Sunday, May 18, 2008

Two unexpected things

1. No Mendoza trip:
After prepping like I'll be traveling for the next four days, it looks like I'll be here in Santiago. After walking the wrong direction four blocks, then re-tracing my steps I found the bus terminal and asked for a ticket to Mendoza. The lady told me that the pass was closed and "it's possible" that it will be open tomorrow. Great. I called my friend Steve who was suppose to leave from Viña, through a different bus company and they said the same thing over there. So after sitting in the bus station for about 20 minutes thinking, looking at my guide book, I decided maybe it's a good thing that I'm not going. I really didn't have off from work on Tuesday, I'll save a lot of money, and I got all my planning done for the next couple weeks yesterday. All is not lost. And I know where the bus station is now!
2. What happens at a 1 year old's birthday party:
Last night we went to Oliver's son's birthday party.

(The birthday boy and his madre Angie)

(Marié José and José Tomás)
There were 12 of us in total, mainly family with a couple friends from university. It started off pretty innocent with all 12 of us being entertained by José Tomás, but then turned into quite the carrete(party). We did plenty of "saluds" to José Tomás and in total ended up drinking more than necessary, but hey, it was in honor of a birthday. Who knew a birthday for a one year old would translate into two bottles of wine, two bottles of Johnny Walker, and a bottle of rum? Definitely not me. Life's full of surprises.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Not too much going on

I realized it's been awhile since I wrote here, and I think it's because I haven't really done anything spectacular. Some highlights from the past couple weeks:
Saturday night: I went out with my family to a "Chilean Rock" concert, then danced, then decided to go to this club that stays open until 9:00am. Little did I anticipate that we would get close to staying out until then. Around 6ish we wanted to leave, but the bouncers said it was dangerous, so we had to wait it out until the sun came out to rescue us and miraculously, when we left around 7:30 all was peaceful outside. We went back to the apartment, made some breakfast and went to bed. Then in the afternoon we had the Chilean afternoon lunch of empanadas and conversation.
Thursday: A co-worker of mine works at an all girls catholic school and asked Marisa and if we would like to judge the "Beauty and Smarts" part of their week long spirit week. I would like to direct your attention to Marisa's blog because we had very similar reactions. I can only emphasize how much thought and deliberation went into the final decision. Here we were, three "Americans" and another panalist, trying to decide if the team with the most correct answers would win, or the team that displayed a stronger vocabulary should win amidst screaming house music, girls dancing on bleachers surrounding us, not being able to hear one another unless we were right next to each other, and then the giant, four legged Nemo waving at us really helped me step it up a notch and make a decision. I thought, "If two girls can create a four footed paper mached fish and walk around, AND wave at me, then I can declare team Green the victors. After listening to the four high schools give their answers in clean, understandable English, I was brought back down to Earth when I went to Duoc later that day to teach my 26 year olds who couldn't understand me when I asked how their weekend was. But, I can't complain.
Friday night: I really wanted to check out some live music so I shined the signal in the clouds and gathered some friends to come with me to Club de Jazz in Ñuñoa. Ñuñoa is the community just south of where I live, so it was about a 5-10 minute bus ride. It's one of the most famous jazz clubs in Santiago, and while the music was ok, the company was nice. For me, I got a chance to meet more English professors from around Santiago, and share stories. The other people I was with were other TIPS(which is what they call me) from the World Teach program.
Saturday: Tonight I'm going to a birthday party for José-Tomás, Oliver's boy. So basically, he's my nephew. Oliver calls me Uncle Ben, Tío Ben.
Sunday 18th -Wednesday 21st. Steve, my friend who teaches in Viña, and I are headed to Mendoza, Argentina for the week since we don't have class on Wednesday. Why not, right? So I should get some good pictures from that weekend(which happens to start on a Sunday)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

New Haircut

Yesterday I set out to get a new haircut. After looking for a barbershop on Providencia, and 11 de Septiembre with no luck I decided to go to the hairstylist near the apartment. Here's what I got. It's not too shabby. It has a hint of Chilean to it.



Thursday, May 8, 2008

End of the World?

No, the world is not ending, but these are some amazing pictures that were taken around the sputtering volcano down south.
I got these from this site. And in case you've been out of the Chilean news loop, a volcano erupted about 600 miles south of Santiago last Friday and is still causing a ruckus.


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Weekend Recap

After going to Duoc for classes on Friday, where I had 1/18, 2/14, and 15/18 students show up to my three classes, I came went out to dinner with some of my other US English teachers for some pasta. After that, I came home and Marisa, who had dropped her teaching bag off at my house, and I were greeted by the usual suspects, Marie Jose, Rodrigo, Raul, Juan, and Elizabeth. They invited to enjoy a bottle of wine and converse with them. Of course we did. Our pleasant talking led us to the early morning. It was fun to have someone else around who would occasionally get lost in conversation. Then on Saturday I wandered around a little bit, purchases a Chico Trujillo cd, because I really liked them. Chico Trujillo, you will recall is the band we went to see Wednesday night. I also enjoyed the wonderful weather(See previous post). Then Saturday night we all went out for dinner at an all you can eat seafood restaurant. Now I don't necessarily like seafood, but this was pretty good.(Or do I Jay? I can never remember) They had a buffet of cold dishes, and would walk around with hot dishes and put as much as you wanted on your plate.

(Raul and me at dinner)
Once again is was great having Marisa around because as the table was telling jokes, conversing, and singing a little, Marisa and I were at the end of the table, quietly talking, and trying to catch up with the Spanish conversation. When we finally caught up, I realized that everyone was going around and giving a little speech about Elizabeth, or her family. Ha, well imagine a guy who doesn't really know Spanish that well, and normally needs to think each sentence completely through, trying to give a toast, on the spot to him host mom. It probably didn't make sense and I know I ended it by saying, "I love us."

(Everyone trying to drink away their memory of my horrible toast. OR enjoying each other's company. From left to right. Juan, Marie Jose, Me, Elizabeth, Rodrigo with the peace sign, Oliver, Raul, Cata, and Marisa)
Sunday involved taking a bus to Viña del Mar to Steve's house and attending the Everton/Antofagasta soccer game. It was great to say the least. I had no idea what everyone was chanting, but I joined along.

(This is what it looks like under the gigantic flag that gets pulled over the fans in the general admission section after each goal)
We scouted out what colors to wear, so "fit in." I mean, besides being white, and tall, and mullet free, we fit in.

(It might be hard to differentiate us, but Steve, Vinnie and I are the three guys centered in the photo)
After the game Vinnie, Steve and I made some gourmet spaghetti, and then went out to El Journal with a couple other girls from our program.
Since I'm a teacher now, I pick on things that I didn't before, like when one person asks a question others probably have the same question. Since my mom asked me for more updates about teaching, I figured others may be curious. If not, skip ahead to the video clip. Teaching is just like the CIEE guide book said, rewarding, frustrating, time intensive. There are times when I feel my students understand what's going on and are actually enjoying their time in class, and other times I feel like I am the worst teacher in the world. In reality, I probably fall in between the two. My biggest frustration is that my intermediate students are getting tested with standardized tests instead of concentrated materials which means it is really hard to help students who have a weak base succeed. The last quiz had questions that I had to think about, so it's no wonder the average grade for my first two classes is 11/20. It's hard, but hopefully it will get better. My friend Rachel, who I visited in Buenos Aries gave me a link to some of her materials, so hopefully I can get a little more structure to my lessons. Let's hope I can make a few points with my students and get them to understand my language.


(This is where we were standing during the game. Needless to say it was wild. It's close to the way I felt during my first UW-Madison Hockey game)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Saturday, in the park

Now I know it was May 3rd, but it felt like it was the fourth of July. I decided if this is what a (November 3rd) day feels like, I'm ready for winter.
I'll post more later, but this weekend was filled with family, friends, and a futbol match in Viña del Mar on Sunday.



(Doing a little journaling near the Pedro de Valdivia metro stop, enjoying the sunny afternoon)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

It's a holiday

Labor Day in Chile is May 1st, and since it falls on a Thursday, that's when we, as in Chilean workers are celebrating it. After feeling like I was back on a normal sleep schedule, I gave it another jolt by doing what I do best: tagging along with my "brother", "sister" and her boyfriend. They said they were going to a concert, or club, or bar, or something. I really didn't know exactly where we were going besides that it was in Barrio Brasil, and the last thing I wanted to do was offend my friends by not participating in their culture. I was pleasantly surprised to see I ended up at a concert and was treated to the sounds of Chico Trujillo. They are a type of cumbia music, which is a mix of rock, latin, and ska music. I enjoyed it quite a bit the only problem for me was the incredible amount of smoke that filled the concrete concert hall, and the fact that the headliner, Chico Trujillo started at 2:30.

(This picture was lifted from the internet, but that's what they looked like)
We left shortly after the first set around 3:30, and ended up in Burger King because it was the only place open. After waiting for a little over 30 minutes to order I decided since I waited, I might as well order. After we get to our table we realize we only have four ketchup packets. So, being the nice I guy I am I told my friends I'd go up and ask for some more. This ended up being another time I wish I knew more Spanish because this girl who was waiting right behind us started smarting off to me about how she waited for 30 minutes in the line and I had to wait as well. She also told me because I'm a gringo I think I can do anything. I tried to explain to her that we waited just like everyone else, in front of her, and I just wanted some ketchup for our food. I think the guy behind her was understanding but she was not happy. I think she was just drunk and tired, and probably sick of gringos. Who knows, maybe asking for more than four ketchup packets for four combo meals is totally out of line? Either way, I left the conversation wishing I had a better vocabulary. But, looking back if I did have a bigger vocabulary and handle on the language, she probably would have gotten even more upset.