The group of 13 volunteers (originally 17 but 4 backed out because of the terremoto and other reasons) represent a good amount of the US and a wide age range with the youngest being 22 and the oldest in her 60's. Our motto is "You can't shake us!" referring to the fact that an 8.8 magnitude earthquake just two weeks before our arrival date couldn't deter us from this experience. Everyone is cool and each contributes a very unique personality to the whole. My roommate for this month of training, Leigh Ann, is from Florida and used to work as a parade dancer for Disney World's Animal Kingdom. Our other suite mates, Corrie (Virginia), Allison (Virginia/New Orleans), and Susan (Kentucky/Alaska) all share our two little connected rooms with one bathroom and no storage space with us. The triple is in between our double and the bathroom and I have certainly done my share of tripping over suitcases, walking into the (useless) wardrobe, and waking up all three girls in the middle of the night on the way back from the bathroom. We are living in the Hotel Plaza Londres for 2.5 weeks during WT orientation in El Centro right smack in the commercial center of Santiago but it's most definitely a hostel more than anything else. The neighborhood is quaint and made up of just two intersecting cobblestone streets lined with Spanish colonial-style buildings. Funny thing is, it's the only spot in the entire city that looks like this. But I'm not complaining, it makes you forget that you are in a big city after all.
After settling in the first day, we jumped right to work. WT has done a fantastic job with orientation and training so far and is really preparing us for what is to come when we move to our placement towns and begin teaching. The most emphasized mantra has been "be liquid" since the terremoto, the recent changing hands of the government, the new culture, and the fact that this is Chile and Latin America are all going to require extreme flexibility from everyone. I think we are doing a good job of being liquid thus far. In this first week and a half (feels more like three), our schedules have been stuffed full of activities including, but not limited to:
-Sessions about culture shock, history of Chile, the (very broken) education system, the terremoto (I will elaborate on things I've observed and learned in a later email in an attempt to keep this one relatively brief. But relative only to my own history of emails which means this will probably end up pretty lengthy anyway.)
-A screening of Machuca, a Chilean movie about two boys of different social classes during the time right before Augusto Pinochet and his military regime took over in the 1973 coup and which I highly recommend
-A human rights tour of the city based on the dictatorship
-Spanish lessons 3 nights a week, 2 hours each. My Spanish, which is extremely basic, will need some serious work over the next 8 months. It's not really facilitating my learning by spending all my time in my bubble of American volunteers. But I'm sure that will change once I move in with my host family, although Chileans tend to have thick accents, slur their words, and cut out letters on a regular basis. Also, there is a phenomenon in Chile relating to the Spanish language called chilenismos - the fact that Chileans make up words and phrases and give them brand new meanings understood ONLY in Chile. "That's silly, Heather, every language has their own quirks." you say? Well this one has enough of them to fill a half-inch thick book full plus hundreds more that aren't there because a new one is made up literally everyday. Learning espanol from Chileans: Here goes nothing!
-A full week on classroom management, the culture of the Chilean youth, lesson planning, writing two practice lesson plans, and each volunteer teaching a demo lesson. During this week, I was particularly grateful I came with some teaching and planning experience because it was completely overwhelming with information. Some other volunteers were severely stressing, but I somehow I actually felt pretty relaxed about the whole thing (perhaps it's me really taking "be liquid" to heart), but I'm sure they're feeling very close to how I felt before I started teaching in Japan. And I'm also sure that the anxiety will sneak up on me once I'm actually put in a classroom full of Chilean teenagers. They are pretty much the same as other teenagers: they can smell your fear.
Today was our first day off since we arrived and we took full advantage. I went to cheer on a group of volunteers who ran a 10K this morning and then climbed up Cerro San Cristobal, the tallest point in Santiago where there is a huge statue of the Virgin at the top. It being Palm Sunday, there was also a big outdoor mass going on. This is a sprawling city in a valley between the Andes and a coastal mountain range. Unfortunately for these reasons, the smog and air quality here is pretty horrible and seeing the thick gray layer of air that blocks the view of the mountains that should otherwise be right in your face was a little depressing. If you like breathing, don't live in Santiago. Also, museums in Santiago are free on Sundays so we went to see some Incan artifacts at the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. Very cool displays of old Incan textiles, pottery, and jewelry.
Next week is a lot more relaxed with activities such as Amazing Race Chile, Cueca Dance Lessons, and a trip to the classroom supply store all on the menu. The week after, we move hostels and join the rest of our fellow Ingles Abres Puertas volunteers for the Ministry of Education orientation for a week before moving to our placements.
Like I said before, I'm going to cut this email off now and talk more about the culture, people, and the earthquake later. I just finally got a chance to sit down and write an update to let you know what I've been doing and that even though there have apparently been several aftershocks since we arrived (one even in the 6 point range), I haven't felt anything (bad thing?). I'm safe, careful, and excited to explore my new life here.
Here is the link to an album I've uploaded some pictures from the first week or so here. I'll have more to come soon.
http://www.facebook.com/al
I will also update my Picasa website frequently with more detailed albums of things I do here, as I did in Japan.
http://picasaweb.google.co
Cuidate y muchos besitos
For Anthony Bourdain fans out there, if you caught his episode in Chile, you saw that he visited a certain type of coffee shop nicknamed "cafe con piernas" or "coffee with legs." These are all over the place and earned their name from the novelty that the coffee is served by leggy waitresses in short, tight dresses. I get Japan flashbacks every time I pass one.
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