...I Got A New Card Reader

I got a new memory card reader in Colina yesterday.  Can´t even describe how happy that made me :)

And it only cost $2990 to boot!  Be prepared for the onslaught of photos!





...I Had A Lesson In Trust

  Hello everybody J

Have a couple of posts in the pipeline, and here´s your first:

  The part of working in the school that is getting me out of bed and into a usually cold shower every morning is working with Francisca.  Franci is only 3 and was born with no right eye.  Her left eye used to have some vision, but now she can just about recognise a light if you shine it in her eye, and I get the impression that even that smidgen of vision won't last too much longer.  Of course, that level of disability would be difficult enough for any 3 year old child to try and deal with.  But this is a school for children with profound learning difficulties, and Franci is no different.  So this little chica has quite a lot of obstacles standing between her and a remotely independent life.

  During my time working with children with learning difficulties at home, I have worked with people who have quite a range of physical and mental disabilities.  But I have never worked with anyone with as little vision as our Franci.  So it has been a bit of a learning curve, but I do like me a challenge!

  I think the main thing that I enjoy about working with Francisca is the visible difference it makes to her.  With the others, they're so young that we are just teaching them skills that you would teach any other toddler- how to walk and talk and feed themselves, it just might take a little longer than with your average toddler.  And we are trying to teach her the same skills, only she has to learn them differently, because she can't see.  So she has to walk with one hand on a Tia and one hand on a wall, or behind us with her hands on our hips and it needs to be the same route to the same place every time.  You have to show her where things are in relation to each other so that she can navigate her way around them.  You have to have a personal sign that she can recognise you by.  And you have to talk to her more than anyone else, which is obviously helping my Spanish!

  Another factor that struck me about working with Franci is the level of trust she has to have in those around her.  She doesn't really have a choice but to take what you tell her as the truth, as she can't see for herself.  So if you tell her that it's safe to sit down somewhere, she has to trust your judgement, or make it known to you that she doesn't, which she is very good at!  It's also very easy for that trust to be shattered.  If she trips or stumbles, or there's a step you haven't told her about, she gets all panicky and upset and it takes a lot of reassuring to calm her down.

  Anyone who really knows me will know that I have serious issues trusting other people.  I keep my secrets to myself, because I can't trust other people not to share them.  I like my dentist/orthodontist/doctor to tell me exactly what they're doing because I don't trust people poking around in my mouth where I can't see what they're doing.  I hate climbing walls because it involves putting all your trust in the person on the other end of the rope.  There are more examples, but I'm not going to share them right now, as I don't want to appear completely paranoid!

  The point that I'm trying to make is that I find it hard to trust people and I can't even imagine living my life having to take other people´s word for everything.  I think that's why working with Franci has made such an impression on me.

  And just to top it all off, I went into the classroom the other day and said my usual hola's to all the kids.  Normally Francisca listens but doesn't really respond.  But that particular morning, I bent down to where she was sitting, said “Hola Franci.” and gave her my particular sign and her little face lit up and she started rocking back and forth and saying “Hola!  Hola Tia!  Hola!”.  And since then whenever I'm working with her she keeps demonstrating ridiculous levels of trust in my judgement and it's honestly humbling. 

Cliché number one complete.  :)      

      

P.S.  Sorry about the lack of photos, I´m going to search for a new card reader this weekend and then hopefully I´ll be able to start sharing piccies with you again!

...We Heard A Tale Of Tragedy

Or two.

Obviously we heard about the earthquake and resultant tsunami in Japan.  There was a moment of panic, as Anna has relatives in Japan and then I heard that tsunami shock waves had reached Hawaii.  But we soon got online and heard that all was ok....for our loved ones that is.  The death toll is still rising and the lasting effects are still being discovered.  I have nothing else I can say about it other than please keep those affected in your thoughts and prayers and do whatever it is you can to contribute to the rescue and cleanup operations.

But the tragedy I'm referring to happened closer to home.

When we mentioned the name of the home that we work in to a Chilean family friend of Katie's, she said that she recognised it, but couldn't think why.  When we spoke to her again, she said that it was because there had been a big fire there in the 90's and lots of people had died.  We were obviously shocked to hear that and made a mental note to ask one of the staff about it.

It didn't come up again until the other day when we were eating lunch with one of the ladies from the office.  It turns out that there was a fire caused by an electrical fault in one of the pabellons (wards) in the home.  It happened during the night and there had been a big joint birthday party that day, so everyone was really tired and was sleeping deeply.  The Tias and Tios on duty tried to rouse everyone and got a line of residents passing buckets of water and directing hoses at the fire.  But it had gotten too big too quickly and that ward was for people with more severe physical disabilities as well as mental, so most couldn't escape.  31 residents died in that fire and there was nothing anyone could do about it.  I know we weren't here when it happened and can't even imagine the horror, but just hearing the story made us feel like we knew the people that were lost.



Sorry, this is a bit of a depressing post for the weekend!  But I wanted to share the story and will have a much more uplifting post for next week!


Take care. xx

...We Got Internet In Our House!

One of the teachers in the school just came over and told us that he'd been tinkering with the internet, so we might be able to get it now.  And we do!  It is horrifically slow and probably won't be much good for anything, but I think it might be able to handle blog posts.  Here's hoping!

...I Went Back To School

School started up again last Thursday.  Now is a pretty important time for us, as we are  now finding out what our working life is going to be like for the rest of our time in Chile.  The summer holidays are over and it's time to knuckle down!

Having said that, I think I'm doing less draining work now than we were before.  But this is Chile, and nothing is really in full swing until a couple of weeks after it has started.  I think I've still to find out exactly what I'll be doing in the school on a day-to-day basis.

The plan was always for Anna and Mhairi to work with me and Katie in the home until school started, at which point they were going to move to another project, teaching English in a mainstream school.  But of course things are never that simple!  So at the moment they are working a few mornings a week at a school 30 mins cycle from our house as English teaching assistants and they are spending the other days with me and Katie in the special school and home here.  I doubt that this will be the long term arrangement, but we don't want to lose them!

In the school we have each been assigned a class.  I'm with the babies ^.^  My class range in age from 9 months to 4 years old.  The school has about 200 pupils, half coming from the home, and half from outside.  It is set up so that each class has 6-10 pupils to one teacher and at least one teaching assistant.

My class has two teaching assistants, a teacher and me.  So on quiet days the adults outnumber the kids!  Also, because school has only just started and some of my class are so young, their Mums stay with them.  So I find that sometimes I don't have much to do, but I think this will change as more kids start coming regularly and their Mums stop accompanying them.

Only one of my class is from the home- the little 2 year old that I met on our first day there.  She is most definitely going through the terrible twos, but I don't think it will be possible for her not to become one of my favourites :)

So we work in the school from about 9 until 1:30.  We then go up to the home for lunch and stay there working with the adults until 4 or 5pm.  Our activities with the adults have been disrupted a bit by the start of school, as some of them work there during the day.  But as our routine becomes more established and we get more organised, I'm hoping that we can add to our list of activities and get a proper schedule going.

Unfortunately, Gastroenteritis is doing the rounds at the home at the moment (we´re all fine so far) and the gym has been taken over to hold the overspill from the infirmary.  So half our niños are ill and the other half have nowhere to do activities.  Really hoping that this situation doesn´t last long, it´s horrible!

I probably sound really negative about the school, but I don't mean to.  I am really happy there and am finding it really interesting, I'm just waiting for the staff there to realise that they can trust me with tasks and the kids!  Special needs teaching is still on my very long list of possible careers, so working in the school is definitely a very valuable experience.

As for life outside work, we are getting out and about more and feel like we are finally settling into our community a little bit.  I'm not naive enough to think that we'll ever be anything more than the 4 English girls that work in the home to most people, but it is nice when a familiar face stops in the market to say hello and ask how we're getting on.  Makes us feel at home :)

My Spanish has been pushed to it's limits working in the school, which is a good thing!  I've learnt more Chileno in the past few days than I would have in 2 weeks previously.  Ya po!

I'm afraid that you will be deprived of photos until I can get a new card reader, as mine decided to break.  Sorry!

Lots of Love from Chile!

Elz xx

...Our House Decided To Fall Apart

Written Monday 28^th:

Yup, our house just gave up the ghost.  Well, our bathroom did anyway. 

Just over a week ago, our shower broke.  There had been a small leak in the hose that suddenly got very big and started spraying water all over the place.  We explained the problem to Cecilia and by the end of the day Tio had come over with a replacement hose and all was well again.  But then a few days later, the shower head snapped off.  We think this was probably an unwanted side effect  of the previous repair.  So our shower was just a hose, but that was still better than before.  Then, the handle on the toilet snapped off too.  I don't even know how that can happen, but it just came off in Anna's hand.  So at this point, we were having hose-downs and having to lift the top off the cistern to flush the toilet.  Then, I went to get some loo roll and the flaming loo roll holder fell off the wall. 

So our bathroom was a disaster, but we had to wait until the weekend was over to get help.  And yesterday, when we'd just told Tio about all our new bathroom problems, the washer on the hot water tap in our kitchen broke, so we couldn't turn it off.

It was night time, so we got the guard at the school to come and turn the hot water off outside for us, just to stem the flow!

Thankfully, both Tios came over today, surveyed the damage, went and bought replacement parts and fitted them.  Thank goodness for Tios!

Unfortunately, the phone line at the home is now broken, so we can't use the internet and phone.  So hopefully, when you read this, ALL the problems will be fixed!

Apart from that, all is well in la casa amarilla!