Happy Birthday Jim.

We set an alarm today so we could be at the school in time to find out what’s happening with Indiana and Truce’s enrolment.  By chance, Karen (the patron saint of Australian travellers) was walking down the hill from the school as we were heading up to the school.  She listened to our tale of woe and immediately turned, “Vamos.”   She went with us to the school to make sure that we were pointed in the right direction and sat with us while we chatted with the Vice-Principal. 

The school has agreed to enrol the girls.  Indiana did a little air punch Yes! And the Vice-Principal told us that was one of the main reasons they had said yes – because Indiana had shown that she wanted to be there.  From what we can gather Truce’s teacher knows a little bit of English but the school and we both agree that we must all become fluent in Spanish as quick as we can.  They start classes on Monday.

This is the first time the school has ever had students who don’t speak Spanish.  We’re imagining what the school photos will look like with two little blondies in a sea of dark haired girls.  

Karen has once again taken us under her wing and will show us the best place to get uniforms and see if there are second hand ones available.  We’ve been so lucky having met the people from The Yellow House and Karen.  They have made our journey through settling in so much easier.

We’ve noticed a practise that takes place in the super markets.  For a two hour period around midday the supermarkets are usually very packed.  If a family or friends are out shopping they’ll split up and line up at several checkouts.  Which ever person is in the fastest line calls out when they’re about to be served and the other members of the party regroup in the fast lane.  Talk about cheeky.

Our current apartment.  We're on the top floor.

I walked into the SII building with photocopies of everything I thought I’d need to get my RUT.  With my Latin American phrase book I approached the counter where I thought you went to have your RUT processed.  The line said Entregar Cedula RUT, my translation of this is “deliver ID cards”.  I later worked out this means, this is where you pick up the finalised cards.

I spoke to the first lady and she pointed me to where I was supposed to go. I asked her where do I get the number for the queue.  She spoke to a second lady who spoke to a third lady who then pointed me to a forth lady.  I handed over my passport signed in two places and she printed out my number on a temporary card and told me to come back in three months for the plastic version.  I thought I’d heard her wrong, “Three weeks?”  “No,” she replied “Three or more months.”  The funny thing is that we’re not supposed to stay in the country for more than three months at a time.

So we’re getting through our list of things to do.  Run through the checklist with me. 

Fly to Chile – yes

Find an apartment – done

Get a RUT – check

School for the girls – yes

Find a job and or work visa – hmmm.  Let’s see what tomorrow brings.