I know that I have been lagging in the blog arena but, this post should make up for me being a blog slacker.
SCHOOL:
I am taking 5 classes for a total of 18 credits (see below). I like all my classes, especially my professors. In the last two weeks, I had a pop quiz in Expresión, an essay and presentation due in Cultura, two heavy reading assignments in Violencia Social, an essay due in writing and next week I have an exam in Gramática. Fortunately, I am enjoying doing all my assignments, etc. and am noticing a drastic improvement in my Spanish over the past few weeks. I also enrolled in a language exchange program. I am in a group with 3 Chileans. We are going meet once a week to talk in English and Spanish and discuss Culture. Kinda corny, but hey the more Spanish the better!
Classes:
Expresión Oral y Escrita
Violencia Social
Gramática Intermedio
Español Escrito Advanzado
Communicación y Cultura Chilena
ACTIVITIES:
Aside from school work, I have been trying out the various exercise classes and sports offered at my university. I tried aerobox and danza arabe (belly dancing). Aerobox was great, but the belly dancing class confirmed my belief that latin women are definitely sexier than las gringas. Most of the girls wore jingly wraps with jewelry, etc. I was in work out pants, tennis shoes, and an old t-shirt (my everyday outfit). I stuck out like a sore thumb but, I had a blast and plan to go again to keep working on my sexiness! (Get ready Kevin!!!) I also recently joined the extranjera (foreigners) soccer team. We play teams from other departments on campus. From what I’ve heard, the extranjera team wins every game except when they play the Physical Education Department. I am confident that our team will kick butt and change History! I’ll keep you updated on that.
For the past two weekends, Jessica and I traveled to Santiago to visit our familia Chilena. Two weekends ago was our sobrina, Carolina’s, birthday party. Her dad dressed up as Rupertina (see pics) and did activities like musical chairs, bingo and a dance competition.
The next weekend was Semana Santa (Easter Weekend). On Good Friday the whole family took us to a vía de las cruces (a procession of Jesus’ walk to Calvary). To be honest, it was a bit intense and our 2 year old sobrina was crying throughout the whole thing. On Sunday morning, Jessica and I cooked a huge United States style breakfast. We made pancakes, french toast, eggs and bacon. It was so cute because our sobrinas (Catalina and Carolina) were scared to try the food but after coaxing them to try a few bites, it was a huge hit! I am so lucky to have them. Missing my family, friends and Kevin is always worse on holidays so, it was perfect timing.
Also, on Sunday night, we went with the family to a La U fútbol game. La U is our Chilean dad’s favorite team. We decked out in blue, and even though La U lost, we cheered the whole time. In the stadium there is a huge section of fans that stand and sing cheers the whole entire game. It doesn’t matter what the score is, they cheer and cheer and cheer. I love it!
Also, on Sunday night, we went with the family to a La U fútbol game. La U is our Chilean dad’s favorite team. We decked out in blue, and even though La U lost, we cheered the whole time. In the stadium there is a huge section of fans that stand and sing cheers the whole entire game. It doesn’t matter what the score is, they cheer and cheer and cheer. I love it!
ROTARY:
Rotary has been keeping me busy as well. Last week Jessica and I went to the Rotary Club of Viña del Mar. Yesterday, we went to the Rotary Club of Quilpué Oriente and today to the Rotary Club of Quilpué. And, tomorrow we are giving a presentation about Rotary to our Cultura class as well. We are meeting tons of great Rotarians and are planning activities to do with them. A majority of the clubs here have only male members, and it is interesting to see how much each club varies from the next. However, all the clubs meet very late and last about 3 hours. For example, tonight the meeting started at 9:30 p.m. and we were home at 12:30 a.m. They ask many of the same questions at each meeting like what our future goals are and what we want to do and see in Chile. Usually they ask us about Obama, and I feel a bit of dejavu. When I was in Australia spring semester of 2003, everywhere I went people asked me questions about Bush. Oh, how times have changed!!
Be sure to click play on the video so you can hear a Rotary song in Spanish!
SERVICE PROJECT:
Jessica and I are going to organize a mentorship program with 7 + kids who have been abused (sexually/physically, etc.) and were removed by the state from their homes and put into "foster care." The 7 or so children we are going to work with live with a woman named Gina in the hills of Valparaíso. Gina is trying to turn her house into an official Hogar (which is like a combo of an orphanage and foster house). We are in the initial steps of starting the program and are having our first meeting next week with Gina, ourselves and volunteers. Our plan is to set it up as a big brother/big sister type program where we have events scheduled each month. We will be matching up 2 international students to each kid. We plan to make our events both educational and interactive. I will give you more details about that after our meeting. This Sunday we are going to the house to cook a big lunch and have the kids give us a gran tur (tour) of their neighborhood.
The second aspect of our program is going to be a supply drive and a few small construction projects. The kids are in desperate need of blankets, hygiene products, school supplies, etc. We also plan to do food shopping for them once or twice a month just to make it a bit easier for Gina to make ends meet. Two of the rooms in her house are missing doors, one of the walls in her house needs to be completely re-done, and she needs some steps built outside her front door (right now you basically have to climb on all fours to get down or up from her front door.)
I am so excited about this! I know we can do A LOT with very little and it will make a HUGE impact! Below is picture of us having lunch today with three of the kids!
I almost forgot...Jessica and I have new roommate!!! Her name is Helen and she is CHILENA!!! She moves in Friday. We are so excited to have a native Spanish speaker in the apt. and to not have to pay as much rent! I will tell you guys more about her in my next post!
That is all for now. I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter and ate tons of Reese’s candies for me!
