Happy Easter friends, family and random readers!
It’s been a hectic week! For starters, I am feeling much better. I went back to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and he gave me more antibiotics. He said that I am doing much better and to just be patient. He also cleared me to start running again next week finally.
This week in school, we started working more with our unit about our bodies/health. To get the kids excited and thinking about the unit, we begin with a provocation. It’s always very creative. For this unit’s provocation, we chose two very active students as volunteers. We poured glitter all over them, like all over them! Then the whole class went to lunch and recess. After recess, they came in and we talked about where the glitter went. The glitter represented germs. As the kids were coming back into the class, Dani and I had glitter on our hands and we put some on each kid without them noticing. They were all shocked they all caught germs, it was so amusing.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had to prepare a presentation and teach the entire first and second grade teams how to build their own classroom blogs. In each grade, we have English experts, math experts, unit experts etc. I was chosen to be the technology expert. The role is pretty self-explanatory. I thought I’d be the English expert since I’m a native speaker but everyone chose me to be the tech expert. I don't particularly enjoy teaching technology to other people because it just makes sense to me. It's hard for me to teach others when it just doesn't makes sense to them.
On Wednesday, we asked the kids to chose one person from their tables to trace on a big piece of paper. They had to draw and label the body parts they knew in blue, draw and label the five senses in red and draw various items we use to protect our bodies such as helmets or knee pads in black. The drawings were quite… unique.
Also this week, now that I have a Chilean ID and credit card, I am able to sign up for the communal orange bikes in Santiago. There are many stations throughout the city. All you do is scan your card, take your bike and ride it to the closest station to your destination. I also achieved my goal by teaching León to ride in the basket.
We also got our Sebida gift card this week –if we opt to have an additional insurance (very confusing), us teachers get a large gift card every 4 months or so that can be used at several different stores. This time it was 180,000 CLP so that’s about $265 USD! I bought a much needed vacuum and some running shoes and clothes. I still have some money left over! Don't worry though, León already ate the owner's manual for the vacuum.
This weekend was excellent! We had good Friday off so I spent the day with León. We went to a park close by on the bike and checked out their dog park. León was still pretty shy but we’re getting there. I liked this dog park much more than the last one we went to. There was even another Great Dane there!
^^ I love going to the park because theres always something going on.
On Saturday, I went to Piknic Electronik, an outdoor concert event for electronic music. The event took place in a park very close to my house. It was really fun! I went with my friend Cata and her friends. We spent the afternoon drinking pisco and listening to music. Towards the end of the night, we found ourselves enjoying the concert from the VIP area. Of course I hung out with all the stray dogs in the park.
On Easter Sunday, I took the day to get some things done. Marie invited me to her house for Easter lunch but after thinking about it, I thought it was best I spend the day to rest since I’m still sick.
Easter is pretty similar here in Chile. The kids spend the morning searching for chocolate eggs –they don’t have those plastic eggs we have. They also have an Easter Bunny but he doesn’t bring the kids a basket full of goodies in the morning. Of course they go to church and all that jazz here. I was actually shocked to find some stores open today!
Laughable Moments:
I have this one student who is so anxious about lunch for some reason, he never wants to eat it! On Monday I made this HUGE DEAL about how we both had rice for lunch and how crazy is it that we will both be eating rice AT THE SAME TIME!
I also told him if he ate all of his lunch, I would give him a minion sticker. But not just any minion sticker, a minion sticker ALL THE WAY from the USA!!
During the morning prayer, one of our kids asked God to help her brother feel better because he had two bug bites
Prescription in Spanish is ‘receta’ or recipe. So many of my friends asked if I needed a doctor to give me a recipe.
This week I was walking León and I accidentally poked myself in the eye with the bag of cheese I use to reward him for doing his business. –I poked it so bad I couldn’t see out of that eye all day…
At the concert, my friend told me “ I sometimes pass away when I’m in a large crowd” I told her, “ I think you pass OUT, not pass away”
She also was telling me about her friend and said, “My girlfriend, is it okay to say ‘my girlfriend’ if you’re not a lesbian?”
I recently hung a picture on the wall. In slow motion, I watched it start to fall right above León. Like Superman, I dived in and saved the day. It was amazing and no one even saw it!
^^ So these people have a gigantic horse on their balcony....
^^ I told Dani, " I was going to buy these for León, but they're french fry flavor, gross!" She told me, " Kim, they're not French fry flavor. We call them french fries for dogs!"
^^ León is doing great!!
^^ The old Santiago College is 3 blocks from my house
In other news, I’m SO SO HAPPY TO FINALLY PUBLICALLY ANNOUNCE, I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!!!!! I’m so happy for my sister Laura and my brother-in-law Tim.
Also, birthday shoutouts are in order to my wonderful mom for tomorrow!! Happy happy birthday Mom, hope your day is extra special!!
Now onto another busy week ahead! Happy Easter everyone!!
