So I am putting my travel writing on hold since there is so much and it is all just so overwhelming.I just finished my first whole week of school with all of the students and I am feeling pretty good for this semester.
Pre-Students: School started for the teachers last Thursday and I wasn't really sure if I was going to school until Wednesday. Again, definitely not the most organized...
Thursday: First day of school for the teachers and basically just a meeting the entire day about the beginning of school and your standard standards. At least I got to listen to a lot of Spanish and learn the schedule for the year.
Friday: Rearrangement of the teacher's room... The English department used to sit in this cramped little space, but now that there are so many of us, they had to move us to our own little room. Last year, there were four teachers and me. Then they fired one of the English teachers and hired two new ones. So now there are five teachers, me, and we are expecting another gringo from the Ministry. So now its just a little crowded in a bigger room.
Monday: was the first day for the students. The entire objective for the day was for the students to get to know their homeroom teachers, anything new with the school, their schedule, and general maintenance. Since I don't have a homeroom, it was a good thing I brought my computer and hung out in the teacher's room, trying to figure out where I am going to live and what I am going to do when I get home. However, I did get a little break from that to do the very important job of hanging letters "Bienvenidos 2012" on the stage. After 3 hours of doing nothing, there was a welcome assembly where they basically just introduced the faculty and staff of the school. Surprisingly I was called up on stage as part of the staff, I am quite astonished that someone remembered me. They also remembered me when they gave teachers whiteboard markers and erasers... last semester I bought all of my own things. But this time they remembered me! Except for ink (they have rechargeable whiteboard markers)...I need to ask the secretary every time i need more ink.
The school uniform is navy, grey, and yellow. However the company that makes these uniforms does not make this color scheme anymore. So now all of the freshman and any new students have black, red, and yellow uniforms. They are very distinct uniforms so the students who are new stand out as well as most of the freshman last year who got left back and are repeating the year (there are quite a lot of them)
Monday, the rest of the teachers got their schedules so I could finally make mine. I made my schedule and gave myself Fridays free. Kind of worked out too that there was only one class that I could have gone to on Friday, and it just seems a bit silly to travel for two hours to only work for an hour and half.
Rest of the Week
Tuesday and Wednesday were half days for the students and Thursday was a full day. So far I like the large majority of the classes and they generally went well. There are still a ton of students in each class. They could have been behaving better since it was the first week of school, but I hope they stay this way... we shall see and only hope for the best! I definitely feel more confident and comfortable in the school now, I feel like I belong more than I did in the first semester and that I am capable and knowledgeable about some of the ins and outs of the school. I talk to more of the staff and I definitely understand more. One of the ballsy juniors asked if I had learned more Spanish since he remembers that before I really didn't know anything. A couple of students that I talked to, also remarked on how my Spanish got better and they wondered how that happened....hope their not lying to try to win some points.
A new thing in my schedule is that I will be teaching "special" executive classes to my bosses. All three schools will be teaching the administrative staff English for four hours a week. I have to give them homework and tests and so on. So now I have to teach my principal, my vice principal (who doesn't like English) and some others who I don't know. We will see how that goes...I feel like they are too busy to actually come to class.
Oh random, but Thursday was "Dia de mujeres" Women's day... all the women got cake, flowers, and a drink. There is a women's day, but no men's day.... it was all very peculiar to me. I thought we had a meeting in the library, but instead we got greeted by kisses and flowers. If we had a women's day and no men's day in America...people would call it discrimination. The teachers were pretty surprised that I was surprised with this day. Ah the cultural gender differences in Chile and the States.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Gringa Extravaganzas
Now that the summer is ending, I have no immediate travel plans, all my visitors have left, and I have a week looming until school starts again...that gives me a deadline to update you on my life for the past 2.5 months!
Before I get into all of the traveling and visitors, this will be my homage on the gringas that have been in my life. I made some English-speaking friends here but now a lot have them have gone away. Here is just a little montage of some small things that we have done together
American Halloween brought to Chile!
Before I get into all of the traveling and visitors, this will be my homage on the gringas that have been in my life. I made some English-speaking friends here but now a lot have them have gone away. Here is just a little montage of some small things that we have done together
American Halloween brought to Chile!
Random Get Togethers
Ronna, Megan, and I had a random get together night. I was pleasantly surprised that Ronna came out of her apartment to hang. We were supposed to go out but ended up just staying in. We had some tasty drinks of fresh strawberries mixed with vodka and ice. It would have been better, had the blender not exploded all over me and the kitchen, but a good night all in all. However I don't think Megan or Ronna would have let me prepare the drinks again for them!
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Real Breakfast
All of us were really missing American breakfast since breakfast here consists of some very good bread with butter next to your tea or instant coffee. So because of that, a few of us banded together (after the strawberry night) and made a lovely breakfast together. We had eggs with spinach and onions and some sausage links. After we rested our fat stomachs a bit, we then had some delicious pancakes with cinnamon sugar. There was a bit of syrup since Ronna and Hannah brought some (they are the masters of making pancakes using the most random measuring devices). I really need to learn how to make good pancakes and find some syrup.Feliz Dia de Comida y Gracias
First thanksgiving without the family and delicious food, but somehow we managed. A few of us got together and made a little pot luck dinner. I made spinach and macaroni and cheese. I felt the mac n cheese was disappointing since there is not a wide array of cheese here. Hannah and Ronna brought mashed potatoes and a chocolate bread dessert (I really can't remember exactly since Thanksgiving was so long ago). Laura made a green bean casserole and apple tart dessert. Megan made stuffing, bought some roasted chicken (since we were all way to lazy and busy to make a turkey). Laura and Megan's friend from home, Akilah, was here, so she brought some Trader Joe's cornbread and candy corn. I LOVE cornbread...so delicious!!! It was also cute since Laura's mom sent Thanksgiving decorations and napkins to Chile with Akilah. I can't remember exactly what was made or who made it... all I remember was that it was quite tasty, I ate wayy too much of it, which put me into a deep food coma, unable to move. It was very cute that Karen, our token Ozzie, had her very first Thanksgiving with us as well! Loverly dinner ladies. Despedidas (Farewells)
I had some amazing and will still have amazing times with my gringas, they were my go to people. We went to Valdivia together, celebrated Fiestas Patrias, and shared the joys and challenges of living in a new country... they were my cafe and ice cream companions, going out buddies, and general confidants. So thank you for the memories and hopefully no good bye forever...lots of places around the states to go visit. However, Chile and I miss you Ronna, Hannah, Amy, Kellie, Marissa. I have Ashley for about a week more and then we will be "celebrating" her despedida with the gringas that will be returning from vacation and keeping me company for the rest of my time here. So here is to them as well and the adventures in front of us!
Monday, January 16, 2012
It's already 2012?!?!
2011 has come and gone, and its been 23 years of my life and this was my first Christmas without my family. :o(
My first real trigger of sadness (of not being home for Christmas) was when I was at Tottus (Wal-Mart type store). True to USA form, it was right after Halloween and there was Christmas music playing as well as Christmas trees and ornaments up for sale. I don't normally get emotional, but there I was in line to pay and tears started coming down...it was kind of ridiculous. However, in general, the extreme commercialism of the states was not as present, making it easier to not be so homesick around the holiday season. Luckily it is summer here so I didn't get overwhelmingly nostalgic walking around. The true sadness hit when I Skyped the family on Christmas day and they were all together, eating delicious Korean food and teasing me! Definitely missed Christmas with the parents and sisters! It was fun though putting together a small Christmas package for them. I thought I had sent it with enough time, about 3 weeks, but it did not get there in time for Christmas day...disappointing. Oh well, I also missed playing violin/piano duets with Christine. I love being at home with the whole family and mommy feeding me delicious food. Everything is warm inside with hot chocolate and warm yams, keeping nice and toasty from the cold outside.
Instead, here it is hot everywhere and you are hoping that it is cooler inside. It is quite odd having Christmas in summer. If it weren't for trees decorated in stores and apartments, I would not have known it was even Christmas time. The majority of advertisements had snow all over them, which is peculiar since there is rarely snow here, even in the winter! Christmas music was playing in some stores and supermarkets, which for the most part is in English---or the same songs that we have back at home, but translated into Spanish.
In Chile, it is more common to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. So I had Christmas dinner with Cristian's family- his mom, aunt, uncle, grandma, and cousins. We went over there, and had dinner at around 11 o'clock, another normal thing for Chileans...to eat super late. It was a very Chilean dinner, and very delicious dinner of turkey, "corn salad" (corn with mayo), "potato salad" (potatoes with mayo), tomato salsa, etc. Every salad in Chile, unless it is a bed of lettuce with one tomato, is basically cut up with mayo. After dinner, they all exchanged presents. It was really cute, they were all extremely enthused about their socks, underwear, shampoo, perfume, and shirts. It was really sweet, Cristian's mom, aunt, and uncle all gave me unexpected presents, and I have used all of them (nightgown, bracelet, and perfume)!
Christmas day, Regina and Ashley came over to have Chrismas dinner that Cristian and I cooked- very American-esque---chicken, grilled veggies, mashed potatoes, rice, and salad. There aren't that many of us gringas left. Most are back in the states and some are off traveling, so we just had a small get together. New Years Eve also was not a big hulabaloo. The thing to do here is go to Valparaiso for "one of the biggest parties of the year" to watch all of the fireworks. Hostels were extremely expensive for that night and buses were packed... I didn't feel like spending the money, and the thought of being awake until 9 a.m., just didn't excite me too much. Instead I just watched the fireworks on my room, since we are one of the few people to have roof access. Since the door was open, basically anyone in our apartment who was in Santiago that night, came up to the roof to also watch the fireworks. However, having a key is apparently not synonymous with being able to use the key. We got charged with a 40.000 pesos fine ($80) for being up on the roof. Not the best way to kick of the new year---spending the money on nothing, but it was a good tranquil start! Peaceful Christmas and New Years, quite different from what I am used to, but this adventure is full of those moments and I was and am lucky enough to have had great people around to share these moments with. Well happy belated holidays to you all!!!!
My first real trigger of sadness (of not being home for Christmas) was when I was at Tottus (Wal-Mart type store). True to USA form, it was right after Halloween and there was Christmas music playing as well as Christmas trees and ornaments up for sale. I don't normally get emotional, but there I was in line to pay and tears started coming down...it was kind of ridiculous. However, in general, the extreme commercialism of the states was not as present, making it easier to not be so homesick around the holiday season. Luckily it is summer here so I didn't get overwhelmingly nostalgic walking around. The true sadness hit when I Skyped the family on Christmas day and they were all together, eating delicious Korean food and teasing me! Definitely missed Christmas with the parents and sisters! It was fun though putting together a small Christmas package for them. I thought I had sent it with enough time, about 3 weeks, but it did not get there in time for Christmas day...disappointing. Oh well, I also missed playing violin/piano duets with Christine. I love being at home with the whole family and mommy feeding me delicious food. Everything is warm inside with hot chocolate and warm yams, keeping nice and toasty from the cold outside.
Instead, here it is hot everywhere and you are hoping that it is cooler inside. It is quite odd having Christmas in summer. If it weren't for trees decorated in stores and apartments, I would not have known it was even Christmas time. The majority of advertisements had snow all over them, which is peculiar since there is rarely snow here, even in the winter! Christmas music was playing in some stores and supermarkets, which for the most part is in English---or the same songs that we have back at home, but translated into Spanish.
In Chile, it is more common to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. So I had Christmas dinner with Cristian's family- his mom, aunt, uncle, grandma, and cousins. We went over there, and had dinner at around 11 o'clock, another normal thing for Chileans...to eat super late. It was a very Chilean dinner, and very delicious dinner of turkey, "corn salad" (corn with mayo), "potato salad" (potatoes with mayo), tomato salsa, etc. Every salad in Chile, unless it is a bed of lettuce with one tomato, is basically cut up with mayo. After dinner, they all exchanged presents. It was really cute, they were all extremely enthused about their socks, underwear, shampoo, perfume, and shirts. It was really sweet, Cristian's mom, aunt, and uncle all gave me unexpected presents, and I have used all of them (nightgown, bracelet, and perfume)!
A Chelsea/Christmas Tree with Pudge, Gary, and my Christmas card
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Tour #1: Young-Jin
So my cousin, Elizabeth has been here the past 9 days and I am exhausted!!!
Sometimes we walked around more in one day, than I would normally do in one week. That is a little bit exaggerated, but I did wake up sore a few times! I really do need to exercise. However in one of our city tour walks, I did stumble across a really cute outdoor gymnasium. It is really close to my old hostal and I heard stories about this gym, but never discovered it for myself. I am going to motivate myself to run there, exercise, and then honestly, walk home.
We spent 4 days in Santiago getting to know the city, all over Centro Santiago and a bit in Providencia and Santiago. One of those walks was accidental as we walked down Cerro San Cristobal, and found ourselves on the border of Providencia and Santiago...never did that before! She got to try a good amount of Chilean drinks, food, etc. as well all the classic Chilean tourist spots. I need to avoid those places for a bit, since I will be going there again when my parents come!!!!
On Sunday, we went to Caijon de Maipo, which is about an hour and half outside of Santiago next to some mountains and a river, which kind of looks like chocolate milk. We had a little picnic and went white water rafting with Cristian and my friend Renato. I went white water rafting once in Colorado, but this was more intense and way more fun. The tour guide taught us how to fall onto the bottom of the raft, change the balance of the boat with our weight, and how to bring people back into the raft if they fell out...or in our case, jumped out on purpose to swim around in the calmer areas.
It was nice to be out of the city, relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. However, it was not the last. We spent the next three days in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. It was the first hostal experience for Young-Jin and Renato and we met some Argentinians and a girl from Germany. We also randomly ran into one of Renato's friends, Nestor and hung out with him for a bit on our trip. He was super awesome (by the way I say super a lot now in English and in Spanish) and his English was amazing (he is an English teacher). But, if I met him in the states, I would have thought he was from England.
With all of Valparaiso's hills, I was surprising more tired after a day of walking in Santiago! We walked around a bunch, spent a day relaxing at Vina's beaches (where even though I put on sunblock and was only there for 2 hours, I still got a mean burn on my back, legs, and butt!), and we also saw one of Pablo Neruda's houses, La Sebastiana. It was a really cool house, with more amazing views with each floor. I plan on going to La Chascona, another one of his houses in Santiago with the parents.
Sometimes we walked around more in one day, than I would normally do in one week. That is a little bit exaggerated, but I did wake up sore a few times! I really do need to exercise. However in one of our city tour walks, I did stumble across a really cute outdoor gymnasium. It is really close to my old hostal and I heard stories about this gym, but never discovered it for myself. I am going to motivate myself to run there, exercise, and then honestly, walk home.
We spent 4 days in Santiago getting to know the city, all over Centro Santiago and a bit in Providencia and Santiago. One of those walks was accidental as we walked down Cerro San Cristobal, and found ourselves on the border of Providencia and Santiago...never did that before! She got to try a good amount of Chilean drinks, food, etc. as well all the classic Chilean tourist spots. I need to avoid those places for a bit, since I will be going there again when my parents come!!!!
On Sunday, we went to Caijon de Maipo, which is about an hour and half outside of Santiago next to some mountains and a river, which kind of looks like chocolate milk. We had a little picnic and went white water rafting with Cristian and my friend Renato. I went white water rafting once in Colorado, but this was more intense and way more fun. The tour guide taught us how to fall onto the bottom of the raft, change the balance of the boat with our weight, and how to bring people back into the raft if they fell out...or in our case, jumped out on purpose to swim around in the calmer areas.
It was nice to be out of the city, relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. However, it was not the last. We spent the next three days in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. It was the first hostal experience for Young-Jin and Renato and we met some Argentinians and a girl from Germany. We also randomly ran into one of Renato's friends, Nestor and hung out with him for a bit on our trip. He was super awesome (by the way I say super a lot now in English and in Spanish) and his English was amazing (he is an English teacher). But, if I met him in the states, I would have thought he was from England.
With all of Valparaiso's hills, I was surprising more tired after a day of walking in Santiago! We walked around a bunch, spent a day relaxing at Vina's beaches (where even though I put on sunblock and was only there for 2 hours, I still got a mean burn on my back, legs, and butt!), and we also saw one of Pablo Neruda's houses, La Sebastiana. It was a really cool house, with more amazing views with each floor. I plan on going to La Chascona, another one of his houses in Santiago with the parents.
View from La Sebastiana
La Sebastiana
I didn't really see anything new of Chile, but it was interesting being a tour guide and having a fresh pair of eyes see everything for the first time. Hope you had a wonderful time Young-Jin!!! Thanks for making it down here so we could enjoy ourselves in CHILE! Now I have 10 days to rest and then my parents are coming, where we are heading down to Chiloe and I get to do another hot city tour of Santiago. You guys are in for an exhausting jam-packed week of adventuring. Can't wait and hope you are ready!!!
Blogs that I have been meaning to write and are still coming:
1. Argentina
2. Homage to Gringas
3. Holidays
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