Angol, Chile

It's been 3 weeks since I arrived to Angol. It was a 9 and 1/2 hour bus ride that left from a summer's midnight Santiago. I rode in style; the seats fully reclined and I made my way to Angol in a horizontal position. I was warmly greeted by my host family and after intros I asked them an important question.. "Ustedes pueden hablar Inglés?" (Can you speak English?) They replied in swift Spanish. I managed to decipher that the answer was "no." As we rode into town in a Toyota pick-up that belongs to my host uncle, my new family sitting in the backseat, I remember thinking to myself, "This is going to be interesting."

Firstly, I am quite content that my family doesn't know English. It makes for interesting encounters and finding creative ways to communicate. I'm getting pretty good at charades.

My hosts are super nice. Fernando, my host father, works with distribution in supermarkets and loves to teach me about Chile and its customs and its language. My host mother, Sandra, is a hard working mother and operates a snack bar at my school. She cooks delicious foods and makes sure I eat well. Yesyes! And she also makes my bed, even though I try to make it myself.
My host brother Niko is a senior at the high school where I teach. He's hilarious and always makes for fun times at the dinner table. My favorite, though, might have to be my new sister, Fernanda (or Feña). She's 10-years-old and loves to read and draw. She is gorgeous.

The language barrier has been an insignificant obstacle to the fact that I already know my family. I can tell by their actions, their smiles, their eyes, that they are some of the most caring people I've ever met.

I very much enjoy Angol. It's a small city; about 50,000 people. A beautiful Plaza de Armas adorns the city's downtown area, which is a 12-minute walk from my house. There are many piles of rubble, though. Many of the buildings in Angol were destroyed or damaged in the earthquake last month. It was an 8.5 on the richter scale here. Not far from the 8.8 that struck just north of Concepción, about 3 hours from Angol. Despite the loss of homes and businesses, the spirit of the city and its people is evidently stronger than I expected. The people here are tranquil and friendly. They take their time with a calm stroll on broken sidewalks and greet me with "Hola, buenos dias!"

I teach at Liceo Politécnico Los Nogales, a high school about 30 meters from my front door. There are about 250 enthusiastic kids, all who eagerly run up to me and say "Hello, Teacher!" I work with Paulina, the new English teacher at the school. She's 23 also and this is her first year teaching medio (high school). The level of the kids' English is poor, so we've had to start from square one. I have my own classroom and I do listening and speaking activities with the kids. I play my guitar for them and do a bunch of call-and-response and repetition songs with them. It seems like they really enjoy it and it's been quite rewarding to see them learning something.

It's been a juggling act maintaining a balance between cool, hip teacher and strict professor who has to maintain peace in the classroom. Some of the students are completely off the wall! However, I've implemented a punishment system with a verbal warning, white card (2nd warning), yellow card (move their seat), red card (points off grade/sent out of class). It seems to be working well.

Teaching is more fun than I thought it would be. Given that I don't have the same responsibilities as Paulina, the actual English teacher, I do have it easier.
There are both good and okay days. I haven't really had a bad day in these past 3 weeks. I hope you've been having good days too. Nice.

chao.
ry v