A Map for Saturday

I'm sitting in the JFK airport in New York, anxiously waiting to board my flight to Bogota.  The woman at the check in counter was understanding about my bags being slightly overweight and let me through without a problem.  

I didn't do much preparation for this trip in regards to finding tours and deciding what I'm going to do besides explore Bogota and Cartagena.  I'm a bit anxious about the trip due to what people say about safety issues in Colombia, but I'm just going to let common sense and my instinct help me navigate my trip.  

On Youtube last night I found a documentary I saw on MTV a little over 2 years ago.  It documents a TV producer's decision to leave his hectic but well-paying job in New York to travel the world for a year.  When I saw this it reaffirmed the wanderlust that I got when I first went to Germany.  It's about an hour and a half long, but very inspiring and interesting.  If you have the time to watch it feel free to post comments and let me know what you think.

Here's the link:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-TpSCDv04g

Enjoy!

The question isn´t what we are going to do, the question is what we AREN´T going to do!

In case if you don´t recognize that quote, it is from the classic 80s film Ferris Bueller´s Day Off.  I am watching this at school now.  Why am I doing this and not helping with English classes you ask?

Well, Claudia and I were preparing to give our class their oral tests first thing this morning.  Then one of the math teachers came in and announced that there was a math test to be given to the entire school to determine their math level.  They were taking the test right then, and it was scheduled to take over 2 hours. 

Claudia didn´t need my help giving the test, so I had free time.  Luckily I had brought Claudia´s copy of Ferris Bueller´s Day Off with me, and Claudia had her laptop at school with her. 

So you might still be wondering why I am watching it.  Well, the 10th grade students are finishing up a unit on crime and getting into trouble.  This movie is so perfect for that theme.  It has playing hooky, impostering others, joyriding, lying, and more.  It´s actually one of my favorite movies.  I´m working on a study guide so the students can follow along to the movie and understand it.

On a different note, World Cup Fever is in full swing here.  Kids at school have purchased books that list all of the players for each team, and there are cards that they are collecting to fill in each blank for each player.  Next Wednesday will be Chile´s first match at 7:30 AM here, and they are going to broadcast the game in the gym on a large screen so everyone at school can see.

But that´s not all.  Some schools have actually cancelled classes for that first game.  Other schools are letting students come in after that first match is over.  The Ministry of Education has allowed students to leave school early (at 1:00) Friday the 25th so that they can make it home in enough time to watch the game that starts at 2:30.

It´s really interesting to see all of the World Cup memorabilia on display.  I am going to try to get an official shirt and maybe a cup and book to bring back as souvineers and also as something to show to any Spanish classes I will have.

Another interesting grammar point: When do you use say, and when do you use tell?

You use say when you say something to someone.

You use tell when you tell someone something.

It´s a very subtle difference but a difference nonetheless.  I found the lyrics for ¨Hello, Goodbye¨ by The Beatles, and we will probably sing the song in class next week.

That´s all for now.

Movies, Ice Cubes in the Urinals, Playing Bass, and Travel Plans

So I know I just updated about 10 hours ago, but I want to blog about this before I forget about it.

I saw How to Train Your Dragon with Rochelle, and it was completely in Spanish.  We were able to understand it save a few words here and there, and it was a nice treat enjoying kettle corn in a theater.  (The popcorn in movie theaters here are either salty or sweet, and there's no artificial butter flavor like back home)  It was a really cute movie and I'm glad we saw it.

And then I had another interesting toilet experience.  All of the urinals inside the men's restroom of the movie theater had ice inside them.  It was such a weird thing seeing my pee melt the ice in the urnial slowly, kind of like the Wicked Witch of the West that melted when the sun came out.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me to chronicle this, but I will definitely make a trip back for this sole purpose.

Since traffic home would have been crazy when we were getting out at 6:30 we decided that we would kill some time walking around or getting some coffee.  Right off to the side of the movie theater when I stepped out was a guy with a bass.  I told Rochelle right away I had to talk to him and see if he would let me play.

So I went up to him and introduced myself and asked if I could play.  Benjamin offered graciously (no bow, so I just plucked a tune by hand) and after a minute or so I went to give it back to him and thanked him.  But then he told me to play a song with his friend Johnny who had a harmonica and was blind.  They told me that it was in the key of G, and away we went.  I am more of a classical player, but I did a pretty good job of walking a bass line seeing that I have virtually no jazz training.  Rochelle played along on the tambourine, and Johnny alternated singing and playing the harmonica.  A small crowd gathered, and a few people snapped pictures.  One guy had his camera set up and recorded us.  Again, I wish I brought my camera!!!

After the song was over I thanked them, and they told me to come back and visit them another time.  They hang out at the same place each evening, so I am planning on going back next week with my bow too.

As we stopped for me to recharge my cell phone, the clerk and a guy waiting chatted with us.  They obviously noticed we were gringos, and they chatted with us a bit about where we were from and what we were doing there.  They laughed as I told them I wanted to put 10 luca (which is slang for 10,000 pesos, like saying 10 bucks) on my phone, and Rochelle and I threw in some more slang as we talked with them.  It put a smile on my face and I wished them a good evening as we left.

And then to top the day off, I got some great deals for airfares thanks to LAN Chile.  Instead of paying 400 bucks to fly directly into Cuzco to visit Machu Picchu, we are paying about 140 bucks to fly to Arica (in northern Chile and only about 25 km from the border with Peru) and then taking a bus from there.  It actually works out better, since Colca Canyon (which is bigger than the Grand Canyon) is actually between Arica and Cuzco.  I got a ticket to Temuco (south of Santiago probably about 8 hours in bus) for 80 bucks.  They have hot springs there as well as a volcano that you can climb, so that will be fun.  And last but not least, I booked my ticket to Easter Island for September.  Travel guides tell you to expect to pay up to 800 bucks, but I found a round trip flight for 416 bucks.  Yes, it's a lot of money.  But when else am I going to have the chance to visit a place that is so completely isolated from civilization?

That's all for now.  I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

The Language Lab, ANZAC Day, and my first trip to the movies

Late last week Claudia and I decided to check out the Language Lab that was supposed to be such a big deal at our school.  This year they changed the English classes from 5 hours a week to 3 hours a week of class and 2 hours in the Language Lab.

Well, I guess I'll start out by saying that it's not perfect.  There are 32 computers, and most classes have around 35 kids.  When I was in there during a free period there were 6 kids without computers.  Some computers were not connecting to the program, and other kids had problems with their microphones not being able to hear their voices (and were therefore unable to continue with the program).  Other kids were typing in translations of words and phrases, and the program was telling them that it was wrong when I knew it was right.  We even tried it different ways with capitalization and spacing but to no avail.  When they didn't do something right or there was some type of technical issue, the instructions were all in English.

The technician of the lab was busy running around putting out one fire after another, and even though they were 10th graders, they mostly seemed at the level of working on letters and numbers.  A few of them might be at that level, but certainly not all of them.  (They supposedly took a diagnostic test to determine what level they would start at, and would then work individually from there)  I think the best part (or worst depending on your point of view) is that the technician that runs the English Lab doesn't speak English.  Oh yeah, and the kids get a grade in the Language Lab too, so it will be interesting to see what grades the kids get that don't have a computer to work on.  Yup, I'm definitely in Chile.

So my weekend was pretty relaxed.  I will from this point forward refer to my room in my house as my cave, as there are no windows and I have a sole lightbulb that hangs from the ceiling as my lightsource.  I cleaned my cave and sorted through random papers and receipts that I had piling up.  And after that I went to a party that Chris and Tiffany were throwing in honor of ANZAC Day.

Basically ANZAC Day is a day to remember the fallen soldiers of Australia and New Zealand from the 1st World War.  Chris and Tiffany made up signs showing typical Australian slang with translations into American English that the rest of us would be able to understand, and there was good food too.

Here is fairy bread, which is bread with melted butter and sprinkles (and I learned that sprinkles are called hundreds and thousands in Australian):

And here is a dessert called lamingtons.  It is made by taking sponge cake, then covering it in melted chocolate and then putting coconut all over it:

 

And here is Chris showing off his buns:

The meat on the barby:

Me cutting my meat and Julie looking very excited about her Aussie burger:

And here are a few fellow teachers (Erin and Juila) and a guy named Arturo I met at the party:

As you can see, it was a good time.

Then on Sunday I didn't have much planned and was bored at home when I got an invitation to go see Shutter Island later on.  At first I wasn't going to go since it was all the way in Las Condes and didn't know how to get there, but since I didn't have any other plans I decided to go after all.  It turns out that I only had to take 2 busses and it only took about 30 minutes to get there. 

The movie theater was at the same mall that I was at a few weeks ago for lunch with Claudia and her family, and I started to get a bit hungry as I passed by Pasta Basta, the Italian restaurant we ate at together.  I tried calling David but he didn't answer.  I texted him about 10 minutes later and still got no answer.  I walked around to kill some time, and decided to go back to the movie theater one last time. 

As I got there David and Jordan were walking out.  It turns out they decided to catch an earlier showing of Shutter Island.  We talked about going to Pasta Basta for an early dinner instead of the movie, but then they realized that they didn't know if anyone else was going to show up or not.  As we were waiting a girl named Linda showed up.  We talked about all going to Pasta Basta, but Linda really wanted to see Shutter Island.  She also had a discount ticket for 2 people, so her and I went to see it and Jordan and David did their own thing instead.

Popcorn at the movies here is either salty or sweet, and there is no butter flavoring thingie to make it extra fattening.  I was a bit weary of seeing the movie since movies that get scary or violent still affect me a bit, but I was fine.  The movie really messed with your mind, as everything you thought it was completely changed as time went on.  The dream sequences were really strange but made sense in the end.  The one thing I still haven't figured out is the paper that Rachel wrote about "The law of 4".

I've also gotten on the ball with some little things I've been meaning to do: research for traveling to Easter Island, Machu Picchu, and Bolivia, I bought a camera case, and I also filled up some empty bottled waters with sand rather than buying dumbells to work out with.

This coming week will hopefully have at least one of the following: news of moving to a new place (the new roof is worse than the first with letting in wind and dirt and also leaks, I keep getting food stolen from the fridge even though my name is plastered all over it, internet is incredibly slow or broken, and some people just leave the place filthy) going to see How To Train Your Dragon, bike rides in semi warm weather to explore more of Santiago, and a paycheck on Friday.  We shall see what the future holds.