Argentina

Today is Tuesday and about halfway through the short week that we are having. There are no classes or anything on Friday because October 31st is a national holiday celebrating the influence of the evangelical church in Chile. (Leave it to the Catholics to give the Evangelicals Halloween their day of celebration). For those of you who don't know i was going to go to Vina del Mar last weekend but ended up, instead, going to Argentina. It is about a six or seven hour bus ride from Santiago to Mendoza. Mendoza was an absolute blast. It was good to get out of Santiago and experience some newness. (i know that really isn't a word, but..) I met up with a friend from high school and some of her friends from Vina del Mar. Friday we got in and experienced a little bit of the Argentina nightlife, which apparently starts 6 hours later than what Americans typically do.
Highlights of the trip are as follows food, the steaks that come from Argentina must be blessed by the heavens themselves. I truly believe that they could under many circumstances be considered a drug because of the instant addiction you will have to the tender meat. Second the wines, although i am not a huge Malbec fan and that is what Mendoza is known for, i was able to try quite a few wines. Which gets my to my next point, the wine tour. On Saturday we decided (the girls decided and of course the guys simply followed suit) to go on a wine tasting bike tour which was fantastic. I couldn't have asked for better weather (well i guess i could have but that would have been greedy). Got to taste a fair amount of Argentinean wines and bought a couple bottles to bring back to Chile. Then at night went out for dinner again, which was again more fantastic meat.
Came home later on Sunday and then got to work back on Monday.
Monday night we got internet and a phone line, which is nice to say that we will now be able to communicate with the outside world.

Last week was interesting and very short. The week was cut short by a teachers day. Teachers day was on Friday which meant that we didn't have school at all and we had a school luncheon for all of the faculty. The meal was very good, nice steak meal. It was nice to sit down and eat with a lot of the people at the school that i have never really encountered before. Thursday, i went to go help out with the Techo para Chile. (Roof for Chile). It is a national aid program in which they are trying to switch all the houses in the ghettos in Santiago. It was hoped to be accomplished by 2010 and i think that won't happen but at least they are taking steps in the positive direction. The house that i helped out was funded by the kids donation from the school. The house was built for a 20 year old girl who had a one year old boy. They lived in absolute poverty, basically it would be building a shed in a dump. It really makes you grateful for what you have.

School's birthday

On Friday we celebrated the anniversary of our school. Andacollo is now 104 years old. We did games and what not on thursday and on friday they had some competitions. The kids played a bunch of games and it was all interesting to see. There was a water slide and water ballon fights which were a lot of fun. Being one of the youngest teachers there i think that we automatically got put in the midst of it all.
This does lead me to my next point. Rather uncormfortably, Brian and I were asked to be judges for the Miss Figura contest. Yes, it was the teacher judging the figure of girls in the my school. So girls from 7th grade to Seniors in high school, paraded themselves around the stage like a beauty pageant. Needless to say it was slightly awkward because both Brian and i are missionaries (as well as there teachers) and one of the other judges was a priest. The day was a half day, where later at night there was a dance and what not. So i had to go to that and judge some of the singing and dance competitions. Shortly there after there was an all school dance in which i had to chaperone for a while to. I must say that being a chaperone for those kind of events are absolutely terrible. The whole thing was very fun for the kids and what not.

Thursday, October 9th

Currently i am taking a break during our little festival today. Today and tomorrow we are celebrating the anniversary of our school. It has been open for 104 years now. Today and tomorrow we have just been playing games with the kids. I have been watching over some of the relay races. I did get caught in the middle of a water ballon fight, and i had to fight back the urge to go college mode and start an all out war. Then one of the kids had a football, so i got to play some pigskin with the chilean kids. It was fun besides the fact that they are terrible. Then again i understand that it is an American game and the idea of throwing a spiral is completely beyond them. Classes are going and we have a couple of meetings in the next couple of days to plan for the mission trip that we have at the end of January.
The weather is beautiful here and it is nice just to enjoy a little time outside. It seems to be a chilean custom to have music blarring during the breaks (recess) and on days like today it is in full force. I watched a group of 3rd graders dance for two and a half hours straight this morning. At this point just enjoying life and whatever it has to offer. Trying to stay a step ahead of my kids in the classroom (that is about all i can, due to the Chilean style of an absolute lack of planning). Yet, then again we all know that i am not a very good planner so i really can´t complain.
I hope all are doing well and enjoying themselves immensely. I am off to try and weasel myself into getting a free ice cream cone.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Today we went on another of the Pastoral retreats. It was for the 1st graders so it was a bit of a babysitting mission, but it was great. I can tell I have made progress, because I am just given small groups of kids to be in charge of, previously I always worked with another teacher. This is mainly due to the mastery of the language, but I feel comfortable being able to give basic instructions to the little kids. Tonight is the debate between the VP’s so we are going to go over to the ChACEr’s house to see that. Yet, before that, the local drug dealer, Lil Dre, who wanted a Bible, called us. Apparently his Uncle is making religious items and he wanted an English Bible to be able to translate some of the phrases into English. We were given one of the projects as a gift. It is a hand made keychain in which there is a clear hole in which is placed a mustard seed and the quote is from mustard seed parable. It was amazing to see the irony in the situation. We were talking to the known drug dealer of the area, and instead of someone handing him a backpack full of whatever Brian and I gave him a Bible. He wants to set up a meeting with his Uncle and us to discuss some options for spreading God’s message. I would not consider myself an evangelist, but than again I guess I am here in Chile doing exactly that. It was a nice reminder of how we simply cannot judge people because they always seem to surprise us. This goes against a lot of my beliefs and my past experiences (I still believe that some people are almost hopeless), yet I think that these people are simply those who lack hope. I am not saying not to judge, because I have been in experiences that my judgment of people saved my life. We are called in life to be indifferent. Indifferent about our health, not letting a fear of sickness get in the way of doing great things. Indifferent about our preferences, because it is when you step out of your own little box or world is when you truly experience life.
I am not saying be foolish about this and make poor decisions, but don’t let your beliefs and experiences get in the way of experiencing life. Tomorrow, is Friday and, I have a relatively short day at school which is nice.

The beginning of another month

Today is Tuesday and the beginning of October. It is also Wednesday, which i must admit is the most dreadful day of the week. Not only is it ¨hump¨ day but it is also the busiest and the most draining day of the week for me. Things here have been going swimmingly and i am truly enjoying myself. I believe it is now to list John´s List of Oddities.
John´s List of Oddities of Chile:
1) Chilean have a weird view of what is considered candy. It seems to be a common custom here in Chile to give Halls (yeah, the cough medicine) as a candy, like Skittles.
2) Chilean have as a general rule a pretty wicked sweet tooth. Coffee, (which is terrible, this might just be my upbrining in the NW, but i would rather have Shell coffee than what they serve here)and tea are loaded with sugar. An average cup (about half the size of an American coffee) is loaded with normally three large spoonfulls of sugar. I have to strictly tell people that i drink my coffee and tea straight otherwise, i am simply left with hot colored sugar water.
I do now have a French press, a faboulously thoughtful gift from my roomates, Brian and Michelle, so i can at least get some good coffee when needed. I hate to admit this, for i am against the big corporations, but Starbucks bean are delightful when compared to chaulk.
3) The sense of being on time is totally skewed. Arriving on time, is considered as early and a normal meeting you are at least 5-10 minutes late. If it is a social event just expect to show up a half hour to a full hour late.
4) They have a fascination with -ito or -ita which translates to little -y. An example is gordita or calling a girl little fatty, is a common occurance.
5) There is also a fair amount of the population that sucks on lemons, i don´t know if this is a international trend and i am not aware of it. But there are quite a few people that salt and then suck on lemons. I just can´t imagine that would be good for your teeth.
6) There exists a social clique here in Chile called the Pokemons which is like a punk offspring that are pushing the limits when it comes to sexual boundaries and what not. Basically a bunch of pissed of kids trying to get back at the ¨man¨. Yet, whenever i hear discussing about this i am given the mental imagine of two comic character Pokemons kissing. Those Promiscuous Pokemon...

Well those are just some of the things i have seen so far and i am sure i will be adding to that periodically over the rest of the time that i am here.
Hope all is well.