Wow I never would have imagined my trip to Chile would begin the way it did! First I had troubles with my flights and had to stay in a hotel in Dallas for a night! Then once I arrived in Chile, we spent a long weekend in Santiago before arriving in the final destination: Concepcion! Santiago was a great first impression of Chile. I got to spend time with my family over the long weekend and meet their friends and family who live in Santiago!
My family: Juan Carlos, Antonia and Fabiola. Antonia loves Mike the Tiger!
Family on Fabiola´s side: her brother, her sister, her sister-in-law and her nephew
The only person who can speak english a little bit is Juan Carlos but the entire family was so great the whole time. They would always make sure we knew what each other were talking about, even with the language barrier. I speak some spanish but they talk very, very quickly! They would talk slowly to me so that I could understand them, and they enjoyed learning some english.They all liked talking about the music we both know. Here in Chile they listen to a lot of American music in english, even though sometimes they don't know what they are singing! They know pretty much everything! Some of the family likes rock like Queen, Guns N Roses, The Eagles, etc. Other members of the family like N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga, Shakira, etc. It is all very interesting!
The morning we were leaving Santiago to drive to Concepcion (about a 6 hour drive), we stopped at a place called San Cristobal hill. It was perfect! We drove up part of the hill and then we parked and walked up to the very tip top! It was more like a mountain than a hill, we could see all of Santiago which is huge! I am very thankful my family took me to San Cristobal hill, it is exactly my kind of thing!
Santiago from the top of San Cristobal hill!
Me, Antonia with Mike (she would not let go of him!), and Fabiola at the top of San Cristobal
Me, Antonia with Mike (again!), and Juan Carlos
We are now in Concepcion and we started at the Jefferson School on wednesday. The faculty gave us a warm welcome and the pricipal gave a little speech which I found quite inspirational. He is from the US and he has created this acceptional school in Chile where kids learn to speak english, along with all other subjects. He talked about the power of never giving up and believing in yourself. He is someone who is passionate about education, and believes in the ability to change the world. I admire that.
In the school, I am in the music class which is so much fun! Each class is different but many of the students sing the song from Sound of Music (one of my favorite movies of all time) 'Doe, a deer, a female deer...' and they all know 'head, shoulders knees and toes!' I am quickly learning their school song, which is in english, and one class requested that I sing the Star Spangled Banner with them! The young kids play xylephone, and the older kids play the recorder. All of the kids seem to be excited to have our group in their school and in some of their homes. They are the sweetest kids, seriously. They always want hugs and they want to know about us 'Gringas' and what we like. The past few days have been a wonderful whirlwind of Chilean culture and I am nothing but excited to see what happens next.
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