Trompo (Top) - A favorite Chilean Toy

One of Chile's most popular toys are called Trompos or Tops (in English). Many students in the country make their own trompos by hand. They take a thick stick of wood, a knife, and a piece of rope. When I visited Temuco, a city in the country, some children taught me how to make them by hand. I even caught them playing with the trompo on video. Check out the video here:

My visit to Punta Arenas - the End of the Earth

In July, I took the most exciting trip yet. I traveled to the very tip of South America (right above Antartica). Punta Arenas is very similar to the state of Alaska because of the severe cold tempretures in winter and the amount of daylight depending on the seasons. During the winter in Punta Arenas and in Alaska it is no sunlight for nearly the entire day, and in summer it sunny and bright for almost the 24 hours! I went to Punta Arenas in winter, so it was dark outside for most of the day. Did I mention it was also freeeeeezing cold too?? During my stay I had a chance to visit Torres del Paine, Chile's National Park. It was a breathtaking park, filled with natural beauty. I saw blue glaciers which means they could be hundreds or thousands of years old. They are blue because they are made up of mostly ice and hardly any water. The only color that the glacier can absorb is the color blue! I also got to know a Punta Arenas blizzard. It was amazing, windy, powerful, beautiful and of course very white. I even got to see a snowman making competetion. But these were no ordinary snowmen - one family constructed a life-size horse made of good-old-fashioned-100%-genuine snow.

Visiting Home - And Seeing my CSS Students!!!!

In June, I traveled home for 2 weeks to the USA to visit my family and students. I had a lovely trip, although it was a short one! I loved to see everyone and couldn't believe how big my students had grown in just 6 months. It was also nice to enjoy a little bit of summer sun, since it is winter in Chile during the month of June. It was great trip!! Now, back to Chile.........

Leading a Women's Groups in the South of Chile

In May, I traveled to two cities, Osorno and Puerto Montt, in the South Of Chile to lead religion and sexual education workshops with groups of women. The work was really wonderful because I had the opportunity to meet women from differents parts of Chile and to hear their stories and opinions about women's rights and their country. I was also able to open their eyes to new points of view and possibilities. I initiated group discussions about controverisal topics, thus allowing the women to openly debate and challenge each other's ideas. Even though Chile has a female president, Chile is still a very "macho" country - meaning the men tend to rule. For the majority of the women I worked with, this workshop was virtually the only space that they ever had to freely express their ideas - without being afraid of judgement or controversy. I also helped them to redefine the idea of what it means to be to be a good woman - not just someone who serves dinner and cleans the house, but can also be someone who is independent and extroverted. The women were so grateful for participating in the workshops. My time with them was the highlight of my trip. I hope to lead more workshops in the future.

Celebrating Passover and Easter in Chile

During the holiday season, I had the opportunity to explore 2 important holidays in 2 different religions. I attended a Passover dinner at a Jewish synagoge in Viña del Mar. I was shocked when I first arrived because I had to go through a ton of security in order to be given access to enter. They do this in order to make sure that they don't let anyone in who is prejudice and wants to harm the community instead of worship there. I was stunned since I am from a country where religious freedoms allow houses of worship to keep their doors open to the public. The passover dinner was very beautiful and very Deee-licious. The Jewish community is small here and many Jews don´t know how to read Hebrew. For this reason, many of the Hebrew prayers are written out phonetically in Spanish, so people can still sing and pray along. I was embarrassed because I was reading the phonetic Spanish like English.
For Easter, I traveled to the small town of Salamanca where I attended a church ceremony and in honor of Easter. The entire town met in the local Catholic church and prayed before a statue of Jesus laying in a beautiful bed. After some time, a few people picked the statue up and carried it outside of the church. The rest of the town walked behind them in a parade like fashion. I joined them. They also carry other important figures, like the Virgin Mary. The town sang Church songs together and finally when we reached the top of a hill, they set the statue of Jesus down and left it there. Then, the and the town returned to the church. A few hours later, the town walked together again, singing - to go fetch Jesus. It was a beautiful and unique ceremony, and one I shall never forget. I was just happy that in the end, we were able to find the statue of Jesus again.

My favorite city - Valparaiso

My favorite city (so far) in Chile is Valparaiso. It is a city filled with hills that sits right on the coast. All of the houses are bright colors and many are so high up in the mountains, that you must take an elevator to reach the homes. The streets are thin and long, and many of the streets are cobbled-stone. There are many interesting music concerts, restaurants and museams to visit. Many of Chile`s goods are imported and exported through Valparaiso. The people who live here are called Porteños, because they live near Chile`s ports. The Navy is also stationed in Valparaiso. Valparaiso is a city that looks like nothing else I ever seen in my life - it is unique and fascinating. I hope to explore it some more!!!

SALSA TIMEEEEE

Music is in the air. Here in Chile, Chileans have come to love the Puerto Rican and Domincan music. You can often here salsa and merengue being played in my night clubs. Chileans also love to dance cumbia (from Columbia) and reggeton (from Puerto Rico). Recently, the city of Vina del Mar had their 50th Festival de Viña Celebration. This is a week long string of concerts and song competitions. Crowd favorites included: Marc Anthony, Santana, Juanes and Daddy Yankee.
I decided to bring a little bit of music to my job, so I started a Salsa class in English here. The class is very popular and my students love practicing their salsa moves and their english language skills. Since the class has been so popular, my boss has made me Director of Extra Cirricular Activities at work. I am currently working on putting together a English theater program and a pen-pal system between my students here and my CSS students in NYC. I am enjoying the many opportunites that I am creating for myself and others here in Chile and abroad. Never a dull moment; this is an exciting adventure.

My Woman`s Group

My favorite thing that I am doing in Chile is working with the woman`s rights group called Catholicas Por el Derecho de Decidir. They are a group that fights for sexual education for women - teaching young women how to be responsible sexually and how to protect themselves. They also are fighting to legalize abortion (the controversial issue of ending ones pregnancy early) in Chile because it is illegal for any reason, even if the mother is going to die if she remains pregant. One of the results of Chile`s strict abortion laws, is that many women are dying because they are performing illegal, un-steril abortions. Since I studied religion in college, I do a lot of research for the group about the Catholic Church´s opinion about safe-sex and abortion. In May, I will be taking at a university in Valparaiso, Chile about this issue. The women in the group are all very nice and interesting. We each bring a different perspecitive and talent to the table and I am enjoying working with them.

Vina del Mar - here I am!!!! :)

I arrrived to Vina del Mar in March and moved into my beautful little apartment. My favorite part about it is the view of the city. My landlady is so nice and there is even a free housekeeper who cleans my room once a week!!:) My neighbors are also very friendly and young. I started my job working as an English professor at a Language Institute called Tronwell. My students are university aged students to adults. It is different to teach older people, but my students are very nice and I am enjoying working with them. They all want to learn English very much because it is so important in this globolized world. This is similar to the United States, where it is important to learn Spanish. My students work very hard and spend hours a day (sometimes after a long day of work or school) at the institute studying in the language laborary or taking conversation classes. The people are work with are very nice - they are a mix of Chilean, Canadian and American professors - there ar 5 teachers in total. I miss my CSS family very much, and I think about my co-workers, students, and their families all of the time, but I feel like I am doing very important work here and for this I am thankful.

Sports

Chileans love love love soccer. They love to watch and play it. Chileans hope that their soccer team this year will make it to the World Cup. Within Chile, their are two popular Chilean teams: Colo-Colo and Universidad Catolica. Some Chileans also enjoy playing basketball and rugby. Chileans are generally not as tall as the All-Star basketball players from the states, so they have to juimp even higher to make slam dunks. Although tennis is a sport reserved for the more wealthy, Chile is proud to have Chilean Olympic gold medalist tennis players. A crowd favorite is Fernando Gonzalez (my namesake). A traditional Chilean sport is called the Rodeo. During the game, two men on horses try to hit a cow in different parts of its body. The game is much to violent for my taste!Most recently, people from the United States have introduced many Chileans to Ultimate Frisbee. Even I started playing down here. It`s a lot of fun.

Buen Probecho!

Chilean Cuisine is not the healthiest in the world, but it sure tasts good. My favorite foods here are Chilean Asado (Barbeque). Chileans often have barbeques with friends to celebrate special occacions - like a birthday or a soccer game. They have lots of delicious breads here. Chilean food does not have lots of flavors like Puerto Rican food, Chileans season most of their foods simply with salt. Chileans eat three meals a day, just like in the United States, except lunch is their biggest meal. For breakfast and dinner Chileans usually eat bread, ham and cheese. Chileans love pizza, but you can't beat New York pizza!!! Some of the most famous typical Chilean food include empanadas, completos, chorillanas. Empanadas which is a mass of bread with usually meat or cheese inside. Completos are hot dogs with avocado, ketchup, mustard, mayonese and more. Completos make New York hot dogs look like Incompletos. haha. Chorillanas are french fries with meat and cheese on top. It is probably the most unhealthy of the Chilean foods - I wish it didn´t taste so good. Chileans also eat a lot of pasta and rice. Even though there is a lot of unhealthy Chilean food, Chile also has many fresh organic fruits and vegetables. Avocado is probably their favorite and most eaten home grown food here. It is so sweet and delcious. Mmmmmm....this post has made me very hungry......

Los Villos- Cooling Off in the Pacific

Time
to
visit
the Pacific!!!

For the weekend, I visited Los Villos, a city located on the pacific coast. The city is called Los Villos because in the 15th century, a British nobelman named Lord Willow decided to become a pirate. He sailed to Chile and decided to stay there. The Chileans had trouble pronouncing his name correctly. When they said it, it sounded like Los Villos. Now, the city where he lived is called this. The town was beautful and tranquil. I enjoyed eating fresh fish and relaxing by the beach. The Pacific Ocean water is much colder than the Atlantic Ocean; but I still managed to take a quick dip! :) I can't believe that it is summer here!

Traveling On Horseback in Tahuinco

I had a fabulous time in Salamanca. One of my favorite adventures was when I went to a town called Tahuinco. It is located in the mountains. Many farm families live there. I went horse back riding and swimming in the river with some school children who live there. Although these children don't have very much money and material things, they are very happy and enjoy exploring nature and taking care of their animals. It was a day to remember. I loved meeting all of my new friends. This city girl had a great time in the country!!!!