Tanto tiempo

Hi everyone! How are things going? I've had a very busy past couple of weeks at school, including trying to make some new friends (not to mention my internet was out for a week). The past two weeks my students have had written tests on the first two units in the book. Even though I'm technically not responsible for their grades, I offered to help the other English teachers grade tests. Most nights I come home and spend two hours grading papers...it's exhausting! Some of them have been really great, but others are awful. It's good to see the areas where we need to focus, though, so I hope to do some more review of basic English. One aspect that scares me is that students don't know many verbs. I always thought that was the second thing you learn in a foreign language after basic nouns, so I really want to make sure they know how to talk in the present and past by the time I leave. One of the teachers I work with put together a list of common, irregular verbs and it has a rap that goes with it, from the internet. The students read the base form, past tense, and past participle of each verb along with the song. It's pretty hilarious to watch and some of the students dance and make fun of it, but after we started doing it over and over, I think it's really starting to help. And it makes me realize how difficult the English language is! We have so many irregular forms of words that don't follow any pattern. How fortunate we are to have learned it as our first language!

And speaking of languages, I'm not sure if I've updated y'all on the progress of my Spanish. Obviously it's really hard for me to tell a difference, but I think I'm improving. Lately, I've been sitting with a group of five or six teachers every day at lunch, so I really practice then. I also try to converse with the English teachers in Spanish most of the time. Some of our students laugh at us when they hear us talking because the Chilean is speaking English and the gringa is speaking Spanish. We both want to practice, though, so we don't care! I think most of the commonly-used terminology is starting to stick in my head, and things are becoming more natural. Chileans just talk so fast, though! AND they cut off the ends of words. Many times I have to ask them to repeat, and usually I figure things out on the second try. When I'm in a one-on-one situation, I'm typically fine, but I still get flustered in group settings. (Today was a good conversation day...I knew what was happening the whole time at lunch and let my humor come out a little! It's hard to be funny in a second language...hold those sarcastic comments for those of you reading this who don't always find me funny ;)

I've also been continuing to attend events at El Oasis on Thursday nights, so that's helping my Spanish too. When I first started going, I didn't make a huge effort to talk to a lot of people there, mostly because by Thursday evenings I'm exhausted. But I realized that I asked some of you guys to pray that I find community down here like I have in Charlotte, and it's not going to happen if I don't put forth the effort. I really miss Watershed, and sometimes I just wish I was back in Charlotte for that. I grew so much in the past year and a half because of that community, and some days I feel like I'm not progressing down here. It makes me more convinced of the importance of a good community (including all friends and family). It took about a year to get comfortable in Charlotte after moving down in 2007, so you can imagine it's taking me a while to feel that here. I just need to remember that and be patient! And instead of whining about it, I'm trying to get over feeling tired on Thursdays and make an effort with the people at El Oasis. One of the girls that I met on my first day attending has continued to be so sweet and friendly towards me. Her name is Paula...funny, huh?? Must be the name! She is studying English at the university, so I think she also understands the struggles of mastering a new language. I'm hoping to continue hanging out with her and others at El Oasis even outside of Thursday evenings. I went with a group of about fifteen the other weekend to volunteer at a church that houses children whose parents are either single and work a lot or who don't have parents around. We cleaned the bathrooms, the backyard (which was full of trash) and made lunch and played with the kids on a Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for very long because I had a get-together with my TeachingChile program, but it was nice to be serving with people. I know they want to build a wall in the backyard to clearly separate the church property from some other private property (and also to make it a safer place for the children), so hopefully we'll be going back again soon (as soon as we get resources).

Some of my favorite moments during the day are between classes, after school, or when students have free time to work on projects during class. I love getting to know them, and I feel like they still want to get to know me (which is a good thing, I hope!) I even had a group of students the other day after school ask when I have to leave Chile. I told them I'm heading back to the States in December, and with a sad, pout face, they asked, 'And you're never going to return?' This was coming from some students from one of my troublesome classes, so it made me wonder why they want me to stay! I'm not always the nicest 'Mees' in that class, haha. But it makes me think about how hard it's going to be when the school year is over. Even though school feels like work now, I'm really going to miss these students. (I just need to remind myself of that every time I get frustrated with them because they won't stop talking and interrupting!!)

I love joking around with students. I expect them to pay attention and be respectful, but outside of class or when it's appropriate, I love when students come up to me to talk. For one, it gives me a chance to practice Spanish (I know I should only be speaking English to them, but most of them are completely lost when I speak only English, so I don't want to scare them away...sometimes I speak Spanglish). I think they appreciate it when I try to communicate with them in their native language, just as we like when foreigners try to speak English in the U.S. My students also like to make fun of me by getting me to say 'pero' (which means 'but') and 'perro' (which means 'dog') because they know I can't roll my 'R's. But don't worry, I give it right back to them by asking them to say 'three' or 'thank you'. They have a REALLY hard time with the 'th' sound. So we go back and forth making fun of each other, but I honestly think it's helping. I've also had students ask which soccer (fútbol) team I like. As you know, soccer is the biggest sport down here, and fans get really intense about games. I asked the Cisternas' (Paula's family) who they root for, and they said Universidad de Chile, so that's officially my team now too. People call it 'La U' (pronounced la oo) for short. Some of La U's rival teams are Colo-Colo and Católica. So we have a great time giving each other a hard time at school when there's a game between these teams.

After about two months of working in Colegio San Marcos, I've decided my two favorite grades are 7th and 12th. It's funny how it worked out like that because those are the extremes of the grades I teach, but I have the best time them. In 7th grade I have two classes and in 12th, I have four. The 7th graders aren't the same as our perception in the U.S. I was talking about this to one of the teachers yesterday because I've been pleasantly surprised with my 'middle-schoolers' down here. I think the reason they don't have the same attitude as middle-schoolers in the States is because they are still in the same building with the younger ones. Since I work at a private school, obviously there are students from Pre-K through 12th. I think middle-schoolers in the U.S. start getting attitudes when they change schools because it makes them feel older and cooler (or maybe that's just what I thought when I was that age, haha). I've noticed at my school here that the attitudes really change when they get to 9th grade, or 1 Medio. At that point they move to the other part of the school's campus with the older kids. And that age is awful! My 7th graders still want to learn and seem (yes, they seem to me) sweet and innocent. I also have to give credit to the teacher I work with in that grade, Ema, because she does a great job keeping structure in the class. She has those students trained!

And I keep going back to 12th grade because I love the conversations we can have with each other. They have a lot going on getting ready for college, including studying for a country-wide test called the PSU (similar to the SATs I think but it's in all subjects...so maybe it's closer to the PSATs?), but we can have really meaningful discussions in class. It's great! Padua and I even joke around with them in the class most of the time because they can handle it and don't get out of control. 12th graders will also come up to me a lot outside of class to chat, and they try to do it more in English. I respect them a lot for having the guts to do that! I never would've voluntarily gone up to someone who speaks a different language at that age. I was too scared!

Other than that, I have to admit I've been very homesick the past few weeks. Jessica warned me that month three is hard (she studied/worked in Australia for seven months) because you've been away for a pretty long time, but you also have a very long time to go before you go home. I was missing Mom a lot on Mother's Day as everyone was talking about their Mother's Day activities down here (it's celebrated the same day in Chile!) I've also started realizing that most of the good friends I've made down here are leaving in July...which is not far away! So thinking about that has also made me want to come home some, but it goes in and out. I still definitely want to be here, but as you can imagine, I have good days and bad days...and really bad days. Hahah. On those days, I may be bothering you guys or emailing much more, just so ya know! I did get some VERY exciting news this past week that cheered me up a lot. First, Kayla bought her ticket to come visit in September, so I'm going to take her on a Chilean adventure to southern Chile during our Independence week. AND she also informed me that she and Jessica found a good deal on a flight for me to come back in October for Jessica and Bryan's wedding. YAY!! I can't believe it! I'll only be back in the States for about three days, but I'm so glad I'll get to share this special moment with them!! I really do have the best family and friends!!!!!

I hope you're all doing well. I miss and love you very much!!

Grace and peace on your week,
LG

P.S. We have off for 'Naval Day' on Thursday and Friday this week, so I'm heading north to a town called Arica with a couple girls. It's the most northern town in Chile, almost to Peru, look it up! And stay tuned for some adventure stories next...it's been a while, hasn't it?!