...I Got My Teach On

  I know I work in a school.  But I can't really call myself a teacher by any stretch of the imagination.  I am a volunteer in a class of babies/toddlers that also has a teacher and two teaching assistants.  So I'm more like a general playmate/feeder/take-to-the-toileter in the school.  Don't get me wrong, I love the work, it's just not teaching, which is what I originally thought I might do in my gap year back in the days before Project Trust came into my life.

So despite working in the school and the home in pretty much the most rewarding job possible, I think I still had a little bit of a hole to fill when it came to work. 

My inner teacher was not fully satisfied.

But that isn't the case any more!  Because me and Katie are crazy workaholics, in addition to everything else we now have tutor groups for English every Friday afternoon.  We have 2 boys and 2 girls that come at the moment, between ages 9 and 15.  This past Friday was our 4^th week of English lessons and I think I am finally getting into my teaching stride.  Our last lesson was on parts of the body and here are some of the highlights:

I have to admit, it doesn't hurt to have enthusiastic, entertaining pupils and a fellow tutor who is just as happy to make a fool of herself as I am :)

I am going through a “bliss” phase at the moment, where even bad experiences only serve to enhance the good ones.  And there seems to be just so many good ones!  I'm loving the challenge of trying to master the language, I'm loving the routine I'm in with work, I'm loving the girls I live with, I'm loving the fact that I've been here nearly 3 months and still have so much that I want to see and do although I'm not loving the fact that I only have 4 months left to do it in! 

 

...I Got To Thinking

This is just a little post about something we ponder about a lot. 

Me, Katie and Anna are 19 and Mhairi is 18.  When Chilean people hear this, they just about keel over from the shock.  We are considered waaaaaaaay too young to be out in the big wide world all by ourselves.  Now that view isn't all that strange to us, as some people at home would agree with them and we're not exactly a typical example of British teenagers.

The thing that confuses us is that if we were married with our first baby, but lived with our parents or inlaws, that wouldn't be seen as that unusual.  So we are not considered old enough to have the responsibility of looking after ourselves, but are considered almost old enough to be married and mothers! 

It's just a cultural difference, I suppose.  Most young people here stay living at home at least until they are married, and even then the couple usually live with one set of parents.  I'm not saying that one way of thinking is better than the other, it just seems strange to me that girls who are not considered old enough to cook and clean  for themselves can be considered old enough to have a baby...how does that work?  I like to think that I'm pretty competent in the kitchen and am capable of keeping a house clean, but there's no way I think I'm ready to have a baby! 

 But that may just be because I'm too busy off doing my own thing for the idea of settling down at such a young age to have any appeal whatsoever :)

Mature Me:

...It Rained!

Friday night and Saturday morning were wet.  The first proper rain we´ve had in our 2 1/2 months in Chile!  I´ve never been so excited about rain before, but I´m sure the novelty will wear off pretty quickly if it continues for the rest of autumn/winter and all that was dust turns to mud!

I did get a bit carried away, walking around the grounds, breathing in the moist, amazing-smelling air and finding sad amounts of joy in putting on my waterproof jacket.  I even made Anna wait for me (we were supposed to be going to a mall near Santiago) while I got out my camera and documented the lluvia.  Here are the resulting photos:

 

The skies here have yet to clear to their normal bright blue and I hear that Britain is experiencing a heatwave.  But I´m not going to complain.  I´d still rather be in Chile, even if it is a grey, damp Chile :)

...This Little Gringa Went To Market

I´m not sure how I´ve gone this long without writing a post about the market, as it is a pretty big part of our lives!  It takes place every Sunday in Colina and even though we spend hours in it every week, we have yet to visit every part of it.  We buy all our fruit and veg in the market as well as any clothes, DVD´s, accesories, stationary, or anything else that we can find there that´s cheaper than the highstreet.  This means that we are eating very seasonally, healthily and cheaply.  Yay!

Mmmmmm:

I will brave it and take my camera to the market for some in-situ photos soon...I just haven´t worked up the courage yet.  Hang on in there!