A World Of Lasts

Everything has become the last time that we're going to be doing something. The last week in Lautaro, the last Tuesday capoeira lesson, the last day at school, the last time seeing so many people. It's really quite sad. It's a good thing everything is spread out because if I had to say goodbye to everyone at the same time it would be awful.


The rest of the winter holidays passed really well. We spent lots of time with friends and did lots of capoeira. Over one weekend we did three capoeira presentations, to raise money for the event in December. They were in this big posh house near Temuco. They wanted the presentations because they were celebrating the Mayan New Year and I guess we provided some extra energy. It was fun. There was the cutest puppy there.

We started back at school last Monday. It was a bit of a shock to be up so early but it was nice to be back at the school. Amina was ill for most of last week and so I was alone at school with Pamela. Amina had the force of everyone we knew against her as they all said she should go to the hospital. But Amina didn't want to. If she'd been ill for much longer I think they would have come and dragged her to the hospital, but luckily she did get better. She's as right as rain now, although she is using it as an excuse not to eat meat.

It was cute telling the kids that it was our last lesson with them. Received lots of big awwws and hugs and kisses. Kids asking why we were leaving. So sweet. Last Friday the doorbell rang and Ruty answered it. Then she rushed through the living room and said "girls I need you! Answer the door for the gentleman". We were really confused because we had no idea who it was. When we opened the door we found it was the director of escuela 6 and another teacher. They'd come to give us an invitation to a leaving cocktail for Monday. So sweet!

On Saturday after capoeira we had a despedida (leaving party) with some of our capoeira friends. It was at our friends house. We cooked choripan over the barbecue and sat with family and friends. It was really nice. Stayed the night there and spent the next day watching films and eating lots of food. Our friends mum is crazy about giving us food. She piles our plates high with pasta and sauce and then sporadically shouts "PAN" thrusting the bread at us.

The leaving cocktail at school on Monday was really cute. They set up the tables with tablecloths and lots of glasses and flowers. They made us sit at the head of the table with the director and Pamela. They invited our old English teachers Ingrid, who is now retired. It was so nice to see her again! The director made a speech about how happy he was that we'd come and given something to the school, and said that we always had a home at escuela 6. Really sweet. We ate lots of little food before being presented with certificates and presents by Ingrid, from the school. All the staff had given money and they had bought us earrings. They're so pretty. Lapiz Lazuli in the shape of the national flower of Chile. We said a few words (jokingly beginning in English) just saying thanks for everything. People are so sweet there. They all really seemed to be sad that we were leaving.

Staff

Us and Pamela

Ingrid giving me my certificate 

Us and Ingrid

Yesterday was our last day at school. Saying goodbye to all the teachers, assistants and janitors was quite sad. So many people in a short space of time to say bye to. And the kids as well. Triste. We had lunch at Eliana's house. She offered to make us cueca dresses but we said we wouldn't be able fit them in our suitcases, so she's going to make us little cueca hankies instead. So sweet.

Eli and the kids arrived last night. It's nice to see them again. I think we're going to stay with them in Santiago the night before we leave which will be nice because they'll make sure that we get to the airport fine and they live close enough to the centre that we can still meet up with the other volunteers on the one day that we'll be in Santiago. We've begun to put things in our suitcases and sort through clothes. So weird to think that this time next week we'll be home.

I realised that throughout this whole year, there has never been a moment when I have seriously wanted to go home. I was never to homesick or anything. I guess it's because things have just been so good here and I've had so much support from people here and family and friends at home. And now that it's coming up to the time to leave I'm sad but not too much. I'm looking forward to being home and seeing people. Yes it's going to be really sad leaving family and friends here and there are some things about Chile that I'll miss, but I'm super excited about starting uni and everything else that's coming up.

Don't know if I'll blog again before coming home. Very busy with lots of despedidas coming up and packing. The flight is on Tuesday and I get back on Wednesday afternoon in Edinburgh. Look forward to seeing everyone when I get home!

Until next week! Chau!

The First Goodbyes

Well it's been a pretty busy first week of holidays. Had a really good weekend of capoeira. Teachers came down from Santiago and we spent lots of time with our friends. Aww I'm going to miss our capoeira friends so much! On Tuesday we went to a friends house for a capoeira lesson. Afterwards we cooked some choripan which I quite like. They're always the first thing on the barbecue and are pretty good. I really like how it was just a reason for everyone to hang out together.


On Wednesday we went on our last overnight trip with our two Lautaro friends. We decided to go to Lonquimay because we've been meaning to go there since we arrived. Everyone talks about the volcano that's there and in winter it's a ski resort because of all the snow that falls there. We wanted to go and play in the snow so we were looking forward to it. Got on the bus from Lautaro and three hours later we arrived there. We had to pass through a mountain to get there. Sadly when we arrived there was no snow. So we got back on the bus and headed even closer to the cordillera. Two hours later we arrived at Icalma which is literally at the border with Argentina. Still no snow! There was some in the hills but none to play in. But it didn't matter. We found a cabana and first job was to get the fire going because it was so cold! It was so late by the time we got there we just bought some food for dinner.

The next day we walked and ate more. We always eat a lot when we're with our friends. I think it's because they're Chilean and eating is just like what should be done. Had a really nice time. I should probably mention that my friend is a photographer and has a really good camera which is why the above photos are much better than usual.


On Friday we had our last class with our capoeira teacher. He's going to an event in Brazil and he gets back the day after we leave. He's a really good teacher and a good friend and we're going to miss him a lot. However we did see him again on Saturday as some of us met up to do a presentation. We went to an old people care home and played some cueca music before doing some capoeira. I think they enjoyed it. One guy was blind and really enjoyed the music. One guy tried to dance cueca which gave us all a bit of a fright as he nearly fell over!

Our capoeira teacher, Instructor Remo

On Saturday evening there was a capoeira party. It was to raise money for the group so we helped out a bit. Me, Amina and Alvaro made sopaipillas. I made the salsa. I'm now a whiz at cutting up tomatoes. It was also when we said goodbye to another capoeira friend because she's going to Brazil as well. It's weird, saying goodbye to people individually isn't that bad. I think when we have to say goodbye to everyone at once it will be so much worse.

                       

Marcela

It was so cold on Saturday. We ended up huddled around the fire that we were using to cook the sopaipillas. We left around two to go to a friends house and warm up. Spent the day there yesterday just chilling and eating lots of food. When I left his mum asked me why I was leaving. Apparently just wanting to go home isn't a good enough reason.

Alone in the house. Ruy is up in Santiago with Agustin visiting his mum. Lilii is on holiday and Sergio is in Villarica working. I was told that I'm the doña of the house. Managed to get the fire going and I think it'll survive. I hope so. I could see my breath when I woke up this morning. 

Such Fun

Wow, I've been so busy I completely forgot about this blog. Things have been pretty rainy here. Winter in Lautaro is cold and lots of rain. What's strange is that if you go up to Santiago it'll hardly ever rain. We're now officially on winter holiday. Two weeks off. We have a big list of things we want to do so that we can make the most of our time. Lots of volunteers aren't going back to their projects and are off travelling now until the end. However we felt that we just want more time here! So we're spending the holidays here with our friends and then we'll go back to school for two weeks before getting a night bus up to Santiago on the 11th August. We'll have one day in Santiago before our flight on the 13th! How little time is left...

So a couple of weekends ago our friend Hector invited us to his house in the countryside. A short bus journey away from Lautaro. We could have walked but it was raining quite a lot. The lady sitting next to Amina on the bus was proudly clutching her new rooster. He didn't like Amina much though. Made lots of angry clucking noises the whole journey.
Houses in the countryside here are really spaced apart. Where Hector lives there is the house that he lives in with his mum and brothers and the house next door is where his grandmother lives. Then there isn't anything really close by but on the next hill over is where his auntie lives and he has some other aunts and uncles that live within walking distance. But other than these few little houses there is nothing but countryside. The land is owned by his grandmother and Hector already knows where he's going to build his house, about 20 metres away from his mums house.

We had a really nice lunch of fresh chicken (literally one that had been in the garden until that morning) and then we were served mountains of fresh bread and cake. We escaped outside with Hector and our other friend Viktor as it wasn't raining anymore. We walked around for a bit. Saw all forms of farm yard animals. The sheep, chickens and dogs. When we went to his uncles farm we saw horses, one very happy pig and cows. We also saw a dead cow. They'd just killed one and gotten it up on a cart as we arrived. There was to be a barbecue the next day for all the neighbours. The head and feet were up on the shed roof, out of reach of the dogs. Country life eh.

It was a really great day. It started raining again and we could see the clouds coming towards us. Big bright rainbow.

Monday saw our last after-school English workshop with the kids in escuela 7. We decided to do something fun so we took in the ingredients for banoffee pie and got them all to help us make it. It went surprisingly well. Not too much chaos. And the kids all really enjoyed it and thought it was tasty. We did forget the tin to make it in, but we found a washing up box and that worked well. They all gave us big hugs when they left. It was really cute and a bit sad.

On Tuesday we went to the gymnasium to watch the show that was being put on. The schools were showing off what the kids had learned in the workshops. So there was dancing and folklorica music and singing. The little kids were SO CUTE in their little Mapuche outfits and ladybug costumes.

Yesterday was a day of utter loveliness. One of the nicest days we've had. Just because of the people. We went to the muni to get our money and the two guys in the personnel department were so sweet. We'd never really talked to them before but they suddenly realised that we are leaving soon. They asked us if we'd had a nice time here and hoped that we would have a good flight home. One of them even wrote us a little letter and asked us so send him a rock from Britain so that he could have something of our country. So sweet!

Our friends brother painted this and we see it every time we walk to the muni

Last period was a party because it was the last period before the holidays. We were with octavo A and two mums brought in all the ingredients for completos (think hot dogs but better as they're filled with tomato and avocado as well). Once the kids had had their fill we were given one and juice as well. We'd just bought empanadas for lunch so we weren't really that hungry but we ate them anyway. When offered another I accepted but Amina didn't. Then one of the mums came over and gave her another one anyway. Amina's expression was so funny because she was so full. But there is no excuse not to eat here. They just don't accept it if you don't want to eat. We chatted to them and they were so lovely. They said we were really pretty and could speak really good Spanish. Then they gave us really big hugs as we left.

The second completo

The end to yesterday was just as nice. I sat downstairs in front of the fire writing up my community project pretty much all evening. We had a really nice chat with Ruty during Once. Afterwards Amina told her that from working on her project she's realised how much she loves Chile. Aww poor Ruty looked like she was going to cry! She gave us both huge hugs and asked if she was serious. Then she said that Chile's going to like our second home-country and that this experience is going to make us stronger for the rest of our life. Aww Ruty is so lovely!!!

This weekend is full of capoeira as there is an event on. Should be fun! Yey holidays!

It's A Smoky Problem

Well we've recently found out that Temuco and Lautaro are two of the most polluted cities in Chile. This is pretty much because of all the wood smoke being produced. It is winter now and very cold. It reached -2 degrees Celsius the other morning. In Chile there is no central heating. Most people have wood-burning fires to heat their homes and also another to cook. It's generally wood because it is the cheapest option. Gas and electricity are very expensive here in Chile, as Chile has no natural gas reserves, and to produce electricity is expensive.

So a lot of smoke is being produced at the moment. In the morning and evenings there is thick fog (which is all smoke really) and it can be quite hard to breathe. Me and Amina are both a little ill at the moment, and the smoke really isn't helping our coughs.

The local governments are aware of the problem. In Temuco they're trying to impose a ban, that will stop people from burning wood. This would help clear the air, but people will be unable to cook or heat their houses, and this will lead to people becoming more ill. Some people just can't afford gas or electricity.

The houses here are not very warm either. The walls seem quite thin. I don't think people know too much about insulation and double glazing does not exist here. This means that the houses are little more than ice-boxes if there's no heating available. And the big public buildings are freezing because they are big, concrete structures.

The schools and public buildings also use wood as heating because they can't afford gas. Some teachers can't afford to buy gas for the classroom heaters, and as the school doesn't provide it, they have to work in really cold temperatures. Not surprisingly there are lots of ill people at the moment.

Unless the government reduces the price of electricity, or learns to build properly insulated houses, I can't see how they're going to resolve this problem. We survive by wearing about five layers, drinking bucketfuls of tea and hot chocolate, and lounging in bed with hot water bottles.

Us on a cold morning walk to school

The street in the morning. We follow that one road for 15 blocks to get to school. It's hard to get lost.

Smokey chimney

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!