My week began with a very unexpected event. My pants had just been washed, but I wanted to wear them and they were still wet, so I decided to spend about 15 minutes using the blowdryer to dry them. Well on the bus on the way to school, I'm sitting in a seat right near the middle doors and there is only one other person on the bus, sitting close to the driver. All of a sudden, water explodes from under the door. I have no idea where it came from, but I heard a bursting noise and then all of a sudden, my hair, face, and all my clothes on my one side were soaking wet! It was the strangest experience because no one saw this rare occurance, so it was as if it never happened! I got off the bus, soaking wet, and very confused as to what just happened. When my friend at school asked me what happened, I realized how hard it was to explain what had just happened in Spanish!
I have begun to volunteer once a week with an organization called
Inglés Abre Puertas (English
Opens Doors). Every Thursday, I spend five hours in an all-girls high school in central Santiago. I thought I would be assisting one of the English teachers in her classes, but it turns out that she prefers that I take half the class and her the other half. The students that I work with are all about 15 years old, and most don't exactly want to listen, which has made it quite a challenging experience. I have come up with creative activities to make the class more interesting, but I learned quickly how difficult it is to be authoritative in another language that you are not fully confident with. Being serious and gaining respect requires confidence, and I am going to have to try harder to be confident with my Spanish because they only understand very basic English. At times, when we do an activity with both classes together, there are a few students who really want to learn. Helping them understand what they are reading and want to say is a very rewarding experience for both of us.
George and I representing L&C!
On Friday, Alice and I went to
the CAUC asado (bbq with the group at La Católica that plans events for the foreign student
s) which was at Cerro San Cristobal. We had a hard time finding the group because there were so many groups having
their own bbq's there. We finally found them, got some food, and went to sit where we could talk and watch the sunset. I don't remember what we were discussing, but we couldn't remember how to say spices in Spanish, so I pulled out my dictionary because I had just come from classes. The funny thing was that this guy came up to us because he saw us using the dictionary and thought he could practice his English by talking to us. He thought it was pretty funny when he figured out that we only wanted to know how to say spices. Alice and I then went to see Inception in theatres. Luckily, it was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was so confusing though, I don't know how people who don't speak much English could understand everything from the subtitles!
Probably the worst/funniest translation
On Saturday, I went to Pomaire, a small town about 45 minutes from Santiago, with some CIEE friends. The town was literally one street filled with restaurants and artisan shops that are only supported by tourists. Every shop sells chanchitas, which are three-legged pigs that are apparently good luck here. The pottery and crafts were fun to see, but after the first ten shops, they all started to look the same. Saturday was September 11th, the anniversary of the golpe militar (Pinochet's coup in 1973) so we were advised not to leave our houses at night. Although it was completely safe where I live, there have apparently been protests in the past on that day.
Today I woke up early to join 3 friends from CIEE and my friend Sebastian from the last hike with El Montañista to hike a mountain called San Carlos de Apoquindo. It was a rainy day, but the views were still amazing with the fog surrounding us. The mountain was beautiful and the hike was very peaceful. When we reached a midpoint, it started to rain pretty hard, so we decided to call it a day and head back home.
Tonight I asked my host mom if I
could use the iron to mend my pants with some iron-on patches that I had grandma send me. Well, my host mom set it up in the dining room where my host sister and her boyfriend were eating. Little did I know, they had never seen iron-on patches before and were absolutely in awe at what a novel concept they are. Soon enough, the entire family was watching me iron patches onto my pants and exclaiming what brilliant ideas people in the US have!
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