Tell Me Something Good...

How the teachers love helping me with my Spanish! I was talking about one of my seventh graders, Peirina, and they thought I started talking about the tragos (drinks) caiprinha as I was saying her name with and enye (n with a tilde). Or as I try to say dialogo and mix up the pronunciation and say diagolo... mind you, I can't always say words correctly in English (once waffle iron came out as "awful wiern" don't ask me why) I lunch in the school's comedor on Mondays with a sweetheart teacher named Moni (short for Monica) who feeds me like I have two stomachs. She brings foods she has prepared for the two of us in her home and always gives me twice as much as she gives herself. This week, she served chaquikan which reminded me of Chaka Khan, so the entire meal I was singing "Tell Me Something Good" in my head. Chaquikan is a mix of veggies and ground meat with a stew like texture that's served with rice. Not to be confused with choripan, which I've never had but is a piece of meat enveloped in bread. Moni always reminds me that "los manitos" (my little hands) must rest on the table during the entirety of the meal. My family doesn't really care where my hands are resting when I'm at home, but as I always say, when in Chile, do as the Chileans do! Miss Lisa also got to sing the Star-Spangled Banner all day last Thursday and when she croaked on "And the rocket's red glare..." she began to laugh as did her 6th graders. But in the end, they cheered and told her she had a beautiful voice! I'll probably never start a singing career in the states but at least I can get my practice here in Chile with my students. I also took a quick overnight trip to visit Rio, my fellow volunteer in Region II in Mejillones, and gave the students of segundo medio a quick lesson on the US's national anthem. jajaja. Today I taught my primero basico students solo, which was a little crazy. Luckily, Peirina (whose name I can now pronounce correctly) helped me with segundo basico. We learned the four seasons and then I had the students create a page of fall leaves using real leaves as their stencils! When the students are good, their angels.

Peirina singing for the competicion de la voz