Wow. La vida loca!

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Hola a todos-

Sorry it seems it's been a while; many have requested updates. The honest truth is I've been crazy busy 24-7 since I arrived!

BIG art update: Last week, I waited for news on my classroom that a friend was supposedly finding for me, only to find out after a week of waiting that I "couldn't use a classroom because I wasn't a professor." cool. So, I did what any normal person would do-scratch that what Amy would do- and went to talk to the Dean of the department (basically like CHAFA at UNI, but includes a little different colleges because they don't really have the art/theater components).

I talked to him about my project and my goal to teach down here. Told him about the scholarships I got from the Curris Award and the Guillaume Memorial, but how I had to pay the the $300 tax when my supplies arrived. For this reason i asked his opinion on charging a small fee to come; to help cover a few costs. He said he didn't want his students to pay. I began to agree, saying I understood and it was only an idea when he cut me off and said, but why don't I pay you? haha........ cool huh?

So it seems the students in his department (any education major, history, math, english etc..) can come for free. (Other students can pay a little to come) The department will pay me (amount TBD) for each student that comes to help reimburse the tax I had to pay and I have a classroom I can use in the evenings.

This weekend I taught my friend Rodrigo and his mother how to screen print. Wow is it going to be a learning experience! I have taught many groups at UNI, of different ages too, but Spanish is a whole different ball game. It's rare vocabulary; and this weekend I learned how to explain many techniques even if I didn't quite figure out the right word to use. I'm going to hit the books hard tonight and tomorrow to try to perfect a few phrases.

That all happened Thursday/Friday...I'm going back to meet with the dean tomorrow to continue discussing our plan. Things move slowly in Chile. I'm already a week and a half here, and haven't "taught" a class, but.. it's the life. Take it slow and easy, things will come. I'm hoping to have everything in order to teach for sure next week but if all goes well tomorrow, begin this week too.

Other than that... My chilean mom was in Peru last week for a conference, so it's been kind of quiet here in the house. However, I have found that I'm already so much closer to my family now than after two months here last year. There seems to be something about someone following through on their promise to return that makes them more endearing 😉 haha. My grandpa and I have had maaany a good chat over tea time at night and my brother and I even got in some sibling bonding time yesterday.

Unfortunately Friday night our group went out dancing and a girls purse was stolen. It contained waaaay too many important things (SS card, liscence, ISIC card, Itouch, camera..etc).... so my night ended abruptly when we left after searching for an hour to begin calling USA. I called UNI public safety and I think I threw them off a bit when I told them I was calling from Chile.. haha... I think was exempt from their 3 min response time.. haha. That made for a very wild, stressful night of phone calls and emails but thankfully no one was hurt and hopefully everyone will be a little more careful in the future. Seems like i'm destined to be an RA year round for the rest of my life.

So, life as always is keeping me busy.. So busy I STILL haven't taken a single photo. Haha One of these days I'm going to go crazy with them.

Take care.. hasta pronto...

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Comments

[Jacquelyn]

adventures to the max...
enjoy!!!! I know that sounds wierd...but your positivness is showing through in your blog as is your concern for friends family and 'art classes' in Chile. Hang in there Amy. 'Education' can be had on a lot of levels and I think we all 'back home' are learning a lot about how easy it is to live and learn in this country and not so easy in others. This is good...and thank you. love and take care from the guillaumes

[Tim De Haan]

Amy, I am so glad that you are able to have such a great time in Chile. I am very sorry for not keeping in better contact with you over the years, but I guess that right now we have something in common. Remember all of your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. We are all holding each other up!