We then took the 10 hour bus ride back to Santiago and then 2 more hours to Vina, where it was cold and cloudy. Because of the unfortunate weather we ended up going shopping at the biggest mall I have ever seen, with 4 floors! We also found a very good open market with home jewelry ad clothes. Also on the beach there are sand artists that make sculptures in the sand that look amazing. Today and tomorrow we will just be relaxing at the beach, hopefully if the weather gets better, and then friday night we come HOME!!!! YAY! Have a great week getting ready for Christmas and I can't wait to see everyone!!!
Exploring Chile
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Vina del Mar
We then took the 10 hour bus ride back to Santiago and then 2 more hours to Vina, where it was cold and cloudy. Because of the unfortunate weather we ended up going shopping at the biggest mall I have ever seen, with 4 floors! We also found a very good open market with home jewelry ad clothes. Also on the beach there are sand artists that make sculptures in the sand that look amazing. Today and tomorrow we will just be relaxing at the beach, hopefully if the weather gets better, and then friday night we come HOME!!!! YAY! Have a great week getting ready for Christmas and I can't wait to see everyone!!!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Adios Valdivia
Well it is now sunday and it is my last official day in Valdivia. Tomorrow night we will be taking the bus back to Santiago and then from there to Vina del Mar. Since my last blog I have finished my classes at Windsor School and got to explore the city a bit more. On Thursday we ended up having a litte talent show of the three boys in our group for the school. Two of them played the piano and guitar and sang a few songs and then the dance major did a dance for the whole school in the gym. Rilley, the dancer, is a dance major at Otterbein and the whole Windsor school fell in love with him and they asked him to come back the next day and teach the cheerleaders a dance. So needless to say the gringos, forgieners, made a big impact on the school at a whole. Also on thursday for lunch my family took me to a famous restaurant in Valdivia that has crudos. Which crudos are bread with raw meat on top of them, and they then put lemon and different sauces on them. The food is very german but everyone in Valdivia love them. I tried one and lets just say I am not a true chilean. Then on thursday night we went out to a different discotec that is in the casino here in town and it was very big and I had a lot of fun. Friday was then filling with end of the year celebrations and we had a magician come into our class. That night all of the Otterbein students went over to one of our host family's house and had snacks and hung out. The house we went to was amazing and they just kept bringing out food and sweets for us to eat that we all felt like we were at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. We also tried a little and spanish Karaoke at his house, which was a very hard but still fun. On saturday I got up and went to the mall with my mom and then went out to lunch and a movie with some friends. We saw Megamente, megamind, in spanish and it was such a cool experience to see a movie in a differet language. Lucky for me I had already seen the movie so I knew what was going on but I could understand the characters pretty well too. Today I don't have many plans except washing clothes and back for the journey back. One week from now I will be home!! Have a great sunday :)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
My final week in Valdivia
P.S. I have been listening to Reggaeton music, the typic chilean music, while I have been writing this. I am becoming a true chilean :)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Bariloche
Hello, I know I haven't written on here in a while but we have been super busy with traveling. Tuesday and this week was about the same as the last week with having classes and visiting schools. On wednesday they had a national holiday so no one had to go to school or work. So I was able to spend time with my family a little bit and get to know Valdivia a little more. We first went to the fresh water market. As I have said Valdivia is surrounded but rivers and as a result the fish industry is very large. It was diffinitely a different experience with all of the raw fish laying out and each different fisherman trying to get you to buy from their selection. Also at the market they had fresh vegetables and some plants even. After the market we then met up with one of my sister's cousins and went out to lunch at the local brewery in Valdivia. This brewery has been around since the 1800's and it is actually of german descent because of the great german population there. The factory is called Kuntsmans. The food was great and I got to talk to someone else in there family which was fun as well. The rest of the day on wednesday was basically free to get ready for our travel to Bariloche.
The venture to Bariloche was rough and I didn't know if we were ever going to make it. We first had to drive 2 hours to a fairy and then 2 hours on that and then drive about five hours through the Andes mountains on gravel roads in the pouring rain. We really weren't sure if we were going to make it. Driving through the Andes was definitely an experience. However the view during the drive was absolutely amazing, there were mountains and lakes and waterfalls and all kinds of different landscapes. It made me really appreciate how hard God must have worked to make all of this because it was stunning. After the painful drive the rest of the night was had dinner and then went out to an Argentinian discotec. I'm not sure if I mentioned it but Bariloche is in Argentina, which is why it was so far away.
The next day in Bariloche though was definitely worth all of the traveling. We went up in this ski left up to a lookout area over the Andes mountains. The view from up was ten times better than the volcano in Pucon, which is didn't even think was possible. It was just amazing how big and how far the mountains stretched. The wind at the top was very cold and we all had on big coats but it was definitely worth it. The rest of today was spent with some shopping around the town and eating chocolate! Bariloche is the chocolate capital of South America. On every street corner there is a different chocolate shop. One of the shops in particular was al decorated for christmas and it looked like you were walking into santa's kitchen. I bought chocolate and two different stores because there was just so much good stuff.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Pucon
Pucon is a small tourist town about 2 hours north of Valdivia. The town is known for its amazing views of the mountains and it's Volcano. As we drove into the city this giant volcano just came out of nowhere from under the clouds and it was the most amazing this I have every seen. It felt much like the first time I saw the grand canyon. (But thankfully we couldn't fall into the volcano so it was less scary). Upon arriving to the hotel we get something to eat and then decided to take a closer look at this natural wonder. We drove up the most rocky and dusty road ever and then finally made it us pretty far that we decided to get out and take some pictures. From our first location we could see the volcano and then the other direction looked like we had entered Jurassic Park. There were large hills covered in trees and a great lake off into the distance. Then we were all feeling pretty good so we decided to hike up the mountain. No one anticipated going very far however the higher you get the more beautiful the view and it became somewhat addicting to go higher and higher. After hiking about twenty minutes up I decided I had gone far enough and I turned around and I gasped because not only could I see what I was looking at before but also the andes mountains which crosses into Argentina. It was amazing. I stayed in that spot for a while but the guys on our trip climbed all the way up to where the snow was and made a snow man. The rest of the night was filled with eating and resting from the excursion that day.
Monday we had another visit to the school and I taught my class the song, head shoulders, knees and toes, in english and they seemed to really like it. The rest of the day is free but we have another long day tomorrow. Then this weekend is Bariloche, Argentina.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Baile la Polka
As I have continued to spend time in the schools I have noticed that it doesn't matter where you are put that all children act the same way and want attention, especially from people who are different like us. At the german school that we visited I got to play some games with a few of the 3rd grade girls there and all the wanted to do was the clapping chants, like miss mary mack. Of course there chants were different than the ones from home but it was very fun to see that those costums are everywhere. Also all of the students here love the Justin Beiber and the Jonas Brothers. Actually most of the entertainment here is american. They don't have a large industry for movies or shows so they watch most of the same stuff that we do. My first week here was definitely trying but it has also been great. Tonight we are all having a get together with all of the Otterbein students and all of our host siblings and then we are going out to the discoteca. Then in the morning we are leaving for Pucon :) I hope all is well!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Typical day of a Chilean Student
The reason for the sea wolfs is because of the demografic area of Valdivia. The city is called the city of three rivers. Largest river is called La Calle, Calle. My host family lives on an island across this river. The island is called La isla Teja and we have to take a big bridge to get from the town to the island. However this river makes the area very pretty and useful for having great fish markets every saturday morning.
On Wednessday morning I went to school just like the day before and had classes in the morning. But then we got to go on a field trip the La Universidad San Sebastian. The university is very all different kinds of majors and we were able to talk with some of the students there about the differences in educational systems from the United States and Chile. This was very interesting because we have many of the same problems with inner city schools and lack of education. The morning was basically the same as the day before however after we came back from lunch we didn't have to go back to school for the afternoon. This is the time when most of the sports teams have there practices. One of the main sports here is field hockey and they have teams for both boys and girls. My host sister doesn't play any sport but she is a very good student and she studies a lot. Because we didn't have to go back to school I was able to go to the mall. The mall was very similar to the malls in ohio. If anything it was probably nicer because it was very big and it was kept very nice. When we got back my sister had to study because she has a Biology test on friday and I was able to look at some of her notes. It was very interesting because she is learning about the kidneys and I know a lot about those in english and it was very cool to see how it was put in spanish. The rest of the night was filled with watching the news and I was able to show her some pictures of my family. She thought, to no big suprise, that bobby and my dad look exactly alike and that they were very tall. I also showed her picutres of the dogs and she commented on how old murphy looks (I left out the fact that he is my least favorite).
Overall I am having a great time in Valdivia but is has been a little hard to adjust. The eating schedule is very different because they have such big lunches half way through the day, but then they don't eat very much at all for dinner. However I think this works for them because I have yet to see an overweight person since we have been here. They are much mor conscious about what they eat. Another very interesting this is that at the school they have 2 fifteen minute breaks in the morning and one in the evening when the entire school stops and the kids can do whatever they want. Some of them eat a snack and they go outside to play. I thought it was very interesting that they don't really have a recess teacher that watches them the whole time. These kids are able to play without fighting and they all come inside when they hear the bell. I was trying to understand this concept and I think the kids behave better because they do have this free time when they can get all of their energy out. I don't know exactly but it is very pleasant. We now have two more days of school and then this weekend we are going on a trip to larger city in Chile! Chao :)
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