Sunday, February 29, 2004
busy work week for me, followed by perfectly lazy weekend. we had some new kids come in last week, and are prepping for the start of school, supposedly... i don´t see much necessary preparation going on, but we did have a meeting where we discussed at length what kind of smock the art teacher should get, which kids would be in which group (just print us out a copy), and rules for us volunteers (no Spanish, no personal conversations, wear a white shirt, one hour for lunch, etc.) i will be teaching next week, both in the morning and in the evening. what the hell am i supposed to do with/teach these kids? can we talk about that? i haven´t really been shown materials or goals or anything, so guess it'll be more like adventures in baby-sitting.
we have 2 new cool volunteers here now, so i have people to blow off steam with- do not correct my grammar! we made it out to a club the other night, and old maid joy partied on the dance floor until after 5 a.m. go me! i want to be a promotion chick. how do i get hooked up with that? i can be paid to be fun! off to the playa again, ¡nos vemos!
we have 2 new cool volunteers here now, so i have people to blow off steam with- do not correct my grammar! we made it out to a club the other night, and old maid joy partied on the dance floor until after 5 a.m. go me! i want to be a promotion chick. how do i get hooked up with that? i can be paid to be fun! off to the playa again, ¡nos vemos!
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
i was in a bad mood when i posted last because blogger pissed me off, and now it´s my incompetent family ticking me off. in any case, hope this post doesn´t suck as much as the last one.
jon and inna (volunteers) are gone for good, and cristina (volunteer) is traveling with them. estoy solita en la casa con la familia. i already miss them so much because they are simply incredible people. the other reason i miss them so much is because now i am the only volunteer with these outta control kids. what a freaking headache. but i am growing to love them already, strangely enough. if they can go to the bathroom by themselves, i love them even more.
Genesis started 3 weeks ago, and already understands almost all of the directions in English. the other teacher thinks she´s a manipulative bully, but i think she´s great- maybe because she brings good food and doesn´t eat it all, lucky me. usually chocolate or coconut cookies, but today a delicious lentil soup.
i hated Enzo at the beginning because i was like why doesn´t this kid follow directions? now i understand that he´s only 2, and since he´s by far better than the other 2 year olds we have, i think he´s a supercutie. he is like baby GAPed out, only not GAP, ¿cachai? and he gets hooked on words. like first auto, then car, and today it was orange. and don´t the cool kids always like orange? i definitely wasn´t cool- i liked blue.
Hannah is new, and continues to drive me CRAZY, but it is amazing how much better behaved she is this week. i did get to kick the little brat out of the gym today for 5 minutes, but if i had my way it would´ve been forever. once you see her dance to dora the explorer though, you can´t help but laugh at this munchkin.
speaking of Dora, our very own Dora (Serena) is wicked smaht. she picks everything up so quickly (i really want to teach her "wassup girlfriend," but i think i might get in trouble.) lately she is tired of being the goody-goody (likes blue) and wants to cause some trouble. fun for her; chaos for me. and she doesn´t bring good food for me either.
i was supposed to go check out a gym today, just like every day for the past 3 weeks, but i am wiped out. and starving. later amigos.
jon and inna (volunteers) are gone for good, and cristina (volunteer) is traveling with them. estoy solita en la casa con la familia. i already miss them so much because they are simply incredible people. the other reason i miss them so much is because now i am the only volunteer with these outta control kids. what a freaking headache. but i am growing to love them already, strangely enough. if they can go to the bathroom by themselves, i love them even more.
Genesis started 3 weeks ago, and already understands almost all of the directions in English. the other teacher thinks she´s a manipulative bully, but i think she´s great- maybe because she brings good food and doesn´t eat it all, lucky me. usually chocolate or coconut cookies, but today a delicious lentil soup.
i hated Enzo at the beginning because i was like why doesn´t this kid follow directions? now i understand that he´s only 2, and since he´s by far better than the other 2 year olds we have, i think he´s a supercutie. he is like baby GAPed out, only not GAP, ¿cachai? and he gets hooked on words. like first auto, then car, and today it was orange. and don´t the cool kids always like orange? i definitely wasn´t cool- i liked blue.
Hannah is new, and continues to drive me CRAZY, but it is amazing how much better behaved she is this week. i did get to kick the little brat out of the gym today for 5 minutes, but if i had my way it would´ve been forever. once you see her dance to dora the explorer though, you can´t help but laugh at this munchkin.
speaking of Dora, our very own Dora (Serena) is wicked smaht. she picks everything up so quickly (i really want to teach her "wassup girlfriend," but i think i might get in trouble.) lately she is tired of being the goody-goody (likes blue) and wants to cause some trouble. fun for her; chaos for me. and she doesn´t bring good food for me either.
i was supposed to go check out a gym today, just like every day for the past 3 weeks, but i am wiped out. and starving. later amigos.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
ho hum. back at the school on a saturday. who knew blogging was addictive? i just hope reading it will be as well. i shall try my best.
so i´m waiting for some friends to come by and then we'll hit the beach at reñaca. the microbus does not necessarily cost 250p each way, even if that is what´s posted on the sign. i discovered this on my beach trip yesterday. i brought 500p for my first micro trip sola. oops- it´s 280. aight joy, don´t freak out. you can just beg someone for 60p. so i´m trying to be one of you cool mellow people (jonathan) who wouldn´t think twice about this setback, telling myself i´ll get money from someone no problem, that it really isn´t cold out although everyone on the beach is wearing jeans and t-shirts, that i love the crunchy goodness of sand being blown in my mouth, and that my retinas aren´t disintegrating as i try to hold my book and shade my eyes at the same time. you all really have some skill.
viña is the place to be right now. we are right in the middle of the festival de la canción, so of course anyone who is anyone is at the o´higgins. people think americans are bad as far as paparazzi goes, but there are people hounding this hotel day and night. as you know, i don´t really have tv, but everytime i manage to sneak it out, there is coverage of the goings-on at this hotel. the centro is superlleno so that you can hardly see in front of you, either because you are traveling en masse, or because there is ceniza in your eyes. oh yeah, it´s the time of year for incendios on the nearby mountains, so it has been raining ash and misting smoke here for the past few days. looks like it might be clearing up today though, so í'm gonna go get baked (by the sun!). peace.
so i´m waiting for some friends to come by and then we'll hit the beach at reñaca. the microbus does not necessarily cost 250p each way, even if that is what´s posted on the sign. i discovered this on my beach trip yesterday. i brought 500p for my first micro trip sola. oops- it´s 280. aight joy, don´t freak out. you can just beg someone for 60p. so i´m trying to be one of you cool mellow people (jonathan) who wouldn´t think twice about this setback, telling myself i´ll get money from someone no problem, that it really isn´t cold out although everyone on the beach is wearing jeans and t-shirts, that i love the crunchy goodness of sand being blown in my mouth, and that my retinas aren´t disintegrating as i try to hold my book and shade my eyes at the same time. you all really have some skill.
viña is the place to be right now. we are right in the middle of the festival de la canción, so of course anyone who is anyone is at the o´higgins. people think americans are bad as far as paparazzi goes, but there are people hounding this hotel day and night. as you know, i don´t really have tv, but everytime i manage to sneak it out, there is coverage of the goings-on at this hotel. the centro is superlleno so that you can hardly see in front of you, either because you are traveling en masse, or because there is ceniza in your eyes. oh yeah, it´s the time of year for incendios on the nearby mountains, so it has been raining ash and misting smoke here for the past few days. looks like it might be clearing up today though, so í'm gonna go get baked (by the sun!). peace.
Friday, February 20, 2004
ha ha. who´d have thought that with nothing but the barest of essentials with me (because we all know mascara and good cover-up are essential), i´d be able to find time and resources enough to create my own blog. well, i did it!
so i´m in viña del mar, chile, and i´m pretty hooked up here at the school. this jardín infantil is amazing to look at, but rather lacking in curricular substance. hoping that will change when summer break ends in a week. i´m also hooked up at the apartment- living in my own room for the time being, with 3 other volunteers, the director, her husband, and 3 year old daughter. for future refrerence, i´ll call the 3 year old dora. she is the real live version, minus boots. i am not yet an animal lover, so that´s fine with me. okay, so the apt. is great, BUT there is no real furniture, no music, no tv (for our use), no phone, no guests allowed, etc. the other volunteers have rectified the music situation however, and i´ve taken to working on the tv. poco a poco.
right, so if you´ve never been to chile, you might think that they speak spanish here. not so, my friend. chilean might sound like spanish if you´ve never studied it before, but believe me, it takes some getting used to, ¿cachai? that is really throwing me for a loop, and hindering the already limited contact i have with viñamarinos. so far, the best thing besides the hot sun (who needs ozone?), the beautiful palms, and the gorgeous sparkling blue sea with it´s thunderous white foam waves, is the FOOD. hot damn, the food here is incredible. the vegetables are so flavorful that i actually like salad- albeit loaded with avacado. the fruits are numerous, sweet, and juicy. the meat- carne, pollo, y chorizo- are by far better than any meat i have tasted in a long time. after just finishing fast food nation, i justify this by noting that cattle are grass-fed here, and chickens are fed actual chicken feed and fish. and the desserts! yum yum, chocolate, manjar, crema, bring on the fat my pasteleros. everything here is full fat so maybe that´s why natural yogurt actually tastes good and i load the butter on everything. one more thing, i just discovered the most dangerous place on the block (other than our apt. which has been broken into twice in the past two months) and that is the corner bakery. that is some irresistible pan they sell there, fresh, fluffy, and always warm. hella good! (thanks crisitina, for both the bread and the hella)
it is the start of a great weekend, so hopefully i will have a story or two for you next time. que tengan un buen fin de semana!
so i´m in viña del mar, chile, and i´m pretty hooked up here at the school. this jardín infantil is amazing to look at, but rather lacking in curricular substance. hoping that will change when summer break ends in a week. i´m also hooked up at the apartment- living in my own room for the time being, with 3 other volunteers, the director, her husband, and 3 year old daughter. for future refrerence, i´ll call the 3 year old dora. she is the real live version, minus boots. i am not yet an animal lover, so that´s fine with me. okay, so the apt. is great, BUT there is no real furniture, no music, no tv (for our use), no phone, no guests allowed, etc. the other volunteers have rectified the music situation however, and i´ve taken to working on the tv. poco a poco.
right, so if you´ve never been to chile, you might think that they speak spanish here. not so, my friend. chilean might sound like spanish if you´ve never studied it before, but believe me, it takes some getting used to, ¿cachai? that is really throwing me for a loop, and hindering the already limited contact i have with viñamarinos. so far, the best thing besides the hot sun (who needs ozone?), the beautiful palms, and the gorgeous sparkling blue sea with it´s thunderous white foam waves, is the FOOD. hot damn, the food here is incredible. the vegetables are so flavorful that i actually like salad- albeit loaded with avacado. the fruits are numerous, sweet, and juicy. the meat- carne, pollo, y chorizo- are by far better than any meat i have tasted in a long time. after just finishing fast food nation, i justify this by noting that cattle are grass-fed here, and chickens are fed actual chicken feed and fish. and the desserts! yum yum, chocolate, manjar, crema, bring on the fat my pasteleros. everything here is full fat so maybe that´s why natural yogurt actually tastes good and i load the butter on everything. one more thing, i just discovered the most dangerous place on the block (other than our apt. which has been broken into twice in the past two months) and that is the corner bakery. that is some irresistible pan they sell there, fresh, fluffy, and always warm. hella good! (thanks crisitina, for both the bread and the hella)
it is the start of a great weekend, so hopefully i will have a story or two for you next time. que tengan un buen fin de semana!
