colo colo!!!

so this week has been pretty cool.  i joined a gym really close to the house so i can walk there, which is cool.  i have lots of free time, which i am not accustomed to since i usually work 2 jobs in the states and in mexico we had hours in the afternoon that we had to work also.  here i work until 1pm each day and then i am free.  clearly, as a teacher, i spent loads of time creating lessons and materials from scratch - but still i have lots of free time in the afternoons.  the gym is a good diversion and is helping me work off all that bread and meat im eating!!!

wednesday there was a soccer game, between Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile, rival teams of chile.  my brother cristian is for chile and everyone else is for colo colo.  well we went to the game, and i sat with the big crowd of colineros while cristian and marcelo (our dad) sat in the chile section.  as you may or may not be aware, the concept of time south of the border is flexible, to be kind.  when people say "now" they usually mean "anytime within these 24 hours"  and arriving to anything an hour or 2 after it was supposed to start is completely normal.  EXCEPT for a soccer game.  

the fam rocking colo colo flag!

we arrived at 6pm and the game started at 10pm.  we got there early because the stadium fills up and we wanted good seats, which we did get.  but for 2 hours we just sat in the stands.  i was definitely getting bored.  by 8pm a band "la noche" came out and sang, which was really entertaining.  and the game was originally supposed to start at 9pm.  well after the band left, they had a middle school soccer team play a mini game to keep the crowd semi interested. finally around 10pm the teams came to the field and proceeded to take millions of pictures before the game.  ugh the waiting!!!!  but once it started it was really really cool.  soccer fans are crazy! mexico doesn't compare at all in this department.  you have to enter the stadium according to your team and everyone knows and abides by this rule.  they actually block off the road so people can't go into the bleachers of the other team and there are barricades between bleachers so people can't cross once inside.  there are tons of police and tons of riot police standing by.  additionally, at the end of the game they only let out one side of fans at a time, the other side has to wait until the other side has pretty much cleared out.  sounds crazy, but seeing how passionate they are with all these restrictions makes one wonder what it would be like without them.  oh AND they dont sell alcohol at the games either, what a concept!

during the game some people from the chile bleachers hopped the fence and tore down flags from the colo colo fans.  the colo colo fans BROKE the barricades and ran to the other set of bleachers to start fighting.  it was crazy.  i was scared for a minute watching it, but we were sitting in the "neutral" section nearish the colo but far away and separated by cement walls that couldn't be broken down.  but you should see people respect the cops here without any question, another difference from mexico. 

yes that is two of the many cops on horseback monitoring the crowd.

the coolest part of the game - well actually there were 2 parts.  the beginning because when the teams come out onto the field the fans shoot fireworks and confetti like it is july 4th, you have never seen anything like it before.   this video is how the team is celebrated before they even start playing!  if celebrating your team is like our independence day, what is independence day like you ask?  well i will tell you - the entire country has off for 5 whole days to celebrate.  that will be coming in the end of september!!!

back to my story... the other cool part of the game was the very last 2 mins of the game, colo colo (my team) was losing 2-0 and they finally scored a goal in the last minute to regain some dignity.  it was the best!!!  although it sucked at first, it was totally worth the wait!

the rest of the week was normal, school and hanging with the family in the afternoon and evening.  today we went to a beach house owned by some relative.  it was gorgeous.  we stopped first at "la portada" which is this cool geological formation in the ocean that looks like a big door.  the mountains and ocean narrowed closer on the drive to the beach and it was such a magnificent view.  

my mom, pamela, bro cristian and i at the portada.

we arrived a bit later at the beach house and spent all day hanging on the deck eating and relaxing.  the house was built by my mom's uncle's father years ago.  it is 2 floors with a mini kitchen and 2 bathrooms and a few rooms with beds.  simple but all you need.  

the thing to do in towns with mountains is to write the name of the town on the side of the mtn with rocks and the name of this particular beach is "juan lopez".  my mom's uncle and his family were the first to write the town's name on the mtn way back when.  more recently my brothers, cousins, and sister rewrote it with bigger, brighter rocks.

moutain with juan lopez written on it

the kids took me for a walk around the beach and to the other side of this mini mountain.  the ocean was calm and the weather was perfect, windy but brisk.  we walked to the top of the mini mountain and saw up close and personal the "juan lopez" they wrote.  

aaron and i at the top of previously shown mini mountain.

all in all it was a very relaxing day with a more than impressive view of the ocean and desert.  

rep argentina se llama

well well well ~ so i am finally settled in with my host family. they are absolutely wonderful, i have a mom, dad, 16 year old sister, 14 year old brother, and 11 year old brother. also we live in a compound with my mom's three sisters, their families, and my mom's mother. needless to say there is always someone around. it has been super fun so far.  one of the cousin's that lives in our "compound" has been on vacation from university since i arrived so he has been showing me around and he is just a really nice guy - it's def cool to have people around the same age living in close proximity.  i got lucky with my family, they are really really great.  

they prepared a really nice room for me - i actually have internet, tv, d
vd player and a super comfy bed. it's almost nicer than home haha... i got here on tuesday evening and i confessed my dietary habit to my host parents. you see, here in chile red meat and bread are eaten ALL THE TIME. so i admitted to them, what i thought would be my worst secret first - that i don't eat much red meat... they were a lil shocked, but actually took it better than i expected.  they asked if i was a vegetarian and if i ate chicken or fish and when i said, no and yes respectively, they were fine with it.  so then i felt confident enough to say i wasn't much of a bread eater.  oh my word, you would have thought i just admitted to killing their puppy dog.  they just looked at me - and actually we weren't at the house yet, we were somewhere else, and i think the news was so difficult for my dad to understand he stopped the conversation right then and there.  his response was "ok let's not talk about this now, let's wait until we get home" hahaha they were hilarious about it.  not mad, just super super shocked, made me chuckle.

so the very next morning for breakfast was really humorous.  i was last to leave because i didn't have to be in school until 10am.  

my mom left breakfast on the table, and since i don't eat much bread - and thats the breakfast of choice in chile - she left me cereal, yogurt, an orange, a banana, juice, crackers, jelly, bu

tter, hot tea, and milk.  i took a foto of that because i'm not joking half of the table was full of food, for only ME.

of course, everything i do see

ms weird to them, and i laugh a

bout it to myself.  my sister's school is having their anniversary this week and it happens to be a art centered high school, so the entire week has been different dance performances and singing competitions and things like that.  well last night we went, the whole family, to the dance competition.  we left at 7pm and left the school around 11:45pm.  (video of my sister, jareth, to be found at bottom - she is the first girl solo in the dance show - about 3 minutes in)  anyway, my brother, cristian, goes to school in the afternoons and gets home at like 7pm so he did not go to the show with us.  when we called to say we were on our way home, he begged us to stop and get some food for him as he didnt eat anything since lunchtime.  so we stopped and bought "completos", which are huge hot dogs in a hoagie roll with tomato, onion, avocado, mayo all busting out.  so here we are at midnight buying 7 completos.  we got home and everyone was sitting around the table eating - and i thought, omg this is hilarious, this would never happen in my family at home... i had to take a picture, and the family's response "emily you are so weird" hahaha.  so all of a sudden my dad heard the tv from the bedroom

 and a famous person from our town was on the late show, so immediately everyone gets up and runs into my parents' bedroom with their ginormous hot dogs and proceeds to crowd around this tiny tv in their bedroom chomping on our completos.  at that point, i just told them i wanted a picture and had to forego the shot.  but it was a priceless moment.

as for my school, i start teaching on monday.  i will teach each class one time a week and i have 4 grade levels, so i will only have to prepare about 5 different lessons each week.  sounds easy, but it is super difficult because all of the activities are supposed to encourage speaking and as i observed in the past two days, my students either can't or are too shy to speak.  it is going to be a challenge, but i am definitely up for it.  

everyone at the school is sooooo nice and very very accommodating.  it is called "La Escuela Republica Argentina" and it is 2 minute walk from my house, really convenient.  also, my youngest brother, bastian, goes there so i have company walking to school and home everyday.  he's adorable by the way.  love that lil kid.  you all know how affectionate i am, and he starting giving me hugs and kisses the moment we met.   just adorable!!!

anyway, the school ~ when i first arrived they said there was no room for english - but the contract between the government and the school stipulates that there must be a fixed english room available.  well i asked if i could use the library as my place but there wasn't a chalkboard and it obviously is not meant to be a classroom.  they of course told me yes and were really apologetic about it.  well when i went in on thursday, my 2nd day, the director called me into his office to tell me about a possibility.  there is a new computer room for the kindergardeners, but they have class in the afternoons and i teach only in the mornings.  so he thought i could use that instead.  so in less than 24 hours i went form having no classroom and no chalkboard to having a computer room equipped with 2 humongous white boards AND a smart board!!!! im super excited to use that because i think i will be able to work with lots of different media and the kids will really enjoy that.

but you know - there is a very interesting dichotomy here.  you see, in many latin american countries toilet paper is not found in bathrooms.  you either pay for it outside or bring your own.  so imagine - my school bathrooms have no toilet paper, but they have a smart board.  i found that interesting... 

santiago to antofagasta

1. me in antofagasta (my city)

2. the andes mountains view from the bus

3. dancers that performed at a welcome lunch for us

4. group of volunteers at the "end of training party" the Ministry of Education had for us

5. my roomies and i in santiago in the capital building

yes, i made it safely to chile.  the first week was super intense, full of training and getting to know people, with a splash of seeing the capital as well.

we trained on how so many topics, ranging from teaching english to 100% beginners to what a bbq in chile really means (that you start partying at 1AM and hang until 6AM).... very interesting stuff.

as i said i met lots of cool people, of course the more interesting i found to be from england and new zealand.  we met the minister of education and had a foto with her, we also were permitted to go inside the equivalent of their "white house" in santiago.  it was pretty cool!!!!

we got in free to see an East Island exhibit in the museum and one evening i went with some girls to the top of a large hill, some might call it a mini mountain, and saw the whole city of santiago.  very impressive!  it was soooo cool because there at the top of the mountain are palm trees and you extend your view and see the andes mountains in the background - a super cool dichotomy i thought.

i packed on saturday morning to leave santiago and head for my placement city, which is called antofagastam and is the capital city in the antofagasta region.  it is a coastal city but also is the desert, look to the left and you see the ocean, look the right and you see mountains.  the geography is beautiful.  we have been staying in a hostel since sunday morning.

so the bus ride was supposed to be 18 hours, it was an overnight bus, but we had a minor problem with the bus and so it ended up being more like 21 hours.  before we left on saturday morning i actually whacked my head extremely hard on the corner of a metal closet door, which was not pleasant.  i ended up having a headache for a while and actually started getting really nauseous on the bus ride.  as it was an overnight bus the seats were very spacious and pretty comfortable, but we were seated on the top level of a double decker bus.  

i called the bus attendant over and told him i wasn't feeling well, and just started crying - thinking i was going to be sick for an 18 hour busride and with no one to comfort me.  well let me tell you - he was soooooo attentive!  he took me and my bags to the first floor, got me blankets and pillows, asked if he could give me aspirin, chatted with me.  i think i freaked him out cause i just totally started crying out of nowhere haha, but i felt really bad!!!!

anyway - i lucked out because the first floor was seats that TURN INTO BEDS!!!! oh my was i comfortable.  it was a rather nice night of sleep.  anyway since i hit my head it has been hurting me lots and i have just felt sick to my stomach and dizzy, but i can say that after a bit of a long process i did see a doctor and he says that i will be fine.  so that is good.  but it was a lil touch and go for a minute there... 

myself and a few others are still in a hostel, our families should pick us up tomorrow or wednesday and this week is just more introductions and information - but this time in our specific regions.  some of the people staying in my city are pretty cool and laid back, others are kinda partiers i think.  should be interesting to see what people think of the experience at the end.  

some people have been bothered by really simple differences between the states and chile, and im thinking - if THAT bothers you, you are in for a rude awakening!

the food isn't bad, just not many fruits or veggies, so i may have to supplement the food i am served a little.  they love their red meat and bread here, two of my least favorite foods.  well i should be at my final destination soon and then i can give more fun info :)

oh and by the way i have a cell number in case anyone is interested - texts i think work also the number is 00 56 9 8 183 8852

stay in touch :)