I arrived in Coronel yesterday...my host dad, Jorge was late to pick me up at the bus station. He drove me 45 min to his mother´s house in a suburb outside of the city where i will be staying. I´m trying to be okay with the fact that I will have to depend on other people to go out anywhere because there are no buses to the suburb. Mirza and I had tea and watched telenovelas until bedtime and in the morning we had tea and breakfast before Jorge picked me up for school.

School was like an inspirational teaching movie gone bad. The students did whtaever they pleased suck as watch tv, listen to music, paint their nails and talk on their cell phones while the teacher spent 45 minutes writing the assignment on the board and talkng to the board and the other 15 minutes teaching to the front row. The noise of the classroom was horrifying. There was no classroom management whatso ever. The students walked all over the teacher like she was a doormat. I don´t know what I am going to do. I almost cried several times when I wanted to intervene with managment techniques that I had learned but I couldn´t overstep the teacher. She told me that it was a reality that they had to live with. She had no expectatins fo the students nor consequences for misbehavior. The students did not learn ANYTHING! A 16 year old girl asked me for advice on what to name her baby boy with whom she was pregnant. That shocked me but then I thought...what more can you expect when you don´t have any expectations to begin with.

The only way that I can see this sitation turning out well without me blowing up is if I get my own calssroom so that I can have some managment. I don´t see that happening. Wish me luck!

Raining in Santiago

Hello all! It has NOT stopped raining since I got here....but its okay! I need to invest in some rainboots. I'm sitting in the computer room of the hostel listening to someone strum their guitar and the chatter of people eating dinner which happens to be beef stew tonight. I've been all around town these past few days and eating all sorts of food. There is so much that has happened since Saturday but nothing comes to mind to write now. I saw Pablo Neruda's house (famous Chilean poet) on Sunday and chilled in the Bohemian neighborhood of Santiago drinking coffee (all they have in other parts of town in yucky instant coffee and I was dying for a cup of the real stuff!)
My nights have been filled with sweet Chilean wine and interesting conversations with fellow volunteers and travelers in the hostel. I am learning Portuguese from a Brazilian here.

I got my placement today. I will be teaching English classes in a high school and living with a retired lady who lives 20 min (bus ride) away from the shcool. Thankfully, a few friends of mine are placed close by. I can see myself being really lonely if I don't meet people in the community. I have a break from July 21-25 so my friends and I am planning possible trips to Peru, Argetina, or Bolivia. My attitude is very "whatever happens happens" and will be happy to go anywhere! I got a cell phone here and the number is 011-569-8610-8115. Let me know if you want me to bring you home wine because it is AMAZING here!

What a wonderful world!

This is an amazing dream that is coming true. As I sat in the Toronto airport, momentarily regretting the decision to travel ALONE to a foreign country, I met my first friend. I was randomly sitting next to her in the terminal and we started talking. She is from Montreal and her parents are from Iran so she speaks French, English, Farsi and now she is learning Spanish. She will be teaching in the same region as I will so hopefully we will be close enough to hang out!

The plane ride was incredible. Sweet food and great entertainment (there was a tv built into the seat in front of me that provided movies, tv shows, and xm radio.) I slept for most of the 12 hour flight down to Santiago. When we arrived and a bus took us to the hostel where we are staying for orientation until Thursday. Some people from the program were already there (a mixture of Canadians, Europeans and United Statesians) Most of the people don't speak any Spanish, but some of them are fluent. I find it amazing that we are already sharing things (that could be due to the fact that my luggage was lost AGAIN...this time in Toronto but it seems to me to be a bit more organized than last time...I hope to have it by tomorrow) and acting like we've known each other for years when we only met this morning. That's what happens with travel and close living courters!

Today, after we got settled in we decided to explore the city. We walked all over downtown Santiago. Its not the most exciting city...but we'll see if that changes tonight.

I can feel that I am reviving...that's what traveling and Latin America does to me. Lots of differences between Chile and Central America and I am only beginning to learn! Hope to hear from you all! Keep in touch!

Biobío

Biobío is the tan region in the middle of the country

Placement!

I got my placement today! I will be in the region of Biobío (also known as Region VIII). It is about 7 hours south of Santiago (the capital city). I still don´t know what kind of a school I will be in or who my host family is, but at least I know somewhat where I am going! Oh what an adventure this will be! I am preparing myself for anything. Deep down I hope I am in a bigger city so that I will have things to do but rural would be nice as well. This area is supposed to be beautiful. Check out the pictures that I found of the region!

Off to Chile!

So, its been a while...but I thought I would write about my new adventure so I revived my good old Blog! Looking back at my last entry, three years ago, I notice how much I have changed and grown! I am not a college freshman anymore, that´s for sure.

I just finished finals yesterday. I will be spending a week with my family and then I leave for Santiago, Chile! I will be teaching English in a community outside of Santiago and living with a family. Meeting new people and speaking Spanish is very exciting to me! I hope to update regularly...stay tuned :)