8 month reflections and my return home

God. So much has happened since I last wrote in my blog. I think I mentioned the dialogue competition. All those extra hours of practicing pronunciation, acting, and fluency...my four students could the entire dialogue better than I. In fact, each person could recite their part and their partner's part, and could probably even have recited it in their sleep. Nevertheless, my school didn't make it to finals but I was proud of them anyway. After the dialogue
RAMON AS BOB MARLEY (AKA JACOB MARLEY)
came the debates for high schoolers. I had a chance to listen to the debates and heard the winning team for our region, Olivia's school Santa Emilia. We also participated in the Spelling Bee, held by Jeannette's school, Colegio Marta Narea Diaz. The school year ended in a flash, at least for me, as I left just before the students started their final exams. We celebrated the end of the year with my 8th graders, who memorized my version of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" Putting a play together in legible "8th grade English" for my class of 23 students took some finagling, but I managed to pull it off in three weeks. However, in my haste, I accidentally named Ebeneezer Scrooge's old business partner BOB MARLEY. Luckily, my students just rolled with it, although they're very aware of who Bob Marley actually is. (By the time I realized my mistake, we had already performed Bob Marley instead of Jacob Marley). The point is, it didn't really affect their ability to practice English, right?

The last couple weeks were filled with seeing what I had missed for 8 months: a tour of the air base (not just my little pink school in the civilian community) and a trip to La Portada, Antofagasta's famous natural landmark. And, no, unlike the misconception of non-Antofagangsta volunteers, La Portada is not made of bird caca. The staircase leading down to the beach closest to La Portada was closed due to falling rock. However, Emily's friend Manuel knew another entrance by rope down to the beach. Then, we ate at a traditional little restaurant in the north by Via Azul. It was known for its seafood dishes and grilled steak.










During vacation in September for Chile's independence day, Sept. 18th, I did some traveling. I visited "the fairgrounds" aka al fondo, or la ramada in the city. Families and friends squish into an area of the city where there's amusement rides, dancing, and of course food and drink. Only the best... pastel de choclo, chorillana, choripan, carne asado, completos and the like. And of course, typical fair stuff like cotton candy, candied apples, puffed rice, etc. I went to the ramada at the Ruinas de Huanchaca as well and saw people dancing multiple variations of the cueca (the national dance) to a live band.

I didn't celebrate much with my host family. By this time, I had switched family on account of a rubella scare (they thought I would infect my two year old host brother). After it was concluded I wouldn't infect anyone, I decided to live elsewhere anyway. The move wasn't easy and I was body-blocked out of the house by my 60ish, 4'10" host mother but only after she sweetly told me that "I was welcome in her home at any time" Chilean hypocrisy reflected so much by their passive aggressiveness. So, I moved into the home of the regional coordinator, Anna Maria, and her mother, sister, and son. My new host mom almost forgot to put up the Chilean flag. If she had forgotten, she could have been fined by the govt. We drank a little moscatel for the occasion.

I visited my girls in Iquique, Karinna and Pepa, and met Pepa's brother Nano (Adrian) as well. We did a little karaoke on my solo visit. I also took a weekend trip to Iquique with Olivia, TJ, Jeannette as a last harrah. We ate seafood at the "best seafood restaurant in the city," El Va-gon. Actually, it was called The Wagon, but it sounds much nicer as va-gon. It must have previously been a western-themed restaurant. There was a nice view from the second floor, and it was located along the warf by the casino and expensive hotels. I bought Argentinian candies for my host family at Zofri and visited Pepa at Hogar y Casa. We also sunbathed at the beach, la cavancha, and had a night of dancing at the discoteque.

Another big memory before leaving Antofa was the earthquake. I was sitting at home eating lunch before my wednesday afternoon classes when the room began to shake. At first I thought a train was passing by, until the shaking got more violent and didn't stop. My host mother opened the front door and motioned me by her side. Having survived the quake of '89 in the Bay Area, I thought she was telling me to walk out of the house. Instead, Carlita, her 16 year old daughter, and I huddled in the arms of my host mother as she said a quick prayer in Spanish during the quake. Antofagasta survived with very little damage to the city or its citizens. Except the poorly designed awning of The Radisson, which crashed onto two (empty) parked cars, which CNN ate up and threw to the media and my poor parents in the States. It was the little towns of Maria Elena and Tocopilla that got the brunt of the damage, whose houses are still made of adobe. Many were left homeless and without support systems after the damage. The government brought relief to them, but it was a sad sight to view.

I celebrated my 25th birthday out of the country, for the first time. We went out for sushi, had drinks at Jeannettes, and listened to traditional music at the Cafe Del Sol. I spent the night out until 6am. The actual day was spent recovering from that night and visiting Las Colonias, an international celebration by the beach. Different ethnicities sell traditional foods and demonstrate their dances by the costanera.

My final week of class was sad. Well, most of my students and the faculty were sad. (Although kids in my 4th grade Friday class cheered or fake cried at my leaving.... we have class together from 4-5:30pm on Fridays) My sixth graders brought in presents and did a rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" that brought me to tears. I also received a photo of the faculty and an once with my teachers before I left. And, although I'm don't enjoy promoting relgion in my blog, the groundskeeper/ maintenance worker sent me off with the "Consagracion a Dio Nuestro Padre" I was intending to write it down here, but its a little to lengthy for that now.