Done

I have officially finished teaching here in Chile, and my final week sure ended on a high note. Here's a quick recap.

Class Despedidas - Last week I had one last class with every course and threw the kids a little despedida (goodbye party). We ate, danced, and took lots of pictures, and here are a couple group photos we took:

Some of my 5th graders

Some of my 7th grade boys

Surprise Parties - A couple classes got wind of the fact that I was throwing parties for everyone and decided to turn things around and throw me a surprise party. The picture below shows me with a 6th grade class after I had walked into their room to 45 students screaming "surprise Miss Kelly!!" and tossing confetti in my face. They had printed out pictures of me and taped them up all over the classroom and put together the whole surprise on their own. I of course immediately started crying when I walked in.

End of Year Class Photo - Below is a class photo with one of the graduating 8th grade classes. This is the 8th grade that I've written about before and that most of the teachers can't stand because they're so "unruly." I loved this group and will definitely miss their personalities. Normally the students only take a class photo with their head teacher, but this group asked if they could take one with me as well. This was one of the "loco" photos we took after the official one.

Goodbye Acto - On my final day of teaching the school had a going away assembly for me. Picture recap:

A 5th grader started off the Acto with some amazingly kind words. This is when the tears started flowing.

A group of 6th and 7th graders sang me a song about kindness and friendship.

These very popular 8th graders sang a song in Spanish, but I couldn't tell you what it was about because every girl was screaming at the top of their lungs the whole time.

The Cueca, of course!

This 3rd grader sang a song entirely in English with some killer backup dancers (note the shirts)

These two 8th graders ended the Acto by reading me a letter in English as the translation was projected for everyone. The waterworks really started at this point, in part because I was so touched by what they said but also because I was so darn proud of these two. When I arrived they didn't even know how to ask or answer "What's your name?" in English, and to see them up on stage reciting a letter that I understood completely really struck a chord.

Still sobbing, I was then invited up on stage to receive flowers from the Director.

I then gave the kids a little speech about the importance of hard work and all that good, teacherly advice. Then I told every student that we were going to say the very first word I taught them ("Awesome!") one last time. When I originally taught them this "slang" word I used the motion of putting your fist above your head and pulling it down to demonstrate some of its meaning. I stood up on stage and counted down "3, 2, 1..." and in unison all 400+ students put their fists in the air, pulled them down, and screamed "Awesome!" It was really amazing, and I don't think that explanation does it justice.

The Acto and all the hugs and tearful goodbyes after were extremely emotional. I have never felt so much love from so many people in one place at one time. It was incredible having a room full of hundreds of people applauding and cheering for only me, but I don’t know that I deserved all the love and gifts that I received this past week. I really just came here and did my job, and thanks to certain advantages only afforded to me, the volunteer, I was able to give the students more love and attention than they're used to. Nonetheless, I appreciated everything and was touched so deeply by every single gift or little note or hug or kiss. I will keep and guard those memories forever.

I was talking with a couple Chilean friends the other day about differences between Chile and the U.S., and one difference that really stands out to me is the way foreigners are treated here in Chile. Whenever I had trouble expressing myself or made a fool of myself due to my far from perfect Spanish or my cultural ignorance, Chileans were patient and kind and did their best to help me figure things out and make sure I accomplished what I needed to. Plain and simple, foreigners are just not treated that way in the U.S. My friends told me they thought the difference stemmed from the fact that Americans are still a pretty rare find in Chile, so it's exciting to meet and speak with one. I understand that point and fully embraced that idea in my school (for example, the other day I signed autographs for every 4th grader because, well, they wanted my autograph before I left), but I think the difference also stems from the fact that Chileans really are as kind as everyone says they are. They're warm and helpful and often seem very unaffected by all the challenges they face.

I now begin traveling until February 5th and hope that I can take a bit of that Chilean kindness along with me. This has definitely been a once in a lifetime experience full of unforgettable memories, and I plan on returning to the U.S. more aware of and thankful for all that I have been blessed with and more willing to share my blessings and abilities with those who need them. Plus, thanks to these past 9 months I'll also be returning to the U.S. with some much improved Spanish! THANK YOU to everyone who made this experience a possibility for me. I couldn't have done it without your support, be it financial, emotional, or spiritual. See you soon!!

Nearing the End

If you can believe it, tomorrow begins my last week of school. I have been insanely busy finishing things up at school and in our community groups, going to many a despedida (goodbye party), spending time with my Chilean friends and family, and applying to grad schools on top of it all. Here are some pictures for recap:

Adult English Class - Here some of the guys are watching videos of skits they wrote and acted out in our previous class. Considering the amount of English they knew when we started the class (almost none), their skits were awesome. Tomorrow's our last class... we'll be having a fiesta, of course.

Spanglish Speakers - We had our final meeting this past Saturday. Due to strikes in all our schools as well as at the local university, we had some frustrating meeting cancellations during this past month. Our final meeting, though smaller than normal, was still a lot of fun. We got some secret pen pals started and tried to keep the ball rolling so that this program can continue without our guidance. Hopefully it does!

English Club - This past school year I've had an English Club for my 7th and 8th graders that met every Friday. We played games, did some fun English activities online in the computer lab, and wrote to pen pals in the U.S. We had our last meeting this past Friday and did a review of all we'd learned, and they seriously impressed me with everything they remembered. I'm definitely going to miss this group.

English Poster Competition - Throughout the year my wonderful parents and sister sent me all kinds of fun gifts for my students, ranging from Spanish/English dictionaries to Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus folders and crayons. While I've given a few of them away, I held on to most knowing I wanted to do something big at the end of the year. I decided to have an English Competition in which the students were to make a poster answering the question, "Why is English important to you?" I got 36 submissions of amazing work and couldn't be happier or prouder of my students, and tomorrow I'll announce the winners during the morning assembly. Every single kid wins something, of course. The poster above is the overall winner, and the two below are second and third place.

This upcoming week is going to be bittersweet. I'm very excited to begin traveling and seeing more of South America, but boy am I going to miss my students and Chilean family. My school and host family both welcomed me with open arms into their communities and lives, and their kindness is something I'll keep with me for the rest of my life. After next week I'll write much more about that as well as the rest of my experience... until then I have many a despedida to attend!

English Week and More Travel

A couple weeks ago Chile celebrated English Week in schools and universities across the country. My co-teacher and I put together a school-wide assembly that included listening to the U.S. National Anthem, poetry, skits, dancing, and seeing some of my pictures from the states. It was lots of fun to share my culture with both my students and colleagues, and the collective ooooohs and aaaaaahs at hearing fellow students speak only in English or at seeing my pictures from LA and New York were great. Here are some pics:

One of my fifth grade students reciting a poem entirely in English

Some 7th and 8th graders dancing to Michael Jackson's "Beat It"

I presented pictures from NYC, Los Angeles, Alaska, Utah, and the Bay Area. Favorite pictures included the Statue of Liberty, the Hollywood sign, and my Brooklyn street blanketed in snow.

We took advantage of a three day weekend last week by going to a town called Pucón about four hours south of L.A. Pucón is known for its adventure sports and beautiful scenery, and despite some cold, rainy weather we took full advantage of all the fun there is to do down there.

Jake and I in front of Lake Villarrica, right near our cabin. We all ended up jumping in that freezing lake later...

We went white water rafting down the Trancura river. It was so cold but so worth it!

We zip lined through the forests and back and forth over the river. FUN.

Walked up to the big statue of Jesus overlooking Pucón and Lake Villarrica. On a clear day you can also see the snow covered Villarica Volcano, too.

It was a really fantastic weekend, and I think all of us wished it could have been just a few days longer. We had to get back, though, since only five more weeks of teaching remain. My colleagues have already chosen the date and place for my despedida, or goodbye party, and it sounds like it’s going to be quite the event. They’ve even started buying the alcohol for it! I’m not quite ready to imagine a week without hundreds of kisses on the cheek and screams of “hello Miss Kelly!!” from across the patio, though, so I plan on doing my best to cherish these last weeks!

Being Asian American in Chile

A few nights ago I was having dinner with my host mom and a bunch of her friends when one of her friends’ husbands started talking about a Japanese man who lives here in Los Angeles. Apparently this man is doing research about the area and has been living here for a little over a year. As the husband and my host mom’s friends talked about this man and all of the “funny” things he does and wears, they continually pulled back the sides of their eyes and made jokes about being Chinese. As I said before, this man is Japanese. But that’s beside the point. I wish I could say that this was an isolated event that shocked me, but unfortunately this is something that I’ve seen over and over again here in Chile.

The Chilean idea of a North American is generally a lighter skinned, blonde haired and blue eyed person. More generally, Chileans tend to picture North Americans as Caucasian. Given American media, I can’t really blame Chileans for having this image, but it has led a fair number of people to question whether or not I am in fact estadounidense, which literally translates to “United Statesian” (South Americans use “American” to describe themselves as well, while estadounidense is used to describe people from the U.S.). Many people have asked me where I’m from since I obviously stand out, and when I respond that I’m from the U.S., more often than not people will ask me, “but where were you born?” When I continue to explain that I was born and raised in the U.S., as were my parents, they’ll press with more questions about where my grandparents are from, wanting to know why I look different than the “United Statesian” they have in their heads. Once they discover that I’m part Chinese, probably 99% of the time they’ll then pull back the corners of their eyes and either try to “speak” in Chinese or just say something along the lines of, “ah, I could tell were Chinese because your eyes are so small!”

While this type of reaction would be considered offensive in the states, Chileans generally respond with laughs of encouragement. I had been warned ahead of time that this would probably occur, yet despite those cautions I still felt extremely uncomfortable the first few times it happened. Cultural diversity is pretty much nonexistent in Chile, aside from the few indigenous groups that still remain. Without exposure to cultural diversity, cultural sensitivity is understandably lacking. People don’t mean to be offensive, they just don’t know any better. I’d say that direct exposure and education are two of the best methods to increase awareness, and what do you know? I’m a Chinese American teacher! During my lesson on family a few weeks back I included a picture of my whole family (grandparents, cousins, etc.). Because I have a mixed Chinese/Caucasian family, I was able to incorporate some talk about cultural sensitivity as a prepared response to students pulling back the corners of their eyes after seeing my family photo (I anticipated this happening, which it did, in every class). We discussed a range of things, from diversity in the U.S. to how my grandparents ended up in California to how my students would feel if someone teased the way they looked. Overall they were really receptive, and in the end what interested them most was just seeing my family and getting to know a little bit more about my life and where I come from.

Issues of race and culture are global concerns, and if anything these uncomfortable encounters have been a much needed reminder for myself that most of the people in this world don’t grow up in populations as diverse as where I was raised (the San Francisco Bay Area). I grew up surrounded by neighbors and classmates of many different ethnicities and backgrounds, and perhaps because of that, one of the characteristics of the U.S. that I value most is its melting-pot quality. I am happy to share that aspect of what it means to be “United Statesian” with my students, colleagues, and friends here in Chile, and I hope that once I’m gone my students will remember that there’s a lot we can learn from people who are different from ourselves. And, of course, I hope they keep with them the new knowledge that we gringos aren't all blondes!

Fiestas Patrias - Week 2

The Fiestas Patrias celebrations came and went a week ago, although the celebrations don’t officially end until the last day of September. I went to three different parades, ate what felt like a thousand empanadas, drank my fair share of chicha (a homemade fermented drink) and ponche (white wine mixed with peaches), and danced the cueca again and again and again. It was wonderful.

The highlight of this second week of festivities was definitely my trip out to the inaugurations of the Ramadas with my host mom’s folklore group. The outskirts of Los Angeles are smattered with small, rural communities known as the campo, or country. During Fiestas Patrias every campo community puts together its own ramada complete with music, food, lots of space for dancing, and palm fronds (ramadas) lining the walls and ceiling. Each year the alcalde, or mayor, goes to five or six different ramadas in the campo communities to cut a ribbon, dance the cueca, drink chicha out of a cacho (a bull horn I think…) and officially inaugurate the Fiestas Patrias celebrations. My host mom’s folklore group, which sings and dances traditional Chilean music, accompanies the mayor on this annual tour to perform and play a cueca while the mayor dances.

Her group has pretty much adopted me as one of their own, and I in turn have become their unofficial photographer, so I got to join them on this adventure around the campos. It was great fun for me to go out to all of these smaller communities and see their different ramada set ups and eat all of the delicious food that they had prepared in honor of the mayor (and which they happily offered to the visiting gringa). The experience again showed Chilean pride and patriotism at its best and kicked off four straight days of celebration, with a bit of rest tossed in. I’m now back in school with only eight more weeks left, if you can believe it! These last two months are gonna fly by, packed with classes, travel, our different community activities, and despedidas, or good-bye parties. Not ready to think about that last one quite yet, though!

Fiestas Patrias - Week 1

September 18th is Chile's Independence Day, and this year they celebrate 199 years of independence from Spain. All of the schools in Los Angeles get this week off for Fiestas Patrias (the celebrations surrounding September 18th), so my school spent all of last week celebrating this huge holiday with the students. It was by far one of the best weeks I've had in Chile due to the full cultural immersion and all out fun I had with my colleagues, students, and greater school community. I filled my belly with delicious Chilean food, wore traditional Chilean dresses, and danced the Chilean national dance (the Cueca) for my hundreds of students and their parents. Each day, starting Tuesday, was devoted to one specific aspect of the celebration, so here's a little recap for ya.

Tuesday - Inauguration of the school Ramada

A Ramada is an official Fiestas Patrias party, decorated with palms and flags and red, white, and blue. All of the students gathered inside our festively decorated gym to watch the school Director dance the Cueca with one of the deans, and after that, pair after pair jumped into the circle to dance the cueca.

I came to school dressed in a traditional, huasa elegante suit, originally worn by the wealthy land-owner type women. I had hoped to just stand on the sidelines and take pictures, but the librarian asked me to dance the cueca and I just couldn't refuse. So dance I did, and thanks to one cueca class taught by one of my colleagues followed by a night of practice with my host mom, I did all right! It was pretty fun to be there dancing a dance that everyone in Chile recognizes as their own, and my students' reactions after were absolutely priceless.

Wednesday - Typical Games

The students and some of their parents gathered outside for all kinds of games typically played during Fiestas Patrias. These included three-legged races, relays, kite-making, and tug-of-war. The teachers all told me that we unfortunately couldn't get a pig to do their favorite game, which also involves some soap. Good thing, I think...

Please note where the kindergardener is in relation to the 5th - 8th graders at the start of the potato sack race. We all agreed he needed a little head start. He won!

Thursday - Typical Food

This day was amazing. The perimeter of the gym was lined with tables, one for each class, and the tables were covered with chilean foods and decorations. The students all got to go around and look at the foods, and after that each class got to go to its respective table and eat up. The gringa teacher, of course, was given food from every table! Deeeelicious!

After the kids all ate their food, cueca dancing of course ensued. I was invited to go dance up on stage ("We have a big surprise for you, kids! Miss Kelly's going to come up and dance the cueca!" This was quite the surprise for me, too, I might add...). After my stellar performance, I was walking around, chatting with the kids and their parents, when these two little third graders in the picture above ran up to me. "Tía, he wants to dance with you!" "No, he wants to dance with you!" "No, he does!" We eventually agreed on dancing the cueca as a trio, and we began dancing inconspicuously among the crowd. Slowly, though, a circle formed around us, and I danced two cuecas with these young gentlemen as everyone cheered us on. Once the second song ended they said, "Tía, we're thirsty!!" and ran off giggling. It was probably one of most precious moments I've had during my time here.

Friday - Final Presentation

Friday morning started off with all the kids in the gym and another "surprise! Let's invite Miss Kelly up on stage to dance the cueca for you all again!" Thanks for the warning, colleagues! This time I was in what's known as a china dress, typically worn by the women who worked for the landowner types. By now I'd gotten the hang of this darn dance and had a great time dancing with these two 8th graders above.

A group of students then performed the traditional dances from all parts of Chile, ranging from the north to Easter Island to the far south. Their outfits were fantastic and their performances were equally as great.

To top it all off, each class ended the week with more chilean food in their classrooms! The head parents of each class did a great job with the decorations, food, and festivities.

This week was filled with a love and pride for all things Chile, and it was wonderful to experience and be a welcomed part of it all. Throughout the week the students constantly asked me what we do to celebrate the 4th of July in the states, and my answers just could not compare to this week of festivities. Granted, when I was first told that we'd be replacing class time with all of these special events, I thought it was a bit ridiculous. But my school community showed me what it means to be chilean and to feel a real sense of patriotism and pride of one's culture. The best part of it all, though, is that there's still a week of celebrating left! Viva Chile!

Spanglish Speakers

Last Saturday Ryan, Katie, and I kicked off our first official Spanglish Speakers meeting. Spanglish Speakers is a mentorship program we started that links some of the fifth graders from Katie’s and my schools with some sophomores and juniors from Ryan’s high school. Ryan’s school, Liceo de Hombres, is the best public high school in Los Angeles, so his students will serve as great role models for Katie’s and my fifth graders, some of whom come from rough backgrounds and all of whom could use a bit more positive attention in their lives.

Our first meeting was a huge success. To start the morning we gave every student a puzzle piece and had them find their groups – or teams – by finding the other pieces of their puzzle. In total we had four teams, each with two high schoolers and two fifth graders. The teams then chose some pretty fantastic names (Team Awesome, The Brave Race, The Crazy Team, and The Princesses for our group of all girls), introduced themselves in English, and made some amazing team posters. After recess and snacktime (two things we didn’t initially plan for but realized quite quickly would be desperately needed), we regrouped and painted our own Spanglish Speakers t-shirts. It was a great Saturday morning filled with both Spanish and English (hence the “Spanglish”) and lots of getting to know each other.

Spanglish Speakers will not only be a beneficial experience for the fifth graders, who get to spend some time with intelligent and positive role models, but also for the high schoolers, who get to serve as leaders and teachers. Community service is still not a very common concept in Chile, so the fact that these high schoolers are dedicating two Saturday mornings a month to come and speak English with some fifth graders is pretty darn impressive. Katie, Ryan, and I worked really hard in the weeks leading up to last Saturday, and we all agreed that it couldn’t have gone any better! We have some pretty exciting ideas for future meetings up our sleeves, too, so stay tuned!

Antuco

Yesterday Katie, Ryan and I went to Antuco, a nearby town of a little over 3,000 people. Antuco sits at the base of a huge volcano with the same name and is a gorgeous town surrounded by snow-capped mountains. We were invited by Raul, one of the town’s two English teachers, to come and meet his students and get them excited about speaking a foreign language. It was a great day filled with lots of English, good food, and beautiful scenery. Raul also took us on a quick trip up into the Andes, about a half hour from Antuco, and it sure was pretty up there. Here are some pictures from the day!

The adorable Pre-K class. They sang us some fantastic songs in English and were beyond precious.

The high school students after a question and answer session. They all wanted pictures with us and gave us a taste of what it feels like to be a celebrity.

A visit to the school for the kids who live on the extremely rural outskirts of Antuco (there are just over 30 kids in the whole school). They got the three of us to sing our national anthem for them, and in return they sang the Chilean national anthem. They sounded better!

Sometimes I forget how close to the Andes I live. Chile is so beautiful!

Small Victories

This past Friday I was short an English co-teacher. Due to unforeseen circumstances my school is on English teacher number three and in search of number four while number two, the permanent English teacher, heals an injury. That leaves me, the volunteer gringa, to teach all these kids on my own. It’s not an ideal situation, but as I’ve learned over and over here in Chile, you just have to roll with the punches and remember that it’s all for the kids. Normally on Fridays the English teacher and I co-teach a 45 minute 8^th grade class, but because of the school’s little dilemma I offered to take them by myself.

Let me tell you a little bit about this 8^th grade class. They are the class that the other teachers complain about at every coffee break. A class of 44 adolescent boys and girls crammed into a room much too small for them, they are at first glance a teacher’s nightmare. There are six or seven boys who are consistently disruptive, and there are just as many girls who have no problem chatting in the back of the room and rolling their eyes at their teachers. I struggled my first few months with this group, but after setting my boundaries and leveling with them we were able to achieve a mutual respect that, believe or not, makes this one of my favorite classes to work with. There are inevitably still some issues that arise during our classes together, but this energetic bunch never fails to make class extremely entertaining.

Now let me tell you a bit about the teachers at my school. I should start by saying that some of the teachers are great and come up with amazingly fun activities for these kids. A lot of the teachers, though, spend their class time screaming at the students and writing things on the board, and that’s that. To an extent I can’t blame them – I think a lot are just burned out after years of working with so many kids at one time. But some of the stories that I’ve been told are just inexcusable. For instance, I was just recently told that a teacher was caught sending a student to the bank during class time. Her punishment was a slap on the wrist and a warning not to do it again. Another teacher was caught out running errands during school hours, leaving her classroom teacher-less. Kids pick up on adult attitudes, so it’s really no big surprise to see the students rebel against teachers who act so carelessly. It’s so frustrating to witness, though, especially with the knowledge that a large percentage of our students don’t have any caring adults at home, either.

So back to Friday. I headed over to this eighth grade class to take on all 44 of them by myself (remember, I usually only work with one half at a time). I was greeted at the door of the classroom by one of the math teachers who had just finished her period with them. She took one look at me and said something along the lines of, “You’re going in there by yourself? You can’t go in alone, they’re such a terrible class and they’re extremely bad today.” I kid you not, as she was saying this there was paper flying through the air, a wrestling match of some sort going on, and kids out of their seats and drawing on the board. I told her that we really didn’t have any other option but that I thought I’d be ok on my own. That didn’t seem to please her, though, as she continued to emphasize their unruliness. “They won’t listen to you,” she said. At that point Seba, one of the “unruly” 8^th grade boys who the teachers often get frustrated with, was standing within earshot of us. “No, tía, we listen to Miss Kelly,” he said. With her feathers all ruffled she shot back at Seba, “Good! You should!,” tossed the gradebook at me and stormed off. While I did feel sorry for the teacher, the satisfaction of hearing Seba say that was unforgettable. And to top it off, I did walk into that classroom, settle down the “unruly” students and get all 44 involved and learning for the next 45 minutes. I don’t mean to brag by any means, but wins like this one don’t come along very often, and this was a victory worth sharing!

Winter Vacation & The Importance of English

I just returned from 14 packed days of travel, and every moment was fantastic. My friend Hal and I started the trip off in the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile. There we visited some huge dunes, saw a breathtaking sunset over La Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley), woke up before sunrise to view geysers more than 4000 meters above sea level, and took a dip in a natural thermal bath. From San Pedro we then took a three day tour into Bolivia, driving through spectacular scenery in the Andes mountain range, freezing our butts off in some rustic refugios at night, and making great new friends. The final stop of that trip was Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. We stepped out of our jeep onto a sea of salt – white in every direction for as far as the eye could sea. It was really quite a sight, and my friends and I had a good time using the white backdrop to take some cool photos.

After Uyuni Hal and I headed up to La Paz, Bolivia with two Brazilian friends. A capital city located in the heart of the Andes, La Paz was bustling with cars, people, and tourists. Bolivia’s poverty was extremely apparent in this city, unfortunately, as there were so many people living on the streets and begging for money. The number of children on the streets, working and begging, broke my heart. I had never been in a place with so many hungry, dirty children, and it took all my strength just to keep on walking by the kids and not scooping them up and taking them home with me.

La Paz itself is a beautiful city, though, full of life and colors and wonderful markets. While in the capital we did get to catch a glimpse of Bolivia’s President, Evo Morales, along with his visiting friend and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The two walked out of the Presidential Palace to roars of cheers and support from the crowd that had gathered outside, and it was definitely a sight to see.

We also took time to visit nearby Lake Titicaca and the much revered Incan island Isla del Sol. The lake itself is quite beautiful with the Andes off in the not too far distance, and on Isla del Sol we explored an old Incan temple and learned a bit about its history. Near La Paz we also checked out Tiwanaku, the site of temple ruins that were constructed well before the Inca civilization. After La Paz we headed back to Chile and spent the last couple days in the warm weather town of Arica. There we explored some old caves, relaxed on the beach, and tried to avoid the fact that our vacation was coming to an end.

I came upon a couple realizations during this trip. I didn’t really realize how developed a country Chile is until I went to neighboring Bolivia and was faced firsthand with stark contrasts. My trip to the other side of the border made me not only thankful for all that I have been blessed with in my life, but also thankful for all that I have here in Chile. The experiences on this trip also reinforced for me the fact that English is an extremely important language. Regardless of where we were, as Hal and I traveled around and met people from all over the world, the common language was always English. I met people from Germany, France, Denmark, and Brazil who didn’t know much Spanish but spoke great English, and that’s the language they used to get by as they traveled. During one tour I even did a bit of pro bono work as I translated what our guide said from Spanish into English for two girls from South Korea. Tourism is such an important part of the economies down here, and knowledge of the English language is a key component of successful tourism. I sometimes find myself wondering what kind of good I’m really doing down here by teaching English when there are so many health, poverty, and general education issues that need plenty of help. English knowledge has the power to move people up in the world, though, and provides for much greater opportunity. It was nice to see people seizing those opportunities firsthand on my vacation, and now… back to work! Four more months of teaching left, and plenty more stories to come!