Bits and pieces from week 2 of school

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Despite being perturbed that I was basically stood up for a meeting with the principal, it was again a pleasure getting to speak with Cristian for that hour. It seems like whenever I have a little downtime, he's always there to chat. He told me that there are two other blondes in town that look exactly like me, but we speak very differently. Apparently they have a very strong American accent that Cristian replicated for me - hilarious. We also talked with a few others about Religion. Apparently religious practice is quite common here. I have been asked on multiple occassions, do you have a religion? And I have been pleasantly surprised when they recognize Metodista.


On my way out of school, I ran into Narciso with whom I visited for probably an hour. When they say Chileans will put everything on hold to stop and talk to you even if it means they're late for something else, it's true. He even walked with me a few blocks on my way home! We have the greatest time speaking Spanglish to one another. He asked that I always speak to him in English first and then switch if there's too much confusion. He, on the otherhand, speaks perfect Spanglish, floating in and out between the two languages as if he didn't even know the difference. Lucky for me, I speak great Spanglish! He told me about his church, his passion for teaching violin, and his teaching experiences. We both agreed that the 40 students per teacher policy mandated by the government is terrible. I calculated that Sayuri has about 480 students. How are you supposed to reach every child when you have that many? Maria Gloria, a science teacher, says she has more like 700 students. Can you imagine?!?


One student approached me, asking me to please revise what he had written. As I was working with other students, I said to him, "Wait, I'm busy" to which he replied "imbéciles!" and I was like, "no no! Not imbecil, I'm busy!"


Politecnica has 5 different specialties that students choose in their 3rd year. The specialties include wood processing, mechanics, electicians, child care, and food service. It happens to be very convenient to have food service in one's school because upon occassion, students in their cooking aprons and caps will come by the teachers lounge offering free samples or snacks/meals for a good price. Today I bought an egg, avocado, and tomato sandwhich for 300 pesos - that's less than a dollar. Oh the abundance of avocado... I still have not tired of it! The other day, I snagged a fresh baked cookie from the kitchen. The other specialties make for a lot of male students!


And to end the week with an ultimate win: I taught a line dance! We danced to Shania Twain's "Whose bed have your boots been under?" and what do you know? They loved it! Cristian helped us with the audio and so he joined in the dancing (quite well I must add! Maybe he can teach me the Cueca!). At the end of the period, there were students hanging around wanting to do it more and more. A group gathered at the door, peaking in at me singing and dancing...


For More pictures, check out my album on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150770653101023.461075.659676022&type=1&l=6583ba4abb

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