First Date

Three words: Tall, solemn, and rugged. The epitome of attractive. No person could say otherwise about the neat yet unkempt natural beauty of Coyhaique. At first glance it is green and hilly and maybe even a bit homely. But look again! The hills support trees blushing in hues of red, brown, yellow, and orange. A farm, the rio Simpson, and sheep down below might make you wonder if you're really in Chile, or at least that's how I felt. The smell of burning wood fills the air. Mountains on every side of Coyhaique shield the town from unwanted attention. With all that in mind, I guess you could say I'm pretty smitten with this little town, and it's not only for the scenery.

Saturday, I received a warm welcome from Senora Lupe and Julio. Lupe is the director of my school (I'll talk more about Senora Lupe later) and Julio Bravo is my host father. So who are the Bravo's? Julio is a civil engineer and Maria Eugenia, his wife, is a nurse. They are really light hearted, hard working, and humble people. They have two children, whom I haven't met since they're studying at university in Vina del Mar. Julio knows enough English for us to have conversations and to explain things. Maria is learning English, and I of course am learning Spanish. So as we sit around the table, Maria and I ask Julio, "Como se dice..." this and that, and we laugh and have a good time. I love this, I love the fact that I can speak broken Spanish, get laughed at and then join the laughter. Our sense of humor is very similar, so it makes things pretty easy.

The house is very nice too. When I found out I would be living in Patagonia, I had no idea what to expect. Except, I guess I didn't expect this. We live right near one of the local reserves, which is similar to a state park in the US, so our neighborhood is generally pretty quiet. We have a normal shower (very rare in Southern Chile), tvs, and wonderful food. I consider myself pretty lucky. They probably eat healthier than I do, despite having access to an excessive amount of healthy choices in California. For instance, I would never choose to have celery for dinner or ever since I'm not a big fan. However, the lack of veggies for two weeks in Santiago has left me willing to eat pretty much anything green. Up to now, delicious stuffed bell peppers were probably my favorite so far, besides a yummy bean soup.

***

Thursday, Abril 18, 2013

Today as I ran, rainbows formed in the sky above, and the warm wind playfully buffeted my pony tail and jacket. The coming storm made the day pretty muggy. Time to get ready for class! After walking the 30 minutes from my house to Liceo Josephina Aguire Montenegro, I prepared myself for a few hours of observation.

Walking into class, students perked up as they saw me, and realized that something was going on. "Hello, what is chyour name?", a brave student offered. At first I was nervous, but now after several introductions it's easy. After giving a short biography, I let students ask me questions. The questions ranged from the simple, "what's your favorite sport?" to the personal, "do you have a boyfriend or husband?" As I gently steered them back towards other topics I can't help but laugh. Their curiosity is great. It's important. Some things are universal and I fear with advances in access to social media curiosity is quickly dwindling.

What I've seen here so far, is that many of the teachers are− different. The students definitely aren't the most motivated, but even some of the difficult ones have something to offer. From the look of things, teachers are begrudging babysitters, and give students busy work to pass the time. I don't know if anyone who wants to be a teacher sees it as a glamorous job. However, at the same time those who teach usually hide their disdain while working. Hopefully, what I'm seeing from the teachers is just a bad day, and not a normal thing. I have been lucky enough to have teachers who inspire me, teachers who have cared about me. I should say to be fair, my head teacher does care and notices a lot about these kids. After observing this I do feel a pinch of pressure to give these kids something to look forward to. I want to care for them in a way in which they aren't getting right now. Next week, we take off the training wheels.

Roll the Dice

In Valparaiso, after the bus ride west, we made our way through the city and ate lunch at a small resto-bar as they are generally called throughout the city. Sitting there, sipping cool water and soaking in the pleasant rays of the sun. Conversation naturally followed as we began to recover from walking the windy streets of the South American San Fran. We discussed our different reasons for participating in EODP (English Opens Door Program) and how we ended up in Chile. Change, traveling, teaching were the common themes. The conversation then turned and we began talking about our travel plans that we have for and other "bucketlist things".

Finally, a moment came in the conversation allowing me the chance to ask a question that's constantly on my mind: "So, do you think kids in other countries should learn English?". There's a danger in asking this question. It makes everything about doing this kind of scary. Everyone stopped and thought. Then after a short while, one of the other volunteers offered this, "I dunno, I've asked myself that a lot. I think it's a tough issue, are we just imposing our (USA) own prerogatives?" Another volunteer then said that students shouldn't be forced to learn English. Lastly, another that the class does provide students with more opportunities. There it is, that very real uncertainty like rolling dice or flipping coins.

On the one side, learning a foreign language is great because it can help you to communicate with people from many different parts of the world. For instance, I met a Chilean engineer keen on learning English so that there might be some connection between him and Chinese engineers he interacts with. It is true that when people from other countries meet the common bond is often English. Learning English is particularly ideal, because it is the most widely spoken language in the world with over 2 billion people (including first, second, and language speakers) and it's the official language for international business.

Conversely, learning another language is really difficult, especially if you're being forced to learn it and the likelihood of you using it is very small. Chilean students if they are successful in learning English will join a small demographic roughly (11% of the 17, 269, 525). If you're going to live in Chile, you really ought to know Spanish... Oops, I dropped the ball on that one, but I'm learning!

Now, with these things in mind, is learning English meaningful? There are some people who just love to learn, and for them English might be great. For others who might live in Chile their whole life it might not be particularly useful unless directing visitors or hosting visitors. However, the same can be said for any subject. Not everyone will be a mathematician, but an elementary grasp of mathematics will most certainly be useful for many situations. At the end of the day, it is what is. As long as I have one student who wants to learn English there is a reason to teach it, and the answer to that ladies and gentleman, only time will tell.

Orientation

Huh, where am I? Momentary panic.

I'm in Chile. Ok, now I remember. Santiago to be exact. Aji Hostel off General Salvador y Providencia.


What time is it?

Who knows, maybe 10 or 11 in the morning. I do know today is Friday Abril 5 and I have enough time to run off 24 hours of being in airports, a taxi, and airplanes before meeting up with my new friends.

As I walked down the creaky steps of the hostel, excitement overcame me.

Last night:
If it is any indication of what Chile is like, than Chile is a place like any other place. It's somewhere to be experienced.

Once I settled my stuff in the hostel and freshened up, I bounced down the stairs into the pleasantly warm and smoggy air of Santiago. As I walked, I saw people racing by on bikes, buses, stores selling books, hats, and food. But what kind of food? What's a churrasco? Unfortunately, I didn't find out that day. I settled on a small pizza place, as I was limited to using my Visa card.

The Brazilian, Flavio, struck up a conversation with me soon after I finished eating. As we spoke we exchanged greetings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Soon the Chilean women next to us, Angeles, was also in the conversation. As we spoke, I became more comfortable trying to speak in Spanish. We became more comfortable with each other.

Three people, three countries, yet in one place. We're not very different. Angeles, works for LAN airlines on the admin side. Flavio is graphic designer. We're all looking forward to one thing, the weekend. Rest and relaxation. As we talked about work and Chile, I realized how rare this moment was. Twenty minutes ago I was alone. Thirty minutes ago I could've stayed in a place where people spoke English.  An hour ago I would not have met Angeles and Flavio. As the hours went by, day turned to night.

Then came Jeron and Kaeley, two Americans here for Lolapalooza. Jeron asked me to write down/draw something that was significant to me about my experiences. In a brief moment of clarity, I distilled one thought, from the many racing through my mind. Traveling is not about the geographical location, but the sights, smells and most of all the stories of the people you meet.

______

Valparaiso

"Villa de las lomas"*

Saturday night as more volunteers showed up at the hostel. I plucked up some courage and announced that tomorrow, our last day of freedom, I was going to Valparaiso. Soon a few others latched on to that idea and off we went. A subway, a bus, and some trekking brought us to a wealth artistic expression and history. Valparaiso was and is one of the major port towns in Chile. Nestled in the hills, people have painted their houses in brought colors. It is a complete work of art. There are houses made of tin, wood, and lastly art. Narrow stair cases cut through the organized chaos.

Only after I took this picture did I notice the best part. I took the picture to capture the first sight of the ocean clashing with the houses. Afterwards I noticed the girl on the hill.

Stones, bamboo chutes, and some fabric make up a Chilean ship and flag.

Sopaipillas!!! You know that's right! Yes, I had one. Yes, it was awesome. No it wasn't full of sugar.

A cat dreams of catching a mouse. Beyond the cat is a dog. Dogs in Chile are interesting. I became sad as nearly every corner and street came with a dog forever known as "street dog". They're everywhere. Don't stress though, street dogs don't live bad lives. They don't even seem too unhappy. Chileans are very protective of these animals whose owners have essentially abandoned them. Kicking a street dog is as frowned upon as not speaking quickly in Spanish. On the upside, I have seen only a small amount of homeless people in Santiago. As much as I wish no person or creature should be without food and nourishment, it is nice to see people taking care of people. 

Hey look proof that I'm in Chile!

*Villas de las lomas: This might not actually be a name ascribed to Valparaiso, but it was fitting to me.