Crazy Kids/Adorable Kiddies!

What's happened to me since I last wrote?

Well, I worked some more at school. Tia Ingrid was ill for the rest of last week, which led to us on Thursday having to teach on our own. And we weren't aware of this until we arrived at our first lesson so it's fair to say we had no prep time! It was alright. Tia Silvanna was with us for the day to explain what we wanted the kids to do, to the kids (adults understand our Spanish much better than kids do) and the kids were quite well behaved. We taught the 8th graders about the UK, no surprise they knew the most about England - although this consisted quite a lot of football teams. Had a little collection of teachers at one point. At the end of one class there were five of us just standing around chatting, which was nice.

On Friday we went into Temuco to try and pick up our ID cards. After walking around for an hour and calling several people for directions we finally found the registration office - and it was shut. But we met up with the girls from Chol Chol for Hannah's birthday celebrations. The initial idea of going to the cinema before eating had to be changed when we had a "Chile Moment". This is basically whenever we try to do anything here and, due to our lack of Spanish, it fails. Actually we have them quite a lot. In this case the film we going to see, wasn't actually playing although it seemed to say that it was on the internet... Ahh well. Pizza Hut was nice. The pizza's are in English on the menu and it turned out to be about £4 each for two huge pizza's and puddings, once we split the bill.

On Saturday we tried once again to pick up our ID cards but once again it was shut! So annoying seeing as that was the only reason I went into Temuco. But we decided to make the best of it, so we went to a cafe and had hot chocolate and cake :)

Yesterday in the countryside we worked with the Pre Kinder/Kinder class. Fifteen 4-5 year olds. So cute! They're much calmer in the countryside. We decided to teach them animals and an hour and a half later, after lots of animal noises and drawings, we felt like they'd actually learnt something! Their drawings were great! Proper little kids drawings. One little boy drew a great chicken (pollo) then drew four chicks (pollitos!). Adorable. One little boy asked me why I didn't have brown eyes. I realised that I was the first person he'd ever seen that doesn't have brown eyes. Kids in the countryside see foreigners even less often than people in the towns. I had to explain that I was from Scotland where people have different eye colours. I don't know if his wide-eyed look was from amazement or complete incomprehension but I seemed to make some impact on him. I tried to teach the school dog to sit but I don't think you'll be seeing us at Crufts any time soon. Also the problem of learning Spanish is that you forget your English. It took Amina three tries to spell 'cinema' correctly, much to everyone's amusement.

Today the kids were a bit manic but Ingrid was back. We bought her some flowers for her birthday and as a 'Get Well Soon'. Finally got everything together to finish our street map for Project Trust! Only took 6 weeks...

So yeh that's what I've been up to. Oh!

First mail! With Scottish stamps. Thanks mum! :D xxxx

Chile Adventures

Hola todos!

Last Thursday I headed to Chol Chol for the first time to visit the volunteers there. Had a really nice time. Chol Chol is very small and relaxed. There are so few cars that people walk on the road. We stayed with the volunteers in the internado. It's so small and really made us appreciate our lovely, big house here in Lautaro. There's not really that much to do in Chol Chol after you've walked round it. We baked brownies and cookies, burnt pizza, cooked pasta and a meat free sauce (so nice after a very meaty week) and even managed to pull off a roast dinner. Granted the chicken was pre-roasted but we managed to heat it up and roast some potatoes very nicely. 

our brownies

We walked to the river and saw a seal! It was having a great time beating a fish against the water. When we told people about it they were very surprised to hear of a seal being in the river.

the seal in the river

the countryside

We filled up our film quota for the rest of the month watching about 7 or 8 films in all during our visit. It's so good to watch them in English with Spanish subtitles because Shrek just isn't the same without Mike Myers's voice. 

On Monday it was back to Vega Larga (large cultivatable land) and had a tough but satisfying day in the country. No one speaks English so by the end of the day your brain is dead, but the kids and staff are all so friendly. At lunch some girls gave us a tour of the playground and taught us a nursery rhyme. It's a bit strange but I'll put it up anyway.

Arros Con Leche

Rice pudding, I want to get married,

To a girl from Portugal.

She has to know how to knit, she has to know how to sow

She has to know how to make stockings for a captain.

With this girl yes, with this girl no

With the girl, I get married!

Ingrid did help me translate that so I promise it's not due to my awful Spanish skills that it's a bit weird. You sing it while joining hands and spinning round in a circle. The kids seem to like it so I suppose that's all that's important.

Today we managed to join the teachers in the little kitchen for chat at lunch. Usually we're already sitting down and they all go in and start talking to each other. We sneaked our way in and had a good conversation about our holiday and my embarrassing cueca experience. I've discovered that if you have nothing to talk about, say something to make them laugh and you will do fine. The more embarrassing the better.

us in Chol Chol

See you guys next time!

Dieciocho Celebrations

Here in Chile nothing is half-hearted. The celebrations for Chilean Independence Day have been going on all month, and more noticeably, this past week. On Saturday the Ramadas opened in the evening. They're like barn sheds that are covered with branched on the outside, and decorated with Chilean flags on the inside. The mayor opened the first one and the important people of Lautaro had a drink and danced a bit of cueca to set things off. Much to my dismay, I was pulled onto the dance floor by a council member even after protesting about my complete lack of cueca dancing knowledge.

Me dancing cueca

Fortunately the man was very nice and kept pointing where I was supposed to go. By waving the handkerchief around and laughing at myself (along with everyone else) I managed to avoid complete humiliation. It was actually quite fun, and would have been more so if I'd known what I'd been doing. It was certainly not how I'd imagined my first dance of cueca going. 

The mayor repeated this opening ceremony at two more Fonda's (individual Ramadas) until the excitement wore off. Me, Annie and Amina danced with lots of different people until we got invited to someone's birthday party. This turned out to be largely a gathering of firemen who were all great fun to hang around with and were very patient with our fractured Spanish. 

Lunch the next day was a bit startling as we were handed huge plates of meat. Probably more meat than I'd eat in a month. Chilean families save up specially to buy a cow for Dieciocho so there's plenty of meat to go around. I'm not joking, Amina went down one night and saw them trying to fit it all in the freezer. It was also a bit of a surprise when Ruth suddenly showed a relative understanding of English at the dinner table. 

Amina went off to another BBQ in the afternoon (I say went, I mean waddled) and I went out to watch some Chilean sports. The games were supposed to start at 3, but bearing in mind Chilean lateness, I left just after. Took me a while to find the high school where the games were being held as we haven't really explored beyond the bridge much. I arrived about 45 minutes late and there were still only 3 people there. So I left to do some things in the centre. When I returned about 2 hours later and there were people there! The games were good :)

On Monday morning we went to watch the Desfile de Fiestas Patrias (a huge parade). There was a huge group of soldiers and a marching band which was quite cool. Also any group that was even slightly established marched; this meant schools, after school clubs, sports clubs, craft groups, a diabetes club, the firemen and so many more.

the marching band

We had lunch at home then got invited to Danay's house for an asado. Feeling full from 3 empanadas I approached the meal with some trepidation and yes I was given a huge plate of meat. We met Danay's family who were all very friendly. Danay's brother kept laughing at me and after I admitted that I wouldn't be able to eat all my food he said that he thought I would have died if I'd tried. We lounged around afterwards for a while, before walking home.

Amina, Me and Danay

In the evening we went to watch the fireworks. Seeing as they were actually on time and we were not, we ended up watching them from the street. They were still impressive though.

The 18th wasn't really that much different from the other days because of all the celebrations that had gone on. We had another huge lunch of meat (don't think I'll ever need protein again) and lounged around. Me and Amina went to the park in the evening and larked about pretending to run in horse races and avoiding the passed out people on the side of the street. People that drink too much just sleep on the side of the road and no one really cares. Also found out that you have to have a Chile flag flying from your house on the 18th or you get fined. Also Chile has a zero tolerance for drink driving. We pick up weird things from dinner conversations.

 Ruth, Sergio, Me and Lili - my Chilean familia

I actually spent my holiday morning making empanadas for the children at the orphanage. It's quite difficult. The dough has to be so thin, chances are if you think you're done you're not. Lili got really excited when after half an hour I was finally done rolling the dough!

We get bitten every night by unknown bugs, although the world at large seems to think the answer is fleas. Well we found this on the way to the park and Amina said "imagine finding that in your bed" EWWW!

Following are some photos, including a couple of Amina being g-star.

Four Weeks

I realised yesterday that tomorrow will be four weeks since I left Britain! That's crazy. It doesn't feel like it been four weeks at all. It feels like it's been so quick. Things here are settling into a bit more of a routine. Of course this has to be disrupted by a week-long holiday to celebrate Chilean Independence Day on the 18th. I've been so busy with work and then exploring at the weekends that the time just seems to have flown past. But saying that I still have 11 more months to get through sounds like a lot! Starting to realise how long that's going to be. I really miss my ring. I didn't bring it because they advised us not to show off our jewellery so that we'd be less likely targets to thieves. Crime isn't too much of an issue here really.
Oh well.

Escuela 1

Independence Day here is a really big thing. Can't remember if I've mentioned that already. It's actually bigger than Christmas as the whole month is full of different activities. Last night we went to the Velada Patriotica. All the schools in Lautaro had to dance a dance from a different area and era of Chile. There were some really good performances. Chileans really go all out on the costumes and props. We watched the staff at escuela 6 building props and sewing costumes for the past couple of weeks. Escuela 6 did the local dance from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The staff had made giant moai statues and flowers and loads of other props. The kids were in Island clothes of skirts body paint. They looked really good. The dance was really good as well. We were so excited. We hadn't watched any of the rehearsals so that we would get the full effect and it was well worth it! We were cheering like crazy. Saw some kids we knew in the audience. A little boy in one of my classes gave us some biscuits.

Today we went to escuela 6 for a teacher lunch. In typical Chilean style we arrived about half an hour late and the meal hadn't even started yet. We all chatted and watched a video of last nights dance, before tucking into a mountain of empanadas. All the teachers left after about an hour when all the food was gone.
We had more empanadas tonight and will probably have eaten many more by the time this month is out.
Don't know quite what our plan for the weekend is. We may be watching some sport tomorrow and we'll be wandering around looking at all the markets and just taking in the atmosphere. Hopefully it'll be sunny again as it was a little cloudy today.

Day At The Races

Spent yesterday at las carreras (the races) in the countryside. We asked where we were exactly, were told, then immediately forgot. In fact this is true for most of the Spanish we're learning.
Danay, an English teacher we work with on Wednesday took us out to her families farm where they have some racing horses. We spent the morning halfway up a really steep hill having a picnic. The hill was so steep we had to drive in a truck to get all the food (and ourselves) up there. Amina, me and all the kids were in the back of the truck and I was so scared that I was going to fall out. But it was still so much fun. Dad I'm sorry the photo above is a little squint but it was taken during the very bumpy ride, and I just pointed and clicked.
Danay's husband and a jockey named Claudio climbed a tree to knock down de güeñes. They're like mushrooms that are white on the outside, orange on the inside and they seem to grow on trees. Me and Amina cut them up and they were very sticky but we felt very Chilean because it is the woman's job to prepare the food.

If you want to make a Chilean salad, mix de güeñes with coriander, salt, oil and lemon juice (freshly squeezed of course) and mix. Then you all eat it from the bowl with a spoon.
We also prepared chicken sandwiches by peeling bits off of a whole (obviously dead and cooked) chicken, which I have never done before. Life in Chile is a series of firsts.
After lunch we drove back down the hill and joined the party that was brewing by the farm. People were starting to arrive with their horses so there were lots of people to talk to. We had to keep asking people to speak slowly and clearly so that we could understand them. We met practically all of Danay's family, the major of Lautaro and probably everyone who lives en el campo. A lot of people compared my eyes to those of Cameron Diaz, and all the guys apparently fell in love with us but that's just because we're gringas.

A great moment was when Claudio offered to take me and Amina for a little ride on a horse. Love horses! Although I was ridiculously ungraceful when getting off the horse.

Now the thing about a Chilean horse race is that it contains only two horses that race about 200 meters. And  they are fast. They shot past us and after waiting all day for the race it lasted about 10 seconds.

I had my first empanada as well which was apparently a big thing. They're nice. Had a really good day out and we can't wait to go to another race.

Oh, scary after story. I was putting away my washing and while folding up a sock a bee came out from inside! We got quite a fright. I may hang my washing up inside now... Life is certainly never dull in Chile!

Food, Dancing and Toys

Ahh I nearly hit the cute overload level today. We went to a Cuecada which was basically a huge congregation of kids lining the main street of Lautaro and dancing the cueca. They were all in the traditional cueca clothing of a big, pretty, frilly dress for the girls, and sombreros, shirt, waistcoat, poncho, chaps and spurs for the boys. All the little Kinder kids looked so adorable and the older kids looked really nice as well. And they were all quite good at the dancing as well. Well the older kids were. The little ones were so adorable it made up for any considerable lack in dancing ability. All the kids that knew us waved and said 'Hello Miss!' which led to us getting a few looks from interested parents.

The rest of my week has been really good as well. We went to a different school on Monday called Irena Frey. The staff were so friendly and welcoming. We had a really nice chat about the weather with the school principal. It may sound like a typical topic but we were comparing Chile and Scotland/England, and they didn't think we could speak any Spanish, so it was quite a pleasant surprise for them.

Tuesday was a nice chilled day. We had a couple of classes and prepared worksheets on the body, to do with the Kinder's on Wednesday. Dad I found the Chilean version of you as I talked to the computer technician. He knew all about computers and really likes them. He could also speak a bit of English which was nice. He let us use his computer, as the school ones were so slow we were going crazy.

On Wednesday it was really sunny and we had lunch by the river with Danay, who is really friendly. She's going to show us more of Lautaro on her next day off. She may even be taking us to see some horse racing on Sunday although I'm not sure if that's a definite thing... she was speaking Spanish at the time.

Yesterday was a good day as I went over Time with some 4th graders. Then we spent 2 hours practising English words with the spelling bee kids. Hernan showed me how to play with a Trompo. It's kind of like a spinning top that's wrapped in a really long string. You pull on the string, throw the Trompo and it should spin when it hits the ground. It's difficult to not just throw it randomly across the room and have it break something. At least I did better than Amina, she didn't even manage to pull all the string off on her first go. They have competitions where people try to get them on their hands while they're still spinning. It's a toy that is played with a lot in September as it's traditional here in Chile and September is Independence Day month.

We had pancakes yesterday which are called pancakys. Ruth was making them when we got home, and even though they were for postre, we looked so hungry that Ruth gave us one anyway. I was in such a good mood this morning I gave Ruth a big hug and I think she was quite happy. I'm probably going to get a huge meal tonight because of it.

We're meeting up with the girls from Chol Chol tomorrow in Temuco. Should be fun. I think I'll have to sit in an aisle seat on the bus because there isn't enough room for my legs between the seats. Ahh well.

Chao Chao xxx

Sunshine in Lautaro

Well today has been really sunny. Winter is definitely on the way out here. Spring mornings are cold but the day quickly becomes warm and sunny before turning a bit chilly in the evenings again. We've already been told quite a few times that we're going to have to start putting on sun cream because we are "muchas blancas". We spent the morning wandering around Lautaro trying to fill out our map to send to Project Trust, and trying not to look too touristy as we took quick photos of everything.

Here are a few snaps from today:

 we've been told we might be able to get a ride of the cart if we ask :)

Me in front of the main plaza

Lautaro the Mapuche leader who resisted the Spanish

 the volcano as seen on clear days

I don't know what I was saying before, the volcanoes look really nice when we can see them on clear days. As you'll notice there's a stray dog in the photo, they're everywhere! And the best day to take photos is definitely Sunday as everyone is just relaxing at home. We're beginning to smell asados (BBQ's) and are waiting somewhat impatiently for our first one!

 stray by a tree 

We googled why the trees are white seeing as Ruth didn't seem to understand us when we asked. It seemed to think it was to protect the tree from the sun. Then we asked Lili and she said it was so that they all matched... We're not quite sure. I think people are just used to it that way. Sometimes you come across a lamppost that's half white as well.

 Amina vs. postre (pudding)

 Me vs. the lemon covered salad

 Relaxing outside in the sun

Amina looking like she's been murdered but she's just relaxing in the sun

Oh just as a P.S. we bought little cartons of milk today and just about died of happiness. We haven't had milk at all since we've been here and were seriously feeling the need for some calcium! You can't buy fresh milk here, or at least not in Lautaro, and the long life stuff is really expensive. Everyone just uses powdered milk. It's strange. We're thinking of starting a weekend tradition of buying milk and a chocolate bar. Yum.