The Future of English Education: As if the recession wasn't reason enough to depress you

Let me begin this blog by tossing out some props to my boy José Garces on recently being named the Next Iron Chef! For those of you loyal followers who are unaware, I worked in one of Chef José's restaurants (Tinto) in Philadelphia for a stint, so I was in a tizzy to hear he prevailed in beating out nine other chefs to win a place in Kitchen Stadium among Chefs like Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto. I like to think I had a little something to do with his victory, even if there is no "measurable" basis for my claim.

I am happy to report that things seem to be chugging along on the job front, at least compared to the position we were in a few weeks ago. Lets go through this point by point:

1) The Anglo School: It seems we have secured a position as teachers for some English courses with the Anglo School in Montevideo. Come the end of January, Andrea and I will be jointly teaching an intermediate English class while Sarah and Kara will take on the advanced English course. Each level is divided into two classes, a morning and an afternoon, that meet Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for four weeks. We have a meeting with some administrators on Friday to learn more about the training we will need to go through before we can start teaching, as well as to present them with any ideas we may have for the classes. I'm very excited for this gig, though I'm sure it will prove to be a substantial amount of work.

2) Profesoras de Inglés: In case you were unaware, that is the namesake of our private tutoring business we have been touting around Pocitos. Kara and I gave our first lesson on Monday, to a woman named Leticia. Leticia is a metropolitan mamacita with a beautiful house just a few blocks away from our apartment. Aside from having two lovely daughters (we were introduced to them via the framed photos on the mantle), she also has access to as much pizza as she wants! Her husband owns Princess Pizzeria. We sure know how to pick 'em. Anyway, the lesson went well. She already knows a fair amount of English and you can tell she is dedicated to her education -- She is very patient, doesn't really get frustrated, and stays enthusiastic. Our maiden voyage into the world of one-on-one teaching was a peaceful one.

3) The International House: Stroll down Avenida Soca for a few blocks and you'll run into The International House, with it's cheery yellow sign and a macédoine of flags from around the world (sorry, that was my word-of-the-day from Merriam Webster, I promised myself I would use it today). A little while back we had an interview with a chipper Canadian named Adriana, and we heard back from her today! After a quick trip to her office, we learned we each had an assignment to proctor English exams being administered around Uruguay. Andrea will be heading to Paysandu, Sarah will be on her way to Fray Bentos, I'll be schlepping to San Carlos, and Kara will make trips to San Carlos AND Maldonado. Now I'm not saying Kara used her womanly wiles to score the double gig, but I'm also not saying she DIDN'T come back from International House disheveled and breathless. Just kidding ya'll...kind of.

Funny anecdote: My flipflop broke on the way to the International House. I was stuck trudging down Avenida Soca looking like something out of a Mary Shelley novel. Being the charming American girls we are, we have made friends all over our neighborhood, and I received some help from a sheepish chico named Rodrigo at the local gas station. He was able to MacGyver some sort of paper-clippy contraption and essentially made my havaiana as good as new! Then again, maybe the gas-station gents were just trying to thank us for our generous patronage of there establishment (our collective alfajor habit probably pays their wages).

Well there you have it, more evidence that it's not ALL fun and games down here in Montevideo. I mean, sure, our days are spent going for sunny walks and runs along the Rambla, sipping mate on the beach, flirting with our adorable doorman, playing jovial games of Rummy and Congas, gorging ourselves on faína, watching Felicity and debating the pros and cons of Noel and Ben (I'm team Noel, for the record), and . . . yeeeah, I think you get the idea. It's hard out here for a pimp.

I'd like to end this post by giving a shout-out to Becky Steele, who will be visiting me for Christmas/New Years. And while I'm a little concerned about her delusions of Montevideo (she seems to have expectations of a tropical utopia, complete with champagne rooms at beach-front clubs and horseback riding through the ocean), I have no doubt she will have the time of her life. After all, a tan Becky is a happy Becky, and if there is anything that is basically a sure-thing here, it's sun so strong it could fry the freckles right off your face.

You stay classy, blogworld.

Closed Doors and Open Windows

I woke up this morning to the sight of a finely-groomed Kara Kopp gently telling us it was time to rise and shine. We had an interview scheduled at 10 AM with Ettica, a promotion company that we were hoping would offer us temporary relief from our unemployment woes. We know that we can pass out flyers and move food samples with the best of 'em -- with killer smiles and charming attitudes to boot!

13 minutes into our journey down Echevarriarza street, it occurred to me that I had forgot my passport, which I had been told specifically to bring with me. Andrea and Sarah were already prepared, so while they soldiered on Kara and I raced back to The Penthouse (read: our apartment), rushed past our portero/crush Ramiro, and tore through our apartment before we breezed out the door once more. All of this stress and perspiration just to be told that, sorry, we can't employ tourists. Chins up, kids, better luck next time.

Deflated and dejected, we dragged our feet back to our apartment and sulked a little. The sulking was soon interrupted, however, by an unexpected *RING*. Expecting to hear the voice of Abuela or Sarah's boyfriend Drew (by far out two most frequent callers), Kara answered the phone and was greeted by the voice of an interested party for our English-tutoring services! Panicked by the Spanish rhetoric being hurled her way, Kara calmly replied "Un momento," and then cried out for Sarah and myself. I promptly ended my Skype conversation with my sister, while Sarah roused herself from her nap and grabbed hold of the phone. 5 minutes later, we had an address, a name, and a date and time set up for a diagnostic meeting. Salado! Wish us luck, our first meeting with a real live client takes place tomorrow. Sarah and Andrea will be going as our representatives.

A few hours later, yet another opportunity unveiled itself: We were able to schedule a group interview with the Uruguay Anglo School, which seems to be very enthusiastic about the prospect of having us teach English in the upcoming weeks. This gig would be ideal, for both monetary gain and resumé building.

And so my friends, even when you think all is lost, don't lose it all! You never know what is creeping around the corner. It could be a groncho or it could be a golden ticket! Alright, I'm getting ahead of myself, but optimism is just about all we have at the point.

Say a prayer, think good thoughts, or just send out groovy vibrations. We'll take what we can get.

Besos!

You're Such an Alfajor

And now, please enjoy a disorganized post comprised of random information that you don't really need to know:

-I got sunburned yesterday, and I am actually surprised it didn't happen sooner. We took advantage of the clear blue skies and headed to the beach for about 2 hours. We headed back to our apartment at which time I became aware of my sunkissed cheeks, nose, and chest. As far as sunburns go, however, it was relatively painless and has already faded into a tan with a less offensive tint. Lesson learned, though: Don't mess with the Uruguayan sun. It's on their flag for a reason.

-Our love affair with faina and dulce de leche continues to grow. In case I haven't mentioned faina up to this point, let me just say that it is a crispy, salty, chewy, oily, obscenely good kind of bread down here. The restaurant on the kitty corner from our apartment makes some mean faina and charges only 35 pesos per portion (which comes out to about $1.75). They now know us as the girls across the street who like their pieces "grueso," or thick.

The Dulce de Leche addiction has also expanded, to the point where we're consuming more alfajores than we should. Rather than try to describe exactly what an alfajor is, just take a gander at this visual learning tool:

While we're at it, here is a picture of faina as well:

-We have our flyers all printed up and ready to hang, in both Spanish and English! We have begun to walk around Pocitos and stick them up in the windows of little shops and markets where we can. We've also begun stopping in at English schools and Universities to speak with the directors and see if there are any English -teaching opportunities available. We stopped by The International House the other day, which is an institution that specializes in teaching English (with a minor focus on teaching other languages as well, like Japonese, German, and French). We dropped off our resumés and even snagged an opportunity to speak with the head of the coordination department, Adriana. We learned that although English-Teaching-Season is winding down now as the school year is ending and exams are wrapping up, there may still be some opportunities available to us as markers (aka grading exams) or serving as proctors for exams. We (very enthusiastically) made Adriana aware of our availability and eagerness to work. We shall see what becomes of it...

We will not rest until we have an income. Mostly because, well, we don't have a choice.

In the meantime, the sunshine is a great distraction from job woes. As long as I pair it with some SPF 30.