Probably the last one.............

So, again, i waited too long between posts to catch up. Let´s see....

One of the days we went downtown with Nataly (my student´s student teacher). While downtown we saw a clown giving a street show. Once he saw us needles in the haystack, he

decided to make it about us. his shtick was pretending to be in love with me, and here we are with the balloon he made me. You can´t see very well, but it´s a heart with two lovebirds perched on the bottom. it was hilarious. also while downtown, we saw this awesome sign. 

It loosely translates as - this bench is not for PDA. I thought, finally someone is recognizing the problem, haha.

Thursday we were supposed to go Chillan, but as you knor we couldn´t. Instead, my mom had a birthday party with here family. My 2 year old "cousin" took one look at me and started bawling. apparently the exact thing happened with another american girl. they think she´s afraid of gringas or glasses (the other girl also wears glasses).

Here is my family with my mom wearing her birthday glasses. Friday we celebrated her birthday with her work friends. I had no idea it was even her birthday until 2 days before, and only because someone else told me. I felt realy guilty for having made plans to go out of town when she was having these parties, but they never told me anything. The work party lasted untill about 2 in the morning.

Saturday morning we (Julie and I) got up and took the bus to Chillan. I was amazed at how inexpensive it was. for 1 1/2 hour ride, it only cost about $2 american. We got to chillan and Nataly met us at the terminal. she took us to her home and we ate breakfast with her family (below). We packed snacks, and I just had to take a picture of the yogurt my mom packed me (yes, they eat aloe yogurt here. it´s actually not bad).

 

We spent the day at the market which is well known for its handcrafts (carvings, knitted things,e tc). I have been trying to all my christmas shopping here before I leave. After that we went to a museum at this famous pianist (Claudia Arrau). The guide lady was super boring, but it had an interactive part which was fun. Here I am in a giant, fully functional guitar. When someone outside plays it, you can feel the vibrations on the inside. (sorry I couldn´t rotate it). We also saw this awesoem cathedral. It´s famous for the arch shaped architecture. Apparently it´s super old.

After that we had dinner and then went downtown and walked around with Nataly, her mom, and Brother. We bought our bus tickets for the way back, went and looked at the train station, and visited this awesome monument for the dissappeared. The lights are supposed to represent hope that they will return home (I think?). There were also placards with the names and dates

of all the dissappeared. I was astonished by this because Pinochet´s coup happened 9/11/73 and some of the dissappeared were as early as 9/14/73. It blew my mind. After that we went out to a "discoteca" with Nataly and her friends. As always i am amazed at how Many people smoke. They even put these labels on every pack:

(Translation - tobacco kills. If you want to survive, stop smoking) On the reverse side is either a picture of some nasty smokers teeth or a sickly old man in the hospital on oxygen. If doesn´t even appear to phase them. The dance floor is like an ashtray, and when you take pictures, the smoke is so thick you would think there was a fire. My eyes burned so bad the next day it was ridiculous (that´s for you cristobal!).

The next day we got up and went to another market. This was more flea market meets farmers market. Some people just showed and and had all sorts of crap to sell - clothes, tools, jewelry, shoes, it was nuts. Here is a picture of one of the clothes booths.

After that we headed home and my sister picked me up and we went to my gramma´s house. She lives in nearby Talcahuano which is closer to the ocean. We went down to the bay and walked on the beach and checked out all the ships. It reminded me of the image I have of fishing towns in the northeast. Everyone who lived there made their living through fishing. this is my mom in the bay

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That week, we headed back to School. One of the great things about Chile is that the 80s are still alive and going strong here. Case in point, the Mullet is IN.

 

We wanted a picture with them to prove it, but the problem was how to ask for the picture without telling them it was because it´s funny. Since I worked in the highschool and knew most of the kids, i bit the bullet and asked. They knew it was a joke, but they were more than happy to help (I love the second picture where they are grabbing their hair).

 Also of note is the emphasis on oral hygeine. In general I have not seen all that great of teeth here, but at TJS it is a priority. The kids brush their teeth after lunch every day. Here is a picture of the tooth brush box - they just put this out on the end of the lunch tables and all the kids come and brush when they´re done eating.

That night, I had onces at one of the teachers house with another girl (she had invited us so that she could set us up with her friends). We played with the kids, her husband Antontio cooked, and we just chatted. It was nice to have a relaxing evening. Below are Antontio with his kids wig on, and their kids doing gymnastics for us. Antonio is always telling jokes (Chilenisms have a lot of double meanings, i´ve learned way more than I thought I would) and below he was messing around with his kids halloween wig. 

Wednesday we came to school and left straightaway for a "field trip." We went to visit a public school in nearby Talcahuano. It was insane when we arrived, the girls (al girls school) treated us like celebrities. 

The students at this school obviously have had way less interactions with american anything. They were following us through the halls and giggling, asking for pictures, wanting to touch our hair, telling us how beautiful our eyes (blue and green) were, etc. When they realized some of us spoke Spanish, they almost died. One major difference I noted at this school was the behavior of the students. I heard this is a very traditional school with a history of success, but the students were so much calmer than at TJS. When we entered a room they would all stand up and say "good morning misses." They sat quietly and raised their hands if they wished to speak. This definitely does not happen at TJS.

 After school my aunt picked me up and we went to Salto de Laja (some waterfalls). Here I am with my little cousin Maximiliano. This is also the family with the little girl I made cry. This time we were pretty good buds. Something I found crazy is how overprotective the chilean culture is, yet at other times not. They were feeding this little girl whole cherries, with the pits and all, Seatbelts and car seats are an after thought (they just hold the kids). We drove an hour to the waterfalls and this little girl didn´t sit in a car seat. 

Thursday was turkey day. Some of the girls were sad to not be home, but it´s been five years since I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family, so I guess I´m used to it. The elementary kids put on a cute little play I guess (pictured above). I was subbing that day So I didn´t get to watch :(. This was the third day I subbed, and it was really nice to finally be doing something worthwhile. The kids are insane, but I found that if I alternated games with work, I could get them to do something at least.

Also on thursday the President of Wright State came down to visit and see how things were going. For his reception, we had a cute little luncheon meet and greet thing. I really like Dr. Hopkins because out of 15,000 or so students at WSU he remembers who I am from meeting him once. They brought in some of the highschoolers to dance the cueca (chilean national dance) and he also brought down diplomas for three of the girls who missed their graduation. One odd thing about the lunch was that they served Pisco and wine. That would never happen in the states.





After school we had a Thanksgiving celebration which was the most bizarre thing I have ever been to. They had a minister deliver a reflection on giving thanks (apparently it´s usually a ful mass) and they also had a barbershop quartet singing (so bizarre). After that there was a reception of sorts. They had all this delicious food set up, and a turkey sitting there, but not for eating. It was set up cocktail style and the meat we ate was chicken. Again, bizarre. 

Afterwards I went with some of the professors to a restaurant downtown. Antonio and Veronica (teacher whose house we went to for onces) drove me home. Below is a picture of their car. Teleton is this huge event throughout Chile. Every school collects all sorts of money and there is a 24 hour thing of it on TV. The proceeds go to people with physical disabilities (I am not exactly sure of the details). Most of the cars in Conce have this on their back windows.  All of the classrooms did some sort of fundraiser for it (the third graders made sold sandwhiches, another class sold candy, etc). It was really cool to see an entire country get behind a single cause. It was all people were talking about for a while since I have gotten here. 

Friday I decided I wanted to work in the Preschool. Holy Cow these kids are so cute!!! I also found that they are better behaved than the elementary kids (maybe they haven´t been spoiled as much yet?). They can´t speak english, but they understand it really well. The teacher I was with did a really good job of not using Spanish in the class. 

In the afternoon they had a little assembly where they turned in and counted all the money they had collected for Teleton. 

Almost every elementary class did a small performance. This is the third grade class singing together. It was so cute. 

After school we had a sort of thank you-goodbye BBQ for our american group. Apparently it was done in the style of southern BBQ´s. they had these two giant sheep halves outback of the school roasting. Again they served all sorts of wine and Pisco (no no way this would ever happen back home). 

After we ate the PTA president gave a speech to thank us. Apparently, one of the other members came up to our group and asked them to speak as well. I was unaware of this because I was sitting with my mom. All the sudden this guy comes up to me and tells me I have 30 seconds to think of something to say for the toast (not just a "here´s to you PTA!" type thing either, a real speech). My voice was shaking, I imagine my hands were out of control making all sorts of guestures etc. I also had to give the speech in both languages, so I was not only worrying about content, but also translating. Afterward I promptly went over and gave my friends attitude for picking me and not telling me.

After we ate we went into the gym and started messing around in the wheelchairs they have there (don´t ask my why they´re there). Naturally my competitive streak came out and we started racing. Don´t worry, I won :). We left the BBQ around 12, and my dad asked if we wanted to go to a local spot. We said sure only to drive there and find out it was closed. Where to next? Tijuana, naturally.

Tijuana is a bar/grille/dance club in Conce. We (me, my parents, my sis and her boyfriend, her friend and her boyfriend) get there, and my dad orders all this food (above). They could not understand why after coming straight from a BBQ why I wouldn´t want to eat an entire other meal. In Chile, not eating is practically a crime (especially for my dad). I finally gave in and at a couple bites to placate him, but it gets irritating afer a while. I like to eat when I´m hungry, and when I´m not I don´t want to. Thats not a concept understood in this culture. 

After we ate we went out to dance. My dad told Andres (Xime´s bf) to dance with me so that I would have a partner and have a good time. This situation made me feel really uncomfortable. I know Xime is a jealous (she told me so) and I don´t want to cause any problems with her and Andres. I was stuck in this weird position of trying to figure out where the lines were with dancing with Andres. So uncomfortable. Most of the songs were salsa and the like, and it was a disaster. Andres was patient though and kept teaching me. Raymond (Barbara´s boyfriend) though, kept making fun of me. We all laughed and had a good time. We finally got home at four (I can´t believe the parents stay out this late!) and I crashed). 

The next day I got up and made french toast and eggs for my family. They about freaked over it, and they ate a whole loaf (4 people). I thought it was really funny though because they would put soem eggs on the french toast and then add powdered sugar on top of that. I figure unto each his own......

Later that day I went to the beach with Xime, Andres, Barbara, and Raymond. It was really pretty but the water was freezing. It was also the first time I realized I might be ready to go home?..nah...........After that I went to one of the american teacher´s house for a thanksgiving dinner. We had real turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, etc. It was amazing. All from scratch since there isn´t any such thing as canned cream of mushroom soup here. This food was  the real deal, and it was just what I needed. My momentary homesickness went away after dinner. 

After dinner we stayed up late talking (4 americans, and 3 chilean teachers) and I spent the night there. I got up, walked around downtown, and went to Antonio and Veronicas house for the day. We just lazed around and talked all day. It was a very relaxing evening.

Overall, I do not want to leave. More than anything, I will miss the people here. They are so loving and inviting. I am however, ready to no longer be a guest. It´s hard to have no control over what you are doing where and who with. Plus my mom is so sweet but overprotective, and that´s hard for my with my independent streak. I´ve got 2 days left, and I plan to make the most of them..........