Peru

alright, I admit. I've been super bad about updating y'all on my life.  So for winter break in July I went to Peru for nearly 2.5 weeks and it was freaking awesome! Peru is an amazing country, beautiful, awesome intact indigenous culture still and their spanish is so much better!  The food is spicy, the landscape amazing, the history is everywhere and fascinating and is super different from Chile.  It was awesome to finally do some traveling - granted coming to Chile was one huge trip but I live and work here... it's different.  I got to practice my spanish with strangers, eat different foods, see new and different places.  We spent a couple of days traveling (flight at 330am which I thankfully boarded after purchasing the WRONG ticket.... then a collectivo at 730am across the Peru/Chilean border, a bus at 830am and finally arriving in Arequipa at 330pm where it was nice a HOT! FINALLY).  Arequipa is super beautiful as you can see below....

but not tons to do. We went to the Monastery which was completely cloistered until the 70s! can you imagine.....

Afterwards, we took an 11 hour bus ride overnight between Arequipa and Cusco.  oh geez... and cusco is beautiful as well tho in a totally different way than Arequipa. and man that altitude will get you.  We stayed in Cusco for 4 days I think before we went on our trek to Machu Picchu

Cusco

Sexy Woman (which sounds like it's real name), Sacsayhuaman, outside of Cusco, and my friend Lauren

one day which we escaped from Cusco and took a 4 hour bus into rural Peru to celebrate the Festival de Virgen de Carmen in Paurcartambo.  Super interesting but exhausting trip.

Paurcartambo

LaVirgen!

check out the terracing from the last hundreds of years... incredible

peru y una peruana

Afterwards... we began our amazing Salkantay Trek: 4 days of walking through the diverse environment of Peru (hills, mountains, glaciers, forest, and semi-tropical environments). incredible! seriously intense.  At the highest, we were are 4600m, which doesnt sound like much but i believe is around 15000ft! take that. to give you an idea, I literally would walk like 300ft and have to take a break (uphill).  That night I could not sleep (I mean it was ACTUALLY freezing and I was sleeping it what apparently is a sleeping bag LINER, ha jokes on me) and I could not control my breathing. it was like I had just stopped running, sprinting even, but I was laying down trying to fall asleep.  It was like the torture.  take a second to reflect on trying to breath normal and not being able to too!!!


crazy.  anyways, it was truly an amazing way to see peru. the food was awesome. great company and at the end! MACHU PICCHU! which was insane: we woke up at 330 am to hike to the entrance (arriving a lil before 5am) to wait in line. the first 200 people to enter can climb up Wayna Picchu (I believe it is spelled) which is the taller mountain behind all the fotos of MP and is an even more intense hike (literally straight up) but has even more amazing ruins on top of a tiny peak.  dude, it's terrifying... the steps are teeny tiny and straight up, you fall and youre donzo, you fall to the river below... and actually this has happened before. scary stuff. but definitely worth it, just dont look down and tread slowly!

which is Inca?

obviously Machu Picchu

Wayna Picchu

Damn if this ain't the hardest job ever...

This post is dedicated to all the poor teachers who have to deal with the youth of the world... I'd like to share with you the stuff that I have to deal with everyday, and I can assume that I am not the only one that deals with this crap.
First of all, each class has it's own individual personality.  I'm not sure if this applies to the US as much or not, I imagine that it does, however in Chile it is different because each class stays together for the ENTIRETY of their HS career.  ie these children rule their classroom.  So each class has it's own personality, atmosphere, for 4 years.... in addition, I split each class into half, so therefore I have actually twice the number of personalities to deal with.  In total, I have 22 personalities to deal with.  So if I were a superstar teacher.... I would taylor EACH class to their personality. But anyone who has ever taught will tell you that is just straight up impossible.  And I have it easier... typically the regular Chilean teachers have to teach the classes together, meaning sometimes times nearly 35-40 students at one time  (and we're talking all grades here, imagine 35 3rd graders, or 35 10th graders, or 35 7th graders... no matter the age, all is hell).  So I can handle 13 students, but the difference between 13 and 18 students is huge. 18 is nearly impossible to control so imagine 35... again.... THIRTY FIVE.  Furthermore I try to make my classes super interactive, fun, all while controlling the class AND having them actually speak, practice and learn English.  This is a huge task! I can honestly tell you that in my 9th and 10th grade classes I have had to pull apart boys from fighting (legit rage in their eyes and fear that they'd break a window in my room - which I have so far avoided and happens frequently to other windows). In fact, if i can say so myself, my room has remained fairly inhabitable.  All the other rooms, since the kids don't change classes, and I don't think rooms either for 4 years, they mark their territory with their names, scribble and whatever else you have and just completely destroy the school. Obviously this behavior is not ok in my classroom (and if Nicole would stop signing her name everywhere.... it would be better).  Anyways, the students here are crazy but their raised like that, and that's not to say they raise their kids wrong here, it's just they are raised in the society of mama's boys (and girls) - they are handed everything, and the revolves around them everywhere, except in my classroom.  and sometimes they are totally awesome and i can like TEACH! and other times i just have to create games to MANIPULATE them in behaving, shutting up, and speaking english. HOWEVER, this also often results in fights (whether fake or real) in 1o medio and 2o medio (9th and 10th grades).
I just dont understand sometimes how anyone learns anything for the following reasons: teachers regularly do not come to school for whatever reason (let's reflect on the society of mama's boys/girls. if you are slightly sick, under the weather, runny nose, you do not come to school for days.  imagine more serious sicknesses... we're talking kids and teachers out for weeks! it's bad enough having children miss school for weeks but imagine teachers missing school for weeks. that class, be it spanish language, or math, just goes untaught for WEEKS! there are no substitutes here.  depending on the time of the class, the students can just go home, and often don't return for their classes for the rest of the day, therefore there is no class of english for example.  i have a friend whose school is currently down one spanish language professor, one PE teacher, and i think science too.)
ok so imagine you have both teachers and students at school.  well guess what, there's an acto (like an assembly) or another teacher needs to class to take a test, or the students didn't finish their other work in their English class, or they skip, or they have to practice for a parade, or the English teacher has to give a speech at another school or.....  the reasons are endless. but I can say that this week I ONLY missed 2 classes... the week before it was 4 and again ONLY 2 the week before, bringing me to seeing each student 45 mins every TWO weeks.... and now you can see why my life is frustrating and really impossible.  I just hope I've maybe changed someone's impression of United States-ians or inspired someone to student more English in the future.
So with all this above, I am currently having trouble dealing with the fact it's impossible to actually 'make a difference' (what does that mean anyways), not feeling like a failure, and still being motivated (because I certainly cannot live and teach in a foreign country without a mission or motivation).  Advice anyone?? I mean it's a. not my place to change the system and b. impossible.  but do i just give in ...

TId Bits

Colegio General Velazquez: this is where it all goes down.  This photo was taken from the high school part of the school (where my class room is) facing the elementary part of the school.  Behind the school is Puchuncavi.  You can see the church steeple.  And behind that the cerros!  I'm not sure if I've talked about the structure of school but it's pretty different in Chile: in between every class there's 15 min breaks, which really turn into 20-25 min breaks.  Therefore, for every 1.5 hours of class (but in reality 1 hour 15 mins) there is 20-25 mins of break.  Terribly inefficient.  Also, the teacher's change rooms.  The students stay in the room.  You have the same classmates all year long, and I actually think for you're entire high school career.  In reality, however, I think there are little more than 100 students per grad in my school, meaning only 2, maybe 3, different 10th grade classes for example.  I hate this system.  The students OWN the room, there is no mercy here.  Thank god.... I AM THE EXCEPTION.  I have my own room :) and oh how it is liiiiiiinda.

This is a really awesome stain glass window at the Naval Museum in Valparaiso.  That's Neil Armstrong I believe in the lower right hand corner, yes even the explorers of the moon are included here.

These are some photos that I took at Pablo Neruda's house in Isla Negra.  His house has an incredible view of the Pacific Ocean and waves crashing on the rocky coast.  His bedroom was are windows.  It is literally the ideal bedroom view. And if you enjoy poetry, I highly suggest reading some Neruda.  He's quite amazing.  The picture to the right is the north view from his house and the other are this super strange and awesome plants here in Chile, with the ocean in the background.

These pictures are from two weekends ago.  We had a holiday Monday so I had a four day weekend.  Me and some of my gringo friends left Thursday night for the north, a 6 hour bus ride through the strange terrain that is Chile.  SUPER hilly (like intense hills, ravines, and yet weirdly plateaued at the top and then DEEP immediate ravines that provide glimpses of the Pacific to the west and to the east, just higher higher hills... and very arid.  dry soil/sand? and cacti!! everywhere.) Anywho, we went to La Serena and stayed with the sister of my friend's co-teacher.... yeah this is how it is Chile, complete strangers totally welcome you.  Literally upon 10 minutes in La Serena, 2 different people approached to ask us if we needed help.  Just a super friends and hospitable culture.  We stayed with her sister, her husband and cutie little daughter with the roundest face every.  On our last day, the only day of sun, we went east, towards the mountains.  It takes you almost 2 hours to drive the width of Chile, btw. So we took the bus inland and arrived at Valle Pisco and Pisco Elqui.  This is where Chile produces the national liquor, Pisco.  It's a delicious liquor produced from sunrippened grapes I believe. y que rico con sprite, ginger ale o coca cola.  OR the famed Pisco Sour which can involved egg white.  Anyways, these are pictures taken from Pisco Elqui, the pueblito at the bottom of the Pisco Valley.  The hills are super dry, nothing grows on them nearly. And at the top, snow sprinkled them and behind you can see the ANDES and shortly thereafter gives way to Argentina. That beautiful church is in the center of town and the other is of the Mistral Pisco Distillery, one of the more if not the most delicious of the Pisco brands.  And an example of the strange plants up in here.

THE ANDES in all their glory!

In more news, winter vacation is next week and I'm going first to La Termas de Chillan in the south of Chile and on Tuesday I am going to Peru! Can't wait!

I'm obsessed with this song right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxuAWU_VX34

It's called 'My bed smells of you' of course in spanish. Disfrutate!

Omigdalitis.... perhaps?

omigdalitis, or tonsillitis, is awesome. yep, that's right. for the last week i have been confined to my modest house in Rungue, trapped at first because I was totally and completely incapacitated (unable to talk, eat, move, actually all I could and did do was take 3 ibuprofens every 6 hours or so) and for the second part of the week because after it became more obvious I was actually really sick, my family wouldn't let me outside.  But I really should've known, right?, that I am sick because I don't wear a scarf, cover my neck or mouth with it constantly.  At times, with a fever, I feel inclined to take off my jacket, imagine that?! unheard of... I must always wear a jacket, scarf, slippers.  I don't like feeling fragile (you probably know that about me).  I don't like feeling like i need to be taken care of, even though it's nice at times, like when you're sick for example.  but seriously, tonsillitis is a VIRUS.  there is ACTUALLY nothing that i can do to both prevent it and get over it: it is beyond my control and requires some real prescriptions. that's just it. no matter how much i sleep, rest, no matter how much clothing i wear, no matter how patient, tonsillitis will NOT go away without prescriptions. end of story, i win.
I am totally open with cultural differences but medicine sometimes is a little difficult. I am totally open to alternative medicine, but i have had a bad case of strep before and if strep goes untreated for a long amount of time, you may have to have surgery, or get something worse like rheumatic fever.  so after being on ibuprofen, a shot of penicillin, and an anti-inflammatory that is not even available in the US, I decided i needed to go to the doctor again (also i could not teach the next day for sure, golf ball in throat, and needed another dr's note to excuse my absence) where the new dr (really just an EMT) told me that I needed serious medical attention and perhaps surgery.  I lost it.  Crying like a blubbery mess all over chile.  I told you i needed more than patience, but i decided to be patient instead.  But jesus, surgery in chile is about the LAST thing that I wanted.  i mean would have it if necessary, duh, but really, this is preventable!  2000mg of Amoxicillin later i felt LOADS better... imagine real treatment.  the next day we went to Vina for a real series of blood and swab tests.  at this point, they all came back negative: no strep, no mono (thank god), and no tonsillitis.  i mean i certainly at one point had at least strep, but i was more than willing to have negative test results. anyhoo, all is good now. three days post vina trip to recuperate, meds and rest, i am ready to teach again, but really nervous, i've been out of it for so long it's like the first day again!
additionally, if anyone has any sort of experience or recommendations for Macchu Picchu, I would love to hear them.  I am trying to go in July if permits still exist to enter/hike but I am open to things to do around Cuzco, companies to hike with, alternative hikes, all of the above, places to stay, you get the idea etc.
THANKS!
also, if you feel so inclined to send care pkgs (hint hint) books are a good place to start.  they aren't really wildly available here in english and i get the idea i might plow thro what i got.

ALSO,
I have this really awesome idea: I want to do penpals with my advanced class (ie 6 kids i think) and maybe open it up to anyone else who would be interested and has good enough english to communicate and write letters.  Who would be interested in sending letters and or postcards to some of my advanced students here?? I was thinking about starting this initiative in mid June-July, give them a little bit more time to develop their English skillz. All you would have to do is write a couple of letters/postcards, in simple English, and buy stamps.  we're talking less than 2 bucks. for the year. any takers!?! hollar at me :)

RUNGUE Represent!

RUNGUE! this is where it all goes down y'all!

My house is just to the right of that pole, it has a blue fence.  This is after the rain.

Downtown Puchuncavi!

Another view of the downtown, its crazy busy.  It's small, quaint, nothing going on, but I do really like it and it's beautiful.

This is me in front of my school: Colegio General Velasquez Borquez

This is the elementary part of the school.  The high school is behind this and where my room is.  I just decorated it yesterday and pictures will be coming soon!

Also, here is my address in the event that you'd like to send some something (hint hint): 

Juan Matta

Carretera F30E

El Rungue Puchuncavi

V Region

Casilla 11

CHILE

keep in touch y'all!

some fotos

A couple of weekends ago we (actually our first weekend at our host family's houses) all of the volunteers and I got together in Valparaiso for Saturday night.  Here is a picture of Valpo.  It is a city completely built on hills surrounding a bay.  Across the bay is Vina del Mar, which you could perhaps describe as a more clean and trendy city. 

VALPO!

friends at valpo for the veleros!!

Cachagua with Bennett and Lauren! (this is a 20 minute bus ride from my house!)

Here's a map of the region.  I work in Puchuncavi and live in Rungue, a pueblito a little north of Puchuncavi.  There are other vols in Catapilco, Cachagua, La Calera, Valpo, Limache, Quilpue, Las Ventanas and Quillota

My Life as a Teacher

And so it begins.... or began, last Tuesday that is.  After meeting my family and moving into my house two Mondays ago, I began my life as a teacher.  On Tuesday (through this Monday) I was introduced to all of my classes and all of my students.  Some of the classes we just had a question and answer session and some of the other classes I actually began to tutor.  So I think I have nearly 350 students: I have 13 classes, as small as 8 and as big as 40!  I co-teach with two classes because they are particularly advanced and the rest of the classes we split in half while I take one half of the class for the first 45 mins and then we switch and I teach the second half for the second 45 mins.  I teach one 3rd grade class, one 5th grade, one 7th grade and the other ten classes are 9th-12th grades.  If you had asked me literally 2 weeks ago which i would rather teach, children or teenagers, hands-down, I would've said kids.  That is NOT the case now.  I am ecstatic that I am teaching teenagers for the following reason: kids are INSANE.  They are so hard to control.  My 3rd grade class this week was actually so difficult that I hate to admit it but afterwards I almost started to cry in the teacher's lounge (which is NOT ok)!!!!  Lunch is the worst part of my day.  I sit in the teacher's lounge and talk to no one b/c I have no idea whatsoever what is being spoken around me.  it's absolutely loco.  and i feel horrible because i want so much to be friends and communicate but not only do i fear sounding like an idiot, i really know so little spanish that every other line would be 'como?'  I find it particularly hard to pay attention also. it's not always the case that i dont understand but i often completely lose interest in trying to understand so i give up and zone out and then everyone assumes i have no idea whats going on. ugh.  i imagine this is what ADD feels like.  anyhoo, i love my HS classes so much. unfortunately, or fortunately, not sure yet, they crack me up! i laugh so much in school but that may make my life more difficult in the future in terms of classroom management?  who knows.
other firsts:
First day of teaching alone was Tuesday, and I taught all week on my own! this week was hello, my name is ____. Nice to meet you.'  Next week is 'How are you'
First Chilean Funeral: yes it's true,  week two I went to the funeral of my principal's mother.  School was cancelled Tuesday after 130pm for the funeral in las ventanas and finishing in the cemetery in puchuncavi.
First Wedding: potentially tonight? I will keep you posted.
First conversation about pololos: ugh, i hate the conversation about boyfriend.  I never understand if they are asking if i have one or if i need one or who they want to set me up with. i just don't understand and i get particularly frustrated about this topic of conversation and then my face gets all flushed... ugh
First Gin and tonic: I missed it so.
First Asado: last friday, the carne was delish but tore me up as you can probably imagine as a veg head for 2 years.
First English Network meeting: intended to encourage Chilean English Teachers to talk in English and improve.  of course the meeting was conducted in Spanish duh
First sleepover: Corrie spent the night last night in my room, ie my bed and i think my parents think im crazy. yeah it's ok, i'm gringa.
First trips to Papudo, La Ligua, Maitencillo, Asienda, Catapilco, Cachagua por micro! go me!

I cannot think of any more updates right now.  i got my spanish book so hopefully here soon i can totally communicate! ugh. mostly im ok with trying to be invisible but when im acknowledged and don't totally understand or how to respond i have difficulty.  i hope everyone is doing well and i'm sending lots of gringa love from chile up north :)

check it: we're on the news!

we are famous!

Estoy en Puchuncavi, or near there rather...

so this was probably the most terrifying day of my life.  we left santiago at 6am after only 4.5 hours of sleep of course, and we arrived in vina del mar at 9am only to meet our families at 930 or 10am.  my mama, principal and host teacher were all there to greet me!  in addition, we shared a van w/ two other of the vols who will be living the closest to me and their host teacher and host mama and papa.  we then drove from vina del mar to quintero along the mar, through renaca and con con. we stopped in quintero to see jeremy's host school where he will be teaching high school. upon entering one student happily announced that there were gringos in the building.  after a little conversation with the principal, of which i understood literally about 5 %, we went to las ventanas to drop off leigh ann and jeremy at their host family's house.  then me and my host teach and mother went to the host teacher's house, across the street from my shcool in downtown puchuncavi. it is the ONLY school in puchuncavi and therefore there is high school and chiquitos in the same place.  it was totally overwhelming.  we visited one of the english teachers and the students were literally hitting each other in the background with notebooks!!!!!  however, the host teachers are awesome and don't want me to have a horrible experience.  i will be working with the best behaved classes apparently. i dont want to filter my classes by behavior, i want everyone to have access to education, but jesus christ, i dont know about that. also, it looks like i might have friday off if not part of monday off as well. like maybe a half day monday.  that way i can travel on the weekends which would be fantastic.  i have to take the bus to school bc im technically not even in puchuncavi so it doesnt look like i'll be getting that far out however tonight we had 12 family members over during/after onces, which is their cena, which consisted of eggs and avocado on bread with nescafe con leche.  i actually found it delish but it will probably be the same meal everyday.  my family is amazing and so nice. they speak no english which is perfect. we live on a ranch with horses and lambs which i will see tomorrow! i live with a mama, a papa, and their 27 year old son and tonight one of their grandchildren sofia is spending the night. i think that is fairly often for them.  in addtion, they have 2 older daughters and another grandson julian who is adorable!  after lunch we went to make some marmalade which my mother, malvina, sells at various markets around the area (ranging from valpo) to the andes which i obviously said i would help her with! hellllllo, the andes!  i really think that i have lucked out. my family is super warm and accepting of my horrible spanish and quietness and my host teacher speaks english and is super sweet! puchuncavi looks small, quaint and cute but i dont even live in the town! but there is a bus stop no more that 30 ft from my front door so i can easily go to horcon, maintencillo, las ventanas, valpo or zapallar where things may get more exciting.  having said that, my family definitely likes a good asado, ie bbq, and we will be having one soon for me i think! im super excited about it all! theyve had vols before, one of which was a vegetarian so this is not a new thing to them!  im feeling very positive about this all.  having said that, im pretty nervous about tomorrow. it was wild at school yesterday but here we go! ahhhh.

An interesting article about Chile/NOLA

Pinera looks to NOLA for recovery tips!

Puchuncavi!

So this is the town that i will be leaving in as of Monday!  It's a small town 4 km from the beach north of Valpo.  Here are some pictures of my town i found online and a map showing where it is located.  We leave on Monday at 6am! AH I am super super super nervous to meet my family and my town and my students etc etc. I can look at these pictures all that i want but i literally have NO clue what it will like.  I'll let y'all know! Also I don't know what my internet connection will be like but hopefully there will be at least one place in the town that i can use! oh right... there's 13000 people in Puchuncavi! This should be interesting... I'm anticipating one main street, dirt roads, being the only gringa, being the tallest person in the town and eventually knowing everyone.  oh yeah, and meeting some cowboys and becoming a rockstar at the cueca! what out!!!

Puchuncavi!

More of Puchuncavi!

MAP

picasa pix!

here's the link to ALL of the pix that I've taken here if such a thing interests you.  I will be updating it periodically :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/115656042588808844618/SantiagoDeChile#

Yo Corro Por CHILE!

hey y'all!! I hope you're doing well! It's been a while since and update and I feel like I have so much to catch y'all up on.  I'll go backwards and try to not forget anything.

alright so yesterday me and 5 other of my WT vols participated in a 10k sponsored by orbitz gum which raised money for the terremoto.  I'm not sure how many people actually ran the race but I would guess around 2000 people? It was super awesome!  It felt good to make some sort of contribution towards the effort as well as run 6.2 miles (and if anyone knows me well, they would know that I literally have run 5x since October, one of my lazier moments in my life....) and at that, i ran it in 1hr 3 mins! that's about 10 min miles!  Also, it was up a mountain (google cerro san cristobal to get an idea). More importantly, I think we were able to raise almost $94k (50,000,000 CLP) which is awesome (i think this conversion is correct but it seems like SO MUCH - which is great)! here's the link: http://www.orbit10k.cl/.  With that said, the smog here is slowly killing me.  I'm a lil flemmy and snotty today and i think it's because of the run yesterday and generally runs in the smog (and living in the centro makes it hard to avoid smog ie lots of traffic).

After the race we went to a gringo bar (which is so strange!). Everyone in there talks to each other b/c there's this weird gringo connection that you automatically have to almost everyone in there (convo goes like "where are you from? howd you get to chile") it was awesome i will say to watch some of the NCAA games (we have a baylor graduate with us and who would not want to see duke go down). unfortunately it was not in the cards for us be we got some delish tacos and chilean beer (which is DELICIOUS, they have some really good dark beers down here and a brewery in valpo so i should be a happy camper :)) We also went there friday night to watch another NCAA game and stay out a lil later drinking pisco gingers and piscolas (the national liquor i guess you would say?).

Last week was pretty intense and why i have not been able to update as frequently.  We were in class from 10am till 530 almost everyday with 4 of those days following with spanish class from 6-730pm which was then followed by trying to find a quick and easy dinner.  It was funny, one night we went out for sushi which was full of all chilenos except us.... until about 6 German/Scandanavia/Danish (dunno?) enormously tall dudes walked in (im talking INCHES taller than me) and i just found it funny.  Also, i sorta expected this, but i am MOST definitely the tallest woman in in country (i mean, maybe not... but i wouldnt be surprised ha!) and i would say that probably 1 in ever 50-75 Chilenos are taller than me, and it's funny b/c if they're taller than me, they are significantly taller, or so i feel like ive noticed. who knows.  but as also expected, i get starred at A LOT.  it's frustrating sometimes and difficult to ignore, but other times i just put on my blinders and ignore it back which i prefer.  but sometimes it's hard not to notice.  let me share with you a brief scenario: i am standing at the bus stop.  the man directly next to me is just starring at me. not at my legs (like others) but at my face, and i randomly notice him, again like 1.5 feet, call it 16 inches from me, and he just keeps starring. i look away and still he is starring and doesn't look away until it's time to cross the street.  in america this would be different because upon being caught starring at someone, one would either do the awk smile and look away, or just immediately look away trying to play it off. i experienced the starring culture a lil with baldricks.  but im slowly coming to terms with it. they are not necessarily looking in a sexual way, it's just a place where starring is not considered rude and that is just something that i need to get better at.

This last week we learned about teaching and wow am i in for it! it is definitely going to be a challenging experience! i will probably have about 350 students who i will see for 45 mins per week! wow. how am i supposed to teach anything much less get to know their names.  with that said, if anyone has teaching games/classroom management/general teaching tips i would love to hear them!! we did lesson plans last week and they are so much more difficult than i imagined but at the most i will be making 2 lesson plans a week and we also have a book of good lessons from the vols last year as well as all of our group's lesson plans from last week.  but i will be teaching (most likely) VERY beginner English.  I will say that last week was super stressful at the beginning (imagine learning 'everything you need to know to teach' in about 4 days. yep, it was A LOT of info at one time. but i feel much more prepared. and imagine this: the ministry of eduction vols get ONLY one week of orientation before going to teach. at least with world teach i got three weeks!  So on Sunday, i think, we will be moving to a new hostel in Barrio Brasil with all of the other Ministry vols and begin Ministry Orientation on Monday.  We will go to our home-stays on the following Saturday, April 10 and then begin actually teaching the following monday April 19 I think.  I am becoming increasingly ready for it all: I'm ready to get a little bit out of the city and 'thrown to the wolves' so to speak.  I am definitely learning spanish and my comprehension and vocab are improving but i entirely too easily rely on other better speakers in more complex situations.  we have spanish class which is helpful but i definitely need a lot more!  additionally, i'm ready to see more of chile! i sometimes forget that I'm in south america in Santiago.  There are a few things that make me realize where I am: reggaeton music, the stray dog population, and the 10k which helped me to realize "wow! im really here!" Chile is such a beautiful country and I cannot wait to see it! I hope that I can see as much of it as possible but wow, I am totally stoked to start traveling and hiking etc etc so on and so forth for the next 8 months :D

Check this out:
http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/News/Tennis/2010/Tournament/Miami-Champions-For-Chile.aspx

and another interesting article in a totally different way:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/world/americas/13chile.html

PS: earthquakes are terrifying.  I've experienced two aftershocks, one last night (6.1).  They have been hardly anything comparatively (obviously) and I just cannot imagine going through an earthquake.  How awful and absolutely horrifying.

Algas Fotos!

Downtown Santiago and the Mapucho River

La Modena, The Presidential Palace (though he doesn't live here)

A Cemetery

The Memorial for Chileans Detained and Executed during the Pinochet Regime

Las Flores

A Memorial to women detained and executed at the Villa Grimaldi

Spiky Tree

Awesome mural!

My WT people chillin' in a park!

finally, Estoy aqui!

So I made it to Santiago Chile! After 8 months of planning, an earthquake, confusion, uncertainty and about 11 hours of air travel, I have finally made it:) The city is very very beautiful.  I really like it here, it sorta feels like a large European city but with a lot of car/bus/taxi/moped traffic and some serious smog issues.  You can sometimes see the Andes and hills around the city but the buildings are really tall and it's difficult to get a good view, and when you do finally get that view, it's like a foggy, hazy shadow of a mountain.  There's a lot of old and new buildings right next to each other which is totally cool and the national library is in the hugest and most beautiful building of them all!!!!! pictures to come of course.  So the first day we got here we checked into our hostel, had some empanadas (delish) and then hit the streets.  El Centro de Santiago is the downtown area and VERY walker friendly and super super super crowded with Chilenos taking their long lunch breaks in the early afternoon.  So many people on the streets constantly.  We discovered the Plaza de Armas (think the equivalent of Jackson Sq) but it's bigger, all cobblestoned, fountains, benches, artists painting and selling, pigeons, palm trees and lots and lots of chilenos.  On one side of the park there is this beautiful church that rivals the most beautiful ones of Europe.
Wednesday was essentially our first full day in orientation which was totally exhausting, as was Thursday and Friday.  Friday we went to the American Embassy via metro which was a really cool experience.  I'm not actually entirely sure why it was so cool/interesting to go to an American Embassy, in fact it was rather boring.  But maybe it's just the fact that only certain people are allowed in and/or it's just not someplace I've been before. hm dunno.  I was extremely impressed with the metro, it was awesome, clean, easy to manage and the metro literally came every 5 minutes!!!!!!! i just think that is amazing! certainly better than the DC metro i think.
Ugh, I'm so worn out.  My lifestyle of going to bed at 3am and waking up at 11am is really making me struggle right now! I hardly slept on the overnight flight to Santiago, no surprise there, and since then I've had a lot of trouble sleeping for some reason, probably because I sharing my room with 4 other people and one bathroom! crazy.  and stuff is all disorganized, not unpacked but not really packed neatly anymore either and if anyone really knows me, they know that when i travel i literally unpack everything immediately, into a huge pile on the floor! and since i have no room and 4 roommates and im confused.
anyhoo, earthquake: so there's not that much visible damage here in Santiago, or at least in el centro.  there are some cracks in some of the buildings and caution tape marking off areas where falling parts of building could be possible.  But I'm really interested in seeing other parts of the country.  The region around Concepcion was hit terribly bad, and the earthquake has affected 2 million people which is a huge proportion of the Chilean population (16 million i think in the country).  All of the area between Santiago and Concepcion to the south were severely affected.  I will be doing more research about the facts and about how to help out and donate! I don't think the earthquake got enough press in the states, in fact i would say that after 3 days, information about the earthquake was hard to find, which is really really frustrating! There is a lot of help, donations, and money needed so when i get the information, i'll bring it to ya so if you'd like to help out, you'll know how.  It just reminds me so much of Katrina and it just breaks my heart because I can feel like i relate with these people affected.  I hope that i can assist in some way as things get organized and worked out.  Who would've thought that my life would include more disaster recovery!? maybe this is a sign.....
anyhoo, i'm going to try and update this more frequently so that i can totally capture chile for y'all to understand and somewhat experience.  but know this, a decent bottle of chilean wine can go for a cheap as 1,990 chilean pesos, ie. 4 dollars!!!!  living the life.
also, went out for the first time last night to experience the way chileans party, and they rival new orleans, i'll be honest. bars don't close, certainly a plus.  lots of reggaeton, also a plus. pisco sour, superbig plus. we went to pio nono which is a street sorta comparable to bourbon but with car traffic and outdoor seating, and less douche-y.
battery dying! chau!

onwards!

So it's official, I'm rolling out tomorrow, leaving DC at 330pm and then not leaving Miami until midnight! Nothing like a great layover!  I think I'm pretty ready to go.... I so thought that I wouldn't be taking all that much but even after packing all little that I did (or so i think) I was still at about 45lbs for EACH of my bags.  That shit fills up quickly.  Having said that, all the clothes I'm taking are 3 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of slacks, 8 tops, 3 sweaters, 3 cardigans, 2 dresses, 2 skirts, one jacket, 2 fleeces and 5 pairs of shoes. UGH so much and yet really, so little too: 8 months on that! I cannot tell you how many hours I spent getting it down to that too... it's kinda embarrassing actually, who would've thought I'd be such an anal packer.  I'm totally stoked though to put up my three calenders in my new room: Glimt artwork, Lara's awesome feminist one and of course, the one of the beautiful city of New Orleans.  And I can't wait to give my host family my gifts from the US: dark chocolate Hershey kisses, Louisiana hot sauce and mardi gras beads! I hope they like it!

I'm still questioning what I'm getting myself into! Just gotta roll with it.

Alright, What's the plan!?

So as I'm sure all of you have heard (I hope all of you), there was an earthquake in Chile last Saturday morning.  As of that day, I was supposed to be flying out to Chile on March 16 to teach English for a year. Well.... as of now, I still cannot really say whether or not I will be in Chile in 12 days.  What I can say however, is that I have received now 3 very noncommittal emails from the program, the latest of which was the most positive ie. saying that they are trying everything within their power to make sure we still teach down there but they are not sure yet A. if we will continue with the program in Chile for sure and B. if so, if we will be flying out on March 16 or not.  The area that I would(/will??) be teaching is not the most affected region of Chile but it definitely received some significant earthquake damage as far as I have been able to gather.   I would be teaching in Santiago or just to the north of Santiago and the earthquake's main devastation was much further south. Anyhoo, pending my future, you can keep up-to-date with my travels and adventures here.  As you can tell, I really have no idea what will happen or where I will be going, so here goes nothing!

At least I'm stuck in Leesburg and not some completely boring, suburb of DC....

Mardi Gras is the BEST! WHO DAT!