Blogs from Rancagua, O Higgins, Chile, South America

I know that I just wrote yesterday, but I had some thoughts that I needed to share. I don't think I have ever really explained the phenomenon that is the Chilean colectivo. Literally translated it means collective. Physically it is a seemingly innocuous black sedan, of any make, with yellow license plates and a sign on the top telling you where it goes. Colectivos have set routes, their drivers looping through the city and its outskirts all day, every day. I take a colectivo to and from school every day. One perk of living in the suburbs is that my colectivo's pass by my house all the time, I rarely have to wait more than a minute for one, and only have to walk a block to catch them. Costing only 450 pesos, about $1 a ... read more

So when we first arrived in Chile, way back in May, we arrived amidst a massive, country-wide teacher strike. The day that we were shipped off to our host familys, June 6th, was the day that the teachers reached a compromise with the Chilean government, thus ending the strike, just in time for us to start teaching on Monday. After three weeks of no school, my students were reluctant to say the least, to return. But return they did, helping me to start my six months here with a bang. Although I have asked my host mom many times why they were striking, Im pretty sure things are lost in translation. It has something to do with a promise that the government would pay all the teachers a bonus, years ago, and they still have not ... read more

Coming at you once again from the wonderful Sixth Region of Chile, from the city of Rancagua, I welcome you back to my blog. It's been about a month since I last wrote, but in my defense, the internet here is very hard to both predict and control. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Time continues to speed by, another month gone, the realization leaving a bittersweet aftertaste in my mouth. A mixture of sadness and excitement, in that I have come to love both my students and my host family here. Leaving will be very hard, but I am looking forward to that next step, whatever it may be. That is still in the hazy future, and I refuse to look too closely at it just yet. I also find myself ... read more

Holy crap. Three months down. Three to go. Time has literally flown by, leaving me to wonder how I have spent the past three months. It's safe to say that I have been busy, although I am hard pressed to tell you exactly how. Since I last wrote, we have traveled some more, learning more and more about this incredible country I have come to call home. Two weeks ago I went to Valparaiso with Kate, Cami, and Teather, one of the new four month volunteers. She is living in a town about an hour south of Rancagua, called San Fernando. So we all went to Valpo for the weekend, despite the fact that it was pouring down rain all throughout the middle of Chile. Valpo is amazing. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco, ... read more

I spent the past two weeks traveling up and down Chile. It was an incredible two weeks, full of adventures, misadventures, new people, new friends, and incredible sights. I started out from Rancagua on Thursday, July 9, traveling to Iquique, which is a beach city in the second region of Chile, so it's very far north. I was traveling with Kate and Kelly, two of the other volunteers also living in Rancagua, and our friend Scott met us up there. We didn't get to our hostel in Iquique until about 1.30 in the morning, but Kate and I accidentally ended up staying up until 6.30 hanging out with the hostel workers. They were all really young, and were sitting down in the bar area just hanging out and totally welcomed us into the hostel, and into ... read more

Hello from San Pedro de Atacama, the driest desert in the world and Chile's pride and joy. We spent the last week in Iquique, which is a beach town in the Second Region. I flew up Thursday night with Kelly and Kate, two of the other volunteers, and we arrived to our hostel at 1.30 AM. The receptionist was so confused as to why we were so late in arriving, but when we explained that we were coming all the way from Rancagua he understood. Our other friend, Scott, took the bus up and met us there Friday morning...after 24 hours on a bus. That's why we flew. We spent the next three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, lying on the beach, taking naps, wading in the ocean, and walking through town. It was pretty glorious. ... read more

Another week down. Another month started. I can't believe that June has come and gone and yet it is still freezing cold here in the southern hemisphere. It's difficult to explain the weather down here. It's often colder inside than out, forcing me to wear layers upon layers of wool and fleece. I even sleep in wool socks. I usually teach in a tee-shirt, sweater, vest, and fleece jacket. I would wear my hat and gloves but i move around too much so my hat falls off and my hands get too sweaty in my gloves. It's funny because I'm always so cold, but you would think that having lived in Rancagua forever, like most of the teachers, they would be used to the lack of indoor heating by now, but all you hear in the ... read more

Hello to everyone who reads this, I know its been awhile since I last wrote, but my internet hasn't been working at home so I haven't really had access to the blog. But by popular demand I am back so here is a brief recap of what has been going on since I last wrote. School is still going well. The kids are absolutely crazy, and this week there have been a lot of students sick so my classes are really small, which is nice. Unfortunately, they also asked me how to say swear words in English, and I accidentally-on purpose taught them a couple....but I made them promise not to use them in class or ever. We'll see how long that lasts. This is a long weekend so we're going to Santiago for the night ... read more

First week of school is done and over with. What an experience. It's nice to finally get back into a routine again, even if it is still a little uncertain. I'm teaching eight different classes at the Liceo Comercial Diego Portales. It's a public high school just outside "downtown" Rancagua. I say "downtown" because Rancagua is a very small city, and the downtown area reminds me of an older Mercer Island, just in layout, not in content. It's a wonderful place, and I'm obviously still getting to know it, but I think that six months here is going to be awesome. So I'm teaching eight classes, four ninth grade, three tenth grade, and one eleventh grade. Per the rule of the Ministry of Education I also have to teach two workshops a week, so I have ... read more