Hi there beautiful people!
I’ve had such a great week! For starters, it was a short week because of Columbus Day. We had 3 normal days of school and then Friday was Teacher Appreciation Day. Finally, we get some recognition! Here in Chile, this is National Holiday that all schools celebrate. The kids brought us gifts, the school had an assembly in our honor and a very fancy lunch after school. It was such a nice day; it felt like my birthday!
The assembly was interesting, but they had good intentions. The entire school (grades preK-12) came to the gym and watched as we teachers sat on the bleachers. The principal, headmistress and other specialists took care of the kids while we were all on display. Students gave speeches, danced, sang and a band played. It was hilarious for us since we were facing the kids, they were not enjoying sitting still for an hour (especially the pre-kinder kiddos). They would lay down on the floor, hit each other, crawl around and of course talk. It got so bad that the headmistress had to dismiss them to go back to class because they were so loud and distracted.
^^The entire school!
^^ Ceci, my incredible co-teacher and mentor!
Since I had no expectations, I was very surprised by the amount of gifts we got. My favorite was a beautiful backpack that I will definitely use. Another one of the first-grade teams got these beautiful expensive leather bags. We’re talking at least $200+ USD! It cracked me up at how many kids would say to me “Miss, happy day!”. It really was like a second birthday! It’s nice to feel appreciated :)
The kids left school at 1:00, and us teachers had a special lunch planned. The school went all out, I was super impressed. We had a 3 course lunch, wine and pisco sours. You can definitely tell during these types of events just how much money the school has. It got a little strange when they brought out swing dancers. It was just so random. They handed out plastic fedoras and flapper headbands. They taught us a swing dance, which was fun, but so random.
^^My loot
^^The homemade gifts were priceless.
^^The first grade team, minus Ingrid
^^ Starters. Yes, I gave the ceviche another shot.
^^ Chilean festivities are very random.
On Wednesday, I got to reunite with an old study abroad friend, Maddie! I hadn’t seen here in over 2 years, so I was thrilled to receive a message from her saying she’d be in Santiago for a few days. Maddie has the coolest job ever –right now she’s a photographer for FIFA. She photographs The Patriots, the Bruins, The Sox, The Women's World Cup... you know casual things. Her work is incredible, definitely check out her site: http://www.maddiemeyerphoto.com/sports! I took her to a Chilean restaurant where we had an awesome time catching up. It’s so refreshing to see a familiar face in a not-so-familiar town.
On Sunday I went out to explore Plaza de Armas -the city center. I'm a bad tourist because I haven't been there yet! It was a lovely little plaza, with beautiful trees and buzzing with people. It's funny because all of the main squares we visted in Peru were called Plaza de Armas too!
^^Plaza de Armas
^^ Police horse
^^Hanging out with the stray dogs again. This one looks like my first pup Shadow :)
Afterwards, I walked about 30 minutes to La Moneda Palace, where the President of Chile lives. La Moneda translates to coin, because it used to be an old minting factory. I find it awesome that the current president of Chile is a woman -you go girl! Except, I've heard that many Chileans really don't like her.
^^ The President's house
^^ Quite literally the largest flag I have ever seen!!
I’m sad to report, the death of my dear fish roommate León. He has been sick for a couple of weeks now. I tried everything in my power to save him, but he didn’t make it. Rest in Peace little buddy!
Laughable Moments:
“So which types of animals hibernate” “bears”, “rabbits”, “worms” … “hmm… well, maybe you can research that tonight for homework to find out if worms hibernate.”
When kids ask me how old I am, I like to say “how old do you think I am?”. My student said he thought I was 16. I told him I would still be in high school if I were 16. He then changed his answer to 63.
I tried to snapchat the man sleeping next to me on the bus, but he woke up to me filming him.
We sent thank you notes home with the kids who brought us gifts. The kids who didn’t bring gifts were jealous, so we told them that they can bring us gifts on Monday if they’d like! ;)
One of my students gave me a bracelet that says LOVE, except she was reading it backwards and said “Miss, I got you this bracelet. It says VOL.
The plague has begun in our classroom, chicken pox!
I saw Tomás (the neighbor dog) in the elevator again. This time he was wearing an outfit similar to:
^^ Shoutout to the guys who can't speak English but do so anyway.
^^ She thought it was hiliarious because she added a pig. (My hair has gotten so light, the kids now draw me as a blonde)
^^At night we went to a music festival to see Nano Stern, a popular Chilean artist.
Have a wonderful week y'all!
