Not as planned

As many of you will know, last week didn't go as planned. I woke up late on Tuesday morning and had to rush to catch the bus. (Needless to say I am now using an alarm) On the way I rolled my ankle but didn't think it was too bad. However, by the end of the day I was in quite a lot of pain and ended up fainting on the bus home. Not an experience I would like to repeat! Definitely disconcerting to have an entire busload of people craning to see what happened to make the bus stop suddenly and people yell for a U-turn back to the hospital. Thankfully that was the worst of it and x-rays showed it to be just a sprain. Thanks so much for all the supporting prayers everyone. I had my 5 days complete rest and it seems to be doing just fine now.

Started back at school yesterday and tried a new transport route. This one has been the best so far in terms of speed so I'm all for anything that lets me sleep an extra 15min. I do have to change trains and then onto a bus but it's not drastically difficult. I watched the older kids in class yesterday which was definitely a lot calmer but harder for me to see where I could be useful. So I'm back with the wee ones and am exhausted by the time I get home. I helped teach English yesterday and am pleased to report that everyone can now say "hello" and "bye" and "how are you". It's definitely a different ball game teaching kids this age - I shall have to get my creative hat on. Today is the first day of autumn so we all went outside to collect dead leaves and stuck them into their books. Created quite a mess on the floor! I'm still struggling a bit with what my role is but am currently more than happy to just cuddle kids and play with them and smile for them. Sure, some of them are willfully bad but I simply wonder what their homes are like. I think they are just looking for attention.

A man was using the horse and cart to deliver vegetables

Just one photo for you, still working on getting some at school. But this really reminded me that Renca is a poor part of town!

First Impressions

The last week or so has been pretty straight-forward with nothing much to report. I finished at language school happy with the time spent there and promptly went down with a cold. So it was a bit annoying to be at a 50th birthday on Sunday and have lost my taste completely. All that cake wasted! Thankfully it hasn't slowed me down too much, thanks for all the prayers everyone. God is good!

After much trepidation I started at Un Rincón de Alegría today. I can't say I'm happy about the 6am start but I need about an hour and half to cross this great big city. This first week I think will be an experiment in the best way to get there. Today's bus, train, taxi, walk was all a bit much and we think it can be done simpler and cheaper. My first impressions of Renca (the suburb) are that it's not as bad as I was expecting. There definitely aren't heaps of homeless people and the houses aren't what I'd call slums. Yes, it's dirtier and there's more rubbish and the standard of housing is lower but it isn't the crazy poor, dangerous looking place I was expecting - which was a good start. However, it's always a little disconcerting to arrive at a place and discover that it's surrounded by high walls with barbed wire coils along the top and barred windows. But I guess that's the reality of protecting your buildings and the kids.

I arrived in time for breakfast and I can't say I objected to a second breakfast of porridge! Always good to stay topped up, I never know when the next eating time is. I was first of all blown away by the noise and this was probably the most overwhelming factor during the day. The kids just never shut-up! There's always someone talking, or giggling, or shouting, or crying. Even when they have been asked for silencio! I spent the morning observing the class of 3 and 4 year olds. There are 25 of them and two teachers which seems to work quite well but it is a constant battle for their attention. I probably derailed things too because all the kids want to stare at me and have the opportunity to come and talk to me. All the girls want to climb into my lap and everyone wants to stroke my skin. Most common questions: "Why are your eyes blue?" "What are the brown spots on your face?" "Why do you live so far away?" "Why don't you speak good Spanish?"

I tried to help where I could when they were doing activities and in keeping kids focused. My imperatives are going to be super good by the time I finish here! I've got "Sit down!" "Stop that!" and "Don't do that!" down really good in just one day. It is a little tricky learning their rules and earning the kids' respect but I think that will come with time. I also helped in the kitchen getting ready for lunch and then cleaning up afterwards before returning to the classroom for the afternoon. We finished at 4 and I was home about 6 and ready to fall into bed.

The kids are a really interesting bunch. Incredibly cute (most of them) with some really strong personalities in the class. I'd say about 5 real trouble-makers (1 girl) and the rest are just normal small children with limited attention spans being expected to sit at desks for extended periods of time. We also had one poor wee girl who cried for her mother basically the entire day without stopping. I thought she'd be exhausted and stop  but no, she just kept going!

No photos sorry guys but I think it's best if I get to know the place I bit before I walk in with a camera like a tourist.

Adventures

I looked out my window the other night and saw this moon-rise over the Andes

I know this is super soon after the last blog but it's been a fun couple of days. On Wednesday I skipped school and we had a family outing to the river Clarillo. It's part of a national park about an hour's drive out of Santiago and it was awesome to get into the foothills. Filipe's family joined us too so, his mum, his brother Jaime and his sister Natalia and her husband Antonio with their 2 boys. Whew! Very hot day which was good because the river was pretty cold but a beautiful place. The river has been dammed a little in places to create swimming holes and there are lots of places to picnic and bbq. It was a lovely relaxed day and I managed to not get sun-burnt!

Yes that is me IN the river

Filipe and his brother Jaime

Up on Santa Lucia

Yesterday I ventured into the city by myself after classes finished and visited some local markets and discovered Santa Lucia. This is the other little hill in Santiago and had heaps of gardens and fountains and a small fort at the top of the hill. I had a great time exploring and was surprised to find out that it's actually supposed to be a dangerous place to go by yourself. Emy was pretty shocked that I'd gone there! But I didn't feel unsafe at all so I definitely felt like God was looking out for me.

I then went to a salsa dancing class back at language school. Nobody else turned up so I had a private lesson for an hour and half. Nearly died! Very hard work but a lot of fun. The bum-wiggle was especially confusing and I'm sure you have to be Latin-American to really get the hang of it! A kind German doing their homework found my camera and dutifully took a video which I guess I should probably share with you...it looks better than I felt it did!

Latest happenings and pictures!

Life is finally settling down into some form of routine and it's hard to believe I've been here nearly a month. Language school has been really good and my teacher last week finally managed to explain the differences between the imperfect and indefinite past tenses in a way that makes sense! Also nice to know that Chileans simplify things by only using one of the 4 past tenses for everything. Perhaps a little confusing meaning-wise but easy to communicate! My Spanish is definitely improving although I really need to get stuck into some solid vocab learning...I also cooked for the family this week which went really well. Spaghetti Bolognese was a novelty and the Chileans don't really use a lot of herbs when cooking either and they loved it. Not typical NZ food but then I struggled to think of anything "typically" Kiwi except lamb and pavlova. Ideas??? 

Today (Sunday) me and Emy, the two boys and Emy's mother Yaya (not her real name but it's what everyone calls her) walked up Cerro San Cristóbal. It's the big hill in the middle of Santiago and has a statue of the virgin Mary at the top. Obviously at 2-year-old speed we didn't make it all the way but it was a very fascinating place anyway. I didn't like the dust and the heat - I felt very dirty afterwards! It reminded me a bit of Mt Victoria in Wellington except on a bigger scale. There's a zoo and a cable-car and a swimming pool and picnic areas and lots of pretty gardens. Best of all, stunning views of the city in all directions. A little crazy to think that there are more people here than our entire country.

I've been taking pictures of things requested in the last blog so please enjoy!

My room

Horse rides with Pedro (his new favourite game, good thing the knee is holding up!)

Music time with David (one of Filipe's friends)

West Santiago

North Santiago

Santiago East (the big building is the largest in Latin America)

My street (Cuadro Verde)

My compound (many people live in these little side streets that have a locking gate. Everyone also has a locked gate with a high fence and spikes into their property. Many house also have grates over their ground floor windows. Guess the crime rate everyone...)

My house (the orange one)

We have the front half and Filipe's parents live in the back half

Language school

Language school

Not a whole lot to report but I thought this could be a blog of photos. Started at language school and Monday and discovered that I had done my entry test far too well. They placed me at Intermediate level which is technically where my Spanish should be at and first day of class was a real brain strain. And the plan for the week included teaching me new subjunctive tenses. So I decided that the subjunctive wasn't all that important to my communication and requested a move down a level. The rest of the week has been much better. I'm finding it really good to be revising the stuff I'm confused about and feel that it's improving my speaking skills. There are six of us in my class with a German, two Brazilians, a Canadian and a Frenchman. There is a crazy number of Germans at the school and also in Chile in general. This might be the place for me; apparently there is a huge demand for German teachers! (Sorry Mum and Dad).

The cool thing about the school is that they offer a range of free cultural activities every week too. I'm trying to decide if my knee is up to learning the national dance - the cueca... On Wednesday we visited a craft market called Pueblito Los Dominicos. Very touristy but cool to look. Lots of alpaca jerseys, wood carving and lapis lazuli jewelry. A kind man also let us try some Chilean traditional instruments and I had great fun with the flutes and recorders. Nearly fainted trying to get a sound out of their version of the recorder! The workshop was also amazing to look around too, this man is really good at what he does. Plus I love looking at all the unfinished guitars and things and the smell of shaved wood is lovely...

Jersey made from alpaca wool

The charango- a bit like a mandolin. This one cost 150,000 pesos so about $370

The Andes from my window

I visited the church in this area too which was a lovely place to go into. Partly due to the much cooler temperature inside! It was a little strange being in somewhere so familiar but yet so strange because they had a big statue of the Virgin Mary right up the front of the church and then Jesus on the cross. Also places to pray to saints as well. It seems like a different religion really.

Does anyone have any questions or things they want me to take pictures of? I will do my best to comply!

My Host Family (Sammi wasn't keen to have his picture taken)

Road Trip and Conference

I've had a pretty interesting week. I went down south to Temuco with the SIM Director to a conference for Chileans who want to do mission in another country. The trip took about 8 hours of solid driving but it was good to see some of the countryside. It's amazing how much it looks like NZ! I could have been travelling through Central Otago with vineyards, orchards and the occasional pine plantation. It was nice to feel like I was home. Only difference, they drive on the other side and speak Spanish! However, my poor brain got very confused because I was having to switch between Spanish and German. The director is German and had a friend visiting who speaks no Spanish. I discovered I couldn't speak either language but that improved over the week.

Camp Koyamentu

The camp reminded me a lot of Tirohanga out on the Taieri, perhaps a little more upmarket but same kind of feel. They had seminars running all day and so I just went along to them until my brain got tired and then went and helped in the kitchen. The couple who run the camp are originally from the United States so I could have a break and speak some English. Man, I sliced so many beans over the week! They bought 20kg that all had to be sliced length-ways. A bit different from how we would normally eat them but hey, if that's how they like them I won't complain.

Villarica Volcano from the village Villarica

On Wednesday I went sightseeing with Thilo (the visiting German) and his daughter Jasmin. The plan was to go and visit one of the nearby volcanoes but we got to the village of Pucón and the car broke down. Something happened to the clutch and the car refused to change gears. So we had to push it into a carpark and then Jasmin and I had to stretch our Spanish to try and get it fixed. It's a little difficult explaining to a mechanic what's wrong when you don't know the works for "clutch" "drive" "broken" or "gears". We ended up doing a lot of acting! So that took most of the day to get fixed but it was a beautiful little town with stunning views so I didn't mind too much.

Villarica from Pucón

I met a lovely girl at the conference who is going to the Philippines later in the year. I went back to her house in Temuco for Friday night and Saturday to avoid the boring last meetings which was super! I've been impressed at how welcoming these Christians were and how willingly they were to take time to talk to me and open their homes to me. I'm hoping to be able to get back to Nia and spend some more time down there with her. Didn't get home last night until midnight so was pretty tired and discovered there was no water. Santiago had it's water supply contaminated by slips in the mountains from heavy rain. But it's all fixed this morning and back to being boiling hot outside!

I start at language school tomorrow so I'll let you know how that all goes...

Different, Disgusting, Dangerous

So my head continues to be stuffed full of Spanish and people continue to stare at me. However, I managed to catch the train into town and the bus back again by myself which was super scary but satisfying as well. Thanks for all the lovely helpful and encouraging emails and posts, I'm loving it!

Different: I read that on first meeting someone new, Chilean men will shake hands with a woman and a woman will hug you. This was wrong. Everybody gives you a one-armed hug and bumps cheeks with you while kissing past you. I'm mostly used to this now! Also different, hardly anyone say "please". If they want to be polite then you use the conditional ie "would you", could you" but never add please on the end. It's a little disconcerting having a two year old order you around! I always want to say, 'and what's the magic word?' but I don't think they'd get that at all. New word: "cachai" means "do you understand" and is specific to Chile. They also kind of use it like "right". We would say, " so I walked down the street right, and there was this guy who stared at me the whole way". They use "cachai" in these circumstances as well. (sorry for the language lesson!)

Disgusting: Probably most disgusting thing so far is their toilet system. Apparently the pipes are really thin so all toilet paper and "ladies rubbish" goes in a little bin beside the toilet. VERY unpleasant. I was also made to try "mate". It's a kind of tea which is drunk out of a communal pot through a communal straw (but the straw is metal). It's a very social drink and tastes awful. Sorry to any Chileans or Argentinians reading this but it is truly disgusting.

Dangerous: Well apart from being white my only real danger is the Chilean Recluse Spider. Now, I knew about this before I came but have discovered that it is a real threat not just a perceived one. They are the most venomous of the recluse spiders and their bites are generally not noticed until about 7 hours after being bitten. By which time you could be dead. They are particularly dangerous for kids but can cause severe scars etc in adults and occasionally, death. Therefore, I go through a petrifying ritual every night where I check my bed for this spider and before I put clothes on. Every week you spray into corners and closets etc where it might be hiding as well. So, now I have an actual reason to fear spiders!


On a lighter note here are some pictures!

This is Plaza de Armes one of the centres of town. The building in the background is the oldest Catholic church in the city

This is pastel de choclo which has nothing to do with chocolate! It's kind of like shepherds pie but with mashed corn on top and this one had a mixture of beef and chicken inside. It was okay, I couldn't eat all of it!! Way too much.