Hello lovely friends!
Unlike the US, we have officially entered into Winter here in the southern hemisphere. Although the temperatures don't drop quite as low as it does at home, it still gets cold enough that all you want is your bed and a bowl of soup. The winter depresses me because it's always dark, cold and miserable.
We had a week where it was pretty damn cold. Since I work up in the mountains, it's even colder there. I ended up wearing 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks and 2 jackets every day. My school is all cement; it's like working inside a refrigerator. At one point, school was canceled because snow was predicted to coat Santiago. It doesn't really snow in Santiago and when it does, there is significant damage because the trees are not able to withstand such weather. On our snow day, at one point it was pouring down rain, while hailing, snowing and thunder/lightning. It was insane! During those cold days, I couldn't help but worry about my street dog friends. I truly almost brought them into my apartment to escape the cold.
^^ The day after a storm, all of the smog is washed away and the mountains are BEATUIFUL
^^ This is Chase, my favorite street dog. He chases pigeons and cars.
^^The day after the storm
^^Professional photo, the day after the storm
Things at school are going well. I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that we are coming up to the middle of the school-year. That means it's already half-way over with these kiddos. When I think about that, my mind is blown, it feels like they just arrived!
^^Every year we have a big campaign called Harvest to collect food for people in need
For Father's Day we decided it would be a great idea to create a driver's license for the father to keep in his wallet. I worked pretty hard at creating a template that looks exactly like the Chilean ID card. I'm pretty proud of my work. Hopefully, the fathers keep this momento in their wallets for years to come!
This past weekend, I was able to celebrate Pride here in Santiago. I don't know why, but almost all of the male friends I have here in Chile are gay. It was such a fun event!
^^ I was the official glitter makeup artist for Pride
So what's next? We are approaching a very busy time of year. The middle of the semester will declare the beginning of our annual chaos in first grade. We will be working on Student-Led Conferences while planning for our big Open House. We will be rewarded with 2 weeks of vacation in July after finishing progress reports, report card grades and parent meetings. If we make it to September, we'll have another week-long break. Of course I've got a lot of upcoming travel plans!
^^I had this made for my neighbors' son's baptism and I think it's gorgeous
^^This used to be an amazing work-in-progress mural near my house. They had been working on it for 18 months, and one night, someone decided to paint over it just like that. I was so angry, I wanted to cry! How disrespectful! Luckily, many people were leaving nasty comments.
Laughable Moments:
Ally brought me scented stickers to give to my students. To say they love them is an understatement. One of my students literally put the sticker up his nose.
We have some jugs of sunscreen and hand sanitizer next to the door to go out for recess. I witnessed some girls using the sunscreen as soap.
My co-worker was telling me that her husband can put his new mini-tool kit in his "banana". I learned that they call fanny-packs bananas!
While writing our homework one day, one of my students told me he is not allowed to write his homework in English because his mom doesn't understand. I simply told him that since he is going to an English-school, he must write his homework in English. My co-teacher checked his writing and told him to go pack up. He told her, " but Miss! Miss Kim told me that I have to write that I need to go to an English school"
One night I was washing my face and was bent over the sink, unfortunately I didn't notice that I had a candle on and my hair caught on fire!
I was explaining to my Spanish teacher that I had a lot of crap in my lungs here (like mucus and smog). But I told him I had a lot of "things" in my lungs and he started laughing and asked, "what kind of things? Like toys and books and stuff?"
I don't know why I just learned this, but here in Chile, apparently they call popcorn "cabritas" or little female goats.
One of my co-workers texted us saying that she wasn't coming to work today because she fell in bed and she needed to go to the doctor. Apparently when they say in Spanish "I fell in bed" it means they are sick in bed, not that they literally fell out of bed. I thought that she had fallen out of bed and hurt herself! All of my co-workers couldn't stop laughing when I realized what she meant.
One of my students went to my co-teacher to say, "Miss, Carlos says that the whole class is ugly and he is the only handsome one in the class." My co-teacher said "but you know you'e not ugly!" to which he replied, "you're right, I'm adorable!"
While doing a formal reflection for the portfolios, we told the kids they needed to think of a specific time where they were caring (so that it wouldn't be vague). One of my students said, 8 days ago, I was caring at 1pm because...
We asked the kids to explain the meaning of balance. One kid raised his hand and said, "it means you have to be good most of the time, but sometimes you should be bad so you're not good all the time".
I had to call the locksmith for a friend who doesn't speak Spanish and I was so tired that I confused the words so I said "estamos llorando porque..." we are crying because... instead of saying "estamos llamando porque" we are calling because...
I was trying to explain the concept of biodegradation to my kids. So I asked them what would happen if I put a banana right outside for a long time. One girl raised her hand and said "the boys and girls would slip".
^^A small glimpse into what the moms wear to pick up their children every day
^^ His mom didn't want him to get lost at Chuck E. Cheese so she wrote her number on his arm
^^ Sitting on my Spanish homework is his favorite spot
^^What an unfortunate looking father...
^^After a night out, I made sure my friend got home okay after one too many drinks. Unfortunately, she had lost her keys. I stayed with her and helped her call a locksmith (at 4am) because she doesn't speak Spanish.
^^While getting out of the Uber, she passed me this and said, "Is this yours?" I said "No! I'm wearing my jacket!" It was the leather seat cover to the Uber!! I couldn't stop laughing. So now I have 1 leather seat cover and no car. I contacted the driver to return it.
All for now! Talk soon!
