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!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
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!
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!
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