Chao Chile, Hola Argentina

After returning from camp in Vallenar, it finally hit home that we only had a week left in our respective cities so we made the most of it. It was hard to say goodbye to all the wonderful people that we had met, but we spent quality time with families and students. Countless farewell parties resulted in some amazing memories, and more trinkets than we know what to do with. Our final weekend we decided to brave the Pacific, jump in some wetsuits, and try our luck with surfing. It was incredibly fun, shockingly cold, and moderately successful. Kelsey´s family also gave us a typical Chilean cooking lesson including Empanadas, Pastel de Papas, Pastel de Choclo, and the famous Chilean Pan. The week passed faster than expected, and the bus to Santiago promised exciting future adventures.

First plan of action was to get in touch with Liza´s connection in Santiago to weigh the possibility of a trip to the mountains. Ana Maria and her amazing family instantly invited us into their home for gourmet fish and the best wine we have ever tasted. Following dinner we got a tour of Santiago by night, showing us the ´Bridle Path´of the city. It was a shock to witness a Santiago wealth bubble at its finest. The artisanal markets, the maid services, and incredible hospitality made the nights back at Hostelling International a little less desirable.

Thursday brought a Chilean dream come true as Ana Maria drove us to her ski chalet in Valle Nevado. Ascending 3000m on a switchback road with incredible views could have been sufficient, but the best was yet to come. As it is the largest ski resort in South America, we were surprised to find only one hotel, our apartment building, and no trees. With clear blue skies and perfect snow conditions, our rain suit apparel was all we needed. There were few to no lines, and the powder was easily accessible. The highest and best run on the mountain was worth the difficulty of seven minutes on the T-bar to get there. The snowboarding was the perfect way to end our three month stay in such a beautiful and diverse country.

¨[Chile] is composed of a string of valleys lying between mountains and volcanoes and crossed by plentiful rivers. Its coast is abrupt with fiersome waves and frigid waters. Its forests are dense and aeromatic, its hills unending.¨

-Isabel Allende (Inés of my Soul)

After a beautiful journey over the Andes, we arrived in Mendoza only to be swept off the bus and into a van being shuttled to a family run hostel. With free flowing Malbec wine and a portly jolly man, we had ourselves a triple room decked out in blue. Although we appreciated Chilean food, nothing can beat the ´Tenedor Libre´(all you can eat) Argentinean buffet we experienced that night. With adventurous spirits running high, we felt the need to get a better view of the andes. What better way to see the Andes than to drive up them in a 1942 truck used in the Vietnam War. Following the drive, the view only increased in beauty as we ran off the cliff in our first paragliding experience. Once in the air we found it unusually comfortable, which allowed for screams of joy, flailing lets, and a stunning 360 view. As Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina, we felt it necessary to hone our connoisseur skills and head to the winery district, Maipu(yes, pronounced ´my-poo´). We know you´re smiling... The Malbec wine tour was fascinating but did not compare to the chocolate, dulce liquor, and artisanal jams down the road. With our pallets satisfied, we headed back to ensure our spots on the next overnight bus to Buenos Aires.

We have just arrived with excess baggage into this monstrosity of a city but are ecstatic to experience the things that this metropolis will bring.

Frances, Louise, and Suzanne

Winter Camp

(to the tune of ¨In the Jungle¨)
··In the town of Vallenar there was an English Camp x2··

After roughing it for a week in overpriced SP de Atacama, we were ecstatic to find a loving family-run hostel with daily cleaning services, delicious meals and even toilet paper awaiting us in Vallenar. Before even beginning Winter Camp we were whisked away to the coast town of Huasco in a minibus with the hostel family of 10 we´d never seen before. They wanted to give us a taste of the Atacama region, so we got to dig into a medley of octopus, squid, mussels, scallops and other miscellaneous crustaceons.

··We-e-e-e learn and sing and play x2··

Monday morning we were awakened by a most unexpected sound. For the first time in 5 years it was raining in Vallenar. Despite the fact that when it rains in Northern Chile no one seems to go on with their day, 17 eager English campers trooped in to be dubbed their English camp names. To our dismay no one chose Jebediah or Lashonda from the list, however we did end up with a Jennifer, Keith, Martin, David, John and Harry.

··We listen and speak and write in English everyday,
We compete for victory in games we love to play··

The point of camp was to immerse the kids in English. The ministry provided a suggested schedule resembling a school day, but we took the liberty to modify it, making it more of a camp experience. We were perfectly matched with out team leader from the Ministry, Petra, who was all for revisions and added even more energy to the team.

··We-e-e-e learn and sing and play x2··

The theme of the week was Olympics, with Liza and Steph leading team Canada and Vianna and Kelsey leading team Australia. It didn´t take long for us to spread our excitement, getting them painted up and pumped up. While Steph and Liza taught them traditional Canadian red and white cheers, Vianna and Kelsey took it to a whole new level. The ongoing personal battle of meat-eaters versus vegetarians soon became patriotic. Having a troop of Spanish students chant ¨blue and yellow, veggies eat jello... MEAT MEAT MEAT¨would never lose its entertainment value.

··We are countries from far and near in the Olympic games,
The strongest country, the greatest country, will soon bring home the flame··

Each day began with an icebreaker such as Darling if you Love Me, Two truths and a lie or Octopus. One moment that deserves special mention is the time that Martin, a favourite camper of ours, split his pants while playing Steal the Bacon. To fully understand the hilarity of this picture an oversized Napolean Dynamite who splits his pants and then walks over chanting ¨We´re Canada we´re red and white, me rompí mis pantalones¨(I split my pants). He never could remember the whole cheer.

Vianna and Martin at the stock market game

··We-e-e-e learn and sing and play x2··

Each team also had a week long project to create an identity for their country. We saw a lot of their artistic talent and enjoyed the team bonding time. Afternoon program included camp wide games such as the Stock Market game, cookie baking, sports competitions (frisbee was a huge hit), and a photo scavenger hunt. For us the most amazing part of camp was not only to watch their English improve but also to watch high schoolers totally come out of their shell and gain confidence in interaction with us and each other. An apathetic, cooler-than-school student on Tuesday could be found running up and down the aisle of the bus draped in a Canadian flag cheering in English on Thursday. The bonding between the 23 die-hard students could be seen in their hugs and tears at our Saturday departure. The only complaint was that the 9 hour days, 6 day week was too short. We agree.

The group on a field trip to the coast

-Maria Constanza (Vianna), Makarena (Kelsey) and Valentina (Liza)
(Since they had English names we adopted Spanish ones for the week)

Dry Desert

After five weeks of various teaching experiences we reached the end of first term. As hoards of excited alumnos left the schools on Friday, us teachers embarked on an adventure ourselves.

A 7am departure from Coquimbo took us to one of the world´s most famous observatories, Tololo. Kelsey´s school was incredibly generous in organising a day at the observatory, followed by an amazing lunch in Vicuña, part of the Elqui Valley. The telescopes were pretty cool but it was the astounding view of the Andes that made the winding roads and dizzying altitude worthwhile. That evening we braved our first overnight semi-cama bus. The fifteen hours into the desert seemed daunting but with the help of Spanish Titanic, a plethora of snacks, and a wonderful guide Jorge (that´s the name we gave him anyway), the trip was surprisingly tolerable.
We arrived in the gringo gathering point of Chile, San Pedro de Atacama and found a place to stay. Per usual we lost no time looking for as many excursions as possible. Our first day we strapped some sandboards to our backs and biked out into the abyss of sand in search of the perfect dune. After following a river bank to a dead end for a while, we finally stumbled upon Death Valley. The cavernous winding roads were worth every wrong turn. It didn´t take long for our 5 hours to go by as we picked up the new sport, marvelled at the view and played some Euchre atop the dune, of course. More than a week later we are all still finding sand...
4am came rather quickly on our second morning as we piled on layers, mitts and hats to head to the Tatio Geysers. After a 2 hour washboard bus-ride, it was amazing to see boiling water shoot from the geysers and freeze instantly in the -12º air. We felt a little bit like cattle as we were coralled about amongst hundreds of tourists to feeding time. By the time we reached the hot springs we had no problem stripping down and jumping in. Climate fluctuations in the desert really are unique. When we were re-herded into the van with some Lion King - singing French tourists we joined them with the English version of In the Jungle. Our next stop was a hamlet that probably shouldn´t be labelled on a map, but the llama shish-kabobs were worth it. Liza was busy taking pictures of the animals while Kelsey and Vianna ate them.
Over lunch we took a look at a map and realized we were a stone´s throw from Bolivia, so why not go? Within 24 hours we had planned and executed a lovely breakfast in Bolivia. The ice-covered lagoons and picturesque hot springs were lovely but it´s the passport stamps we´ll always remember. We have successfully renewed our 90 day tourist visas in Chile. We may or may not be home on August 21st... just joking. Our morning in Bolivia was topped off with a beautiful sunset in Moon Valley. San Pedro was amazing but the tourists and prices made us long for the ¨real¨Chile again.
The next afternoon we got a call from the ministry and our sole male team member Colin volunteered to spend the next week of English Winter Camp on the magical southern island of Chiloé. I bet he misses us. The rest of us hopped on our second overnight bus in transit to Vallenar where we will spend the remainder of our winter vacation running a camp full of wonderful English nerds.

-Vianna, Liza, Kelsey.

Hoolee!!

Its hard to believe that it´s already July (or hoolee according to my students). I´m feeling completely settled into my ever so strange life routine here. Even though my spanish has improved exponentially, it is still impossible to fully communicate with my family. At every four-course gourmet meal I find myself bombareded with rapid spanish stories from Horte sitting across from me. At first, I always attempt to talk through them and figure out what is going on, but after a day of school and once the food has disappeared, focusing becomes much more challenging. Every Sunday, Grandma and I go to lunch with the extended family. Afterwards, we both get tucked into a queen sized bed and she naps while I watch their english TV. We get tea in bed with the rest of the family before we get taken home to Horte. Esta es vida.

Me Mama Chileno, Flora

As I get to know my students and fellow teachers better, I´m enjoying my time at school more and more. We had a small earthquake in class yesterday in class which was definately a new experience. Every time I walk into class the girls stand and say ¨Good Morning Miss!¨ and no matter what I say after that (even if it´s ´why are you late?´), i get ¨I am so-so miss.¨One of my student, Barbara, is always eager to practice her english with me at lunch time, or show me around the city after school..... or walk me home, eat with me, and tuck me in at night. haha. Boundaries here are a whole other matter. I´m also coaching an english debating team here which attracts the strongest English students and is a very different teaching experience.


With any spare daylight hours, La Serena is a beautiful city to explore and I often run into very friendly people who are delighted to show me around. In the small downtown area, people are beginning to recognize me and sometimes even call me by name! I think this may have something to do with the newspaper article I was in:


http://www.diarioeldia.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3271&Itemid=48



Earlier this week I walked into a corner store to buy an egg to make banana breaked and they asked how my stomach was feeling(it had been upset the night before). A little surprised at first, it wasn´t long before I recognized the resemblance of the store contents to those of my cupboard at home and we were chatting about my family.



We recently found out about our winter camp placements which beginning two weeks from now will be two hours north of here in Vallenar. Here are some more photos of some of our weekend adventures in the area:

Who burns chairs???

As i watched the pigeons this morning from my usual park bench, I sat and collected my spanish thoughts before entering the school. My mind wandered to somewhat philisophical thought. How do pigeons not get dizzy walking the way they do, head bobbing and all? I feel as though i borrowed that thought from another, so credit to the creator... but really, how? Preparing oneself to enter a school may seem a little unnecessary, but when your first class on a Monday morning decides to set fire to a few of the chairs in your classroom, any form of thought collection can be vital for survival. Today was also pleasant when i discovered that three of 6 windows had been smashed in over night and the kids thought throwing shards at one another was a good game. Unfortunately I had to stop that one. However, not all classroom behaviour is quite so destructive. Distracting might be a better term as students yell ¨Miss, I love you¨and¨ my personal favourite from Juan Pablo every morning, ¨Miss, you have such beautiful eyes¨. Darlings, really. Over the past week we have been working on basic questions such as ¨how old are you?¨ This may seem incredibly simple, but the level of english that my students possess is minimal to say the least. When i asked ¨When is your birthday¨, I think that my favourite response was ¨I like listening to music¨... Well that´s nice Jorge, but when is your birthday??? Although the students seem crazy and a little hard to control sometimes, I find that containing their energy and using it to enhance the lesson is often more rewarding than a class full of apathetic students. As my teaching was shortened due to the strikes, I have made up for missed time by volunteering at and english lab in downtown Coquimbo, with Kelsey, teaching adults on Wednesday evenings, and kids on thursday afternoons. I have also started teaching with Kelsey at her school on Friday´s, as i have no classes of my own. Sometimes i feel that those classes are more entertaining for us than for the students. Jeopardy last week us doubled over in fits of laughter as translations of days of the week went a little awry.

As much as i seem to mock my students english, my spanish is nothing to be desired. It is improving though. When i fisrt arrived here i often told people that i was married when trying to express that i was tired. For future reference, Casada= married and Cansada= tired. I also give almost everyone a laugh when i explain that my dog here is named Sále. In fact, the dogs name is Flake, and Sále means ¨get out!¨.. which is why it would make perfect sense that they yelled ¨Sále¨everytime the dog came in the house. Smart Liza. Aside from minor confusion my communication skills are increasing and i can now speak, using selective verbs, in past and future.

The past two weekends filled our stomachs and our cameras with good food and great photos, respectivly. Our weekend in Elqui Valley took Vianna, Colin, Kelsey and I to the beautiful valley, the mountains, the home of Pisco, and a magnificent observatory.

Pretty from an Elqui lookout

We visited the observatory on June 21st, which was a perfectly clear evening. It is great to experience all of that on the shortest day of the year! We learned all about globular and closed clusters, nebulas, supernovas, and the 88 constellations. One in particular, the Southern Cross, had until now been hidden to me by the northern horizons back at home. This past weekend showed me my very first gay pride parade, which considering gay pride history in Latin American countries, had a great turn out and proved to be a very entertaining night. In anticipation of Canada Day, we prepared a feast at La Casa de Kelsey.

Food and Friends at Kelsey´s.

Pancakes, banana bread, tuna melts, grilled cheese, microwave bacon and maple syrup made their premier appearance to the Chilean families, and were welcomed by the Canadians with expectant eyes and grumbling stomachs. All was eaten, and all were content. Papa Carlos enjoys every last drop of Maple Syrup

Tempus fugit, as my lessons remain unplanned.
Take care wherever you might be. All love from here to there.

Hasta Luego.

School Life

So I came upon the profound realization that teaching puts you through exactly the same emotions as learning. If I´m bored out of my mind and feel like I´m pulling teeth to get somewhere with an activity, the students probably feel they´re in the dentist chair, whereas if I´m enjoying myself the students are often doing likewise. I´ve therefore tried to step up the creativity and energy to make every class more enjoyable for all. Luckily my amazing (real) family made that so much easier by sending me a package last week, including CDs jam-packed with English tunes. The primeros and segundos really responded to the use of music in the classroom. Some zealously sang along, others were in fits of laughter trying to figure out the meaning of words as I drew pictures and acted out verbs at the front of the room, but all in all it was a success. After too many repetitions of Coldplay I learned to go with the less-generic Page France for the segundos.

Another huge hit was jeopardy, planned and executed with Liza. She has recently started coming to Friday classes conmigo since she has them off at the crazy Diego Portales, and two is always better than one with 25 hyperactive primeros. The jeopardy competition was definitely heated. When we called ¨Miércoles¨ students were jumping out of their seats yelling ¨Westerday¨ or ¨Weedsday,¨ when we asked ¨how many siblings do you have?¨ we got some stellar answers such as ¨I have one brother in tree sister¨or ¨I am from Coquimbo.¨ We were also forcefully told that the verb ¨to olvidate¨ must exist. The daily laughs brought on by our mistakes in Spanish and our students´mistakes in English are enough to cure any winter doldrums.

Coquimbo really feels like home now. We´ve scouted and ranked the local ice cream spots, learned which doorsteps to wave at on our runs to the beach, and I am finally accustomed to the neighbours´ rooster crowing at all hours of the night. It´s nice to run into local acquiantances when walking through the center and feel comfortable in basic Spanish conversation. My Spanish is slowly improving, the verb tenses are coming much more naturally now, it´s just overwhelming to try to absorb all the vocabulary in a language. Poco a pocito estoy aprendiendo.

Photos from Weekend excursions:

Colin, Vianna, Liza on our mini hike in Vicuña, a town of vineyards in the Elqui ValleyA weekend with a guitar, a card deck and English-speaking friends... how lovelyCooking pancakes for the Canada Day feast. The Fam loved Maple Syrup!

Across the Bay in La Serena...

13km or 80 cents from Coquimbo is the beautiful and touristy city of La Serena. Surrounded by hotels and tour shops, my house and school are located right in the city centre.

La Serena lighthouse

As I setted in over the past few weks, although not surprised, I was shocked by the nonexistant English my family spoke. I live with an 88 year old abuela(grandmother) who is adorable and gets very excited every time I come up with spanish sentence to say to her. She generally stays in bed except for at lunch time when she gets all dressed up. I can usually hear ´much music´ blasting from her room. The other woman that I live with is a 74 year old nanny named Horte who is always cooking or baking a cake. She makes some incredible feasts. Coming from zero spanish a month ago, I am now able to communicate a little... mostly about food and activities. They are very patient with me. Some of our frequnt misunderstandings include my box of chocolate syrup ball cereal that I get every morning with hot milk, my 3L bottle of cream soda, and getting locked out of my house when I dont bring my keys.

Horte

My School, Gabriel Mistral, is an all girl´s high school. There are 9oo students in 3 buildings and I think this was the first week I managed to not get lost. The girls and staff are very kind and welcoming. Sitting in a staff room of 40 middle aged women chattering in spanish and trying to communicate with me is an experience in itself. Learning 320 spanish names is quite a challenge, but usually I´m pretty safe going with ´macerena´or ´francisca´. I have told some of my girls tht they can come home with me to meet my brother. Hope that´s okay, Dave!!

Students and ´completo´

I teach grades 9-12 from Monday to Thursday and run into my students around the city the rest of the time. Whether in a grocery store or on the beach, it is normal to hear ¨hello Miss!!¨ coming from all directions. A few days ago I was surprised by about 15 girls on my street who popped out of a hostel to sell me a completo (hot dog with tomato, avocado, cheese... you name it). It was.... edible. Most Mondays I hear of all the places my students saw me over the weekend.

Well thats all for now. Its so difficult to sum up life here in a post, but I´ll try to update this more frequently. Off for another weekend adventure! con amor (that´s me stitching together my nonexistant vocabulary... hope it made sense....),

Vianna

Coffee Granules for Dessert

If my last post didn´t make it clear I need to emphasize how amazing my Chilean Family is. Weekdays I don´t have much contact with my own family because no one except Abuelita (grandmother) is home before 8pm and I´m the only one who eats a dinner-type meal, but on weekends they´re eager to show us Canadians the Chilean way of life. Some highlights have been playing Spanish board games, singing Karaoke in a local pub, celebrating my host father´s birthday, and the events of this past weekend...

Host Father´s 60th

As Liza described, on Saturday we got to experience the true spirit of soccer by going to the tournament final between La Serena and Universidad de Chile. The four cold Canadians huddled together to the amusement of the security guards to take in some top quality soccer and infectiously crazy ´U´ fans. Arriving back to my house FREEZING cold, Liza and I were welcomed by the warmth of empanada baking. We walked in on the preparations for Sunday at the Campo, a farm-type place on the edge of the Elqui Valley. The 50 massive empanadas made us excited for what lay ahead.

The next day the four Canadians, my host family, and an assortment of family friends arrived at a picturesque ¨Camping area,¨ but this was no Algonquin Park. We drove in, plugged in our kettles and the men began to barbeque every kind of meat imagineable on a large stone grill. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon in the valley with lots of eating, disc tossing and a spirited soccer game.

Notice the pile of meat

On the weekdays I am beginning to get into a routine at the Estado de Israel School. I teach three classes of year 1, 2 and 3, so since they are split into half class groups each that makes 18 groups of students. Each class has such a different dynamic so I find my lesson plans really have to take into account the character of the group. Some classes sit quietly, some are apathetic, and some bounce off the walls. Furthermore, with the unruliest year 1 and 2 classes only the 12 best come to my class, but with all the others I get about 24 each. Moral of the story: various lesson plans are required.

I found some amusement in my second year classes this week when they made menus and presented restaurant skits for their food unit. Orders included rainbow slaw to start, roasted rage with stick for dinner, and instant coffee granules for dessert. Mmm.

I have also been teaching at a lab downtown a few times a week where the eager students can come for free classes. They are a mix of the best behaved from all Coquimbo schools plus some adults so it´s a nice change from the sometimes trying school groups. I made my newspaper debut in ¨La Region¨newspaper this week after a surprise interview in Spanish and have officially experienced the word-twisting habits of journalists. Apparently Canadians have no family values. I don´t care how broken my Spanish is, I did NOT say that!

Early morning photoshoots aren´t my thing

We look forward to a weekend in the heart of the Elqui Valley and hope that Vianna will write about her crazy adventures soon, she is alive and well!

Until next time,
Kelsey.

Paro (Strike, in Spanish)

It´s difficult to put into such few words everything that has happened here so far. It often takes only seconds to make first impressions, and then one sometimes feels that the rest of the time is spent either trying to confrom to those impressions or to defy them.

The school has been an interesting experience thus far. After completing the ´observation´period, i was finally given my own classes and classroom - let´s just pretend my class has enough desks for each student. I have two 4th years, one 3rd, two 2nd and two 1st classes, all with varying ability and desire for english. One 1st class was removed from my schedule due to the fact that as i was teaching kids were swearing at me in english and spanish (yes i do understand that stuff now), yelling obsenities at one another, throwing things, leaving class, on their cellphones and mp3s, and simply a general disregard for anyone but themselves. My co-teacher, Pamela, decided that they were not worth it for me - bless her! Not all my students are like those ones though. My favourite class so far, 4C, has hardworking students who love to have fun in the classroom. Conversations of music and sports are usually the basis, but it is clear that english related to their interests is what will motivate them to learn. I too have also now become an avid soccer (i will forever call it soccer) fan and watch whenever possible! Although i say much about teaching, my time in the classroom has been cut short as of date. After a lovely illness kept me from school last Thursday, i have been feeling worlds better, yet have not returned to class as the teachers have been on strike for this entire week - for the second time since my arrival. The education system throughout Chile is ... lacking, in a few areas. Vianna and Kelsey´s schools have been kept in relative order this week, but fellow volunteers and friends, Steph and Colin, have had a week of vacation along with me. Rumours say that we might have to work through our supposed winter vacation, but let´s just hope that remains a rumour, as San Pedro sandboarding calls my name loudly and frequently.

As school is not an option at the moment, my home is becoming a much more familiar place. Kahel, Cameron and Stacy are now frequenting my room as much as I am, but it is hard to tell them to leave for they are rather cute, and i lack the vocabularly to tell them nicely.

(Stacy and Kahel playing with Disney cards.. how fun!!)

Alexis and Alejandra continue to make me feel like their house is my own, including the revolving door for visitors, which primarily include missionaries from their church. Religion remains a nightly conversation for me. Through all of this though, I have learned much of the Mormon religion including interesting things such as why they are not allowed to drink coffee or tea because of caffeine, yet coca-cola frequents the house just as the stray dogs frequent the streets - oh yeah, those lovely beasts gave me fleas, that sucked, but they´re gone now. Nightly conversations touch on religion, food, race, culture, and beliefs of every sort. The bluntness of this culture will forever astound me as 9 years old are blatantly talked about as ´the fat kid´ as they delve deeper into the common meals of white bread, sugar, salt, oil, and butter. Oh yeah, we cannot forget about the ´milk fat candies´ I found in my house the other day. However, I do generalize, the food is great, just different. Kelsey´s house and family is like a second home for me here, calling me not by name but by ´hija´, or their new favourite, Lumpy.

Weekends generally are spent as a clan. Kelsey, Vianna, Steph and I have had some adventures here so far, mainly alongside Kelsey´s sisters and their every-loving, fun-seeking friend Priscilla. We´ve done the boat tour of the Coquimbo harbour to see the sea lions. Last weekend took us to our second night óut´thus far in Chile.. yeah, we party hard. The Spanish Karaoke almost puts our ´Blondie´experience in Santiago to shame. This Lovely gentleman was dancing for us at the Karaoke bar. How Lucky!

Saturday i faced one of my biggest fears. The circus. Oh how i hate clowns. I´m not entirely sure whose idea it was, but we all agreed, and ended up at the dingiest, dirtiest, horrorshow ever. Some family run circus with clown-esque things will haunt my dreams forever. Try everything once, right??? Following the lovely time we had at the circus, we head for the soccer game - La Serena vs Universidad de Chile. The game was amazing to watch and numbingly cold, but the U fans and constant cheering (despite the 3-1 loss) made it all worthwhile. As Sunday was father´s day, Kelsey´s family took us to a Campo (somewhat like a public camping ground) where we had a beautiful day in the Valley with blue skies and more food than i could congure in a dream.

Beautiful sunset at the Campo on Father´s Day.

I now await the fate of my school, and further adventure.
Hope you all are well, wherever you may be.
Love,

Lump.

Photo Posts By All...

June 8th, 2008 - Diabetes 5K Walk for a Cure... in Chile
Kelsey´s family and their surrogate daughters
Canadians attempt to play SOCCER.. Liza fell.

Raincoats, Lifevests, Boats and Babes

Boat Tour of Coquimbo Harbour

La Familia

My first encounter with my family illustrates some of the Chilean personality attributes perfectly so here´s where I´ll begin. I was picked up at the La Serena bus stop by my Chilean mother, her sister, and a teacher who spent some time in Australia in case I didn´t speak any Spanish. When they discovered I do speak a minimal amount of Spanish however, the floodgates were opened and I now live with the constant challenge of understanding the fastest, most colloquial Spanish en este mundo. They exhausted their English phrases pretty fast with ¨what is your name, door, chair, grandmother.´Upon walking into the house my mother pinched me on the side and told me I would gain at least 10kg living with her, y mi casa es tu casa. She then led me up the narrow staircase, where if I didn´t duck my entire upper body would be swiped off, and introduced me to the 87 year-old grandmother, who smiled and told me I am so young and pretty. After dropping my things off in my Catholic-cross adorned room I came back downstairs to be force-fed an array of empanadas and pasteles de choclo (corn and sugar based things). I was introduced to the daughters of the family, a Kinesiology student age 24, and a Kindergarten teacher age 28, and the father, a taxi driver. He was immediately patient with my struggling Spanish.
Then came the swarm of women. The school inspector, other office women, and a few teachers all came into our house to meet the Canadian girl. I was peppered with questions, the first of which is ALWAYS ´¿tiene un pololo?´ (do you have a boyfriend). They also are constantly checking up on my body temperature since it´s rather cold right now, and they think it´s crazy to only wear socks around the house so shoes it is. OH the name Kelsey is also very difficult to pronounce; they think it sounds like the word ´crazy´. We had more sugar-filled treats, tea and ice cream-coffee, and they laughed when I failed to follow the conversation and told them it was because they all talk at once!

The three of us with my two ¨sisters¨ at La Cruz de Coquimbo

My school is called the Estado de Israel Institución de Administración y Comercio and yes, although there are no Jewish students to be found, our fences and courtyards are decorated with the star of David. It is considered quite a good school by Chilean standards, but as is the case with Liza´s school, the students speak NO English and are accustomed to music, cell phones and wandering about in class. When the students were asked if they have ever come in contact with a native English speaker before, only about 3 of the 45 said yes. Also, the English teachers here tend to describe people as ¨tender¨ and ask the meaning of ¨dairy,¨ so I am excited to be an English resource to the school. When the students were given the opportunity to ask me questions they delved right into it (still almost all in Spanish) - do you smoke, boyfriend, age, music taste, do you dance etc. So I am 23 with a serious boyfriend, in case you were wondering. I have already led a few classes but am excited to start official teaching next week and will give an update on how it goes!


-Kelsey.

Coquimbo or Bust

hello friends!

Sorry that it has been so long. There has been a lot happening and computer time is rather limited. Pictures will soon follow suit, when i can get to Kelsey´s house to post them. Yes, she has a computer.

After the somewhat organized orientation, we boarded an 8 hour bus heading north from Santiago, to the town of Coquimbo. Arriving in Coquimbo we were met by our regional coordinator, and sent off to meet our families. For the next two months I am living with a lovley, happy family. Alexis, the 36 year old father speaks some english, so it helps when i get a little confused. The 29 year old mother, Alejandra, is as kind as they come, but speaks not a word of english, however the house is never quiet. The three children - Cameron (10), Stacy (6) and Kahel (1) make enough noise for all of us. The house is very well located, as the centre is but a 10 minute walk, and the Mormon church only a block away. Oh yes, they are Mormons. I experienced my first religious gathering the other day, in Spanish of course. This will take some adjusting, but its always interesting to learn... Kelsey´s house is a 15 minute walk from mine, and is often a haven of cafeine for me, as i am not allowed to consume any in my house. Its great to have a familiar face around the corner too.

My observation week at the school - where i followed the teacher around like a lost dog - has finally come to an end, and i will be placed in my own classroom as of Monday. For me, the school has been the most shocking part. The students are on their cellphones and mp3s during class, putting on makeup instead of doing the work, and ive encountered only a few (out of the 150 i will be teaching) that know a word of english. Liceo Diego Portales, my school, is a bit run down with minimal windows still in tact, few doors that actually close, some classrooms have lights, and one is hard pressed to find a classroom without graffitti all over the walls. Its no Havergal or Lakefield, thats for sure! Despite all of that, the school does look out over a harbour filled with fishing boats, and is backed by a beautiful mountain range in the distance. There is however, lot of room here to make a difference. As the week concluded my feelings of frustration were rising, as i felt almost useless in the classroom, I have difficulty getting my point across in Spanish, and i figured that no one would benefit from me being here as i had yet to encounter a single student interested in learning. Things change. I helped to teach a 4th grade (grade 12 for us) english class yesterday, and i was appraoched by one of the students. Jose was very reserved about the english he would use, but as we began our conversation he opened up in english and was not afraid to make mistakes. He mentioned that I was the only foreigner that he had ever spoken to, in english or spanish. e sat with me for the better part of the class asking as much as he could, improving each time he spoke. I went home after school that day excited to go back and teach. Monday will be challenging, but if i am able to reach even one student, then everything has been worthwhile!

A new found Torontonian - a fellow volunteer - Steph, is placed in a smaller town about 40 minutes away called Tongoy. She will be coming into Coquimbo this weekend and staying with me, so that Vianna, Kelsey, Steph and I can explore together! Also, a friend from the program, Colin - from Vancouver - is in Coquimbo with us. e has sort of been MIA for the past couple days but we hope to meet up with him this weekend.

I hope that all is well at home, wherever that may be.
All for now!
amor siempre Liza.

Back in Santiago

While it only took us a few days to master the metro and markets of Santiago, we have yet to figure out how to order food. Arriving famished, hoping to get a traditional Chilean dish, bistec a lo pobre, Vianna and Kelsey managed to order one beef sandwich to split. After demolishing it in about 2 seconds, we pointed to the picture and got our food MOUNTAIN, fries topped with beef stew and two fried eggs. With snickers from the entirely male tables in the surrounding area we polished off the entire mountain. Neauseatingly delicious. Liza gets along just fine.


Before our orientation began we had the chance to explore some other events around the city. Highlights include a day trip to Valpairaiso, a picturesque seaside city with elevators up the steep hillsides. The houses are full of character and we enjoyed wandering the streets. Our big goal was to reach the ¨Mirador,¨which usually indicates a lookout. After 40 minutes of uphill climbing after these Mirador signs - behold! - a construction site of the new Mirador apartment complex.Another favourite was the Hipodrome horse races, where we witnessed yet another activity primarily dominated by males. Arriving at a spontaneous hour, we had the pleasure of watching two races. Due to the fact that none of us knew how to place a bet - let alone in spanish- we just picked random horses with pretty colours. Kelsey´s horse, number 13, was chosen due to ´peppyness´... he won. It was also a good cultural experience to take in Villa Gramaldi, one of the torture and execution camps from the Pinochet era.

Valpo

In recent news, all the other volunteers have arrived and we have been in orientation for the past 3 days. After briefing how to teach, we´re moving off to our placements in the morning. We are all in the city of Coquimbo in the region of Coquimbo (about 7 hours North of Santiago) and are teaching in different high schools. We´ve received vague information about our families and will provide details when we meet!

-Las Tres

Torres del Awesome

Punta Arenas lookout at sunrise (8:35am)
- After a 4 hour delay in the Santiago airport due to fog, we arrived later than expected in Punta Arenas. As the sun sets around 4:30 at the end of the world, we had little time to explore before heading to Puerto Natales, the Gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. We did however, manage to make it to the city lookout for sunrise which showed us the true colours of the city. Each building really is a differenct colour. The view of the Magellan strait and Tierra del Fuego on the horizon is enough to stop one in their tracks, but we had a bus to catch....
A brief stop in Puerto Natales linked us up with some fellow trekkers, thus a Brit, a Welshman, and an American later, we were on our way into the park. The 18km hike in showed us the epitome of Torres weather. In a 5 hour span we experienced first incredible wind, then a downpour of rain, followed by snow, sleet, some ice like things, and then a bit more rain. The last hour the sun graced us with its presence and we were finally able to see the mountains...or so we thought. We arrived at the only open Refugio in winter to find the most friendly, patient, and bored Chileans we have met this far. Cristian and Javier quickly became our friends finding most of their daily entertainment in our attempt at Spanish, not to mention the flailing run and giggles that could be heard from us as we ran to snap pictures of the Guanaco in our backyard. By the end of the first night there we had sleepingbags for free, and endless laughter as we taught them our favourite card games in mediocre broken spanish.

Glacier Grey in Torres Del Paine National Park -- Day 2

On the second day we set out with gorp in hand to find the Glacier Grey. The 22km hike had us in a bit of a sweat, but the 360 view of stunning mountains, lakes, and icebergs kept our spirits high. Unbeknowst to us, icebergs and glaciers are the definition of glowing blue. True beauties. Some of trek was difficult with rocky ups and down, and the distractions of beautiful mountains sometimes allows for a miss in one's step. Liza, in true fashion, took a couple spills, but all is well and no blood was shed. The nicest part about this day was the realization that we were entirely alone out there - except for the Owl and Jack Rabbit that crossed our path. Cristian and Javier informed us that in the summer months, there are over 1,000 hikers in the park on a daily basis. Now?... there were 2. Arriving back at the refugio, we braved the showers. It's not that they were dirty, but the glacier water is a little bit cold. We remained a bit dirty. We then met by two smiling faces, wine and bistek, a warm fire, and some friendly conversation.

Valley of Frances - Day 3

As the weather in the park is often tempermental, the fact that our trek into the valley of Frances was full of blue skies and sunshine was truly a gift. The 8 km path was less strenuous than the previous day, allowing us to bask in the beauty around us. The waterfalls, the winding paths, the visible peaks, the somewhat sketchy suspension bridge, and the snow-covered ground made for an experience we will never forget. Kelsey now embraces 'The Frances' in her.
As the hike turned more into mountain climbing, we heard a tremendous boom. Helicopter? Thunder - on an entirely clear day? No... Kelsey, that's an avalanche. We were on our way down the mountain and managed to witness one of the most incredible acts of nature. The snow broke from the top of a peak and thundered down the mountain side - thankfully the one opposite from us. As we returned to the refigio we told our new friends what we saw, and apparently we are very lucky to have seen such a thing. As we discussed our day back in our rooms, Cristian and Javier's impatient voices could be heard at the end of the hall. `Chicas! Niñas! Cafe? Te? Ven por jugar cartas ahora?'

The trek out us with nothing to be desired. Beauty in it's purest form - untouched wilderness.
Oh yeah, we also made record time. 18km hike in 4 hours. yeaaaaah!!! We're also exhausted, but wouldn't trade this for anything.

We now await the arrival of Vianna and the adventures to come in our teaching placement - Coquimbo!!!

- Liza and Kelsey