learning the English and colectivos, part 2

I've been teaching a 'Beginning Conversation' class at one of the newer places where I've been working lately, which I consider to be a complete oxymoron. The idea of a conversation class is that you have the basic grammar and vocabulary to carry on a conversation, although I certainly don't expect conversation classes to be filled with only almost-fluent speakers. I understand the purpose of conversation classes to encourage natural speaking outside of textbook situations, and as someone who was shy to speak in Spanish before being obligated to do so (ie my first time here in Chile), I certainly commend those who are brave enough to attend such classes. Still, to me, a beginning conversation class just doesn't make sense- students get frustrated because they can't actually converse, and no one can understand what I say, making even beginning games difficult. Working with Charlas at UPS was different- the idea there was to help the English students feel more comfortable using English, and we were usually able to have about a 3:1 student:UPS English speaker ratio. There were no expectations that everyone could converse, and we would often play games. We could all switch to explain something in Spanish, something I'm not allowed to do at work.

At my work, there are lesson plans to stick to and yesterday 13 students showed up. We were supposed to be talking about things that we have in the house, but most people couldn't understand that. Introductions, for example, went like this:

Hi, mi name es Ignacio, I am Civil Engineering. I live Viña del Mar city with my mother and your brother. I like watch TV and futbol.

I'm not trying to belittle their English- after almost a year of attempting to teach it, I certainly recognize that English is difficult to learn, and I know from experience that having to speak in front of classmates is nerve racking. These students are doing perfectly fine in their elementary classes, but it's cruel to expect them to understand the questions on my list such as, "What is your favorite room in your house and why? Describe the way it makes you feel and your favorite memory in that room".

In other funny English news, for some reason almost none of my students can remember the word Christmas by itself. I've had 3 students tell stories about their favorite memories that took place during "Merry Christmas"- it's as though they think the holiday's name includes both words.

In non-teaching English news, colectivos seem to be getting weirder. I'm back to trucking to and from Valparaiso thrice a week and I leave at 10pm so I take colectivos to get back to Viña because they're safer and faster. In general, colectivos have lots of car gadgets. I don't blame them- colectivo drivers spend upwards of twelve hours in their cars every day, so it's not unusual that they would choose to totally deck out their space. Yesterday I saw a gadget on the dash that was the RPM meter (except 12 times larger) and with a yellow light to suggest changing gears and a bright, almost LED red light that I think seemed to suggest impending doom. I sat in the front passenger seat and immediately noticed that beneath the glove compartment, on the floor, there was another bright light which definitely indicated when the driver braked. It seemed to serve no practical purpose other than creating a bright glare on the window.

Other car gadgets I've seen include:
Special speakers
Special audio systems that show approx. and iPod screen sized video (especially useful if you're listening to a Maná live concert DVD) as part of the CD player
Rearview mirrors of all shapes, sizes, colors, positions, etc.
Comfortable seat pads
Padding on the steering wheel
Padding on the gear shift
Changing normal horn sounds for whistles, and other beeps used to attract the attention of potential passengers
Overhead lights changed out for alternating color, disco lights
Blue headlights
Built-in cell phone/audio coordination- kind of weird when I was in a colectivo one day and the kumbia music was interrupted by a phone call, which the driver took by pressing a button on his CD player, and both of the other passengers and I were able to hear his wife checking in, asking when he'd be home, and saying that she had to leave their kid with a neighbor. Seriously. I guess there's no need to be embarassed about tacky music, personal phone calls, or overdone gadgets because the passengers exit within 20 minutes mostly, and they are never to be seen again and all judgement is pased.

Keep in mind that this is not a comprehensive list, just what I can think of right now. I once entered a colectivo which had a theme, a motif if you will. Everything was jungle theme (not making this up), including a variety of jungle stuffed animals on the dash board. No shame.

I must return to my lesson planning and job searching. Enjoy your private cars, and try not to be jealous thinking of me in my safari-themed colectivos.

kind of a boring post

This weekend was a birthday weekend! Alvaro's cousin Emilie (or Emely? Emelie? Emily?) turned four, so we headed into Santiago to visit some tios, the abuelita, and lots of cousins and family. Family events are always interesting affairs, and his fam is always nice to me- I think they're interested in me and glad to talk to me, so it was good. On top of everything, a birthday party for a four year-old is always fun. Typical of any four-year old, Emilie was not really into any of her own celebrations, except for wearing a flower tiara/garland thing. There was a piñata-like contraption (except you just pulled a string and all the goodies came out), and all the kids had a good time stealing each other's candy while the adults secretly stole all of the children's candy later. On Sunday we went with all the little cousins (plus some grownups) to the Santiago zoo which was mostly cool because it was on a hill, and because there were some local chilean animals- for example, this one deer-like animal that I think was called a pudu. Imagine a small deer, and then add an additional 3 kilos maybe and then chop off its legs at the knee. It's like a super stout deer! But other than that, it made me sad to see the animals breathing polluted air and we even saw a few kids with balloon swords, and one of them reached out the sword to a monkey, who grabbed it! The balloon obviously popped, and then all the monkeys began to eat plastic. So that was kind of sad.

Speaking of sad, I have just about a month left here in Chile before I come home! This is a mixed bag- I always get sad when I leave Chile, and this time it will be really tough because I'm not positive when I'll be back. On the other hand, coming home is always a good thing- I like seeing family and friends and it's been long time since I've been to gringolandia (as they affectionately call it here). Not to mention that it's starting to get cold here, so I'll be ready to head on into delightful summer numero dos.

Not much else to comment on- I'll look for more entertaining details for future commentaries.

lovelove

Mish Mash

It's been a while since I've posted anything- I guess I've become an even worse blogger. First things first, congrats to Rachel who got her Master's Degree, leaving me as the only nuclear family member without a post-grad title- thanks a lot, Rach. Rachel gets this special shout out for being the only regular commentor- this would be a genuine thanks, Rach.

Other than my overwhelming excitement for Rachel, things have been pretty calm here. I've been working, mostly in the morning and at night, and I picked up a new gig at a new institution. We had a long weekend here for Holy Week, and it was nice for me to be able to sleep regularly- with early wake ups and late home arrivals, I haven't slept well for a while. I've been busy trying to eat matzah in the country that consumes the second amount of bread per person- behind only France. I made matzah brei, improvising due to the lack of ricotta cheese. Tonight I'm ready to make falafel (garbanzo beans soaking as we speak) and I'm going to try to make a paneer dish. Paneer is a fresh cheese that they use in India, and I made the dish with some friends, one of whom lives with several Indian housemates so I used their spices. Tonight I'm improvising (I'm not so good at that with foreign spices), but I've finally found a use for quesillo- Chileans' idea of fresh cheese, my idea of what jell-o would be like if people thought it would be nice to have a cheese flavor. But when it's stir-fried into tomatoes and onions and spices, it's actually not bad! In other semi-amusing Passover news, I had to look up the word for Passover in Spanish because I've only ever heard them talk about it using the word in Hebrew, Pesach. It turns out that the only translation for Passover available in Spanish is "La Pascua Judía"- the Jewish Easter. Haha- a term obviously coined by non-Jews.

Alvaro and I escaped to Horcón, one of my favorite (but kind of dirty) beach towns last weekend, and rented a cabaña for the evening and enjoyed the beach and the marine life. Alvaro ate lots of sea food, and I enjoyed my paila huevo- 3 fried eggs that come in a small frying pan and bread! Don't worry- I also ordered ensalada surtida which came with peas, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, and beets so I ate things with nutrients as well. Look- even as I'm describing my trip to the beach town, I end up talking about food. Alvaro asks why I never went to cooking food if I think and talk about food so much and it's something I never considered doing, although now it's sounding tempting. The point is that Horcón was nice. We climbed around some rocks, and saw some urchins, some anenomes, lots of crabs, some shrimp, small fish, and jelly fish. Alvaro, being a seal, enjoyed that water that was probably sub-zero and I, being a delicate recently shaved lamb prone to being cold, remained on the beach and read my book. It was relaxing and nice to leave Viña for a bit.

I hope you're all doing well- send updates as to what's up! Here are a few pix:







Proof of my delicious eggs and salad in the restaurant in Horcón.
View of the town.
Rock climbing. Rach, I use this sweater ALL THE TIME. Good gift.
I went out to another beach called La Boca and saw this guy bringing the seafood leftovers from his restaurant to the shore, and all of the birds and pelicans surrounded him. Typical of any photo in Chile, a stray dog is also highlighted.
The picture of the view is of Colliguay, when we took a trip to the interior on a hot day and relaxed in the pools and bought organic honey from a nice farmer who showed us around.






Pix here:
Bee panels out in Colliguay
Maia and Alvaro during the blackout
Maia and me dancing at La Boca beach
Some earthquake damage in Reñaca (beach just north of here), collapsed stairs

blackkkkkkouttttttt

Rumor has it that Los Angeles got jealous of Chile's constant shaking and tried to produce a similar earthquake, although a 4.4 hardly counts- we've had aftershocks almost twice as big! No, just kidding, and luckily there was no damage in L.A., because I think that would probably be too much stress on the entire family for two sisters to both be in earthquake destruction zones.

Because three days without a natural disaster was just too much tranquility here, Sunday night we had a nation-wide blackout. It started a bit before 9pm, and as we were sitting in the living room I watched as the overhead lamp dimmed until finally disappearing. We looked outside and it was pitch black- the entire area was without electricity. Minutes later, Alvaro's dad called, and we realized that all of Viña was without electricity. We grabbed the lantern, which worked for all of three minutes before Maia messed with something (although in all fairness it probably wasn't her fault), and it went out. We did what anyone with a nine year-old would do in a blackout- we lit candles and played Uno (and played with the wax). After connecting Maia's mp3 player to my portable speakers (yet again saving the day- good call Dad, thanks!), we realized that 90% of the population was without power- this was a big deal!

Obviously, my first thought was that the power cut was earthquake-related. They cut the power soon after The Big One, and I thought that there had been a strong aftershock (or another earthquake- they've been saying that the epicenter has switched to Valparaiso and that the area is due for another big quake as the plates even out- of course, this is just a theory, as with almost all things seismic) and that they were preparing for a potential disaster. Once we managed to listen to the radio and heard that it was a technical issue and not disaster-related, I was able to relax. The fact that I had just made chocolate oatmeal raisin cookies helped. With the entire country in a blackout, the stars were incredible- you could see tooooons of things. Once the power was back, it was pretty fun to watch the city slowly (or rather, not so slowly) illuminate again from a window. All in all, in Viña we were without power for about 1.5 hours- just long enough for me to win two of the games of Uno!

Wishing you all more light and less shaking. And let there be no more quaking anywhere!

I'm back to work, although not as regularly as I'd like to be. I have some morning classes now, and next week some more classes will start up.

Yesterday we had some pretty big aftershock scares here in Chile, with the epicenter in Rancagua, causing tsunami alerts throughout the coast. I, thankfully, was not along the coast- I was in Santiago, dropping Maia off to see her mom and just generally escaping from Viña. I felt a few aftershocks in the 10th floor of the apartment building where Maia's mom lives, and it was pretty different- lots of movement, lots of swaying, and it's a different kind of worry and panic- instead of looking to get outside (like I do here in the house), you know that you CAN'T get outside, and just hope that the building doesn't collapse. Obviously, the building I was in and most buildings survived The Big One, so it's a nice comfort- the entire time it's shaking, you just know that it's not going to be as bad and nothing is going to happen. Still, I didn't realized that it had been such a big aftershock until we got in the metro and noticed that people had evacuated buildings and were standing around outside. We were lucky to meet up with Alvaro and Maia's mom at her work because she was looking to take a taxi back home- after evacuating the building, no one was thinking about work again.

Back here in Viña and Valpo, I've heard that it was a fair amount of chaos as people ran to the hills to escape The Wave, which thankfully never came. I've heard accounts from friends and co-workers, and it seems like the cops came around warning everyone with megaphones and over the radio to run for the hills. People were swarming and trying to run everyone to get away from the coast. Because a lot of the destruction in the south came from the unwarned tsunami, they're extra careful with their alerts now, and people are (rightly so) very scared. I'm glad I wasn't around for the chaos. When we came back later last night (after the tsunami alert was lifted), Viña was a ghost town- there were hardly any stores open (when they're usually all open), and no one was in the streets. It was pretty bizarre. Luckily, we live on a hill (a big one), and even if anything came, we'd be far away from the destruction. We got home safely and watched The Hurt Locker- after the Oscar hub bub, I expected a bit more, but that's another topic.

I hope Chile stops with the shaking, but I guess these aftershocks are expected to last up to a year. Either way, rest safe knowing that I'm probably much safer with earthquakes here than in the U.S.- I read an article comparing the potential damage of a 8.8 earthquake in Portland v. Chile and it's much, much worse in Portland thanks to high levels of earthquake-proof building codes here after the devasting earthquakes in 1960 and 1985. I've heard that buildings have wheels at their bases even to allow them to sway rather than try to resist. Pretty crazy. So don't worry too much about me- I've learned a lot about earthquake safety and thanks to constant hill climbing, I'm all set to brave out a tsunami. Besos to all!