Valpo Voyager

Page 103 of 124

Vacaciones! My Get-Away in Santa Cruz

Life is good 🙂 Getting ready for the tasting! Our carriage! (with the Chilean flag in the background :D) Best part of Santa Cruz = This bed!: The best shot I could get of the mountains from the bus…doesn’t do it justice, but you get the idea 🙂

Viu Manent!

I just got back from a lovely get-away in Santa Cruz, and am gonna take some time to write about it before my busy life in Valparaiso starts up again! (Also, Chile just beat Peru 1-0 with a goal in the 92^nd minute to take the highest standing in Group C….VAMOS! VAMOS CHILENOS! QUE ESTA NOCHE, TENEMOS A GANAR!!!! Just had to throw that out there :D)

I feel really lucky to have this internship, but I will admit that at times I am jealous of the exchange students here, because they have so much more flexibility in their schedules and way more time to travel. One of my friends put all his classes Tues-Thurs so that he would have a full 4 day weekend to travel if he wanted to, but I work Mon-Fri and then have youth group until 1:30/2 on Saturdays, so that makes traveling anywhere far away next to impossible! Now I really can’t complain, because I’m going to have almost 2.5 weeks of traveling to end my time here, but I was feeling antsy and ready to just get away for a little bit, and Colegio going on vacation gave me the perfect opportunity for a mini-vacation. Monday and Tuesdays I work at Colegio, so that gave me lots of free time this week, therefore I rearranged my 2 English classes on Monday to be on Wednesday and Thursday instead for this week. That gave me Sunday, Monday and Tuesday until my class at 3:30 to jet away for a bit, and I’ve really wanted to visit a winery here…luckily the most famous wine valley in Chile, the Colchagua Valley, is only about 4 hours away! Chile is known for it’s wine and has really built up wine tourism and Santa Cruz is right outside of the Colchagua Valley. I bought a great guidebook before coming here that had recommendations on wineries to visits and hotels to stay at and I was able to find a vineyard named Viu Manent that offered an hour long tour in a horse-drawn carriage of the fields and processing plant, a chance to taste wine in process and a tasting of four wines to wrap things up for only $30 and a gorgeous little bed and breakfast for only $25 a night….how perfect is that?!

I persuaded Luke to accompany me on my adventure, so we first took a 1.5 hour bus ride Sunday morning to Santiago, because no buses connect to Santa Cruz from Valparaiso (the city is small, it’s just on the map because of wine tourism) and from there we had a 3.5 hour ride into Santa Cruz. It’s really popular and common to travel by Greyhound-type bus from city to city and internationally in South America, the bus terminals are humongous and chaotic, with buses between Valparaíso and Santiago every 15 minutes, craziness!! The ride itself was gorgeous, the ceros (hills) of Valparaíso are beautiful, but you can’t see the huge mountain ranges from Valpo, and they were beautiful to see on the bus. Plus it was just interesting to see how different cities look, I’m so used to houses balancing precariously on hills, it was weird to see flat, more ordered neighborhoods!

After arriving we found our hostal, and even though the guidebook had said it was wonderful, I was a bit anxious…until I stepped inside our room and saw my clean, puffy white bedspread, two fluffed pillows and collapsed onto perhaps the comfiest mattress ever…and there wasn’t a bunkbed with flea-filled blankets in sight, THANK THE LORD!!!! Seriously, the vacation would have been worth it for just that bed. The staff were so kind and friendly and it just kept getting better when they gave us a yummy breakfast each morning and the shower was PRIVATE (no naked Chilean women by me!!!). About 2 hours in it hit us how quiet it was in the hostal…it was lovely. I love Valparaíso, but it is busy and loud and chaotic all day and all night and living in the YMCA with pumping techno music and people talking and walking around you all the time just adds to the mayhem. To be able to collapse on my own bed and just read in quiet was so calming 🙂

But we did somehow leave the peace of the hostal and venture out to Viu Manent on Monday. We walked down a beautiful country road to reach the visitor’s center and were greeted by one of the friendliest staffs I’ve ever met, I love that about Chile! I’d asked for the tour in English, just because I wanted to be able to understand absolutely everything and know nothing about wine-making, haha! But it turned out to be a really funny mix of Spanish and English, they were teasing us before the tour that our Spanish was too good to ask for the English tour (which was a very nice compliment to receive :D), but while we did take the tour in English, we had all our side conversations in Spanish, so our guide would forget to switch back to English for the tour, until I didn’t understand a word and asked about it and then he would seamlessly slide back into English…it was great 🙂 Sadly, it’s not summer, so the vines weren’t filled with grapes, but it was still beautiful and I loved the horse-drawn carriage! Visiting the processing plant was really interesting too, we got to try two different wines right from the humongous containers and hear about all the steps that go into making the wine, I never knew how complicated it was! And then the tasting was just delicious…Luke and I took our time with that…and then decided we needed some food in our bellies, haha 🙂 So we decided to splurge at the winery restaurant, and I am SO GLAD that we did, because that had to be one of the best meals I’ve had in a LONG time. I had the most perfect salmon (obviously not better than yours Dad, don’t fret…well maybe I’m being nice, hehe) and grilled vegetables and a tres leches flan, a typical Chilean dessert, to finish things off. We ended up spending about 4 hours at that winery, just relaxing, walking the vineyard, eating, drinking, and feeling pampered for the first time in awhile, it was so wonderful…writing about it makes me want to go back!!

Coming back we were surprised to find out that Santa Cruz has the largest private museum in Chile. The Colchagua Wine Valley was developed by Carlos Cardoen, a major arms dealer that couldn’t return to the U.S. because the US Customs Service put a $500,000 price on his head due to some shady deals with Iraq…weird, right?!?! So he settled in Santa Cruz, poured his money into vineyards and into collecting valuable historical objects. And now his son has started a foundation that runs the museum that houses and expands his collection! I loved the museum, I could look at the artifacts all day…even though reading all the info started to make my head hurt, too much Spanish!! Finally, to wrap up a great day, we decided to be super-winos and buy some wine and cheese (I still get a kick out of being able to buy wine here, I always am worried they are going to card me, haha!) and kick back with a movie on those amazingly comfortable beds of ours. Lame? Perhaps. Perfectly relaxing and wonderful? Definitely 🙂

So all in all, it was very sad to have to leave and return to reality this morning…until I realized that my reality is living in Chile! And got to return to the crazy Chilean soccer scene and my students and work here. I only have 10 more days left in Valparaíso…I can’t even fathom that…it’s crazy!! And I have way to many places here and in Vina del Mar on my “To See” list, so it’s going to be a jam-packed last few days! So I’m going to enjoy my last few days in Valpo to the fullest, even though it was exactly what I needed to get away for awhile…thank you so much Santa Cruz, te amo!!!

(Oh, and if you’re ever in Santa Cruz, I highly recommend staying at Hostal D’Vid and going to Viu Manent, you won’t regret it!!)

Starting Goodbyes (What?!) and New Beginnings

July 12, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 0 Comments

Abrazo del grupo! (Group hug!) Attacked with love 🙂: My 5th grade music class! Check out the video of them singing on Facebook!

My 3rd graders holding up their finished assignments from my lesson!

DISCLAIMER: I couldn’t post due to site updates, so this post is a bit out-dated…if you are my friend on Facebook, I already posted this as a note, if not, enjoy!

Wow. It’s been way too long since I last posted, and I apologize for that! Now I understand why other travelers say that when you have the most to do and talk about, you have the least time to do so! But I’m going to be super-blogger now to make up for it, so watch out!

And part of the reason that I can be super-blogger is that one of my programs is ending! Weird! The colegio (The Chilean education system is divided into colegio (pre-school-8th grade), secundaria (9th-12th grade, but they call it 1-4) and Universidad (college)) that I work at is going on winter vacation (haha!) this Friday for 2 weeks. They start back up with school on the 24th of July, but my internship ends on July 22…so after tomorrow I’m not going to see my kiddies again 🙁

I have absolutely loved working at the colegio with my 3rd and 5th graders, despite its challenges. As I said, this is a school for kids who have some kind of troubled home, whether it be financial troubles, abuse, neglect, alcohol, etc. I spend 3 days a week in the 3rd grade classroom and it has been such a wonderful opportunity to really develop relationships with these kids and get to know their personalities and needs. But it is also difficult, because you can start to see where these kids are suffering in their lives. Quite a few of them are very, very clingy and attention seeking…which from being a camp counselor last year, I know just happens with kids, but it’s to a level where I wonder how much attention, hugs and love these kids are receiving at home. Many of them jump to violence over small conflicts and seem to find it quite normal to smack someone or hit their head when upset. And overall trying to keep control and teach them to raise their hand and not yell or act out can be pretty exhausting.

But in spite of that, there are really great days too. When they all do well on the quiz, or are actually working quietly. When you can see how excited they are about learning and how they’re almost jumping up and down to be picked and say the answer so you can see how smart they are. Plus, they’re just kids! And they want to have fun and be loved. So that’s why I made my lessons focus on getting them to sing and dance and do artwork and practice English, so that they could have a break from being told to be quiet 🙂

It’s a blessing to me to walk into the school yard and be attacked with my students who want to hug me, help me carry me things, start singing the latest song we learned at me or giving me sweets. It’s difficult to only be in these kids lives for such a short time, but I’ve just tried to give as many hugs, smiles and “good jobs” as I can, answer as many questions about English as possible (haha) and give them some fun songs, dances and projects to remember. ( I’ll post videos of them singing if I can!). And yesterday I came into the class only to be greeted with huge shouts of “Te quiero Tia Anna” (I love you Miss Anna!) and gifts of goodbye cards that they had asked their teacher if they could make in art class.I had made little gifts and cards for them too, each with a small gift from Holland, or Valpo (like mini wooden shoes post cards, lanyards) and I was able to talk the the class and tell them how much they meant to me and how much I loved my time with them (and expressing emotional things is really hard to do in another language!) and I was so proud when I was done that I’d said what I’d wanted to and hadn’t cried…and then the teacher asked if the kids had anything to say to me…and they all started jumping up and down and raising their hands. So one by one, my kiddies stood up and shyly told me that they loved me and what activities of mine they loved the most and that they were going to miss me and then walked up to give me a hug and kiss. I was surviving until little Constanza told me that her one wish is that I was a Chilean so that I could stay with her forever…let the waterworks begin! But it was a wonderful mix of happy and sad tears, I’m so grateful for the experience, but don’t want it to end!

But even with sad goodbyes come new beginnings. I recently found a lovely little Lutheran church (yeah Valpo, you converted me, congrats) in Vina del Mar, the next town over, and they do a caminata (walk) to bring the homeless soup, coffee and sandwiches on Tuesday nights. I went for the first time last night and am so glad that I did. Being a part of a Christian community that is intent on living out their faith and serving others as Jesus served is another blessing for me. I love my church at home, and to feel a part of another church community is something that has really anchored me here and given me peace. We met at 7 pm at the church to prepare the food, had a lovely devotional and time to sing together and then donned some awesome neon yellow coats that have our churches name and the back and headed out to walk the streets! Part of what I’m really grateful for in this internship is that I’m not just a tourist here who sees the touristy, luxurious parts of a country. I get to live right in the center of the city, not in luxurious conditions, but right in the center of restaurants, office buildings, bars, concert halls, be a bus ride away from very rich and orderly Vina del Mar, and then work in really poor communities and see another side of Valparaiso and life in Chile. On this walk I met a woman who was 7 months pregnant but still addicted to drugs and alcohol, a mute man sitting outside a bread store, two old men who were out on street corners playing homemade instruments and many others. It’s really hard for me to be able to talk with these people because of their accents. Accents don’t differ by region in Chile, like in the U.S. Instead, they differ based on class. But I can smile, control and get rid of my own pride by letting the homeless men to kiss me on the cheek to say hello and goodbye and sit with them as they eat, nodding and smiling as the Chileans talk with them J.

Another new beginning is getting my travel plans set for my last 2 weeks here! The Y gives us the last week as a vacation week, so we are done July 22 and Levi and Erica are leaving July 28. Luke and I elected to stay longer because we want to travel and Luke has a friend in Bolivia who was an exchange student at his high school that he wants to visit. So we’ve all been talking and the plan is to head up to Santiago for a weekend, then Luke and I will leave for Buenos Aires (AH!!!! I’M SO EXCITED!) by bus, spend about 5 days there and then fly up to La Paz, Bolivia for my last week! It’s going to be very weird to say goodbye to my life and friends here and then have more than 2 weeks left in South America, but feel so incredibly lucky to have the chance to visit these places…even typing it I can’t believe that it’s actually going to happen!!

I’ll write again soon, hopefully on the blog site! Off to watch the Copa America now, Chile vs. Uruguay…CHI CHI CHI! LE LE LE! VIVA CHILE!!!!

Long Weekend! Carnaval de San Pedro

June 27, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 0 Comments

Gringo family (minus one member) at the dunes!!: Las Dunas!! Why are there so many beautiful places here?! 🙂

Carnaval de San Pedro! These are the dancers we followed 🙂

Hola choros!

I’m working on a couple longer posts, but I wanted to give a quick update on the Festival de San Pedro that happened this weekend! There are always surprises in Chile, especially because people don’t like to tell you about upcoming events in advance! So on Friday we learned that there was going to be a festival and parades and boat display on Sunday and a vacation day with no school or work on Monday, que bakan! (awesome!)

And the celebration on Sunday was SO cool, I had no idea what to expect, but we went to the main harbor and there were tons of people there….but nothing happening…but all the boats were decorated with flowers and little flags, so that was pretty to see…and just as we were getting bored and thinking of going to a restaurant, this loud marching band music starts up and a huge parade comes our way! And this was no Tulip Time parade, this was a Chilean parade for sure, because it was all music and dancing! There were tons of different dancing groups, each wearing the traditional clothing for the type of dance that they were performing, and personal little marching bands to follow each group of dancers. Mixed in were banners and images and mini floats of the Virgin Mary, San Pedro and other saints. San Pedro is the patron saint of fisherman, therefore since Valparaiso is the most important port city in Chile and a has a huge shipping and fishing industry, Valparaiso throws one heck of a party on this day 🙂

The best part was that once the parade was finished and passed us, we started walking after the dancers down the parade route, trying to mimic there dance moves, and once we had them down started dancing behind the last marching band with the same moves that the real dancers were doing, in the parade route, baha!! People started laughing and taking pictures of us along with the dancers and yelling “gringas miren aca! Aca!” (White girls, look over here!”…I was with two of my friends who are from France and a Chilena 🙂 ). It was hilarious, we were dancing like that for a good 20 minutes until the real dancers finally ended, and then on our way back to the harbor, another parade started up! More dancing!

Then today we had a lovely free day to sleep in and then headed out to the sand dunes at Con Con, a city close to Vina del Mar, very touristy (you can tell because there was a McDonalds, Starbucks and Burger King and huge condo buildings along the beach 😀 ). The dunes were so beautiful! So I spent my afternoon hiking, eating our picnic lunch of bananas, turkey and cheese sandwiches, peach juice (I’m addicted to juice because of Chile, they have every possible flavor and stands all over that squeeze it for you fresh, SO GOOD!), and our dessert of oreos and peanut butter, and finally watching the puesta del sol (sunset) over the ocean…life is good!

Ships decorated for San Pedro!

So there’s my holiday update! I return to work tomorrow, but this upcoming weekend we’re going to celebrate the 4^th of July with our Chilean friends by having a good ol’ American cookout! Too bad fireworks are illegal here… 🙁

Chao amigos! Besitos!

Mandaka Day

June 25, 2011 / Michelle Roy / 0 Comments

The kids build a small section of the canal

One of everyone’s favorite days of the trip was when we go visit Mandaka Primary School, the school where about 500 of the village go to school. When we arrive they greet us with songs and welcome u with tea. They are so excited to have us visit yet I think I might have been more excited to be visiting them. The kids are so cute. They are in classes of about 40 and sit three to a desk, but they are so enthusiastic and joyful.

This year we hoped to teach the kids a little bit about our project by building a canal out of modeling clay. Each child got a little section of clay to make a part of the canal that we connected and improved to make a working canal. When we told the kids it was ready, they just about ran to the front of the room to see. We put a hole in the wall to how that overtime the canal will break and water will escape, which out water did spilling colorful water all over the floor of their classroom. We then fixed it to show that little repairs will help the communities get water.

Did we make a huge mess? Kind of

Everyone excited gathers around to watch the demonstation

Did anyone care? No

Did the kids fully grasp the concept of maintenance? Probably not

Did we at least help the kids understand the canal more? Hopefully

Did the kids have a blast? Yes

Did the other EWB-Valpo members have fun? Of course

Was the day a success? Definitely!

La Cultura Chilena (Getting used to some cultural differences!)

June 24, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 0 Comments

Alrighty, I know I said in my last post that I was going to write about night-life and I had a post almost finished and then my computer got stolen…yeah…awesome. So I don’t really feel like writing it all over again and getting mad remembering about the computer-stealing fiasco! Therefore, I’m gonna write about Chilean culture…it won’t be a textbook promise 🙂 After living here for a month I’m certainly not an expert, but there are some really obvious cultural differences here, and most of them are pretty funny! So here we go:

Greetings (Saludos)

In the U.S. if you’re going to say hi to someone or a group, you wave at everyone as you walk by, handshake if it’s more formal or hug if you’re friends, right? Well here, to say hello you say “Hola” and then press your cheek to the other person’s cheek and kiss the air (or if you’re a teenage boy, you not so discreetly plant a kiss right on my cheek…nice). This happens between men and women and between women, men just shake hands, and you add a hug into the mix if you’re good friends. To say goodbye is the same thing, but you say “Chao” and kind of feel like you’re Italian. (They look at you funny if you say “Adios” too!) The thing that cracks me up is that you MUST greet and say goodbye to every single person individually. My favorite example of this is in youth group, when I enter the room and have to go around and kiss 50 Chileans on the cheek…and if I miss one they point it out and I’m automatically super rude! I’m really bad with remembering this when I say goodbye to groups of people, I’ll just say “Chao!” wave and start to walk off, and then realize how rude I’m being!

2. Chilenismos!

Chileans love to joke that they don’t speak Spanish, they speak Chilean. I didn’t know this before I came here, but it turns out that Chile has a reputation for REALLY difficult to understand Spanish…and I can now verify that reputation whole-heartedly! The first thing that makes speaking “Chilean” so difficult is that they speak incredibly fast! Native Spanish-speakers in general seem to speak really quickly to me, but Chileans talk fast even for native speakers, it’s insane! Chileans also love to use slang, so they have tons of words that don’t make sense anywhere but Chile. Here’s a few of my favorites:

Poh: Chileans add the sound “poh” onto any word they please. It’s most common with “si”, so a lot of times Chileans respond with “sipo!” to questions. I’ve found that in conversations between friends or with some kind of passionate topic/emotion, they start slipping poh into at least one word every sentence, it can make things really hard to follow at first! But I love trying to use it now, and it cracks them up when I do, they love that I’m becoming a chilena J

Bakán: this is kind of like “awesome”, they use it to describe anything that was cool or fun or interesting, que bakán, no?!

Pololo/polola: this means novio/novia (boyfriend/girlfriend), but it also signifies that the relationship is quite serious, if I’m understanding correctly. Try saying it, it’s such a funny word! Oh, and “pololear” means “to date”.

Fume: BORING!

Cachai/cache: Cachai is used in place of “entiendes?” (you understand?). I need to take a video of someone saying it, it’s a word with bounce and force, I love it! And if you understand you respond with “cache!”. Chileans slip “cachai” on the end of tons of sentences, speeches are littered with it! Cachai?

Wena choro/pollo!: This is a greeting between friends, choro is a chilenismo for “amigo” (friend). Pollo literally means “chicken”, but calling someone a pollo is like calling them stupid. But Chileans love insulting their friends, it’s honestly like you’re real friends once you start trading insults all the time, I almost feel good once I’m in insult battles b/c I know I’m in, ha! But don’t say “wena pollo” to someone who isn’t a friend, they’ll get mad! But between friends it’ll always get a laugh 🙂

3. PDA!

WOW. This was definitely the most evident cultural difference right away. CHILEANS LOVE PDA! SO MUCH! My first night in Chile we went to a restaurant and I looked over at the table next to me, only to find a couple making-out (and it was riding the PG/PG-13 line)! I let out a little gasp and my friend Susana looked over to ask what was wrong, so I nodded my head over at the couple…and she looked so confused! I tried to explain that this level of PDA was not normal in the U.S., especially not in a nice restaurant, and she couldn’t understand it! In her words, “Anna, love is beautiful, why hide it?!”…so there you have it, the Chilean belief that fuels their PDA J But be warned, if you’re walking around Valparaíso, you will find couples making out on almost every park bench, at the traffic light waiting to cross the street, in front of you in line, everywhere! They even do it when out with other people! Just last night I was out with some friends at a bar, two of whom are dating, and they just started kissing, during a conversation, with people sitting on either side of them…and everyone continues on as if nothing is happening! They might tease them a bit, but no one is uncomfortable! Except me! I’ll admit, I’m not surprised at the PDA because Chileans are so comfortable with touch in general. Friends hug and touch all the time here, personal bubbles are very small or non-existent! Oh, PDA, gotta love it 😉

4. Super Talkative and Friendly!

Chileans are very, very friendly, which I love, it’s really helpful when you’re a stranger in a foreign country! Living in the YMCA there are always tons of people around and it’s quite normal for a stranger to strike up a conversation with me while I’m on my laptop, walking up the stairs, sitting in the kitchen or even when I’m getting dressed in the locker room or taking a shower (still not used to that whole stranger shower conversation thing…)! I think this may happen more often because I’m a gringa, and this tends to fascinate people (also, I so easily stick out, I’m so white, ah! I need to be home and able to tan!), but I’ve also seen this happen a lot between Chileans, as a whole they’re just much more comfortable and laid back with touch and meeting new people. Chileans keep the conversation going for a long time too, when you sit down for a meal I’ve learned that you need to be prepared to sit for a good hour once everyone is done eating in order to just sit and talk and laugh. I love that, it works well for a talkative extrovert like me

5. Aggressively Kind

This is a term that Erica and I decided on to describe how Chileans treat us, and each other. Chileans are hospitable almost to a fault. When you’re invited over to someone’s house they will ask you what you want to drink and if you want more or something they don’t have at least 10 times and keep insisting that you eat more and won’t let you help prepare or serve or clean anything at all! It’s very sweet, you feel like a queen J It’s hard to explain the aggressive part, but the best way I can think to describe it is that Chileans are very sure that they know what is best for you and will not take no for an answer! So if they think it’s too cold outside and you need more clothes, nothing is happening until you put more clothes on! With food, I get second helpings or they at the least look very confused and disappointed if I repeatedly refuse something…or just give me another drink anyways J When I was sick and they decided I needed bedrest, then there was NO leaving the Y, no matter what I said! And if you say “no” to anything, they rarely take it seriously, I think they think you’re kidding…ah, I hope this makes sense, it can be both really wonderful (the kindness) and really frustrating (the aggressive-ness)!

Ok, there’s lots more to say, but this is really long already, so I’ll have Chilean culture part 2 later! As for life here, things are good! I love teaching my classes, singing with the kids and getting cooking lessons in the soup kitchen , and I never run out of places to explore here…life is good 🙂 I taught the third graders for an hour and a half all by myself today (that was one of the most obvious indicators I’ve had at how much my Spanish is improving, YAY!) and it was so much fun! I taught them “This is the Day” in Spanish and English and motions to go along with it, and then we made clay models of the beautiful things that the Lord has made, like we were singing about…so much fun 🙂 I have some pictures, I’ll put them in soon! Off to a concert now, besos!

Bucket Brigades

June 19, 2011 / Michelle Roy / 0 Comments

The villagers work hard to mix a concrete batch by hand

Building junction 1 required making a lot of concrete by hand. This is not an easy task as the rock, stone, cement, and water are heavy and need to thoroughly mixed. Now imagine mixing this with a shovel that is only 2 ft long. That is what the villagers did for over 50 batches of concrete me made. Although it was tiring and hard many of them kept mixing like machines to finish the work. I was impressed since I was exhausted after mixing a batch before it was even close to being finished.

The mixing was hard, but I loved watching the people work together. As soon as a batch was ready someone would yell “fall in” and everyone would line up and pass buckets of concrete down the line to get the concrete to where it needed to be placed. The line was so efficient generally we did not have enough buckets to keep up. I enjoyed it because it was something that everyone could take part in. I joined the men and women of the village in line and laughed and smiled as we moved the concrete in order to fix their canal.

EWB-Valpo member Brittney joins the buckt brigade

Tag in the Market

June 15, 2011 / Michelle Roy / 0 Comments

These are my new friends

One of my jobs on the trip was to measure the length of rebar required to reinforce our drop box. After the generator broke, I took my job to the market where there was electricity in one of the shops. However, once the villagers started cutting they did not need my help. Instead I played with three of the cutest little kids I have ever seen. They lived off the market and on non-market days they used the booths as their personal playground. They laughed and giggled and ran around. I tried to teach them how to do some very basic dance moves, but they just laughed at me. I got the same reaction when I tried to get them to make funny faces at me. Eventually we started playing chase where they would run away from me laughing and I would follow them through the banana trees. They ran past an old woman doing laundry a few times and with each passing she would give me this huge grin and laugh as I played with the children. It was such a simple gesture that made the kids so excited. Later that day when I returned to the market, the kids got my attention and then took off running through the trees wanting to continue playing with me.

Mi Trabajo! Starting the actual internship part of my life here :)

June 12, 2011 / Anna Wiersma / 1 Comment

Colegio Jorge Williams! The amazing quiche we made!: Mid-day assembly, the kids get in line and have a routine of “arms up! to the side! in front! at your sides!” to end up standing straight like ladies and gentlemen 🙂

Taller de Cocina (Cooking Class) at Rukantu…Rodrigo is an amazing cook!

Oh hey, it’s been awhile! I have so much to tell! I finally got to start working this week and I absolutely loved my first week in the programs. It was definitely a week of introductions and planning, so this next week is when I really dig into things, but I’ll give you an introduction to what I’m doing and was up to this past week! My time is divided between 5 programs. I really love all the variety in my work schedule, every day is different! (I will add photos ASAP!)

On Monday, Tuesday and Friday I work from 9am-1pm in Colegio de Jorge Williams, a school for preschool-8th grade that is sponsored by the YMCA. The YMCA started this school to create a place for kids from troubled homes, whether that is from abuse, lack of money, alcohol abuse or other reasons. They provide free breakfast and lunch to provide more economic help for the families and the staff is really great, all people who have a passion to help these kids create the foundation for a positive future. On Tuesdays I work with the music teacher in his classes for 5th and 7th graders, and on Mondays and Fridays I’m with the third graders. I love the Colegio so far, especially the 3rd graders. I was mostly observing in the music classes, I’ll be teaching part of the class next Tuesday, but there was tons to do with the 3rd graders. One of the difficulties in this school is that discipline is really difficult. Often the kids don’t have a very controlled environment in their homes, and it’s obvious that many of them don’t get enough attention. So the kids want your attention all the time and speak out of turn and interrupt a lot, it can be really hard to get things done. But the 3rd grade teacher is really great with the kids, they obviously adore her, and I’m glad that I can be there to help her keep control and attend to everyone; I don’t know how she does it every day! Helping the kids with their assignments was hilarious, I’ve found that the pattern is this:

1. “Tia Anna, Tia Anna, necesito ayuda, ahora, ahora!!” – “Ms. Anna, Ms. Anna, I need your help, now, now!”

2. Help with question, try to leave and help other student, but get pulled back and asked:

3. “Tia Anna, Tia Anna, como se dice [insert Spanish word] en ingles?!” – “Ms. Anna, Ms. Anna, how do you say [Spanish word] in English?”

4. Tell them the English word.

5. They say “en serio?” (really??!), try and pronounce it and start cracking up and telling all their friends.

6. Receive huge hug!

7. Repeat starting at Step 1 🙂

Haha, I love these kids, I’m pumped to have 2 more months with them! On Wednesday I work at the center in Las Cañas (all the hills have different names). Las Cañas has a soup kitchen and then runs different programs for the community, such as literacy workshops, english classes, bible studies, lifeskills etc… Wednesdays I go to help the soup kitchen cook, I’m definitely getting some good cooking lessons for my apartment next year! About 30-50 people come each day and I help to serve them, sit and eat with them and then clean everything up afterwards. I love interacting with the staff there and the people who come to eat, they are all really excited about the english class that I’m going to be teaching on Mondays (tomorrow, I’m nervous!). This Wednesday I went to the Bible study after lunch and made lesson plans and signs to put in the community for my english class, I’m excited to get started tomorrow! We’re having one for the adults at the center who come for lunch and one for kids and any community member who wants to come.

Thursdays I’m supposed to go to the center in Placeres, eat at the soup kitchen with the community members and afterwards help with two workshops: theatre and women’s empowerment ….perfect fit for me, right?!?!?! The center was closed this Thursday, but I’ll start next week!

Friday afternoons I go to Rukantu, a rehabilitation center for teenage boys who have been arrested for drug usage and/or a minor violent crime. The first time I visited Rukantu I was a bit nervous, but I really enjoy working at this center, the guys are really fun to hang out with and they LOVE having gringas visit, it’s kind of hilarious. Erica and I are going to teach an English class here (The director told us that if he tells the boys that two American girls (gringas) are coming to teach a class, everyone will come for sure, all you need to say is gringa….easy advertising! Haha). After the class they have a cooking class, this week we made pizza and it was DELICIOUS! Rukantu is much more chill, it’s nice to have a different working pace where I’m just talking with the boys and social workers in the center while we cook and eat, and then watching them show off and play ping-pong later…perfect ending to the week! I even got my palm read by one of the guys this Friday, it was hilarious, he told me that I’m going to have 3 children and that they will have a mix of gringa and chileno blood…so I have to stay in Chile to find my true love…smooth, haha 🙂

Finally, I’m involved in the YMCA Leaders program. It’s kind of like a youth group, they hold a Bible study Friday evenings and program Saturday afternoons. There are 2 program levels and you can graduate to become a Leader, but the first level is open to anyone and is a mix of a mini Bible lesson, games, some kind of topic/message to help the youth (for example, this Saturday they were talking about confidence and speaking in front of other people and had lots of activities to practice). The YMCA Leaders are such a fun group of people, they’re the ones that I see at the Y all the time and hang out with and I love the program too, all the teenagers are really friendly and it’s pretty easy to make friends as a gringa, everyone wants to talk to you!

So that’s my work schedule! I’m feeling more and more like a Chilena now, walking around the city on my own, going to work, taking the bus and taxis, having favorite restaurants and foods…I really like having some more independence with my days!! I’m off to work on my lesson plans right now for my 1st English classes tomorrow, wish me luck, I’m a bit nervous! Now that you know about work, my next post will be about night life in Chile, baila, baila, baila!! Besos choros!

Hands Up for 10,000 Shilling Fines

June 8, 2011 / Michelle Roy / 0 Comments

Some of the many villagers who attended the meeting who wanted the canal fixed

The day before we arrived in the village, we received word that there was a landslide that blocked the water from flowing through the canal. With nowhere else to go, the water forced itself under the wall of the canal causing the canal floor to cave creating a giant hole in the canal. Panicked, I met with the technical chair and tried to come up with a solution to the new problem and completely revise our schedule. We didn’t get too far before we heard from Canute, our main contact person in Masaera that the village did not want us to fix it; instead, they wanted to fix it themselves. This was great news because not only did we not have to completely redo our plan, but it meant that the village was taking ownership of their canal.

A few days into the trip I had the opportunity to attend the village meeting to discuss the fixing of the canal. From what was translated for us, it seemed like all the villagers were willing to pay money and donate their time to make sure the canal was fixed in a reasonable time frame. At one point, all the villagers raised their hands and cheered. It turned out that this was the official vote, that if each family did not contribute their 2,000 shillings (about $1.33) they would have to pay a $10,000 shilling fine. I have never seen a group so willing to support a large fine. I was surprised how important it was to do whatever they could to make sure the canal continued to bring them water. It made me happy to see how the village was coming together and taking initiative to repair the canal. This was the main objective of partnering with the village: to make sure that when we are not on implementation trips the village has the knowledge and skills to maintain the canal themselves. Seeing this first hand was absolutely amazing.

Three Plane Rides and a Bumpy Van Ride Later

June 5, 2011 / Michelle Roy / 0 Comments

Driving past a beautiful sunflower field

So getting to Masaera, Tanzania isn’t exactly easy. First we flew to Frankfurt Germany, than Edis Aba, Ehthiopia, and finally to Moshi, Tanzania. There were had about an hour drive to Masaera, the village we worked in. This ride was at least gorgeous since you could see the mountains and shrubbery. As strange as it may be, Tanzania is actually pretty green with lots of flowers. I personally loved driving by all the sunflower fields. I also just enjoyed people watching out the window as they moved on the roads with goats and cows. It was fun to look at advertisements in English as they did not quite grasp the right adjectives to describe certain things. Obama’s face and name was everywhere including on buses and having hair salon’s named after him.

Eventually we turned off the main road onto a little dirt road that took us up farther into the mountains. The rains had deteriorated a lot of this road so it was really bumpy. The ongoing joke was that you needed to apologize to your kidneys afterwards because you moved around so much. However, I enjoyed this ride quite a bit. The kids we passed would excitingly wave at us as we passed and they were adorable. Finally we arrived in the village we were working. The next day I was coordinating the moving of supplies when out of nowhere I heard my name screamed. I turned to see Jackie, my friend from last year, sprinting towards me. We hugged and she welcomed me into her house to introduce me to her family. That greeting alone made the 36 plus hours of travel worth it.

Student Stories from Around the World