Unexpected Turn of Events...

If you're family, hope you aren't driving. Friends, check your hotel points…. 

I am staying in Santiago, Chile for another year. 

WHAT? You get to read more of my serious, life-changing posts while sipping coffee and procrastinating? I know, I know, how could you survive without my entertaining look at life in Santiago and my photos that make you search Kayak for flights to Chile tomorrow? You're welcome :)

I miss my Denver friends every day. I miss the Colorado mountains, Colorado air, Colorado beer, Colorado parks and running the trails at Green Mountain, in Boulder and Breck. I don't like to think about Vail or else I get too emotional.

Why Stay? 

Pretty cool career opportunity with Astoreca Foundation as a Math Coach for elementary math teachers around Santiago, in public schools. WHY? Public education is not exactly great here. If you've got any money, you pay for a private school. It's a proportionally larger gap between rich and poor education here than in the US and economic status is the main factor in educational opportunity here. There are only 3 schools with worse public education in the OECD (Finland is ranked #1 and the US is right below average).

Since all kids deserve a high-quality education and the chance to choose their career, as opposed to their neighborhood defining them, I choose to work with at-risk students & the teachers that are charged with teaching them. 

Doesn't hurt that I've got a lovely Latino as a boyfriend and we'd like to be together in the same country. Can you believe I have a boyfriend? I know.

And…. I'm liking the pace of life, can't leave without skiing in the Andes a few times, want to try surfing a few more times, need to go back to the most beautiful place in the world, learn to make healthy empanadas, do an adventure trail race, learn to drive stick, dream in Spanish and run a marathon in Chile.

And… a few more friends want to visit. Are you one of them? Get here!

It wasn't an easy decision because I LOVE COLORADO SO MUCH. I miss it every day. But I also live living in Santiago. I'm just starting to feel like I "live" here. But, I know I will always be from Michigan…

Michigan-bound: 16 days! Well, 15 but I get there in 16 days!