Friday, April 27, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Tia Lisa
I had my last day of classes today. After 6 weeks of working at the colegio and residencia, I have gained incredible respect for people that do this for a lifetime.
My days consisted of Kindergarten class, Art class occasionally, and english class. However, the majority of my time was spent with the 5 year-olds in K. I should really stress that I don´t love kids, at least as a total genre. Certain kids, yes- i want to take them home with me because they are fantastic...but 20 hyper snotty crying kids isn´t necessarily my ideal job.
With that said- every day provided me constant entertainment. For my last and final day with the rugrats, we managed a pretty dece bloody nose, 20 dirty kisses from every kid as I said goodbye- (and some of them go for the lips when you reach in for the kiss...i realllllly don´t like dirty mouths near mine, especially when I see what these kids put INTO their mouths during recreation... eeew) and our new kid, who I´ve nicknamed ¨the pincher¨managed to make just about every single kid cry at one point from pinching them throughout the morning. Whew. I´m exhausted just thinking about it-.
I did have several little boys in my class who are also in our residencia- our transient foster home that the Y runs, and which I also work at during the afternoons. THESE 4 boys are my pride and joy of the day...i love them. In fact, I would take all 4 back with me to NY and adopt them all if it was possible- although, Bruno cries all the time and doesn´t listen to anything you say to him, and Eduardo beats everyone up- Regardless, Angel is the cutest thing I´ve ever seen, and they all are in need of someone to love them- So, saying goodbye to them was actually much harder than I expected.
This afternoon after school was over, I headed over to our OTHER residencia, for girls age 11-14. These girls are kinda bad-ass, but also very sweet at the same time. Two of the girls in particular I´ve taken a real liking to and developed a great relationship with them-- this was also more difficult than i expected saying goodbye.
BUT- I am now done working at the school and foster home, although still helping out with activities taking place in the Y. Wednesday I leave for Easter Island for 8 days... more to come on that upon my return.
My story of the week: I have this infactuation with one of the guys who teaches classes at the gym here at the Y- I´ve been seeing him since I arrived in january, andalways am somewhat googly-eyed when we pass. We manage the usual hellos, and how are you conversation, but never anything more (probably because I´m trying to close my gaping mouth everytime he walks by...) ANYHOO...I´m in the gym the other day and he comes up to me and asks my name... we start chatting and he asks me how long ive been doing different exercises, etc.
--now let me mention before this that I have tendencies of not fully understanding everything when I am talking to someone new- because I´m adjusting to their accent and rate of speach. My friends and other people who I am familiar listening to isn´t difficult, but new voices trouble me sometimes...
So, as I´m listening I´m concentrating super hard on what hes telling me- because I usually can get the main concept, but miss out on the supporting details.. WELL, i was concentrating so hard on the details, that 5 minutes after we finished conversation of what he was asking me to do...i realized I had no idea WHAT it was I was supposed to do!
Heres what I got.... after asking me how long I work out for he said they are doing something that they need people for, and wanted me to do it. I said I´m only here for 3 more weeks, and he said its not a problem... its just a oneday thing. I asked how much it was- he said free. He told me to come in tuesday to the office during the afternoon, no specific time and.... thats what I got.
I feel like George when Steinbrenner tells him ¨It´s just like the song george...Downtown...¨ and now I´m on this search trying to find the meaning of all this. I COULD have asked, but the problem is I sometimes need a few minutes to grasp things, and by the time i realized I missed the main point, it was too late and I felt stupid asking. However, now my friend are all laughing at me because its even stupider that I have no idea what I´m supposed to do tomorrow. Ah, the life of a stupid gringa being overwhelmed by good looking spanish speaking chilean guys. :-)
My days consisted of Kindergarten class, Art class occasionally, and english class. However, the majority of my time was spent with the 5 year-olds in K. I should really stress that I don´t love kids, at least as a total genre. Certain kids, yes- i want to take them home with me because they are fantastic...but 20 hyper snotty crying kids isn´t necessarily my ideal job.
With that said- every day provided me constant entertainment. For my last and final day with the rugrats, we managed a pretty dece bloody nose, 20 dirty kisses from every kid as I said goodbye- (and some of them go for the lips when you reach in for the kiss...i realllllly don´t like dirty mouths near mine, especially when I see what these kids put INTO their mouths during recreation... eeew) and our new kid, who I´ve nicknamed ¨the pincher¨managed to make just about every single kid cry at one point from pinching them throughout the morning. Whew. I´m exhausted just thinking about it-.
I did have several little boys in my class who are also in our residencia- our transient foster home that the Y runs, and which I also work at during the afternoons. THESE 4 boys are my pride and joy of the day...i love them. In fact, I would take all 4 back with me to NY and adopt them all if it was possible- although, Bruno cries all the time and doesn´t listen to anything you say to him, and Eduardo beats everyone up- Regardless, Angel is the cutest thing I´ve ever seen, and they all are in need of someone to love them- So, saying goodbye to them was actually much harder than I expected.
This afternoon after school was over, I headed over to our OTHER residencia, for girls age 11-14. These girls are kinda bad-ass, but also very sweet at the same time. Two of the girls in particular I´ve taken a real liking to and developed a great relationship with them-- this was also more difficult than i expected saying goodbye.
BUT- I am now done working at the school and foster home, although still helping out with activities taking place in the Y. Wednesday I leave for Easter Island for 8 days... more to come on that upon my return.
My story of the week: I have this infactuation with one of the guys who teaches classes at the gym here at the Y- I´ve been seeing him since I arrived in january, andalways am somewhat googly-eyed when we pass. We manage the usual hellos, and how are you conversation, but never anything more (probably because I´m trying to close my gaping mouth everytime he walks by...) ANYHOO...I´m in the gym the other day and he comes up to me and asks my name... we start chatting and he asks me how long ive been doing different exercises, etc.
--now let me mention before this that I have tendencies of not fully understanding everything when I am talking to someone new- because I´m adjusting to their accent and rate of speach. My friends and other people who I am familiar listening to isn´t difficult, but new voices trouble me sometimes...
So, as I´m listening I´m concentrating super hard on what hes telling me- because I usually can get the main concept, but miss out on the supporting details.. WELL, i was concentrating so hard on the details, that 5 minutes after we finished conversation of what he was asking me to do...i realized I had no idea WHAT it was I was supposed to do!
Heres what I got.... after asking me how long I work out for he said they are doing something that they need people for, and wanted me to do it. I said I´m only here for 3 more weeks, and he said its not a problem... its just a oneday thing. I asked how much it was- he said free. He told me to come in tuesday to the office during the afternoon, no specific time and.... thats what I got.
I feel like George when Steinbrenner tells him ¨It´s just like the song george...Downtown...¨ and now I´m on this search trying to find the meaning of all this. I COULD have asked, but the problem is I sometimes need a few minutes to grasp things, and by the time i realized I missed the main point, it was too late and I felt stupid asking. However, now my friend are all laughing at me because its even stupider that I have no idea what I´m supposed to do tomorrow. Ah, the life of a stupid gringa being overwhelmed by good looking spanish speaking chilean guys. :-)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
pre birthday funnnn
monday night...watchin the gators carry out a second national championship... and prebirthday fun
midniightttt
we dont know whoooo this guy was, but he hopped into my picture as i was dancing, and i was NOT happy...he was weeeeird!
midniighttttwe dont know whoooo this guy was, but he hopped into my picture as i was dancing, and i was NOT happy...he was weeeeird!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
santiago...in shambles?
After two concerts in Santiago in a 8 day time span, I would say that I´m getting fairly comfortable navigating myself around the city. However, Thursday afternoon brought plenty of unexpected sites.
Wednesday was the Il Divo concert. I brought my friend Jon along because I thought it would be more fun to have someone enjoy the show. Little did we know that IL Divo is a total boy band for women over 50. I think it could successfully be compared to a backstreet boys concert, but instead of 15 year old girls screaming and crying, its middle aged women. WHOA. I wasn´t expecting that. I envisioned a classy theatre with older couples who payed the expensive ticket, but instead I got psychotic women waving signs and screaming the whole time. I thought Jon could´ve killed me for dragging him along. However, the show rocked, and I became a loyal fan, and admirer (because they ARE super cute...)
Thursday, a friend of mine from Argentina came to visit, so we spent the day walking around the city before heading back to Valpo. However, their was a bizarre feeling in the air, and we shortly found out why. Throughout all the main streets of Santiago, kids were rioting- breaking phone booths, smashing glass, it was totally chaotic. We happened to just be walking down thestreet when we stumbled upon this. Armed police with total riot gear where EVERYWHERE in the city, and we couldn´t seem to get away from the crowds. People throwing rocks, bottles, and anything else they could get their hands on AT the police- it was rediculous. And then swarms of these kids would go sprinting down the street as the police chased them. Their were armed tanks crusing down the main avenues, and all the stores were closing down early.
We kept trying to avoid the mayhem and taking detours, only to find gates not allowing us out. We felt completely trapped, but eventually managed to squeeze our way onto a side street.
Than came the huge tanks- the armed vehicles were riding down the street spraying streams of water at the people on the sidewalk, and it didnt look like a friendly shower. (pictures below). Later on we learned that this is a yearly event. Apparantly 25 odd some years back, during Pinochet´s ruling, two kids were killed by the police (the government) for unjust reasons. Ever since, this day of the year results in rioting and chaos in the streets of Santiago. One guy told us that 10 years back it was a lot more violent than it is today,but another lady said that usually its confined to the university these recent years, and this was a little nuts.
SO; at least this wasn´t just random rioting, which could have been abit scarier, but it would have been nice for our hostel to warn us about walking on the streets this day. Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a mini-war zone. I took some pics that are posted below. Along with a few pics from Il Divo, Bela fleck, and some otherrandoms.
ooh Il divo... soo cute
Valparaìso.
who doesnt love a sunrise
Vic....wailin on the bass
Wednesday was the Il Divo concert. I brought my friend Jon along because I thought it would be more fun to have someone enjoy the show. Little did we know that IL Divo is a total boy band for women over 50. I think it could successfully be compared to a backstreet boys concert, but instead of 15 year old girls screaming and crying, its middle aged women. WHOA. I wasn´t expecting that. I envisioned a classy theatre with older couples who payed the expensive ticket, but instead I got psychotic women waving signs and screaming the whole time. I thought Jon could´ve killed me for dragging him along. However, the show rocked, and I became a loyal fan, and admirer (because they ARE super cute...)
Thursday, a friend of mine from Argentina came to visit, so we spent the day walking around the city before heading back to Valpo. However, their was a bizarre feeling in the air, and we shortly found out why. Throughout all the main streets of Santiago, kids were rioting- breaking phone booths, smashing glass, it was totally chaotic. We happened to just be walking down thestreet when we stumbled upon this. Armed police with total riot gear where EVERYWHERE in the city, and we couldn´t seem to get away from the crowds. People throwing rocks, bottles, and anything else they could get their hands on AT the police- it was rediculous. And then swarms of these kids would go sprinting down the street as the police chased them. Their were armed tanks crusing down the main avenues, and all the stores were closing down early.
We kept trying to avoid the mayhem and taking detours, only to find gates not allowing us out. We felt completely trapped, but eventually managed to squeeze our way onto a side street.
Than came the huge tanks- the armed vehicles were riding down the street spraying streams of water at the people on the sidewalk, and it didnt look like a friendly shower. (pictures below). Later on we learned that this is a yearly event. Apparantly 25 odd some years back, during Pinochet´s ruling, two kids were killed by the police (the government) for unjust reasons. Ever since, this day of the year results in rioting and chaos in the streets of Santiago. One guy told us that 10 years back it was a lot more violent than it is today,but another lady said that usually its confined to the university these recent years, and this was a little nuts.
SO; at least this wasn´t just random rioting, which could have been abit scarier, but it would have been nice for our hostel to warn us about walking on the streets this day. Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a mini-war zone. I took some pics that are posted below. Along with a few pics from Il Divo, Bela fleck, and some otherrandoms.
ooh Il divo... soo cute
Valparaìso.
who doesnt love a sunrise
Vic....wailin on the bass
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