Another earthquake, seriously?!?

Today was quite the eventful day in my life. I don't know how I keep getting myself into these ridiculous situations in Chile, but I hope they never stop, as long as I continue to stay safe (I said that for you, Mom).
This morning started with orientation for teaching. I know, it seems like I should have done that oh say 2 months ago, but in true South American fashion I have been taking my time getting to work. We started the morning with the seminar leaders being 30 minutes late and then we decided to watch the outgoing president, Michelle Bachelet take her final drive from La Moneda to Valparaiso (a lovely coastal town where the Congress is held), It was a very emotional moment for the Chilean people because she has an incredible approval rating and people lovingly refer to her as "the Grandma." She is a pretty incredible modern woman, she is divorced, a Socialist, and an Athiest, and still loved by this conservative, Catholic country that only legalized divorce 5 years ago. People were crying in the street and marching after her screaming, "We love you Bachelet" followed by obscenities directed towards the new President. The new President, Pinera, is the first Conservative since Pinochet to be elected into office, so it was a very historic day. The Minister of Health came over to greet us as he was leaving office and gave me a kiss. I wanted to tell him about the swine flu, but seeing as how he is leaving it seemed like a moot point. The Minister of Education also came over to greet us and knew immediately that we were the English Opens Doors program. It was pretty incredible to be in all the excitement and be recognized by someone with such power.

Since the Earthquake on Febraury 27th there have been more than 350 "aftershocks." I say "aftershocks" because almost all are over 4.0 and are actually technically earthquakes. This is a good thing because the theory is that it means that the pressure is being released and it will not result in another large earthquake. That theory gave me quite a bit of comfort until today when I was in three consecutive earthquakes ranging from 6.0 to 7.2 within 30 minutes. It was really bizarre to be sitting in a seminar on teaching and look up at the lights and think, "I really hope those don't fall on my head." We were immediately evacuated from the building and there was a sense of panic around because this was definitely the strongest and longest since the Febraury 27th one. We were evacuated to La Moneda (the President's office) and as if it wasn't busy enough with the Inauguration and all it was then full of every business person and tourist in Santiago. It was madness. To add insult to injury I got sunburned because I didn't have time to apply sunblock. I am going to come back from Chile looking like this, awesome.