Stuffing, Sopaipillas And Strikes

Stuffing

We celebrated Christmas last weekend with some of the other PT volunteers. It's very strange to have winter but not have Christmas and as the two Chiloe vols had some time off, we thought it would be a great chance to get together and celebrate. It's really wet here at the moment. I had a particularly stressful journey to CholChol last Friday as I was carrying three bags and an umbrella in high wind and rain, while being on the phone at the same time. The umbrella kept going inside out (seriously considered just throwing it away) and then I had to run to catch the bus... I'll just say it was a relief to finally get there. 

The girls little home is quite small but the six of us managed to accommodate ourselves well enough. Danielle has mastered the talent of making a fire so the internado was nice and warm. Although some burning fire did fall into my shoe so my shoe is now slightly melted. But hey at least it's one less thing to bring home with me.

I can't say we did much over the weekend. Chatted a lot. Watched films. Cooked food. Our Saturday roast lunch was pretty good. We're all feeling pretty confident at cooking a Christmas dinner but I'm sure this confidence will dissolve when we go home and are asked to cook a roast. I have to admit we did buy a precooked chicken but then we didn't want to make ourselves ill. 

Me and Amina did sneak out Saturday evening to go to capoeira. We all swapped secret santa presents and ate lots of ice cream and a great Christmas cake that the Chiloe vols made. 

Sunday morning we headed into Temuco and have a coffee (hot chocolate) in a cafe before the girls had to get a bus home. It was a really nice weekend. Looking forward to Christmas back home!

Emelia, Amina, Evie, Danielle, Me and Hannah

Sopaipillas

This Monday was the Mapuche New Year, as it was the start of winter and apparently the longest night of the year (although it was the 24th and I'm sure the 21st is the longest night). After lunch there was a celebration of this at school. Basically the director gave a speech and the kids did a really cool Mapuche dance. Afterwards we ate sopaipillas, piñones and mote with the octavo A kids. 

the kids doing the Mapuche dance

Some quinto B girls wearing the traditional Mapuche clothes

Strikes

Yesterday we turned up at school and found out that most of the schools in Lautaro were closed because the teachers were going on strike. There was a staff meeting first thing, where they all voted to go on strike as well. They're unhappy with the education system and the way teachers get treated. We stayed at school until 10 when all the kids got sent home. It's weird, even though we're teachers we're a bit like kids at school. When the kids aren't at school we don't have to be either. I suppose with no kids to teach we don't really have anything to do.

Anyway that's pretty much been our week. The first round of Presidential voting is happening on Sunday and this means that we have no school until Wednesday because the schools are being used for voting and counting the votes. We're going to fill our weekend with seeing friends, going to capoeira and sleeping. 

Santiago Capoeira!

I'm getting scared. I just had a really good weekend away in Santiago with some capoeira friends. We went up for a capoeira event and had such a good time. As we were travelling with friends that we'd never really hung out with outside of classes before, we saw them in a different way. It was really nice and I had a great time. People are very different in real life than in classes. It feels like we have been really accepted into the lives of these people and that they're really friends. This scares me because in about seven weeks I'll be returning to the UK, and I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to return. I'll be leaving behind a big group of friends and a smaller (but still significant) group of really good friends. It was bad enough leaving behind people for a year knowing I'd return.

I try not to think about the time we have left too much, because it makes me sad. I guess it is a good thing in a way,
because if I were to leave without feeling sad would I really have achieved anything?


I'll fill you in on the event.

We caught a night bus on Thursday evening and as usual we didn't really sleep very well. Bus travel is not the best way to get your eight hours sleep. Arrived early on Friday morning and were picked up by Instructor Ricardo in Santiago. We had breakfast and lay around for most of the morning. It was cold when we arrived but when I ventured outside at midday it was really sunny and warm. It's strange how much the weather changes with just a nine hour drive.

We had our first class that evening. We spent the afternoon wandering around Santiago. The funny thing is we didn't go to any tourist spots or anything. In fact we walked around streets lined with shops and stalls. We had once in a little stall/restaurant and then passed through the plaza de armas on the way to the sala. The lesson was really nice. All the Santiago people were really friendly and had buena onda (good vibes). We spent the night in a karate dojo. I was so glad I had taken my sleeping bag. I love my sleeping bag. It's so cosy. As we were in a dojo with a padded floor, with a load of capoeristas we did some late night training, eventually heading to bed at about 2am.

Having once of completos

Outside the church in the plaza de armas

Saturday, our first class was at midday. Santiago is so huge. It's like a country. We used the metro to get around and the usual journey took 30-40 minutes. Being with the guys, me and Amina become completely unconcerned with where we're going or how to get there. We just follow the guys and trust that everything will turn out alright. We feel very safe with them and they take very good care of us so we don't really have anything to worry about. The class was held in a big gymnasium that must have had some sort of accessibility to the outside world, because we had to keep avoiding bird poo dropping down from above. After this class we changed location to a library and had another class. A lot more people came to this one. We had about five short lessons with different teachers and then a really long roda. The good thing was that the first roda they said that the more experienced players had to play with a less experienced player. I liked this cause it gave me more of a chance to play. When loads of good players play it can be hard to enter and a bit intimidating to try. Saw some amazing capoeria. The good players are good for a reason. They have so much control over their bodies and so much force. Sometimes you just feel like standing there with your jaw hanging because it's so amazing.

Instructor Richie giving a speech

Afterwards we went back to Richie's house for dinner. Watched a really weird game show where people had to do weird tasks like make 30 churrascos in 1 and a half minutes, for the chance of a cash prize. Very strange. We returned to the dojo in the evening for an asado. The fact that we'd just had dinner didn't really seem to matter. Chileans. It was a really nice evening.

A late night cuddle

Sunday was the last day. We had a class in the afternoon with a really chilled teacher. He was really nice and didn't seem to mind taking the time to explain something to me when I was confused. After we went to the plaza and had a big roda outside. The good thing about going to the event is that we had so many different teachers, some from different groups. Everyone has a slightly different style of capoeira and it's nice to see the different styles.

The roda in the plaza (it was freezing)

training in the dojo

We caught the bus home at nine that evening. It was much less rushed than the first time we caught a bus from Santiago to Lautaro back in August. Strange how much things have changed since then. I slept better that bus journey because I was soooo sleepy.

We arrived this morning at 5am. We were dropped off on the highway by Lautaro and walked very quickly home as it was freezing. I had underestimated the temperature difference. It felt like my fingers were going to drop off. Arrived home and made hot chocolates before heading to bed and sleeping until 12. On Thursday we asked to have today off from school when both Ruty and Pamela suggested it. I'm glad we did. We've both got colds now so we enjoying the day in bed even more. Had a really good weekend. It's so nice to know the guys better.

A Bit Of A Rambly One...

Hey guys.

Things have remained as busy as usual. Last week was so rainy. Winter is just as rainy as in Scotland there's just no snow here in Lautaro. Everyone here that knows where Scotland is thinks there's snow all the time. They also think that because I'm from Scotland and it's cold there, I must be so used to the cold that I don't feel it here. I'm like "yeh it's cold but I'm still cold now!"

It's weird on the Spanish front. I've obviously learned loads, but I think I forget that sometimes. I still don't know loads of words. The only thing is that know they're different words or more difficult grammar tenses that I'm missing. We keep reminding each other that we do know more than we used to. Amina is really good because she enjoys studying languages. As much as I like learning Spanish and being able to speak another language, I don't think I could say I enjoy studying it. I prefer talking to friends or reading.

I have been reunited with my Kindle. In Amina's words "how Bety's social life died". And yes I may have read three books in one day but I wouldn't say I've become a recluse. And I definitely won't become one. I enjoy meeting up with our friends too much. But I do enjoy being able to read again. I even found a free book of Spanish stories on Amazon, so I can still study.

Last week passed really quickly because with every spare minute I was busy painting a poster for capoeira. Our teacher asked for pictures to decorate the sala so I did one of the cords. I think it turned out alright. We're getting back into fundraising, selling raffle tickets, to raise money for our capoeira group. We both don't really like asking people for money (unless it's you or dad, mum ;) ) but it was easier than we thought it would be. Sold 20 tickets today. I suppose it helps that they're each about the equivalent of 12p.

Ruty and Agustin are both quite ill at the moment which is a shame. Agustin has bronchitis and is going to be off school all week. I think I've become too pampered here with Ruty. When we found out she was ill I thought we might have to prepare once, and I completely forgot that I could cook. I was like "ahh just bread and egg for dinner then" haha. But Lilli sorted dinner out.

We went to visit Margot after school today. Showed her pictures from the summer and have tea. I keep forgetting that when people say "tea" they don't just mean the drink. We were served juice, tea, bread, avocado, manjar and pork. Yummy.

The tigers at escuela 6 are well. Classes are challenging but they pass. I think I don't want to be a teacher in the future, but it's nice to be with the kids now. They are sweet and annoying. It's a bit like having hundreds of little brothers and sisters.

We were visited by a couple of Mormons last week. The stranger thing is that one of them was a gringo! They just keep springing up here in Lautaro. I don't know how, it's like the most unlikely place for there to be foreigners. So yeh apparently someone told them that there were some gringas that lived around where we live and they tracked us down. Nice lads. One from Utah and one from Columbia. We were having a nice chat over some once. Mormons can't drink coffee or normal tea, don't give cheek kisses (a very strange thing here in Chile) and aren't sure if they're allowed to text us. Then they started talking to us about Mormonism and religion. Interesting stuff but I couldn't help from feeling a little uncomfortable. I guess I'm just not interested in being converted. Anyway they're very persistent. Ruty's told us many times that we need to be firm with them. Tell them to only call once a week or something. The thing is we're genuinely very busy so I don't know how often we're going to be able to meet up with them anyway.

We went to Chol Chol again last weekend. It was really nice. Spent time with one of the vols there. Their little house is so much cuter and homelier now. It's really nice. Made lots of tasty food and watched some British sit-coms. Just what you need to relax.

A sleepy Beth

A crazy Amina

These pictures reminded me of my Amina. Oh what a gal. We really do get on rather well. It's nice to have such a good friend here. Although we're getting rather eerily similar. For example, during the last period of last week we were both feeling quite tired and sleepy. The teacher asked the kids who'd finished their work. We both ended up raising our hands at the same time, without realising that the other one had. The kids found it quite funny.
I think I could say we've both tough each other things these past 10 months. She's taught me to expand my music collection and how good capoeira is. I've taught her to chill a bit I think. At least she doesn't get up at half 6 in the morning any more.
It's funny because she grew up in a city and me in a wee village so we had quite different times growing up. But even thought we're not really similar, we both get on. I think it's good we're not too similar, it keeps things interesting. And as much as we are getting closer and more alike (in certain ways) we're also still very much different people. Eso es lo que me gusta.

Sorry about how random this blog's been. It's probably just come across as the random flow of thought in my head but I thought I'd put out a wee update. Off to read now and prepare myself for the horror that is octavo B tomorrow.... Have a good day guys!