Beautiful Life

I know, I know; I have been terrible at updating lately. I guess I've been busy. I've been busy just straight up enjoying life. I feel like I have had very little to complain about lately, which is wonderful.

Last week, my parents left the south of Chile after hanging out here for two weeks. The last weekend we spent together was perfect. We got luckily with the weather and visiting some amazingly beautiful places. I won't go into too much detail because I feel like it was so long ago, but here are some pictures.

My dad and I in Puerto Montt, a port city south of where I live.

Market in Puerto Montt.

Puerto Montt

The famous church of Puerto Varas, a lovely, although a bit touristy, town very close to Puerto Montt.

I really love this picture I took of my parents in Puerto Varas. They look so happy. We had a really wonderful time together.

Los Altos de Petrohue, another amazing spot here in the south. All of the water used to be lava from the volcano Osorno.

Me in front of Los Altos de Petrohue. Obviously you can't tell from the picture, but the water is so loud.

This picture is dedicated to my grandma, taken in Frutillar. Clearly they planned it carefully so that the volcano would be perfectly framed.

Mist from the splashing water of Los Altos de Petrohue.

Los Altos de Petrohue.

Lago Todos los Santos. This is a view from where we had lunch. This lake is one of the most tranquil lakes I've ever seen. Because it is surrounded by high peaks and hills, it doesn't get much wind.

Close up view of the volcano from Lago Todos los Santos taken from a boat. My dad especially wanted to visit this lake because when he was hitchhiking around Chile in 1978 when he was here as a student, he and his friend stumbled upon this lake and there was absolutely nothing there. He said he thought it to be the most beautiful lake he had ever seen. They loved it so much that they bathed in it and slept on the beach under the stars just in sleeping bags. Obviously it has changed since then, but it is still so peaceful and not overly touristy.

This is the view of the volcano at sunset time from the cabaña we stayed at in Frutillar.

I wouldn't necessarily say that teaching has gotten easier, but I have had a major attitude adjustment lately, which has seemed to help a lot. I just decided to accept that there are things I can't change, and things I won't be able to accomplish, so there is no point in letting these things bother me. And now that I know the kids and each individual class better, it is easier to cater lessons to fit the needs of the specific groups. Sometimes, if the kids are feeling a lesson, I just allow them to chat with me. They tend to ask lots of great questions. Although we do speak in spanish probably more than I should, at least they are learning a lot of the US, it's geography and culture, and I also tell them what I know about other English speaking countries. I figured, maybe there is only so much I can do as far as teaching English is concerned, especially considering I am here such a short time and I don't see the groups often enough. But, I can definitely share my culture with them, that way they are still learning.

I've been teaching slang to my eighth graders and they absolutely love it. They are able to recognize slang from popular songs that they like which is great. Today I had a little English session with my host sisters, also working on slang, and it went well. I think slang is just a lot more fun for kids to learn, because they know that's how real native speakers talk, so they are more interested in learning.

This past weekend was nice, albeit it full of English speaking. I spent one night in Temuco with a friend, then the next night in Rio Bueno staying with two friends at their house. Then today to celebrate Mother's Day, with my family, we went out to eat (for the first time) and had a delicious meal. It was a lovely meal and I feel like I was being very chatty. I am noticing that my confidence in my ability to speak spanish has kind of shot up lately. The words are starting to flow much more easily out of my mouth with a lot less effort. It's definitely a good feeling and it motivates me to study even more when I feel like I am making progress.

I am already half way done with the program, which is crazy. Time has been absolutely flying by. I know it will be done before I know it, so I feel like lately I've been making more of an effort to enjoy every moment.