Los Alamos!

             It has already been three weeks since I have arrived here in Chile. Myself and the other volunteers have now finished our orientation and we are all in our host cities. On Saturday, I hopped on a bus to a small city called Los Alamos not knowing who would be waiting to pick me up. When I arrived, my host family and a few of the teachers from my school were waiting for me with a sign saying; “Welcome to Los Alamos!” As soon as I saw the sign, I knew everything would be great.

Myself and two other WorldTeach volunteers are living with the same host family. The family has been incredibly welcoming and have taken great care of us. Our mother, Iris, stays at home and takes care of her granddaughter named Barbarita who is the cutest thing in the world (after Emily Elizabeth Johnson of course). Our host father Luis is an inspector at the school in town, which means that he deals with the discipline issues. We also have a sister named Sandra who is 27 years old and also teaches at the school and a brother named Matias who is 17 years old and is a student at our school. There are also three other teenage students that live at our house during the week and then go home on the weekends through a government funded program.

            Sunday was spent walking around town with our father Louis. The town is small but seems to be a great place to spend the next 4 months. Yesterday, we got to see our school for the first time. It is very nice and the teachers we will be working with are wonderful. They all seem very excited to have us here, and it seems as if they would bend over backwards to help us with anything. I will be teaching secondary students which is the United States equivalent to grades 9-12. I have my own classroom which will allow me to have my own little space at the school. This week I am going to spend my days observing classes and lesson planning which will help me get ahead.

            My Spanish skills are getting better, but very slowly. Come December, my Spanish-English dictionary is going to be pretty worn out. I hope to learn a lot but it is difficult when you start from ground zero. I guess I just have to keep trying.

 

Ciao