September | 2009 | jesup's blog

Javiera

I’ve been busy with activities.
Other than teaching.
I went to Ayquina with a couple volunteers and my friend Niko and his family. It’s a crazy little event. Mind you, all of the Catholic Schools in Calama are shut Monday and Tuesday for it. It’s tradition for most everyone in Calama to trek the 60 miles to this tiny village of Ayquina, where there is an annual weekly celebration in honour of the Virgin Mary. And by trek, I mean walk. Luckily, I avoided that part. I managed to log a good 6 hours witnessing aforesaid event, which involved countless groups of elegantly dressed men and women performing synchronized dances, some or all of which harbor some sort of religious symbolism. In any event, there were angels and gargoyle-esque things and dudes who looked like they came from Mortal Kombat. However, we came early in the day and were well-worn out of the tireless dancing routines by lunchtime. The real bummer was that, other than one dedicated heinekin drinker, we witnessed zero drinking. “The party starts when the sun goes down” surely must have been the mantra, and we couldn’t hold out until dusk. It must be part of the ritual.
I also attended a funeral.
It was for the father of my mother’s brother’s wife. It was very interesting and emotional. We first went to the wake at the home. There was an open-casket, but I didn’t wander anywhere near. I wore a tie, but most people just wore normal clothing, except for the immediate family, who wore black. After a short time at the house, we followed the procession of cars to the main church of Calama, in the city centre. The diseased was an ex-police officer, and there were a number of police there. 6 or so of them stood military-style around the casket during the church service. They had big guns and twirled them around when they were ordered to do so. Finally, we went to the cemetary. The cemetaries look nothing like they do here. The caskets are placed in these simply-built small edifices, which are maybe 12 feet high. The caskets are placed in the edifices in grid-like fashion. Anyway, they slide the casket in and then there’s an enclosed space in front of the casket to place flowers, photos, and other items. While my family was calm, it got very emotional.
Okay, now for Chile’s Independence Day celebrations, or Dieciocho, as they call it. However, dieciocho (18 September) is a bit misleading, because unlike our 4th of July — celebrated solely on that day — “Dieciocho” festivities were celebrated from 16 Wednesday to 19 Sunday. At school on Wednesday, there were no classes. In the morning, there activities in the gym (notably, dancing the cueca). Then at 11 or so the students played games and prepared a barbeque in and around their classrooms (with some help from faculty, parents). I was invited to join 4G, a class of seniors. After the barbeque, students were free to leave. Then, for some reason, students had class on Thursday until lunchtime (with maybe a %50 attendance) and then Friday there was no school.
Okay, I gotta skip some stuff, but I spent tons of time drinking beer and vino de frutilla (wine with strawberries) and ChiCha (customary Dieciocho grape-based drink) and eating infinite barbequed meats and empanadas. We played lots of games, including one called “Sopa (Frog)” which is sorta like Cornhole or Bags. You get 6 copper coins and have to toss them from a certain distance onto this little platform, which has holes and a Frog with an open mouth and whatnot. I might have a picture. We also played Guesstures, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, sang karaoke, and danced danced danced. It was pretty awesome. Oh– and all the games were scored and were girls versus boys. And there were always stakes. Sometimes it was drinking, but later we got more creative with the “penitencia” hahaha.
After two heavy nights of aforementioned activities, we used Sunday to continue our patriotic duties at a friend’s home for another barbeque. Then, we went to the city park (Parque el Loa) for the Ramada. The Ramada is this fair-esque event which draws tens of thousands over the few days that it goes on. There are all sorts of food and drink and family activities.
Eventually, however, the partying ceased, and I was allowed to scamper home in time for Sunday Night Football.

: Javiera

: Cueca!

: At the school Gym. My bros (Rodrigo, far left; and Danilo, second from right)

: Danilo dancing the Cueca

: Rodrigo dancing the Cueca

: My friends from 4G. Class BBQ.

: Karaoke!

: Javiera and Valentina

: Erotic dancing!

: the guys

: the ladies

: Chile Tradition: ~Anticucho~

: Cristian with his Anticuchos

: Sopa!

: The back patio where we grilled and played sopa

: My host mother acting out Guesstures

: Me at the Ramada in Parque el Loa

: Danilo at the Ramada

: Chile Pride

: Valentina

: Felices Fiestas Patrias, amigos.

: The Ramada

Now that’s a weekend.

It’s been almost two weeks since my last post. And, doubtlessly, events have ensued. I’ve been bonding with my family more, especially my 4-year old sister Javiera. We chase each other around the house, dance to Michael Jackson, toss our handmade confetti in the air (we yell “Nieve!” as the white (snow) flakes come fluttering down), and build forts. I think we accomplish a good deal without much more than a handful of words. Speaking of my Spanish, it’s difficult to gauge my competency. It’s still not very good of course, but I am definitely learning words and phrases everyday, and every so often I will surprise myself and others with a fairly accurate thought (or, god-forbid, a proper sentence) in Spanish. I am working on staying patient and determined in my quest to learn. Like all forms of learning, it’s painful.humbling.overwhelming.enchanting. I love it.
This is probably greatly due to the fact that I have a number of student-friends and others who speak excellent English and are eager to help me learn their language. I cannot overstate how warm, sincere and considerate Chilenos have been toward me. In addition, I’ve gone over to homes of different families for dinner (tecito) and other events, and the warm, family-oriented atmosphere is very consistent. Even in homes of teenage boys and girls (such as in my own home), family members seem to actually like each other. They aren’t in a rush to flee to their room or go out to see their friends. For example, yesterday I met with my good student friend Niko. On Friday, it was his sister Maria’s 16th birthday. He told me that just he and Maria went out together and had an amazing time. They saw some mutual friends and later ended up dancing somewhere until 5am. Mind you, they weren’t getting wasted drunk or spending tons of money. I thought it was pretty cool. Speaking of Niko and Maria and cool, they invited me to go to Ayquina with their family tomorrow. It’s going to be awesome. Pretty much there’s this super tiny town called Ayquina and there is this religious (Catholic) holiday dedicated to a virgin, and everyone in the surrounding cities trek to Ayquina for celebration and festivities (http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/9579). We do not have school on Monday or Tuesday for this event. It’s actually tradition for citizens of Calama to walk to Ayquina. It takes almost two full days of walking. I guess the volunteer at my school walked it last year, and “it’s really beautiful” jajaja, but no thanks… I’ll take the car ride with Niko’s family.
Class is good, too. I’m still adapting, trying to keep things fresh and cool and funny and entertaining and yet provoking for my wonderful lovely students. I taught phrasal verbs last week: break up, break down, pass out, make out, get down, go out. I acted out many of these phrasal verbs, to the students’ utter delight, and I comprised a CD of a few marquee songs which use said Phrasal Verbs, with the students having to come up with some of the core lyrics of the song. I found some good tracks, one of which was Jack Johnson’s “Breakdown.” He sings very clearly, which made it work quite well. However, some of the students weren’t too keen on Jack. But I busted out “Mario featuring Gucci Mane – Break Up” and the girls like that one much better. Side note: favorite types of music from my 9th and 10th grade students: Reggaeton, reggae, rock, and romance. jajajajaja.
I walk a lot everyday. I usually walk back from school, which is a 45 minute walk. But the weather is the same every single day. Warm, pleasant, dry, beautiful. Actually one day last week there wasn’t direct sunlight (due to multiple clouds!!!! OMG!!!) for a solid 18 minutes. It was the first time since I’ve been here that I noticed overcast. But anyway, it’s nice to walk and enjoy the city (I’ve got a good feel for it now), and I’ve also been playing football with some of my students on Fridays. We play 5 v 5 usually, and it’s good fun.
What else what else. Umm… I made friends with a super nice drunk guy called Pavlo who owns a bar in Calama. I’ve been out with him and other friends on two occasions, and both evenings I spent zero pesos on drinks. The guy insists on buying drinks, even filling the table with drinks when we’re still drinking drinks… even buying my friends drinks that he doesn’t even know. Hahaha, I’m really going to need to think of a way to repay this friendly gentleman.
Well, I’m sure after Ayquina I’ll have a plethora of interesting photographs and a new tale to tell.
So until next time.. xoxoxo
P.S. In one of my classes, 4 girls formed a fan club dedicated to doting on my beauty and ignoring anything I’m trying to teach them. However, they did give me a juice box after class, and you have to say that the English in their Fan Poster is pretty solid.