9 months in...

Well... we've passed the 9 month mark (newsletters will be coming out soon - I promise!) and so now have less than 2 months working left and 3 months in total! It's all going much too fast!

So... the last couple of weeks.

the Mother's Day show put on by the school

Well we had the Chilean Mother's Day which is the same as the American one. For this we made Mother's Day cards in all our lessons (in English of course) as well as with the girls in the internado. The actual day was on Sunday 12th but was celebrated in the school a week later, on Friday 17th. For this day, we had been working all week with a group of 40 or so kids from 3ro - 6to grades, who were forming a choir. One of the songs they were singing was "Stand By Me", a Spanglish version. We were therefore helping with the English pronunciations as well as generally learning of the song. We also helped one of the girls in 4to Medio learn another Spanglish song. I was very proud whenever they managed to get the pronunciations and timings right! On the day, they were to perform as part of an 'acto' being put on for all the mothers. It was in the dining hall which had been decked out with decorations and tables filled with mother's of the students and food. After we'd prepped them all, we went and performed. I was sitting just in front of them singing so that if they were lost at any point they could look to me for help. But I'm glad to say that I wasn't really needed. They all sung extremely well and pronunciation was really good. I was very proud. The music teacher wants them to attempt "I Dreamed a Dream" next! But it's nice to get involved in the school in a slightly different way.

The week before, on Friday 10th it was the 'Día del estudiante' (Student's Day). For this, all the classes had 'compartirs' where they eat food and watched films, and then there were 4 different activities set up around the school. We were helping out in the Karaoke. It was good fun and ended singing one of our favourite spanish songs with some of the girls from 3ro Medio. We did also get to have a bit of a look round the other activities before the end of school.

the lovely rose I was presented with for Mother's Day

After lunch, the official end of school on a Friday. We, along with all the other staff were swept into the Technology room where the administration staff had set up tables of biscuits, sandwiches, crisps and juice. We had a few speeches and then food and afterwards, each one of the female staff were presented with a rose and a present for Mother's Day! This even included us, even though we are nowhere near being mother's! I got given a lovely purse which has now replaced the grubby one I had previously. It's lovely how much the school appreciates it's female staff, this day and the International Women's Day celebrations we had a couple of months ago have really shown me that!

In the last few weeks I have also had friends round to make sopaipillas, attended a suprise birthday party (not mine) and then for the first time, I'm on my own in the house as my partner has gone to Chiloe for a long weekend, leaving me on my own. My friends have been amazing though and I have spent most of the weekend at their house anyway so I've been fed and not bored!

I'm very much looking forward to the next few weeks, my sister arrives this coming Friday to visit me for a week and I am VERY VERY excited about that! Bring on the adventures!

Hannah :)

One month later...

Hey all!

I realise it has been nearly a month since I last wrote a blog and for that I'm very sorry, though life has been rather hectic but then seemingly routine at the same time... not a good combination for blog writing it has to be said!

We have been extremely busy with all our new classes and also with helping to plan for the older classes as well. The English teacher is involving us more in these classes now in terms of preparation which is good, but makes our very little planning time even more jam-packed and stressful! But we're coping!

There was a week for the 'convidencia escolar' in which all the different classes made posters and presentations for different things needed for us to function well as a school; such as honesty, respect, responsibility etc. There was an extremely cute play done by Kinder and various others. My partner took part, singing "Stand by Me" accompanied by the music teacher on a guitar. Unfortunately, my singing skills really aren't up to par, so I gave that one a miss! She sung really well though and I was very proud!

Church Youth Group

On Saturday  13th, we met up with Ruth and Benja for the last time in Temuco for coffee and cake, as by the following Tuesday they were off on their way to the UK! We have, however, arranged a date to go visit them when we get back to the UK so though it was emotional, it wasn't like it was forever! Then a  friend visited the following weekend and so that was a very relaxed few days.

We have recently started going to the youth group with the church, they're a lovely bunch of people and we've already been to an asado and a couple of meetings with them and are getting along pretty well... Got a few more people to say hello to if we pass them in the street now!

In windy Puerto Saavedra

in Carahue - City of 3 floors

On 1st May it was the Internacional Día del Trabajo (more commonly known in English as: Labour Day). Consequently, this was a national bank holiday - did make the week feel very strange I tell you that - and so we went on a family outing with the Ortiz's to Puerto Saavedra. We had a lovely day and despite the cold, it managed to say pretty sunny for most of it. The scenery was beautiful, we went up to a mirador overlooking the meeting of the Imperial River and the Pacifi


c Ocean, the whole day reminded me a bit of a Cornish style landscape - we even had fish and chips for lunch! Something sorely missing from our lives for the last 9 months!

Nahuentúe - the tranquil riverside town where we stopped for Fish and Chips!

At the mirador in Puerto Saavedra

We went on a girly shopping trip to Temuco (buying nothing but icecream... priorities!) on Saturday and then this week we have been working on Mother's Day in all our Basico classes. I know that the UK Mother's Day was quite some time ago but it's this coming Friday here and so we've been teaching the classes a few of our traditions and then helping them to make Mothers Day cards to take home with them. We also spent last night doing the same with some of the girls in the Internado!

And thats all for now! In the next month we have another long weekend, though I'm planning to stay around Cholchol as I'm saving my money for the following week when my lovely sister is coming all the way from the UK to visit me!
I'm planning on showing her around Valparaíso, one of my favourite Chilean cities, then coming down here to show her Cholchol and introduce her to some of my friends, and then we're going off to explore a town somewhere in the Lake District! No idea where as of yet, but I'll keep you posted on that one! So that's all very exciting and I will try to post another blog a lot sooner than the last one!

Hannah :)