Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Money and Robbie Williams

As I write this I’m breathing a big sigh of relief. I found new students to tutor on the side. I just had my first tutoring session today- it lasted an hour- and the cash feels pretty damn good in my pocket. My new student, Carolina, is 25 and works at a travel agency, so English is important for her to know. She is also willing to pay 16 Lucas (about $32) for two hours a week of classes. She has a very basic level of English but that’s a positive because the learning curve will be steep; she will start to see results immediately.

Nevertheless the best private students are the really advanced ones. Their English is really good- maybe even borderline fluent- and all they want to do is practice through conversation. You get paid to literally sit and talk to someone for an hour. You don’t have to prepare a lesson nor worksheets, nothing. Those students are very hard to come by though and they usually don’t last too long either . If I can find one more person to tutor I’ll be in a good position financially.

It’s officially spring in Santiago and its finally beginning to really warm up. Today you didn’t even need a jacket.

What do ‘has been’ British pop stars do instead of retiring? Apparently they play concerts in Chile. Last night Robbie Williams performed here. Anybody know who he is? If you’re reading this and you’re American (probably most of you) then most likely you have no idea. He’s a British pop star who tried to break into the US market about five or six years ago. He never made it in the US but he’s huge in the rest of the world (he has one song, Rock DJ, that’s okay, other than that I’m not a fan). Although it’s winding down now, the last month has been Robbie-mania. His face juts out at you from billboards all over Santiago and his concert was advertised all over TV and the radio. Such a fuss was made upon his arrival to Chile that you would have though he was a Head of State or something.

Last week I also moved into a new place, but that’s a story for another day (e.g. the next blog entry).

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