Snowboarding in the Andes Mountains!

For my friend Kate's birthday she wanted to go skiing in the Andes Mountains (because, first, it's pretty cool to say you've been skiing in the Andes, and second, it's pretty cool to be able to say you went skiing in late August!) We all woke up at 6:30 and took the bus to Portillo, Chile, which is about 2 hours from Santiago near the border with Argentina. It was beautiful! The ski resort was surrounded by mountain peaks, and right in the middle was a frozen lake. The snow was perfect and we had a blast! After growing up skiing, I decided to try snowboarding for only the second time. My roommate Allegra is pretty much an expert, and spent all day coaching me down the slopes. I must say I did better than I expected, but I still have a long way to go! We all fell more than once, shared a few laughs and beers, and had a great day! I uploaded some pictures to Shutterfly, so send me your email and I can send them to you!

Second Semester: "How do you say 'bald,' with love?"

I'm a full week into my second semester, and so far it's going really well! My classroom dynamics are definitely different this semester: I have 2 design classes at the Intermediate 2 level with really energetic and creative students which is really exciting. (Although it means more work for me because I have to come up with a lot more interactvie activities!) To review the second day of class I had the students get into groups and make up skits. They were awesome! One group made up a song and sang it in front of the class, another group acted out Alladdin, and another group made up a cooking show. We had a whole discussion in class, in English! about "green" buildings and how they are all hoping to design them someday. I also have a class of Basic 2 students, with a lot of my students from last semester. I had a lot of students ask to take my class specifically, which is always a little ego boost :) And it's exciting to see that they're enthused about learning...finally!! To practice describing physical characteristics I used magazine pictures and had the students describe the people. This was really exciting as most of the class (17/18) are guys, and People magazine tends to feature women more than men. I think sexy was the most frequently used vocabulary word that day...We're listening to Flogging Molly today to practice conditional consequence phrases. We'll see how they feel about Irish punk...
I feel much more at ease and prepared with one semester already under my belt, and I think that will make my students more comfortable too. Allegra and I have started what we call La Mesa Inglesa (a bad translation of English Table). Every other week we invite our students to meet us at a local bar, and we share beer and conversation. So far we've had a pretty good turnout (imagine that...) and the students have said it really helps. I don't know if they're just saying that so we keep drinking beer with them, or what, but it really does help the fluency aspect of speaking. All in all I'm really excited about teaching again, and almost everyday I come home on a high about my job and my little kiddies :)

Trip of a Lifetime!

I just got back from a 2 1/2 week long backpacking trip through Northern Chile, Bolivia and Peru. It was incredible! I started by heading from Santiago up to Arica, Chile, which is right on the border. I took a bus to La Paz and spent a few days in La Paz. The city was so different from Santiago - it was full of bright colors, patterns, and indigenous people. We stopped at the witches market and saw the dead llamas fetuses, (which are supposed to bring good luck when moving houses) sexual enhancement herbs and shrines to every kind of god imaginable. I took a picture of the llamas and was cursed by the store owner...
From La Paz we headed by bus to Copacabana, a town on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Copacabana was nothing more than a tourist layover town, but Lake Titicaca was awesome! It's the highest navigable lake in the world. We headed to Isla del Sol and stayed 2 nights there. Isla del Sol was beautiful, and we hiked for 4 hours to some ruins that are older than the ruins at Machu Picchu. While on the island we experienced a phenomenon that happens once every 10 years...snow!! The island was full of farmers with sheep and goats and llamas.
We left Isla del Sol to go to Puno, Peru. Upon reaching the border of Peru we were examined by doctors and given basic information on contageous diseases and how to avoid spreading them, like covering your cough. Swine flu is a major issue down here. We stayed in Puno a matter of hours while watiting for a bus to Cusco, and in that time we managed to hit up the biggest tourist trap ever: the floating islands. The concept is really cool: islands constructed out of reeds and anchored to the bottom of the lake. The Uro people lived this way for centuries. Now, no Uros exist but the islands have been taken over by people pretending to live there, and trying to sell you things. It was worth a see anyway.
From Puno we headed to Cusco, Peru, which was an great city! Lots of culture and awesome sites. We hiked a tour of ruins just outside the city and explored within the city as well. We stayed about 2 days before starting our grand adventure.
Allegra, Gerhard (her boyfriend) Scott (her brother) and I went on a 5 day, 4 night hike through the Salkantay pass to Machu Picchu. We had horses that carried our heavy packs, and cooks that provided meals for us. Now don't get the wrong idea - it wasn't a walk in the park. The first day we hiked 6 hours and camped at the base of Salkantay Mountain at 3,900 meters (12, 792 ft.) The next day we hiked a total of 10 hours. We summitted the 4,600 meter (15, 100 ft) pass at Salkantay Mountain. (That's higher than Mt. Rainier! Woop woop!) Then we headed down into the jungle and over to Machu Picchu. If you haven't been to Machu Picchu...GO! It's incredible. We woke up and started hiking at 4:00 am to be some of the first people to the top. (Too bad about 200 other people had the same idea.) We reached Machu Picchu as the sun was coming up while the city was still a little grey and misty. The city is surprisingly intact for being so old, and I could almost feel the spirits as I walked through. We hiked up Waynapicchu (the mountain that you see in the background of all the classic Machu Picchu pictures) and it was one hell of a hike. It could have been the fact that I was walking uphill for the previous 4 days for at least 6 hours a day, but it was worth it once we reached the top. The view was awesome! We spent all day walking around and exploring, and at one point I even snuck in a quick nap inside the ruins :) We hiked to the Inca Bridge which is part of the 2 foot-wide original Inca trail. There is so much rich history surrounding the place and it was awesome to actually go there and see it! The Peruvian government is trying to figure out a way to limit the number of people who visit Machu Picchu because it is estimated that its foundation is slipping. Soo glad I got to see it when I did!

Life Update!

Wow, I'm kind of behind on my blog. Oops! I'm having my computer repaired, which is partly to blame, and have also just basically been on the go for quite a while.
My first semester of teaching ended, and honestly, it feels like it just started! It went by soo fast! I had a great time, little bumps along the way, but for the most part I love all my little kiddies. (I say kiddies, but they're really my age.) I also got to experience all the administrative duties that go along with being a teacher - staff meetings, entering grades, reading and responding to the most pointless emails known to man, etc. It has been nice to have a break to say the least!
So what have I done on my break? I know you are all biting your nails with excitement. :) The first week of vacation I took a solo trip to the island of Chiloe in the south of Chile. Incredible!!! I felt like I was in Ireland (or what I imagine Ireland to be like as I haven't actually been there...) Rolling green hillsides were dotted with little farm plots of sheep and llama and some cows. Artisans weave hats, scarves, sweaters, slippers...pretty much everything out of wool and the rest of the population is involved in the fishing industry. You either fish, own a store that sells fish, build boats, repair boats, or farm. I stopped in several different cities, each with unique little quirks and character. I ate lunch at a restaurant that, after I ordered, actually went to the boat harbored at the marina and picked up the fresh seafood to cook my meal! I sampled mussel ceviche, smoked mussels and curanto, the local seafood stew specialty. Delicious! I spent about a week on the island, and explored as much as I could. I hiked through the national park where wild horses accompanied me on my hike down to the beach. I spent a lot of time walking along the beach, sitting at the beach, collecting shells at the beach, and drawing boats at the beach. I kind of like the beach...I met some really interesting people, including fishermen, the local prostitute, lots of artisans, and of course other travelers. It was absolutely beautiful, the weather was great, and it was a much needed break from Santiago. Pictures will come soon!
So for the second part of my "winter vacation" (which is so weird to be saying in July...) I am travelling with Allegra, her boyfriend and her brother to Bolivia, Peru, and the northern desert of Chile. I will definitely have some great blog posts following that adventure!

¡Bailando La Cueca en Clase!

As the end of the semester gets closer I seem to get busier and busier. All of a sudden students who showed no interest at all throughout the semester start to care about the fact that they're failing my class and want to retake quizzes and even do extra projects to make up points. I arrive to school early and leave late to make sure everything gets done, and at the end of the day I'm ready for a break. So today in my first class as the class was doing their review worksheets for the final exam I turned on the radio so it wouldn't be so boring. After most of the students finished and left class, some of my favorite students stayed behind to ask me if I knew the Cueca dance. I didn't, but I'd love to learn! My students jumped at the chance to switch roles and play profe for a while, and so ensued teaching the gringa teacher how to dance the Chilean National Dance.
La Cueca has 3 parts: First, the gentleman courts the lady and invites her to dance. Second, the lady accepts, does a few turns, and starts to tease the gentleman and start a chase in a circle. Last they finally reunite and dance together again. This is all done while twirling a napkin around over your head.
My students took me through step by step and taught me the moves (and tried to convince me that droppin' it like it's hot was part of the cueca, but I knew better.) First Carlos showed me how to dance the traditional cueca, which is more formal, and then Victor taught me the more modern version. It was an awesome class, and a welcome break from the stress of the end of the year. I passed around my camera and got some great photos of my students teaching me to dance!

Farmers Market!

Sunday is one of my favorite days here because there is a small farmers market about 2 blocks from my house.  My roommate Allegra and I go every Sunday and Thursday, and the vendors are starting to know us and remember what we always buy.  There's something about buying directly from the farmer that always makes the food taste better.  This was my haul from Sunday which cost me less than $7.  

Montañas

Santiago is surrounded by two mountain ranges: the Andes to the East and a smaller Cordillera to the west.  The city itself is literally surrounded by mountains, although some days you would never know.  Because it sits down in a valley, Santiago has a terrible pollution problem.  Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I remembered we had mountains around our city.  Here are some pics of the snow-capped mountains.