A Series of Unfortunate Events with Los Piojos

Hey y’all!

Well, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, this week was pretty rough. Not only did it go by painfully slow, but a lot of unfortunate things happened.

On Monday, the other Gringa teacher told us that she would be leaving our school and moving to Amsterdam. I’m extremely happy for her, but also super bummed. Our principal didn’t take the news well, so Monday was a bit tough. I also learned that there must be at least one gringa teacher in each grade level, so now I guess it's just me holding it down for first grade.

We also found out who our co-teachers will be next year. I had been trying not to think about it because it is something that is out of my control. I really really wanted to be partnered with Ceci again, I’ve learned so much from her. We thought we had a pretty good chance at being placed together again since I came to the school mid-year. In the end, Ceci and I were split up. I will be moving across the hall to work with Dani, who is equally as awesome. I have nothing but great things to say about Dani, but I am still a little sad I have to leave Ceci.

On Wednesday, I finally went to the correct Registro Civil to register for my carnet –the last step in the mountain of visa paperwork. We arrived at 7:40am thinking we were on top of things, since they open at 8. As we pulled up, we noticed a line of people going all the way down the street. Luckily, the people dispersed when we went in. I only waited for about an hour which is actually record timing. Of course my ID picture is probably the worst picture in the history of carnet pictures. I was excited to get my ID next week, because my friend Ann said it only takes about a week. Just my luck though, the Registro Civil went on strike for about 2 months so now they’re backed up with paperwork. As a result, it is going to take about a month.

Thursday was a good day. Our first grade team had a picnic lunch and we gave out our Secret Santa gifts. I am so beyond grateful for my first grade team. I don’t think I will ever work in a school with such a close, caring and kind team of teachers. I really consider them my family. They’re the best part of working at Santiago College. For Secret Santa, I was thrilled to get a chocolate Santa and a H&M giftcard. I gave my Secret Santa a nice bottle of wine and a bath bomb from Lush.

Friday…… in the morning we all gathered in one of our classroom and created an assembly line to help Javi with her thank you notes for her wedding. She was very overwhelmed so we agreed we’d help her! Thank god we did, the poor girl had to write 400 thank you notes.

Los Piojos

For the past week and a half of so, my scalp has been extremely itchy. I thought it was just the summer weather because sometimes I get a dry scalp in the Summer. As a result, I bought a new shampoo, still itchy. I started to get these painful bumps on the back of my neck, and was getting concerned. Finally, in the car on the way home from work, I scratched my head and noticed a little bug on my finger. My eyes widened to the size of my head. I googled what lice looked like, and low and behold…

I went to the school nurse and told her I thought I had lice. She confirmed and told me what to do.

I was really embarrassed and scared to tell my co-workers because Saturday was the big wedding and I didn’t want to freak Javi out. When I did tell them, they all laughed and said they’ve all had it, it’s part of being a teacher. In the States, having lice is so dramaticized. People cringe and tell you to not go near them. They think you’re unsanitary. I much prefer the empathy I received here. It was my first time with lice and I felt like crying.

I immediately left school and went to this weird lice salon. It was hilarious. They had me sit down on this chair and popped in a movie for me. Two women used these special vacuumes and literally vacuumed my head. No, it didn’t feel good. It really hurt. But they were very efficient. Just to be safe, I went to the pharmacy and bought the shampoo and did a home-treatment too. I think I have the cleanest head in all of Chile now. I also had to clean my sheets, towels, clothes etc. It was such a pain.

On Friday night, I went out with some friends for dinner and drinks. We went to this amazing burger place. Unfortunately, my friend Ann got her backpack stolen right off of her chair. It’s amazing how skilled those people are. They took her wallet with her Chilean ID, her phone, credit cards etc. Fortunately, two separate people contacted her and said they found her ID and credit card.

Saturday was the wedding. Stay tuned for a post dedicated to my first Chilean wedding experience!!

All in all, it was a tough week. I’m hoping this week is better. You can’t win ‘em all right?

Laughable Moments:

I was on my way to get a pedicure, and I tripped and broke my toenail in half. The lady was a magician and literally created a new nail for me.
My co-worker told me she was in flames over going to the wedding. I was so confused, until she told me that in Spanish you say I am in flames when you are really excited about something. Definitely lost in translation there…
I was going to make those Hershey kiss Christmas cookies until I discovered that 1 bag of Hershey Kisses is about $7 USD here. Yeah ciao…
I went to this awesome Thai place for lunch. They had a pet turtle who kept escaping. They would put him back, and he would escape again.
At the wedding, I pointed to these red curtains and said “is that the bathroom over there?” My friend informed me, “ No Kim, that’s the photobooth...”
I lost my balance at the wedding and fell down (no I wasn't drunk). I stabbed myself in the butt with my high heel. Now I have a pretty intense battle wound.