Es tiempo a blogar y trabajar

Blogar: to blog
Yo blogo, tu blogas, ud. bloga, nosotros blogamos, etc
En serio, mi vida ha sido mas intenso este semana. Los cursos aca son mas dificil que yo habia esperado, y me siento mas estres por resultado. Ademas, mis destrezas de idioma parecen ser disminuyendo. Quizas haya demasiado informacion en mi celebra ahora a poder aprender mas espanol, pero necesito evitar hablantes de ingles tan mucho como posible de este punto. Manana tengo un dia muy ocupado pero muy muy divertido - ejercisio en la manana, almuerzo con mi amiga Claudia, con quien intercambio mi ingles por su espanol, prepara mi maletas para viajar con mis padres a Mendoza en Viernes, y el show de Radiohead en la noche con Francis y otra gente en la noche. Debo dormirme ahora pero tome demasiado cafe hoy! Una error terrible de mi, pero estoy acostumbrado a funcionando sin sueno suficiente.

Saludos y suerte, Greg

Mom and Pops in Santiago

My mom and dad arrived in Santiago this morning. It is very nice to see them and I am glad they are able to visit. Getting to and from the airport, as well as getting them into their accomodations, was interesting and tiring. Warning: a run-on sentence follows immediately. First I had to take the Metro during rush hour downtown to find the bus stop for the airport bus, which was not where it was advertised to be (Los Heroes, not La Moneda), then find the correct bus, then fight off aggressive taxi services who wanted my business and who speak horrible english and are more difficult to understand in English than they are in Spanish, then wait for their late flight to arrive, then find the least obnoxious taxi service, then go to the hotel I recommended, then find out that the hotel is overbooked, then get them to the new hotel, then navigate the neighborhood where they are which is not where I wanted them to stay and will make sure they change next time, then walk for 15 min through downtown Santiago to find a place to eat lunch while making sure my mom and dad's wallets do not get lifted, then eat lunch which was excellent by the way, and then take the Metro back to the apartment in rush hour. There is never a dull moment here, and though it is exciting, it also tires me out. I am taking a short rest at the apartment before gathering my books to head over to PUC to study tonight. I really need to hit the books. Maybe I'll have a quick beer before I go, what do you think? Do I deserve it after such a busy day?

Feria de San Patricio y hurto (petty theft)

Happy St. Patricks day to everyone. Nobody knows much about it here, except the one gringo Irish bar in Providencia. I did not celebrate much because I couldn't fall asleep last night, and have been walking around like a zombie all day. I would prefer to sleep well tonight than go out to the one very crowded bar that has an event. I can barely speak English when I sleep for only 4 hours, and Spanish is impossible, so I need to rest for tomorrow in order to be productive. Tonight is my classmate Valentina's birthday, so happy birthday to her too!

Mom and Dad are coming in on Thurs, which should be a fun time. It will be nice to see them, but I have to work on planning a few excursions for them while they are in Santiago. I think a wine tour and a trip up Cerro San Cristobal will be in order, but I need to come up with a few more ideas. However it is too late for that now.

Another classmate of mine from UofC had his backpack stolen the other day while eating at a restaurant. This was a reminder that despite Santiago's modern feel, there is still a lot of chaos present here. I am very careful about keeping my wallet and gear secure, but one cannot afford to let his or her guard down here.

en espanol hoy

Esta noche tuve mi clase - Canales de distribucion, cual es un clase de marketing y estrategia muy util y interesante, pero el profesor es imposible a entender. Su accento y dialecto es como espanol de la luna. El topico es fantastico y puedo entender los apuentes sin dificultad, pero durante el discurso, estoy perdido totalmente. El habla ridiculosamente rapido, y no pronuncia nada palabras con claridad. Hace falta tener una traduccion de Prof. XYZ a espanol normal. Si pueda entenderle al fin del curso, sera un maestro de espanol.

Mi piel esta muy rosa hoy por el sol Chileno en Sabado. El sol es SUPER fuerte aca, como resultado de una falta de ozono en el hemisfero sur. OUCH! nunca, jamas, nada voy afuera sin protector del sol de fuerza 50 o mas. En los EEUU puedo quedarme en el sol sin protector por lo menos 2 horas sin problema, pero aqui, despues de 30 min afuera con protector, estoy como un langosto.

Los padres vendran aca en Jueves, y tengo mucho trabajo cumplir por mis clases. Buenas noches, es tiempo a relajarme y entonces acostarme.

time to work

OK so classes are in full swing now at PUC. I have to go to the university and actually do quite a bit of work to prepare for tonight's class. Also I am looking for another program for continuing my spanish conversational skills. I feel like since my classes at Ecela ended that my ability has dropped off a bit - too much time spent with English speakers! Today the sunburn from Saturday in Valpo has diminished, and although I am still a bit pink and ridiculous looking, at least I am not in pain! Stupid stupid me for forgetting how strong the sun is here.

more from Santiago

Classes started last week at PUC, or Catolica as they call it here. The classes would not be very difficult if not for the language barrier, but I will have to work a lot to get thru the spanish part. The university is known to be the top in Chile, very demanding. I selected a few classes that I believe will work well, 1 in south american business law, 1 in marketing distribution channels, and 1 in marketing research. We will see how they turn out.

I went to Valparaiso on Saturday, which is a very nice place. It is a town on a large natural bay, similar to Monterrey, CA, but it has quite a bit of natural character due to all the people who have come and gone. It reminded me of San Francisco a bit - hills, full of old and colorful buildings, very beautiful but also a little edgy, and not at all bland or sterile. The only problem is that I went to the beach for a short while - an hour at most - and even with some sunscreen, I got scorched by the extremely strong South American sun. Today I am not feeling great, but I have bought the proper remedies and hopefully in a few days I will be back to normal.