Teacher Strike

The teachers in Chile have been on strike since last Monday, May 18, which means I have had the last week and a half free.  The teachers are striking because they haven’t been paid their annual bonuses in the past couple years and are fed up with empty promises from the government.  While pretty common here, strikes are also more complicated because the teachers aren’t part of a union and are instead led and protected by the teacher colleges in the regions.  Unlike in the U.S., where scabs are sent in to replace striking workers, all public education is currently at a standstill.  It’s frustrating to think that the students have spent the last week and a half sitting at home by themselves, and I’m definitely anxious to know how much of what I’ve taught them they’ll remember after such a long and unanticipated break.  There’s nothing I can do about it, though, except wait each day to hear whether or not the strike continues.

In the meantime, I’m taking full advantage of my free days.  Last week my fellow volunteers and I were able to travel to Southern Chile, where Patagonia technically begins, and visit some amazing cities.  We started the trip off in Valdivia, a German settlement town best known for its brewery (go figure!).  We visited the famous Kunstmann Brewery and had ourselves a few samples of some delicious beer.  For anyone interested, their beer goes by the name Patagonia in the states.  After Valdivia, fellow volunteer Hal’s wonderful family picked us up in their van and took us down to Chiloé, Chile’s largest island.  We went to all kinds of wonderful little towns rich with indigenous history and folklore, old Spanish forts, artesanías, or crafts, and wool everything.  Plus, the seafood was fantastic and cheap!  I had an amazing salmon dish for about six bucks in one town – not too shabby.  To top it off, we went to Chiloé expecting heavy rain every day, as is usual for the island at this time of year.  Instead, we were blessed with sunshine and rainbows!  The colors of the land, sea, and sky were breathtaking at times – here are some pictures: 

Chonchi, Chiloé

Castro, Chiloé

Parque Nacional Chiloé

The fun continues

I've been teaching my own class for about a month now, and things have been going relatively well.  Every week has its surprises, such as teacher strikes or schoolwide assemblies that take away from my class time, but I just go with the flow.  Almost all of my students can now tell me what their name is in a full sentence, so wahoo!  We have to remember to celebrate the little victories!  Last week’s slang of the day was “cool,” and I now have tons of students coming up to me and saying, “Miss Kelly is cool!”  What can I say?  They learn fast J

I’ve also had quite a few students concerned about the flu being in the U.S. and asking about my family’s health back home, which has been quite sweet.  My new co-teacher, who has been in Ohio for the past 5 weeks, returned to school today and many of the kids were afraid to go near her because they thought she may have brought the flu back with her.  I tried not to laugh as I assured them she was just fine.  On a side note, a good amount of students have asked me if I know Arnold Schwarzenegger, and when I tell them that he’s the governor of my home state they all gasp in awe.  I’ve seen the Terminator movies on tv here a fair amount, so I’m not surprised by the Arnold questions.

Last weekend I went up to Chillán to go to visit my friend Jake.  We went to a soccer game, and let me tell you, it was exactly how I pictured a Latin American fútbol game.  Songs were sung and drums were played the whole time the ball was in play, tons of toilet paper was thrown onto the field at the opposing team’s goalie before the game began, and at one point someone took out a huge flare and started twirling it around.  And from an educational standpoint, I learned all kinds of groserías, or swear words, from the fans around me.  It was a great!

Some of my crazy 8th grade boys

The kids saying, "Awesome!"