Segundo Semestre has begun!!!

I’ve been waiting to write my blog until the sunshine decided to show itself. Today was a beautiful, clear sunny day…and therefore, a perfect day to blog.

My second semester has officially begun!!! I have received all of my grades for last semester and was pleased with all of them (see below). The scale is 1.0 – 7.0.

PRIMER SEMESTRE 2009
LCL110-01 EXPRESION ORAL Y ESCRITA - 6.2
PIIE340-01 ESPAÑOL COMUNICACIONAL Y CULTURA CHILENA – AVANZADO - 6.6
PIIE350-01 ESPAÑOL ESCRITO – AVANZADO - 5.9
PIIE360-02 GRAMATICA - 6.6

By the end of this week I will have my final class schedule for second semester. I am enrolled in a special certificate program this semester called, Certificado de Estudios en America Latina Contemporanea. I think the program will coincide quite nicely with my academic interests and background. I fear the heavy reading but predict once I’m in my grove, I’ll be just fine.

I spent quite a bit of time with the Munoz family these past couple weeks. The last two weekends I was in Santiago participating in various family activities. Sunday, August 9th was Día de Los Ninos in Chile. We celebrated by having a big family lunch and all the children received presents. I also went to Santiago last weekend to attend Martina’s 3rd birthday party. Jessica and I had a sleepover party at her house on Friday night. Saturday was her party at the nicest McDonald’s in Santiago. Unfortunately, the roof wasn’t in such good shape and the rain leaked through leaving huge puddles all over the restaurant and play area. Most people would have shut down or at least blocked off certain areas…but in Chile no…the kids were just told not to remove their shoes. I thought that was pretty funny.

Jessica and I went had “once” with our Tias and Tias kids this week. We also taught them how to play the game MASH. They are all doing amazing. Romanet is now on track to pursue a career in child care. The program includes a sort of internship followed by job placement assistance. In two years she will be a sufficiently trained to be a pre-school teacher. Jessica and I are thrilled about her plan!

The construction projects are also going great. The outside stairs leading to and from their front door are finished. Now, when it rains they won’t slide into the front door, the will actually be able to walk to it. The upstairs bedroom is done and the downstairs kitchen and living areas should be done in a couple of weeks. I will post a special blog about the construction project featuring before and after pictures once everything is complete.

Jessica and I have also started recruiting new Tías y Tíos. We’ve been visiting certain classes to spread the word. Our first meeting is next week. We hope to set up our first event as a trip to the snow up in the Andes. The kids have not seen snow, so it will be a big deal. Also, Gina’s birthday is next week; Jessica and I plan to take her and the kids out to a movie.

I hope all is well stateside…I’m going to get back to my homework. I need to review the play, Pueblecito, before class tomorrow!!!

El Fin del Semestre 1

Hi Everyone!

I am currently up in Arica, Chile’s most northern city.  I have a great deal to report, but I am going to break the past few weeks up into a few different blogs.  A girl can only blog so much in one night!

First off, Kevin is here in CHILE!  He arrived to wind, rain and freezing temperatures in Vina.  Despite the dreary weather, we made the best of it.  Jessica and I invited some friends over for a night of Jenga, pizza and dancing (I know how to do the cupid step now…thanks to You tube).   I also took Kevin to meet the Munoz family.  We had a big lunch and hung out for the day.  Then, we spent some time exploring Valpo. We hit the pier, a street market and my favorite cafe, Cafe Color.  I took Kevin up to Con Con and Renaca as well.I finished up my classes for the semester.  I am very happy with how all my final projects/papers went therefore, I am expecting good grades across the board. 

We had our final Gringo dinner party for the semester last week.  Jessica and I hosted a potluck of 20 people in the conference room of our building.  It was great to host the final dinner because we hosted the first one and it was only 5 people.  It was great to see it come full circle and how much it had grown.

  

Last Sunday was also our final Tias y Tios event of the semester.  We went bowling at the local mall.  None of the kids had ever bowled and at first they all looked awkward trying to bowl, but by their 3^rd or 4^th turn, they were all pros.  Even Javiera bowled, broken leg with the cast and all.  Gina, their guardora, came along too.  I was so happy she could be part of our activity and meet all the volunteers.  Many of our volunteers will not be returning next semester.  It was bitter sweet to see the kids say goodbye to them.  I will post pics of this event on my next blog…I don’t have the pics with me. 

On Monday this week Kevin and I headed up to Arica.  I will blog about my time in Arica and Putre in a few days.  I hope all is well in states!!

Buenas Noches!

Strikes, Soccer, School and Tias y Tios

Hola Todos!!

School is winding down, so I’ve been working on several final projects. One of which is about graffiti as a form of social protest. I’m not sure if many of you know, but in Chile there are constant marches, protests and strikes. Actually, these types of protests are very common in most Latin American countries. Unfortunately, I have had the opportunity to see this first hand. The public school teachers across Chile have been on strike for approximately 2 months. They have been marching and protesting on the main streets of Valpo and in areas of Santiago. The reason for the “paro” aka strike is that the various municipals across Chile were supposed to pay the teachers their bonus for the last two years. However, claiming they did not have the money, the municipal never paid them. Therefore, the teachers refused to work. The seven children we work with in our service project, Tías y Tíos, (Daniél, Romanet, María Jose, Javiera, Kevin, Diego and Julio) all attend public school. They missed a total of six weeks of school. They are also enrolled in the school lunch program which wasn’t distributing the appropriate amount of food to the children during the strike. As you can imagine, they were hungry and bored. Luckily, the teachers returned last week and the kids are back in the classroom, except for Javiera. She broke her leg 3 weeks ago. She ran into a stopped car and now has a cast from her toes to her hip…poor thing!

Despite the bad luck the kids have had with school and parked cars, yesterday we had a great Tías y Tíos event. We had a big spaghetti lunch and then played games because it was too rainy to go to the museum. Jessica and I cooked spaghetti for over 20 people. It turned out delicioso. Then we danced and played Twister, Pictionary, Jenga, etc. We turned the rainy day into a fun day. The kids had a blast. They loved playing Pictionary. It got pretty heated because we split the teams into boys v. girls and as always, boys are too competitive!!

I am also very excited to report that my home Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks, California has donated $2,205.00 toward the various construction projects we want to do at the kids’ house. THANK YOU ROTARY CLUB OF T.O.!!!! We will be constructing stairs outside their house, a kitchen floor, a kitchen wall with window, a bedroom with two walls and a door and many other things. Gina has spent hours with us going over the list of materials we need to buy and plans for building. She has many friends and neighbors that are excited to help which means we probably won’t have to hire any labor workers. I am so excited to see how much this will help her with the everyday tasks she has to do with the kids. The construction projects will practically double the usable space in the house.

Aside from school and various Tías y Tíos stuff I have had a few nights to have fun with my friends. Last week on Wednesday, we went to the Chile v. Bolivia World Cup qualifying game in Santiago. It was incredible. The stadium was packed, and the fans stood the whole time singing cheers (many of which included every bad word I know in Spanish). Chile won 4-0 and will be going to South Africa in 2010 for the World Cup!! Here is one of my favorite cheers, “Vamos, vamos chilenos, esta noche tenemos que ganar…Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le Vive CHILE!!!!” Click on the video below and you can hear it for your self.

I also experienced my first time at the Juevo. The Juevo is the biggest disco tech in Valpo. It has 4 floors with various rooms. Each room has a different theme of music. It is a dance factory. Aside from the smoke that fills every room like a dark cloud (smoking is allowed inside everywhere in Chile), it was a lot of fun. My favorite room was the 80’s music room. We danced and danced and danced!

This week is an exciting week because KEVIN is coming to visit me. He arrives on Thursday night. I can’t wait. I am going to drag him to all my classes and to meet all my Tías and Tíos kids. I want to show him off. He will definitely stick out here being a tall blonde haired blue eyed boy. I might have to put him to work building things up at Gina’s place, but he likes that stuff. On June 29th we will be flying to Arica, a city up north near Peru. We will be traveling around the area for 6 days. The entire region has a high concentration of indigenous populations and a huge national park. It will be much warmer up there too. I hope to get a sun tan!

I hope all is well state side and as always please, please, please send me e-mails and posts. They mean so much to me!!!

La Serena & Valle de Elqui

Hola Todos!!

Our trip to La Serena was awesome. La Serena is about 6 hours north of Valparaíso, situated right on the coast. We left last Wednesday night and arrived in La Serena at 4:15 a.m. Luckily we arrived as scheduled because we almost missed our bus. We were waiting at the wrong terminal in Santiago until about 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave, I looked at our tickets. The main bus station in Santiago is actually split up into three different terminals. San Borja, the one our tickets were for was about 4 blocks away at the end of a shopping mall. I sprinted down the main street and through the mall with all my bags. My sweatpants kept falling down and my shoelaces came untied…I was definitely an entertaining sight for all the mall shoppers.

After we arrived we took a nap at our hostel then rented bikes. We rode all the way to Coquimbo, a small town about 4 miles outside of La Serena. Even though it was foggy (they call the thick fog “camanchaca” and cold (as you can see from the pics), we put on our gloves and scarves and peddled away. On day two we went on a group tour to Isla Damas to see penguins. Only about 12 penguins decided to show up for us, but luckily it was sea lion and dolphin play day and we saw tons of bottle nose dolphins. Olive oil is the main product in the area and Jess and I bought a bottle from the cutest Chilean woman. We wanted to take a picture with her (see below). She was so excited that she took of her hat and fixed her hair. We also saw a few lamas grazing on our drive back.

The next day we went on a tour through Valle de Elqui. Valle de Elqui is prime pisco property. There are several pisco factories throughout the area. On the tour we visited one of the oldest pisco factories in the region. I’m a fan of pisco, but my favorite part was eating the grapes from the field. The pisco was too strong for me. We stopped at a few small pueblos along the way to walk through the plazas and churches. At one of the churches, a wedding was taking place. It was really cool, especially because the bride was pregnant. One of my favorite stops was at the dam. We walked the whole length of it and saw beautiful views of the entire valley. For lunch we ate at a solar restaurant. They cook all the dishes in small solar ovens outside the front of the restaurant. I ate a goat dish. It was delicious.

That night we stayed in Valle de Elqui in a small town called, Vicuña. Vicuña is home to several of the world’s best star observatories. We did a late night tour of the Mamalluca Observatory. It was incredible. They let us look through a huge telescope at all the different stars. My favorite constellation was the Southern Cross which you can see perfectly.

On our last day, we explored on our own. We went to a spot where two rivers meet. One is a greenish grey color and the other a dark blue. Then we had lunch at an outdoor pizza café. It was a great last day to a very fun trip.

Tomorrow is a big day for our Tías and Tíos event. We are playing soccer and then taking the kids to a soccer game in Valpo. I will be sure to post again soon!

Chao!

Las primeras semanas de Mayo

Hi Everyone! I am in La Serena right now but I need to blog about the last few weeks, so you’ll get the La Serena scoop in a couple days.

School has been going great. Over the past few weeks I gave three big presentations and turned in a few papers. In my expression class I had to memorize, recite and analyze a Pablo Neruda poem. In my culture class I presented on short story by having the class play jeopardy. Also, Jessica and I did a group presentation on Sola Sierra (founder of the AFDD) and the Rettig Report (a comprehensive report commissioned by the government regarding the events that took place between 1973 and 1990).

All and all, the unit on Pinochet was extremely interesting and at the same time sad. Following the golpe de estado on Sept. 11, 1973, Pinochet and his followers tortured, murdered and abused human rights of innocent citizens for years and years. For example, the carabineros (police) would raid homes and neighborhoods looking for leftist activists (many times that included anyone and everyone that was in the area or interfered). They would take them to various locations such as stadiums, schools, private homes, mines, boats, etc. to be tortured, raped and/or murdered. The Pinochet regime used any method deemed necessary to keep communism out of Chile. The population was drastically polarized during this time and still is to a certain extent. Many Chileans did not know what happened or if they did, turned a blind eye. It is obvious to me that Chile is doing a great job of trying step into the future without giving proper acknowledgment to the true version of their collective past. They do not teach the subject in public schools and aside from a couple monuments and memorials here and there, one could visit Chile without ever knowing something horrible happened here.

In addition to lots of school projects, two weekends ago, Jessica and I visited our Chilean family in Santiago. As always, it was very refreshing to see our nieces and nephews and spend time talking with Tita and Tata. We went shopping in La Patronata with Mari, our Chilean sister, and visited Tita at work. Jess and I also went to the big cemetery to see the monument dedicated to the desaparecidos. You can see from the pictures that the wall has thousands of names listed. These are the names of people who went “missing” during the Pinochet era. Many of their bodies were never found, hence why they are called the “desaparecidos.” On Saturday we went to our Chilean niece’s food festival at her elementary school. I had a plate from every stand. That’s probably not surprising to anyone.

Last weekend was another big Tías y Tíos event. We took the kids to the Botanical Gardens. Not only were the botanical gardens beautiful because all the leaves were falling, but the kids had an amazing time. We played soccer, volleyball and walked around the small lake. They were stuffed full of food and exhausted by the time we took them home. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

On the home front, my sister, Katie, graduated from high school this past week. CONGRATS KATIE BO BATIE!!! Kevin drove out to AZ for a few days to see the ceremony and hang out with my family. My Nana, the best Nana in the world hands down, was also in AZ, so she was able to meet him for the first time. I wish I could’ve been there but Kevin gave me the scoop on everything.

Jess and I are going to head out of La Serena soon…I’ll be posting in a couple days about our trip! Chao!

Tias y Tios, Bikram and Estudios

Hi everyone, I have many updates!

First and foremost, our service project Tías y Tíos is officially up and running. You may be wondering why it’s called Tías y Tíos…the kids call us Tía y Tío, so it just fits.

We had our first big event this Sunday. I went to pick up the kids from the house and we met up with all the Tías y Tíos at Telepizza. First we played a get to know you game with M & M’s and ate pizza. Then we broke up into teams for the scavenger hunt. Each team had 2-3 kids and 3-4 Tías y Tíos. I was on the Los Tigres team with Diego and María Jose and Tía Angela from Columbia and Tía Julie from Indiana. We walked all through the hills of Valpo. Luckily, it was a beautiful day. I was apprehensive as to whether or not the kids would enjoy it, but not only did they have a blast, they were super intense. We jogged for an hour and 15 minutes straight so that we could check everything off the list and get back to Telepizza on time. After the scavenger hunt we did a journal activity. They had to write down a reflection about the activity along with a personal goal and academic goal they hope to accomplish before the next activity. The Scavenger Hunt surpassed my expectations, and I know the kids enjoyed every second of it. Our next activity is going to be on May 17, 2009. We will be doing a pot luck spaghetti dinner then going to a museum and doing an art project.

School is going ok. I am really enjoying my Culture class. We are learning about the Pinochet era. Pinochet is a very controversial figure in Chile. Some Chileans consider him to be the Chile’s most violent dictator in history and very similar to Hitler, while others consider him to be Chile’s saving grace. Let’s just say Pinochet is not something I’ll bring up during a dinner table chat. We haven’t finished this unit yet, but when we do I will give you a summary of who he was and what it was like in Chile during that era. Stay tuned for that!!!

My other classes are so/so. It has been a roller coaster the past few weeks on the Spanish front. One day I’ll feel really confident, and I have no problem blabbing away. Other days, I want to crawl under a rock. Also, I am not required in any of my classes to apply what I’ve learned. For example, I am used to doing worksheets or exercises in which I put into practice concepts learned during lectures. It is an extremely rare occasion that I do worksheet or exercise in class or for homework. I am learning the subjunctive, que v. cual, ser v. estar, accentuation, etc. but am not asked to put them to use. I have lectures everyday and then poof, there is a quiz or test. This is on top of the fact that there are no textbooks. I am trying to use on-line resources to do exercises, but if I have a question I don’t have a professor in front of me that I can ask. (Dr. Factor…maybe you have some suggestions???)

Our new Chilean roommate Helen is also trying to help me with my Spanish. I am very thankful that she wants to correct me, but after a long day at school it is sometimes frustrating to be corrected. It is a work in progress.

Last weekend, Jessica and I went to Santiago for our Chilean sobrino, Diego’s, baptism. It was a huge deal for the Munoz family and I was so happy that we were invited to attend such an important family event. Even though the service was an hour and a half, it was well worth the wait to eat Carla’s homemade alfajors. (Carla is our Chilean sister)

It is starting to get cold and foggy here. The season changed really fast. Jessica and I are whipping out the ear warmers and warm socks. I get so jealous when I talk to Kevin or my family because summer is well on its way in sunny LA and AZ. I felt bad that this Saturday the weather wasn't ideal because our friend Keong Te from language school came to visit us and we treked through Valpo in our winter coats and scarves.

I've started doing Bikram Yoga here. I am amazed that they have a studio!! For those of you who don't know what Bikram is, it is hot yoga and the poses are the same every class. You do each pose twice. It is hard core yoga...none of that kum-bi-ya stuff. I bought a month pass. I also am joining the PUCV's basketball team. Our first game is tomorrow and I just hope I get to play for a few minutes. There are a lot of girls on the team but I'm the only gringa :)

I also got my first piece of mail!! My sister, Katie, sent me her graduation invitation. She will be graduating from high school on May 22, 2008. Samie, my other sister, was inducted to National Honor Society last week too. GOOO PEORIA PANTHERS. I am so proud! What can I say...they learn from the best.

Well, I need to get to bed. Bikram Yoga is at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.

La Semana Pascua etc.

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!

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!