LONG day

Today was just what the title indicates. Yesterday, I began work at the Hogar San Franscisco de Regis, where I will be doing my weekly volunteer work for my service learning class. The home is for girls who can no longer live with their families as a result of negligence, abuse, or other causes. Figuring out my schedule with the Hogar has been difficult, and I still don't have the hours that I need. But I had a great time getting to know some of the girls yesterday. We worked on homework, I reviewed some phonics with one girl starting to read, and made some crafts. The girls come from extremely difficult family situations, and require lots of patience and attention. But they were awesome yesterday, so friendly and excited that I was there. I also have a new name. Along with all the workers at the Hogar, I am simply "Tia" (aunt).

And then we get to today. I woke up early for my 30 min Metro commute to the Hogar. I am going to be working in the office on Tuesday mornings since the girls are at school. Sara, another girl from IES came as well. We did basically nothing, having a 45 minute coffee break, reading some of the girls' folders and sorting some things until I had to head out for class. It was surprising to me that we were able to read the family histories of some of the girls, as well as their most recent psychiatric evaluations. It helped to understand better the challenges they face, but I couldn't help but think this would never be allowed in the US.

As for the rest of my day... caught the Metro to the U de Chile for my 2 classes. Had lunch in between in the crazy courtyard where there were competitions of some sort going on. It was very loud and everyone was dressed in their "team" color. I ate my lentil soup standing up.

After my 2nd class, I headed back to the Metro, and found the U de Chile's Casa Central. Here I was looking for a certificate I need to obtain my student transportation card. Well worth the effort, the student card will make my frequent metro/micro journies cost 1/3 of what I am paying now. But there is effort. I couldn't get my certificate today because I have to make a deposit in the bank first. The only problem is that the banks close daily at 2pm. And this is only part of the process... I'll save you the rest of the tedious details.

Riding the Metro the rest of the way home, I just wanted to get away from people and sit down somewhere. In conclusion, I am very weary of all the tedious processes of becoming "official" in this country. (Chilean ID, student ID, student transport card, etc...) If it is this bad for me, I can't imagine the hoops students coming to the US have to jump through. Ohh you have to love government processes...

This has turned into a longer blog than anticipated, so I'll have to save my fun and interesting activities from last weekend for another time.