I never imagined I'd spend my 25th birthday eating cake with nuns.

But then, you never know what life's gonna throw at you, right? I had a great birthday, I received plenty of love, and for that I am grateful. The first quarter of a century of life has been great so far, I look forward to hopefully at least half a century more of joyful life.

Some birthday highlights besides sharing cake with nuns:

- The cake I shared with my family was seriously one of the most delicious cakes I've ever eaten in my life. We finished it off at lunch today, and I felt a bit of sadness accompany that last bite.

- Many of my students remembered it was my birthday (we told them the week before), a few gave me chocolates and cards, and everywhere I went it seemed I was greeted with hugs (as is the tradition here on birthdays) and shouts of "Happy Birthday Tia".

- The entire staff and all the nuns had a little surprise get together for me at the end of the day. They often bought me presents. Never have I felt so welcomed at a place of employment.

- My host mom made a special dinner for me, and besides the cake, the best part was definitely this sesame sauce she made with noodles. Yummy!

- My host dad gave me a Chilean flag. I didn't have one, so now I look forward to hanging it up at my future homes.

I can't believe on Friday it will already be three weeks of me being here, plus Friday is April 1st, making it 7 months since I've been in South America. Time is flying by! I have to remember to make the most of every moment.

A beautiful weekend

I am very grateful to have spent a great weekend filled with lots of beauty and hanging out by natural bodies of water.

Yesterday I went over to Rio Bueno, a neighboring town to hang out with the two volunteers who are there. We spent an enjoyable day by the "Good River" (Rio Bueno, which also runs through La Unión, but the part that runs through Rio Bueno is better) admiring it's crystal clear water, skipping rocks, and eating lots of blackberries from the bushes that grow all around. I decided that it's definitely a good river, the water is so clean (a happy and refreshing sight after looking at the terribly polluted Mapocho river in Santiago), if you watch long enough, you can see playful fish sticking their heads out of the water, and the river is surrounded by all kinds of wonderful greenery. There is this one plant with huge leaves, it looks like something you would find in a jungle; it's name translates to "dinosaur plant", a name I find to be very fitting. Another wonderful thing about my time in Rio Bueno: while we were walking around the town, we saw an adorable, abnormally round puppy and we stopped to play with her. Then another adorable puppy appeared, then another! We spent a good fifteen minutes running around with the puppies, picking them up, and letting them nip at us. It was great. I forgot how joyful it is to be around puppies.

Today my family took me to Frutillar, a beautiful lake town a bit south of here, one of the places where my parents hope to live in someday. This was my first time visiting Frutillar, and I can see why my parents love it so much. The lake is gorgeous, and the town is precious with a heavy German influence architecturally. The weather today was absolutely perfect, a lovely fall day with the right amount of wind, just brisk enough to make a coffee consumed from a cafe with a view of the lake especially enjoyable. We brought back some delicious kuchen with us, a German dessert which is quite popular here in the south of Chile.

This was the kind of weekend where more than once I found myself thinking about how great life is. Hopefully my good spirits will carry on through the week. Check out how lovely Frutillar is!

This is technically not Frutillar, but taken at Puerto Octay, a nearby town we stopped at for the view on our way home.

Puerto Octay

A volcano peaking out from behind the clouds.

I like this tree even if it is dead. This is the beach at Frutillar.

The lake from Frutillar. On the other side of those mountains is Argentina.

Frutillar. Leaves changing colors, one reason why fall is my favorite time of the year.

Lovely Frutillar.

This is the Music Theater of Frutillar, a place that has a lot of influence in the town, making Frutillar a place that has a lot of great cultural events to offer, even though it is a small town surrounded by farmland.

I guess it's true what they say about a brand new day

Yesterday was a decidedly rough day as far as teaching goes. So you can imagine the wave of dread that came over me when the bell rang at 8:00 and Miss Ana still hadn't arrived. No one told me whether she was going to arrive or not, no one seemed to even acknowledge that she wasn't there; so without saying anything I went to the classroom because I figured someone had to show up. I had no plan as what I had planned was designed for half the class and half the time, plus my resources were in another classroom all the way on the other side of the school. But I had my text book and Ana had taught the other sixth grade class the other week so I had an idea of what they were supposed to be doing, so I took a deep breath and jumped in.

It started off a little awkward because I do not know the prayer they say every morning, so I tried to get the kids to say it on their own, which wasn't really working at first. Luckily, a girl came up to the front and led the students in prayer, I was so grateful. After that I began class, and surprisingly, it actually went pretty well. I was definitely a little nervous at first because I was really worried that the 44 sixth graders would not listen to me. But once I got started, it wasn't so bad. Now of course, it wasn't perfect; I didn't have everyone's undivided attention the entire time, but I didn't have to yell or lecture, and the kids completed the activities that I asked them to. At the end of the class we played Simon Says which they enjoyed. So I'd say, considering the circumstances it went really well.

I don't know what the school would have done if I hadn't been there. It wasn't until I had been teaching for at least 20 minutes when someone came in and told me Ana wasn't coming. She didn't ask if I was okay or wanted to teach or anything. I really didn't mind teaching, but technically, according to my volunteer contract, I am not expected to serve as a substitute teacher. There is definitely a lack of communication in this school, but to be honest it doesn't bother me. I prefer to be left to my own devices.

My school has a blog and they posted about my arrival, here is the link. But beware, they pictures they posted of me are not the most flattering, they were taken after the eleven hour. Also, the English is not entirely correct, but that's okay since most people reading it don't have any idea what it says. I'm actually really not sure why they didn't write in spanish so people could actually understand what was written about me.

Striking a balance

This morning I just had one class, which was nice because I had time to come home and workout and I still have plenty of time until I have to be back at school at 2:30. And after teaching the sixth graders this morning, I seriously needed that workout to blow off some steam. I was saying that the eighth graders were the most difficult to teach this week, but I change my mind. The sixth graders take the cake. I could just not get them to listen. They were constantly talking, even shouting and I had to raise my voice just to be heard. I hate shouting, and I know it's not the best way to manage a classroom, but I was feeling helpless and I just didn't know what else to do. Even though today was a total failure in classroom management, I would still say the lesson was a success. Amongst all the talking, I could tell that most of the kids were still learning, and almost all of them were participating. It definitely helped when I broke out the stickers. I really hope stickers don't lose their charm, they are somewhat of a life saver.

What I am really struggling with right now is figuring out how much Spanish to use in the classroom. I know I am supposed to speak entirely in English, but, because the kids know I can speak Spanish, it is just not possible to never use Spanish. So often they will just tune out when I give instructions in English and then beg for the Spanish version. I know I need to continue using English because it will help them learn more, but at the same time, sometimes using Spanish helps me to better control the class. They seem to listen better when I speak in Spanish, and seem to give me a bit more respect. Although today, a few of the kids laughed when I made a mistake and one child corrected me. I didn't mind the correction, I actually appreciate being corrected, but the laughing definitely got to me. I tried to explain, as calmly as I could, that I am learning Spanish, just as they are learning English, and that it is normal for me to make mistakes, just as they do when speaking English. I told them that we could help each other to learn, and that was the whole point of me being there. A pretty good speech, I thought, although, I know not all of them were listening. I know it's only my first week and hopefully the classroom management will get better. During the orientation the former volunteers all said that this was the most challenging aspect of the job. But right now, for me, I think the biggest issue is finding the right balance of speaking in English and Spanish so that the students understand me, are learning, but also will want to listen and not just tune out right away because they think they won't understand. So that will be my first goal.

In other news, finally, my computer works with the internet. So I can begin sharing photos again, yay! I haven't taken all that many of my town yet, but here are few of some places I have seen since being here.

This sign welcomed me when I first arrived to my house.

My host sister Victoria.

Hanging out in front of Rio Bueno. This is a part of the river where people come and swim when it's warm enough.

With Ana, the teacher I work with. She took me to see Lago Ranco, a large lake in the area, about half an hour away from La Union.

Teaching - Day One

Well, I made it through my first day of teaching. How did it go, you may ask? Well...it wasn't a disaster. But I wouldn't say it was a total success. It was, in summary, okay. Some classes went better than others. Definitely seventh grade was the easiest and my lesson went so smoothly, but I know the reason for that is because the seventh grade classes are much smaller than the rest, like half the size. Eleven kids were much easier for me to handle than the twenty something fifth graders and then the eighth graders, they were probably the hardest. They just do not stop talking! But then, that was really no surprise.

But overall I'd say it was fine. I'm sure I will continue to learn how to be a better and more interesting teacher over time. It's a matter of learning what works and what doesn't. I found already that stickers are great tool. In one class I started giving stickers to kids who answered my questions correctly, and suddenly everyone wanted to participate. Thanks Mom for sending me thousands of stickers, I have a feeling I will be using them all!
I also had my first workshop today with fifth and sixth graders. It's definitely a little easier since I can be more relaxed and do more fun things. I think it went pretty well, but a few times I felt that I was starting to lose control. But they are my biggest group for workshop, so I'm sure the others will be easier. Plus they are the youngest with the lowest level of English, so, even though I know I'm not supposed to, I spoke in spanish quite a bit. But honestly I think the fact that the kids now know I am able to speak spanish has helped, they definitely lesson better when I speak in spanish, and they seem to respect me more. At least they now know they can't say whatever they want because I understand.

Students keep asking me if I know Justin Bieber. This is hilarious to me, because I literally know next to nothing about him. I could only name one song, and that's only because it's nearly impossible not to have heard that one where he repeats "Baby" over and over, it's a total earworm. I think they get confused when I tell them my brother's name is Justin, and assume either that Justin Bieber is my brother, that I know all people named Justin, or simply that since I am from the US, I must have run into him at some point.

Today Obama came to Chile. This was a huge deal here; to Chile, the US is still the most powerful country in the world and it is very important to them that the president chose to come here during his brief tour of Latin America. Conveniently, his plane arrived just in time to be broadcasted during the hours of almuerzo, so I was able to watch his arrival, as it was on pretty much every channel. And actually, watching that made me a little homesick. As much as I love Chile, the US is my home, and I can't help but miss it sometimes.

one week down

It's been exactly a week since I've gotten here, and I would say I have adjusted well. I won't lie, it has been a bit difficult for me to get used to the pace of small town life. Really, I've mostly only lived in cities in my adult life, other then the college years and my short stint in Rengo. Chicago, Arequipa, Santiago; those places are very different from La Uniòn. There isn't a whole lot to do here, and I must admit I have found myself feeling a little bored at times. But, I haven't started teaching on my own yet (that starts Monday), and I'm sure at some point I'll start developing some sort of social life. At the same time though, I realize I will learn to embrace this slower pace of life. I think I am starting to. Yesterday, when I was starting to get a serious case of cabin fever, I went for a walk around the town. The sky was so blue and the clouds were so full and pronounced, like a perfect sky from a painting. The blue contrasted nicely against the green. There is so much green here. There were rose bushes all around, and many people out walking, which I always love to see. And a few times, I would look down a street as I came to it, and I would be on top of a hill with a gorgeous view of the rolling, fertile landscape that is characteristic of the south of Chile. And the air is so fresh. I definitely don't miss the clouds of car exhaust fumes that were constantly blowing in my face in Arequipa. And I don't miss the foggy, polluted air of Santiago. And all the noise. I think I just need to allow myself to slip into a different mindset while I'm here. It's okay to walk through life a little slower, go to bed little earlier, take more time for enjoying meals, live a little quieter. I just have to think, it's not boring, it's just different. If I keep this way of thinking, I know I will find the pleasure in small town life. And I am definitely going to love teaching and I already love my students. One thing I do wish though, I wish the school had some heat. Apparently it does, but it needs to be turned on. It is like ten degrees colder in there then it is outside.

First day of school

Today I finally started at the school. It was a nice easy day, turns out on Tuesday I will only have classes in the morning, which was nice for the first day. All this week I am just observing, getting to know the school, the kids, and the other teachers. On Monday I will start teaching, so I have all week to plan my lessons for next week. As I'm sure I mentioned before, I will be teaching 5th through 8th grades. There are two classes in each grade except in fifth grade there is only one. Today I met both 7th grade classes and one of the 8th grade classes. So far I would definitely say the 8th graders seem the most challenging, but I also think they might be the most fun. They talk A LOT and many of them have problems staying in their seats. But a lot of them asked me questions that made me smile such as: Do you know any famous people, like Justin Beiber? At least five of them asked me if I have Facebook (luckily I am hard to find, I do not need my students looking at all my pictures and such on there), and several asked if I have a boyfriend. I tried my best to present myself as an authority figure, but sometimes it's hard because I know I look young. But I think it will be fine. I think it's cute that they are so interested in me. One student took a picture of me with her cellphone.

I was expecting the teachers to be strict, but I was surprised by how much the kids seem to get away with. The classroom (at least from what I saw) is quite different from what I've seen and worked in back home. There seem to be a lot more rules in the states. Also the way teachers interact with the students here is a lot more laid back than in the US. At my school, teachers can wear jeans and pretty much whatever they want. The kids call the teacher Tìa or Miss and then the teacher's first name. And the contact with the children is very different. Here it is perfectly normal to saludar the children, which is a kiss on the cheek as a greeting. This is very different for me, as in the states when a kid hugs a teacher, you pretty much have to raise your hands up in the air to avoid being "inappropriate". I definitely prefer this laid back approach, but I am going to have to make sure that the children know they must respect me and listen to me so that I don't have issues with classroom management.

My schedule will work as following: the classes are split into "hours" which really last about 45 minutes. Most of the time a class will have two hours in a row of English. So for the first hour, the class will stay together and I will be co-teaching with Ana. Then for the second hour, we will split the class and half will go with me into my own classroom. I am pretty lucky to have my own classroom, because here in Chile the teachers move around the rooms not the children. But I will have my own room because it is part of the requirements the government asks of the school, so that there can be a designated English only space. It will be nice to have a space I can decorate however I want and also to leave my stuff in there. So during the time that I have kids in my classroom, we will be doing activities that I plan, and the rest of the class will be with Ana doing what she planned. Then the next time we have that class we will switch so that we both get to work with everyone. The nice thing about that is I essentially only have to plan every two weeks.

In addition to teaching normal English classes, I will be doing an English workshop with a smaller group from each grade. This is pretty much like an extra class, open to anyone who wants to come, but they have to sign up. 5th and 6th graders will be together, and then 7th and 8th grade seperate. During this time, which will be about an hour and a half, I will get to do whatever I want. It doesn't have to follow the curriculum. I am definitely most excited about this, I plan to do lots of games, use music, videos, art, theater dancing, whatever. The point of these workshops is to spend some extra time with the kids who are most interested in English. Ana told me a lot of kids are excited about it, and they already have more signed up than I was originally supposed to accept. I guess I am just going to take them all for now, assuming some will probably end up dropping out.

I am quite happy with my schedule and the set up we have for teaching. It's nice that I don't have to plan everything, but I still get to do some planning, and I will have plenty of freedom to do some things the way I want to. I am really excited to start working with the kids and getting to know them. Overall they seem to be really sweet and capable of learning a lot.

home life

I would say I have been settling in nicely into life with my new family. As I said before, and I feel like I can't stress it enough, they are so so so nice. All of them. They have really made an effort to make me feel welcome and comfortable, and I certainly do. And they've been taking me places and showing me around, which is nice, I haven't been just sitting around. I have walked around the town, seen my school, and the first day I was here they took me to see a spot of Rio Bueno, the main river that runs through here, where people swim when it is warm enough. It was very pretty. The landscape around here is gorgeous. So much green, so many trees. The air is so fresh and smells like pine trees. There a lot of animals around; cows, horses, chickens, dogs, cats, ducks, basically the standard farm animals. Today when I was walking around the town with the other volunteer, we saw a puppy, baby ducks, and then a kitten within about two minutes. So many baby animals, so much cuteness.

Yesterday my host family took me to Osorno, the closest city, or really big town by US standards. It was really nothing special, I'm personally glad I am here in this small town instead, because it's prettier here. I prefer either a small town or a big city, I'm usually not a fan of the in between sized cities. Usually they don't have much personality like a big city or the charm of a small town. But the ride there was nice, and I saw a rainbow. In fact, I have seen two rainbows since being here, I think that's something that happens a lot here since it will rain, then the sun comes out, then it might rain again, then you might get more sun...

We also went to la feria yesterday, another thing I love. I know I have written many times before about how much I love markets, and this was a good one. One of the best I've seen in Chile, at least during this trip (I went to many great ones throughout my childhood). People from the country come and sell things so you can pretty much find any sort of fruit or vegetable you'd want, or at least from what grows here in Chile, which really is a lot. I also saw a woman selling baby chickens and baby ducks. They were in these boxes, piled upon one another, wriggling about.

Tomorrow I have to go to a meeting with all the volunteers and their teachers from my region, I think there are 8 of us. The meeting will be in Valdivia, about an hour away. I am looking forward to visiting Valdivia, everyone here talks about how beautiful it is. People here in the south are very proud of their land, and with good reason. I know there are many parts of the world that look similar to this part of Chile, such as Scotland, or New Zealand, parts of France, or the Northwestern states in the US; but still, I appreciate it's beauty. A place doesn't have to be completely unique to be beautiful.

Welcome to La Unìon

I've made it safely to my new home in the south of Chile. So far everything has far exceeded my expectations. After a pretty comfortable bus ride (the program sprang for cama seats, plus i took a sleeping pill which helped me sleep), I was greeted at the bus station here by my host dad, the teacher I will be working with, and two of my future students holding a sign that said "Welcome to La Union Kimberly". It was very sweet. Then I was brought to the house, which is very nice and comfortable. I have my own room with everything I could possibly need, I even get my own bathroom. And my host family seems incredibly nice. Josè and Anita are my parents, and they have two daughters who I have yet to meet, ages 12 and 16. They made sure to tell me that this is my home, and that i should feel comfortable to do anything I want here. And I already feel very comfortable. I am lucky to have been placed with such a nice family.

I can already tell that the teacher I will be working with is very nice as well. i will be teaching kids in 5th to 8th grade, and she told me she'd like me to do workshops with all her best students. She said that the students here mostly all love English, and they do well with it for what they have, although outside of English class, they really have very little exposure to the language. So they are very excited and motivated to have a real live English speaker here! The teacher is especially happy to have some to practice her English with. She has never traveled to an English speaking country before.

I haven't really explored the town yet, but from what I can tell, it is small, peaceful, and safe. I am close to two bigger cities, only about half an hour from Osorno and about an hour from Valdivia. So i'm sure i'll have no problem finding what I need here.

So far I feel very happy and excited to be here, i have a good feeling about all of this!

Going to a new home

It's 3:30 in the morning and I really should be sleeping seeing as tonight was a long day and tomorrow is probably going to be even longer, but there is this woman in my room in the hostel who snores just so loud that i can't possibly sleep. So here I am, sitting in the lounge after a middle of the night shower, so I figured I would take some time to update.

This week has been good in a lot of ways. Sue has been here, one of my best friends, and it's been SO NICE to see someone from home. I have met lots of great people the past six months, it's true, but everyone has been coming in and out of my life, so it's great to see someone who is a more permanent fixture in my life. It's been very comforting, and we've had a great time. Hopefully she hasn't been too intimidated by the culture, the intense hospitality provided by my family, and how freakin fast they talk. I think maybe how fast they talk has intimidated her a bit, but she's been doing a great job with the spanish. Chileans are just very difficult to understand sometimes.

So this week I've been lucky enough to have her here, and tomorrow she leaves, which is sad. But then, I also leave tomorrow. And I only found out today!! So today has been quite crazy, especially inside my head.

All week I've had orientation for the English Opens Doors program which I will be participating in until the end of July, and it's been good. There are over 60 volunteers from around the world (although most people come from the states) who have come to Chile to teach English. The week has involved a lot of sitting, listening to presentations, and microteaching; which is to be expected from an orientation. Today, and at the very end of the day, we found out where we are going. But all we know so far is the name of the town and when we leave. I still know nothing about the family I'm staying with, or what age I am teaching, or the school I will be working at. But I do know that I will living in a town called La Uníon in the region Los Rios. Feel free to look it up online if you want to know more! Because I honestly know nothing, except that it is in the south, and that tomorrow night I will get on a bus for 11 hours or so which will take me there. I will not be the only volunteer in the town, there will be one other, which disappointed me a bit, I did kind of want to be totally immersed in English, but it will be fine.

So there you have it, tomorrow I move on to my new home. I am mostly excited, not too nervous, but I do wish I was sleeping right now. I will definitely be arriving sleep deprived. Ah well, there's always time to sleep later, like when I'm dead. Or so they say, right?

The Best of: Posing

Silly silly me and I got the date of my friends arrival wrong. Somehow I had it in my head that Sue was coming today, but after spending a few hours in the airport I finally realized that it was actually tomorrow. I am just so excited to see her I wanted it to happen sooner. Oh well, that leaves me with some extra free time on my hands, so it's time for another picture post. This time I'm going to be a little vain, here are all pictures of me.

Myspace style with a baby.

Getting my hair done/sort of being tortured.

Living the life in a hot spring in the middle of nowhere Bolivia.

It's windy in the driest dessert in the world.

A little Marilyn-esque in Bolivia.

Yes, that is South America's biggest tourist attraction behind me.

Feeling pretty hardcore after climbing Mt. Machu Picchu.

Happy to be where I am.

Feeling the power from the Inca Gods.

Having a great time trying to fit myself into what the Incas used as storage space inside a home.

Hello there.

For real in the middle of nowhere.

Fighting the wind on the island.

Puppet.

I love jumping!

Alright, that's enough me time. I think the next category might be animals.

Best of: The sunsets

I am back in Santiago and have finally returned to my computer and within hours of this happy reunion, I have already uploaded the nearly 2,000 pictures that I took during the past three months. I am so excited to share more pictures, but it's hard to know where to begin! Since it is late and I should really be asleep as I have to get up early to greet my dear friend Sue at the Santiago airport, I am going to keep this one short and share some sunset pictures.

Iquique, Chile

Iquique

Iquique again, I was really enjoying this sunset.

The beach at Iquique. Again.

Arequipa, Peru. This is right outside the orphanage I was volunteering at, took it on my way home one night.

This is from the beach when I went with the kids.

The sun setting over Lake Titicaca, taken from Isla del Sol, Bolivia.

This is somewhere in Bolivia, taken during the tour of the Uyuni salt flat.

In the Atacama dessert.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Stay tuned, there are many more photos to come...