Aneya: Chilean Vacations

A typical weekday on a Santiago street. On the weekends, the city is a ghost town.

So, we came to Chile at, some would say, the perfect time. Obviously, we are in the Southern Hemisphere, so the climate is reversed. It is summer here, and hot as all hell (at least it was. It's cooling down now, slowly but surely) The school year in Chile is bizarre (at least for American standards) They have January and February off (summer holiday) then school starts again in March. The school year runs until December, and then they start the holidays all over again. Now, Daniela tells us there are many "Saint" days in between, so they get lots of three day weekends and random weeks off, for a variety of Christian-inspired events. Doesn't sound bad at all!

In my high school in France, every 6 weeks we had a two week holiday. No joke. And Wednesdays were half days. And we had weekends off. The only catch? The school day was from 8:30-5:30. Some would call that excessive, but we did have an hour for lunch, two hours for sports, lots of baguette and cheese breaks. You get the drift. It sounds like Chile's school system is more similar to European standards than American ones. And I kind of like it.

The whole notion of "all work and no play" is so typically American, and the fact that adults take time off too, seems absurd to them. Adults? Getting two weeks off? Getting two months off? The must be out of their minds! No, they're just living. Really, truly, living. Americans could take note.

Lots of restaurants here close at noon, so they can have a two hour lunch. A few aren't open at all, their signs saying they'll be back in March. As we've mentioned, the weekends here are completely dead, everyone's at the bus station, heading to the beach. Shops, restaurants, cafe's. No one's around. And you know what? That's fine. They deserve it! Go have fun!

Lauren was quite shocked at this. I wasn't. If any of you have to been to France in the month of August, you'll know what I'm talking about. The entire country is on a holiday. You'll be hard pressed to find a Boulangerie open, let alone a restaurant. Because people aren't machines. They're human. And they need a break every now and then.

Next week is March, so it'll be interesting to see how the city adjusts to life again, after their two month holiday. As for us, our holiday appears to be never ending, as we're both waiting, impatiently, to be employed. Let's hope next month is a productive one!