La Chilena

Now that Amanda is baptized, she wants to be just like Jesus (really, she told me!). And she's already doing a great job! Let's do some Christian math. Ready? Let's go!

100% + 100% = 100%

You see, Jesus is one divine person. He is just one person but He has two natures- human and divine. Now He's not just 50/50 but rather both 100% human and 100% divine. Miraculous! Following in His footsteps, Amanda is just one sweet little baby with dual citizenship. But I don't consider her 50/50 of each culture but rather as 100% American and 100% Chilean. It's different from me because if you ask what I am I usually say half German and half Polish (really those numbers should be more like three quarters and one quarter respectively but I like to give them equal billing) instead of 100% each. Probably because being third generation and on I'm really just 100% American.

But Amanda is special. And while we're waiting for her US documents still, this little Chilena has all she needs to prove her chilenidad/chileanness. And surprisingly it was pretty easy to get all this done considering Chile loves it's bureaucracy and red tape. We had to go to Registro Civil once to register her birth and get her birth certificate and then we had to wait about a week before we could go back to apply for her national ID (called a carnet) and passport. Because we had a baby in our arms we got to skip to the front of the line where they took our information and Amanda's picture. Although they had to take a few to get a good picture, it was so nice that they did it instead of me having to worry about it like with her US passport. They even had to take a fingerprint of her tiny thumb which just showed up as a black dot, hehe. All this for less than half of what it cost at the embassy and it was ready for pick-up just a week later.

Here's our little Chilena!

Carnet

Hopefully we'll be picking up her US documents soon as we'll need them to travel to the US in August!!!

I Work Hard for the Money

I know I told you in the last post, but in this one I can fully rejoice with you- I have officially entered the Chilean working world!!! I have now taught four classes at the Navy and two clases particulares (tutoring). I´ll start with the Navy. I was first told that I would have 11 students, then it went down to 10 and yet only 7 show up every class. One of the three who had never come before finally came last class and after missing only three he´s still quite behind the others. The men are all older than me, I would say between 28 and 55 years-old and they are all officers. They´re all very polite and most are very eager to learn- I would say they are an excellent first class to have. I teach them three days a week for two hours at a time and earn about $10/hour of which 10% will be taken out for taxes. The only slight drawback is that it´s quite a commute. With the micro (bus), it takes me about an hour to get there and then an hour and a half to get home (it takes more time on the return due to rush hour traffic). So if you take that $20 for every class to cover the two hours of teaching, the two and a half hour commute and the hour of lesson planning, it´s not $10/hour anymore. But I´m still thanking the Lord and the institute because I´m very greatful for this work and for something to fill my time. And I´m also praying and hoping that the institute will have some openings for more classes come up.


Now about my clases particulares. These are tutoring sessions and very soon I´m going to start posting flyers and such in public to advertise my mad English skills. But I already have two people I´m tutoring. One is a precious little five-year-old girl named J. J is only in kindergarten but she loves what she´s learned so far of English so her parents want to encourage her in that. She really reminds me of my niece P who is just a year older and who I´ve been told has the same desire to learn Spanish. I´ve had one class with J so far which went well, and there´s just two things I need to remember for next time- don´t expect to cover too much and to add in some more fun activities. Little girls cannot sit still at a table for an hour! I also have started tutoring a man (also with the initial J) who is this girl´s uncle and wants to learn for business purposes. I think we made progress in our first class and I think it will be interesting in the future coming up with his class material. It´ll be a challenge, but a good one I think.


And this brings me to my work visa. Now that I´m working, I have to have a visa. And I got it today! I had to go to the Extranjeria (Foreigner´s Office) twice and had to wait about an hour in line, but it wasn´t that bad. Especially since the visa was FREE! I think when I went to Austria I had to pay a pretty penny for my student visa, so this was a nice surprise. It also feels like an accomplishment because I went to the Extranjeria all by myself! Well, Andrés actually dropped me off, but he didn´t come in with me (he had to go take a final) and I was able to communicate my needs without any help. Whoohoo. Now this does mean that I don´t know what all the paperwork I was given is for, but I do know that I have my work visa that is valid for four months and that is what is most important.

My work visa! (All important and personal information hidden of course)

The other paper they gave me- I´m not quite sure what it´s for. It says something about residency...

After receiving my visa, I decided I wanted to celebrate by going to Starbucks for the first time in Chile. I have to say that it was worth it, but that Starbucks will be a once every three of four month treat- it´s so expensive! I got a grande white mocha, which admitedly is one of the most expensive drinks on the menu, but I did it for my mom. Well not for her, but to remember her and reminisce because it´s her favorite drink. When we´re together we usually share one. So I leave you with photos from my first Starbucks adventure here, a little piece of home. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and my work situation up until now. I REALLY appreciate it and feel free to keep those prayers coming.

Holy cow! 2750 pesos, that´s about $5.50!

Here´s my nonfat white mocha WITH whip cream :)

Here´s my cup with my name in all it´s glory! Many gringas have trouble with the baristas not understanding their names, but thankfully my name translates easily in Spanish- it´s the same!

Passport Conundrum

I need advice! My passport is set to expire in March 2012... when I'm in Chile. The question is do I renew it now or do I renew it when I'm there? And there lies my conundrum.


Reasons to renew in Chile:
- It costs $110 for a new passport and then it will cost another $130 to get my visa when I enter Chile (the tourist visa is good for the life of the passport)
- If you change your name within one year of getting a new passport you can have your name changed in it for free. If it has been more than one year you would have to pay another $110 for the passport (and pay for another visa as well)
- I am planning on getting married and changing my name... but it will probably be a few months  over that one year mark
-So if I can put off renewing my visa for a few months I wouldn't have to pay for my passport twice. I may still have to pay for my visa twice. But this is the main reason: I save at least $110 and I also put off having to spend $240 for awhile.
- I emailed the U.S. embassy in Santiago and they said that if I was living there and my passport expires I can renew it with them.


Reasons to renew before I leave the US:
- What if since I would not be living in Chile permanently at that point the embassy decides I broke the rules for renewing it? What are the rules for renewing your passport abroad?
- What if something goes wrong and I get deported?
- The reasons here are mostly my worries. Some are blown out of proportion I think, but they still worry me.
- Convenience. If I renew it here I can just mail in the application and a check. If I renew it in Chile I can possibly mail it in but I might have to go to Santiago (a two-hour trip) to renew it.


What do you think? Have you (or someone you know) ever renewed your passport when you were abroad? Any advice would be appreciated.