Comida Chilena

Okay, most consider me a comelón, or someone who eats a lot. But here in Chile I have to say I was a little surprised by the selection of food. I love Mexican food, and figured Chilean food would be similar to its other latin counterparts but it´s not, there are almost no beans and it´s not spicy. There are some good dishes like empanadas and pastel de choclo (corn & meat cake), but for the most part I would say Chilean food is not the best. I don´t think it is the healthiest either, mayonnaise is probably their favorite condiment, not just because they use it on everything, but the amount they use. I expected to be happy eating hundreds of tacos and burritos down here, instead I have been eating "completos" and "italianos," or hot dogs with a bunch of mayonnaise on them. I got sucked in to eating them because people everywhere are enjoying them, and they are really cheap, I don´t think I´ve ever seen just one for sale, they are always 2x1

Good story # 3

One day after class I was messing around on one of the kids bikes, and then one of the other kids wanted to try it. Soon enough after handing the bike over, I realized that this boy didn´t know what he was doing. What has been such a big part of my life for a long time, these boys at 11 years old never really had the opportunity to learn to ride a bike. After a sloppy conversation in Spanish and a few visual tips, Carlos was up and riding for the first time. I won´t forget the smile he had as he made a few shaky turns around the court. This helped give the confidence for Fabian to try as well, and a couple attempts later he was up and riding. I never expected at this point that I would be holding kids up on bikes and letting them pedal away, but it sure is fun.

Pretty Santiago, Ugly Santiago

I find myself working in a large and rapidly developing city. It is in a beautiful setting with enormous mountains very nearby, and on clear days I love staring at them all day. The infrastructure is quite impressive in the city and you can see tons of cranes building something new all over town. However, even with good public transportation, there is still a ton of pollution as there are mountains surrounding the city, so those clear days always have their ugly counterpart. In this little section I am showing a pretty view from one of Santiago´s many nice parks, and a photo of Rio Mapocho. I cross this river everyday, and if I could attach smell to the photo you would know how ugly it really is. You can also make out a faint view of La Cordillera de los Andes in the background through the smog.

Good story #2

I was telling a class about all of my favorite things; my favorite animal is a monkey, favorite color is blue, favorite cereal is Frosted Flakes...
Then one little boy turns to his friend, and says, "wow, I don´t know if I can eat enough Zucaritas (Frosted Flakes) to grow as big as him."

¡Wear Sunscreen!

Okay, so I learned the hard way that you need a lot of sunscreen here. High altitude, lots of snow, and a weak ozone layer here combined to make this gringo stick out even more with a pink face. The lure and excitement of being in the Andes was just too much as we hiked all day through beautiful landscape on a warm spring day after a night of snow. There was over a foot of snow, and most of it melted during the day so we got to see snow capped mountains and springtime colors in one trip.

Good story #1

So I said I was the first person from the US to visit the school I work at and apparently I have been making quite an impression, so here is the text of an email from the teacher there:
Hi Ethan, I wrote your e-mail and I have your phone number. Ethan everybory asks for you, in special the little girls. That is very funny because they are very little. They are about 11, and want to be your girlfriends. Well, It is the life!. I `ll wait you tomorrow morning. If you need something just tell me. see you!

One of these things is not like the other ones...

There are a few simple examples of everyday life that make me realize I am far from home. I can confirm that the toilet does in fact flush counter-clockwise down here, Frosted Flakes are called Zucaritas, I felt my first earthquake, and when I blow my nose you can see pollution in the tissue.

More than just my own experience of being in a new place, Santiago has a lot of variation itself. This big city has it all, and I get to see the contrasts everyday. I live in a house built in the 20´s, work in a big modern office in the city, and then go to a school on the edge of town where there are more auto repair shops than I ever thought necessary for one area.

Kimen

English Workshop

Luis Duran, the teacher I help is a great guy. He teaches during the day, goes to school at night, and works at a restaurant on the weekends. We spend a lot of time together, and our goal is to improve his English more so there is a lasting impact after I leave.
His situation is much like those of the students. They don´t assign much homework at the school because many kids have to work in the evenings and they don´t want to burden them too much, making our classroom experience that much more important. This is one of the schools where lunch is provided for free, and there is a heavier indigenous influence. The school is actually going to change it´s name next year to Kimen, a Mapuche word that means grasping knowledge.

El Colegio

They welcomed me to their school with a bunch of delicious treats!

In the community of Peñalolen here in Santiago, I help at The Centro Educacional Erasmo Escala Arriagada. Three times a week I get to go help a teacher in his classes. I am the first person from the US to come to this school so they are all very interested in learning more about this big gringo and his country. It has been fun sharing more about eachother and our cultures.
ING`s program is called `Chances for Children,` and they recognize English as an advantage they want these kids to have. There is a large gap in the social classes here, and the public schools struggle because they don´t have as many resources. I am here to be the kids friend, and to give them a quality classroom experience.

More Fotos

You can see more photos here: http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2090960&id=10200617&l=f52a8
They upload easier here, and I can share more with you, so enjoy

Cachai?

Nope, no I didn't cachai. They are said to speak "Chileno" here as opposed to Spanish. They speak very fast, don't pronounce s' and have many of their own words; like cachai. Which is questioning if you 'caught it,' or understand. It feels good to be speaking Spanish again, and in general it just feels good to be here doing new things in new places, whether I understand everything that is going on around me or not.