It’s Saturday and it’s cold and windy… shocker. But, at least it isn’t snowing or raining. These are huge steps towards getting me out the door and into the heart of the city… well, the mall but regardless it’s out of the house. I love Saturdays. I think this is mostly due to the fact for the last five years almost every Saturday during the months of Fall (my absolute favorite time of year) I would be setting up shop outside of the Williams Brice Stadium grounds in order to reel in a victory for my Gamecocks…
we may have had a few loses intermingled in those victories.
I thought I was mentally prepared to miss my favorite time or year, Gamecock Football and Halloween… news flash I AM NOT. I have been obsessively youtubing, reading statistic (that I usually would have no interest in) and creating PowerPoint Presentations for my students using Football Season in South Carolina Photos to teach the phrase There Are, They Are, He is and She is:
Me: Students, how many people are in this picture
Picture- Me and the Divas holding a Carolina Flag/Towel after we stomped Clemson last year
Students: 7
Me: In a complete sentence students.
Students: 7
Me: Completos sentence
Students: a little more hesitant… 7 Miss (pronounced me-is)
Furiously scribbling on the board the word Sentence
Me: In a full sentence
Students: They are 7 seven girls
Pointing at the phrase There are and mouthing the words
Me: Not there are but…
Students: There are 7 girls Miss!
Jumping up and down
Me: Great job!
Me: What colors are they wearing?
Students: There are wearing red and black.
A slight pause on my behalf (I am re-grouping)
Me: Not there are
Student’s: They are wearing red and black
It’s all I can do to not hug each one of them right there on the spot.
I follow up these pictures with, Mi Universidad, football, and Go Gamecocks.
They seriously look afraid, as if these new words have entered the room and are threatening to beat them up. I usually try to avoid “the stricken face” as much as possible, which is impossible, but they need to understand the importance Gamecock Football in the United States
... haha.
I love you soooo much
me overlooking the Strait of Magallanas
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Who doesn't love a good quote every now and again...
Since having been in Chile I have been trying to embrace the local cuisine, culture, people, education system... etc, etc, etc. Well I have been fiercely sidestepping Chilean authors. I think this is very subliminal due to the fact that I am beginning to resent Chilean Spanish and my inability to understand it. Well, I am fighting my unconscious desire to read American authors (but I did check out Faulkner's As I Lye Dying yesterday from the American corner at the University library... I'm notta cold turkey kinda gal) and have started to dabble in the local written language. Pablo Neruda won the Nobel Peace Prize in the 70's, so he seemed like a good start.
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way.”
-Pablo Neruda
“We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today”
-Gabriela Mistral
The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.”
- Pablo naruda
“Don't cry when the sun is gone, because the tears won't let you see the stars”
-Violeta parra
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way.”
-Pablo Neruda
“We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today”
-Gabriela Mistral
The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.”
- Pablo naruda
“Don't cry when the sun is gone, because the tears won't let you see the stars”
-Violeta parra
Monday, August 23, 2010
"August keeps crying and she don't know why"
I have learned a lot about myself in the last few weeks, it’s as though the person that I’ve become over the last 23 years has been painted into a picture for me to analyze, scrutinize and memorize. I am learning how I think along with how much I love: lying in bed, writing, drinking coffee, watching movies, meeting new people, having long discussions about the inner workings of the human heart, and how food and music satisfy my soul. That I am deeply in love with: chocolate, natural beauty, running, and the idea that there is something so much greater than me. Simplicity I have found is not boring; it’s actually the thread that stitches our lives together. There’s a beauty in the unseen seems that line our lives. I believe it's God’s way of reminding us that without him we would never be whole, that we could never have been constructed. Our lives would merely be patches of cloth in a heap, there would be no beginning or even worse… no end.
i love you
i love you
Fast Times at Liceo Experimental
High school in English is hard, well high school in Spanish is much harder. But, I must say the same teenage nuances seem to find their way into the lives of my 7th-12th graders… boy/girl friends, awkward body parts, incessant need to be speaking out of turn, the ability to know everything; and those are the good kids. Ha, I’m just kidding… well kind of. The kids have all these troublesome teenage woes, but they aren’t that bad. In-fact I am quite enjoying my first experience as a high school English teacher, well except for the not speaking their language part. My classroom is usually filled with laughter, either the kids are laughing at my Spanish speaking inability or the crazy motions, drawings and words I am using to give them directions or basically just teach them English. If you’ve had the chance to see the pictures I posted of my classroom, take notice of the one of my white board. At the end of each class period before I erase my board I take about a minute just to look over what I’ve been writing for the last 45 or
1 ½. Usually, it makes me laugh and question exactly what the kids may or may have not learned during our lesson. Fortunately, my students are very helpful with my Spanish… on occasion I will offend someone or say something very inappropriate unknowingly , which they then have to explain to me … usually it makes them quite nervous. But, I feel the more time we spend together the less awkward it will become for them to tell me to always put the accent above my n in anos.
I’ll explain this… anos can mean two different things which is determined by the accent that goes above the n. The anos with the accent means years… Tiene viente y tres anos (with an accent) … the anos without the accent means buttholes, which is the one I wrote on the board. Again NEWS-TO-ME, my students kind of blushed on this mishap. But we got through it and I have a feeling I’ll never make that mistake again.
I love having my own classroom. It feels like quite the accomplishment; since for the last five years I have been trying to navigate my career and life destination at USC.
My co-teachers are exceptionally nice people, even for Chileans. I have four of these God-Sent personas. One of whom came by room today just to drop off a jar of peanut butter and lemon granola bars. She told me she was in UniMarc (like a Walmart) and thought of me. She made my day, by the end of school this afternoon I realized I had peanut butter smeared from the top of my elbow to my hand. Quite the feat, but when you don’t have lunch spooning out peanut butter with your fingers in-between classes seems like a splendid idea. My student’s took a great interest in my peanut butter and misunderstood that it was a gift for me and not them. You can imagine their little faces when I had to unscrew the lid and show them where’d I’d been eating the doughy substance with my fingers.
Well, to sum up: I love my kids. They rock. I love my co-teachers, much like their students they also rock.
My Spanish is slow but coming along. I am not using grammatically correct sentences but usually able to make my point or explain what I am doing. Yes, I spend most of my conversational time with people having to make an explanation for something I just said or did. Chilean people are very curious and awfully nosey. The other teachers, janitors, students and a few visitors walk by room and just stop to stare in the door. Depending on my mood is how I react to these guests. Usually, I don’t mind being treated like a zoo animal but on occasion I get a bit annoyed.
I love you.
1 ½. Usually, it makes me laugh and question exactly what the kids may or may have not learned during our lesson. Fortunately, my students are very helpful with my Spanish… on occasion I will offend someone or say something very inappropriate unknowingly , which they then have to explain to me … usually it makes them quite nervous. But, I feel the more time we spend together the less awkward it will become for them to tell me to always put the accent above my n in anos.
I’ll explain this… anos can mean two different things which is determined by the accent that goes above the n. The anos with the accent means years… Tiene viente y tres anos (with an accent) … the anos without the accent means buttholes, which is the one I wrote on the board. Again NEWS-TO-ME, my students kind of blushed on this mishap. But we got through it and I have a feeling I’ll never make that mistake again.
I love having my own classroom. It feels like quite the accomplishment; since for the last five years I have been trying to navigate my career and life destination at USC.
My co-teachers are exceptionally nice people, even for Chileans. I have four of these God-Sent personas. One of whom came by room today just to drop off a jar of peanut butter and lemon granola bars. She told me she was in UniMarc (like a Walmart) and thought of me. She made my day, by the end of school this afternoon I realized I had peanut butter smeared from the top of my elbow to my hand. Quite the feat, but when you don’t have lunch spooning out peanut butter with your fingers in-between classes seems like a splendid idea. My student’s took a great interest in my peanut butter and misunderstood that it was a gift for me and not them. You can imagine their little faces when I had to unscrew the lid and show them where’d I’d been eating the doughy substance with my fingers.
Well, to sum up: I love my kids. They rock. I love my co-teachers, much like their students they also rock.
My Spanish is slow but coming along. I am not using grammatically correct sentences but usually able to make my point or explain what I am doing. Yes, I spend most of my conversational time with people having to make an explanation for something I just said or did. Chilean people are very curious and awfully nosey. The other teachers, janitors, students and a few visitors walk by room and just stop to stare in the door. Depending on my mood is how I react to these guests. Usually, I don’t mind being treated like a zoo animal but on occasion I get a bit annoyed.
I love you.
Monday, August 16, 2010
escuela
I woke up this morning to the vacuum cleaner ringing in my ears. Well, this is something that shouldn’t bother me to much considering who my mother is. In fact, I was slightly perplexed when I opened my eyes and I found my walls to be bright orange instead of the pale green that decorates my bedroom back home. Is it really time for school again… I mean I feel like I never got a break from it. Although, I am now on the other side of the classroom and the one standing in front of dozens of children providing educational stimulation for the next four months. It’s somewhat intimidating to have fellow teachers asking me about my lesson plans and how I plan to teach English. Yikes. The educational system down here is somewhat… shall we say … different than in the States. First of all, the teachers switch rooms while the students stay in the same room all day. The first day I visited with my school I was confused ha, it took about half the day for me figure out that no my co-teacher did not have her own room. Well, luckily for me since I came through the English Opens Doors program provided by the Ministry of Education and it is mandatory that we have our own classroom, which I am very thankful for. I started decorating last week, but have yet to use the new room. For the past two weeks I have been co-teaching with four other teachers. I will still be “co-teaching” but half way through the class period I will take about 15 students to my room where I will teach them for about 45 min. More than likely the first couple weeks of this we will barely get through the role because just like Chilean Spanish people names are impossible for me to pronounce correctly. It’s strange but I have life here. I have a job, family, friends, and a city that I am familiar with. I love Punta Arenas, it’s the perfect size has pretty decent scenery and the people are friendly. I have gotten used to the stares at this point. All weekend I was with all gringos and people don’t know what to think when we are speaking English with our “blonde” hair and boisterous personalities. I had dinner Sat. with about six girls, well of course the restaurant didn’t open until 9 pm so we got there and ordered everything on the menu. We started with the Punta Arenas specialty, King Crab, and it cost about 8 bucks. No kidding. Okay, so Southern Chile has literally one good meal under its belt the Crab unfortunalty that’s where it abruptly comes to an end. We also ordered off of the tapas menu so we got big plates that we passed around family style… and here’s what was on them:
- Hot dogs on skewers
- A plate of papas fritas (fries) with eggs, small pieces of chicken and carne, carrots and peas
- Salt, doesn’t really matter what the food was because salt is the only/main ingredient
Oh yeah, bread. Duh. My host family thinks my bread obsession is hilarious. But, when there’s literally nothing else to eat pan and marmalade look pretty good. During every meal time mi mama serves everyone and then puts the bread bowl beside me. Mi papa has started warning me pan will make me gordo (fat)… and then he laughs and puts more on my plate. Well, again this should not surprise me at all considering who my father is, throughout my entire life whenever I would be in the kitchen eating my dad would poke me and yell Suiiii, as in little piggy. My Australian roommate and I have taken to searching the kitchen when the families gone for something, anything that we can recognize. We have yet to have good results. Susan has been a wonderful roommate and a helpful translator. Unfortunately, she speaks Australian. I know what you’re thinking, Merrette Australians speak English… duh. Well, they speak a form of English but apparently their use of idioms is much like the Chileans, as in they use words and phrases that actually make no sense to outsiders. So, whenever Susan may be explaining something to me our host parents said I have to in-fact translate her translation. My brain hurts, every night I am exhausted from just pretending to understand what’s going on all day. Luckily, one thing Chileans are fascinated over is karaoke. I know that I said earlier in the blog I would never be caught karaoke-ing, well I have eaten my words my friends, several times over actually. No meal is complete around here with singing karaoke as the postre (desert). I have now sung Guns and Roses, I will survive, Brittany Spears, Michael Jackson and several Latin songs that I don’t understand.
i love you
- Hot dogs on skewers
- A plate of papas fritas (fries) with eggs, small pieces of chicken and carne, carrots and peas
- Salt, doesn’t really matter what the food was because salt is the only/main ingredient
Oh yeah, bread. Duh. My host family thinks my bread obsession is hilarious. But, when there’s literally nothing else to eat pan and marmalade look pretty good. During every meal time mi mama serves everyone and then puts the bread bowl beside me. Mi papa has started warning me pan will make me gordo (fat)… and then he laughs and puts more on my plate. Well, again this should not surprise me at all considering who my father is, throughout my entire life whenever I would be in the kitchen eating my dad would poke me and yell Suiiii, as in little piggy. My Australian roommate and I have taken to searching the kitchen when the families gone for something, anything that we can recognize. We have yet to have good results. Susan has been a wonderful roommate and a helpful translator. Unfortunately, she speaks Australian. I know what you’re thinking, Merrette Australians speak English… duh. Well, they speak a form of English but apparently their use of idioms is much like the Chileans, as in they use words and phrases that actually make no sense to outsiders. So, whenever Susan may be explaining something to me our host parents said I have to in-fact translate her translation. My brain hurts, every night I am exhausted from just pretending to understand what’s going on all day. Luckily, one thing Chileans are fascinated over is karaoke. I know that I said earlier in the blog I would never be caught karaoke-ing, well I have eaten my words my friends, several times over actually. No meal is complete around here with singing karaoke as the postre (desert). I have now sung Guns and Roses, I will survive, Brittany Spears, Michael Jackson and several Latin songs that I don’t understand.
i love you
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
amore
Whoever said Paris is the city of love apparently has never visited Chile. These people wrote the definition on PDA, as in public display of affection… seriously you have never seen anything like it.
Example: While in Santiago I was in a cab on my way home from seeing a vineyard for the first time in my life. Feeling pretty pleased with myself I was looking out the window and admiring the beautiful mountain ranges, trees … and the couple making out in the street. Well, this was no ordinary couple mind you, these were the teenagers of Chile therefore they take their kissing very seriously. The chica was walking forward with her novio (boyfriend) walking backwards so that he wouldn’t have to take his eyes much less lips off of her, their arms were wrapped around each other and yet they were still managing to walk proficiently down the street… I was seriously impressed.
So, as you can see the kissing down here is no laughing matter. Each of my students has managed to wrap their little arms around me and planted a big one on my cheek. We were warned during our classes last week, but I guess until you have about 6 children crowding you for a kiss it’s a hard thing to understand. Here’s a mental image… I’m down here at the end (-9 degrees Celsius) of the world kissing the people of Chile with each hello, goodbye and nice to meet you… oh and eating bread con (with) queso.
I highly suggest adding Chile to your must travel list, because as I’ve been told, “anything can happen in Patagonia…”
I love you
Example: While in Santiago I was in a cab on my way home from seeing a vineyard for the first time in my life. Feeling pretty pleased with myself I was looking out the window and admiring the beautiful mountain ranges, trees … and the couple making out in the street. Well, this was no ordinary couple mind you, these were the teenagers of Chile therefore they take their kissing very seriously. The chica was walking forward with her novio (boyfriend) walking backwards so that he wouldn’t have to take his eyes much less lips off of her, their arms were wrapped around each other and yet they were still managing to walk proficiently down the street… I was seriously impressed.
So, as you can see the kissing down here is no laughing matter. Each of my students has managed to wrap their little arms around me and planted a big one on my cheek. We were warned during our classes last week, but I guess until you have about 6 children crowding you for a kiss it’s a hard thing to understand. Here’s a mental image… I’m down here at the end (-9 degrees Celsius) of the world kissing the people of Chile with each hello, goodbye and nice to meet you… oh and eating bread con (with) queso.
I highly suggest adding Chile to your must travel list, because as I’ve been told, “anything can happen in Patagonia…”
I love you
hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable... can anyone name the movie this quote comes from?
More than a cultural experience
We need to get some logistics down:
I live with Irena and “A”, they have a four bedroom house. It is about the size of an American one bedroom apartment.
Rodrigo, they’re grandson lives with them, he is 14 years old.
Susan, a fellow volunteer, is moving in tomorrow. She will be in the bedroom across from me. Susan is Australian and also speaks Spanish hogwash.
Irena and “A” have two sons, both of whom have moved out within the past year.
Patty, is one of Irena and “A’s” son’s girlfriend. Patty is an English teacher at another school and extremely friendly. She is Chilean.
Okay, so we got that down because I have a feeling the fun hasn’t even begun yet and all of these people will at some point or another become very vital in the understanding of my crazy beautiful new life… and yes I did happen to watch the movie Crazy Beautiful the other day.
I may have one of the best host families in the world, and this is no exaggeration. Mi mama only wants to take care of us. She cleans the entire house every day, sews and washes our clothes; along with cooking 2 gourmet Chilean meals... a day. To top it off she works a night job. Seriously, this lady needs a medal, it is quite astounding. Even though I speak no Spanish “A’s” humor is infectious and has my stomach hurting quite often. He is also bent and determined to teach me Spanish. The whole family eats lunch together around 1:30 but onces and dinner is just Rodrigo, “A” and me. We sit at the kitchen table and for about two hours each night they teach me Spanish using the dry erase board, dictionary, and any other appliance at hand. “A” is constantly holding up a utensil and pointing at me saying WHAT! (as in, what is this).
Example: Mi mama came home tonight with four Bon-Bons, one for each us. She got Rodrigo and me out of our rooms so we could savor them together. This family has very little and works very hard yet their joyful nature, overall happiness and love is something
i love you
We need to get some logistics down:
I live with Irena and “A”, they have a four bedroom house. It is about the size of an American one bedroom apartment.
Rodrigo, they’re grandson lives with them, he is 14 years old.
Susan, a fellow volunteer, is moving in tomorrow. She will be in the bedroom across from me. Susan is Australian and also speaks Spanish hogwash.
Irena and “A” have two sons, both of whom have moved out within the past year.
Patty, is one of Irena and “A’s” son’s girlfriend. Patty is an English teacher at another school and extremely friendly. She is Chilean.
Okay, so we got that down because I have a feeling the fun hasn’t even begun yet and all of these people will at some point or another become very vital in the understanding of my crazy beautiful new life… and yes I did happen to watch the movie Crazy Beautiful the other day.
I may have one of the best host families in the world, and this is no exaggeration. Mi mama only wants to take care of us. She cleans the entire house every day, sews and washes our clothes; along with cooking 2 gourmet Chilean meals... a day. To top it off she works a night job. Seriously, this lady needs a medal, it is quite astounding. Even though I speak no Spanish “A’s” humor is infectious and has my stomach hurting quite often. He is also bent and determined to teach me Spanish. The whole family eats lunch together around 1:30 but onces and dinner is just Rodrigo, “A” and me. We sit at the kitchen table and for about two hours each night they teach me Spanish using the dry erase board, dictionary, and any other appliance at hand. “A” is constantly holding up a utensil and pointing at me saying WHAT! (as in, what is this).
Example: Mi mama came home tonight with four Bon-Bons, one for each us. She got Rodrigo and me out of our rooms so we could savor them together. This family has very little and works very hard yet their joyful nature, overall happiness and love is something
i love you
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