As many already know I am down in Chile for the next few months volunteer English teaching (for those who weren't aware, now you are 😉). I was accepted into the program English Opens Doors, a collaborative effort put forth by the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Program. With this program English speakers are partnered with Chilean English teachers and work in the classroom in the about the same capacity as I did in Spain. We are each assigned a school, courses and a host family. The program in general is much more involved than the previous one I did. We arrived in Santiago and spent a week doing a crash course training. This involved TEFL training, classroom management and Chilean culture. My particular session of volunteers is comprised of 21 volunteers from all over the world, and who were sent all over Chile. I was assigned to
Arica, Chile's northernmost city and the last stop before Peru, with two other volunteers (Selene from South Korea and Vladimir from Bulgaria). I am working at
Colegio San Marcos with 6-11 graders. The program involves teaching, helping with debate teams and starting an English club. My first week at the school involved observing classes and decorating the English classroom. I am looking forward to actually teaching and getting involved with the students this next week.
My host family is absolutely incredible. I live with a small village of Chileans in one house. There's Claudia, the mom who teaches fourth grade at the same school, Boris, the dad, Matias, who's 9, Martina, 6, the uncle Toño and Camilla his daughter, 11, and grandma and grandpa. Plus me. That makes 9. From the minute they met me at the airport in Arica they have made it very clear that I am another member of the family and have been showing me their love with copious amounts of food. I'm one week in and had to loosen my belt. They've taken me around the city, to markets and this weekend to Lluta for my first Chilean BBQ. Lluta is one of two valleys at the beginning of the world's driest desert, and the grandparents have a small home there. Vladimir joined us along with two other families for a day of beer, BBQ and all things Chilean. Along the way we passed by
geoglyphs, a place site I'm hoping to return to to see up close, the kiddos chattered and climbed all over their new "gringo siblings" and Boris popped the top on another beer. With his seatbelt. Once in Lluta we went for a walk with the kids, armed with rocks to scare off stray dogs, and got a step by step lesson in Chilean BBQ. The BBQ was loaded with chorizo, hot dogs, chicken and slabs of beef. I got an egg and potatoes. After lunch Vladimir and I were invited to hike up the hill behind the house to the family cross. This is a tradition that is traced back to Pre-Colombian times when the natives had hills that honored their families and once a year host a festival to celebrate their family and Pachamama, Mother Earth. When the Spanish came they brought with them the catholic religion and the natives in the region adopted the crosses as part of this tradition. Claudia's family cross has stood atop this hill for an estimated 200 years, and they insist that just as much importance is given to the hill itself as to the cross. This is honored by offering the first sip of every drink to the Pachamama (which to Vladimir and me at first looked like everyone was dumping their beer on the ground for no apparent reason before drinking). The hike up was steep, sandy and a bit slippery. The grandfather had me carry the rusty hatchet up, something I gladly did after reminding myself I am up to date on my tetanus shots. Upon arriving at the cross the family crossed themselves, then opened a beer, shared some with Pachamama and placed a new tile on the cross base. We took photos and enjoyed the view while the family explained the importance of the family cross and the festival in May, a day when they supposedly go up and down this hill six times to bring up all the supplies, which we have been invited to. It was incredible to be allowed to be apart of something so sacred to the family and look forward to May when we can do it again.
I should also add the Chile is a hot spot for earthquakes and tremors, two things I never thought I'd differentiate between. 7 and up on the Richter scale is an earthquake, everything below is just a tremor. As part of orientation as well as part of the "welcome to your new Chilean family" we were all prepped on earthquake and tsunami safety. In Santiago we felt the aftershock of a tremor in the north, and since arriving in Arica I have felt at least five tremors. And have been crossing my fingers to not experience an earthquake. I'm not quite ready to shake things up that much. Sorry this entry isn't well organized, I am having technical difficulties.
