whom we can connect to the church.
On another note, its freezing cold here… brrbrrr.. and its not good for my waistline cos i have a greater tendency to munch! But karen and i are going to the gym, to balance out…hahaa.. and a great way to meet people too. Anyhow, I love the view in Santiago now. We can see the mountains filled with snow surrounding us, its spectacular just drinking in all of it. It’s especially breathtaking when the sun sets and the sunlight reflect on the snow-capped mountains… It’s really beautiful. I tried to take pictures of them but it didn’t do justice to them. We are planning to go ski the next month.
Lastly our cute puppy has grown into a tigress! She has very long legs..Shawn calls her the “Super model dog”. I’ll leave this entry with her pics..
mi vida 