Izzy10

So this Saturday Jana and I decided to explore the area around La Serena/Coquimbo. We went to Vicuna, which is a town that is about an hour and a half by bus from La Serena. We visited the museum of Gabriela Mistral, hiked a small hill which had a view of the valley, explored the shops, and visited the Pisco Capel distillery. The museum of Gabriel Mistral was good, but would have been better if I was more familiar with her or her work. Finding where the hill was took longer than hiking up it, but it was some physical activity for the day. We took a tour of the Pisco distillery and had a small tasting afterwards. After we went back to a shop, where I wanted to buy a sweater - the lady told ... read more

So I have packed my backpacks and my suitcase and I will be going to a new home today. At the new home, there is a mother and daughter around my age. The benefits are they are nice, the neighbor is quiet, the room is bigger, and the bed is comfortable. So basically everything is better. I had a good heart to heart with Senora Nancy and we talked about the move. Apparently she never requested a foreign student, and she was informed about me coming 4 days before I arrived by the director of the school. She was upset when she first found out, but now she was fine with me being there. She didn’t like the manner in which my host teacher said I would be leaving. She told Nancy I was very ill ... read more

There are only about 25 of us left at the hostel. Many have left for their region Friday night - sat night. It’s also FIFA world cup day! In the morning I went to the central station market with some girls. I wanted to replace my camera before my trip to San Pedro because its supposed to be beautiful. I am also heading to small town Chile early Monday morning, and in my perception, I’ll be lucky if they have a handful of stores in the town, let alone one that sells digital cameras! I ended up buying a cannon that was more that it should have been, but its adequate for what I need. After the shopping, we headed over to California bar to watch the world cup. We got there around 1:45 and it ... read more

I woke up pretty early today, because I wanted to go hiking at an area someone recommended in the outskirts of Santiago. A number of people were interested, so I set a 10:30 departure time. Needless to say, we didn’t leave till 11:45 - (this is when south America time can be frustrating). Viki, Step, Erick, Nelifer, and I ended up going -others had to bail because they had to ship luggage to their region. Anyway, we took the red line to the last stop and there was an open air market selling fruit, veggies, fish, flowers, etc with the backdrop of the Andes mountains. It was beautiful - so of course we stopped off to buy some fruit and take some pictures. One vender was letting me try everything he was selling. All the fruit ... read more

So today, Friday, the last day of orientation - I found my host placement. I will be living in Ovalle. It’s a small town around 6 hours north of Santiago . I will be teaching at the school of Arts and Music - I have bad luck with these things (I am the least artistic/musically inclined person I know). I will be teaching in an escuela - which means 5th-8th grade, with basic language abilities. It will be a new kind of challenge. I am more worried about the town. I wanted to be in the beautiful beach town of La Serena, however I am an hour inland from the beach : ( thanks dad for already sending me an article on the danger of UV rays in this town - It was very informative : ... read more

The week of orientation has ended. It has been a week full of ‘pedagogy’ talks and a great deal of contradictory information. We had talks about cultural differences, what to expect, responsibilities in the school/home, microteaching, and health and safety. The presenters were nice enough, but many presentations were receptive. The best part is when a Chilean is explaining - although they know English, there explanation can be much more forward than one is used to hearing. Por ejemplo, “If there is a tsunami, the wave will go back, then the first one come, then the second, then you die…and then another wave” or “be careful here, we have already 8 babies made in this program.” As part of our culture lesson we have to get used to people being forward, so if a Chileno calls ... read more

I arrived in Santigo at 5am on a flight from Bogota with Andy. After clearing customs, we hopped a cab to the HI santiago hostel on cienfuegos 151. We couldn't check in so we slept on the couches in the common area for a few hours. It was good, but freezing!! After we put our bags in our room we went exploring in Santiago. As we were walking to change money and get breakfas, we noticed a crowd gathering in the plaza constitution, so we decided to stay and see what was happening. We soon found out La Roja (Chilean soccer team) was returning from South Africa!! We decided to stay. The crowd continued to grow and La Roja walked down the pathway leading up to the gov't building. The crowd went wild.....Chile chants, confetti, horns, ... read more