Spanish lesson

I just wanted to share some of my favorite sounding words with you

Favorite Spanish words:
zanahoria - carrot
fogata - bonfire
burbuja - bubble

Chinchinero - (see above) guys who play drums in the street
pato - duck

Favorite Chileno words:
mina - chica
arriba de la pelota - "above the ball" to express when you have had a couple drinks - imagine yourself on top of a ball

fome - boring

Bloggy blog blog

Wahooo for blogs, or at least that´s what me and the other teachers here think. So me and Luis went ahead and made a blog for the special English workshop at school, you can see some of what we have been up to at http://inglesenerasmoescala.blogspot.com/. This has the opportunity to be very useful for the students, and the teachers as they are all learning more about the internet and the resources it offers.

Las Olimpiadas

The Alianza Azul "Dream Team"

The olympics we had for employees of ING were a lot of fun. Although I was pretty upset when we lost in basketball, especially because I missed two free throws that could have won it. But now it is time for the excuse... it was dark, and the other team was better. We hold these types of events to improve the ´calidad de vida´ here in the company, but I knew our team was in a little bit of trouble when after our first meeting everyone stopped to have a cigarrette. In the end I got over the loss as we all enjoyed the experience and did some good bonding.

Estilo Chileno

At first I did not know what to expect from Santiago. I knew it was a modern city, and sure enough I have seen a professional style in many parts. I have gone to the beach and sure enough there is a surfer style and culture there. I was even ready for lots of 80s music as Latin America seems to love it still, and sure enough it is popular. What surprised me in the city is the large punk rock style. There are kids, and adults, all over modifying their school uniforms and cutting great mullets and mohawks into their hair to be as punk as possible. Piercings and tattoos are popular too. Call me old fashioned, but I never thought I would be the one telling kids to pull their pants up or to quit piercing their faces in strange places. At least the younger kids at school have not gotten into this yet, but they are already asking me what I think of it...

Fotografías

I have been adding more photos to the photo page, so if you have not seen them go look now. There is also a second photo page because there is so much to share with you, find the links for these on the side

Stirring the soul

Here are some funerary wooden carvings from the local Mapuche natives, and me and my friend Josh at the Festival de la Cerveza. Visiting different things like the Precolumbino museum and other fun things in the modern city are just a couple simple examples of everyday life that are very soul stirring experiences...

There is nothing quite like a foreign city to stir the soul. I received this comment from a friend, and I fully agree. The day I arrived I got off a plane after a long night of not sleeping, and the weather matched my mind as everything was hazy. In the coming days and weeks I have quickly toured the city, in almost a similar haze of fighting off colds or tiredness, as I always want to "aprovechar," or take advantage of all that is out there so I keep busy all day and night. It takes a while for some things to become clear when abroad, but when they do it is very fun. I take in so many sights, and make contact with so many people. Talking and working in a foreign language is the biggest difference, but I am also a very visual learner, and even streets I know well appear very different at night and daytime. In much of Latin America I have found that every store front will be covered by a metal gate at nighttime, so again I almost recognize it as another place.
All of a sudden I found myself in Santiago, and I am still growing accustomed to the life here and the pace at which I experience new things everyday, but it is good exercise for the soul.

Pretty Santiago/ Ugly Santiago: Parte dos

As stated before there are pretty parts and ugly parts of Santiago. These generally coincide with the income of the surrounding neighborhoods, but there is one thing consistent throughout the city, and that is stray dogs. It is sad to see as most of these dogs walk with a limp and eat trash all day, but at least they are all nice. It is a problem in the city, although I must say I still can´t hold back a chuckle everytime I see them humping eachother. This group of dogs was also comical as it looked like they were all talking to eachother in the park.
Meanwhile they dedicate resources to other problems they see, like maintaining parts of the city very clean. The other day I saw a guy who was sweeping the grass, with a broom. They create many random jobs like that, for example the people who stand in the street and point out where you should park your car.

cultura chilena in and out of the classroom

I was selected as a native English speaker that could really show the kids at the school where I work the language, but sometimes I wonder if I am really making a difference. I want to teach them as best I can, but that is not the most important part of being here. Sure, they will have a nice base to grow off of, and a teacher who will be an improved speaker. So that is why I should let it go as they may waste a lot of time when I walk in to class and they won´t settle down for several minutes. It feels good to have people be so excited when you arrive, and it feels good that they are happy and excited to learn. Maybe they are really learning from me, but then one of my good buddies doesn´t understand a simple sentence he did last week. Nonetheless, I have had a good time at the school, teaching English, watching the voluntary classes grow, and just hanging out with the kids. Maybe these will be the most important moments as this is when they will remember me, that I care about them, and that others care about them and their school. There is a large gap in the social classes here in Chile, but maybe they will forget about classism for one day, and realize that they also have good opportunities to learn at their public school

:)

I am lucky to be here; I get to be in a cool city, gain work experience with a big company, and see new things all the time. Sometimes I ask myself why I´m here and what difference can I make. ING obviously believed I could accomplish something here in 3 months by sending me here. That is not a enough time to make a complete reform or anything in the school or with ING, but it is enough to make an important impact. After all that I have studied with corporate social responsibility here, it involves more than just giving money or philanthropy, those are nice but it goes beyond that. ING is making a deeper investment in the community with me, it is more than just buying computers for the school, it shows they want to be a part of peoples lives in their community and share with them and to give them other types of opportunities. I would say this is a good social investment as opposed to a social expense.