I finally figured out why everyone wears spandex!

It's because very few families have driers. This leads to hang drying outside....aka your clothes never shrink-up, re-elasticize(?), what have you. My shirts are suddenly longer and my pants a little loose--even after washing/drying. While this helps ones self-esteem, it's also frustrating. I own (almost) all cotton clothing, so I can only imagine what I'll look like in a few months. yikes. I suppose I could go to the mall and buy spandex/nylon/polyester clothing like the majority of Chilean women. That is definitely an option... 

Bus update! Nelson, one of my four host brothers, gave me his receipt of payment at the U de Concepción. Most students have a student ID card but some use this receipt temporarily to get the student pricing on the bus. Holla!! Paying less for the bus makes it so much better. I would even venture to say it is now enjoyable. No, tolerable. Sometimes. I only pay $140 CHP instead of $440CHP. (about .25 cents versus .85 cents) That's huge! Only problem: I can't use it past May. Solution: host brother number 2. His girlfriend has a German last name and I'm (hopefully) going to use her ID. 

Duoc update: 1st Quiz on Monday. let's see how you'd do:

1. Where _____ you born?     I ____ born in July.

2. ____ you eat breakfast this morning?   2. Yes(No), I ____/_____.

3. When I was a child, I used to...... (write 3 sentences using "used to"..)

There you have it. This is the quiz. It's amazing how difficult it was for me to explain why you use "did" sometimes and "were" other times. (Were/was= to be verbs, Did=action verbs).

Just yesterday I received the Teacher's Edition of the book. Hallelujah! Despite the fact(s) that I speak English and give my best effort to help students learn, without step-by-step grammar structures and formulas, I was just confusing them. Or maybe they always look completely lost. It's all good now though. I have the foundation of grammar points and can work with the book activities to come up with my own. Still haven't seen any students from my Advanced Eng. class though. I think it's going to come back to haunt me when everything sorts out because I'll have to make up the classes they missed. It'll be 7 on Friday. 

Also, last Saturday night, we had the first Duoc Concepción "reunión," or get together. Apparently, the Conce crew is lucky because at other sites, the teachers barely talk to the volunteers due to "stealing classes." yikes.. Anyway, my friend Jen and I got lost walking there, and upon our arrival we were bombarded with welcomes, questions (Están bien? Dónde fueron?) and food. This was all typical Chilean style: "Hi! Good to see you! Where were you? It is dangerous to be walking this time of night! What do you want to drink? Eat?" Before I knew it, I had a glass of wine and 2 pieces of cake. The party never moved from the table. We stayed there, ate, drank and listened to stories and gossip about Duoc, past volunteers etc. Out of nowhere, our boss started playing classic power ballads on the piano and a few others chimed in. Random. 

Speaking of random.....one of my students has my last name! Another Wetzig in Chile. !? She was new to class last week-- has yet to show up again, but that's beside the point-- and came up to me after class to ask what my last name was. I said "Wetzig," while reaching for a marker to write it out on the board but she said, "Yo también!" Me too! She showed me her ID card and all. Geraldine Wetzig. It's a little creepy how similar it is to my full name. Maybe her great great grandfather went to Chile from Austria and his brother went to America......

One more thing: I'm reading El Alquimista (The Alchemist) by Paolo Coehlo. It's about a little boy who travels from Spain to Africa in search of treasure. Thinking about all the random things I've seen lately and the routine I'm settling into, I liked this:

"He looked around at the empty plaza again, feeling less desperate than before. This wasn't a strange place, it was a new one." 

I suggest finding a similar 3'x4' portrait of child-dog happiness for your own home. How could one be sad looking at this everyday?

A few pictures of my room. 

Duoc UC- San Andrés, Concepción

great expectations

First things first, the month-long training in Santiago continues to prove itself valuable and practical. Obvio, po! (loose translation: "well, duh!") it should have been valuable and practical.  Nonetheless, in my short resume of experiences, "training" for a certain position or job is often filled with a lot of fluff and preparation. Long sessions filled with "goal-setting" and "expectations." In Santiago, WorldTeach training was well-balanced: warm fuzzy interpersonal time, combined with a dose of reality.  We were told many times to "go with the flow," be "tranquilo," laugh at the bureaucratic merry-go-rounds that we'll encounter etc. I now realize what our directors meant to say was this: DuocUC is disorganized mess. 

What throws you off though is the "look" of Duoc. On the outside, it looks really really nice. The site itself is quite modern, outfitted with wireless, computer labs, up-to-date science laboratories, a comfortable cafeteria, lots of windows and sleek metal. It even sits on top of a hill! Reminiscent of a certain place in my not-so-distance past...

Given all of the above, we, the Conce crew, were in a healthy state of mind going into Monday morning. Expectations not to high nor too low. 

Reality check: At this point, I should have encountered students from all five of my classes. I'm 2 for 5. Three whole classes are MIA. Those two classes, both intermediate level, are great! Monday and Wednesday mornings are smooth sailing. I taught them "What's up?!," "Awesome," how to pose questions in the past using "did you" and "were you." They even made name tags and assumed American versions of their names. Arturo is now Arthur. Yesica is now Jessica.

It's Monday afternoon, Wednesday afternoon and Friday all day that concern me. Wha' happen? I arrived at Duoc ready to go. Heels and all. (by the way, I think the heels were a one time deal: the hill, the bus, the sand walked through to get to the bus. mmm, no más.) I rushed to "carpetas," a classic Chilean--unnecessary-- addition to the teacher's day. "Carpetas" keeps a 3-ring binder for each profesor/a and keys to every room. Before every class, the prof has to go to carpetas, ask for the binder, sign out for the class and get a room key. My experience so far has been wrong room numbers, different section numbers, no attendance lists, no more keys...no part of the system functions as it should. Yet. "Chicken with my head cut off" would describe the situation well. Such is life. The thing is, no one else seems too worried about it (ie. my boss, other teachers), so I'm not too worried about it either..

Will learn about patience this year. 

The micros

Though I've only just arrived in Talcahuano/Conce, I have come to accept the micros as a daily part of my routine. "Los micros," small city buses, are everywhere here in Concepción and serve as the main mode of transportation. Although they provide some great people watching time and a peek into daily Chilean life, I already dread the thought of them when I am eating breakfast in the morning. The waiting, the huge gust of hot sandy exhaust as the bus barrels toward the stop, the crotchety bus drivers**, the nauseating stop and go driving and the awkward timing of "beeping," or signaling when you want to get off makes my trips from Talcahuano to Conce...pesados.

The first day wasn't so bad. I hopped on with my host mother and she handled everything. All I had to do was sit down. Easy enough. Smooth sailing. The next day, my host brother went with me to the Duoc site for the first time. Again, he handled everything and even got us a cheaper student rate. On our way home, I knew when to get off and was feeling pretty confident.

Then came the next morning when I faced it all on my own. Cristóbal, my host bro, reviewed the the signal and phrase used to bargain for half price with me- the peace sign held close to your body with your fist turned toward you- and I was on my way. 

To my surprise, it worked. I'm convinced it was mostly due to my gringa-ness and less so to my handle of Chilean Spanish and subtle hand gestures, but the point is, it worked. I was excited about this little victory for awhile, but then came the challenge of getting off at the right stop. Duoc is on a major highway and the buses don't stop unless they have to. I got up a bit too late and the driver grunted something to me about not stopping for a few more meters. I looked back and saw the Duoc fading over the hill and finally said, "Aquí!." He stopped and I found myself on a sidewalk in between both sides of the highway. Great. After jumping a couple barricades and realizing I needed to be on that side of the street, I finally found my way to the pedestrian bridge, crossed back over the highway and trudged up the steep hill at the base of Duoc. And this was just day one. One way.

To get home, I have about a ten minute walk across another highway- this one has a stoplight!- to the mall. Luckily, every bus stops at the mall but the hard part is making sure it's the right bus. I can only take "Via Futuro E," not "F" or any other letter. Just E. Of course, given that this is South America and everyone just knows what bus goes where, there is no need for signs or cards in the windows. It's a guessing game. An optimist could say it keeps me on my toes. The reality is I just end up asking someone about every single bus that arrives. This method has worked so far, as no one has sent me to the opposite end of the city. Yet.

Once you are on and either sitting (lucky), or standing (not so lucky), then comes the fun game of "stop every 5 feet." Seriously, Chileans won't walk any more than absolutely necessary. The bus stops, people get off, starts again, then someone immediately rings the bell. Not half a block later, we stop again, more people get off etc. On and on, until my stop comes, and I jump off at precisely the right moment between the end of a rolling stop and a jolt into acceleration. I get out my keys and breathe easy as I realize, "no more bus rides for today!" 

**The best crotchety(?) bus driver was this morning. I tried the peace-sign plea for a cheaper rate, and the he denied me. His response, "Chile needs your money." My response? I turned, scurried to the back and jumped off half and hour later with a well-timed "beep" hoping he wouldn't be the one to drive me home. 

Gringa moves in

The 80s live on.

After a short mental calculation, I realized that "Chile" has been part of my frequent thoughts and to-do lists, for almost a year. And I've only been here a month! Ironically, it is only now, days before I begin teaching, that I finally understand what my place is here. The past month has been a whirlwind of change: learning how to teach, taking in a new culture and trying to understand Chilean Spanish. 

I spent most of February in Santiago Centro, the heart of the city, living with 19 other volunteers and random travelers in Andes Hostel. Santiago is like any other big city--fast-paced, fairly dangerous, loud, and smoggy. Side note: the 80s are huge here. Never in my life have I seen such a concentrated mass of mullets, 80s garb-glitter, ripped jeans and all, and death metal t-shirts. The rat tail is all the rage. Young and old, girls and boys. They love it. 

Nonetheless, it always amazes me how fast a place can come to feel like home. A place that felt so foreign and distant at first came to be very comfortable in just a few short weeks. Looking back, training was busy. We took off running from the moment we landed. Sessions lasted from 9am to 7pm Monday through Friday. Most days ended with a refreshing beverage on the roof of the hostel. By the way, Chile is known for their wine for a reason--beer here leaves much room for improvement. 

Yet here I am, only days later and all of that feels a world away. A short plane ride (50 minutes) or a long bus ride (7 hours) from Santiago and I've officially arrived in Concepción. Long story short, I live in the burbs. Power lines, same house different color, strollers, joggers, all of it. That said, there are also stray dogs, horse and buggies carrying entire families or loads of foods clomp down the street, and trash lines the canal. The word "contrast" comes to mind...

The house has a Christmas theme- green with a red door. I am safely situated in my little room equipped with your-run-of-the-mill bedroom furniture. No window, but a nice little sky light lets in a cloudy stream of sunlight during the day. Biggest surprise: Internet. I am (literally) hooked up. 

My family is great. As another volunteer described it, it's like a Chilean Brady Bunch. I live with my mother, Gladys, a sweet, funny, caring women in love with Marc Anthony's music. She works hard to care for her children-myself included. She says we are the queens of a house full of boys. My Dad, José Bernardo, works in the small town of Puren-the family moved to Conce to educate their sons- about four hours away by bus as a school administrator. Unfortunately, he is only able to come back once every two weeks. He loves to talk and thinks it's funny how slow he needs to speak so I can understand. Also, I was quick to learn of his passion for intense inspirational music. Specifically, The Secret Garden- The Dawn of a New Century. Most of Sunday morning was spent listening to a mixture of Anne of Green Gables and Irish Orchestra music through fuzzy speakers. He left on Sunday afternoon, and he's sent me emails each day. 

I also have two host brothers. So far. Cristóbal, 19, was a former DuocUC student. We went running the first day and he helped me learn a few tricks for the crazy bus system. He also introduced me to my new favorite treat--chocolate with rum and raisins and Spanish cards.

Yesterday, another "brother" moved in. Nelson is a student in his fifth (of six) year of school at the University of Concepción. He studies the American equivalent of IT. He lives next door and has quite the affinity for reggatón music. Thanks to facebook, we are already friends. Officially. 

In few weeks, the other son, Bernardo, will return from a summer of work exchange program in Delaware. There is also a forth housemate possibility. According to Gladys, he's suffering from a break up with his "polola," girlfriend, and may be too heartbroken to start the school year. Updates to come.

Each day brings it's own set of frustrating language barriers and random random contrasts, but I can say for sure that this skinny little country has been good to me so far. Buenas noches.