By tomorrow I will have gotten about 12 hours of sleep over 4 days, so I'm going to make this quick and hit the hay. Last week I finished my work at the school in Castro. I got some sweet parting gifts, met my host family's relatives from Argentina, and then I took off on an 18 hour bus ride to Santiago for our Closing Ceremony.
Here's an album of my last days at school. We made squash pie for Thanksgiving.
Leaving the island after 8 months of "work":
I spent all week with good friends that I met a.) when I flew into Chile in March and haven't seen since, b.) when I worked the winter camp session in Santiago in July, many of whom I haven't seen since, or c.) when I arrived in Castro who lived near my region, whom I saw on the regular. So all in all, lots of booze, music, completos (hot dogs), and partying. A crazy week filled with laughs, sun burns, and cook outs.
Check out the album here.
On Friday at 11pm I flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas, which is so far south it may as well not exist on the map. I'm so far south in Chile that I got to see the sun rise over the ocean and set over the Andes, which if you'll look at a map, you'll notice is pretty damn hard to do in a country placed between the Andes to the east and the Pacific to the west. I'm far, far away is what I'm saying. I convinced a friend to fly down with me and I met up with her today. My flight got in at 4 am, I saw the sun rise over the Magellen Straight, and I took a cab to a hostal. I slept for a bit, then met up with my friend and started planning our trip. In a few hours she was convinced to trek across Torres del Paine for 3 days with me, rather than doing just a day trip.
We rented all our gear and got a bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales (check these places out on a map, yo). Beautiful scenery on the ride, and like I said, we are actually east of the Andes and south of Argentina, so the sun setting over the 'cordillera' (mountain range) was beautiful. After some cheap Chilean wine and repacking all our stuff, we're ready to take off at 7:30 tomorrow for three or four days of trekking in what they say is one of South America's most beautiful parks, Torres del Paine.
Random thoughts: We're so close to the south pole in local summer time that nights are super short. Sun sets after 10pm and begins to rise around 4:30am. People in the south are incredibly nice. We rented all our gear from my hostel owner. We got 2 backpacks, 2 sleeping bags, 2 foam mats, a tent, utensils, and a gas stove all on our word that we'll come back. No down payment, no IDs. All he has is my e-mail. It's so great to be around people so trusting and willing to help clueless gringos. But after a friend got his backpack stolen in Santiago, I'm still attempting to keep an eye out. For real though, southern folk are good people.
I'm sun burned, exhausted, excited, and still in awe of just how many kind-hearted and genuinely nice people I have met through this program. That would only sound super tacky if you didn't know these folks; I've definitely made a lot of new, really great friends.
Over the next few weeks I'll be traveling up north through Argentina and Chile, exploring Patagonia. I have a small backpack with a wool hat, Pablo Neruda poetry in Spanish, a journal, an extra pair of underwear, and a Swiss Army knife. And I'm taking on the southernmost part of the globe I have ever seen. It's wonderful.
Now here's a video of my 7th graders answering questions from their pen pals in Seattle, WA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltoCOS8Zkrk
Chao pescao,
Paul
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Typical Grub
Chilean cuisine has a reputation for being rather bland; spicy and hot dishes are definitely not the norm here, and most things rely heavily on salt. Yet the best part of living in Chiloe has definitely been the food. Due to the cold, wet climate people tend to stay indoors and eat year-round. As opposed to the dry desert climate of the north, where meals are light and have more fruits, food in the south is greasy and heavy. Cuts of pork and beef with lots of fat are staples at every asado (cookout), "healthy" salads are usually just lettuce doused in oil and salt, and potato-based foods are the cornerstone of southern Chilean cooking. After all, if something is super typical of Chiloe island, you say it is "as Chilote as potatoes" and just this past weekend I went to Maullin (back on the mainland) where they celebrated their annual potato festival (Festival de la Papa). (Check out the pictures of my dancing the cueca at the Festival!)
I was in Maullin this past weekend to visit my friend Julio, who is the co-regional coordinator for my program. I visited his family once before (I wrote about it here) and they were nice enough to invite me back. When I arrived, the small kitchen was packed with women preparing the curanto. Curanto is probably the most well-known dish of Chilote cuisine. It is a mix of shellfish (super popular in Chile since the whole country runs along the Pacific), meat, milcaos, and chapaleles. Milcaos, one of my favorite foods here, are greasy pancake-like things you get by mixing shredded raw potatoes with cooked ones, along with some pig lard. Chapaleles are Chilean dumplings are made by mixing shredded boiled potatoes with flour.
The unique thing about curanto is how it's prepared. Each ingredient is placed separately in a big pot and each layer is separated by a pile of leaves. In Julio's house, his mom covered the pot lid with a couple of big rocks, turning the pot into a pressure cooker. More traditionally, curanto is prepared in a big hole in the ground. It's just like in a pot, only everything is placed on rocks that are first heated up over a fire.
Toast and Tea is Not Dinner
Although the food here is awesomely fatty and delicious, and folks in many households enjoy overdoing it, there are still some less-than-awesome things about Chilean cooking. If you're a fan of spicy foods, you'll be disappointed. But more importantly is how the Chileans eat. They don't do breakfast-lunch-dinner the same as us back in the States. Breakfast is usually small and quick before work, like in the US, but lunches are always pretty big and hot. Everybody here seems to bring something to microwave: pasta, chicken, empanadas, etc. Lunch is comparable to our dinners, just a bit smaller. Sadly, dinner simply doesn't exist. Instead, folks eat once (pronounced own-say) around 6 or 7pm. Once is always tea with lots of bread, and could include homemade jams, butter, tubed spam-like meat paste, and/or something with eggs (our house is big on scrambled eggs and onions). It usually is delicious, especially since in the south homemade mayo and marmalade are popular, but tiny compared to a US dinner. I'll have a couple cups of tea and like 3 pieces of bread at a time when I'm usually eating half of the Wendy's dollar menu. However, being hungry a majority of the time at least helps balance out the lack of physical activity (due to rainy, cold weather I'm always in bed at home) and the fatty-ness of everything here.
-PM
Festival de la papa photo album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.928058406404.2435457.5321418&type=1&l=9847078de9
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| Julio dancing at the Festival de la Papa. |
The unique thing about curanto is how it's prepared. Each ingredient is placed separately in a big pot and each layer is separated by a pile of leaves. In Julio's house, his mom covered the pot lid with a couple of big rocks, turning the pot into a pressure cooker. More traditionally, curanto is prepared in a big hole in the ground. It's just like in a pot, only everything is placed on rocks that are first heated up over a fire.
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| Milcao mix and sausages |
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| Uncooked chapaleles laying on top of leaves. |
Although the food here is awesomely fatty and delicious, and folks in many households enjoy overdoing it, there are still some less-than-awesome things about Chilean cooking. If you're a fan of spicy foods, you'll be disappointed. But more importantly is how the Chileans eat. They don't do breakfast-lunch-dinner the same as us back in the States. Breakfast is usually small and quick before work, like in the US, but lunches are always pretty big and hot. Everybody here seems to bring something to microwave: pasta, chicken, empanadas, etc. Lunch is comparable to our dinners, just a bit smaller. Sadly, dinner simply doesn't exist. Instead, folks eat once (pronounced own-say) around 6 or 7pm. Once is always tea with lots of bread, and could include homemade jams, butter, tubed spam-like meat paste, and/or something with eggs (our house is big on scrambled eggs and onions). It usually is delicious, especially since in the south homemade mayo and marmalade are popular, but tiny compared to a US dinner. I'll have a couple cups of tea and like 3 pieces of bread at a time when I'm usually eating half of the Wendy's dollar menu. However, being hungry a majority of the time at least helps balance out the lack of physical activity (due to rainy, cold weather I'm always in bed at home) and the fatty-ness of everything here.
-PM
Festival de la papa photo album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.928058406404.2435457.5321418&type=1&l=9847078de9
Friday, September 30, 2011
La Isla
La Grande Isla de Chiloé
Chiloé Island is pretty big: it measures about 120 miles long by 40 miles wide, with the two largest cities (Ancud on the northern end and Castro in the center) both having populations of about 30,000. Still, life is about as quiet and rural as you might imagine when you picture an archipelago of islands on the southern Pacific coast of South America. For example, the city center of Castro is one of the few places on the island you’ll find traffic lights. Chiloé is known for:
-Historic wooden churches built by Jesuits that are UNESCO Heritage sites (the one in the neighborhood of Nercon where I work was built in the 1860s)
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| Nercon |
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| Chonchi, Chiloe |
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| Castro |
-Palafito stilt homes that sit along the water
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| The "Trauco" |
-Old mythology that includes sex-driven trolls, mermaids, and witches
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| Fresh ceviche |
-Delicious seafood. One of my favorite things here is ceviche, raw salmon that is sanitized by being soaked in lemon juice overnight. Down at the port, for about 2 bucks you can get a bowl of ceviche mixed with onions, cilantro, and aji pepper.
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| English, gym, and math teachers and I getting down on ceviche. |
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| Castro |
-super rainy weather year-round that lead to cold, difficult winters but beautiful green scenery in the summer months
Monday, September 26, 2011
Fiestas Patrias
La Dieciochera
September 18th (el dieciocho, or simply the 18th) is the Chilean equivalent of July 4th in the US. It's considered independence day, though technically it marks the anniversary of the first meeting of a Chilean government (junta) that met to enforce the Spanish king's reign over the country, rather than to fight against. Point is: there is still lots of grilled meat and alcohol. I bused up from the island to Osorno (about 4 1/2 hours) where several other gringos are living. The hostel we stayed at was quite interesting--hot water was only available for a short block of time in the morning and at night; I slept in every morning and we didn't get back until late every night, so I just skipped on the personal hygiene thing. We were also woken up at 7 in the morning with a knocking at our door to be offered tea and piss-poor powered coffee. Overall, it was still a clean and decent place for $14/night. The fiestas patrias, or patriotic holidays, looked something like this...
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| Festive streets of Osorno. |
Comida
The town was fully decked out in red, white, and blue: flags hung up and down every block, each house had a flag either planted in the yard or hung out a window, and streamers/decorations covered the streets. We spent most of our time wandering around a big fair that was a Chilean mix of southern county fairs and the carnivals that pop up at local Catholic churches in the fall (though there was no deep fried Coke or obnoxious roller coasters). We pigged out on milcaos (fried batter with bits of pig lard; exactly like Polish placki), anticuchos (skewers of pork, beef, onions, and even hot dog weiners), and of course empanadas filled with meat, onions, eggs, and black olives. My favorite food of the night, however, was a mixture of shredded beef and sausage stuffed into a fresh roll.
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| Kelly with the beef/sausage sandwich. Almost like a Chilean Portillo's. |
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| Chowin' down on a sopaipilla con queso |
Rodeo
In addition to feasting on the awesome, greasy cuisine, we also cheered on participants at the cueca dance competition and huasos at the rodeo. The cueca is the national dance in which the man (the huaso) flirts with and pursues the coy female partner (the huasa or china). Both dress in traditional folk attire and wave white handkerchiefs in the air. For more on the cueca, check out the dance section below. The Chilean rodeo is quite different from what we have in the US. Here, the cowboys (huasos) ride in pairs and chase a calf around the arena, trying to pin him up against one of several mats on the walls. Depending on how the calf is pinned by the horses, the huaso duo gets a certain number of points; pinning the cow's backside against the wall is worth more than pinning it by the neck. The huasos wear traditional garb and each pair of riders has a few minutes in the ring, before a new calf is brought out for the next pair. Interestingly all the riders chill in the center of the arena while the other huasos take their turns, and since this is an all-day event the cattle seem to be in pretty rough shape by the end of the day. Here's what one of the calves looks like getting pinned:
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| Tenderizing my dinner. |
We wrapped up the weekend by watching a waiter race in the town's main plaza. Waiters and waitresses jogged/walked quickly one or two laps around the plaza with a tray of wine and several glasses. First to make it past the finish line without dropping anything won. It was great to experience (and taste!) this quintessential Chilean holiday. Also, just in time for the holidays spring has arrived and I'm actually starting to remember what warm weather feels like.
Fiesta de Chilenidad
I'm still not sure if Chilean Nationality Day is its own thing, or if my teachers were simply referring to the fiestas patrias, but either way our school had a day of traditional folk dances last Friday. The students dressed up in attire ranging from tradition cowboy hats and spurs to Pacific Islander grass skirts and Mapuche colorful dresses. Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is a Chilean island way out west near Polynesia. The seniors that performed a Rapa Nui dance illustrated plenty of Hawaiian hula influence. The Mapuche are the largest surviving indigenous tribe living in the central region of Chile, thus the fifth graders dancing to Mapuche music reminded me of the various Native American dances of North America.
The little kids teamed up with our gym teacher Jorge to perform an awesome Chilote (meaning from Chiloe Island) dance. Dressed in typical thick Chilote wool hats and warm clothing, the boys and girls danced in two circles, one wrapped around the other, moving in opposite directions. One boy had a broom, and when he tapped on the ground with the handle, the boys' outer circle moved inside, and the girls' circle became the outer circle. Then the boy would throw the broom down, and everyone ran for a partner. The last boy standing alone picked up the broom and continued.
The junior high students danced the cueca. The cueca is the national dance, and each region of the country (the north, central, and southern zone) has its own variation of it. The dance consists of a couple recreating the mating ritual of a rooster and a hen. The huaso (a Chilean cowboy) wears a straw hat, a poncho thrown over an Andalusian waist jacket, tall boots, and huge spurs. He pursues his female partner throughout the song, following her around the dance floor, but never actually touching her. The huaso's sweetheart, the china, has varying attire depending on the region, but usually wears a big, bright colored dress. They both wave around their white handkerchief to flirt with and impress the other.
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| Typical huaso, our school vice-director Christian. |
Two extra videos. The first dance makes me think of a funny mixture of Chilean folk culture, Polish goral highlander dancing, and a black frat/sorority step show. The second dance features a sophomore doing something that seems like ballet-infused folk dancing.
For the full photo album from the 18th celebrations and the student dances, check out my facebook album here.
Feel free to leave love in the comments.
-Pablo
Album link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100102933841604.2457086.5321418&l=af47fedb0e&type=1
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Half Way Through
Last week I wrapped up three weeks of winter vacation and came back to Castro for my second semester of work. Winter break was awesome: I fled the cold, rainy south for the warm, sunny north, I got to play the role of "camp counselor" once again, and I spent 10 days with my mom.
For my first week in Santiago I worked with about 30 other EOD program volunteers at an English Winter Camp for the Ministry of Education. Almost all volunteers were from the US and Canada, along with a few Chilean college students studying to be English teachers, including the two girls who ran our camp (the camp monitors). We worked Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm with about 220 high school students, whose English ranged from essentially non-existent to amazing. The camp was hosted at a local university (one of the few that haven't shut down due to student protests) and everyday we played various games inside the classrooms and out in the courtyard. The theme of the camp was "Say NO to Bullying," which was rather redundant because students using their vacation time to practice English aren't usually the anti-intellectual bullies in the first place. But, whatever. It was a good time.
All week the kids created skits, posters, songs, and group chants. At the end of the week we had a massive talent show. Living with my host family -- where every child, uncle, and grandmother can paint, sing, play instruments, and knit entire wardrobes -- and working with students in Castro and Santiago has essentially proven to me that, without a doubt, Chilenos are absurdly talented. The skits these kids put on with one day of planning, if that, were just awesome; they danced, acted, dressed up in ridiculous costumes, etc. So we as counselors had to work hard to top all that. The male counselors dressed up in black tights/t-shirts and performed as back-up dancers for one of our camp monitors, who played the role of Ms. Beyonce Knowles singing "Single Ladies." Then the female counselors came out in hoodies and sagging jeans and danced to Soulja Boy. The whole thing ended with the entire camp moshing out to the very hardcore song of "Soul Sister" by Train. Overall, a drastic change from my summers at PNA in Yorkville, but equally fun. I was just happy to have the opportunity to do the whole camp thing again during my first summer away from PNA in 11 years.
Check out my camp pictures here.
After camp ended I had about 5 free days before my mom flew in from Chicago, so I traveled down south to Valdivia with my friend Derek from Toronto. Valdivia is about 11 hours by bus from Santiago, so at that point I wasn't too far from my home in Castro. The city is a small, beautiful town with a huge German immigrant population. It hosts an annual Oktoberfest, they have several popular German pubs/diners, and the well-known Kunstmann brewery is there, too. Though Kunstmann was just founded about 20 years ago, it's probably the beer they make in Chile due to its German influence. The brewery was super touristy and pricey, but still a fun experience. Derek and I split a 3 liter "tower" of the golden Bock variety of Kunstmann. Again, touristy and expensive (about 8 or 9 bucks for 1.5 liters per person) but having the tall tower with a tap to pour your beer from was fun. Additionally, being down south for 3 days confirmed that avoiding the cold and rainy south during July was a good idea. Also, we got to see sea lions (lobos de mar, which translates to wolves of the sea) up close and personal at the fish market down at the port. They just hung around all afternoon eating fish heads and guts that were thrown into the river.
Check the album out here.
When my mom flew in we bused 6 hours north from Santiago to a small city on the Pacific coast called La Serena. My host mom's sister, Carmen, has a place up there for tourists. She bought two train carts from a railroad company back in the day and has converted them into small guest houses. The train cart comes equipped with a small kitchen, full bathroom, "master" bedroom, a smaller room with a bunk bed, and even a TV. Carmen and her boyfriend Gustavo, who is German-Chilean and related to the Kunstmanns, were super nice to us, and after several days of being in Chile, the 3 semesters of Spanish my mom took years ago started to come back to her. Late nights in Carmen's house, after several bottles of wine, we would have drawn out conversations on tuition costs, quality of life in the US vs Chile, etc. in three or four languages, though mostly we stuck to Spanglish. My mom also got to meet my host mom at the 5 year-old host sister when they were all in Santiago. Overall, she has peace of mind about my being here and traveling after the program. She worries less, and I hear less about her worrying. Win-win.
Check out the pics here.
That's all for now. I'm hoping to write a bit more about the school protests next post.
-Paul
English camp album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.979617761044.2448854.5321418&l=448c3807b4&type=1
Valdivia album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.979655116184.2448861.5321418&l=36f772e342&type=1
Mom's visit album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.980083218264.2449007.5321418&l=2637c2c813&type=1
For my first week in Santiago I worked with about 30 other EOD program volunteers at an English Winter Camp for the Ministry of Education. Almost all volunteers were from the US and Canada, along with a few Chilean college students studying to be English teachers, including the two girls who ran our camp (the camp monitors). We worked Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm with about 220 high school students, whose English ranged from essentially non-existent to amazing. The camp was hosted at a local university (one of the few that haven't shut down due to student protests) and everyday we played various games inside the classrooms and out in the courtyard. The theme of the camp was "Say NO to Bullying," which was rather redundant because students using their vacation time to practice English aren't usually the anti-intellectual bullies in the first place. But, whatever. It was a good time.
All week the kids created skits, posters, songs, and group chants. At the end of the week we had a massive talent show. Living with my host family -- where every child, uncle, and grandmother can paint, sing, play instruments, and knit entire wardrobes -- and working with students in Castro and Santiago has essentially proven to me that, without a doubt, Chilenos are absurdly talented. The skits these kids put on with one day of planning, if that, were just awesome; they danced, acted, dressed up in ridiculous costumes, etc. So we as counselors had to work hard to top all that. The male counselors dressed up in black tights/t-shirts and performed as back-up dancers for one of our camp monitors, who played the role of Ms. Beyonce Knowles singing "Single Ladies." Then the female counselors came out in hoodies and sagging jeans and danced to Soulja Boy. The whole thing ended with the entire camp moshing out to the very hardcore song of "Soul Sister" by Train. Overall, a drastic change from my summers at PNA in Yorkville, but equally fun. I was just happy to have the opportunity to do the whole camp thing again during my first summer away from PNA in 11 years.
Check out my camp pictures here.
After camp ended I had about 5 free days before my mom flew in from Chicago, so I traveled down south to Valdivia with my friend Derek from Toronto. Valdivia is about 11 hours by bus from Santiago, so at that point I wasn't too far from my home in Castro. The city is a small, beautiful town with a huge German immigrant population. It hosts an annual Oktoberfest, they have several popular German pubs/diners, and the well-known Kunstmann brewery is there, too. Though Kunstmann was just founded about 20 years ago, it's probably the beer they make in Chile due to its German influence. The brewery was super touristy and pricey, but still a fun experience. Derek and I split a 3 liter "tower" of the golden Bock variety of Kunstmann. Again, touristy and expensive (about 8 or 9 bucks for 1.5 liters per person) but having the tall tower with a tap to pour your beer from was fun. Additionally, being down south for 3 days confirmed that avoiding the cold and rainy south during July was a good idea. Also, we got to see sea lions (lobos de mar, which translates to wolves of the sea) up close and personal at the fish market down at the port. They just hung around all afternoon eating fish heads and guts that were thrown into the river.
Check the album out here.
When my mom flew in we bused 6 hours north from Santiago to a small city on the Pacific coast called La Serena. My host mom's sister, Carmen, has a place up there for tourists. She bought two train carts from a railroad company back in the day and has converted them into small guest houses. The train cart comes equipped with a small kitchen, full bathroom, "master" bedroom, a smaller room with a bunk bed, and even a TV. Carmen and her boyfriend Gustavo, who is German-Chilean and related to the Kunstmanns, were super nice to us, and after several days of being in Chile, the 3 semesters of Spanish my mom took years ago started to come back to her. Late nights in Carmen's house, after several bottles of wine, we would have drawn out conversations on tuition costs, quality of life in the US vs Chile, etc. in three or four languages, though mostly we stuck to Spanglish. My mom also got to meet my host mom at the 5 year-old host sister when they were all in Santiago. Overall, she has peace of mind about my being here and traveling after the program. She worries less, and I hear less about her worrying. Win-win.
Check out the pics here.
That's all for now. I'm hoping to write a bit more about the school protests next post.
-Paul
English camp album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.979617761044.2448854.5321418&l=448c3807b4&type=1
Valdivia album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.979655116184.2448861.5321418&l=36f772e342&type=1
Mom's visit album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.980083218264.2449007.5321418&l=2637c2c813&type=1
Friday, July 8, 2011
Winter Vacay and English Show
The semester ended today, and I leave tomorrow on an overnight bus to Santiago. I'm working at an English winter camp for a week there, as part of the program I'm doing, and then I'll have 2 weeks free. My mom flies in for 10 of those days, and we'll probably head up north to La Serena. It's a city about 6 hours north of Santiago, and I'm hoping the weather is more agreeable on the beach there, though it'll still be chilly seeing as how we're in the dead of winter. Today all the students brought in food and we just relaxed, watching movies, playing videos games, and eating everything from tacos and pork chops to junk food and homemade brownies. Also, I tried snapping a rugby ball like a football and accidentally pegged a third grader in the face, giving him one hell of a bloody nose. Overall, the day seemed like the appropriate way to end a very crazy semester.
Last night we finally put on our English Show. Technically it was only half the show, since the teacher of the younger grades backed out last minute and claimed that the 3 months we had to work on it weren't enough to get her students prepared. It actually turned out better this way because we had a 90 minute show, rather than having parents sit through 3 hours or more of their kids speaking what is essentially gibberish to them. Mauro the English teacher and I also did our best to present everything bilingually to not keep the parents in the dark the whole night. Overall, the show was an amazing success. Just fantastic.
The kids spend yesterday morning rehearsing and, little did I know at the time, rewriting/adding lots of scenes. We had an early dismissal, and when I showed up back at school in the afternoon the kids were there with amazing costumes and props. They had built fake trees, brought in camping tents, and did amazing things with make up. We had students turn themselves into platypuses, girls becomes guys, and one girl dressed up as Jigsaw from the Saw movies. They all spoke loud and clear, they were able to ad-lib if they fumbled a line, and they did an unbelievable job delivering their jokes. Some of the students did such a great job with the timing and delivery of their jokes that they were funnier than most of the variety show skits I remember from Ridgewood, and these kids are working with a foreign language. It was just amazing and completely justified/reinforced my decision to stay for next semester. All the stress, hair-pulling, and cussing under my breath was completely worth it (vale la pena as they say) when I saw these kids put on five separate skits that genuinely had me laughing out loud.
7th grade did Phineas and Ferb (apparently a very popular American cartoon I did not know about until recently). In 2 classes they worked on their own to completely create and write out an original "episode" of the show. 8th grade did a Friday the 13th skit involving camping teens and Jason. The sophomores did their own interpretation of 10 Things I Hate About You. The juniors made a very odd and hilarious skit involving the guy from Scream, Jigsaw from Saw, and a woman who was popular in the Chilean news for killing her own children. It may not sound very comical, but I assure you it rocked. And the seniors did a skit where the Spice Girls faced off against the Jonas Brothers, resulting in them all doing a number from High School Musical. I have absolutely no idea why a group of 17 year old chose this as a theme (I assure you that the boys did not do it ironically; they seem to genuinely like these Jonas guys), but it turned out awesome. They choreographed awesome dances and learned the lyrics and just generally did a fantastic job.
Check out pics from the English Show here.
Enough gushing about my students. Now to pack and focus on getting to Santiago...
-Paul
Last night we finally put on our English Show. Technically it was only half the show, since the teacher of the younger grades backed out last minute and claimed that the 3 months we had to work on it weren't enough to get her students prepared. It actually turned out better this way because we had a 90 minute show, rather than having parents sit through 3 hours or more of their kids speaking what is essentially gibberish to them. Mauro the English teacher and I also did our best to present everything bilingually to not keep the parents in the dark the whole night. Overall, the show was an amazing success. Just fantastic.
The kids spend yesterday morning rehearsing and, little did I know at the time, rewriting/adding lots of scenes. We had an early dismissal, and when I showed up back at school in the afternoon the kids were there with amazing costumes and props. They had built fake trees, brought in camping tents, and did amazing things with make up. We had students turn themselves into platypuses, girls becomes guys, and one girl dressed up as Jigsaw from the Saw movies. They all spoke loud and clear, they were able to ad-lib if they fumbled a line, and they did an unbelievable job delivering their jokes. Some of the students did such a great job with the timing and delivery of their jokes that they were funnier than most of the variety show skits I remember from Ridgewood, and these kids are working with a foreign language. It was just amazing and completely justified/reinforced my decision to stay for next semester. All the stress, hair-pulling, and cussing under my breath was completely worth it (vale la pena as they say) when I saw these kids put on five separate skits that genuinely had me laughing out loud.
7th grade did Phineas and Ferb (apparently a very popular American cartoon I did not know about until recently). In 2 classes they worked on their own to completely create and write out an original "episode" of the show. 8th grade did a Friday the 13th skit involving camping teens and Jason. The sophomores did their own interpretation of 10 Things I Hate About You. The juniors made a very odd and hilarious skit involving the guy from Scream, Jigsaw from Saw, and a woman who was popular in the Chilean news for killing her own children. It may not sound very comical, but I assure you it rocked. And the seniors did a skit where the Spice Girls faced off against the Jonas Brothers, resulting in them all doing a number from High School Musical. I have absolutely no idea why a group of 17 year old chose this as a theme (I assure you that the boys did not do it ironically; they seem to genuinely like these Jonas guys), but it turned out awesome. They choreographed awesome dances and learned the lyrics and just generally did a fantastic job.
Check out pics from the English Show here.
Enough gushing about my students. Now to pack and focus on getting to Santiago...
-Paul
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Random Observations
Quiltros: It's illegal in Chile to kill dogs, and as a result the street across the entire country are overrun with stray dogs, or quiltros as they're known here. It's not uncommon for important soccer games to be interrupted by strays jumping on the field. This means every Chilean city has roves of random dogs: some laying half-dead idly on the sidewalk, others barking like assholes as you walk past, and others constantly jumping into traffic on the roads. You may expect to come across lots of dog crap, and you'd be right, but what you may not think about is the fleas. The fucking fleas. Pretty much everybody in the country seems to have fleas at home, whether they own a dog or not, due to the uncontrollable number of street dogs. At any given point, I have about 15 bites itching on my body.
Onces: People don't eat dinner in Chile. Breakfast and lunch are similar to the States--a quickly toasted bun with jam or a piece of fruit in the morning, and some kind of pasta, stew, or meat with potatoes or rice to be microwaved at 1 for lunch. But there is not main course at 6 or so after work. Families sit down anywhere between 6:30 and 9 for once (own-say) which consists of tea and bread. I'm lucky enough to be living with an amazing family, and thus everything including the meals seems to be above-average. Our onces usually will also include some boiled hot dogs or eggs with onions to accompany the tea and bread. We also will normally have like two or three home-made marmalades for the bread. Friday, for example, was quite interesting. We had an awesomely delicious lunch at around 2 and then at 8 we had rolls with a new type of cheese my host mom bought from some dude: a brick of Philadelphia cream cheese with a hole cut out in the center. Inside the hole: soy sauce. Yup, rolls with philly cream cheese and soy sauce for "dinner." As a result, almost all volunteers eat a whole lot less here than at home, but since all the foods are super-duper greasy and fatty (this coming from a guy who's rolled a hot dog up inside a slice of pizza) people can still gain weight while volunteering here. It's very weird.
The (little bit too) laid-back atmosphere at school: Classes never start on time. Ever. Teachers sit around chatting or getting their things together about five minutes after class is scheduled to start. Even if they do get into the room by the correct time, or close to it, neither the students nor the teacher are capable of simply diving into the lesson. Just last week in 6th grade, though they could have been reviewing for mid-term exams or rehearsing for the English Show, the teacher took an hour and fifteen minutes to slowly explain what would be on the exams, and then write down about ten example sentences on the board. We could have saved the thirty minutes it took them to copy the problems by simply handing out pre-written worksheets. But that would have required lesson planning on the teacher's half, which is simply unimaginable down here.
Disciplining your own kids (or there lack of): Judging by my own experiences with my host family, and what other volunteers have told me about their own families, parents here seem to rarely ever discipline their own kids. The five year old girl here constantly throws hissy fits, hollers at the top of her lungs at (or from underneath) the dinner table, ignores me when I say hello, and yells "dejame!!!" (Spanish for "leave me alone," but in the limited vocabulary of a five y/o that basically translates as "fuck off") at anybody ranging from me to her own father. Whereas back home a good ole fashioned ass-whooping would have set her straight months ago, here the folks just carry on eating like nothing is happening. I have no idea of this is how they dealt with their other kids, but if it is I'd be very surprised, seeing as how Ignacia and Camila (the 15 and 21 year olds) are actually good people and very well-mannered. Other gringos have told me similar stories about host brothers and sisters ranging from adolescent girls moaning and bitching to men in their 30s still living at home and having mommy literally wake up at 6 am when they come home from the bars to rub their back until they fall asleep. Yes, that's an actual story one of my friends told me.
There are plenty of other random quirky cultural differences I'll get into as I remember them. Contrary to the cynical tone this post may have, I'm having an absolute ball down here and am very excited about next semester. I've adjusted to the dogs, smaller dinners, slow-moving (lazy?) attitudes at school and the rude five-year-old, but the fleas bites are pissing me off now more than ever. Bright side: the first three days of July have been absolutely beautiful, though I've just stayed in and watched movies all weekend. However, now I'm sure the Chilote gods are cuing the heavy rain clouds. We had hail here last week, as I understand Chicago did too. Lightning, however, is rare here. Unlike downtown Chicago.
-Paul
Happy Independence Day!
For the 4th this year I will be most likely be watching Chile play Mexico in the Copa America tournament rather than pulling several all-nighters to set up a massive fireworks show. Curiously enough, I think that actually bums be out. Our semester here is pretty much over. The students will be presenting their PowerPoints on various English-speaking cities or countries as a final assignment I came up with and we're doing our English Show this Thursday, or at least half of it. Though we first mentioned the English Show at the beginning of April, and we've been more or less trying to get the kids to rehearse for the last two months, the English teacher of the younger grades randomly decided last week that the kids weren't going to be ready in time for Thursday. Without consulting anyone, including the other English professor --who is in charge of the show alongside her and also her freaking roommate she sees daily--she decided to simply tell the principal the entire show would be delayed. If I hadn't gone to get Mauro (the other English teach) then I think the show would have been postponed, but only one of two teachers would have realized it. In a nutshell, that's how life works in Chile. Basically, this chick had over 2 months to get the little kids to memorize a 3 minute song and literally the week before decided to bring up her very first complaints/doubts, saying she couldn't do her job because the kids are sick too often and don't come to school.
Another example of how smoothly things here work: I went to the bank a few weeks ago to open up an account (for direct deposit purposes) and was told that I couldn't...because the bank ran out of the form I'd need to fill out. They simply didn't have physical copies of the form needed for anybody to open up a new basic account. So this past Friday I went to the bigger location and waited 30 minutes in line, only to find out I was in the wrong line. Honestly, I wasn't even upset because for the last half hour I was anticipating just that scenario. Of course, in order to ask anyone if I was in the right line I would have had to wait in that line anyway, so I just sat there thinking "I'm probably in the wrong spot." I walked over to the correct desk and was told that opening up a basic account takes about a month. The paperwork (which this location did have) has to be sent to Santiago and probably transcribed into Latin by a monk or something before the account can be opened. Of course, when I asked my host family about this, they explained that they have never had to wait that long for a bank account to open so....I guess we'll see what happens.
After this week is done I'm catching a 15 hour bus up north to Santiago to work at a winter camp for the EOD program, which is basically a day camp where students can practice their English and participate in run of the mill camp activities. Then I'll have a few days to myself to travel or whatever before my mom flies in. My mom will be here for about 10 days, giving me a great opportunity to re-up on some much-needed things from the States, drop off with her random souvenirs I've bought, and get over any homesickness by simply chilllin with my mommy. Before you know it, it'll be August and I'll be back on the island.
Last weekend two friends came down from La Serena (24 hour bus ride away!) and stayed with me at the house. My host family was super nice, as usual, and took us all over the island to see places I hadn't even been to yet. Check out the photos here.
-Paul
Another example of how smoothly things here work: I went to the bank a few weeks ago to open up an account (for direct deposit purposes) and was told that I couldn't...because the bank ran out of the form I'd need to fill out. They simply didn't have physical copies of the form needed for anybody to open up a new basic account. So this past Friday I went to the bigger location and waited 30 minutes in line, only to find out I was in the wrong line. Honestly, I wasn't even upset because for the last half hour I was anticipating just that scenario. Of course, in order to ask anyone if I was in the right line I would have had to wait in that line anyway, so I just sat there thinking "I'm probably in the wrong spot." I walked over to the correct desk and was told that opening up a basic account takes about a month. The paperwork (which this location did have) has to be sent to Santiago and probably transcribed into Latin by a monk or something before the account can be opened. Of course, when I asked my host family about this, they explained that they have never had to wait that long for a bank account to open so....I guess we'll see what happens.
After this week is done I'm catching a 15 hour bus up north to Santiago to work at a winter camp for the EOD program, which is basically a day camp where students can practice their English and participate in run of the mill camp activities. Then I'll have a few days to myself to travel or whatever before my mom flies in. My mom will be here for about 10 days, giving me a great opportunity to re-up on some much-needed things from the States, drop off with her random souvenirs I've bought, and get over any homesickness by simply chilllin with my mommy. Before you know it, it'll be August and I'll be back on the island.
Last weekend two friends came down from La Serena (24 hour bus ride away!) and stayed with me at the house. My host family was super nice, as usual, and took us all over the island to see places I hadn't even been to yet. Check out the photos here.
-Paul
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Student Protests: Rabble Rabble Rabble!
Chile has had a national "student strike" going on for about three weeks now, though I just found out about this last Thursday. Apparently from time to time students get together, oftentimes with support and help from teachers, and march on the streets, picket outside schools, or straight up do lock-ins and force their schools to shut down. From what I understand, this time around it started with students getting upset over the shut down of one of Santiago's smaller universities (though it may be more akin to a community college or trade school, but really I have no idea). Point is, the way things work it seems each department votes on whether they want to support the protest, and then they decide to whether they will strike or not. Once enough individual departments shut down (at which time students are meeting daily to draft petitions/lists of demands, and to march in the streets) the entire university freezes. My host family's oldest daughter, who is 22 and finishing up her degree in education, hasn't had classes in around three weeks now, so she made the 17 hour commute back home to chill. High school students followed suit, locked themselves in several of the city's biggest high schools, and people have been marching all over Santiago. Joaquin Levin, the secretary of education, has even been punched in the face and attacked by crowds (apparently this is all very routine and business-as-usual; nothing to seek, keep it moving folks). Though, since the tv's at home are in the parent's and sister's bedroom, and at work we rarely watch news during luch, I had absolutely no idea this was going on. Until last Thursday that is.
Last week the high schoolers in Santiago called for a nation-wide solidarity movement, at which point students in Chiloe started to protest. Our school is semi-private which means: a.) our school conditions are better (especially in a school small as ours with 10 student classrooms) so kids are less likely to march/skip class. And more interestingly b.) unlike public school teachers that oftentimes openly support the students, teachers in this position are (unofficially) liable to lose their jobs if they do too much rabble-rousing or support the national strikes. So folks here have understandably not been too vocal about it all, though it seems to me that the culture as well is such that politics/hot-button issues aren't discussed as often as in the states.
So last week the high school students arrived at school as spent the first hour or so of the day debating whether they were going to go join the local marches/demonstrations in the plaza here in Castro. I had class with the seniors, during which we were supposed to practice for our English Show since they only have about 3 more classes with me before the performance. In true Chile fashion, rather than maximize our 90 minutes of class time, the students lingered around the space heater while the teacher explained to me how student protests work. I wasn't even sure if I could ask my students to work, since at the time I was under the impression that they were protesting, but still in class for whatever reason. I may have gotten this impression when I asked my teacher why they were just standing there ten minutes into class and he said something along the lines of, "No, because....they are in a protest. Did you know that?" Or something. But it turns out that they were just standing around rather than working because this is Chile, and we just happened to have protests going on elsewhere. Point is, all's normal here but some fellow volunteers do have students striking at their schools.
One of these volunteers visited this weekend. Monica from Chicago (she went to Stevenson High and Lake Forest College) and Sara from Connecticut. Mauro, the English teacher, was awesome enough to let us all crash at his place while his roommates were out of town. We spent the weekend drinking, wandering around town in the rain, and visiting the next town over, Chonchi, which I myself had not yet explored. All three of us gringos ended up getting lots of little trinkets and handmade goods at the local artisan market (la feria) and I had that super fresh salmon again.Pics should be up on facebook shortly. Pictures are up. This Friday two other gringas come visit, these ones will be staying at my place as my host mom was nice enough to offer up the spare bedroom. Looking forward to the long weekend. Quick anecdote to illustrate how Chile works: Yesterday I went with my host mom and her three daughters (ages 5, 15, and 22) for haircuts. We had an appointment at her friend's home salon at 6 pm. She was with two other ladies and didn't get around to cutting our hair until 7:40. No one seemed surprised or driven into a murderous rage by this, expect for me of course. Good news: $3 hair cut.
-Paul
link to FB album:
Last week the high schoolers in Santiago called for a nation-wide solidarity movement, at which point students in Chiloe started to protest. Our school is semi-private which means: a.) our school conditions are better (especially in a school small as ours with 10 student classrooms) so kids are less likely to march/skip class. And more interestingly b.) unlike public school teachers that oftentimes openly support the students, teachers in this position are (unofficially) liable to lose their jobs if they do too much rabble-rousing or support the national strikes. So folks here have understandably not been too vocal about it all, though it seems to me that the culture as well is such that politics/hot-button issues aren't discussed as often as in the states.
So last week the high school students arrived at school as spent the first hour or so of the day debating whether they were going to go join the local marches/demonstrations in the plaza here in Castro. I had class with the seniors, during which we were supposed to practice for our English Show since they only have about 3 more classes with me before the performance. In true Chile fashion, rather than maximize our 90 minutes of class time, the students lingered around the space heater while the teacher explained to me how student protests work. I wasn't even sure if I could ask my students to work, since at the time I was under the impression that they were protesting, but still in class for whatever reason. I may have gotten this impression when I asked my teacher why they were just standing there ten minutes into class and he said something along the lines of, "No, because....they are in a protest. Did you know that?" Or something. But it turns out that they were just standing around rather than working because this is Chile, and we just happened to have protests going on elsewhere. Point is, all's normal here but some fellow volunteers do have students striking at their schools.
One of these volunteers visited this weekend. Monica from Chicago (she went to Stevenson High and Lake Forest College) and Sara from Connecticut. Mauro, the English teacher, was awesome enough to let us all crash at his place while his roommates were out of town. We spent the weekend drinking, wandering around town in the rain, and visiting the next town over, Chonchi, which I myself had not yet explored. All three of us gringos ended up getting lots of little trinkets and handmade goods at the local artisan market (la feria) and I had that super fresh salmon again.
-Paul
link to FB album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.935928679314.2439136.5321418&l=776a216fd2
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Flamingos and Volcanoes
For whatever reason, Chiloe has penguins in the summer on the north side of the island (further from Antarctica) and flamingos in the winter (down here in the southern part of the island). Apparently the flamingos migrate south for the winter to escape the extreme heat of the northern desert; I'm just not sure why they migrate all the way down here to the rainy, cold climate. Anyway, yesterday I decided to make the 30 minute walk over to the lakes where the flamingos live. It was a beautiful walk over down the one rural road we have around these parts, passing by small houses with farm animals, private stores, and even a tiny junk yard with some car scraps. I asked around and (possibly) found the dirt path that leads to the flamingos. However, when I got there the damn things were hundreds of feet away way off in the distance, so I figured I'd trek through the mud and see if I couldn't get a better view. Perhaps I didn't follow the right path, either. Either way, right on cue the winds came and blew in storm clouds. Not two minutes after I arrived, it started to pour. So I turned around and walked home, unsuccessfully trying to thumb a ride back. I guess the flamingos will have to wait.
I found out yesterday that two friends volunteering way up north will be coming down here at the end of the month, and my host mom is cool with them crashing here. Looking forward to have a few American friends for a weekend. Also, a volcano few hours north of here on the mainland started to erupt a week ago. Huge columns of smoke and ash have been covering the sky; the ash has even made its way all the way over to Bueno Aires, Argentina. Yet, since a few years back a volcano much closer to here erupted and buried an entire village (after it was evacuated), people here don't seem phased. They tell me that eruption was so powerful that, though the town is about 60 miles away from here on the mainland, you could see a mushroom cloud of ash for three weeks.
My school has been "working" on an English Show for a few months now; it's basically a talent show put on in English. I was told that this year the principal didn't want any singing and instead wanted a lot of dialogue. So we decided each grade would write some short sketch or brief play. However, both English teachers and I are new to the school, the kids couldn't make up their minds on what they wanted to do, and classes are interrupted weekly by assemblies, parades, etc. So we're basically three weeks away and nobody has done anything. And I'm terrified to ask about the English Show because each time it's brought up, I lose ground. For example, at the beginning of the semester the principal told us it would be July 1st, in the Centro Cultural in town, and it would be in the evening. So two weeks ago I asked if a time was confirmed with the Centro Cultural, and my teacher told me that it would possibly be at around 2 or 3 pm. I reminded him that we couldn't do that because the parents would still be at work on a Friday afternoon. So earlier this week I asked if we had established an exact hour, and I was told that we were no longer sure it would be in the Centro Cultural. I waited a few days, and asked again about it this Friday. Now we are no longer sure of the date. I'm basically dreading this whole thing.
But on the bright side, we're exactly a month away from three weeks of winter vacation! In that time, I'll be working one week in Santiago as a counselor for the EOD program's winter camps, then I'll have about 5 free days, and then my mom flies in for ten. Though I imagined Santiago as being sunny and warm year-round because it's 15 hours north of here, but apparently I was wrong. They say it's freezing up there too, so my mom and I will hopefully be traveling up further north to La Serena (which is where my gringo friends are teaching now).
Today we have a fund-raiser at school, with bingo and dancing. After that I'm planning on doing into town with a few folks to catch a blues show. A well-known band from Valparaiso is playing, and one of their opening bands is the band of one of my students. So that should be fun. It started raining Monday and they say it won't quit til September. We do, however, get short breaks every now and then, and ironically the sun even comes out sometimes as its raining. However, I feel it'll become more gray and rainy in the coming months.
One last note on the rain, the storm was so bad the entire island lost power. That's like three city of populations with about 30,000 and dozens of smaller towns, all without power for the day. Apparently this is a common thing here; we've already lost power at school two or three times. Obviously the entire day is wasted and teachers serve as mere baby-sitters. Hopefully my trip up north will get me out of the cold rain for a bit, but as the north had recent flooding, I ain't holding my breath. For now, looking forward to the blues show and spending another weekend watching movies.
-Paul
I found out yesterday that two friends volunteering way up north will be coming down here at the end of the month, and my host mom is cool with them crashing here. Looking forward to have a few American friends for a weekend. Also, a volcano few hours north of here on the mainland started to erupt a week ago. Huge columns of smoke and ash have been covering the sky; the ash has even made its way all the way over to Bueno Aires, Argentina. Yet, since a few years back a volcano much closer to here erupted and buried an entire village (after it was evacuated), people here don't seem phased. They tell me that eruption was so powerful that, though the town is about 60 miles away from here on the mainland, you could see a mushroom cloud of ash for three weeks.
My school has been "working" on an English Show for a few months now; it's basically a talent show put on in English. I was told that this year the principal didn't want any singing and instead wanted a lot of dialogue. So we decided each grade would write some short sketch or brief play. However, both English teachers and I are new to the school, the kids couldn't make up their minds on what they wanted to do, and classes are interrupted weekly by assemblies, parades, etc. So we're basically three weeks away and nobody has done anything. And I'm terrified to ask about the English Show because each time it's brought up, I lose ground. For example, at the beginning of the semester the principal told us it would be July 1st, in the Centro Cultural in town, and it would be in the evening. So two weeks ago I asked if a time was confirmed with the Centro Cultural, and my teacher told me that it would possibly be at around 2 or 3 pm. I reminded him that we couldn't do that because the parents would still be at work on a Friday afternoon. So earlier this week I asked if we had established an exact hour, and I was told that we were no longer sure it would be in the Centro Cultural. I waited a few days, and asked again about it this Friday. Now we are no longer sure of the date. I'm basically dreading this whole thing.
But on the bright side, we're exactly a month away from three weeks of winter vacation! In that time, I'll be working one week in Santiago as a counselor for the EOD program's winter camps, then I'll have about 5 free days, and then my mom flies in for ten. Though I imagined Santiago as being sunny and warm year-round because it's 15 hours north of here, but apparently I was wrong. They say it's freezing up there too, so my mom and I will hopefully be traveling up further north to La Serena (which is where my gringo friends are teaching now).
Today we have a fund-raiser at school, with bingo and dancing. After that I'm planning on doing into town with a few folks to catch a blues show. A well-known band from Valparaiso is playing, and one of their opening bands is the band of one of my students. So that should be fun. It started raining Monday and they say it won't quit til September. We do, however, get short breaks every now and then, and ironically the sun even comes out sometimes as its raining. However, I feel it'll become more gray and rainy in the coming months.
One last note on the rain, the storm was so bad the entire island lost power. That's like three city of populations with about 30,000 and dozens of smaller towns, all without power for the day. Apparently this is a common thing here; we've already lost power at school two or three times. Obviously the entire day is wasted and teachers serve as mere baby-sitters. Hopefully my trip up north will get me out of the cold rain for a bit, but as the north had recent flooding, I ain't holding my breath. For now, looking forward to the blues show and spending another weekend watching movies.
-Paul
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