At 8:30 this morning (yes believe it) I found myself ushered into the lobby of el Liceo Santa Theresa with a bunch of secondary English students, ready for a field trip to Valparaíso. First of all, my first day here, and we have a field trip, how cool is that? It is English week, and we were headed to Plaza Intendencia for English week with the students from two different schools in Miraflores, Viña. There I was, sheepishly standing in the middle of the students, awkwardly intimidated, but some took an interest (or pity) on me and wished to converse in English. Hugo and Aaron were some of the oldest students, and had studied English as long as I had studied Spanish. They were thrilled that I could talk to them in Spanish. From here we hopped on a micro to rendezvous the other school, then microed our way again. Picture it, for a field trip, the teacher flagging down a random micro for all of her students. It was awesome. We just walked into the street, flagged a micro, that was it, and me tagging along, marveling that I could be wandering in public with school students when the school did not even have info about me on file, no clearances, nothing, imagine it.
The festival started in the plaza with stands run by the schools and other organizations. I hung out with the students from my school, trying to learn the ways of the Chilean adolescent. Their English was really good, and so my Spanish mindset for the entire day was messed up, but it was all good. Students presented with speeches, music, and my students with debate. They argued for compulsory technical training, entirely in English, and made a pretty decent argument. During the entire presentation, a group of protesters had made its way through the streets, parking in front of the government building that was a backdrop for the podium where the students were speaking. They held off the festival, but the protest (for assistant teachers) persevered, and so they gave up and started anyway. Witness to my first protest in Chile. Oh and packed lunches, coleciones of palta and pollo mmm, so simple yet soo good.
I met the principal, who greeted me with the customary kiss on the cheek and hug. The students too, all of them, same greeting, same way of congratulating them for a job well done. Wow! How often do you get greeted like the principal like that? I love it and at the same time can't imagine it. Imagine, in the US, if this happened; we can't touch kids, not at all, and we certainly can't hug and kiss them, it is not part of our culture. It should be.
After class I returned home for lunch #2 and once. After, having not eaten enough, I set out to Bravissimo in Viña for some ice cream with Javi and Trena, with Javi's friends joining later. I ordered a huge crepe filled with ice cream and manjar and fruit, and about 5 times the size of a normal person's ice cream. There is something wrong with me. It was a way fun time and good conversation. I can make it there in 25 minutes walking to micro, micro, then walking, or 45 walking, so I walked home for the exercise. Aww I love Javi and Trena!
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