VIVA CHILE MIERDA!!!

Literally translated the title of this blog means “Live Chile Shit.” Now wait, before you get your panties in a bunch, keep reading. Today was a great day! The reason it was a great day is because we finally got good news about a mining accident that took place in a mine here in Copiapó. 17 days ago there was an accident in the mine trapping 33 men. Rescue efforts were thwarted, however, when the conditions of the mine made it too dangerous to access entrance tunnels. There was a room with food and supplies to last about 3 days and that’s where they were hoping the miners had made it to. This has been a huge story because Chile is such a huge mining country and the world’s #1 exporter of copper. After a week with no success, I was convinced they were dead. They probably ran out of air anyway. But Chile persevered asking for help and expertise from around the world. The United States and Australia donated drilling machines, and they’ve been digging for days trying to make contact.

And today they finally did! They sent a camera down and saw signs of life. A miner had written on a piece of paper that the 33 of them are still alive, and showed it to the camera feed. Apparently, from what I understand, there’s a lot more space than was previously thought, and they actually have a little food and water. Apparently, some sort of vegetation grows down there? I’m not sure, the important thing is that they made contact. And with this news the town went nuts! I went for a run and saw random guys standing on the side of the road waving the Chilean flag and everyone honked for them in return! All the collectivos have things like “fuerza mineros” painted on their back windows, and I swear every 5th car had a flag waving out from the side of their window. I haven’t felt this kind of nationalism since 9/11. It’s really “bacan” (cool) how much this community cares about these 33 people.
Has this story even made it back to the States? I don’t know. I kind of doubt it as there’s usually only about 5 minutes devoted to international news. But it’s all they talk about on the news here, every day, all day. I was getting a little sick of it, because they were really killing the story. There wasn’t really any new news until today.

So back to the title, I heard them say enthusiastically on a newscast “VIVA CHILE MIERDA!!!” My host mom repeated it enthusiastically and chuckled as I crinkled up my nose and told her “no tiene sentido.” She explained it was a chilenismo that was used in situations like this to express a sort of national pride. So there you have it. They said “shit” on national TV and it was fine.

Bahía Inglesa/Caldera

I spent the last weekend “camping” in Bahía Inglesa which is about an hour away from Copiapó. I went with two other volunteers from Copiapó and one of their Chilean cousins, Cristian. Bahía is normally full of tourists flocking to their beaches in the summer but as it’s still pretty chilly here it was pretty desolate. It’s kind of nice though. When we arrived in Caldera we visited “the first train station” in Chile. I put quotes around “the first” but I can’t be certain if it really was. I’ve been hearing conflicting stories. First, I heard the train station in Copiapó was the first, but then my source changed their story to say that they were built at the same time. The reason for the first train was to carry minerals from Copiapó to the port city of Caldera where they would be loaded onto a boat and shipped out to the rest of the world. The story was that the guy who was in charge of the train production was a little crazy. He insisted on moving the train kilometer by kilometer as each track was lain, instead of waiting until the end to make one trip from Copiapó to Caldera. You can’t forget the fact that this was in the middle of the desert, under the hot sun that these guys were working to lay the first train tracks, which is supposedly the first in South America. I don’t really know all the facts because a: I’m not sure I trust my understanding of Spanish and b: I’m almost certain I’ve been told conflicting stories. Regardless, we visited the “first train station” and they had converted it into a museum complete with some of the rocks and minerals of the region on display.
We saw a few churches as well. One was built by hand by the first priest in Caldera. He also happened to be black so they called him padre negro. The church was really impressive; he had painted all the walls and the ceiling with stories of the bible. We got some great empanadas there in Caldera too. I was told by a brother of Flavio’s that I needed to try an empanada ostion queso. It was some sort of crab/seafood that they stuck in the cheesy empanada. And it was tasty!
We spent the night in Bahía Inglesa in this “campsite” which had different levels of camping. From what I understood you could actually pitch a tent in some of the open areas, but there were also huts you could rent. Some of them seriously looked like they chopped the roof off of a house and made that the “cabin.” We had a more normal looking, rectangular cabin that we stayed in. At night we had an asado or Chilean bbq. I like to take credit for starting the fire because I did actually start the first set of newspaper, as well as, putting a terrific effort in swatting at the flames to get the coals started. Cristian is a great cook so with just lemon and salt he made a great asado complete with chorizo, steak and chicken. We had so much meat. And so much beer. It was a great night. The others ended up going to a discoteque but I stayed in because I was feeling a little under the weather. I woke up feeling a lot better tho, further proving my theory that sometimes a little alcohol is a good cure to the common cold. It was either that or the excess of meat. I don’t know. The world may never know.

Rain Rain Go Away, Come again another day...actually come any day you like!

Well, I feel like I’ve seen it all here in Copiapó. In this semi arid city, located right on the outskirts of the Atacama Desert “estaba lloviendo” or it rained!! What happens in Copiapó when it rains? School gets canceled that’s what happens. I normally hate the rain, it’s cold…it’s wet… But today was a great day! My Wednesdays are my longest, and my normally 9 hour day got cut to 5! All because of a little rain, actually it rained less than an hour and people freaked out because they don’t know how to handle it here, just like we would never know how to handle an earthquake (of sizable magnitude). The streets were also flooding with less than an hour’s worth of rain. It was seriously mothering more than a shower. No lightning, no thunder, just a little rain. But it never happens here!!! So the kids were super excited and playing out in the rain, not caring how cold it was or that they were getting wet.
This is kind of a weird year for Copiapó. This is the third time it’s rained here, which is the reason for the flowering desert. I asked how many times it rained last year and they said zero. I get different answers with different people I ask, so I’m really not sure how often it rains, not a lot. One person said 12 mm every 6 years. One person said they get the flowering desert every ten years, but then one person said the last flowering desert was in 2008. So I don’t really know, I just know that it’s really rare. Now, all I need to see is snow, and then I will have seen it all!

Día del Niños

So guess what? Today is the greatest day ever! It’s a special day reserved to celebrate and commemorate being a kid! What’s so great is that everyone gets to partake in this holiday because everyone is a kid at some point. Sure you’ve got Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and Hallmark even celebrates Grandparent’s Day. But in order to be able to partake in those holidays you have to procreate so you’re leaving out half the population that can’t procreate or choose not to. With Día del Niños, every kid gets one day out of the year to celebrate how great it is to be young and carefree.
So how do they celebrate? Toys! I guess, if I understood right, all the stores have huge sales on their toys for this day only. I have also heard that the schools do something special like have a bunch of games or activities set up for children to partake in. I asked Flavio how you celebrate this holiday and he said you go for a walk or a “paseo” around the park or the mall. For the rich kids they get “muchas muchas regalos” or many presents. For the poor kids; they get a hug. I have a feeling if this holiday was celebrated in the States, it would be like a second Christmas. Regardless, if it’s a hug or the latest and greatest video game, niños everywhere seem to look forward to this day!

Copiapó’s Flowering Desert and Zoo

My host mom took Erin and I to see the “desierto florido” about a half hour away from Copiapó. It was much more colorful than when I first saw it about a month ago on my way to Porto Fino. It was covered in small fuchsia flowers, a really pretty color. Apparently it’s supposed to be in full bloom by September or October, so we might make one more trip out there then, because this only happens once every ten years or so, and I’m lucky I just so happen to be here to see it! The thing I couldn’t understand is how these tiny little flowers survive for so long without any rain. It hasn’t rained once since I’ve been here, it must a have rained a few times before I came, but that little rain in the beginning supposedly allows the desert to flower for three or four months. These flowers are tiny and look really delicate, so I can’t quite figure out how they survive and flourish for three months without water and temperatures ranging from 65°F during the day, down to 30°F at night. I guess it’s a special breed. I’ve heard that the Atacama is the only desert that does something like this.
After the desert, we went to the zoo in Copiapó. It was small, but it was also free and had some exotic animals I’d never seen. I guess there’s this nice park right next to it, that’s used for asados or BBQs other gatherings. I don’t really know because I declined the invitation to walk around the park…I was tired. It was a fun filled weekend though! Cueca, flowering desert and the Zoo!

Cueca

Cueca is the national dance here. It seems to be practiced mostly by younger kids, but everyone seems to know it. Erin’s host sister dances cueca and had a show on Saturday in the plaza in downtown Copiapo. Her family invited me to see it and stay over at their house the night before so that we could all go together in the morning. I didn’t realize they wanted us to dress up in the traditional dresses as well. It was fun! A great spiny dress, you know, when you spin it flys out all around you.
So the girls wear these cool spiny dresses, with a ribbon that ties around your waist. The ribbon holds a white handkerchief for pulling out and waving around as part of the some of the steps steps. The guys wear cowboy boots with the spiny things on the heels, black pants and this poncho, blanket like thing over their shoulders. They also have a handkerchief that they put over their shoulder. The dance has a bunch of quick steps that kind of remind me a little of tap dancing but not quite. They move around more and wave their handkerchiefs, it’s really cool. Every Wednesday there’s Cueca Club, and it’s where you can learn cueca. I’ve been invited to next Wedneday’s Cueca Club and I’ve been told I have three months to learn the dance before some huge national celebration where they dance cueca a lot. I was thinking it was their bicentennial anniversary of their independence, but apparently it’s something different? I’m not that sure.
After the show, her parents took us to an asado (BBQ) and there were news cameras filming us. It was kinda weird they were filming us without asking our permission. I later found out I was on the news by one of my students and I thought that was kinda funny because they didn’t even speak to us. I guess it was because we were two gringos in cueca dresses at an asado, so that’s pretty newsworthy…I wonder what they said as the footage rolled by…

Hello Miss!

I started observing my classes this week. I’ve got my work cut out for me! It really depends on the teacher how well the students behave; because I’ve seen total chaos with one teacher and quiet little angels with other teachers. Unfortunately, the majority of the kids I have to teach come from classrooms that I would consider chaotic. They’re loud, they don’t sit down, they don’t stop talking when the teacher tries to give instructions, they don’t raise their hand to speak, they answer their phone during class, and the worst is when they play music from their phone or bring their guitars or recorders and start playing during class! I’m going to post my rules along with pictures and go over them the first day.
That’s another thing that will be interesting…The students here are used to hearing Spanish in English class, most instructions are given in Spanish, and hummm last I checked I was still having trouble forming sentences in Spanish. Well, technically, it shouldn’t be a problem because we are only supposed to speak English in the classroom. I figure I’ll prepare how to say all my instructions in Spanish as a last minute resort. And if they ask me questions in Spanish that I don’t understand, I’ll just have my dictionary/Google translate close by.
It’s nice that I get my own room and the students come to me. It’s the other way around here, students stay in the same room and teachers come to them. But it seems counterproductive because students are stuck in the same level for all their courses and teachers have to rush around and waste class time each period setting up for essentially the same lesson. I’ve got six different lessons to prepare each week because I teach 4 different grades (5-8th) and two of my classes meet twice a week.
On the bright side, the students have really seemed to take well to me! I feel like I’m famous every time I step out to find my next class. Everyone stops, looks up at me sheepishly, and offers an enthusiastic, “Hello Miss!” I even got my first apple today. It’s legit, I’m officially a teacher here if I’m getting apples. One more week of observation and they throw me in without a paddle…or materials…or access to a printer… I’m going to have to be very creative!