The Honey Moon is OVER

The honeymoon period of my time in Santiago is OVER. It has finally sunk in that I am here for a while, and the homesickness has come along with that. I've had a tough past week/week and a half, but I think it's starting to turn around.

My first incident happened when my dog back in The States had to be put down two weeks ago. She was old and when I left I know it could be a possibility that she would pass away. Still 14.5 years is a long time to have a pet. She was around for more than half of my life.

My second not good incident was when I got back from Puchilemu (where we spent the 18th of September I'll write about in another post) I discovered I had a horrible case of lice. Michan (Michelle) helped me for the first couple of days until the adults were gone. She also got a hold of my principal to see if I should stay home from school the next day. She said, 'No just put up your hair and come'... Lice are common down here, and they aren't dangerous.. Just a pain in the boooty and spread fast.

When I found out I had it I bought some huge garbage bags and out everything in them until I could wash them.. I actually still have my pillows and sleeping bag in one.. I haven't had time to take them out to shake them yet. After the first 2 days all of the adults were gone... now I'm just trying to make sure all the nits are out and babies.. (Yesterday I didn't find anything in my hair! :) hopefully I am on the way to being completely lice freee!)

You can say I am a kind of expert on the Lice topic now. I researched and looked up everything about them. I have no idea where I got it from... But I didn't realize I had them probably for a couple of weeks because the itching didn't start until then, which is normal. I also read that it can take up to 2-3 weeks until after they are gone for the itching to go away.. (GAH!) Oh, and the itching is an allergic reaction to the bites.

Yes, these have been trying weeks and all I wanted to do was go home. But last Friday was a good day. I led the 2nd grade class in Social Studies and taught them how to make paper snowflakes. They were too cute. (The students and the snowflakes). Just having a short day was nice too, and my friend Javi helped make my week better too!

I just need to focus on making me happy at the moment and not worry so much about everyone else.

Have a good Monday ya'll!

<3 Leslie

La Vega, El cemetario general, and Sunday Funday

Last Sunday's adventure began with Michelle and I going to  La Vega and El cementerio general. We needed to buy some veggies for this week because we are on vacation from school and needed to make lunches for the week (Forgot to say our school gives us lunch for free... So it saves us a ton of money on food). Before going to La Vega we went to the Cemetery. As far as I know it's the only one I've see in Santiago... I'm sure there are a others, but this is the main one. A lot of famous people are buried there. near where we entered we saw Violeta Parra's grave. She's a famous Chilean compose/artist.

 We were really on a mission to find Bernardo O'Higgin's grave (We heard it was there.. or at least Michelle heard it was there). He was a major leader in the Chilean Independence from Spain in the early 1800's, and was the first president of Chile from 1817-1823. It would have been pretty cool to see where he was buried.

On our hike through the HUGE cemetery, I noticed that people aren't buried underground in a traditional sense. Instead they have tombs where lots of people can be laid to rest. I don't really know how to describe them.. here's a picture.  Some of them are 2 or three stories high. (Note.. the organization to this cemetery is almost nonn existent.. Typical Chile you can say)

There are also family tombs where 6 or 8 family members are buried. Some were really fancy while others were more simpler. I failed to get pictures of these. I actually felt awkward taking these pictures as it is. People also take time to decorate their ancestor's burial sites. this one had a little garden around it.

 
 Other people it seemed like it were buried in a more of a traditional manner.

 
 After a little while of dealing with the chaos we decided to come back and do a tour. A night tour. So that we can understand better the how/why/who/what/where/when's of el cementerio general.

We went to La Vega and bought veggies and strawberries. We are going to make jam today.. or at some point before the strawberries go bad. After we didn't want to go home right away because it was such a beautiful day so we ate lunch at La Vega and then sat in a little island of grass across from the Mercado Central (essentially a fish market.. I've never been there.. Big tourist area) and relaxed.

Mercado Central (Central Market)

We then decided Bella Vista was calling our name for a drink. We walked there with out bags and sat outside and sipped a corona. While watching this amazing magician do card tricks.. He turned the old deck into the 7 of clubs and back into a regular deck... It was AMAZING! I couldn't figure out how he did it.

After a liter of corona we headed home and played cards. Carioca. I am definitely showing  everyone back in that states how to play it when I get home. It's kind of like phase ten in a way, but cooler. 

ANYWAYS.. that was the end of my weekend/beginning of my spring break here in Chile. Now I'm just trying to figure out what the plan is for the 18th of September. (Chilean independence day.. well actually not, but that'ss when we celebrate the independence... it's the day that the first government of Chile met and said we ain't apart of Spain no more.. then they fought for the next 8 years until they won.)

Suerte y feliz 18 de septiembre! 

Leslie  

    

AY! If I eat anymore sopaipilla  I'm going to turn into one. (Sopaipilla is a Chilean food. It's pumpkin deep fried into circles. It's a cheap street food you can buy a lot of places)

Today we celebrated our last day of school before vacation with a little fiesta to celebrate the fiestas patras. (the Chilean independence day on Sept 18^th.) As usual, nothing was taught today... Students are ready for the vacation, and they new we were having a big “sharing snack” today. It's amazing how much food these kids can eat! They're lucky they have high metabolisms. It was a nice last day of school before break (This break is equivalent to our Spring break back in the states)

Hope you all have a good Friday! It's almost the weekend!

Leslie  

September 11th USA and Chile

13 years ago today I was in my 6th grade classroom when I got my first real lesson of how violent and cruel this world can be. My dad picked me up from school since all after school activities were cancelled. I remember watching the news all night, until my dad shut it off. I remember scribbling in my journal about what I was seeing. It's crazy to think that that was 13 years ago. It's also crazy to think of how much has changed in the past 13 years as well.

September 11th is not just a day to be remembered in the United States. It also has a place in Chile as well. 41 years ago, in 1973 the Golpe de estado or military coup occurred that ousted the current president of the time, marxist Salvador Allende, (Well, he actually died in the coup... so he never really got ousted) and put into place the dictator Augusto Pinochet (he ruled from 1973-1990). Depending on who you talk to... Chile went through dark times or light time..

During  this time many people "disappeared" never to be heard from again. Many people are still missing, and their family's don't know what happened to them, and may never know. This topic is very touchy and Chileans don't really like to talk about it. So it's best to leave it alone, unless someone wants to tell you their story. There are many sides to these 17 years... I don't think we will ever know the full truth as to what happened.

There are  still visible signs of what happened during the 17 years that Pinochet ruled. One is that Pinochet put a 17% tax on books that is still around today. That's why books are so expensive in Chile, and many people do not buy them. And many colegios and universities do not use them..I hope Chile takes this off.. I would like to buy a book without having to pay that much tax on it.  .

In the end I would like to say I hope nothing like these events ever happen again, but there has been a lot of violence all over the world. Especially lately. I can dream though and hope that someday we can solve out problems without violence of any kind.

But for now all we can do is remember these events and learn from them to help prevent future occurrences from happening.

~Leslie

1.5 months later.

So, in all reality I am really bad at this blogging thing... but I left my phone at home today... and I have nothing much to do, so I guess I'll catch you up on my life... Not that it's very exciting.

I officially got a teaching job at a school on August 18th.  Well, currently I am "training" I guess you can say... For the rest of the school year (which ends in December) I am co-teaching social studies/natural science in 2nd grade with the current ss/ns teacher (focusing on social studies because that's what I will be teaching next year). During this time I am supposed to learn the ins and outs of the school, and how to be a homeroom teacher. Next year I will get my own class.

The school is growing. They usually have only 2 classes per grade, but this year they added a third class to the 1st grade. So next year I may end up with a homeroom since there will be 3 classes of 2nd graders, but who knows what will really happen. This is Chile after all. Things usually are not figured out until right when you need them to be figured out. I am excited to continue my teaching career at this school for the next year. It's an amazing school, and the students are good. Yes, you still have the cases of student who will defy the teacher and talk back, but there's not many.

There are a lot of differences between this school and my one back in Milwaukee. The first is in Chile I am working with students who come from money. Back in the states I worked in a school where most students came from poverty. So...  of course there are many differences.. and I don't feel it right to compare the two schools. It's not fair. I

But it is nice to work at a school where I can focus on building my methodology of teaching without constantly having to worry about if  my students had breakfast this morning and if their basic needs are being met. My school also can afford to pay for my supplies and anything I need which is nice because I don't have to use my own money then.

Even though I am working at a school I am still teaching 3 days a week at night. My private lessons. With all the traveling to and from the lessons and school it is exhausting. But it will soon be over. In October 1 of my lessons ends. yay!


I have to get to class now. Chao hope you all are doing well!