This weekend was dieciocho, the 18th of September, also known as Independence Day. There is a national dance called "cueca," which is supposed to be off the dance and the formation of movement that chickens do to mate... where the rooster is trying to impress the hen. I am not sure why but it is quite common to hear "tiki tiki tiiii" during cueca music and while people are dancing. There were lots of fondas, barbeques, and general partying. Therefore on Friday at my school, there was a little celebration held by some students, mainly in History and in the tourism department. They had students dressed up as important people in Chilean History and did some traditional dances. However no one wanted My school is an Institute, therefore the third and fourth level students pick a specialty. It is similar to what we would call a vocational school.
Three "wasos" (cowboy-esque men) dancing cueca around the Chilean flag.
More students dancing (forget the name of the dance), but it is a dance with the "devil" (guy in the red cape)
It was really fun seeing all of the students dressed up and participating in the festivities. I stayed in Santiago for the weekend sin Regina (without Regina, she went to Santa Cruz, which is supposed to be an amazing time for Dieciocho). I went to three different fondas (similar to a carnival of sorts), but each fonda I went to were very different. In general, there are a lot of different vendors selling crafts, food, and drinks. The typical foods there were choripan (sausage and bread), anticucho (meat and veggies on a stick), churros rellenos, chocolate covered fruit, I think you get the jist.
anticucho and a extra grande sopaipilla con guacamole
Fonda #1: Friday night in Providencia with Ronna, Karen, Hannah, Laura, Ashley, Mario, and Amy: I think I enjoyed this fonda the most since there were the most interesting things being sold. Homemade candy, honey, cool art, etc.
Fonda #2: Saturday with Piper and Sam at Parque O'Higgins in Santiago Centro. It was muy flite (best translation for that might be "ghetto/thug"?). The place was wayy bigger, free, dirtier, and somewhat disorganized. That was kind of a ridiculous time, but definitely 'memorable.' I had my first terremoto drink there... want to go to Piojeras to see how they are truly done.
At school we decided to split up the classes. I think it makes sense that students here can have the opportunity to have smaller classes, especially when learning a language. This way it is more manageable for both teachers, the students get more individualized attention, and they get to practice speaking and listening more. There is less down time doing behavior management, and more time in actual engaged lessons.
Therefore we changed around my schedule so I got as many classes as possible, rather than have 4 classes 2x a week. The vice principal let me use a room each time to take the students. I know I really enjoyed school a whole lot more this past week, with the exception of 2 classes, who are notoriously rowdy in my book (I had a talking to with some of the rabble 'rousers), I thought the majority of students in both classes enjoyed it, as well as the other teachers. I hope this goes well, I just need to make sure that I stay on the same pace/lesson as the other teacher so we are accountable for each lesson and are communicating. The lessons went really well for me... now I get to be more creative and have to learn everyone's name! 16 different classes. I am also going to be doing a remedial class instead of the teacher class and an advanced class that is speaking intensive after school. It has been really nice with the enthusiasm that I am getting from the students. I have had students stay for long periods of time, where I have to cut it short, or students asking to meet multiple times.
Since I love to be organized, what a surprise, I passed by an office store on my way to Ronna and Hannah's house and spent quite a chunk of change on binder, paper, markers, ink, transparencies, etc. After doing that, I also fell while talking on the phone on one of the busiest streets in Santiago. See some things do not change... That night was a fun, random night with Ronna, Hannah, Megan, Rhachim, and Dan. We just went there chilled, and Ronna made some corned beef and rice. Yummm I like impromptu nights like that.
Friday, I met up with Megan for a stroll around town, she is my new go-to buddy, and she loves walking around. Yay! We chilled at Pio Nono, met up with Laura and a guy they met when they were by the beach and then back to my house. Regina came to Santiago and we went out with Renato (my friend from work) Me, Reg, Renato, and guy guy went to Barcelona Alto and ran into Ignacio and Mario there. Just a normal night of dancing, nothing fancy. Renato was sweet and bought me chocolate as a belated birthday present. What a sweet guy, glad all my friends adore him!
Reg, Ignacio, Mario, Me, Renato
On Saturday, Regina and I went to Lastarria and got a delicious lunch! I finally got a book in English, since Lastarrias has some vendors on the street there on weekends, so now I have something to read besides Harry Potter in Spanish. We then went back to the apartment where I packed up a majority of things. At around 8:30 ALL of the lights were out. We went to the balcony and saw that the entire city's electricity was gone. There was a fire or some malfunction in the main computer system and powerlines and so 9 million of Chile's 16 million residents were affected by this. We assumed that the electricity would be out for days so Regina and I headed downstairs and went to the minimarket next to my house. It was the busiest that I have ever seen it and we stocked up on whatever food was there. We cuddled up on the rug and watched The Wire. An hour and a half later or so, the power was back on... guess we bought all that just to make ourselves fatter. Being in the dark curled up made us tired and we retired to bed.
All of our goodies
The following day, we woke up, packed up my things and moved on over to my new apartment on San Francisco. As crappy as I felt about moving out, I stopped caring a little since I never talk to my roommates and they aren't there. I talked to Caro about it a little, but she was gone for the weekend as well. I didn't feel as if that place was my home, just a place I was staying and renting out. I left a note and my keys.
Goodbye old
Hello new! My new room and my new view that I get to wake up to.
The new place is a little further away from the metro, and a little longer of a commute to work, but that is okay since I like my new apartment and don't mind walking. It is even nice just to sit on the balcony, read, or listen to music. However I do need to buy some more things for the place to make it feel more homey and convenient. Cristian has already been better and more open and communicative than my other roommates. There is also no wi-fi directly in the apartment, but there is a wi-fi zone downstairs. I think this might be better for me, this way I don't get distracted into staying online for no reason at home. It forces me to go out a bit more. I also kind of feel like I am out doing something when I am in the wi-fi lobby area since it isn't my apartment. Expect blog updates to come ever week and a half or so. I shall try to not lag on them, but now that the weather is getting warmer, (already in the mid 70s-80s in spring), I won't be indoors as much! There is also an outdoor pool in my new place... its already been hot---soon its time to go swimming, then on the roof to relax!
I haven't seen much of Jorge lately for our lessons, he has to travel a lot for work. I don't mind, but I don't like that I usually find out an hour or less before I plan on heading there. It messes up other plans, I need to talk to him about that. Also, he usually emails me, I need to tell him to text me or something instead.
I need to talk to Chileans more, so Megan and I are going to a Spanish/English exchange thing tomorrow, that should be nice. And on Saturday, I am hosting our TeachingChile dinner on my new roof. Tacos are on the menu... hope all goes well! Chau!!!
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