Wednesday, August 26, 2009

One reason why I like to play sports

So yesterday, I was a little stressed after my school day. Tuesday is rugby day so I walked down to the field and practiced with the team. After two and a half hours of practice I was completely relaxed.

Why was I stressed? Just a variety of annoying things happened yesterday. One of my co-teachers had repaired the dictionary in my class (the kids had largely destroyed them, though the ministry hadn't sent the best dictionaries ... they were pretty thick and broke easily in the center) and she was upset that the students in my class had written all over one of the repaired dictionaries. So she was urging me to keep the dictionaries locked up in the cabinets. However, my view is that if the dictionaries are in the cabinets they are never going to get used while if they are out in the classroom they will get destroyed but they also will be used. (I can hear someone being unsurprised that I'm unconcerned with my things getting ruined).

Also yesterday I had to go to the bank to find out why the money the government had deposited into my account hadn't shown up. This meant I had to figure out what I needed to say, stand in line at the bank for an hour and then try my hardest to figure out what the bank employee is slowly saying to me. After only 2 repetitions I found out that their was a second layer of security on my account that needed to be removed and that I had to go stand in a second line to do so. Fortunately, the second line was pretty small. Hopefully, now I can get my pay for the month of July.

I was also stressed because I agreed to help teach some of the younger students. One of the secretaries was subbing for the English teacher who was out that day and asked if I could help her. I agreed to help her, partially because the secretaries are always helping me out. However, after my regular day of teaching dealing with two full classes of 40 students was a little much. (My classes only have 20 students) Especially because they were little kids and especially noisy and screamy. Though it was stressful it was also fun interacting with kids that age ... for about half the class the secretary and I acted out a verb and the kids had to say the correct verb. The kids were very enthusiastic and I tried to keep them entertained by coming up with creative actions like farting or doing push-ups.

One of the goals of the English Opens Doors Program is to inspire the students to learn English by having them interact with the volunteer. The students of the school, despite having 5 volunteers in the past, are enthusiastic towards me. Everyday, I have about 50 students say hi to me and I shake at least 30 students hands. Students are always coming up to me and asking me questions (which I sometimes understand) and members of the rugby team always ask me if I'm coming to practice and try to teach me dirty words. This is probably the most rewarding aspect of the program.

In Chile instead of saying your mom, they say your sister. There is currently a beer commercial where people say things that can be taken innocently or not and after each statement a guy says your sister. In part of the commercial they are at a rugby game and a person says enter with force to the rugby players (which is then followed by the dude saying your sister). So of course last night at practice people keep telling each other to enter with force. Guy humor is pretty much the same all over.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Pictures

Photographs from my August -- http://picasaweb.google.com/paulspicturesfromabroad/AntofagastaAugust#

Includes pictures of churimoyo, mountain climbing, hand in the desert, la portada, ghost town, empanadas, and stuffed tomatoes!!!

Update

Last week one of my students let out the most atrocious fart I have smelt. We decided to hold the class outside the smell was so bad. I went back to my classroom to make sure that there wasn't actually fecal matter hiding somewhere. Kids from the next class 25 minutes later were complaining about the smell. The funniest part was when I told my co-teacher about the incident she said she would have the class's head teacher talk to the students about it. Any ideas about what the head teacher will say?

Yesterday, I shaved my mustache for rugby purposes. Since I am playing with high schoolers, our rugby coach told me I need to look more like a high schooler. I definitely prefer having facial hair. I feel I look a lot younger and less distinguished looking. Since I have shaved, my host mom keeps asking me where Paul is and if I've seen him. In typical Chilean fashion, 24 hours later, the joke has gone on for too long.

On Friday, our school competed in the second round of debates. We did a good job, though we performed better in the first round. (112 points this round compared to 138 points the last round … out of 144 … I felt the judges this round were harder). Based on the combined scores for both rounds, my school easily had the highest score. The next round is the regional competition, which is on August 31. The topic is advertisements. Since the topic is the same as the first round of debates, we aren't going to have to do too much to prepare, just review the speeches and try making them more gripping and dramatic.

I finally climbed the mountain behind my house. Two times actually, once with just my hostmom and the second time with my host mom and another volunteer, Rachel. The first time was really late in the afternoon and by the time we had gotten to the top clouds had come in preventing us from seeing anything. It was very eerie, particularly when you looked at the edge of the cliff and saw nothing but gray clouds, whether you looked down or out. Despite not being far from Antofagasta we couldn't see the city at all from the top of the mountain. The second time, we left earlier, but it still got cloudy and we didn't get the greatest view from the top. About halfway up we could see the portada in the distance.

I'm not sure I've mentioned this before but there are more public displays of affection particularly among the young people in Chile than in the United States. It largely because kids growing up live with their parents for a longer amount of time then they do in the United States (often until they are 30 or so). The current generation is known as generation kangaroo for this reason – because the kids bounce back to their parents as soon as possible. The other day I was walking back from rugby practice and I decided to walk through a park at 9:30 at night and on every bench their was a couple making out.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Sight-seeing in the Atacaman desert

This Saturday, some other volunteers and I rented a car and checked out a few of the local sights, namely: el mano del desierto, a ghost town, and la portada. Despite my nose deciding it need to be blown every couple of minutes it was a good day. We picked up food at the grocery store before we left and had sandwiches of advocado, cheese and ham with cookies and other snacks. I took a number of good photographies that I'll have to post in the not to distant future.

El mano del desierto is this huge sculpture of a hand in the middle of the Atacaman desert. It was designed to be sort of in the middle of no-where so that people would come solely for the sculpture and then take in the surrounding atmosphere. Apparently the sculptor created giants hands in other parts of the world, allegedly there is one in Patagonia, Venice and France. Unfortunately, a group of people were cleaning the hand when we got there which sort of interrupted the just us and the desert aspect of the place.

The ghost town (I forgot its name) was also in the middle of the desert. It was previously a company town during the nitrate boom (which went bust when scientists figured out how to manufacture nitrates instead of having to mine them). Afterwards it was used briefly as a camp for political prisoners during the 70s right after the Pinochet coup. It was cool place with lots of rusted stuff lying around. The Chilean government had restored the town's theatre and central plaza, which was this mini little oasis of green in the middle of a dead town in the middle of the driest on earth. The Atacaman desert is something, because I had been expecting a little bit of green, maybe some cactus or something but there is nothing but dirt, sand, rocks and hills.

While at the ghost town, we locked the keys in the car. Fortunately, some other town visitors were able to help us break into our rented car. It was funny because when we explained the situation, the guy who helped us was like sure I have the right tools in my car. We definitely gave each other a glance when he said that because who has the right tools to break into a car. However, he came back with only ordinary tools which we used to partially wedge open the car door.

The Portada is the sight that Antofagasta is most famous for. It's this huge granite rock 100 feet off the coast that has been eroded so that it has a hole in the middle. A picture of it is featured on all of the town buses. I've been a little skeptical of whether the beauty of the Portada would live up to its reputation but it definitely exceeded expectations. Its in a very scenic location on a beach surrounded by mini cliffs and it is larger than I expected. You can't help but a wonde a little how is it standing with this huge hole in the middle of it. Definitely worth seeing if you happen to be passing through Antofagasta.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Weird fruit watch and empanadas

So the other day I tried a Chirimoyo (or custard´s apple in English)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custard-apple. It was pretty good, sweet and juicy but unusual in that the flesh of the fruit was a tad custardy.


The other day, I also went to Florencia empanadas which makes the best empanadas in Antofagasta. You can get tons of different topings such as bacon, shrimp, chicken and cheese, olives, to put inside of your empanada and they come out nice warm and greasy. I enjoy Julia´s Empanadas in DC, but these are easily twice to three times as good. (which makes me wonder why they don´t make empanadas like these in DC)The coolest part of these empanadas is that the store puts holes in different places on the crust of the empanada, that you can use to identify what´s inside the empanada. Definitely handy when you and friends order half a dozen

Monday, August 10, 2009

Debates

So Colegio Santa Emilia did really well at the debate competition this past Friday. We scored 138.5 points out of a possible 144. The next highest score was 116 points. I wish we had gotten a little bit more useful feedback from the judges so that we can perform better when the team goes to the national competition, in part because I'm running out of things to tell them. Some of the team members were definitely nervous because they started speaking really quickly when the were up on stage. One minor curveball was that the debaters used a microphone and we hadn't practiced with one before. However for the most part, they handled it without any problems.

I also had a reasonable amount of fun doing the 4 hour event thanks in large part to my students. Before we debated they had a silly team cheer that we did (give me an s give me an s give me an s what does that spell sssss; give me a h give me a h give me an h what does that spell (silence) (the h in spanish is silent)). We also teased each other throughout the event.

The next regional debate is in 2 weeks. But even though we have a lot of work to do to prepare for it, I feeling pretty confident heading into it.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Debates

Tomorrow is the first round of debates. Wish us luck. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Antofagasta

So the Antofagasta Region has lost its first volunteer. She found teaching too stressful. I'm sorry that she was leaving because she was very social and upbeat. Interestingly enough she is moving to Santiago to continue to study Spanish. Two other volunteers here are also considering leaving sometime in the near future as well. One misses home and has student loans that need repaying and the other one doesn't feel safe in Antofagasta. I was surprised by the person who said that they didn't feel safe, because in my opinion Antofagasta is safer than my neighborhood back in DC (this may say more about my neighborhood in DC than it does Antofagasta). My host mom is always telling me that this or that area is unsafe and I've started rolling my eyes and sarcastically saying I'm sure its real dangerous (despite rolling my eyes I do tend not to walk in those areas). In return, I show my host mom articles of crime in Columbia Heights and ask her if she is sure that Antofagasta is dangerous. Now the person who feels unsafe did have his wallet stolen which could contribute to his feeling uneasy.

As for me, I'm doing alright here in Antofagasta. I'm definitely still counting the weeks and I am happy that I've past the half way mark of my stay here in Chile. However, I'm definitely not ready to return home yet. And though I do miss things about home, I'm not having a bad time here in Antofagasta. I enjoy learning how to play rugby and salsa and getting to see and travel throughout South America. I don't enjoy learning spanish (languages has never been a fun subject for me) but I'm glad that I am learning it.

In other news, the four month volunteers have arrived in Antofagasta so I'm excited to meet and share stories with a new group of people. There are 10 of them which doubles the number of volunteers in Antofagasta!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Pepino Dulce story

So the other day, I made a hamburger casserole for my host family. At the grocery store, I saw an interesting unusual vegetable named pepino dulce. Since my casserole needed some peppers, I picked on up. Unfortunately the word for pepper is pimienta. Pepino is cucumber. So instead of buying sweet peppers I was buying sweet cucumbers. I was very surprised when I got home and chopped open the pepino dulce because it was very unpepper-like. It was sort of pink inside and had a slight melon taste. I tossed into the casserole but I'm probably lucky that you couldn't taste it in the final product.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Links

Article about Guinea Pigs (http://www.slate.com/id/2223942/) that mentions the Last Supper Guinea Pig painting (http://reflectionseurope.com/gallery/imagestore/Peru/reflectionseurope_com_Last_Supper_with_guinea_pig_Zapata_Cusco_Peru.sized.jpg) I saw in Cusco.