Day 6 -
Continuing from the last post -
After the beach we drove back to Santiago and our drivers recommended we eat dinner at Los Buenos Muchachos. It was a huge restaurant, and had dinner and 2 shows. The shows were traditional dances first from Chile then from Easter Island. One of the girls from our group actually got picked and danced on stage! After the shows they had live music (mostly salsa and merengue) and everybody came out on the dance floor. Our drivers tried to teach us but of course we were horrible. However, that didn´t stop us from having fun.
Sunday we got up and headed to the airport. We had some difficulty because you are only allowed 20 kg total checked luggage on domestic flights in Chile. Most people had around 35 kg. Making it more difficult, few of the airport employees spoke english so there were a few real hectic minutes were those of us who speak spanish were running from counter to counter trying to figure out what was wrong. In the end they allowed us to take the excess baggage because of some loophole in the rules.
We arrived in Concepción to our families waiting outside security. Some of the host siblings had made little posters and drawn pictures. It was very exciting, and some of the girls were tearing up. My mom (Ximena Cecilia) and dad (Manuel) were waiting for me and took me home. My sister (Ximena, 19 yrs old) was waiting at home. They live in a nice gated community, about 10 minutes from the school where we are working. All three are extremely endearing, accomodating, and welcoming.
Monday morning I came to school with my mom (who is the school librarian) and all the people from our group met for a sort of orientation. We got a tour of our school and met with our cooperating teachers. I am in a high school spanish class, which is kind of intimidating. It´s just like our english classes, so I don´t really have much to offer. My students speak better than I do and I don´t know all the nuances to writing an expository essay. My teacher is really nice and also named Jessica. Here, the teachers are addressed as Miss/Mr. (regardless of marital status) and their first name which is a bit of a contrast. After school my mom had a doctor´s appointment so I went with 2/3 american teachers here to their apartment downtown. They showed me around the main plazas and I saw the Mural de Concepcion. Google it, it´s awesome.
Today we went straight to our classrooms. My teacher also has an official student teacher, so there is an excess of adults in the room. We did get to go down to the Math Olympics which was fun to watch. After school my sister picked me up and we went to the doctor with her boyfriend and then to the beach. Right now you aren´t allowed to swim which was a bummer, but it´s nice to feel the sand in your toes. It was also exciting bc it´s the first time I have ever seen black sand in real life. We ate a local seafood restaurant and then came home and relaxed. My parents got home at around 8 and we had onces. We talked for about 1 1/2 hours and Xime (my sister) went out with a friend. I helped Ximena (my mom) with her english homework, washed the dishes, did my laundry, and now am getting ready for bed. Tomorrow I guess we are getting a tour of Concepción, so that should be pretty exciting.
Monday morning I came to school with my mom (who is the school librarian) and all the people from our group met for a sort of orientation. We got a tour of our school and met with our cooperating teachers. I am in a high school spanish class, which is kind of intimidating. It´s just like our english classes, so I don´t really have much to offer. My students speak better than I do and I don´t know all the nuances to writing an expository essay. My teacher is really nice and also named Jessica. Here, the teachers are addressed as Miss/Mr. (regardless of marital status) and their first name which is a bit of a contrast. After school my mom had a doctor´s appointment so I went with 2/3 american teachers here to their apartment downtown. They showed me around the main plazas and I saw the Mural de Concepcion. Google it, it´s awesome.
Today we went straight to our classrooms. My teacher also has an official student teacher, so there is an excess of adults in the room. We did get to go down to the Math Olympics which was fun to watch. After school my sister picked me up and we went to the doctor with her boyfriend and then to the beach. Right now you aren´t allowed to swim which was a bummer, but it´s nice to feel the sand in your toes. It was also exciting bc it´s the first time I have ever seen black sand in real life. We ate a local seafood restaurant and then came home and relaxed. My parents got home at around 8 and we had onces. We talked for about 1 1/2 hours and Xime (my sister) went out with a friend. I helped Ximena (my mom) with her english homework, washed the dishes, did my laundry, and now am getting ready for bed. Tomorrow I guess we are getting a tour of Concepción, so that should be pretty exciting.
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