¡Feliz Dieciocho!

¡Hola a todos!

Sorry for the unreliability of these posts.. but Internet access is fairly sporadic here.. so we'll blame that! :)

So the last 2 weeks have been all about Dieciocho - the 18th September, and Chilean Independence Day.

We started off the week starting on the 10th with a little work and some lessons happening on Monday and Tuesday, but a lot of time was spent focusing on preparing for the Parade on Wednesday. We helped out in some really difficult classes on these days which was definately a big challenge since no matter what you did - they were NOT going to listen.. I'm suprised they even bother to turn up atall to be honest..!

Wednesday 12th was the day of the big parade! The entire school all on their best behaviour and uniform walked the streets of CholChol. In true Chilean-style of course it didn`t actually start until a good hour after it was supposed too! But it was a very good day.. and pretty impressive to watch I`m sure! Annoyingly.. both me and Danielle left our cameras in the Staffroom - so no pictures to show for it I`m afraid! :/

Friday was another relaxed day, with displays of the kids work, lots of dancing (including an attempt at dancing the Cueca, the traditional Chilean dance - which was... interesting, to say the least!), games etc. We finished the day with a big Staff lunch of Empanadas and in the Afternoon we went for a walk around CholChol with one of the other teachers.. which was good, until it started tipping it down!

We had an entire week off for Independence week - but forget a relaxing holiday.. that was definately not on the agenda! It was however, a pretty awesome week and I think over the course of 3 days, I ate enough meat to last me about a month!

On Monday we went with the Ortiz family out to the countryside, to Lorenzo`s (one of the teacher`s at the school) parents house. We walked to the top of a nearby hill for a spectacular view of the valley and also later on ventured down to the river. We also tried our asado here (a traditional Chilean BBQ) in which you get about 3 absolutely huge chunks of whatever meat is going and then a multitude of salad besides!

For Dieciocho itself we went to Temuco. Well, atleast we eventually went to Temuco after running for the bus, before finding out that it was a different timetable and then having to wait over an hour for a bus..!! We went to Angelica`s (the English teacher) house and had our second Asado in 2 days! This time we got to help out cooking it.. well, I say cooking - hacking at the meat with a knife is probably a more accurate description!!

After lunch, we went to a fair at the Town Stadium, which involved a rather annoying mime, churros, and a very proud Llama.

In the evening we went to a music/battle of the bands type thing in which Angelica`s husband was playing. It ended with a Reggae set and lots of dancing at about midnight.

After this, no joke, we were invited to DINNER. So at 1am we were sitting in a very fancy apartment in the centre of Temuco munching on empanadas and crisp sandwiches - the Chileans thought we were absolutely MAD for having crisp sandwiches (says the people who have dinner at 1 in the morning!) but hey.. thats Gringitas for ya :) A few entertaining taxi/car rides, and several hours later, we finally got to bed.

No lie-ins for us though! and by 11 we were back on a bus to CholChol and to the Ortiz`s for lunch. It tipped it down all day and so we spent it huddling by the fire and watching TV. I had a bad cold and so they were very fussy over me, giving me paracetemol every 4 hours on the dot as well as hot lemon and honey and letting me take a nap in the afternoon.. It seemed a bit over the top at the time but I have to admit - when you`re feeling rotten, it`s pretty lovely being so well looked after!


The volunteers in Latauro came down for the final 4 days of the holiday and so we had a very English few days, watching films, showing them CholChol and cooking lots of English food - including our first roast!!!!

The fact that I got to experience something so important to the people here after just a month is pretty awesome and really reminds me why I`m bothering to do this atall - which believe me, is a question I quite often ask myself, especially when the work is tough and I`m not feeling brilliant. Its nice to finally have an answer - because experiencing something like the Dieciocho celebrations is why I`m here. An entirely different culture, way of thinking and way of celebrating is what I`m trying to get a grasp of, and I`m actually now beginning to do that after just one short month!!

Back to reality now though - work. A different kind of challenge entirely, but one which is pretty rewarding and where every day is different! Never a dull moment in Chile thats for sure :)


Thanks,

Hannah :)

Hey Everyone!!

We're now 3 weeks into our Chilean adventure and its still all a bit overwhelming!

Our second week was spent much like the first - a lot of eating, confusion and some classes too. The major drama of the week was trying to sort out our Chilean ID cards, without which it is impossible to buy anything and which was very difficult with the zero spanish we had. We ended up travelling pretty much to every town around it seemed.. a lot of time was spent on buses! 

The bulk of the rest of the week was spent preparing our first couple of lessons (no joke - it took us about 3 days for each! guess we´re not so good at that yet :S) 

The weekend was a relaxed one. We ventured into Temuco for the first time by ourselves and miraculously managed to make it there and back in one piece without too many near-misses (we nearly got off at the wrong stop but other than that we managed fairly well :) ) 

The Sunday was spent with our adopted family. After Church (in which a number of new ministers were ordained which meant the service was even LONGER than usually - 3 hours to be precise!!!) we went for a family lunch and spent the afternoon playing basketball. In the evening they took us to Temuco - the journey was.. interesting to say the least. The 5 of us kids were bundled into the back of a van (literally!) where we sat on cushions on the floor and played Irish Snap - a bit bouncy but generally ok! We went to the arcade-type place and went bowling before having some of the most amazing icecream ever :D

This week has been much more busy. Our first two lessons were.. interesting to say the least. They didn´t quite go to plan, but from what I know about teaching, it never does - spose I better get used to that one! Other than that, I think the kids generally enjoyed them - we put a lot of time into trying to think of what to do so hopefully it was worth it! 

We also got to watch a parade put on by the school on Tuesday which included a number of bands and lots of Cueca dancing. We have started going to an aerobics class twice a week in an attempt to burn of all the bread (not sure its working, but hey - atleast we´re trying :) ) in which we get to learn the cueca. The footwork is very confusing but its fun to attempt! 

Other than that, we`ve spent some more time with the girls in the internado; watching films, teaching them some classic dances (well.. the macarena) and generally just spending more time with them :)

Food-wise its still pretty awesome. We tried Sopapiallas for the first time, which are a kind of fried, doughnutty savoury bread which you have with all kinds of sauces (ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard) and which are so unbelievably and unhealthily amazing! The bread is still as good as ever and after discovering manjar, a kind of caramel-type sauce we will definately need to keep going to those aerobic classes thats for sure!!

During the week we also got to go down to the river and explore. We managed to get to the beach and I can say without a doubt it is one of the prettiest places I`ve ever seen.. and thats in winter!! So though it`s definately getting gradually tougher here.. everyday brings something new and I`m still loving every moment!!

Hannah xxx