Tuesday August 19th

So Saturday Brian and I went out to the ocean with Michelle, Father Mike and his niece Mary and it was really nice. It was nice to get outside of the city for a little bit. We were a little touristy and saw some of the tourist stuff and walked around with our cameras all day. We saw a bunch of the sites that the Holy Cross has a hand in and it is pretty impressive. I bought some little gifties and what not and just got to see rural life of Santiago a little bit. We saw sunset on the ocean coast and when we crossed over the hills we saw a full moon just peaking over the Andes. It was a beautiful site to see. See the sun set and what seemed to be the moonrise in a matter of minutes. I don’t know if this is true or not but I think that the moon felt bigger over here.
Today is Tuesday and it is another week. Teaching is fun and it is nice to start to develop a relationship with the students. My position has an interesting dichotomy for I am a teacher but at the same time I am only 22 years old so the students are able to relate to me easily. It is interesting having the younger girls fawning over you. They giggle and get embarrassed and run away. Brian has actually had a girl confess her feelings for him. It is like being taken back through time, you see the awkward social encounters of High school and Middle school kids. You see kids secretly stealing kisses or holding hands in the hallway, and when they realize that a teacher has seen them they immediately act as if they had never seen the other person in their lives. Brian and I have been playing basketball with some of the kids after school and we decided to have the kids over last night, (Monday) for some treats and soda. There were seven kids between 14-16 that came over and just hung out. Brian made some delicious cookies and we just listened to them talk for a while. Just trying to create an environment where they feel safe and create a community. We will actually be going up to the mountains with them this weekend if all goes according to plan. The thing is that I am drastically underprepared for an outing in the mountains. Yet, as usual it seems that I will just wing it. I am looking forward to it, but it is going to be weird that on this trip I am a chaperone and a responsible adult. So far, the kids have seemed to be very well behaved, but this weekend might be a test of that prognosis.