The day before I went to San Pedro de Atacama (SPDA), I went to Zapallar, a beautiful town on the beach. Think Hamptons, but more hilly and with small but beautiful cottages. I went for lunch with my friend Caira, and her aunt and uncle and we had a wonderful day. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold (it is after all, still winter here)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296780&l=d6741&id=907196
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA
Monday.
Coincidentally, I was on the same flight as another volunteer and her family. I hung out with them for the first few days. We walked around San Pedro, and when I say walked around, I mean we walked up and down the one main street there. And we planned our first few days in the desert.
Tuesday.
I woke up very early on Tuesday to go on a tour of the lagunas in and around the salar de atacama. The first stop was Chaxa, the lagoon inhabited by flamingos. There were tons of them and right after they wake up they fly from one part of the lagoon to the other so we got there in time for that. The scenery was incredible and the water was so still you could see perfect reflections in them. Next, we went to another lagoon, Laguna Miscanti. This was at an altitude of 4,200 meters, and I was definitely feeling it. We were walking on a flat area and my heart was pounding! After the tour of the lagoons, we went to a few small towns in the area and ate some lunch. Once we arrived back in SPDA, I took a very long siesta and then another delicious meal at the best restaurant in SPDA, Todo Natural.
Wednesday.
Back to Todo Natural for breakfast. I am a creature of habit, what can I say? Then Katie's family and I went on another tour to the Valle de la Muerte and the Valle de la Luna. Excellent scenery and lots trekking at a lower altitude.
Then, my friend Caira arrived. Following our delicious dinner (guess where?!) we decided we definitely wanted to go out. However, my long excursion and her day of traveling to San Pedro left us too weak to do anything. We decided to take a nice siesta and then rally at 11:45 at night to then go out. Bars in San Pedro close earlier and we were determined to at least make last call! What an experience that turned out to be! We went to the bar and after last call, all the locals and tourists went off the beaten path and started a bonfire where we hung out and chatted till it was time to go home.
Thursday.
Katie and her family went to the geysers which I wasn't prepared for (the temperature was -15 degrees Celsius!), so Caira and I hung out in San Pedro and spent the day taking silly pictures and catching up on our vacation adventures.
After dinner, before we hit the bars Caira, Katie and I took it to the streets for some dancing, drinking and singing-filled merriment (but not too loud, we aren't THAT ridiculous). Think "So You Think You Can Dance" but better because one person recorded (yes, this is on video somewhere) one person sang, and one person did their dance. I think it was a 3-way tie, but my Bill Cosby dance killed. Then back to the bars, but only for a little bit.
Friday.
Ladies and gentlemen, I found my new sport: SANDBOARDING!!! It's super fun, exerts lots of energy so it's super strenuous, and if you fall, you fall into soft sand so injuries are hard to come by and if you know me, I get injured. A LOT.
In the morning we had our lesson followed by a few runs on the "bunny slope" and then on to the bigger runs. But Lauren, sandboarding doesn't sound like it's such a physically challenging sport? It isn't, but it's not like skiing at a resort, there are no ski lifts, so you have to hike up the sand dunes... OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH! yea, I definitely earned whatever delicious meal I ate afterwards.
Following sandboarding, Caira and I hung out with our instructor, Jorge and we had a delicious lunch accompanied by a well deserved cerveza. Back to the hostel for our siesta and then we headed just to the outside of town for our astronomy tour. If anyone gets a chance to visit the southern hemisphere, make sure you can go to a clear area because there are so many more stars down here.... it's incredible. Just as nyc's sky is flooded with city lights, Santiago is flooded with pollution. Stars are hard to come by. When you are finally able to see them down here, it's amazing! We had a great experience on the tour with a ridiculously funny french astronomer who has been living in Chile for years as a guide.
Back to SPDA for dinner where Caira and I were too exhausted and it was too late to start a siesta, so sadly we called it a night.
Saturday I woke up super early to head back to Santiago...
Here are some pictures:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296782&l=e5549&id=907196
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2297131&l=d1dd2&id=907196
Coming up, the final leg of my vacation: Buenos Aires with Mom and Earle!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Vacacion Parte II - Isla de Pascua
Welcome to the second installment of my month long vacation!
This week, I went to Easter Island, a Polynesian Island located 5 hours west of Chile. It is also known as Isla de Pascua in Spanish, and Rapa Nui the native language to the islanders. It's known for the mysterious statues located all around the island called moai. That's about all the education you are gonna get from me on the subject. Read more about it on wiki if you want to get more information. Below is the day by day breakdown of my Easter Island adventure.
Saturday.
I arrived in EI and met a 2 chilean girls from Vaparaiso and hung out with them for a bit. We headed over the moai closest to town to take a look around. I went back there to catch the same moai for a sunset view.
Sunday.
In the morning, I went to the museum on EI to get a better understanding of what I was seeing, the history, Rapa Nui culture, theories from archaeologists, etc...
In the afternoon, I set my sights on hiking up the largest volcano on the island, Rano Kau. However, the hikers path wasn't marked as clearly as I hoped. By the time I passed 4 or 5 forks in the path and realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be it started to rain. I decided to head back down and try again some other time. Of course, then it started to pour and I got a blister from wearing wet socks (this information becomes pertinent later, I promise)
Monday.
I rent a jeep with the 2 Valpo. girls, Paola and Gabi. They happen to have a friend, Andres, also from Valpo, who lives on the island. The 4 of us drive around the island to see all of the moai and caves. We go to the first cave (or cueva) Te Pahu. My left knee still hurts from my fall while skiing the weekend before, and my right foot has a blister. The ground in the cave was damp so I was constantly looking down because I can't handle any more feet or leg injuries. After all, I have 3 more weeks of traveling to get through! So, what do you think happens? You guessed it.... I look down and without realizing it, the ceiling in the cave got really low and I bashed my head and screamed "hay sangre! hay sangre!" (there's blood, there's blood!) but after the initial shock and realizing there is no permanent damage, we move on.... to the next cave. I have absolutely no interest in going into another cave, but I was told that Dos Ventanas (2 windows) is incredible and a bit hard to find. Since we had a resident with us, I shouldn't skip it. Dos Ventanas lived up to its expectations. It's a very small cave that opens up to the ocean with 2 separate openings. (pics in the link below)
Then we go to the rest of the standing moai and head to the beach at Anakena for sunset. Andres, not native to the island, lives in an apartment near the family of his boss who are native to EI, and another guy, Laser, also a Rapa Nui native. We have dinner at their house and drink some wine and have a great evening with some locals.
Tuesday.
Laser, Andres, the 2 Valpo girls and I decide to go fishing. Let me clarify, Andres and Laser do most of the fishing, the 2 other girls and myself go along for the scenery. We went around most of the island and they caught 14 fish! In the evening we went back to their house and had a big fish dinner! It was delicious and really fun. After cooking the fish on a giant try, the whole family and the 2 guys and 2 girls stood around the tray full of fish with forks in hand and just stood around picking at all the fish. There were no plates, no chairs, just fish and beer. Then we stood around the fire for a bit and chatted (I mostly listened as my spanish is still a work in progress).
Wednesday.
I finally went back up to the Rano Kau Volcano (in a car, not hiking). It rained most of the day and I was tired from the previous few days in the sun and staying up late with the people I met, so I just hung out. I met some people from New York and hung out with them. We had a delicious dinner at a japanese restaurant on the island with the funniest chef ever. He has this little restaurant and he is the only person that works there. He cooks, cleans... the whole thing. He even has the small tiny kitchen open so you can watch and chat with him as he cooks.
Thursday.
Another backpacker told me about this amazing French tour guide that lives on the island. I hadn't yet gone on a guided tour and felt that I still had more that I wanted to learn that I couldn't get from the museum. I also didn't want to go on a standard tour with a whole bunch of people to the places around the island I had already been to. I met Christophe, and with the other New Yorkers that I met the day before, we went on a 1/2 day hike up the Poike Volcano. None of us had gone there and we would have never found the cool places on the volcano without him. Poike is the place were the moai originated. What may be considered one of the first moai is there. It's much smaller than the others around the island, it's white instead of black, and it isn't propped up on the ahu (alter) as most others are. The crater of the volcano was filled with a eucalyptus forrest, and down the cliff on the side of the volcano is a cave with some petroglyphs. Christophe was an excellent guide for the day. He used to live in Tahiti and came to EI for the surfing. He visited a number of times, and decided that he loved the island so much that he wanted to move there. He has now lived there for a year and while he isn't native to the island, he was definitely knowledgeable and passionate about everything relating to Easter Island.
After the hike, we went back to Anakena for some lunch and relaxation. Then, back to the japanese restaurant for a terrific last meal before I left the island.
Friday.
Woke up ridiculously early to catch the sunrise back at Ahu Tongariki and then to the airport to return to Santiago.
For those not that technically savy, there are 3 albums and yes, you have to look at all of them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296759&l=59328&id=907196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296770&l=eaa93&id=907196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296776&l=10045&id=907196
Next up.... San Pedro de Atacama!
This week, I went to Easter Island, a Polynesian Island located 5 hours west of Chile. It is also known as Isla de Pascua in Spanish, and Rapa Nui the native language to the islanders. It's known for the mysterious statues located all around the island called moai. That's about all the education you are gonna get from me on the subject. Read more about it on wiki if you want to get more information. Below is the day by day breakdown of my Easter Island adventure.
Saturday.
I arrived in EI and met a 2 chilean girls from Vaparaiso and hung out with them for a bit. We headed over the moai closest to town to take a look around. I went back there to catch the same moai for a sunset view.
Sunday.
In the morning, I went to the museum on EI to get a better understanding of what I was seeing, the history, Rapa Nui culture, theories from archaeologists, etc...
In the afternoon, I set my sights on hiking up the largest volcano on the island, Rano Kau. However, the hikers path wasn't marked as clearly as I hoped. By the time I passed 4 or 5 forks in the path and realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be it started to rain. I decided to head back down and try again some other time. Of course, then it started to pour and I got a blister from wearing wet socks (this information becomes pertinent later, I promise)
Monday.
I rent a jeep with the 2 Valpo. girls, Paola and Gabi. They happen to have a friend, Andres, also from Valpo, who lives on the island. The 4 of us drive around the island to see all of the moai and caves. We go to the first cave (or cueva) Te Pahu. My left knee still hurts from my fall while skiing the weekend before, and my right foot has a blister. The ground in the cave was damp so I was constantly looking down because I can't handle any more feet or leg injuries. After all, I have 3 more weeks of traveling to get through! So, what do you think happens? You guessed it.... I look down and without realizing it, the ceiling in the cave got really low and I bashed my head and screamed "hay sangre! hay sangre!" (there's blood, there's blood!) but after the initial shock and realizing there is no permanent damage, we move on.... to the next cave. I have absolutely no interest in going into another cave, but I was told that Dos Ventanas (2 windows) is incredible and a bit hard to find. Since we had a resident with us, I shouldn't skip it. Dos Ventanas lived up to its expectations. It's a very small cave that opens up to the ocean with 2 separate openings. (pics in the link below)
Then we go to the rest of the standing moai and head to the beach at Anakena for sunset. Andres, not native to the island, lives in an apartment near the family of his boss who are native to EI, and another guy, Laser, also a Rapa Nui native. We have dinner at their house and drink some wine and have a great evening with some locals.
Tuesday.
Laser, Andres, the 2 Valpo girls and I decide to go fishing. Let me clarify, Andres and Laser do most of the fishing, the 2 other girls and myself go along for the scenery. We went around most of the island and they caught 14 fish! In the evening we went back to their house and had a big fish dinner! It was delicious and really fun. After cooking the fish on a giant try, the whole family and the 2 guys and 2 girls stood around the tray full of fish with forks in hand and just stood around picking at all the fish. There were no plates, no chairs, just fish and beer. Then we stood around the fire for a bit and chatted (I mostly listened as my spanish is still a work in progress).
Wednesday.
I finally went back up to the Rano Kau Volcano (in a car, not hiking). It rained most of the day and I was tired from the previous few days in the sun and staying up late with the people I met, so I just hung out. I met some people from New York and hung out with them. We had a delicious dinner at a japanese restaurant on the island with the funniest chef ever. He has this little restaurant and he is the only person that works there. He cooks, cleans... the whole thing. He even has the small tiny kitchen open so you can watch and chat with him as he cooks.
Thursday.
Another backpacker told me about this amazing French tour guide that lives on the island. I hadn't yet gone on a guided tour and felt that I still had more that I wanted to learn that I couldn't get from the museum. I also didn't want to go on a standard tour with a whole bunch of people to the places around the island I had already been to. I met Christophe, and with the other New Yorkers that I met the day before, we went on a 1/2 day hike up the Poike Volcano. None of us had gone there and we would have never found the cool places on the volcano without him. Poike is the place were the moai originated. What may be considered one of the first moai is there. It's much smaller than the others around the island, it's white instead of black, and it isn't propped up on the ahu (alter) as most others are. The crater of the volcano was filled with a eucalyptus forrest, and down the cliff on the side of the volcano is a cave with some petroglyphs. Christophe was an excellent guide for the day. He used to live in Tahiti and came to EI for the surfing. He visited a number of times, and decided that he loved the island so much that he wanted to move there. He has now lived there for a year and while he isn't native to the island, he was definitely knowledgeable and passionate about everything relating to Easter Island.
After the hike, we went back to Anakena for some lunch and relaxation. Then, back to the japanese restaurant for a terrific last meal before I left the island.
Friday.
Woke up ridiculously early to catch the sunrise back at Ahu Tongariki and then to the airport to return to Santiago.
For those not that technically savy, there are 3 albums and yes, you have to look at all of them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296759&l=59328&id=907196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296770&l=eaa93&id=907196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2296776&l=10045&id=907196
Next up.... San Pedro de Atacama!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Vacación! Part I
I am officially on vacation for an entire month. Has anyone in their whole life ever had a month off? It's a very strange feeling. It started off with a few parties and some relaxation. Then, I hit the slopes. Yesterday, I went skiing with some friends in the Andes at a ski resort called El Colorado. Skiing here is a little different than in the states. There are absolutely no trees on the slopes. Its basically a bald, naken mountain with some wooden barricades to provide some outlines.
Talk a look at the pics...(mostly scenery pics, but very pretty)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289424&l=230ef&id=907196
If you don't already know the story about the cat, allow me to explain. I am scared of cats, they frighten me. I can't handle them. One sunny day, I opened the door and before I left the house for class, I closed it. I came home late that night, and I hear a noise coming from my room. I think that perhaps, I left the door open and the noise is coming from outside. As I walk closer to my room, I realize, the noise is coming from inside the house. I keep hearing this purring, and I see the glassy eyes of some ugly stray cat that's chillin' under the TV stand in my room! "Vas, vas!" I yell... (that's "go, go!" in spanish). That didn't work. I call a friend, she says, it's a stray cat, it's probably hungry, put out some food. So I go for the first thing I find: some bread. Clearly, my knowledge of cats is lacking, because in the moment of fear, I didn't think... hmmm. what would cats want to eat? I am thinking, "get this disease infested rodent out of my room!" The cat wasn't into the bread that I was putting out for it, so it ran further into the house. At this point, my heart is pounding, and I am FREAKING OUT. There is a cat inside the house! So, I wake Gerty up, explain the fear of cats, and then she saves the day by getting rid of it. That is the story of the stray cat that tried to have a little sleep over party in my room.
Back to my vacation.... The rest of the week, I will be in Santiago... going to the museums I didn't go to already, wineries, etc.... Then, on Saturday, I fly to Easter Island for a week! My final week of vacation will be with Mom and Earle in Buenos Aires!
Will update soon with more vacation adventures, injuries, etc....
Besitos!
Lauren
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Pictures from La Serena....
Forgot to include this in the last post...
The blog can't hold too many pictures, so here is a link to all of them if you would like to look.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261615&l=8e0f3&id=907196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261610&l=e5a47&id=907196
Lauren
The blog can't hold too many pictures, so here is a link to all of them if you would like to look.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261615&l=8e0f3&id=907196
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261610&l=e5a47&id=907196
Lauren
Monday, June 23, 2008
La Serena y mas
Sorry for the lack of updates….
What’s been happening since the start of school?
I am getting better at teaching little by little. I am learning how to keep my composure when my students come to class completely unprepared. No textbook, no notebook, no pen, and they have figurative tape over their mouth.
I went to La Serena, which is about 6 or so hours north of Santiago with my friend Marisa. We took an overnight bus to the town - think the red eye, but not as nice. Sadly, I didn’t pack enough sleeping pills so I didn’t get enough sleep as planned. However, I survived. The first day we drove to Punto Curros which was this super tiny town surrounded by the desert. I think they realized how neutral their surroundings are because all of the homes were painted in very bright colors. From there, we took a speedboat around Isla Damas and another island. There were 2 dozen dolphins swimming around the boat in groups of 3 to 5. It was incredible. We also saw Humboldt penguins, sea otters, sea lions, pelicans, oh my! (See attached pictures). When we returned to shore we had the first of my many mariscos empanadas. I am having major seafood withdrawal. I know… isn’t the entire west side of the country adjacent to the PACIFIC OCEAN? Why yes, it is. But, Chileans make more money by exporting seafood to the states. They don’t keep much of it around here. You damn Americans. Plus, unless their food is shaped in a hot dog, they aren’t really interested. I don’t think seafood could hold that shape well. Ew, gross…. Seafood isn’t really part of the Chilean diet so unless you are in a coastal town, you wont see much seafood around. Its quite sad for a girl like me.
Back to La Serena….we have dinner, have a drink in Coquimbo the neighboring town to La Serena and head to bed. On Sunday, we headed out to Valle de Elqui. VE as it shall be known, is quite beautiful. In the last 7 years or so, they built a dam to help with the water supplies (as dams are usually used for) and the view from the dam was spectacular. We made a whole bunch of stops on the way to the end, including a stop in Vicuna, the hometown of famous poet, Gabriela Mistral. We had lunch in the town of Villaseca, population 200. They are famous for the restaurant that only uses solar panel ovens. Our journey continued through tons of pisco and wine vineyards to Pisco Elqui, another cute little town. Pisco Elqui is where all pisco is bottled. We did a little tasting, had a nice tour of the distillery and headed to Monte Grande where Gabriela Mistral went to school.
Back to La Serena for my 3rd and final marisco empanada in 2 days. It might be fried, but it’s delicious. We went to the beach, missed the sunset by seconds but we were both still happy to be able to check out the beach. Definitely will go back up there in the spring. Sadly, it was a Sunday night so all the bars were closed. So, we had a nice dinner watched some Chilean futbol and called it a night. Dinner by the way, was reineta, a delicious type of fish, covered in a cream sauce topped with shrimp and muscles…..DELICIOUS!!! What could be better than that?
Since La Serena, I have not done too much traveling. I’ve mostly stayed in Santiago, meeting people and making this city feel like a home. I joined a running group that is organized by Adidas, occasionally, I go to synagogue, and I hang out with my gringo and Chilean friends after classes and on the weekends.
I actually starting writing this blog and took a very long time to post… so now I am approaching the end of the semester. Finals are at the end of next week and then I have lots of free time! I plan on traveling for a bit with my friend, doing some skiing in los Andes, which is supposed to be spectacular and then meeting up with Dad and Margot in Lima, Peru, then Mom and Earle in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I watched the qualifiers for the World Cup. Chile beat Venezuela last week. Viva Chile! I feel like that’s part of the cultural assimilation… watching soccer.
Abrazos and besitos! (hugs and kisses)
Lauren
Monday, March 24, 2008
... and Gerty makes 5
So sorry for the big gap between posts. I know you were all waiting quite impatiently.
Mi madre chilano, Gerty.
I think I have hit my capacity... I have 4 parents, plus a Chilean mom, Gerty. Gerty is 61, born and raised in Chile by 2 German parents. She speaks fluent German, Spanish, and English... good for our relationship, bad for my spanish. She is very cool and when she does decide to cook, it's a pretty good meal. When she doesn't cook, she makes sure to always have ingredients for palta and queso sandwiches on pan integral (that's avocado and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread)....what could be bad about that? She lived in NJ for about 10 years and with Dad's brief stint in Hackensack, we have a lot to bond over.
Pictures of my room are below. This is my bedroom, closet, and my private patio area. (Mom, Margot, I make my bed everyday! Yes, I'm serious. No, I don't know why I won't do that when I am at home, that is just the way it is.)
This is the front of the house.
DuocUC
I am officially a teacher. Here is how it works: Universidad de Chile is one of the top 3 schools in the country. DuocUC is the middle tier trade-like school that they run. This is where I teach. They have several locations in Santiago and each specializes in a few trades. No two schools are alike. I teach in Providencia where there is an electrical and mechanical engineering school, and a school of health. 80% of my classes are made up of men. I have 4 all male classes (2 with a female or two) and then one all girls class. I like to think I am their hot exotic teacher from the states, but who knows. I could also be their dumb teacher from the states who doesn't understand a lick of what they are saying when they are talking in front of me about things that should be behind my back.
How it's going so far....
I have 2 basic classes and 3 intermediate classes. The basic class is challenging in that no one understands ANYTHING that I am saying. But, last week I did an activity for pronouncing all the letters in the alphabet (yes, it is different enough that it requires going over) and saying our numbers that was a big hit. The Basic class text book isn't so bad and I can get some ideas for activities and we already have the quiz schedule. This makes planning for the basic class easier than the intermediate. How much they are absorbing with my teaching style.... that's another story we will learn more about after the first quiz.
Intermediate is easier because I can have more of a conversation with those students which is really fun. Some of my students love to chat, even if we aren't talking about anything of value, just having them speaking in English is great practice for them and it still feels like a class because I will correct them as we digress.
The difficulty in intermediate is two-fold. 1. While some intermediate students speak very good english, there are still some who cannot put a sentence together. This makes preparing for a class with such a wide range of skills tough. 2. The "text book" for intermediate looks much more like a Princeton Review book for the SATs. How do you take a workbook meant for individual use and integrate it into a class for an entire semester! This is something that will be further explained to me later. For now, I just review the material from last year with those students.
My schedule.
I have Mondays off, and I teach Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-5:30 and 7-8:30. Wednesdays and Fridays, 4-5:30, 5:30-7, 7-8:30. It's late, but I never have a class before 4 and I never have to be traveling during rush hour. My schedule is pretty sweet.
Those are the logistics of home and work life.... now onto the fun stuff. Not all of you would consider this fun though. Let's call it social life.
Friday night I went to synagogue! It was a little weird at first. In the states, I only go to services for high holidays and that's about it. While I can read hebrew, I have no idea what I am saying. To go to a service where half is in hebrew as it should be and half is in Spanish which is completely foreign, is pretty amusing. I was sitting cracking up at myself. I had no idea what was happening. I did however, understand what page we were supposed to be on, so I was able to follow along a little.
Then I met a nice couple my age at the end of the service and they introduced me to another couple who happened to be the daughter and son-in-law of the rabbi. They all spoke english so I told them about myself, what I was doing, etc.... They immediately invited me to the rabbi's home for shabbat dinner. I was so excited!! I have never felt more jewish in my life! Sadly, since I never do Shabbas dinner, the songs you sing at the dinner table were even more foreign. Never heard of them even once. So, I just hummed along a little. The rabbi asked if I went to synagogue at home, and I blushed and said no, but I planned to go to Saturday morning services while I am in Santiago. My schedule doesn't allow me to attend on Fridays, but I had this past Friday off for Easter. He understood the predicament and was happy to hear I plan to attend somewhat regularly.
Saturday and Sunday I spent the day in Valparaiso. There are two volunteers working there, so they know their way around. What a gorgeous city! It's on the water and built up on the hills, and it has beautiful architecture and everything is painted brightly. I forgot my camera, but since it's so close and easy to get to, I plan on going with some frequency.
Other than that, last weekend all the volunteers met for an asado (thats a BBQ) in one of the parks. Yesterday was Easter so I came home from Valparaiso and one of Gerty's daughters was her with her kids celebrating.
That's it for now. Will update more frequently.
Buenas Noches!
Lauren
Mi madre chilano, Gerty.
I think I have hit my capacity... I have 4 parents, plus a Chilean mom, Gerty. Gerty is 61, born and raised in Chile by 2 German parents. She speaks fluent German, Spanish, and English... good for our relationship, bad for my spanish. She is very cool and when she does decide to cook, it's a pretty good meal. When she doesn't cook, she makes sure to always have ingredients for palta and queso sandwiches on pan integral (that's avocado and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread)....what could be bad about that? She lived in NJ for about 10 years and with Dad's brief stint in Hackensack, we have a lot to bond over.
Pictures of my room are below. This is my bedroom, closet, and my private patio area. (Mom, Margot, I make my bed everyday! Yes, I'm serious. No, I don't know why I won't do that when I am at home, that is just the way it is.)
This is the front of the house.
DuocUC
I am officially a teacher. Here is how it works: Universidad de Chile is one of the top 3 schools in the country. DuocUC is the middle tier trade-like school that they run. This is where I teach. They have several locations in Santiago and each specializes in a few trades. No two schools are alike. I teach in Providencia where there is an electrical and mechanical engineering school, and a school of health. 80% of my classes are made up of men. I have 4 all male classes (2 with a female or two) and then one all girls class. I like to think I am their hot exotic teacher from the states, but who knows. I could also be their dumb teacher from the states who doesn't understand a lick of what they are saying when they are talking in front of me about things that should be behind my back.
How it's going so far....
I have 2 basic classes and 3 intermediate classes. The basic class is challenging in that no one understands ANYTHING that I am saying. But, last week I did an activity for pronouncing all the letters in the alphabet (yes, it is different enough that it requires going over) and saying our numbers that was a big hit. The Basic class text book isn't so bad and I can get some ideas for activities and we already have the quiz schedule. This makes planning for the basic class easier than the intermediate. How much they are absorbing with my teaching style.... that's another story we will learn more about after the first quiz.
Intermediate is easier because I can have more of a conversation with those students which is really fun. Some of my students love to chat, even if we aren't talking about anything of value, just having them speaking in English is great practice for them and it still feels like a class because I will correct them as we digress.
The difficulty in intermediate is two-fold. 1. While some intermediate students speak very good english, there are still some who cannot put a sentence together. This makes preparing for a class with such a wide range of skills tough. 2. The "text book" for intermediate looks much more like a Princeton Review book for the SATs. How do you take a workbook meant for individual use and integrate it into a class for an entire semester! This is something that will be further explained to me later. For now, I just review the material from last year with those students.
My schedule.
I have Mondays off, and I teach Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-5:30 and 7-8:30. Wednesdays and Fridays, 4-5:30, 5:30-7, 7-8:30. It's late, but I never have a class before 4 and I never have to be traveling during rush hour. My schedule is pretty sweet.
Those are the logistics of home and work life.... now onto the fun stuff. Not all of you would consider this fun though. Let's call it social life.
Friday night I went to synagogue! It was a little weird at first. In the states, I only go to services for high holidays and that's about it. While I can read hebrew, I have no idea what I am saying. To go to a service where half is in hebrew as it should be and half is in Spanish which is completely foreign, is pretty amusing. I was sitting cracking up at myself. I had no idea what was happening. I did however, understand what page we were supposed to be on, so I was able to follow along a little.
Then I met a nice couple my age at the end of the service and they introduced me to another couple who happened to be the daughter and son-in-law of the rabbi. They all spoke english so I told them about myself, what I was doing, etc.... They immediately invited me to the rabbi's home for shabbat dinner. I was so excited!! I have never felt more jewish in my life! Sadly, since I never do Shabbas dinner, the songs you sing at the dinner table were even more foreign. Never heard of them even once. So, I just hummed along a little. The rabbi asked if I went to synagogue at home, and I blushed and said no, but I planned to go to Saturday morning services while I am in Santiago. My schedule doesn't allow me to attend on Fridays, but I had this past Friday off for Easter. He understood the predicament and was happy to hear I plan to attend somewhat regularly.
Saturday and Sunday I spent the day in Valparaiso. There are two volunteers working there, so they know their way around. What a gorgeous city! It's on the water and built up on the hills, and it has beautiful architecture and everything is painted brightly. I forgot my camera, but since it's so close and easy to get to, I plan on going with some frequency.
Other than that, last weekend all the volunteers met for an asado (thats a BBQ) in one of the parks. Yesterday was Easter so I came home from Valparaiso and one of Gerty's daughters was her with her kids celebrating.
That's it for now. Will update more frequently.
Buenas Noches!
Lauren
Sunday, March 2, 2008
One more week living in limbo
This past week was more training, more culture, more orientation stuff. We went on a historical tour with a fomer member of MIR, which translates to Revolutionary Leftist Movement. Basically, they are communists. Our guide, Andre, was in training with the MIR prior to the military coup in 1973 so he was an incredible guide. We went to the Cementerio General which as you guessed, is a cemetery. However, it was a really incredible cemetery. It is MASSIVE and there are tons and tons of mausoleums. They also have recorded all the names of those that disappeared or died during the military regime from 1973 to 1990. I know it sounds odd, but it's sort of a cool place to walk around.
We then went to Villa Grimaldi which was the detention and torture complex that was used by the new government's police, DINA. It's amazing what they have done there. It is now called La Parque por la Paz, Park of Peace. They have a small scale version of what the complex once looked like in the DINA's hay day. From there, you can walk around the complex and see what has been put in each area's place to represent what had happened there. The city takes a lot of pride in this park, they even have a canopied area for cultural events! It sounds odd, but they believe in bringing life to this complex and the more people that come and learn, the more education there is so that something like this never happens again. I put the website below for anyone who is bored at work and curious: http://www.villagrimaldi.cl/eng/index_eng.htm
For those curious about the social scene: well, I've met my first Chilean crush. His name is Franco and he's a Carabinero (he's a cop). He's super cute, but doesn't speak slowly enough for me. He has 2 brothers who both have interests in two of my friends so we all have a good time together. Franco and I are going to try communicating via email because I need time to translate what he says.
Aside from culture and boys, I decided to take my first day trip outside of Santiago with some other volunteers. For those in nyc, get ready to be jealous. I went to a town just south of Valparaiso called Algarrobo. It's a cute little beach town and we had a fabulous time. Every single person got a little burnt, but that's the Chilean sun for you!
Today, I went to the Pablo Neruda museum. Neruda was a famous Chilean poet and he had three wives. He and his third wife shared a beautiful piece of property and that is where 1 of the 3 Neruda museums is. They had incredible artwork, including a Diego Rivera painting and other pieces that he brought back from Asia, Italia, and a few other places. It's definitely a cool place to check out. Unfortunately, I went with 4 volunteers who all speak much better spanish than I do. So we had a tour in Spanish - I tried to follow and my friends would translate the important stuff.
Finally, I hit Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes because it's right next to the hostel and it's free on Sundays. Love that free art!!! I didn't have too much time, but I went with one other volunteer to see an exhibit on Norwegian architecture and a photography exhibit which was awesome. Lots of great photographs including one of Rockefeller Plaza. I got a little home sick for a second when I saw Saks 5th Ave in the background! Aside from the loads of booby shots, there were some beautiful pictures. I'm so glad my friend who came with me could speak spanish. Sometimes the title of a picture really provokes thought and the lack of understanding would have changed my interpretation. Yet, another key reason why I have to learn spanish quickly!
And then I went to the Parque Forestal which is right behind the museum. It's where all the hippies go on Sunday, it's like a circus! It's really crazy... they sell lots of crappy stuff, there are big drum circles, people juggling, people practicing on a tight rope, people playing Capoeira (yes, it's playing, not doing). All sorts of nutty cool stuff.
What's on the agenda for this week? There are other volunteers who are coming to teach at the same university system. We all meet this week in Santiago for our university training (as opposed to our WorldTeach training) and then everyone goes to their sights across Chile on Friday. I'm looking forward to meeting other volunteers and getting a better feel for the university directly from the staff.
And in 5 days, I get to move in with Gerty, my host mom!! As most of you know, I've been living out of a suitcase since January 28, so I'm really really ready to actually unpack and call Santiago my home. I will update you all next week from Lo Barnachea, the suburb of Santiago where I will be living!
Chao!
Lauren
We then went to Villa Grimaldi which was the detention and torture complex that was used by the new government's police, DINA. It's amazing what they have done there. It is now called La Parque por la Paz, Park of Peace. They have a small scale version of what the complex once looked like in the DINA's hay day. From there, you can walk around the complex and see what has been put in each area's place to represent what had happened there. The city takes a lot of pride in this park, they even have a canopied area for cultural events! It sounds odd, but they believe in bringing life to this complex and the more people that come and learn, the more education there is so that something like this never happens again. I put the website below for anyone who is bored at work and curious: http://www.villagrimaldi.cl/eng/index_eng.htm
For those curious about the social scene: well, I've met my first Chilean crush. His name is Franco and he's a Carabinero (he's a cop). He's super cute, but doesn't speak slowly enough for me. He has 2 brothers who both have interests in two of my friends so we all have a good time together. Franco and I are going to try communicating via email because I need time to translate what he says.
Aside from culture and boys, I decided to take my first day trip outside of Santiago with some other volunteers. For those in nyc, get ready to be jealous. I went to a town just south of Valparaiso called Algarrobo. It's a cute little beach town and we had a fabulous time. Every single person got a little burnt, but that's the Chilean sun for you!
Today, I went to the Pablo Neruda museum. Neruda was a famous Chilean poet and he had three wives. He and his third wife shared a beautiful piece of property and that is where 1 of the 3 Neruda museums is. They had incredible artwork, including a Diego Rivera painting and other pieces that he brought back from Asia, Italia, and a few other places. It's definitely a cool place to check out. Unfortunately, I went with 4 volunteers who all speak much better spanish than I do. So we had a tour in Spanish - I tried to follow and my friends would translate the important stuff.
Finally, I hit Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes because it's right next to the hostel and it's free on Sundays. Love that free art!!! I didn't have too much time, but I went with one other volunteer to see an exhibit on Norwegian architecture and a photography exhibit which was awesome. Lots of great photographs including one of Rockefeller Plaza. I got a little home sick for a second when I saw Saks 5th Ave in the background! Aside from the loads of booby shots, there were some beautiful pictures. I'm so glad my friend who came with me could speak spanish. Sometimes the title of a picture really provokes thought and the lack of understanding would have changed my interpretation. Yet, another key reason why I have to learn spanish quickly!
And then I went to the Parque Forestal which is right behind the museum. It's where all the hippies go on Sunday, it's like a circus! It's really crazy... they sell lots of crappy stuff, there are big drum circles, people juggling, people practicing on a tight rope, people playing Capoeira (yes, it's playing, not doing). All sorts of nutty cool stuff.
What's on the agenda for this week? There are other volunteers who are coming to teach at the same university system. We all meet this week in Santiago for our university training (as opposed to our WorldTeach training) and then everyone goes to their sights across Chile on Friday. I'm looking forward to meeting other volunteers and getting a better feel for the university directly from the staff.
And in 5 days, I get to move in with Gerty, my host mom!! As most of you know, I've been living out of a suitcase since January 28, so I'm really really ready to actually unpack and call Santiago my home. I will update you all next week from Lo Barnachea, the suburb of Santiago where I will be living!
Chao!
Lauren
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