Settling in

The past couple of days have been really busy for me. I've visited the university that I'll be working at and met a lot of the teachers there. I also went to have a look at some possibilities for more permanent accommodation with one of the teachers from INACAP, the rooms weren't great at all... I decided not to go for any of them and to try to organise something by myself. Yesterday morning I had to sort out all my paperwork here, that meant going to the international police and the Registro Civil to sort out getting a Chilean identity card which I need to be able to get paid and other important things like that. In the afternoon I decided to go for a long walk around the city to explore as many different areas as I could. The main part of the city here is very urban, neatly organised and vibrant. There are loads of street performers out all through the day and lots of street sellers selling food, snacks, bit of clothing etc.

Tribunales, pretty central in the city. I think it's some kind of court.

I was surprised to stumble across a kind of shanty town on the outskirts on the city, it was in complete contrast to the high rise building in the centre of the city. This part was much closer to the big river that forms a boundary to one side of Concepción. I thought the Thames was pretty big but this river is absolutely enourmous!

The poorer area of town with the high rise buildings of the centre in the background

Concepción's enormous river, el Río Bio Bio

I also saw the memorial which was erected to commemorate those that died in the last severe earthquake here in 2010. There were over 500 deaths throughout the country and it was quite harrowing to say the least. One bit of graffiti on the memorial stood out to me, it read: "Te quiero mucho <3" (I love you a lot), whether it was supposed to be there a lot I thought it was quite appropriate. I was later told that the memorial was quite controversial in Concepción because it cost quite a lot to build, so not everyone agrees about its place in the city. 

Later in the day I had managed to arrange a viewing for some more accommodation, this place was a little more expensive but I was hoping it would be nicer. I was put in touch with someone who kindly offered to come with me in case I needed any help understanding what the landlord was saying. The room was quite small but much cleaner and in a sociable flat with lots of other students and a cat called Millie. I'm going to move in on the 8th August so I'll let you all know how it goes. Enzu, the guy that helped me with the viewing, and I then went out to a local bar. He works at the German school in Concepción and it was great to find someone to practice my German with so soon! He was talking about possibly learning to ski in a few weeks and that I was welcome to go too, I think it would be a good way to get into the outdoor sports lifestyle here.