Friday: August 26th
I went with Nacho to Puente Alto to build houses. I was running about half an hour late, I definitely underestimated the time needed to travel, good thing his alarm didn't go off and he was about an hour late. We also met up with his friends, Sebastian and Camilla (both VERY common names in Chile, along with Francisco, Javiera, Ignacio, and Carolina. Well they both work in the same program 'Un techo para Chile' http://www.untechoparachile.cl/ as Nacho. This program started in Chile and is now going around South America, but it is always run by Chileans. They are a non-profit organization working to improve the quality of life of the very poor.
We took a micro to some part of town, and we were definitely in the "ghetto." Rows of 'shacks' lined up, piles of garbage around as well as scattered around, and a lot of stray animals. We waited there a bit for the trucks to come so we could unload all of the materials. There were a lot of volunteers there and over the course of the weekend they were going to build thirteen houses. It was a pretty cold and dreary day. The first third of the day was spent unloading all of the materials. Then we spent about an hour in a room, being shown diagrams on how to build the houses (the types of houses that we were building are bigger and more complicated than ones that they have built in the past). Then we were divided into groups, they asked who had experience doing this in the past, divided them up, then the people with no experience. When I saw that they were getting ready to place me, i asked if I could be with Nacho since he spoke English. The remainder of the day was spent digging holes and setting the logs that would act as the foundation for the building. It was interesting seeing how they did things without "normal tools". For example, they pounded in rocks into the dirt to keep it steady and stable, packed more rocks and dirt around the plank of wood to keep it in place. Also, they used a tube and water to check for level measures. It was quite a slow process since you had to set one log, before you set the next, since everything had to be measured out. I think if I came on the second or third day, when things were already started, I probably would have felt more useful.
Our holes that we dug in the cold...
I was in a group with Nacho, Sebastian, and three other girls. I later found out that they were in high school, the same group as my students, and they lived in wealthier comunes of Santiago. It makes sense that the people were not the most friendly or welcoming toward me, since they were so young and at the age where they are very occupied with their friends and with themselves. Also I was being pretty introverted as well. That's what happens when I'm a bit insecure and shy... obvio.
Piles of dirt and trash around the houses
We finished work at around 7 and actually left the place at around 8, therefore I got home around 9:30. On the micro home, there was a large group of high schoolers. They were passing around a bottle of wine and were obviously drunk and not old enough to be drinking. Eh pretty standard in all countries, but the legal drinking age here is 18. I was supposed to meet up with Renato and his boyfriend, but we all were just too tired. If I haven't said it before, Renato is my awesome gay friend who subbed at my school. I ended up just sleeping that night.
Saturday: August 27
I ended up not going to build houses for the second day. I'm sure the second day would have been better than the first, however it just didn't happen. I am really glad I got to go, and would definitely go again. I was just so pooped and cold, would have hated to get sick again. Later in the night, I met up with Regina and we discovered a larger grocery store close to my house on our way to Karen, Amy and Ashley's house. The grocery store was actually close to where the hostel was, but then again, I live pretty close to the hostel. We got some vino and cake. The cake was made with layers of manjar. Manjar is something you must eat when in Chile, it is like a caramelly delicious goodness. Obviously, not good for you, but thankfully I am not as addicted to it as Regina.
We went to our 'gringo' TeachingChile family semi-pot luck dinner. However, we were waiting for everyone to eat dinner, so instead of eating, I drank yummy Chilean cheap wine. Even the boxed wine here is better than some standard wine back at home. Then we ate yummy curry with rice, sang Sam happy birthday, ate a ton of dessert and hung out. Regina and I went to another apartment for Lucian's Goodbye party. It was funny that this party was in the same apartment building and on the same floor. It was another TeachingChile gringo party, but from people that arrived to the program last March. There was one guy who arrived the same time as us, but he was closer with the Summer 2011 TeachingChile crew since his boyfriend was a part of that. It was interesting hearing about how life is for him as a gay man coming from Tennessee with very conservative parents, and moving to Chile...
FOOD!
Some of the Teaching Chile 2011 crew and its honorary guests
We didn't stay long and went back to the original apartment. Everyone went out that night, except me... I pancaked (lay down flat like a pancake) and fell asleep. I also thought I had forgotten my keys so Regina and I slept on a loveseat at Karen & Co.'s apartment. Good thing Regina and I love each other.
Regina and I bummed around and got delicious Peruvian food. Such a good thing that Santiago is the capital and has different types of restaurants, otherwise I would die with all the completos (hot dogs) and churrascos in Chile, and end up just living off of sopaipillas. I did buy a buttload of groceries and bought two reusable bags... something I was so annoyed at myself for not bringing. Can't go wrong with reusable bags.
Monday: August 29
I went to school thinking, "they can't still be in 'toma,' it's been a whole week." I walked out of the Metro station and saw a bunch of San Mateo uniformed students walking toward the metro, away from the school. A student came to talk to me and told me, yes, the school is still in 'toma.' I walked there anyway to find the teachers standing in the parking lot. The vice principal looked at me very normally and told me to go upstairs with all the other teachers since it was cold out. I sat there for a bit, talked to Karen (English department Head) and asked if I had to be there. She replied, "probably not, go home." When I asked her if she knew if the school was still taken over before she came to school, she replied, 'yes of course.' I figured that was the answer since many teachers strolled in later and in jeans. Guess it wasn't important to inform me that I didn't have to come to school.
Oh well, I met up with Megan and we strolled around Cerro Santa Lucia, walked around the little ferria and then went to a cafe on Calle Estrella. I love that little area of cafes... It was a beautiful day walking around and I just simply LOVE juice here in Chile, it is so fresh and is obviously made from fresh fruit. Que rico!
Me and Megan at Cerro Santa Lucia
Tuesday: August 30
If I recall correctly, I think I just slept all day. Just one of those days...
Wednesday: August 31
I was told to come to school for the faculty meeting at aI went to school at 9:45 for our meeting at 10. True to the lateness of Chilean form, we started the meeting around 10:15. Basically there were a few important things said. 1-The school should be normal starting tomorrow...whatever "normal" is. Hopefully I can have my actual schedule at a co-teacher and not the ONLY teacher. 2-The Hannover students would be sharing the space at the University-rented space so primero (1) and segundo (2) medios (high school) would have classes in the mornings and tricero (3) and cuatro (4) medio would have their classes in the afternoon. All their taller classes (workshop) would take place at my school, after the San Mateo students were done for the day. So I guess my students won? 3- Since 9 days of classes were missed due to the toma, we now have to make that up. The original scheduled date to end classes for summer break, for all students that were not seniors/cuatro medio was December 12. Now who knows when the last day is, but it is definitely pushed back a bit. 4-The seniors have to finish on November 18 since that is when the exam that Chilean seniors take. It is the test for University, which is only offered once a year. It is also sad because they apparently test every subject and my students, who are in an institute with specialized fields such as Electronics, Tourism, do not get the general education in all the fields. Therefore they are not as prepared for the test and cannot get into a good University, if they can afford to go to one at all.
Well since my internet was out for about a week, I went to Karen, Ashley, and Amy's place to use the internet and catch up with them. Then Karen and I walked around, went to lunch at a delicious Japanese restaurant, and walked around. This restaurant, Kintaro, is where I met my future roommate Cristian. More to come on him later...
Yummy rolls that were as fresh as could be!
Then we went to Cafe Literario in Parque Bustamente. It is a cute literary cafe with indoor and outdoor seating, as well as internet and ya know... cafe things. Karen and I got children's books in Spanish and were reading them aloud to each other like story time. It was sad how I didn't know a lot of specific words. Always more to learn.
Chillin outside at Cafe Literario with our Cafe Cortados and Torta chocolate
Thursday and Friday: September 1 & 2
Back to school! and guess what?! Gustavo was not there... he hurt his back playing three games of soccer and could not make it to school. He has a medical license for 15 days and has another 2 weeks off of school. At least that means I get to see Renato again... they ended up hiring a different substitute that could come for the full day since Renato could only come for half a day each day. She's nice and all but I prefer Renato. School was a lot better these two days, maybe because half the kids were missing so I only had about 25-30 students in each class and it was actually manageable again. I finally started feeling like an effective teacher again.
The students were learning how to use "like/need/have/want" as well as "do and don't," which is something that does not exist in the Spanish language. I had them play a "game" where they all sat in a circle and there was one person left standing in the middle. The person in the middle had to say a sentence, "If you have a brother, change seats," then all the people who had a brother had to get up and find another seat. They got to include their vocabulary of events, clothes, colors, and any other English they knew. I would say the majority of the students really enjoyed the game, were really into it, and were 'sad' when it ended. The most memorable ones from that game were:
1- One of my gay students was trying to call out his boyfriend said, "If you want gay." He meant to say, "If you are gay."
2- Another one of my students had used "if you have two legs...", I decided to use it in another class and it definitely backfired since some of my boys did not get up. When I told them they had to move because they had 2 legs, they replied with "No I don't, I have three..." Man some of my students have dirty minds. Its also amazing that I have had some of the Cuatro medio (seniors) classes four or five times now.... I don't have any senior classes on my schedule--- that's how much I haven't been using my schedule. I don't mind teaching solo, I would just like more advance notice than 3 minutes before class so I can actually prepare, but things are getting better!
Regina came to Santiago again that Friday night and I made here a nice romantic dinner of pasta with meat, broccoli, onions, red sauce, and beer. Then we got some chocolate alfajores (large cookies covered with manjar) and went to Las Condes to hang out with Nacho and some of his friends. It was just a simple hang out session for his friend's birthday. Maria de la Luz came later that night... we met her at Nacho's asado in Rancagua. She is sooo cute!!! I love her and there is more info to come on her as well!
Yay! Maria!
Saturday: September 3
I do not really remember what we did that day... but I know that Regina and I went back to Marita's (Ronna/me/Karen's favorite spot for lunch next to the hostel). However that place has gotten worse and worse for me and we also had an EXTREMELY creepy waitress who made my skin crawl. Afterwards we went to Cafe Literario and hung out... and that night Reg, me, Karen, and Megan went to Las Condes for Raul's friend's birthday party. Lots of dancing and practicing some Spanish! Good torta tambien. oh man, cake...
Reg, me, Karen, and Meg at Raul's house
I came back to the apartment pretty late and my one roommate was still up with her friends. I joined them for a bit and then when the left, she told me about a plane crash that had just happened on Friday. From the conversation that we had (all in Spanish by the way), it was an Air Force plane crash and everyone (21 people died) including an extremely famous TV anchorman Felipe Camiroago (our version of Oprah). The other sad part was that the plane was going to an island to help with the aftermath of last year's earthquake. Many Chileans were really shook up and devastated about this news... similar to how America reacted with Michael Jackson dying, but without the "was he or was he not a pedophile question attached?" My roommate told me all of Chile was crying and there was a big Cathedral mourning in honor of those people.
So before I go into more of a play by play of each day, I will introduce you to some more people in my life... Jorge, Maria, y Cristian.
Jorge:
He is Christina's (gringa who is the VP at my sister school Alma Mater) future father-in-law. He wants to learn and improve his English (more the pronunciation and listening comprehension) so he can converse with Christina's family and friends for the wedding in March. Also he is going to Germany in the summer and wants to be more proficient in English. Regardless, we meet more or less every weekday and just talk in English for an hour/hour and a half. It is pretty awesome for me since he basically just gives me a Chilean history lesson and tells me about various things and cool tidbits and facts. Its an awesome way to learn more, plus I am earning some money to save so I can go travel in the summer!
Maria:
She, I already mentioned is friends with Nacho and I met her at the asado. At that asado in Rancagua, we had talked about meeting up together to do English/Spanish swap lessons... Whenever I talk to people about doing things like this, they never come through. However, since both Maria and I are SUPER hard to find on facebook, when we were together in Las Condes at Nacho's friend's house, we got each other's contact info. Now we are meeting more or less every day for an hour and half to just talk. We will do one day in English, one day in Spanish.... and then some convos in Spanglish. She is super sweet and patient and just altogether awesome. I am also going to flamenco dance with her one of these days.
Cristian:
He is the waiter that I met at the Japanese restaurant. He was super attentive, sweet, and just awesome. Man its great meeting all these awesome people. Karen had said that he had been her waiter a bunch of times before. Megan, Laura, and Karen stalk this Japanese restaurant. They went here for Laura and Marissa's birthday and Karen just goes to get her asian food fix. Well anywho, since they had been there a bunch of times, Cristian asked us if we could help him at the end of the meal. He has an apartment with a room for rent and was looking for a foreigner to fill the spot. Since we are obviously foreigners and he knew we were in a teaching program, he asked if we could help find someone and if we were willing to check the place out. Don't worry...a bunch of us have met him and hung out with him... dont get the sketchy vibe from him at all.
So....
Sunday: September 4
Karen and I went to Cristian's apartment and checked it out. After we scouted it all out, the three of us went to lunch and hung out. It is a two bedroom bedroom, 2 bathroom place. So basically each room has its own bathroom. After seeing the place and meeting Cristian, I decided this could be a place that I move into.
San Francisco Pros and Cons list
+ bigger bed
+ rooftop access
+ amazing view of city and mountains
+ more comfortable living situation
+ cheaper (I would take the smaller room with the non-attached bathroom)
+ close to Jorge (about 3 min. walk) for lessons everyday
- somewhat far from metro (15 min. walk)
- no internet in actual apartment/ only in wi-fi area downstairs
Santa Isabel Pros and Cons list
+ closer to Metro (better location)
+ more small shops around
+ somewhat larger common space
+ internet in apartment
- not as friendly roommates
- more expensive
- tiny room
- don't feel that comfortable being at home...
After making this list, and talking to gringas and Chileans both, I decided. I was moving into this place. The only thing really holding me back was the guilt from moving out since I believe there was a miscommunication and my roommates thought I was staying here all year. I was always planning on moving out. I am moving into Cristian's place with no intention to leave until I leave Chile. Things might change, but I am not going into it, knowing that I am looking for another place. Also, I am working on doing things for myself and not getting stuck into situations for the betterment of others... need to do what's best for myself. Also, I am giving them a month's notice and the one roommate hasn't been the most friendly... I think all we've said to each other is "hola, como estas" and "internet es funcionar para ti?" I feel bad for leaving the other one, but gotta do what I gotta do.
View from Cristian's apartment... right now my view is the apartments next to me
The week was pretty normal, just school, then meeting with Jorge or Maria or both. It was cute, on Wednesday night the gringas wanted me to go out to Miercoles Po, but I was pretty pooped, but they sang me Happy Birthday over the phone. On Thursday, I just had a long day teaching and English department meeting. My students were cute and every class sang happy birthday to me... I felt like a high schooler again getting embarrassed. One group of kids even grouped hugged me (traditional birthday Chilean style) at the end.
Oh yeah, we have a student teacher that joined us this week as well who will be with us Wed.-Fri. We decided that my "teacher English class" will now be a remedial class for students and I am going to have advanced classes on Monday for my students who are higher and want/need practice talking. I am going to change my school schedule around a bit since I have 4 classes twice a week and ZERO segundo or cuatro medio classes. Pretty nice of me to donate my time for these students... so glad I found out that my passion in life is teaching. If I can help some students while I am here... then that makes me feel so much better.
The other interesting thing is that the Hannover students asked my school if they could come back... They don't like the new arrangements. All of the students and parents voted. 75% of San Mateo population said "no Hannover... you can't come back." Guess my students did win...
The other interesting thing is that the Hannover students asked my school if they could come back... They don't like the new arrangements. All of the students and parents voted. 75% of San Mateo population said "no Hannover... you can't come back." Guess my students did win...
Thursday night, I met with Maria and she bought me a little clip for my birthday. What a sweetheart. Then met up with Megan, Karen and Laura for a late night beer (nice girls treated me!)
Friday, School, 2 hours of talking to my students in English. It was cute since after an hour, I was like "okayy time to go." and they responded with, "why? I dont have to go anywhere..." all I thought about was "I do, but you guys are sweet" So we stayed longer, I had to push back some of my other plans that day... rushed home, packed my things and went to Las Condes to meet with Maria for some English. Then rushed to the bus terminal to meet Regina since we randomly decided to go to Valpariaso (awesome city by the beach)
We made an impromptu trip there and found our way to a hostel that I found on the bus with my LonelyPlanet book... Casa Aventura. It was a cute homey place and 8 luka (8000 pesos) for the night. It was easy to get to, but not easy to find the street since it was literally a staircase... Valpariaso is so cute with its colorful and European influenced buildings. We got there pretty late, but hey while in Chile, do as the Chileans do.
Outside Hostel
Inside Hostel
We had an awesome dinner and then went out. The place, Mascara, had some funky electronica music going on at first, but was (according to Lonely Planet and our waitress) the bar to go to for dancing. It turned out to be a great night and our hostel beds were really comfortable with its down feather comforters. The hostel was cute to stay in for a short trip, not for an extended stay. Breakfast was nice talking to the owner and to other passerby people. There was AMAZING homemade kiwi jelly and orange/pear jelly. Mmmmmm.
Saturday was beautiful walking around. We walked up Cerro Allegre, but since we were just wandering, I guess went up a dangerous path. As we got closer to the top, a truck kept honking at us. We ignored it since we are used to people honking at us, "yes we know that we are foreign." However the guy was persistent and was really trying to tell us not to walk further since it was dangerous. Other guys were outside their house and told us the same thing. We decided to heed their warnings and turn around. After all we don't want to find out whyy a place is dangerous. It was kinda shady...there was a crate of small cute yet sickly puppies. The sign said that some "bad person" abandoned these puppies, so to please take them home and take care... Regina and I were pretty pooped and didn't do much in the city but walk around. Eh we are in Chile for a year, we will definitely be back. It was sooo gorgeous there!
Poor Puppies...
We will be back Valpariaso!
Saturday night was fun in Santiago with Regina, Karen, Laura, and Piper. We went back to the bar that I never made it to the night of the GringaFest since there was no cover. There were a lot of foreigners and locals mixed together and a lot of them had paint on their face. I asked the one girl why she had face on her paint and she said it was for a bar crawl that is normally 10.000 pesos, but since she said she liked me... we got in for free! Good night dancing and meeting people! Will definitely have to do it again. Oh yeah and since I didn't see my roommates all week, I wrote them a note Friday saying that we have to talk...that I was moving out. They don't seem to care or want to talk about it... Oh well AWESOME birthday weekend, especially thanks to Regina. I think it was more important to her than me that I had a good birthday. Such a sweetheart... and thanks for all the love back from home! I LOVE YOU!!! Muchos besos y abrazos gigantes!
Sunday, Regina and I went to Cristian's house (my new place) and he made us delicious lo-mein type of lunch and we watched a movie. That definitely reaffirmed the fact that I am making the right choice in moving in. New move in date: September 25th. New address: San Francisco 350/ Departamento 201B/Santiago de Chile
Monday: Normal day of school... It is sooo hard to get out of bed, but the weather is sooooooooo amazing lately... little scared for how hot it will be in the summer though. I had students stay afterschool again just to talk in English... I hope I get more students and now I need to work on creating awesome "not-seemingly" English lessons. No Jorge or Maria today, but met with Kelsey at some cafes so I could finally catch up on this blog. This monstrous blog probably took me about 4 hours... pathetic. That's what procrastination will do to you!
Mi espanol es todavia malo. Pero cada dia, aprendo mas palabras. I still have moments where I am like "wow, my spanish is getting so much better! No asking people to repeat themselves and etc. and other days, I am like wow, I've been here for over a month and its still at this level?" However, everyday conversing is much better, and I have some Chileans saying my Spanish is pretty good, especially all things considering, including people I don't really even know that well.... so just need to keep on trucking! Don't worry mommy, I am hitting my three goals of 1-learning spanish, 2-traveling, 3-working on the craft of teaching!
Things to look forward to:
- Cafe with Dan tomorrow in Calle Estrella
- Korean food with JP on Wednesday
- Chilean Independence Weekend!---and three-day weekend. I hope there are lots of cueca and fondos to go to... we shall see. Maybe I'll ask Cristian if we can have an asado on the roof...
Until next time. Thanks for getting through that all!
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