The first workplace

On my second day in Chile, my first employer picked me up directly from the hostel. He greeted me by hugging me and we had a casual conversation during the car ride. We drove for an hour and a half until we arrived at a small BnB at an altitude of 1100m above sea level near the small town of Los Andes. The BnB is surrounded by Andean mountains, cacti, and shrubs and has few neighboring houses. In addition to my boss Agustín and his sister Soledad, their friend Pato, the three cats Oto, Parra, and Lupe, and the three dogs Flaca, Negra, and Calén also live in the BnB. My room is a tiny one that is entered from outside the BnB. According to Agustín, it is not necessary to lock any doors there because it is so remote that no one would come here to steal.

Upon arrival, he explained my tasks for the next few weeks, which include cleaning the rooms, cooking, serving food, picking apricots and making jam, welcoming guests and showing them to their rooms. However, Agustín also explained to me that working together in Chile also means living together and that I should make myself feel at home. So I can also go into the pool, help myself to the refrigerator at any time, and most of the time I will spend my free time with my colleagues.

On this day, Agustín introduced me to a friend named Claudia and her little daughter Ema, who were visiting. We spent the rest of the day sitting by the pool, chatting, and having dinner together.

On my second day at the BnB, I also met more of his friends: Nicolas, Ignacio, and Señora Isolina, who also works here and will show me all the tasks or do them with me. When asked by the others what I had planned for New Year's Eve, I said that I would have liked to celebrate in Valparaíso, but I probably won't get a room there as both tourists and many Chileans want to watch the fireworks there. And as Chileans are, Agustín's friends made it possible for me to spend New Year's Eve in Valparaíso. Claudia and I would drive to her hometown of Concón on this day, December 30th, and stay there for one night. On New Year's Eve, I would sleep at Ignacio's in Viña del Mar and could, if I wanted to, celebrate New Year's Eve with him and his friends. However, since it is difficult to get bus tickets back to Los Andes on January 1st, I would return to my workplace one day later. And something like this should be imagined in Germany: allowing complete strangers to sleep at your home for several nights, celebrating New Year's Eve together, and later driving them to the next largest bus station in Valparaíso. It is just as remarkable that my boss allows me to do this, even though I should be working on New Year's Eve. However, on this day, I started making apricot jam and spent one to two hours standing in front of the scorching hot grill, stirring it regularly. Afterwards, we all grilled together in the courtyard and ate meat, homemade guacamole, salad with walnuts from the garden, potato salad, and cucumber salad, as well as drinking beer and homemade apricot juice. I have rarely tasted something so delicious. We listened to Spanish reggaeton music and cumbia, a music genre that is often played at parties in Chile. After dinner, I played and joked around with Ema for a while, packed my backpack, and then we got in the car towards the sea.