We've been working hard during all our spare time preparing all the materials for the English Oral Presentations next week. The Oral Presentations are quite a big deal for the school, for us and mainly for the students. Charlotte and I have to prepare all the materials for every grade, work out a marking system, sort out the class listings and evaluate every student indivually on the work they've been doing thoughout the year. The mark we give provides a large percentage of the final mark they will receive is english for the year and could be the reason certain students are held down a year. This puts quite a lot of pressure on us as you can imagine. But it does give us a chance to see whether we have made a difference in the level of their English.
On halloween the other volunteers and I went to a party hosted by one of the Chilean families. Halloween is widely celebrated in Chile, im guessing because Chile is geographically close to North America where haloween originates. Trick or treating is popular and even children up to the age of 16 still enjoy dressing up and knocking on doors for sweets. Charlotte and I met the other volunteers at Nuble station that evening and walked back to Aaron and Tobias's house (it was their faily that was hosting the Halloween party). Unfortunately the family saw this party as some sort of buisness oppertunity and brought it upon themselves to charge money for food that was being served. Nevertheless, we had a very enjoyable evening and some of us managed to stay up all night chatting and having a good time. We left early the next morning in time for the metro opening and headed home to bed.
Charlotte and I have made a habbit of taking a detour on to one of the local bakeries on our way to the bus stop to buy fresh empanadas. It's not a good habbit we admit, but they are VERY good and we have made a new friend as a consequence. Ever since the first time we stepped foot in there the shopkeeper has always greeted us with a friendly smile along with our snack. The shopkeeper is an elderly man called German who has owned the bakery for years. That sunday he invited us round to have "onces" with his three daughters to get to know the rest of his family. We arrived at the shop and we're escorted by one of the bakers that works there to his house about a 10 minute drive away. I was slightly aprehensive about going as I had never met them before and knew all too well that I would be doing the majority of the talking for Charlotte and myself. Although thanks to my grandparents 80th birthday party a few months back I now have small talk down to a fine art! :) The daughters surpassed all my expectations. The conversation didn't reach any awkward silences and I found myself chatting to them as if they were old friends. I was sorry to leave but it was getting late and we had school in the morning. One of the daughtners Paulina is a member of a trekking club and has invited us to go on their monthly outings into the Andes. The next one is on the 5th of December which we shall unfortunatley have to miss as we are attending a Project Trust volunteer workshop with out Desk Oficer Ally who's arrives to see how we're doing in a few weeks. Hopefully when we get back from travelling we will be able to venture into the Andes with her and her friends.
Last Wednesday was my 19th birthday. I don’t know why I was so nervous about turning 19. Perhaps it’s because I enjoyed being 18 so much or maybe it was just the fact that I wasn’t spending it with my family and friends back home. Either way, I was determined to make it memorable. I brought a hefty amount of “Miloja” into school that morning to share with the English department and the students that spend most of their break times in our classroom. For those who don’t know what “Miloja” is, it’s a Chilean desert with layer upon layer of manjar, chocolate and thin wafers of puff pastry. A winner in my eyes and a perfect substitute of the traditional but nevertheless impressive birthday cakes I’m used to. I was bombarded with hugs and “felicitaciones” all day from the students. I especially enjoyed getting sung “happy birthday” to in Chilean Spanish by the children in 3ºbasico (7yrs). After they had sung they put their hands together in a praying fashion and rested them on their heads. I was unaware that the hands were meant to be candles until the one of the teachers told me to “blow out the candles”. I suddenly realised and blew across the class as if I was blowing out candles on a birthday cake. And in the style of a Mexican wave all the little hands disappeared. So unbelievably special.
I had arranged with the volunteers who could make it to meet in the park near the Baquedano metro station from some Champagne and nibbles. I think some form of fizz is necessary on any birthday and I wasn’t prepared let this one go un-fizzed. Charlotte and I met Naomi, Christine and Aaron and Tobias that evening in the park and proceeded to enjoy the cheapest fizz available (we’re on a tight budget) mixed with some cherry liquor I found in the supermarket. It was an early night as we had a busy day at school the following day.
Every year the school hosts an event called a “Camaricum”. It’s similar to an English fête in the way that there is a multitude of stalls selling food and homemade trinkets. It’s a big deal for the students as well as each class dresses up their form tutor in fancy dress. The costumes this year ranged from a shoe to a bunch of grapes to Cleopatra. Very entertaining. Also, each class has to prepare a dance to show and compete with the rest of the school. Charlotte and I were pestered (well, Charlotte was more pestered. I didn’t need any convincing!) into joining the 2medios (15-16yrs) in their version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. The boys are surprisingly good dancers and we imitated the dance straight of the video. We rehearsed every day during and after school for two weeks and we could safely say that we could boogie along with the best. The dance also involved, needless to say, dressing up as zombies. As charlotte and I are a little short of dosh, we just bought a cheapo, large, men’s T-shirt from the local supermarket, ripped and sloshed some red paint on it and threw it over some black leggings and a block top. Team that with some scary-looking make up and backcombed hair and HEY PRESTO! We were zombies! The dance went amazingly well and the students enjoyed laughing at and chatting to the “freaky miss”. Also because the activity was out of school ours it meant I could speak in Spanish with the students which I LOVED! I really love getting to know the students at school, it’s a nice to have someone different to talk to other than your project partner. Not that I don’t enjoy being with Charlotte of course, but variety is always a good thing when you’re in such close proximities with someone you’ve only known for a couple of months.
There was a multicultural festival in Santiago this weekend so Charlotte and I decided to check it out along with the family’s resident crazy uncle Roberto, one of the cousin’s Sebastian, Camila and her boyfriend Manuel. It held annually in the Quinta Normal Park and features stalls and a variety of stages with live music and performers. There were circus acrobats, and typical Chilean folk music. I have tried to like the Chilean folk music but it’s really not my taste at all. We spent most of our time at a stage called “Music Fusion”. The “Music Fusion” stage is just as the name suggests. Some of the acts were more than strange with odd looking instruments and peculiar costumes. A particular group called “La Triciclo” who performed a strange type of electronic rock and wore things like kettles as head-gear, fake beards, military suits, animal skin and colourful comedy breasts. Original to say the least and both Charlotte and I spent most of the gig with look of sheer shock on our faces at the utter abnormality of the whole thing. After “La Tricolo” left the stage the area started to fill with people. We then found out from Roberto that there was a famous Chilean band playing next called “Chico Trujillo”. I had never heard of them but if they were getting a crowd like this how bad could they be? In fairness, I think if I had of heard the music before hand I would have enjoyed it more but considering that this group were completely alien to me I could see why all the Chileans were dancing and jumping up and down to the beat.
I am doing my very best to not take Chile for granted. I have moments when I look into the distance on my way to school in the morning and catch a glimpse of the breath-taking Andes all draped in snow and I can’t help but beam from ear to ear. I can only imagine what travelling down the south will be like. I started vaguely planning my trip today. I think the best plan is to go without a plan but have rough guide of places you would like to see and more or less when you would like to arrive at a couple of key destinations. I am very lucky to have an amazing Chilean guide book that tells me pretty much everything I need to know about backpacking across Chile from basics like recommendations on the best spots to visit to how to get there and prices for accommodation and travel from place to place depending on the region. I now refer to it as “The Bible” even though perhaps I shouldn’t as Chile is very Catholic. Anyway, I have an endless list of things to look forward to.
Title.. Vegas - All time low
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