Chilean National Holiday!

So in America, we have one day off for the 4th of July.  It is a great afternoon of wearing red, white and blue...eating hamburgers and hot dogs and watching fireworks.  Could you imagine doing this...everyday...for an entire week straight?

Well here in Chile, the national holiday has been extending it's days of celebration each year.  I am not sure of the exact dates of "holiday" but all I know is that I celebrated for an entire week straight!  My school even has off of school for a week!  I can't complain.  First, the weekend started with going to what we call here a "ramada" or a "fonda" at Santo Tomás a University here in Iquique.  My friend Cat and I went and met up with our Chilean friends that attend the school.  Basically, a ramada is a huge fundraiser for schools and they sell different traditional foods and drinks.  For the university, we stayed there all night long and it even turned into a discoteque later in the night!!!  It was just a bunch of college aged students dancing and singing to traditional Chilean music.  I was even interviewed that night and I had explain (in Spanish) why I was here and all about my experiences in Chile.  It went really well and I am excited to see the footage!

I visited three different ramadas during the week.  One which was  at my colegio where I was able to see my students participate in traditional dances!  Some of my boys were half naked in little clothes...it was hysterical!  I ate a TON of Churipan (Chorizo wrapped in warm, toasted bread with mayo on top) probably one of my favorite snacks here in Chile (also one of the most fattening-great)  I also ate a lot of empanadas...some filled with seafood, others with cheese or meat.  YUM YUM YUM...but for the first time in my life I can say that: I would like a break from meat.  After eating non-stop meat for an entire week, I would love a few days of vegetables and chicken ha-ha.

I also spent a lot of time with my Chilean family over the past few days.  One night I celebrated the birthday of one of my host mom's friends in the house.  It was a girls night with all of her co-workers from the bakery. We had excellent food, great conversations, and danced all night long!  My brothers also had a little "fiesta" one night...I had already been sleeping because I was exhausted from the night before...and I woke up to people outside of my window at around 2AM.  I went downstairs and WALAH! About 20 of our friends were all sitting around in the living room.    Somehow it ended up where both of my brothers went to bed and I was left being in charge of the house...this is starting to become the norm.  The boys invite their friends over...and eventually want to go to bed and leave me to entertain the rest of the night...it's a darn good thing I am social and like their friends!

Other than that...vacations have been very relaxing.  I am finally catching up on my sleep.  Yesterday, my friend Cat came over and we had a cocktail watching the sun go down from my balcony.  (My balcony overlooks the entire city and ocean...it is PERFECT).  Later, some of our friends came over to join us...Flaco (Diego) and Cristhián (my neighbor).  We all hung out for awhile and then decided we all needed a good nights rest.  I ended up playing soccer with Cristhián for another hour and drinking tea afterwards...but overall it was a relaxing-early evening.

Anyway, back to some of the Chilean traditions.  Here is a video of the "Cueca" the Chilean national dance.  Tiki-Tiki-Ti!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h6ubQz9ATk

Also, Cumbia music is very popular here in Chile as well...one of the more popular artists is "Chico Truijllo." A link to one of their songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zMiRftVY4

Another example of Cumbia music (I really like this song)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrkxJL1AQcU


I think this week of celebrating a different culture made me realize...in the United States...we do not have culture.  We are truly a melting pot of many different cultures.  We could never do "ramadas" in our schools because one religion would be upset with another religion.  Or one nationality would feel that they aren't getting enough attention as the other.  It was so fun to be part of a community and an entire country listening to their "traditional" music, eating their "traditional" food, and dancing their "traditional" dance.  In America, I have traditions with my family and I love every moment of celebration with them.  But as a country, we do not have strong cultural ties as the people of Chile and other countries do.  I love the culture here and I love the traditions.  It was a blast and I can't wait for next September the 18th!

Silly, Silly Sarita

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I sure did.  However, it's monday and I am an UNHAPPY camper! This weekend I somehow lost dinky Chilean cellular on the beach.  I really should have invested in a jacket that had zipper pockets. Womppppp Wompppppp. In ADDITION, I broke my computer screen this morning with my thumb.  I didn't realize how much strength that little guy had.  Although I was borderline tears at about 6:30 this morning, I am in high spirits right now.  I realized, last night, as I was laying on the beach listening to my friend Flaco play the guitar that I am living the life.  As difficult as it sometimes is, I really enjoy teaching English.  Not only do I feel that I am connecting with some of the students, I think that I am learning a lot from them.  Everyday there are new stories to tell and my students definitely keep me laughing.

Last week I managed to give a student a bloody nose.  NOT with my own fist...but I was persuaded into using a Chilenismo that I did not know the meaning of.  One of my favorite students, Aaron, told me to say "Capotera" and a students name. So of course I said "Capotera Lino."  Not realizing, that in Chile, Capotera means....smack someone across the head.  My entire class (of all boys) jumped out of their seats and ran over to poor little Lino and smacked him on the head.  I stood, staring, as his head smashed against his desk and when he lifted it up..BLOOD...EVERYWHERE.  It is a DAMN good thing this kid is hysterical and laughed his way through the pain.  But boy did I feel bad.  Never again will I follow any instructions from my students ha-ha-ha.  

I may be fooled once but I will never be fooled twice.  I am also happy to know that I have not lost my "class clown" capabilities and was able to fight back against my delinquent students.  I am a very relaxed teacher...I allow students to eat in class, if they sit well they can listen to music, but one thing I can not handle is sleeping.  The other day, one of my students, Ramon, fell asleep during class for probably the 30th time since I have been here.  I had the whole class silently file out of the room and we stood outside the door taking photos and laughing at him.  When he finally woke up about 15 minutes later he was completely thrown off as to why no one was in the room with him.  This is a definite "you needed to be there" story but you can imagine the confused reaction.  Quite hysterical, for my class, and for me.

I never got the chance to write about my favorite things in Chile.  So now I am going to take the time to do it. First, however, I wanted to add one more thing to my list of things that I do not like.

*** I MISS BEING ABLE TO PUT MY TOILET PAPER IN THE TOILET***

Okay, so now for some positive things:

Bread:  Although I am trying to cut it out of my diet...Chile has the best bread in the world.  Apparently they also eat, on average, daily they most bread than any other country in the world.

Cheap Wine: You can buy a jumbo bottle of nice Chilean wine for only about 4.50$

Feeling like a Rockstar:  It doesn't matter where you go, or who you are with, blonde hair and blue eyes...you are a hot babe.  CHA-Ching!

Almuerzo:  Having my big meal during the day.  It feels good to be able to burn it off during the afternoon and not going to bed with a full stomach. 

Asados: Getting together with a group of friends at night and having a huge bbq..we've gone to people's houses...camping...and at the beach! 

Listening to the guitar: Everyone plays the guitar here!  I started lessons last week ;)

The MEN!- I never want to look at a white-skinned, blue-eyed man again.  Bring on the morenos, yum yum and yummmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Laid back lifestyle: I can sleep until 2:30PM on a Saturday, this is normal.  Also...less stress on time and less things to do.  Wonderful break from the US.  This may be one of the biggest reasons as to why I do not plan on returning back to the US anytime soon. 

Having Friday's off: I do not work Friday's!  The pleasures of being a volunteer =)

Public transportation: I love this. I love it, I love it, I love it!  Every morning I take the "micro" the bus to work..I flag it down, numbers 17, 10, or 7...and it is one of the most relaxing parts of my day.  It is still dark out when I get to school and it is really amazing to see the city lit up and it is a very soothing experience.  When I forget my music, I can listen to the faint music of someone else's MP3 blasting

reggeaton and this always reminds me, that I am indeed in, South America. In the afternoons I take a colectivo home.  A colectivo is a very cheap taxi that will pick you up and take you anywhere in the city.  Sometimes it is difficult to get a colectivo from the center of the city to sector sur, (South Side) which si where I live.  But I must say, I have had the most ridiculous colectivo rides...it's almost a joke! The other day I had a colectivo filled with 4 other middle-aged men all singing along to Cher and that song "it's in his kiss...that's where it is!"  The next day, I had a man give me his son's number because he wanted me to meet him.  He lured me in by saying "he speaks English very well and likes to surf."  I didn't call him yet.........I've even gotten KICKED OUT of a colectivo.  For some reason all of the drivers are extremely sensitive about slamming their car doors.  Well, my first week here...I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! And yes, the driver left me off in the middle of the street.

Cueca: Cueca is the Chilean national dance.  I love the outfits and I love the dance.  I'll post a video during my next blog post.

No tips!!!- in Chile, you do not leave tips---if you do, only 10% and that is good.

Greetings- In Chile, you greet everyone with one kiss on right cheek.  If you walk into a party and there are 15 people there...it is considered rude if you do not go up to each person and give them a kiss on the cheek.

Style-Black!  If you look around, everyone is wearing black!  Not only is it slimming...but now it is considered stylish also.

Needless to say, for me, there are many more positives than there are negatives about being here in Chile.  If only my family and friends were closer =(  Sorry that it has taken so long for a blog post but with my broken computer and the national holiday, it was tough to find some time to sit at a cafe or at my parents computer in the house.  I will be writing a post about the national holiday now =)

Love,

Sarita

Hot Springs, Meat & Fun...My Type of Weekend!

 This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to a small town about two hours from Iquique called “Pica.”  It was one of the most entertaining, relaxing and insane weekends of my life.  While planning this trip, I made one of my most embarrassing Spanish mistakes.  Sitting at a bar with friends, I shouted with excitement “No puedo esperar, estoy emocionada a concer Pico!” Directly translated to “I can’t wait, I am so excited to get to know the dick!”  “Pico” is a crude word used to describe the Penis…and “Pica” a town in northern Chile.  Definitely not one of my proudest moments, but nevertheless, it was a joke all weekend long.

After dropping about 20$ on alcohol, food, and gas…we were ready to make our trip.  Five of us squeezed into my friend Pepe’s tiny BMW and were on our way to Pica.  We stopped in a town about an hour away called “Parque de los Niño’s” to eat lunch were we devoured a huge plate of chicken, rice & French fries.  The best part about this meal was that it was only 1 luca…2 USD…my type of meal.  Next, with full bellies and in need of a nap we continued on our quest to Pica…first stopping in Santa Laura…an old salitre mine which as been abandoned for years.  In the middle of the desert, with no one else around…it was a very creepy experience.  Walking around with complete silence and a slight breeze…you would expect to see a ghost.  Luckily, we did not and we left with more energy than before, anxious to reach our final destination.

About an hour later we arrived at our campsite in Pica, yes…my first camping adventure in Chile.  We unpacked our bags, the coolers and we set up camp!  We all had a few beers and decided it was time to head to the host springs/thermal baths.  With only a 10-minute walk, we arrived at the hot springs, paid our entrance fee & jumped right in.  It was my first time swimming in over two months and the water felt amazing.  We swam for about three hours until our hands could not prune anymore.  There were different caves to swim in and out of and the mud was used as a facemask to apparently “heal the skin.”

By the time we got out it was about 7pm and we could feel the desert night quickly approaching.  Now having lived in the desert for almost two months…I have learned that during the day the desert is hot…but by night…it is FREEZING.  So we ran out of the springs and sprinted for camp where we bundled up with all of our clothes.  Others showered (of course I didn’t, part of camping is being dirty…right?) while I used my previous Girl Scout experience to get the fire going.

For the rest of the night, we drank and we ate…and we drank and we ate.  We ate huge portions of steak and chorizo and we did not sleep at all that night…dancing until about 7AM when we finally curled up in our tents for a good “morning’s” rest.  Unfortunately, at about 10:30AM I woke up sweltering hot from the desert sun, dying for a glass of water.  I took my zombie body and walked it down the street and bought three huge cartons of water to help cure the raging hangovers that we were soon to have.

This week I will not go out until Friday.  Last week I went out way too much—so to help my body and my finances…this week “descanso.” Also, we are starting a new part of the semester and my students are starting to read English novels.  My juniors are reading a shortened version of “Pride and Prejudice,” and my seniors are reading “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”  I doubt that they will read at all, but we will see! I’m working on different ideas to motivate them.

Definitely missed my family this weekend while they were all in Boston! Had a wave of homesickness…or was it just the fact I knew I was missing out on great food?????

PS. I only had one person send me an email and update me on things (Thanks Kim, I love you!)  My email address is sschn23@gmail.com  --- I KNOW MORE OF YOU ARE READING! So send me a line xo

ALSO, I made the news for the Chilean Ministry of Education!!!
 http://www.mineduc.cl/index2.php?id_contenido=15902&id_portal=49&id_seccion=3272

Frustrations

So as I am beginning my third month here in Chile, I have become frustrated with different things related to my job and my life here.  In general, things are outstanding, but there are certain things that need to be noted.

First and foremost, I hate having a “double life.” To my friends, family and coworkers I am an English teacher for the government of Chile.  I am 21 years old, I speak Spanish, and I am single and loving every moment of it.  For my students, I am 27-30 years old, unable to speak Spanish, and I have a serious boyfriend in the South of Chile.  The decision to have these two lives was not mine, and although extremely frustrating, completely necessary.

Although my students here are 16-20 years old, they have the maturity level of 15 year olds.  I would make this same comparison with most of the Chilean youth. In my experiences, I deduct three years from the age of each person and this is the age that they act.  This is definitely due to the cultural differences between the United States and Chile.  In Chile, it is very common for people to live with their parents until they reach about 30 years old.  Sorry Mom and Dad, but I would die. They do not know how to cook, do laundry, and most do not have their first job until 23 or 25.  This is very true, especially in my host family.  My host brothers are so lazy and complain about any small task that they are asked to do.  They expect to receive money from their parents for their “late nights out” and don’t do anything in return.  I am pretty sure that one of my host brothers is constantly stoned, and it gets really old.   The other constantly argues that he pays for everything, including his education.  Which, I may add, is the biggest joke of my life.  The kids are extremely spoiled and with enough arguing receive everything they could ever want.

Enough venting about the host brothers, I would like to touch on more of my experiences teaching in the high school.  First, I would like to explain why it is so essential that I have a double life.  Respect.  If I were to tell some of my 20-year-old students that I was only 21 years old, I would lose every ounce of respect that I have gained. In addition, if I didn’t have my “boyfriend” I would be harassed until the end of time.  Another cultural difference, forwardness.  Chilean men are very forward and are not afraid to express their feelings.  In the beginning, it was flattering. “Miss, we love you.” “Miss, you are beautiful.”  However, when students cross the line and say filthy things about me in Spanish, I become angry and I sometimes feel violated. Constantly, I am with a red face, sometimes out of embarrassment, and other times out of anger.  And still, the students do not know that I understand Spanish.  I do think that this is the best for them, but at times I wish that I could break out in Spanish and surprise them all.  Self control, Sarah. 

My biggest problem is not classroom management.  I can be a bitch if I want to and I will not be offended if someone doesn’t like me.  The hardest part of my job and life and this point is the fact that I see my students, everywhere.  I see them walking down the street, at the discos, in the grocery store…everywhere. Not that it is a problem, but there have been numerous issues of students exaggerating stories.  For example, last weekend I saw a student walking down my street late at night as I was walking with my neighbor Cristhían and his friends.  When Monday came around, everyone was talking about how Diego had seen Miss Sarah walking with a bunch of “watchituros” down his street. (Watchituros=Chilean gangsters).  This caused a huge riot in the class and it was really annoying.  However, this is the way of life here, and I guess I will need to get used to it.

Yesterday, Thursday, was a LONG day for me.  After finishing up with school I met up with my friend Cat and her coworker Israel at a bar in the center of Iquique to have “a” beer.  Well, we all know that when you plan on drinking only “one” beer you end up drinking a lot more.  So, after drinking about 4 beers I headed off to a professor’s house to have dinner, not KNOWING that she was the PASTOR of the school.  There, I was given 2.5 glasses of AMAZING red wine and a huge steak with a mustard sauce.  There was also a couple and their two children from England visiting and it was nice to speak in English for a change.  They work as missionaries for the Methodist Church and had lived in Iquique for 5 years but recently had moved back to England for family purposes. The dinner and conversations were great, however, by the end of it… I got the feeling that the only reason I was invited was so the Pastor could introduce me to his 28-year-old son.  Looking back on it, it was ridiculous!  I was seated next to him at the table, was asked to go purchase coca cola with him, and later (WHAT A COINSIDENCE) he was going to the same BAR as me! Needless to say, by the end of the night I escaped with friends and (sigh) have only received about 4 text messages from the 28-year-old, son of a Pastor.

Tomorrow, I will go to Pica.  The trip was cancelled last weekend since I was sick.  So tonight I am relaxing and plan on going to bed soon so I can wake up early tomorrow morning.  I am so excited for camping!

Some things that I miss about life in the United States:

1)    Of course, my family and friends

2)    Drinking water from the sink  (we really are very fortunate in the US to have water available at all times-here-you are not able to drink the water because of the high levels of minerals.  Also, it is quite common for the water to completely shut off----funny story---I had not known that the water shut off and I went #2 in the bathroom, we all know what this means---special surprise for later—very embarrassing.  Warm water, also, tends to shut off, especially at times that I like to shower.  So just remember, next time you decide to take a super long shower, people here can not even drink the water…so make it fast, and don’t take advantage of what you have!)

3)    Being barefoot.  It is improper to walk barefoot in your house.  You must always walk with slippers or shoes.

4)    Drying machines.  My laundry takes forever.

5)    Bars closing at 2AM-sometimes I just don’t like going out from 12AM-6AM

6)    Spicy Food- chicken, white rice, and tomato.  Hello, Chilean food.

7)    Being able to relax while walking through town- it’s hard to live in Chile’s second most dangerous city.

8)    Having dogs…only as pets- stray dogs… are everywhere. My neighbors have three dogs that they allow to roam the streets-they are constantly barking and sometimes it sounds like they are dying a slow and painful death.  It is also quite common to see “Watona” chillin’ in the corner store.

Next post I will explain what I like more about Chile.  For now, I am off to bed.  Hugs and kisses for everyone.