¿Dónde has estado, Jessie?

Hola chiquillos!

Well, here we are, halfway through July 2010! A LOT has happened since I last updated my blog (clearly)! So, in honor of my ONE YEAR in Chile, here's a brief update on my life as well as a list of things I love about Chile/ my experience (so far) in Chile.

(In no particular order...)


1. The palta. Seriously, I eat avocados straight out of the skin with a spoon. They are delicious and cheap and oh man...abundant. Last night, for instance, my chileno neighbor upstairs, put some avocados in a bag and lowered it down to my window. That was his way of luring me upstairs to hang out. He knows me well. All it takes is palta.

2. The natural beauty. Everyday on my way to work I see these massive snow-capped mountains. It never ceases to amaze me. One of my classes is on the 12th floor, so I always situate myself at the conference table so I can see the cordillera. Seriously, it's wow. I've been lucky enough to see Patagonia, el sur, and a little bit of the north. Chile is just so amazing. I'm looking forward to more backpacking adventures!

3. Public displays of affection. Okay, in the States, I HATE PDAs. But here, I find it heart-warming. There's something so adorable and oddly innocent about the way couples (young and old) will interact in the streets, on the bus, in the parks etc. It's nice to see so much love going around. Plus, when the weather's nice, it's kind of awesome making out in a park.

4. Dancing! Now, I've been told that Chile is not the best Latin American country to dance in...obviously, Brazil and Colombia are going to take the cake in that category. However, Chileans dance a whole lot more than Americans and I like this! There is a salsa club in Bellavista where it is totally not weird to dance the salsa with a creepy old man. People don't go there to "hook up"--they go to dance salsa! Y bailan salsa no más!

5. La Vega. So I don't know how I've lived in Chile this long without having gone to the Vega. The Vega is this huuuuge open air market next to the Mapocho River in Santiago. There, you can buy 2 kilos of tomatoes for 600 pesos! That's about $1.20! And, you can get every kind of vegetable and fruit imaginable there! And it's so cheap! It's also the place to go to buy peppers (thanks Peruvians!) So I am currently drying a bunch of peppers to then crush and use all the time. It's awesome.

6. The people I have met. Despite the fact that most of my teacher friends in the south turned out to be creepers, I have been extremely blessed with the people who have entered my life. From a super awesome Chilean family to my WorldTeach amigos and now to my incredible roommates, I am honored to know such a bacán group of people. I've formed unbreakable connections with people and I'm happy to add them to my collection.


Alright, life update.

Mid-May I left San Nicolás to attempt living and working in Santiago. I was feeling pretty rundown and lonely, to be honest. As much as I love the campo, being the only single, non-pregnant, twentysomething in an extremely small town finally started to wear on me. Not that I wanted to go out and party. I just needed people my own age to spend time with. Sadly, they all live in Chillán or are too busy trying to keep their families afloat. Aaaaaand, turns out all my teacher friends from the high school are pedophiles...

So now, I have been teaching business English to CEOs, IT guys, economists, and engineers in Santiago. Surprisingly, I quite like it. I've signed a one-year contract and will actually be making enough money to save! This means, I'll be able to travel! I am also living in a really cool apartment in the centro. I have the greatest roommates in the world! Right now, it's me, Ludette (from New Jersey), Lizzie (from England), and her fiancé Shander (from Ecuador). We all get along great--cooking for each other, watching movies together, and dancing until 5 am. I really hit the roomie jackpot. Plus, Shander's a doctor. So he's been treating my "almost" bronchitis. Success!

It feels good to be independent again. It's been over a year since I have lived on my own, so it is nice being an adult once more. Now if only Chile would stop being so freaking cold!

Weeeeeell, that's about it for now. Hopefully, more excitement will enter my life (good excitement! not bad excitement!) and I can update once more!

And, I also just wanted to say, thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting me endlessly these past few months. From writing letters of recommendation for me to listening to me cry (Erin Burke!), I cannot express enough how much I appreciate it. I'm so glad I have such a great support network. I know some cool people. :)

Cuidense! Y muchos abrazos!


Some fotitos...

Papa Scherer came at the end of May!



New amigos!

"And the mom wanted twins!"

Tonight I was making a ghetto handmade Candy Land for my English Club this Friday afternoon. It was a daunting task, so many colors! Luckily, my totally kick-ass host mom was like, "Jessie, te ayudo?" "Si, po!"

So as we are sitting at the dining table, coloring square after square after square, I mess up the color sequence which leads to my host commenting on my intelligence. (Even in a foreign language they catch on!)

"Jessie, que tonta!"
"Wilma, hay un chiste en mi familia..."

I told her about the Family Joke. The Family Joke goes something like this.
[Jessie does or says something stupid.]
"Jessie, you went to Berkeley?"

El fin.

After I explained the joke (informing her that it's funny because Berkeley is the number 1 public university in the United States and the world), she laughed really hard. This led to her telling me about a certain chilenismo. It is now officially my favorite chilenismo (más de "pan con palta" y "hacer una vaca"). The chilenismo goes something like this:

[Someone does or says something stupid]
"Y la mamá quería mellizos!"

"And the mom wanted twins!" (Or fraternal twins if we're getting picky. I'm sure gemelos works too.)

Get ready. I'm bringing this to the English-speaking world.

New School, Sad Jessie

Due to a series of events that were out of my control/ hindered by my inability to properly speak Chilean (let's be honest, I speak Spanish. Not Chilean), I will no longer be teaching English at my high school. I will still be working with the debate kids, but I will not be teaching classes at Liceo Polivalente San Nicolás. My heart is broken.

It all started last week when my host mom found out the Chinese volunteer was going to be receiving money to teach at my high school. She called up my school director and said, ¨You have to pay my Jessie too.¨ After a series of back and forths, I came to believe that I would be receiving money from the elementary school in town, therefore, I would be teaching at the elementary school AND the high school. I was quite fond of that idea since it meant I would be receiving money and that I would be able to experience both elementary and high school students. Broaden my horizons, you know? But since everything in Chile either happens at the last minute or is miscommunicated, I will be receiving a salary from the elementary school but I will not be teaching at the high school. So today was my last day and I cried on three separate occasions:

1. In my host mom´s car after our meeting with the directora of the elementary school.

2. When I told my co-teachers at the liceo what was up.

3. When I finished teaching 2C, my final liceo class.

When I told Javier, my pal and history teacher at the liceo, that I cried in Wilma´s car he said, ¨Tu eres tan sentimental, Jessie.¨ (You´re so sentimental.) Well...yeah.

I love my kids and I love my co-teachers. One of the reasons I came back is because I finally settled in--I found my rhythm and knew how to be an effective teacher. And I came back after the earthquake because I wanted to give my kids some sense of normalcy. And now, I feel like I´m letting them and my co-teachers down. Although, according to my friend Haley, ¨the earth is letting you and your school down.¨ True fact. Thanks, terremoto.

So tomorrow, I start classes in the básica, grades Kinder through octavo (8th). I'm excited but also sad (obvio, po). As the wise WorldTeach field director Allyson told me today, "Why you cryin'? You get to stay in your town, receive money, AND teach? Stop crying!" Well said, Allyson. Well said.