Adventures in Chile - Part 5

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Hola Amigos.
How are you all doing?

As I have mentioned I am working at a private school now. I work as a teachers aid in the English classrooms. I teach all ages from pre-kinder to 12th grade. Its actually a lot of fun. The smaller kids swarm me whenever I walk anywhere. I am hoping this will wear off soon, but its kind of fun. I had one kid in grade 4 asked me if I liked Beaver- when I replied yes, he got all excited and high fived all of his friends. Obviously he knew the second meaning! In another class I had to teach "iny meanie, miney moe, catch a tiger by the toe..." I have no idea why but the kids were thrilled. The teacher only knew the rhyme in Spanish. Its amazing how the smallest things are the most exciting for them. In another class I translated all the kids names into English, and now they all call each other by their English names confusing there teacher. Its amazing how well the children actually know English, considering there English teachers always need correcting. I don't correct the teachers in front of the class, i write it down and then talk with them after. Most of the teachers are really thankful for this, but I have one who gets all defensive. I dont bother with her anymore.

Was in Valparasio and Viña last weekend, as you saw from the photos. Apparently there was an earthquake in Santiago while i was gone, so I was a little disappointed that I missed that. It didn't cause any damage but it shook for about 10-15 seconds my friends told me. The power went out for around 3 hours in Valpo and Viña that same night, but it was unrelated to the earthquake. Chile is suffering energy shortages. Bolivia (who is a major power supplier in the region) is refusing to allow Argentina to sell any energy to Chile. This is a huge problem - i think 20% of the energy comes from Argentina? If Argentina sells energy to Chile, then Bolivia will stop selling it to Argentina. Its a mess, hopefully it will get sorted out soon.

My neighbours went to the south of Chile a week or more ago. When they arrived back they found their apartment covered in pigeon crap, and I mean covered. I guess they learned there lesson for leaving the windows open - haha

There was a huge party in the plaza in front of my building over Easter - sadly it was a Jesus festival. The music was horrible and went on until 4 in the morning.

The last week or so, the temperature is starting to cool off. Its between 15 and 20 during the day and between 5 and 10 at night. It seems a lot cooler than that though. The cool air gets trapped by the mountains and acts like a fridge. After seeing no clouds for 3 months, its usually all I see now. And when it rains, it pours and the streets get flooded, as they have almost no drainage. The only real good thing about the weather is that skiing should start up real soon. All the mountains have snow now.

Going to Mendoza Argentina this weekend, to get my VISA renewed and to see a new city. Its supposed to be an awesome trip through the Andes.

gotta run, but take care all
later
JIM

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