Week 4: Somos Campesinos (“We are country people”)

30 Sec. Update: First week living in Los Alamos was one of the richest and stimulating weeks of my life. I taught a few classes last week but it was mostly introductions and classroom observations. I start teaching in earnest this upcoming week. My classes have 15 to 20 students and I teach straight through from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM Wednesday through Friday. Mondays and Tuesdays are left for lesson planning, meetings, and a little down time. This weekend I went on a day trip to Cañete and my family and I went to the countryside in search of a “vaquilla” (a medium sized cow) for a wedding this upcoming Friday. I'm loving every minute of it. Every moment here presents something new to be learned or figured out. Even the smallest daily routine like taking a shower with an electric water heater becomes an adventure and a new experience.

Only in the “Skinny One” (Electric Showers): New addition to the blog this week; an attempt to highlight some of the more unique aspects of life in Chile. This week is about showering.

The first shower I ever took in Chile was cold. I turned on the water full blast like I'm accustomed to in the US only to find that the water was freezing. Having already taken off my clothes and too embarrassed to ask my host family what to do, I sucked it up and took a cold one. That night at dinner I asked my host family in my broken Spanish how the shower works. Looking at me confusedly, they immediately took me to the bathroom, turned on the water to a slow trickle, and I watched as lukewarm water came out of the shower head. Not wanting to be rude. I shook my head yes and anxiously awaited my shower the following morning.

On Day 2, I tried again only to find that again the water was cold. Determined to figure this out, I spent the next five minutes changing the water pressure to exactly the right pressure. After much patience and time spent staring at the shower head, I eventually discovered that if you listen carefully you can hear the water heater turn on. The water pressure has to be exactly right otherwise the device will not turn on. The count so far is about 3 cold to 3 lukewarm but I think I have finally figured it out. The other volunteers and I get a good laugh thinking about what it would be like for our family to come to the US and take a steaming hot shower at full pressure. I'm sure that they would have a similar experience to my own. Coming up next week: toilet paper etiquette in Chile.

El Campo: Despite only being in Los Alamos for a week, I have already been to the countryside twice. Both times were equally enchanting and comical. This past Sunday we drove around from farm to farm “shopping” for a medium sized cow. Big enough to feed 85 people at the upcoming wedding (about 250 pounds of beef). What was supposed to be only a 2 hour excursion quickly turned into a 4 hour adventure. I drank a glass of “leche crudo” (milk literally straight from the udder), walked through several large green pastures in search of the right size cow, and spoke with several campesinos about the United States, the Chilean winter, and size of their cows. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.

My other experience in the campo was earlier in the week. Last Thursday I was being picked up from school by my host-teacher's husband (Oscar) to be taken home after a long day of observations and teaching. It was 5 PM and I hopped into his truck and he said: “Vamos al campo.” [“We are going to the countryside”]. To which I didn't really have a response except for “Si!”

After talking to him for a while, I was able to discern that he owned a potato farm out in the countryside and one of his worker's vans had a dead battery. The two of us continued on down a muddy, dirt road for about 20 minutes to arrive at the side of forested valley with several acres of potato fields on the valley floor. We spent the first half hour trying to jump start the van which was unsuccessful. Then we tried to tow the van using the truck which resulted in the van getting stuck in the mud. After we pushed the van out of the mud, finally we filled the bed of the truck with firewood to give it more traction. With the added weight, we successfully managed to get the van up to 20 mph and it was able to start.

By this time it was 7 PM and Oscar again surprised me by saying: “Vamos a la estación de radio.” [“We are going to the radio station.”]. I was already a hour late coming home, but he assured me that it would only take five minutes. I knew that it wouldn't just take five minutes but he was the driver and I didn't really feel like trying to argue with him so we headed to the radio station. I found this out later, but Oscar is a city council member in Los Alamos. He was being interviewed on the radio about the rise in alcohol and drug use amongst the town's youth. He was using the radio interview to promote an upcoming community meeting to voice concerns about this problem.

As we drove to the radio station, we were listening to the station's broadcast. The radio DJ began to introduce Oscar, but we still had yet to arrive at the radio station. Another song went on the radio and we raced at 60 miles per hour through the town to get to the radio station (in case you are wondering, the speed limit was 35 mph). We arrived at the station, Oscar walked through the doors, and within sixty seconds he was being interviewed live on the radio. After the interview, I met the DJ and told him a little bit about my teaching in Chile. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say and we scheduled a radio interview for this upcoming week. I arrived at home a little bit before 8 PM and exasperatedly tried to explain everything that happened. My host family lightly scolded me for being late, congratulated me on the radio interview, and we sat down for dinner. So ended another day in Chile.

Wrap-up: When I was in Santiago, one of the veteran teachers advised us to “just be liquid” during our time in Chile. I have taken his advice to heart and let life fall as it will. Every day has been full of small and big adventures which could fill many more pages of this blog. In this past week there was an intense indoor soccer game with all of the male teachers at the school, an electronic keyboard serenade by our host father, star-struck students who ask for my autograph and tell me “I love you,” hilarious conversations with strangers riding public transportation, and lots of time spent just sitting around the table talking.

Last night my host father and I shared a couple drinks before we went to bed. We talked about everything from my shoe size to car culture in Chile. Every time that we took a sip, we would make a toast. We toasted to family, Chile, Norteamericanos, marriage, my first week in Los Alamos, and friendship. It was a fitting way to end my first week in Chile. After only a week here in Los Alamos, I feel completely at ease living here. Altogether we are a family of ten living under the same roof but our close quarters only makes us closer. If this first week is any indicator of what's to come in the next 6 months, in the words of my host-father, this experience is going to be "inolvidable."

Week 3: Goodbye Quirihue, Hello Los Alamos!

30 Sec. Update: Whoops! I should have known better than to get too attached to a particular town. On my way to Quirihue I found out that I would actually be going to Los Alamos, a slightly bigger town of 18,000 several hours south of Quirihue. Despite the mix-up, I was greeted by my host family at the bus station with signs saying “Welcome Kevin!” and open arms. So much has happened since my last blog post. The last 72 hours have been a whirlwind of meeting my home stay family, getting a tour of Los Alamos, meeting our host teachers, and visiting our host schools all on top of trying to adjust to life in a Spanish speaking country. Life is wonderful in so many ways. Every day is a new adventure and full of laughter. Photos to come in the next couple of days.

http://www.losalamos.cl/

El Embajador de los Gringos: Upon my arrival to Los Alamos I also found out that I will be sharing my homestay with two other volunteer teachers Karyn (a 27 year old from Buffalo, NY) and Matt (a 22 year old from Minneapolis, Minnesota). I met them during orientation and am excited to share the experience with them. Matt and I share a room with a private bathroom. Karyn and Matt are working at "el liceo" (the local municipal high school) and I am working at the elementary school. Neither of them speak much Spanish so I have served as “el traductor” (the translator) and “el embajador de los gringos” (the gringo ambassador).


My Second Family: I LOVE my host family. They are very nice and excited to have us. Our host parents are amazing. Luis, our father, is in charge of discipline at the local school. Every morning he drives us in a truck to the local school. He is very helpful around the house and curious about English. He knows a few words of English and occasionally he will say a random word in English which is met with laughter. Luis took us on a walk throughout the town Sunday morning and we visited el centro, la plaza, el liceo, and la feria (the outdoor market).He seemed to know half the people in the town.


Our host mom, Iris, is the force that ties us all together. She is so warm and caring that we can't help but feel like part of the family. She is a great cook and has a very welcoming smile. Some of my favorite moments so far have been sitting at the table with her sharing a cup of coffee. Also living at the house are Luis and Iris' children Matias (a 17-year-old who attends “el liceo”) and Sandra (a 27-year-old who is a teacher at “el liceo”). In addition there are three other Chilean high school boarders who live in el campo and stay with us during the week. The high school students are in love with American music and they were amazed by our iPods quizzing us on the names of songs and bands (Michael Jackson, Green Day, Aerosmith, 50 Cent).


It is not a big house but we all seem to get along well. We have lots of long meals sharing stories, eating lots of home-made bread, and tecito & cafecito. My Spanish is just good enough to hold conversations and crack jokes which has been the most rewarding part. There are still plenty of moments where I just look at them confused and say “no entiendo” (I don't understand), but I feel very comfortable in Spanish and I can already tell that it is going to improve immensely.


La U v. Colo Colo: Last night after dinner the family had an animated argument over the best soccer team in Chile. Luis, Matias, and Iris supporting “la U” (the University of Chile) against Sandra and the boarders supporting “Colo Colo” (the big rival team). Both sides tried to convince us of the better team. Apparently the rivavlry is so fierce that when the two teams play against each other the stadium has to double the number of security and police officers to prevent riots. When I announced that I went to a soccer game last week between Argentina and “la U” back in Santiago, the kitchen exploded with excitement. Luis ran into the other room to grab his jersey for “la U,” made me put it on, and take pictures with him. All of the fans of “Colo Colo” were in disbelief and ostracized me for the rest of the night. I don't think the Yankees and the Red Sox rivalry even comes close.


The Host School: Yesterday we went to the host schools and all of the English teachers at the school. All of them have wonderful senses of humor and they speak perfect English except my teacher, America, who despite her name does not speak a word of English. I think I got paired with her for that reason. It's so funny to me that a woman who speaks hardly any English could be the school's English teacher but I definitely feel like I'm needed and will help the students A LOT. I will be working with 5th to 8th grade students. We are just doing lesson planning and and observations this first week but it is exciting to just see the schools where we will be working.

'Til Next Week: Life continues to be full of laughter, Chilenismos, and little surprises like no water in the whole town on our first day of school, the heated family rivalry over support for "la U" and "Colo Colo," and the blood sausage! I'm excited for the coming weeks and feel like I'm in the right place. I miss you all and look forward to sharing more stories.


P.S. Thanks for all of the comments! I love hearing your thoughts and knowing that people are actually reading this blog. :)

UPDATE: I'm NOT going to Quirihue!

This post was from before my host city changed to Los Alamos. Slight hiccup on the part of the Ministry of Education, but the adventure continues!


Imagine a small town with only 11,000 people in the town and surrounding area. It is not featured in any guidebooks and cannot be found on any maps. It's 45 miles from the nearest “major: city (Chillan) and located 20 miles from the ocean. I will be the first native-English teacher that has ever been in Quirihue.

At first I was concerned when I couldn't find the city in any of the guidebooks or maps (I finally found it on Google Maps), but I've been waiting for so long to know my placement that I feel relieved to finally know. Living in such a small town will be an added layer on top of living and teaching abroad. Quirihue is an agricultural and wine making town, so I imagine most of my students parents will work as farm laborers. I'm hoping that it will be similar to Davis. The city is at roughly the same latitude as Fresno, CA. I'm excited and relieved to finally know. I head to Quirihue on Saturday, so more updates to come!

http://www.chile.com/tpl/articulo/detalle/ver.tpl?cod_articulo=90555

Week 2: Sick but Still Smiling

30 Sec. Update: My second week in Santiago went well despite getting a fever and bad cough. I think it was the change in weather (going from the middle of the summer to the middle of the winter). A lot of volunteers have been getting sick. I'm feeling much better now though. Orientation runs until Friday after which we depart for our host cities. I got some time off this weekend and had a chance to do some sightseeing in Santiago. My favorite was the Museum of Pre-Colombian art which featured ancient artwork from all over the Americas.


Cerro San Cristobal: On Saturday afternoon a group of us took a hike up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, a huge hill located in the center of Santiago. On the top of the hill you have some incredible views of the city and "el smog" At the top there is also a massive white marble statue of the Virgin Mary which overlooks the city. I had seen the statue from the city streets throughout the week and it was gratifying to finally climb up to it.



Santiago, City of Dogs: One of my favorite peculiarities about Santiago are the stray street dogs. On a given day walking around Santiago you will pass a dozen stray dogs walking on the side of the street. At first I was concerned about all of the dogs, but after being here for two weeks I have become very fond of them. The other night a group of volunteers and I were going out for ice cream and a pair of dogs followed us all night. It was like the dogs were escorting us from place to place, protecting us from pickpockets. The city has a population of over 200,000 street dogs and the people of Santiago treat them as communal pets. The city has tried to control the dog population by capturing them and making it illegal to feed the street dogs but the citizens of Santiago continue to put out water for the dogs and build them shelters.

Hot dogs, the national food of Chile: The food in Chile has been alright so far. It's a lot of meat & potatoes and it's a little bland. There have been a few notable exceptions though. The first of which is hot dogs. Chileans love hot dogs! I don't really understand it, but they serve hot dogs everywhere (even in the nice restaurants). The hot dogs, called completos, usually come in a slightly nicer package: covered with guacamole, tomatoes, and mayonnaise but at the end of the day you are still eating a hot dog. One of my professors jokingly called completos “the national food of Chile.”

El Mercado Central: One delicious culinary experience was at the El Mercado Central, the outdoor seafood market in Santiago. The market featured all sorts of bizarre and interesting seafoods that I had never seen before. One of which is the Conger Eel, a Chilean specialty which is an eel-like fish. There are small seafood restaurants located throughout El Mercado and we stopped at one of the restaurants. I didn't try eating the Conger Eel, but I had a delicious seafood stew that had a variety of shellfish and chunks of fish in it. I'm hoping that there will be more seafood in the south.

Week 1: Long Hours of Orienting

30 Sec. Update: I have been in Chile for a little less than a week. Orientation keeps me very busy. I'm in classes 8+ hours a day learning about teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) and watching videos of past WorldTeach volunteers. No news about my placement city, but I should find out more information from the Education Ministry sometime the week after next. It's cold in Santiago, but I'm staying bundled up. The Andes are beautiful!


WorldTeach Orientation: Orientation is awesome. I had very low expectation for orientation going into the program but I have been pleasantly surprised with how relevant and interesting it is. The Field Directors (Megan and Thomas) are both in their 20's, energetic, taught in Chile previously, and are very knowledgeable about TEFL pedagogy and Chilean culture. We have been critiquing lots of videos of past volunteers teaching in their placements and I have a much better idea of what to expect in the classroom. Yesterday we also got to meet three volunteer teachers from the field and ask them questions about their students, their home stays, and their placement schools/cities. Now that I know I'm in such good hands, I'm anxious to get started!


Lots of girls, a couple guys: I don't how I forgot to mention this in my last post describing the group of teachers, but the group is mostly women (out of a group of 22, only 5 are men). I guess that's not that big of shock given the greater number of women teachers in the US and the greater number of women studying abroad, but I still didn't expect the numbers to be so slanted. Either way it's a fun group. We all went out for drinks last night and I got to try some Chilean beers (Escudo, Cristal, and my favorite Kuntsmann). Kuntsmann is actually a German beer that is brewed in Valdivia, Chile. Apparently there is a large number of German immigrants that were recruited by the Chilean government to settle Southern Chile in the 19th century. Hence the story behind Kuntsmann, my beer of choice for the next 4 months.


Human Rights Tour: Sunday (today) we had a more relaxed day. We got the afternoon off and this morning we went on a human rights tour of Santiago. For those of you who don't watch the History Channel, in 1973 there was a military coup of the democratically elected president in Chile. Following the coup,Augusto Pinochet became dictator and tens of thousands of members of the opposition socialist party (El Mir) were arrested, detained, tortured, and many executed. People disappeared in the middle of the night never to return, families were disrupted, and anyone who spoke out was also imprisoned and tortured.


Los Deseparecidos: Our tour guide was one of the thousands who was detained and tortured. For the tour, we visited several places around the city where this occurred. One location was literally 100 feet from our hostel on calle Londres and we had been walking by it everyday on the way to orientation classes. The whole experience was very sobering. Thousands of people (los desaperecidos) simply disappeared and executed never to be seen again. Several of the sites featured their photos and names. The hardest thing to swallow was that all of "los desaperecidos" were in their early 20's. The average age was 23 (only a year older than myself). I could have been one of the missing thousands if I had lived in Chile in the 70's. An entire generation of the youth and their ideals lost. It was a very somber morning and it was shocking to think that this happened so recently. Chile only returned to democracy in the early 90's and it was clear to me today that the country still has many open wounds.

First Impressions

I have been in Santiago for a little over 48 hours and it feels like I have already been here for a week. My flight got in at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday and on top of that I had to wait at the airport until 9AM for the rest of the flights to arrive in order to be picked up at the airport. I slept well that first night.

My Hostel: Other than my exhausting start, everything has been going pretty smoothly so far. I'm living in a beautiful hostel in downtown Santiago. My room is tiny and there is no central heating in the building, so it is that much harder to get out of bed in the morning. On the upside:, it's located on calle Londres which is in an area where all of the streets are very narrow and the architecture is European.



My Fellow World Teachers: The group of teachers I'm with are an eclectic group. We are group of 24 and there are handful from every part of the country. There is a range of ages as well. Half of us are just out of college but the other half are mid-career teachers, lawyers, and retired accountants. Being in a group with such varied life experiences is a lot of fun. With only a group of 24, I have talked to almost everyone in the group by now. All of us cooked dinner together in our hostel last night (spaghetti with an oyster sauce).


More to come later. We are taking a field trip to the US Embassy this afternoon. We have been in 8 hours of class every day learning about TEFL, WorldTeach, the Chilean school system, and the country's history.

What can you accomplish in 7 months?

Being the night before I leave, I thought it would be good for me to set out my goals before I leave:
1) Become comfortable with speaking Spanish (or at least Chilean Spanish)
2) Learn as much as I can about Chile’s history (especially life under Pinochet’s dictatorship)
3) Master some tasty Chilean recipes (empanadas, a seafood dish or two, etc.)
4) Develop an understanding of the Chilean education system to compare and contrast with the US
5) Travel the entire length of the country
6) Find out what it means to be Chileano.
7) Finish my grad school apps (the first is due 12/1)



http://www.worldteach.org/programs/chile_year/