My last day in Copiapo

I am leaving Copiapo tomorrow, well, technically today. As often as they say it, time really does fly by fast, especially the end of things.

This past week was a little bit different than the rest. A week and a half ago all of the public service workers in Chile (including teachers in public schools) went on a national strike, petitioning for a 14.5% raise for everyone. There was a 48 hour strike last week, and then this Monday the government hadn’t responded, so we went on strike again. This time it lasted for 4 days. It was very frustrating for me, only because I desperately wanted this final week with my kids and had a lot of fun plans for our last classes. But by the time Friday came and we got to go back to school I was thankful just to be able to say goodbye to a lot of my students.

On the good side, I did get a lot done this week, and a lot of sleep, running, etc. Also, CREMA TRUFA (my favorite flavor) gelato came back to my favorite gelato shop last week!!!!! I’d been waiting for a month for them to get it back in….such a great day. On Thursday night all of the teachers and principle threw me a Goodbye Tea at my school…it was really awesome….tons of awesome food, almost all of the teachers came, and the director said some really nice things. I was very blessed to be placed in a school with an incredibly supportive administration and colleagues.

Today all of the volunteers from Copiapo and Caldera (8 of us in all) went with our families to Playa Ramada (Ramada Beach) to celebrate Heinz’s 23rd birthday and to have a final hurrah with everyone. It was a GREAT time…a lot of our host families were meeting each other for the first time, all the kids were playing, Joy’s host family just got a new puppy, etc. We also successfully built a 10-person pyramid :-)

Tomorrow I need to finish packing, and my bus leaves from Copiapo at 8pm, to arrive in Santiago at 7am. I’m planning to spend 2 days out in Vina del Mar, then we have program wrap-up in Santiago. After that we’re headed to the Lakes Region for a week, and then I head down to Patagonia for a week to hike Torres del Paine. Might not get to a blog update for awhile, so please pray for the following:

- Safe travels for all, back to Santiago and throughout South America
- A productive and fun program closing ceremonies, success on the very painful BULATs exam
- Preparation for our hearts and minds to return home in the next few weeks.

- The job search...that all the hiring freezes would end and that when I get hom I´d have an interview with 1 or 2 of the 21 jobs I have so far applied for.

Thank you all for everything over the past few months, and I can’t wait to see some of you soon!

~Steph~

Fires, Strikes, etc. Typical Chile

The last few weeks have been fairly normal for life in Chile….that is, absolutely crazy :-)

Last week was a week of fires. On Tuesday a student knocked the fire extinguisher off the wall in my classroom, and within an hour a student in the next class set off a firecracker, which produced a flame, spark, and smoke, in my classroom in the middle of the class. That student was promptly suspended from school for three days. Then last Friday morning an entire corner burnt down in the middle of the city, with several offices being destroyed and a lot of people out of work. When I walked past the following day there was still smoke coming from the rubble. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be rebuilding it any time soon.

Last Saturday was the huge English festival in the plaza here in Copiapo. I’ve been preparing my English Academias (English clubs) since September, and they performed “Breaking Free” to High school musical, singing and with complete choreography. I was so proud, and it went very well. It was also cool to see kids from all the other middle and high schools present songs and poems in English. One high school girl sang “You’re Still the One” by Shania Twain, and was absolutely incredible. Also, Terryl and I got to be the “Masters of Ceremony”, announcing all the acts, which was also very fun.

Last Sunday I went to Caldera for the day. Strange to think I might only be there one more time. Joy and I had decided to do a long run, and we ran for over 2 hours, to Bahia Inglesa and back…twice :-) It felt great, and afterwards we celebrated with a delicious lunch, and then hung out with Heinz and Ben and did our house church with worship and prayer, and also had an Office marathon.

This week has also been crazy. School was as normal on Monday, except that during lunch all the teachers packed into the teachers’ room to vote on whether or not we’d join the strike. The voted yes, and we, along with all the other public service workers in all of Chile, went on a 48 hour strike for all of Tuesday and Wednesday. I normally would have been slightly excited not to go to work, but it was pretty inconvenient, as ALL of my classes had tests this week so that we could just have fun next week….which is now a bit thrown off, but oh well. On Tuesday morning I went down with my family to the march in the center, and Terryl and Donte and I represented the gringos marching for better wages for the public service workers in Chile. It was pretty exciting, although apparently it’s illegal for foreigners to participate in government protests here? Well, we didn’t end up getting deported, so I guess they didn’t care TOO much.

We went back to school yesterday and yesterday and today were probably the 2 craziest days I’ve had at school. All my kids from Tuesday and Wednesday were trying to make up their tests, and the English Olympics ended today at 1pm, so today during the recreos I literally had 60-70 students pouring into my classroom, all trying to get my attention for different things. Consequently I didn’t eat, drink, or leave my classroom until the end of the day. I’ll announce the winners of the Olympics in my next blog, because I’m not officially announcing it until Monday morning at the assembly.

It is pretty crazy to realize I only have 5 days left in the school. Every day I have a few students close to tears when it’s brought up, and I tell them I’m still trying not to think about it. As much as some of the kids drive me crazy, my students have, hands-down, been the best part of my experience here in Chile. They make me very proud, they make me work very hard, and they make me smile and laugh very much. I don’t know how I’m going to leave them next week.

My host family continues to be wonderful, but they also talk more and more about how I’m leaving soon. Tonight Monse told me she didn’t want me to leave for 2 reasons; 1. Because she’s going to miss me too muc, and 2. Because she doesn’t want to sleep by herself in her room. (She sleeps with her mom every night, but when I leave Gloria decided that she has to start sleeping by herself, all night, ever night). I’m going to miss having an 8 year old sister :-)

Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for all the prayers and support coming from back home and all over the world…God has been incredibly faithful, and he proves that to me more and more every day, even in my moments of weakness and doubt. Please continue to pray for the following things:

- My last week of classes – that the kids would have fun and goodbyes wouldn’t be too hard
- Continuing perseverance on the job search…I’m looking at stuff all over the country, hoping that something will come through.
- My host family – a good (and not too sad) last week together
- All the other volunteers in the program who are finishing up 4, 6, or 8 months of volunteering – that their last days would be a great time of fun and reflection on an incredible experience, and for safe travels for all back to Santiago

Thanks so much everyone!

~Steph~

P.S. For those I’m not in constant contact with…I’ll be back in the States on December 12th. As much as I’ve loved nearly every second of my time here, I’m also getting excited to be back, with family, friends, the SNOW, and Christmastime. God is good :-)

Halloweeeeen = very scary

This past weekend was slightly less amazing than the weekend before, and I can say very honestly I had the scariest Halloween night ever.

Due to a new national holiday, we didn’t have school (again) on Friday, so another long weekend! On Thursday night Terryl and I actually got to help plan and emcee the Halloween Party that the English Department at the University of Atacama was throwing. It was a lot of fun, and felt very much like running a Halloween (Young Life) Club….very crazy, and everyone got really into the games. Also, Terryl went as Weezer the Werewolf (a werewolf who’s, very unfortunately, allergic to humans), and I was Weazella the Witch (a witch who went to Hogwarts, formed a huge crush on Ron Weasley and changed her name to show her devotion, yet before she actually declared her love had to drop out because she was the secret daughter of Voldemort). We played “making the mummy”, “Balloon War”, Bobbing for Apples relay, had a costume fashion show, played Chubby Bunny (although re-named “Hocus Pocus for the occasion”) and hung out. It was a ton of fun, and we’re hopefully going to continue to help out every week or so in the English classes for the rest of our time here.

On Friday Nicole, Mike and I set out with our friend/guide Daniel on what was supposed to be a 2 day trip to explore Laguna Santa Rosa, Nevado Tres Cruces (some of the highest active volcanoes in the world) and Laguna Verde. What turned out to be an extreme disaster was the altitude. For the record, our city of Copiapo is basically at sea level. We had a great afternoon relaxing and eating at an altitude of about 1200 meters, in order to try and acclimate ourselves. In the evening we arrived at Laguna Santa Rosa, where you can see Nevado Tres Cruces across the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous, with lines of snow still visible on the volcanoes, wild guanacos running across the hills, and dozens of flamingoes swimming in the lake (am I the only one who thought flamingoes lived in warm weather?). Oh yes, and it was absolutely FRIGID. We arrived when the sun was still up and it was probably about 35 degrees, and it only got colder from there. Now, for all of you in the US, I know it’s getting cold there, but here in Copiapo we enjoy sunny weather and 75-85 degrees every afternoon.

The altitude at Laguna Santa Rosa is a little over 12,000 ft, but we didn’t feel it too much at first as we were walking around. Apparently though, it is a very VERY bad idea to gain so much altitude in a day, and then sleep at the high altitude, without being acclimated before. This is something our friend/guide failed to mention, or perhaps was not smart enough, as an experienced outdoorsman, to know. We did get to watch a beautiful sunset and the mountains change to a deep pink and purple. After three hours of trying our guide and his friend were still unable to start a fire to cook dinner, and though they blamed it on the lack of oxygen (which would have been a valid point) we could clearly see three other fires burning across the lake, and so were skeptical. Finally at 10:30pm we decided to just eat some bread, drink plenty of water, and go to bed. Nicole was VERY cold when we arrived, so we opted to sleep in the refugio instead of the tent. Still freezing, we bundled up in our sleeping bags and went to sleep. It was a pretty horrible three hours of on and off sleep, and without going into too much detail, Nicole got some pretty bad altitude sickness in the middle of the night. When I got up to look for advil in my bag, something pretty awful happened, the details of which I am opting to skip in the blog.

But due to these and related circumstances, we were awake from 4:15 until 7am when we had to leave to come back to Copiapo, 12 hours ahead of schedule. It was an incredibly scary night, and I still have the fear of what happened, but I was able to rest the remainder of the weekend. And yesterday on Sunday Joy came to Copiapo to spend the day and night here, and we spent the afternoon hanging out with Nicole and Mike and having an Office: season 5 marathon and eating brownies that Nicole baked. It was just the relaxation we all needed.

In general things here in Chile have been fantastic, and I can’t believe I have less than 3 weeks left here in Copiapo, and less than 6 weeks left in Chile. My kids (in general) get better every week, and right now I can’t imagine leaving them. I think by the time Thanksgiving hits I’ll be excited to come back for Christmas, but right now I’m just enjoying living, and being, and experiencing this awesome place. And though many people in Chile don’t know where Copiapo is, I have come to love this city. It’s not incredibly beautiful, nor a hub for nightlife or culture, or anything. But it is a great city, and full of real people, living real lives. Right now I’m prepping my kids for their final evaluations and giving them pep-talks for some motivation to finish strong in the English Olympics.

Prayers would be great for the following in the next week or so:

1. Finishing strong with all my kids, smooth evaluations and a crazy final week of the Enlgish Olympics

2. Class discipline, especially for: 6A, 6B, and 7A

3. Peace for the future as I’m starting to apply for jobs back in the States

4. A few health concerns; peace about the fact that I probably won’t be able to have them checked out until January or February when I have a job and health insurance again.

5. That I’d give every day to God and be focused first and foremost on living each day for His glory.

Thank you all for your continuing prayers and support….feel free to email me if/when you get a chance!

~Steph~

Gringos go to Portofino!

Though my actual birthday was on October 17^th, I had the awesome privilege to celebrate for an entire weekend the following week. My host family has a house on the beach at Portofino, which is a TINY beach village about 15 minutes south of Chanarall (an hour and a half northwest of Copiapo). There are no stores, no electricity, and My host mom invited all of my friends up for the weekend, and all (minus Ben due to his ankle) were able to come and celebrate. On Friday Joy and I went up early with Gloria and Monserrat to open up the house and get it ready. We played cards and as Heinz was due to arrive sometime between 9pm and 1am, in the complete darkness, with no real idea where the house was, we made frequent walks out to the highway to look for him. Luckily on our last trip out before quitting for the night a bus stopped and our fellow gringo got off.

The next morning Joy and I caught a bus up to Chanarall to do some grocery shopping, and though we tried to hitch-hike back to Portofino my host mom ended up driving by before any other cars picked us up. We went for a run on the beach around noon, and by the time we got back ALL the other gringos had arrived! Joy, Heinz, Terryl, Donte, Nicole and Mike (along with Gloria and Monserrat) and I spent the afternoon on the beach relaxing, and the more adventurous of us got in the slightly frigid Pacific. The beach at Portofino is small but beautiful, with grand amounts of rocks jutting out into the water at various places, white sand and water that is clear/aqua colored close into the beach. It was a wonderful day spent together, eating lunch, relaxing and playing games, eating once, relaxing and watching the sunset, and eating a HUGE asado at about 10pm with all of us and a few of Gloria’s friends and family from Chanarall. Followed, of course, by delicious torta de chocolate (chocolate cake!) They made me get out the guitar and we sang songs for a few hours on the porch, relaxing and talking until some of us had to give into the pull of exhaustion.

On Sunday most left in the morning, but Donte, Terryl and I got to stay while my host mom closed up the house and spend another afternoon on the beach just thinking, praying, writing, etc. It was so wonderful. Though Portofino gets busy in the summer the whole weekend we saw about 5 other people in the whole place. It was an amazing birthday weekend (again), and made me very thankful for my host family and all the friends I have here in Chile.

The big 2-2

I wish every weekend was 3 days long. Due to the National Teachers’ Appreciation Day, we had off school on Friday, which was also my birthday! On Thursday night all of the teachers from my school went out to this really nice Chinese place for dinner and everyone sang to me at midnight and gave me a birthday present.


My 22nd birthday was low-key, but wonderful. I decided to go for a nice long run and then spend the day with my amazing friends out in Caldera. Joy took me to lunch at Casa de Empanadas (which I found out has much better jaiva queso (crab and cheese) empanadas than Empanapolis. Then we spent the afternoon with Heinz, Donte and Ben at Ben’s house, because he broke his ankle last week playing soccer with his kids and has been bed-ridden ever since. We hung out, and they got me a cake and sang! It was my best foreign birthday ever, and spending it with friends was the best thing I could have done. That evening before I went back Joy, Heinz and I were driving around and found a 3 week-old kitten in the middle of the road! We decided to rescue it and after being rejected from the vet clinic and finding out the city building was closed, we were able to give it to one of Joy’s students who happened to be walking through the plaza at the same time.


Teaching has been going well, and the English Olympics are in full-swing. It’s crazy to think that we only have about a month left here in our schools and with our students. In some ways I´m excited for Christmas season and to be back home, and in other ways I really cannot imagine leaving this awesome place.


Prayer for the following things would be:

- That the last few weeks of classes would be productive, inspiring, and fun for the students
- Continued energy and motivation for me
- Prayer for my host family (host mom Gloria and 8 year-old sister Monserratt), that I´d be a really good witness to them my last month in their house
- Peace about the future.

God is good. All the time.

Thanks for all your prayers and support - please keep in touch!

- Steph -

PERU

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to spend a week in Peru. I got permission to miss a few days of school and due to lack of interest and my impulsive decision, I made the trip alone.

I left Wednesday afternoon, and the 18 hour bus ride up to Arica (the northernmost city in Chile) was actually quite enjoyable due to the fact that I had 2 whole seats all to myself and slept very well.

I arrived in Arica and went to buy my bus ticket to cross the border into Tacna, Peru, and got my first shock. The ticket agents told me that because I didn’t have the right ID (I hadn’t yet picked up my Chilean id card) I could not go to Peru. It was like an awful flashback of July 25th in Philly when the lady at the Delta counter told me for almost 2 hours that I could not go to Chile. This time I was pretty sure they were wrong, but I had to ride with them to the International Police station to verify that, in fact, I could cross the border without a problem with my documentation. On the bus to Tacna I met a fellow gringo – he was an older gentleman originally from Massachusetts who, due to circumstances and some bad luck, is now working exporting used clothing from Peru and Chile to other parts of the world.

I got to Tacna and ended up on a VERY sketchy bus to ride the 6 hours up to Arequipa. There were about 8 women on my bus with ghastly amounts of used clothing, electronics and other things which they were smuggling up to Arequipa. One of them actually sat next to me and I had some newspaper-wrapped objects, that I’m still believing were books, hidden between my seat and the wall. Due to all the illegal paraphanalia on the bus we were stopped at the inspection station for almost 2 hours and I didn’t arrive in Arequipa until about 7pm that night.

I went to my hostel and then decided to explore the city a bit, eat dinner, etc. I was planning on doing a trek to the Colca Canyon (the 2nd deepest canyon in the world) on Sat/Sun., but when I passed by a tour agency that was still open my plans changed. They had a 2 day/1 night tour leaving the next morning, so I signed up. Now, when I say the next morning I mean that they arrived at my hostel at 12:15 am to pick me up…only 2 short hours after I had finally gone to bed.

We had a 5 hour bus ride to the canyon, and arrived at 6am to eat breakfast and prepare for the trek. Our group was very awesome. There were 2 Peruvian guides who were both in their early 20s, and 4 of us. My group included Milan, a 19 year-old Dutch guitar player, Eveline, a 23 year-old German girl who’s studying sociology, and Ohad, a 22 year-old Israeli guy who just got out of his 3 years in the Israeli Army. The group was a lot of fun, and we started hiking around 7am on Friday. The first day included about 4 hours of hiking down all the way into the canyon, stopping for lunch, and finishing with a 3 hour hike to the oasis. It was GORGEOUS. I’ve always been a greater advocate for the beauty of mountains, but I agree with what Donald Miller said in “Through Painted Deserts”, where he said that canyons are just as beautiful as mountains, but are less obviously so because they don’t rise above the rest of the land. The Colca Canyon is absolutely beautiful, and around every corner of the trail there’s a different view, a different magnificence to breathe in.

After hiking all day we arrived around 4pm at the Oasis. The Oasis is located at the bottom of the canyon, and has different types of accommodations. Having only paid $40 for our entire 2 day trip, we were in the lowest level, but this was still pretty awesome. We got to take a dip in the beautiful swimming pool, ate a hot dinner, I taught my friends how to play poker and Blackjack, and we went to bed early at 8:30.

The next morning we awoke at 4am to start the hike at 4:30. one of our guides woke up with stomach pain and couldn’t continue, and Evelyn’s feet were hurting too much to make the trek, so the two of them had to ride up the hill on mulas (mules). About 20 minutes into the hike Milan got really dizzy and also had to get a mula, so just 3 of the 6 of us (Diego, Ohad, and I) finished the 3.5 hour hike (uphill the entire time). It was pretty difficult at times but when we did the final climb out of the canyon it felt great.

We got to watch a family of condors fly through the canyon and stopped in a small village for lunch on our way back to Arequipa, and though my body was in a lot of pain for the next 3 days it was one of the best things I’ve done in South America.

I spent the next day and a half exploring the city of Arequipa. It’s beautiful, and while it has a good amount of tourism it’s not quite so bad as Cusco farther to the north, and most of the tourism is actually people from other parts of Peru. One of the best (and worst upon my return to Chile) things about Peru was that it was SO cheap. I had dinner one night and got: a big bowl of cream of tomato soup, a large slice of lasagna, chocolate crepes, and a glass of wine for only $5. My roundtrip bus ticket (which was about 14 hrs on the bus) was only $15 to and from Arequipa. I almost didn’t want to leave. I did a bus tour in Arequipa and then got invited out to dinner with 2 of the ladies on my tour which was very fun – one of them was actually a Fulbright Scholar last year and did a year as a research assistant at Harvard. That night I also witnessed a fantastic, yet slighty scary fireworks show right in front of one of the catholic churches. It was beautiful and lasted about 25 minutes, but it was literally happening 5’ in front of the church, and at one point one of the wooden rings that launches the fireworks fell from the air and landed about 7 feet from where I was sitting.

On Monday I headed back to Tacna and crossed the border to Arica, where I was pretty excited to get to spend a full day there. For those who don’t know, my friends and I were originally supposed to be placed in Arica as teachers there, but at the last minute the government closed the program there and moved us to different cities further south. And I went to Arica hoping I could hate it, and be confidently glad that we’re not living there. Unfortunately, it was beautiful. I got to watch the sunset on the most beautiful beach I’ve seen yet in Chile. I explored the nightlife and got to experience the several blocks of pedestrian-only streets with shopping, dining, and tons of people. The next morning I explored the historical center of the city, climbed the famous hill that overlooks the city, and took it all in. It was slightly run-down, and there was no defined center of the city, so in some ways I was thankful to be returning to my smaller Copiapo.

The 18 hour bus ride back down to Copiapo was good until about 30 Chilean marines got on the bus in Iquique, and I no longer had a lot of space to myself. And we arrived back here at 6:30am…just in time for me to run home, change my clothes, and get to school in time for my first class at 8.

It was a great trip, and apart from a few slightly sketchy stories that I will not include in the blog, I had an absolutely amazing time.

Church, Repelling and an impulsive viaje!

Hey y´all!

Just thought I would shoot out an update before I head off travelling for about a week. The past week has been pretty good. On Sunday Joy, Heinz and Ben came into town for the day and we got to grab lunch. In the evening Terryl and I went to check out a church that, randomly enough, one of my 5th grade students told me about a few weeks ago. (That story goes....one of my students came up to me with the phrase ¨Lay down my pride¨ and asked me what it meant in Spanish. I told him, and asked him where he had heard it, and he told me it was a Hillsong song that he heard at home. Upon hearing that I asked if and where his family goes to church, and he said at Cristo, tu unica esperanza).

Anyways, we went on Sunday night at 8, and the service was awesome. The best worship music I´ve heard in Chile, and even though the pastor spoke kind of fast I understood most of it. The only drawback is that it´s from about 8-10:30pm on Sundays...which doesn´t SOUND late, but this week at least I was pretty tired by the middle of the service. I´m hoping to go back in a week or two though, so hopefully I´ll be more rested :-)

Today was Tuesday, which means the kids were especially difficult. I sent 4 kids out of class in one of my classes (the last one of the day), and it was very frustrating. BUT after work I got to go repelling for the first time here in Chile which was AMAZING. Definitely might be a hobby that I start up back in the States :-)

And, breaking news.....tomorrow I´m headed to PERU for a week!!! It was kind of an impulsive decision....I decided on Sunday to ask permission to take a long weekend (6 days) to travel up to Peru. I´m pretty excited, although slightly nervous, only because i´m travelling ALONE. I´ve heard it´s safe as long as I´m smart, but prayers for this would be very much appreciated. I´m leaving tomorrow (Wed.) in the afternoon and arrive back next Wednesday morning. I´ll be staying most of the time (outside of the 48 hours total of travel time) in the city of Arequipa, Peru. And of course will update with the experience upon my (hopefully safe) return :-)


That´s all from Chile now...I hope that everyone is doing well....I miss you all!

- Steph -

Some Highlights

More updates from the past 2 weeks:

Coming back to school after vacation was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I actually missed my kids a lot over the break, and the week off gave my patience a chance to come back, and has given me just a more relaxed attitude overall. Highlights from the last 2 weeks:

1. Last Friday after the 7th/8th grade English club I got to teach my 8th grade girls the dance to "Soldier Boy". They were so thrilled. And it was so fun.

2. This isn't necessarily a good highlight, but last week in the middle of the week my 8th grade girls were hanging out with me during a Recreo, and started talking about how much they're going to miss me when I leave. I told them it's not even halfway through my time here yet, so they'd better not be thinking about that anytime soon. But, it still made me sad.

3. This week I got to be a tutor! The girl who lives across the street from me is in Tercero Medio (11th grade) She's a GREAT English student but had a quiz and so i helped her prepare. It was pretty awesome to work with someone who both is: a. proficient in English and b. really wants to learn more. We also might hang out sometime soon, which would be awesome.

3. Last night I performed in public for the first time in my life. About a month ago an English professor from the University here in the city came to one of our English teacher meetings and asked if anyone could prepare something for this Open Mic/Talent show they were having. I said I would, but honestly COMPLETELY forgot until Donte called me yesterday to see if I was still going. I had no plans, and decided, why not? So i took my Martin with me, and on a stage by myself performed "Someday you'll see" (one of my songs), and Bethany Dillon's "All I Need". It was a ton of fun, and I think went pretty well too. The other performers were all English students, and performances ranged from slow gospel songs to Simple Plan, to Black Sabbath. One group of students actually performed the popular dance/drama to the Lifehouse song "Everything", which was absolutely amazing, and made me so very happy.

4. Today I got to go help pick up trash with a group of young adults on Cerro de la Cruz at sunset. They do it every few weeks, and last week I met the guy who organizes it, so he gave me a call today. Terryl came too, and it was a ton of fun, both meeting some new people, climbing Cerro de la Cruz (getting to see the city from the top at NIGHT was incredible), and helping out the community.

I feel like I'm missing a lot of highlights, but that's all I can think of right now. Oh yeah, the English Olympics started in my classes this week...each class is a country in which the people speak mostly English, and the teams compete until mid-november. They earn points by: 1. Bringing in English things for the walls (which ALSO helps me decorate!), 2. Bringing in things to read in English, 3. Reciting something in English or having a conversation with me. There are only 2 rules in the competition. 1 is that it is in English. And 2 is that it is about their country. So far most of the kids seek really into it, so hopefully this will help stimulate their learning outside of class a bit.

Prayers for continued patience, energy, and enthusiasm would be very much appreciated. Also, I might start helping out with some workshops with the English University students, which would be very awesome, and so I really hope it can work out. Thanks to everyone for your continued love and support - please keep in touch!!!

~Steph~

VACATION!!!!!

It´s been awhile since the last post, and I feel like I´ve been around the world and back since then.

The week before our vacation Pedro Leon Gallo had a celebration on Friday for the 18th (the Chilean Independence Day). LOTS of students danced the Cueca, there was a dramatic performance, etc.

The bus to San Pedro de Atacama was about 12 hours, and though it was overnight I did not sleep very well at all. We arrived in San Pedro around 10am and after some scrambling to check alternatives we ended up at our originally-booked hostel, Samaj-Jallpa. The hostel was actually pretty awesome for a hostel. It´s part of a set of Swiss hostels here in Chile, it was very clean, had a full kitchen, a pool table, nice bathroom, and was only $14 a night.

The first tour we did in San Pedro was on Sunday afternoon...we headed out by bus to a huge salt lake in the middle of the desert. It was 75% salt which meant you could float in it with absolutely no effort. The water was actually freezing at the top, but as it got deeper it became warmer, and if you let your feet sink down it actually felt like they were burning. On the same tour we got to go to Los Ojos de Salar...these random twin lakes in the middle of the desert that look like eyes, and then to one of the lakes with Flamingoes to watch the sunset, the moon rise, (both of which were absolutely breathtaking) and to drink some Pisco.

On Monday we slept in, headed into town and rented bikes for the morning. At $2 an hour for the rentals, we rode out to check out these cool rock formations about 7 miles away. It was a pretty spectacular thing...it felt like you could ride through the rocks for miles and miles, although at times the path was so narrow we had to either walk through or hoist our bikes up through narrow openings. Monday afternoon we headed out on another organized tour, this time to Valle del Muerte and Valle de la Luna, with a few other stops along the way. Everything was very cool, and we got some awesome pictures. Everyone was hyped up for Valle de la Luna...it's supposed to be a great place to watch the sunset and the moon rise. It was beautiful, but I think in comparison to that of the previous day I was a little let down).

Tuesday morning the 5 of us awoke early..at 3:30am. At 4am our private chauffer came to pick us up, and we headed on a 1.5 hour trip up some very narrow and dangerous dirt roads in the dark, to the Tatio Geysers. The Tatio Geysers are the world's highest geyser field, and we definitely felt the altitude as soon as we stepped out of the van. It was also absolutely FREEZING. Despite several, several layers of clothing, it was cold. In fact, Joy, Heinz, and Ben actually spent the better part of the early morning inside the van being warm. The geysers were just starting to get bigger as we got there and there seemed to be hundreds and hundreds of them all around.

After awhile we headed over to another part of the park where we saw a huge geyser...and the hot water that burned a French guy alive 2 years ago when he got too close while trying to get a picture...and fell in. We also got to bathe in the thermal bath that is right there. Luckily the sun was coming up at this point so when we stripped down to our bathing suits it was probably ALMOST a balmy 40 degrees :-). After the thermal baths we got back in the van with our driver Pedro for the rest of our excursion. We stopped in a few TINY villages, another random huge lake in the middle of the desert, and in the village of Chiu-Chiu where we saw the oldest church in Chile. We went to lunch at a restaurant together and then got dropped off at the bus station in Calama for our 15 hour busride down to La Serena.

I actually slept great on this bus...probably due to the extreme exhaustion from the day at the geysers! But nevertheless, we arrived at 5:30am in La Serena, and having left Ben in Copiapo, were joined by Donte and Terryl for the rest of the vacation. My host mom, SO very nicely, offered us the apartment she just bought in Serena to use for the week. (She'll be renting it out as tourist season starts soon). It was very cute with 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, living room, dining area, and bathroom. AND a free place to stay, which is always amazing, and very rare. On Wednesday we went to the movies, because none of us have a movie theater within 3 hours of our homes here in Chile. Sadly, the movie we picked turned out pretty badly, but it was still a treat to see one on a big screen.

Thursday was September 18th, which is the Chilean Independence Day. Aka - day of craziness. Again, due to the amazingness of my host family, all 6 of us gringos got invited to my host mom's family's asado (amazing bbq) for the day. We went and got to meet the whole family, and got to eat. A LOT. They brought us out empanadas and choripan (yummmmm) first. After being almost full from these, we then sat down to about 5 different types of meat, including steak, chicken, and some unidentified ones, rice, and several salads. There was one dark-colored sausage that looked slightly sketchy. I took a bite and the texture was very soft and kind of disconnected. A few minutes later I found out from my host mom that it's actually dried blood that they cook up with some meat remnants to make the blood sausage. I tried to keep the food I had eaten down, and decided the rest of the blood sausage would stay on my plate. We were at the asado until 8pm, and then the 6 of us headed over to La Pampilla...the HUGE festival that happens every year in Coquimbo for the week of the 18th.

None of us really knew what to expect for La Pampilla, but it was pure craziness. First it was like a HUGE flea market, where they sold everything from clothing, to socks, to knives, to candy....everything. There were rows and rows of restaurants and bars in tents as well. Then to the one side there was this big carnival, with probably about 12-15 different rides. And then in a pit below there was a HUGE stage set up where singers and groups performed all day long and late into the night. We enjoyed a little of everything, including being harassed by a homeless guy during one of the concerts and buying very cheap and delicious Chicha. It was a good night.

On Friday we slept in again, and then went down to explore the beach in La Serena. We walked almost the whole length of it, and saw a bit of the city of La Serena as well. The only sad part was, due to La Pampilla (the fact that everyone and their mother were there), almost NOTHING was open. We found a cheap place to eat, and then headed over to Coquimbo to explore their downtown fora bit (which was, also, quite dead).

On Saturday we decided to make a trek to the grocery store to get lunch and supplies to cook dinner together. It was about a 20/25 minute walk along the highway up to the Deca, and the store was PACKED. Somehow we managed to find our stuff and get back in one piece! After lunch we went to Coquimbo again to explore a bit more. We climbed the hill on which is the huge and famous Millenium Cross. They built it for the millenium, and architecturally it is probably the ugliest cross I have ever seen. But, the view from the top over the city, the bay, and out to the mountains was absolutely beautiful. Afterwards we walked down to enjoy the waterfront and check out the fish market before heading back to cook dinner.

After a great pasta dinner we played more of our favorite game, Bananagrams, and the next morning had our 5 hour bus ride back up north to Copiapo. During this ride I actually finished what is now one of my favorite books of all time, "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller. If you have not read it I highly recommend it.

It´s Raining, It´s Pouring...and everyone is shocked

It rained today in Copiapo. In the early morning, again in the afternoon, and for most of the evening. It only does this once every few years, and apparently NEVER in September (usually only rains mid-winter in July....every few years).

Rumor has it, if it rains too much more tonight they cancel school...Rain Days instead of Snow Days, because they don´t have the ability to manage the flooding in the streets, flooding in the schools, etc. Since it never rains.

The rain was gorgeous though, and hopefully it will mean even PRETTIER flowers in the desert in a few weeks for Desert Florido. Yay :-)

FINALLY!!!!

PEANUT BUTTER M&MS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN CHILE!!!!!!!!

I cannot credit this to myself, but rather Heinz and Ben, who while perusing through the Jumbo here in Copiapo yesterday stumbled across the beloved peanut butter M&Ms, which along with Reeses (or any candy with chocolate and peanut butter together), have thusfar been absent across the country. Joy and Heinz shared a few of these delicious morsels with me, and I realized it had been more than a month since I had eaten any sort of peanut butter.

Afterwards I went to buy at least some peanut butter (the store with the pb m&ms isn´t within walking distance) which, though it is here, is VERY expensive. A normal/small sized jar is actually between $7-8 ...so I won´t be eating it too much. But it was great to know I won´t have to go 3.5 more months without peanut butter m&ms. That being said, they too are also quite pricey here, so if anyone was sending down a care package those are a welcome addition.

The past week has been busy but good. Teaching is still crazy but I feel like the kids are beginning to learn a little bit. Tuesdays are by far the worst day (with the worst-behaved students), but Wed - Fri. are pretty great days. I forgot to add last time some more interesting questions I get from my students:

1. Have you met The Jonas Brothers/Miley Cyrys/Michael Phelps (just got asked about him on Friday) ? I want to lie and say yes but usually let them down easily and say while I know OF them, or like James Blake have actually been within 10 feet of him, I have not actually met them, nor are we close friends.

2. What time is it right now in the US? Some of you may also not know the time difference. It´s actually quite easy, because right now EST in the US is the exact same as Chile.

3. (my favorite) Do you have any kids? (one student even asked how MANY kids I have). I always laugh, and remind them that I´m currently 21, right out of college. But honestly, there are a LOT more people here who have kids at a younger age, so it´s really not a ridiculous question on their part. Still makes me laugh :-)

This past weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday night was another crazy and awesome school event - the Anniversary DINNER for all of the teachers and adminstration at the school. I don´t know if I mentioned it before, but during the past 3 weeks I had been rehearsing a dance to the song ¨One¨ from A Chorus Line with about 10 of the other teachers. We probably spent 12 hours getting ready for this, including planning the elaborate costumes, creating and practicing choreography. It was a lot of fun (although learning the choreography was a little difficult because all the ladies would talk very fast and I couldn´t understand anything until I watched them do it) and we performed it at the beginning of the anniversary dinner. The dinner itself was lovely. At the beginning we had cocktails and appetizers and lit candles for the anniversary. Then we ate a delicious sit-down meal and there was a DJ...who did Karaoke for the music. Like he sang all of the songs, which was a little weird to me at first but he was very talented so it was great. AND after the meal most of us profesoras got up and danced for a good hour or 2 which was also fun. One of the best parts was that I actually RECOGNIZED a few of the songs, which means I´m beginning to know the popular chilean songs! This week in school I actually gave out blank CDs to various students and asked them to burn me some of their favorite/the popular music here since I don´t have ANY on my computer :-). The dinner went from 8pm til midnight and then afterwards about 8 of us went out to the brand new casino here in Copiapo. It was beautiful, although as it ended up I only had enough money with me to get in ($5 to enter the casino). 1 of the profs gave me 1 mil to play with, so I got to play about 20 rounds on the slots.

Saturday I made another trip out to Caldera to see Joy, Heinz, and Ben. This time I got there early enough to have lunch with Joy´s family which was a lot of fun. Her host parents are so sweet and they have three young kids in the house, so it´s pretty crazy. Afterwards the four of us went out to Bahia Inglesa to see the beautiful beach there and hung out for a little while. I had my jaiva con queso empanada for dinner again back in Caldera and got back to Copiapo by 9.

The day after I ran up Cerro de la Cruz last week I got a little lecture from my co-teacher who told me, because it was pretty isolated, was too dangerous to do alone because there are pandillas (sp?)..aka gangs that hang out on the hill. I told her that I hadn´t seen anyone and that while I´d be careful when I go alone, I´m probably not going to stop going. It´s too beautiful at the top, too convenient, and my favorite place here in the city.

That being said, this past weekend on Sunday I got to hike up Cerro de la Cruz again with Terryl and Donte to watch the sunset. Though the guys enjoyed the hike slightly less than I did, the sunset over the mountains was pretty beautiful, and an experience that will happen several more times.

One of the biggest obstacles I´ve been facing recently is learning to turn on the Calefont (water heater) in the house. It doesn´t seem like it should be that complicated...you light a match inside this box, turn on the gas valve, pull out this little handle and turn it to the left. But I still have yet to successfully do it on my own. It has been my goal to conquer since I arrived and hopefully will happen soon.

I´m still living in constant fear of the killer spiders that live here in Copiapo. I think I saw my first of the super deadly ones last week, just strolling along the sidewalk as I was doing my post-run stretches. (obviously it was dead within seconds of my sighting). The second happened the same day, but this time was inside. I was pulling my pajama pants out of my closet to put on, and this HUGE tigre spider was just chilling on top. I screamed and through the pants to the floor. Now, the tigre spiders are actually good (apparently). They eat the little deadly ones. I´m only half sorry to say, the tigre spider that happened upon my pants was also dead within seconds of my sighting. They are just too big to let live in my room...especially if I want to sleep in peace.

This weekend looks to be slightly less eventful than the past several, but that´s okay...from Sept 12th until the 21st we have VACATION!!! (spring break, if you will). More on that later, but it starts in 9 days. Which is awesome.

I don´t think I´ve mentioned it yet in the blog, but one of the fun things I´m trying to do in every class is to teach a little American slang at the beginning. So far the kids have learned:

1. What´s up? - Not much. What´s up with you?
2. I gotta go. - See ya later. - Catch ya later.
3. Cool. Awesome.

I have a list going but let me know if you have any ideas for some cool/somewhat easy slang to teach.

Lastly, today in the 5th/6th grade Academia, I got really excited. I should explain first, that on Wednesdays I get to lead the 5th/6th grade English Academia (english club..aka kids who all want to learn english and chose it as their extra curric), and on Fridays the 7th/8th grade English Academia. Each one is supposed to start preparing a song or poem for the English festival happening here in Copiapo at the end of October. And today, after a lot of pretty competitive brainstorming, argument, and voting, the 5th/6th graders (quintos and sextos) have chosen to learn and perform "Breaking Free" from High School Musical. Not gonna lie, I´m pretty ecstatic.

Well that´s all for now. If you´ve got facebook check out all the new pictures I put up the last few days....I´m trying to get them up on the blog too but don´t know if that can happen anytime soon.

And please keep in touch!!! Email, skype, whatever works. Miss you all!

- Steph -

Sweet Home Alabama, Cerro de la Cruz, and continued craziness...

The last week here in Copiapó has been pretty spectacular. As I´ve settled into the routine of teaching the workdays go by a bit faster, and the students and I are both settling into a routine. Not to say that some days are not extremely difficult. I´ve come to realize that on Mondays and Tuesdays I have my most difficult classes, behavior-wise. Tuesday is actually the worst...in 2 of my classes there are a few kids who literally run around and shout the entire classroom. I already usually lose my voice by the end of the day, but I was told I can start sending them back to their normal classroom (something none of them want). We´ll see if it gets any better.

This past weekend had a lot of highlights. It was the first weekend since I arrived that I did no REAL travelling. On Friday my host mother (who is the head teacher of a sixth-grade class at my school) actually organized a field trip specifically for me. I told her earlier in the week that I´ve been itching to do some sort of a hike, and so in 2 days she organized permission slips and everything for her whole class to hike Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross). It´s right next to the city and while it´s really not huge it is steep and challenging at parts, and from the top there´s a fantastic panoramic view of Copiapó and all of the surrounding desert hills/mountains. As soon as I saw the view at the top it became my new favorite place here. It was also a fun and interesting experience going on a fieldtrip with 30 rowdy sixth graders...I just can´t believe I was ever that crazy :-)

On Saturday morning we had a school make-up day. (In June there was a teachers´ strike so there are several Saturdays that all of the teachers have to be in school). This week, rather than classes, we had the celebration festival for the school´s anniversary (which is in August). It was one of the most fun school events I´ve been too. The bulk of it was this huge dance competition, in which about 16 kids (8 couples) from each grade, all the way from 1st to 8th, danced to a different type of music. The cutest were the 1st graders...the little boys were in full penguin suits and the girls in these long pink and white dresses with hats, and they did sort of a "waltz-type" dance. The 5th graders were the most disturbing...their song was "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. The teachers just didn´t think it was as weird or disturbing as I did. The older kids danced to pop and reggaeton which was fun but the dancing was also not what I would do in front of a ton of teachers and younger students. During each dance each couple had a number on their backs and at the end a winner was chosen. After the dance competition was over it was our turn. 2 days earlier one of the assistant directors at the school had asked me to sing something in English. So, in front of about 1200 kids, parents, and teachers, with my Martin backpacker guitar and a small band backing me up, I got to rock out to "Sweet Home Alabama" (Lynyrd Skynyrd). About 100 kids rushed down to the front and formed a little pit. It was SO much fun!! It also made me miss Young Life VERY much. Afterwards 2 of the other female profs and I sang 2 Chilean pop songs which was also fun, and made me realize I need to get some Spanish music on my computer!

After the celebration on Saturday I headed out to Caldera, which is the port town about 45 minutes West of Copiapó on the beach. 3 of my friends and other volunteers Joy, Heinz, and Ben, are all living and teaching there. It´s a beautiful town...much smaller than Copiapó but right on the water, and for dinner we got to have empanadas (so far my favorite Chilean food) at a cute and tasty place called Empanapolis. The roundtrip bus ticket from Copiapó to Caldera is only 2 mil pesos (about $4) so i´ll probably be making the trip every week or 2.

On Sunday I went to my first church here in the City. Donte and I went to the Presbyterian Church near La Plaza. The church is small (maybe about 35 people) but the pastor and the message were good (I probably understood about 75%...as it was all in Spanish). The people were also very welcoming, and the best part was that the closing worship song was "Todo Poderoso", which is a song that I actually know from Wake and InterVarsity stuff...one of my favorites.

Sunday afternoon I met up with Donte again at the football (soccer) stadium to watch Copiapó take on Iquique....we beat them 1-0, and it was a pretty fun experience. Though the stadium wasn´t full all of the spectators were pretty vocal...I only wish I could have understood everything they were saying...instead I waited until there were enough other people shouting and I shouted stuff in English. Although I don´t think there´s any way I could stand out any more as a gringo...it´s pretty obvious :-)

It´s a new week now, and today after school I strapped on my hydration pack and ran to and up Cerro de la Cruz...a pretty good and challenging hill workout, and decided it´s not only my new favorite place here in Copiapó, but it´s also a great place to spend some quality time with God. Teaching is a lot of fun so far but also quite stressful in the classroom, requires a lot of energy, patience, and a loud voice. I´m sure this is all true in the US as well, but the added dimension is that the kids understand almost NOTHING of what I say in English. Hopefully that will only get better as the months go on.

My least favorite thing about Chile so far is the attitude of the men. I can´t go anywhere without getting comments, whistles, hissing, and yesterday while I was running a collectivo driver actually slowed down and drove beside me for 30 seconds shouting something that I neither acknowledged nor tried to understand. I don´t know if it would be better to just start telling them to back off, but for now I´m just ignoring it. If you have blonde hair and blue eyes (especially CURLY blonde hair) you´re pretty obviously a gringo, and the men are pretty vocal about it.

Well what was supposed to be a short post has turned into a book. Thanks to all I´ve gotten to skype with and e-mail. Though I love Chile more and more I am missing home...especially as everyone is going back to Wake! Please keep in touch and keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

- Steph -

ps. I just found out my address here...check it out on my facebook page or email me if you want it!

Slacking...the first few weeks!

Ok, so it is only my second post...I am already slacking on the blog here, and I apologize. I´m now going to try and..."briefly"....recap the last few weeks here in Chile.

The orientation week went pretty smoothly but was long. Classes were useful...but long. On the final Friday we had a program fiesta in the evening which was filled with Chilean food, Reggaeton music, and dancing. It was the last time most of the 80 of us in the program would be together until the end of November.

On Sunday August 3rd the 13 of us volunteers who would be teaching in Region III (the Atacama Region) travelled on an 11 hour busride up to Copiapo. When we arrived we were met by our Regional Coordinator, Claudia, and taken to a very nice hotel in the city where we stayed for 2 days while getting acquainted with the area. For those of us who would be teaching in the city of Copiapo it was especially helpful to be able to get our bearings and learn the city a little bit.

On Tuesday the host families of those of us who were teaching here in Copiapo came to the hotel to pick us up, and we were taken to what would be our home for 4 months. My host family consists of two people, my host mother, Gloria, and my little 8-year-old host sister (mi hermanita), whose name is Monserratt. They live up in the neighborhood of Arboleda, which, while it is a collectivo (chilean taxis) or busride to get to the center of the city (el Centro), it is right near the University of Atacama and a bike path that runs along Route 5 (the road that runs the length of the entire country of Chile). While I have no bike here, I have been running a few times a week and the bike path is both a beautiful and safe place to do it.

The day after we moved in was my first day of observation at the school. I am a volunteer teacher at Pedro Leon Gallo, a school for children in pre-kinder through 8th grade, but I´m only working with 5th - 8th graders. My first day was both an incredible and overwhelming experience. After the first classes the entire school (about 1000 kids) assembled in the gymnasium for the Welcome Celebration...which was put on in my honor. They recited poetry, sang songs, gave speeches, and danced the Cueca (the Chilean national dance) for me, and I also got up and gave an impromptu thank you speech. It was so incredible, and made me feel very welcomed and excited.

The first week I "observed" in all the English classes with my co-teacher, Mirna. Although I actually observed very little. Instead, in every class I gave a 15-20 minute speech about myself, my family, the US, and being a volunteer, and then answered questions for about an hour. The questions were pretty funny. The standard ones I got asked about my favorite color, food, music, if I like Chile, if I have a boyfriend, etc. A few people asked me if I had met the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana, to which I had to admit no.

Ever since I started teaching I´ve learned what it must be like to be a very famous actor or musician in the US. Literally, the second day I was sitting watching a school soccer match, and a girl came up to me. She said "hello" and I said "hello". And then she turned to her friend and screamed with excitement. In some ways it is very fun because I can´t walk anywhere the school without having a mob of kids come up and surround me, and others shout from various places "hello miss!" or "Hello, Miss Stephanie!" It is inconvenient at some times, when I´m trying to get to class or lunch :-).

The first weekend I was here I got to go with my host family to La Serena (a popular beach resort city about 4.5 hours South of here). We went on an hour long boat tour and explored the fish market in Coquimbo, and I got to meet a lot of the extended family of Gloria and Monserrat.

Last Wednesday was my first day of teaching on my own. I have a total of (I believe) 28 classes with 15 to 20 students in each. Because, as I learned in my first week here, the students are CRAZY and spend nearly the entire class talking to eachother, being very loud, and some even running around the room, I decided to make the first lesson the same for every class. It is entitled "Respect", and through learning the word we go over the rules of the class, and why it is so important to respect the teacher and the other students. I´m hoping that SOME of it sticks because otherwise I will have no voice, patience, or morale at the end of every day.

While there are many more stories to tell already, I feel like this post is far past long enough, so I´m going to end it here and hopefully update again soon....trying not to slack too much.

I hope everyone back in the US is doing well, and please feel free to email/facebook/skype whenever you want...I check email at least every 2 days unless I´m traveling.

Thanks for all the prayers and support...hasta pronto!

Los primeros dias

Hola a todos!

We arrived in Chile safely on Saturday morning, although after a very frustrating and stressful trip. I was almost not allowed to board the plane, and after an hour of arguing with the ticket agent and after finding the mercy of a very nice supervisor, they let me through. When I arrived in Santiago only one of my bags showed up, and I was confined to wear only flip-flops until yesterday when the other bag (with all my shoes!) showed up.

There are 80 of us volunteers living here at Hostelling International in Santiago which has been a fun experience - we are all training together and will be placed all over the country to teach.

Training this week has been good but long. We are in class from 9am - 6pm every day and are learning how to teach (especially how to teach children who have little or no English knowledge), information about Chilean culture and customs, and we also have a Spanish class each day. It's been tiring but great so far, and I'm very much looking forward to traveling up to my placement in Copiapo this upcoming weekend, meeting my host family, and settling into the community.

It looks like i'll have at least some internet access during the next few months so please e-mail me, skype, etc. to keep in touch - though I love Chile so far I'm already missing some things about the States - especially friends and family. Hasta pronto!

~Steph~