I am still alive! I promise...

So it has officially been WAY too long since my last update. To pack lots of information into a smaller space, I am going to compile some lists of what is happening:

Santiago has been great. It is very different from Ecuador, and right now, that is not entirely a bad thing.

Things I DO miss about Ecuador:

1) Paying $1.25 for double beverages or $1.50 for a meal.

2) Ability to purchase ANY dvd for $1 or mp3 cds that include 100's of songs with RIDICULOUS cover art and hilarious titles such as "Hard Raps" and "Party Music Songs"

3) Weird/awkward/unique interactions with my host brother, usually centered around eating at awkward hours, during Age of Empires II, at the gym, or a combination of the three

Things I don't miss from about Ecuador:

1) throwing toilet paper in the garbage can

2) the slight, but still tangibly prevalent potential for being ethered and having my organs harvested any time I went out at night

3) outrageously nauseating bus rides

This is a beautiful picture that has literally nothing to do with what I am writing. It is simply serving as visual bubblegum and a means of dissecting these random thoughts. But I do love this picture, and I took it in the country I am talking about, Chile.

Working in St. George is pretty difficult to describe. I will attempt to do so with these thoughts

a) there are over 2,600 students in this school. It is MASSIVE

b) the students are given incredible amounts of freedom. There is literally a train car on campus where teachers are not allowed to go. It is supposed to be for meetings, but it more typically serves as a space to skip class

c) recess is CHAOS. Especially in the first unit. (the school is divided into three units: 1-4th grade, 5th-8th grade, and 9th-12th grade) Let me briefly paint a picture that Francisco and I witnessed our first day:

Activities taking place:

--> Many games of soccer involving rubber balls, 20-25 students chasing each other aimlessly as they kicked, punched, and headed wildly with aspirations of making physical contact with the ball

(Sidenote: Number of students I watched get kicked or head-butted during this game: 3)

Students playing tag

--> Students chasing each other playing tag that involved sticks and swords

--> Students climbing trees and hiding in gardens

--> Students sprinting through the hallways and classrooms on the second floor

--> Student rolling slowly through the dirt in the midst of all of these other kids

Approximate number of students participating in these activities: 800

Approximate number of teachers monitoring these activities: 0

But here was the most ridiculous part: NOTHING HAPPENED. The kids were fine. With this increased freedom they apparently learn how to interact with one another in what ends up being a harmonic chaos.

I have been shadowing 2nd grade for the majority of the time that we have been here. This has come with positives and negatives:

- there is no such thing as classroom management

- the kids have no idea what half of the words you are using actually mean

+ kids will sometimes say ridiculous things based on their lack of linguistic ability (Example: first day, a second grade girl was trying to ask if I had a family. In a squirrely, squeaky voice that took her forever, she said: "Yoo haave muuuthhhhhher, bbrrruuuuutttttter, faaaaaaaater, siiiiiiiiiiiiiister?")

+ working with awesome teachers in the 1st unit

+ not worrying about grading

and best of all + besos on the cheek from the cutest girls you have ever seen at the end of class. This effectively serves to neutralize all frustration/rage/internal struggles regarding the use of corporal punishment in the modern classroom

***Sidenote: kisses on the cheek here are the appropriate means of greeting/saying goodbye to any ladies, regardless of age. This makes for some really awkward interactions, and I am definitely still perfecting my social graces here.

For three weeks, I have been/will be the 4th grade replacement teacher. This has been wonderful/frustrating/terrible/rewarding. It is great to be back in the classroom, but jumping into trying to manage these classrooms is like trying to have create an environment conducive to learning in a Korn concert in the late 1990's (yeah, I went there.)

Sorry my updates have been so infrequent, but I promise more info soon. Here is a teaser:

Incredible hiking weekend

playing touch rugby

being spoiled rotten by my host family

going to a DMB concert

MISS YOU!

Here is a picture of that previously mentioned camping trip. This lake was the most beautiful and cold lake I have ever seen. Good times, good people, better countryside.