all you need is love

Wow, it's been too long! How is everyone? I hope you had a wonderful Easter. I was in a town about seven hours north of Santiago, called La Serena. It was a fun weekend with a few friends, but I missed all of you very much!!

As this week comes to a close, I'm grateful for everyone in my life right now, including my students. This week the students were finishing their oral exams for the first unit, so the head teacher was outside of the class testing students two by two while I stayed inside to review and practice with them. They were all so nervous, but as soon as they were finished and returned to the class, I felt like we really got to connect. Today, for example, one of my students came up to me and asked if she could learn more about my life in the United States. I sat down with her at her desk, and said...Qué quieres saber? (What do you want to know?) Then, she just started firing them at me. She wanted to know how the school system is set up in the U.S., what types of things students do in the U.S. outside of school (she's a Junior in high school, by the way), what the opportunities students have after graduation, when I have to leave Chile (today a few of the girls in this class told me they didn't want me to leave in December...ah, it's going to be rough!), and so on and so on...the questions just kept coming. Finally, I realized why she was so interested in my world in the U.S. Isis (that's her name) loves to sing and act and wants to pursue it as a career. Most of the television programs and movies in Chile are from the States, and she thinks she'll have a better chance of succeeding if she does an exchange program in the U.S. I told her it was a great idea! If she's really serious about becoming a professional singer or actress in the U.S., she should probably learn English...even her own country watches programs in English with Spanish subtitles most of the time. Isis told me she's scared to go to high school or college in the U.S. because everyone will be taller/bigger than her, she'll miss her family, and she's worried she will be discriminated against in the U.S. Ugh, that broke my heart. I think she thinks because she is a Latina and speaks little English, that she will not be given a chance in the U.S. How terrible...I don't want people to have that perception of our country. I told her that just like other countries, people in the U.S. mostly get frustrated when people immigrate illegally...I wish our world didn't have to be like that...so concerned about territory and money, but that's how it is. Anyway, we continued our conversation, and I kept thinking how much I want to help her. I want her dream to stay alive, not fade like so many of us do as the years pass us by. I told her that when it's almost time for me to leave Chile in December, I'll give her my email address, and if she's serious about doing an exchange program, she can write to me, and I'll make sure it happens for her. I offered to let her live with me! Hey, if she's motivated and puts forth the work and effort to move to another hemisphere, I'll gladly provide a place for her to live. After all, I've been so fortunate to have connections as a foreigner, why shouldn't I do the same for someone else?

I've also started tutoring a family with three children the past two weeks. My friend, Katie, works at a very prestigious school in Santiago and told me one of her eighth graders approached her asking, 'Do you have any gringo friends that could tutor me and my brothers in Spanish?' So, yet again, I was fortunate enough to have met Katie a few weeks ago (remember, she's one of the girls that went horseback riding with me...we met in a van on our way to the Andes), and to make this connection. I spend one hour with each of the three children every Wednesday. They're a very sweet family and very smart. Just like my family, there are two older brothers and a younger sister: Ignacio (Nacho...yes, that nickname does exist)-19, Felipe-15, and Javiera-13. Since beginning last week, I've just spent time talking with them in English and trying to get to know them. Their mother told me the most important thing for them is to converse with a native English speaker...so I guess that's easy enough for me! So far, I think I enjoy my conversations with Ignacio the best (maybe this is another reason why I should pursue a career in high education...? We'll see). We've talked about his life, studying (keep in mind, in Chile, people continue to live with their parents through college), interests, etc. I love hearing his perspective on the world. He's going to college to be a lawyer (just like both of his parents), but I think he is also very passionate about literature. He told me how he wrote a short story this past weekend over the Easter holiday spurred off of Tolkien's ideas. In order to challenge him during our tutoring session, I asked him to explain his short story in English. And wow, it was so incredibly profound! I was amazed by how he could explain even small details about his story to me in English and started to wonder why he even needs tutoring! Hahah. After he told me about his story, we also drifted into a little bit of politics. He told me that he loves the U.S. (his family has visited five or six times to different locations), but the only thing that he absolutely hates is that we call ourselves 'Americans.' He explained that we act like we are the only Americans in existence, but we should remember that Americans are inhabitants of both North and South America. I had to agree with him...it sounds pretty pompous. I might start brainstorming a new name for ourselves...

On a completely separate topic, I'll admit I was nervous about today. As many of you know, today is the second anniversary of the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech. It feels like only yesterday that I was sitting in 219 Janie Lane with my roomies, watching as the horrific news unfolded. It seemed like every few minutes the number of fatalities was rising...I thought it was a joke. Then last year in Charlotte, I wished so much that I could be back in Blacksburg to be with my Hokie family as we mourned the loss of part of our family. It was so difficult. Today, as I was 'hanging out' with my students in their classrooms during testing, I wrote a message on the whiteboard asking if they had any time today, to please pray for the families of the victims (I'm allowed to do that here, remember, I work in a private Catholic school). But what my students probably didn't realize is that I wasn't only talking about the families of the 32 that were killed, but also the boy who felt so miserable to commit such an act. What about him? What about how his family is feeling? Yes, he had problems and he took the lives of innocent people, but who are we to judge his actions? His life is just as special as any of ours. And his family, they need just as much prayer as the others.

Today I'm thinking about love and grace...two of the most powerful words in existence, in my opinion. Every day we are loved unconditionally and given undeserving grace. Do we love unconditionally and give undeserving grace to each other?

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and know how much I love you.
LG