Aniversario

This week we had the Aniversario at the school. Basically they have this every year, and it is comparable to our 'Harvest Drive' from my high school.  Every grade is on a team, and it is from 7th graders to seniors.  They have a lot of different competitions and they didn't have the last 1.5 hour class every day this week and the students came back to the school at 6:30(well 7 chilean time) to start these.  I missed the first few days, because I cooked one day, wanted to go Salsa dancing, didn't, but went out to eat with Tearrie instead.  Anyway I made it to the big night night which was Thrusday, and to the beach which was Friday Late morning.  Anyway each grade creates a banner for themselves and here are their team names/banners:

The 7th graders are the Monsters Green.  Their English level is obviosly not up to par yet.

(In spanish the color goes after the noun)

Pink Pig? 'Te da alas' or It gives you wings.

I didn't think my students had an obsession with Red Bull...
Yes, there is a milk carton on this banner, 'Leche de Toro' aka Bull's milk.(lol I found that comical)

Yes all the banners/team names are in English.  I asked a teacher about this, she said because it's 'cool'.  Well for our first event of the evening: Relay Race. Going to let the pictures/videos speak for themselves:

Round 1: Eating a Dulce(sweet) covered, covered in powdered sugar. Some of the kids took 4-5 minutes just on this one as their mouths get super dry.

Round two: Finding a small stick in I think flour, I took a video of this, but its the whole 2 minutes long(too long for my patience for uploading) and you can hear me laughing like a hyena/idiot the entire time.

Round 3: Eating an empanada(meat and onions, 'the' Chilean food). On a side note, the meat and onion empanadas are not my favorite, but the shrimp/seafood and cheese... yum.  Side story to this, the freshman were losing bad to the 7th graders because their 1st rounder couldn't handle the dry dulce. At this round is where it all changed. A big man(lol not a man but 15 year old) seriously took down this empanada in about 30 seconds.

For you viewing pleasure: Empanada to apple.

Round 4: Eating an entire apple(yes core and all) then finishing what looks like an 8 oz can of carbonated water.

Round 5: Spin 5 times with your finger on the ground, followed by:

Threading a needle.

Round 6: Last but not least the race to the finish line doing a squat walk. Their were 6 teams, and they competed 3 at a time.  The second group was super close, and because of the big man's chow down on the empanada, his team was losing by about 10 feet, and his teammate pulled off the win.

Obviously the big man was the MVP in this one.

Video from the apple to finish.

Unplugged:

After the relay races, which grade had a band perform a song, 2 of the 6 were English.  These included: 

Creep by Radiohead

And Green Day - Bouluvard of Broken Dreams.  Those two were the worst of the 6.  The 8th graders really rocked their song. I was a judge for all the other sections, I didn't take any pictures of anything, because I was trying to be a good judge, but they had a Mr. and Ms. Piernas(legs) competition.  Where they block off the persons waist up and just show their legs... some used oil and what not, it was kinda really odd, because one, its weird to judge guy's legs... two, because I really like women's legs and these girls were 12-18...

After that there were dances from different cultures.  One had the band play the entire time, all were pretty good and very entertaining.  With like stream poppers for like New Years, but in big tubes, some had guys running around in joker/clown costumes spraying everyone in shaving cream. 

I wish I took more videos/photos but I didn't because I suck. However, I did take a video of the traditional dance of Chile, it's called the Cueca. Here:

No disrespect to these students, but I have seen the Cueca before, it was a lot better.

Friday:

I went to the beach and saw a few more competitions.  The first one was volleyball, yes we know how to play and have all seen that, so for the others I'll again let the pictures/videos talk for themselves.

The cannot touch the rope on the outside and must all get out.  Seniors won this one by sheer size, their last two guys just flipped over it.

Dodgeball:

Yes they have dodgeball here, but it's very different than ours.  Take a look, they only use one ball and if you catch it, you retain control, then try to pass back and forth to your teammates who have been hit to get an easy out. Once your hit you get get control of the ball, so the games are almost always close.  You win when the opposing team has 4 people left on their team that can be hit.

I normally do not go to the beach, in fact I don't like sand, however I think this is a pretty obvious game that is played everywhere there is a beach. It's like a relay race against time to fill your bucket up with more water.

The beach was fun and I wish they had a teacher's team, I think I could have done well in dodgeball.  I really wanted to play, even this past weekend my host-dad said to one of his buddies that I am like a child inside an adult's body...

Here are some more pictures of the beach:

Students playing/practicing games.

Purrrdy, by the way, if you didn't know I upload the largest file size so you can click on the photos and they become BIG.

Also I designed a flyer for boris and his family for those large scarves? things for la valle de Lluta. Here is it.

Semana Santa: Pascua(Easter), Spanish and Underwear

Forgot to add this foto of the tiendas(shops) in Pica.

Sunday was Easter Sunday. I think the children went looking for easter eggs, but I finally got caught up on sleep and missed it.  When I say I think, I asked my host-parents if the kids did and they say yes, but language difference I can never be sure of anything really...

We ate almuerzo(lunch) from the Asado of last night, had a few beers, played a few more games of spoons,  while the kiddies swam for the last time of the weekend in the pool and we were off, which I thought would be our 4 hour trip back to Arica.  Again I was wrong. We made a stop at La Tirana. Here are some photos:

Some, as my dad would say, Boo-ful(beautiful) stained glass windows.

Starry Ceiling.

And the dome, as well.

Along with the starry ceiling at the iglesia(church) at La Tirana, the stars at night in the outskirts of Iquique were absolutely beautiful.  I tried to take a picture, but either my camera sucks or it wouldn't give you the correct feeling. We don't get to see nights like those in Chicago or Arica for that matter, because of the lights of the city... And back to the church:

Inside.

Foto with my Host-Family.

Outside of La Iglesia de La Tirana. With Alejandro chillin' as well.

Landscape on the way home.

Really odd, In the middle of the driest desert in the world, there are some valleys with a lot of green.

Getting closer to Arica, we hit a lot of what I'd call mountains. I couldn't take pictures, because it was super dark out and it didn't give justice.  

I learned a lot this weekend and have a few more things to post on what I did learn about some Chilean culture and this weekend was awesome.  However, My parents sent me a 'care' package of somethings from home, a chilean who has received stuff from the US said it'd be here in 10 days, well its been 2 weeks. Finally I had my mother send me the information, Arica(arcia) was spelled wrong, however I did receive the package yesterday. Finally I can quit smoking cigerettes and chew again.. whew...  

My Blackhawks lost game 7 in overtime last night... Only had one class yesterday and none today, and only 3 for Thursday and Friday.  So after going to bed at 2 am, from watching the hawks play in Vancouver, I got up today went to a butcher and the supermarket to prepare tonight's meal.  The ground beef is much less expensive at the butcher.  So I will let all of you know how the Chilean's like sloppy joes.

Monday/Spanish skills:

On monday we had a luncheon with the entire staff of the school.  Some of the single teachers were getting joked around about being set up, me being single, yes I was in the mix.  To be modest, I do not think I am very attractive, however being a gringo, with 'beautiful eyes' as I have been told by many Chileans, I am exotic.  At the luncheon some of the younger teachers were yelling to the english teacher next to me that she was a better door than a window, yes in english, so I could understand... haha, oh if it were only this easy in the US, anyway, if this occurred to me all the time I wouldn't be writing about it.  

However, back to spanish skills:

I say this to almost every chilean I meet that says I speak spanish well.  I can understand with context.  When speaking to 1 or 2 people, I can carry on a good conversation about multiple topics from what I had learned in school(and here so far). However, once it gets past the 2 person mark, I am usually pretty lost.  I can understand about 25% to 50% of what people say... It's much harder to gain context from what you have no idea what is being talked about, ie most of the conversations at the luncheon, jokes are even worse. Since I don't know Chilean slang/culture/language as well as I want, I don't get many of the jokes.  I guess this is the feeling many foreigners receive, in fact I was telling this to a english teacher here and she said it is the same with sit-coms(in the US), because most of the funny sayings can't be translated word for w, because they are idioms(ie to kick the bucket, meaning to die, not to literally kick a bucket).  Anyway, when everyone is laughing I just shut up, smile, and nod, kind of what most of my students must do when I teach(in english) and they most say 'no entendí', then I have to say it again slower, and then parts in spanish...

Also update on the luggage, my mother still doesn't understand this, and my extended family were asking her questions and obviously they didn't either.  I did have all of my luggage(two big bags) in the hostel in Santiago(ie from the airport, in my possession).  A Ministry of Education worker, told all of us that were flying(only Arica, and Puntas Arenas, the very north and south) that we could have the Ministry send our bags, because the international flight allow 2 bags and a 50 pound limit.  National flights here have a 1 bag restriction and a like 30 pound limit.  So he said we would get charged heavily and that the ministry would send our stuff. This is what the MOE(min. of educ.) person told us.  Since Lexy the girl I met in Santiago was flying south, she did the same.  We DID speak in english, as english was this person's 1st language as well.  However, through miscommunication the ministry is only to able to send teaching supplies, and we would have to wait until the month of April until they get paid by the government again to send our luggage.  Well they gave us an option to pay for it to get it sooner, however since everything shuts down during Semana Santa(holy week).  There was no point as the end of the month would only be one week after... So, no I have not received my other half of my luggage, and yes I am still doing laundry ever 4 days.  Haha, I hope my underwear doesn't fall apart before it comes.  A friends asked me why don't I just go and buy underwear here, well I am very particular about my underwear, and they have a very small selection and I do not like normal whitie tighties or boxers, I like the mix of the both, haha...

A little bit to much information? Well that question almost never crosses my mind..

Long Easter Weekend

Thursday: 

Did not have classes, but we had that Procession/desfile, for the stations of the cross.  After my host-family and I went to the supermarket, it's name is the 'Hiper Lider', apparenly hiper is hyper, which in spanish is more than super. It is basically a super Wal-mart, The only one of its kind here in Arica.  Well Thursday was the last day is was opened for the weekend of Semana Santa, so it was crazy, I mean like 25 minutes waiting in line to buy things crazy.  People with carts and you could barely move, anyway we went there to buy some food and other things to bring with to our trip to Iquique.  At this point, I don't whether we are going to a hotel, a hostel or what, all I know is that most of Borris' friends I met a week ago are coming.  I ask questions, but can't understand answers or get short ones about the trip, I think they want it to be a secret...

Anyway after picking up supplies we drive to what looks like a bus stop and after makes a phone call, some shady looking guy comes to the car with a backpack.  At this point I am like, whoa, we going to be doing some drugs on this trip... Well it turns out it is for next weekend at a Valley where there is some sort of religious festival with a large cross. Its called Lluta(utah) de la cruz. 

A lot better than drugs, haha.

After running around I came home to find the hawks had just started and watched them beat the Canucks.  I then drank a few beers stayed up till 4 am, skyping with a friend in Santiago and then Duewerth finally came home from Nepal(he is on Nepali time, 12 hr difference) So I stayed up with him hearing about his experiences and sharing a few of mine...

Friday:

Friday I needed to wake up at 6 am to leave for Iquique at 6:30 am.  I obviously got 2 hours of sleep and slept almost the entire 4 hours on the ride to Iquique.  Here is where I learn we really are not going to the coastal city of Iquique, but an afuera(suburb/outskirt) outside the city.  We arrive to a camping like park, we stayed in Cabañas. Some photos of the Cabaña and piscinas(pools).

The Cabaña we stayed at.

The pool outside, the water was freezing.

Pool with warm water and it became kind of like a hot box.

So all together the group was made up of 4 families, Borris', Alejandro's, Fernando's, and Jorge's family respectively.  I have met all the parents before, but never their kids altogether, except for Antonia and Valentina(17) and Rodrigo(13).  It also just so happens, Violín(15-16) is in one of my classes, but the rest are around Matias' age, 6, 7 one was 10.  Their names are as follows so you can get a feel for Chilean names: Fernando's family(oldest to youngest): Valentina, Antonia, Felipe.  Alejandro:  Rodrigo, Matias.  Jorge: Violín, (forget his other daughters name, she spoke so fast I couldn't understand a word), Jorgeito. We all went swimming as soon as we got there for a few hours, the kids swam all day.

Drank some beers and we had lunch, it was some delicious fish(I don't know the type) that Alejandro prepared, with Palta Pebre (Chilean's version of Pico de Gallo aka Tomatoes, Onions, Cilantro, I remembered the name! edit no i didn't, palta is avocado sauce, with pebre = guacamole) in tin foil in the oven.  Dinner was awesome as well, because Alejandro made a sauce of Ají (I think specifically for me, nice and spicy). This is a typical chilean meal, they put potatoes(always skinned, cut up), rice/pasta, mayo(added to make a kind of sauce) and either meat or seafood in a big bowl so it's like a thick soup.  However, since Friday was Good Friday we ate Pulpo(Octopus) which was delicious with the sauce of Ají. Should have taken pictures of the food, but I always forget...

The children always ate about 30 minutes before us, because frankly there were not enough chairs/space for all of us to eat together, besides the kids ate basically rice/pasta and hot dogs the entire time. Which I understand, I was the pickiest eater as a young child.  After eating all the kids played bingo while we ate.

Some of the parents got them going as dinner was being cooked.

After dinner, we all kind of hung out finished the bottles of wine, Chileans love their wine, we had four bottles for all of us adults.  After busting out some bottles of liquor and more conversation Borris busts out this:

Yes, that's Roulette shots! Fernando is the man, he is the one looking up at the camera.

I could not be more happier when he broke this out.  We played with Rum, Whiskey and shots of Bebidas(they don't call pop refrescos here).  The shots of coke(er Coke light, yea not Diet Coke) were for the moms, they wouldn't let their husbands fill up the shots full or all of them with liquor.  We played for awhile, had more conversation and then crashed, it was getting late, because we didn't eat until like 10:30.

Saturday:

I get woken up, because I am still behind on sleep from not sleeping the night before and being the last one awake, to 'come on we leaving' or 'Mateo venga estamos saliendo'. No idea where we are going, this has been my experience in Chile, 'get in!' I am not complaining I actually like not knowing anything and just going... I mean I have been saying yes to everything and anything, I have yet to be disappointed by saying yes to getting in the car and being taken somewhere. However, there have been a few foods that I have pushed away...

Anyway, After I take a quick shower and run outside to all the kids getting in the back of a pick-up, 'yep that's where I want to be' I say to myself. 

On our way to the dino park, don't worry it was like a 7 minute drive.

So we arrive at a dinosaur like type park. Took some pictures:

I think they were life sized.

We all got back in the car and went to the city of Pica.  Basically we just browsed Pica and bought a few souveiners. And all drank 'Jugos de Naturales', because they think the word Jugo(juice) is like a drink(think blue/purple drink or tang) not actual juice, so jugos de naturales translates to Natural Juice, but again this is wrong.  We drank smoothies made from real fruit... They were delicious, especially on a hot day. I had Guayaba, and I was introduced to this flavor back in the states by the mexicanos I worked with at the ice company.  It's pink and kind of has a pink lemonade/strawberry mix to it, yum.

We bought cards in Pica and I taught all of 'teenagers' and some of the parents 'spoons'.  Basically you have have one set of cards and put spoons in the middle of the table, one spoon less than the people around the table.  Everyone has 4 cards in their hands(at all times) and one person starts with the deck and uses the deck to pass one card to the next person, until they have all four cards that are the same number(or J,Q,K,A)  It was a big hit. We played for the majority of the day and various other card games. Included a game called 'Nerivoso' which you throw cards down that are shuffled and say 1-13 and if the card is the same as the person saying the number, you can't be the last person to throw your hand on the pile... (Remeber this... we played this later in the night)

I realize I am still a kid at heart(and in the brain) and like to play these type of games with the 13, 15 and 17 year old rather than hang out with the parents/little ones during the day.

Asado:

Bought a few Coronas when everyone was taking their siesta(nap), and listened to music while walking around the 'camping park' shirtless of course to try and get some sun.  After the kids ate, Alejandro and Jorge were getting the Parillas(grills) ready for the Asado(barbeque).  They don't use charcoal or gas/propane   grills.  They use 'carbon' which is a certain type of wood that burns for hours, apparently the taste is much better and I can approve of this!

Pavo, Pollo(turkey, chicken) and Steak.

More steak and chorizo salchichas.

Alejandro taking the reins with some necessary beers.

Asado, good eatin'

We eat the Salchichas when they are done and are like a finger food before the massive amounts of carne were finished.  The massive amounts of meat were later cut down so they were cooked as well mind you, it was ¡Súper Rico!(very delicious).  I tried all the kinds of meat and it was complete heaven.  I think we may of have 6 bottles of wine that night, again I don't normally drink wine, but I do like Cabernet.  I also asked everyone if they have tried sangria, this is false, but they love their wine, so I don't know if they'll want me to dilute their wine with some ginger ale... We'll find out at a later date...

Dinner went a little late, and Fernando and I had some good conversation, but his daughter Valentina helped out a little bit as she is going to junior college and she knows a bit of english, which helps when it's hard to explain some things. We spoke about Obama, and his policies, but one of the biggest things I took from this conversation is what I learned about Augusto Pinochet.(click his name if you don't know about Pinochet before reading further)  Anyway, Fernando basically said he liked Pinochet, and at first I was appalled that he would say this. However, he further explained himself, He liked Pinochet, because the last president Allende, was basically a communist and after the military coupe of Pinochet, he brought in Capitalism.  However, with that being said, Fernando did say that he doesn't like one bit all all about the missings aka desaparecidos or human rights that were lost.  Which I can completely understand, without this push of capitalism, Chile would most likely be more comparable to Cuba... I then had to state my problems with capitalism, with the spread of materialism and greed that has plagued hard working americans. (think Eron, the past two Governors of Illinois, Wisconsin's new laws for teachers.. etc)... 

So after a bit of conversation, Borris brought out the Shot Roulette again, and we played a few times this time and followed after with a game of Nerivoso.  So After being the last person to get you hand down in Nerivoso, you literally get your butt kicked... Patar something. After about 6 or 7 times of losing and Fernando losing about 3 or 4 times, they decided to change it to taking your two fingers and slapping the person who lost on the forearm... They call it Chilito. It was actually really fun and I understood about 25% of the jokes that were being thrown around.

Dudas? Preguntas?

e-mail me if you have any other ideas for cooking easy 'american' things for my host family.  I was thinking sloppy joes, but its like 12 dollars for a pound of ground beef(I need to make enough for 9 people)... and if you have any suggestions for the blog and/or questions about Chilean culture or Society.  I think your questions will become good blog posts.

Btw, GO HAWKS.

Semana Santa(Holy Week) Part 2 - Desfile/Grilled Cheese

Wow, This weekend was awesome, and it reminds me, why I decided to take a trip like this.

First off, Thursday I cooked grilled cheese for my host-family, they all claimed to have tried bread, with melted cheese... Yea in the microwave. I told them that my grilled cheese was 100x better, they all claimed it was 'rico' delicious, but I didn't buy it and when my host-grandma's brother/sister(I don't know I didn't ask) came to Arica from Tacna, Peru(only a 45 minute bus ride north) I asked if I should cook them some grilled cheese.  As this was my test to see if in fact if it really was, 'rico' enough to serve to guests in the house.  Apparently it was and here is a photo of them before trying the grilled cheese...

They also liked it.  I wish I could remember names better, however, this occurred on Thursday and it has been a lonnng weekend.

Thursday:

Colegio(School) de San Marcos has a desfile(parade), on Good Thrusday.  They do in fact carry a cross. I'll explain more on each of the photos.  However, I was wrong and it is only about a 2 hour ordeal.. The students just go around the block and stop 12 times, for the 14 stations of the cross, with the first and last being at the school.

Video of the beginning of the desfile/procession of the stations of the cross.

The cute little guys were here for the beginning, however, they don't walk with everyone, because of the oh so hot sun.

During the procession, at each 'sign of the cross'/stop, they play music, here is a video for the feeling.

People actually play the music(two people play guitars and sing in the bus in front of procession).

Here is the truck behind the bus, blasting music away.

Here is a view of how long the procession was.

The students starting their journey with the cross.

At each stop, a different class holds up the cross, usually guys, while the girls read about the station of the cross after they play the guitar music.

Action shot of a few band members playing the war drums for us.

Being in the band here in Chile, is a popular thing to do, as the school doesn't have sport sponsored teams.

Some of the students also dress up for this.

Un otro foto de los alumos.

I wanted to show the converse shoes, I don't why, but I will never wear them...

I'll end this post on that, I did a lot this weekend and must plan classes rather than upload photos and write all night. So I'll post more during the week. My parents have told me, that most of the family is reading this blog on a daily basis, and they said everyone is liking it so far. (sweet deal!)