Greetings to all! The past few weeks have been great as usual. In addition to teaching, I have had the chance to travel a bit with the family, go fishing a few times, and gain a few blisters on my hands from a few hard days work with an axe and a chainsaw. The weather is rapidly getting better, so I am finding myself spending a lot more time outside and enjoying the southern hemispheric spring.
Being from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I figured I knew at least a thing or two about fishing, but after only a few minutes of fishing with my host father and brother, I quickly realized that I had to start over from ground zero. Until now, when I imagined fishing, I imagined a fishing rod and a real. Now, I have a completely different image. In Chile it is much more common to fish with a rusty tin can or a PVC pipe with fishing line wrapped around it (see photo below). Instead of casting out a line using a rod and real, you hold the tin can in one hand, and about 2-3 feet of the fishing line in the other hand with the lour attached to the end of the line. You then begin twirling the lour around your head. Once you have gained enough velocity you let go of the fishing line in your one hand and the lour and fishing line go flying out towards the water while the tin can is still in your hand other hand. Some of you may be thinking; “What the heck is he talking about?!” and I don’t blame you. I was even confused after being shown how it works in person.
Fortunately after a good 3-4 times of letting go of the lour and watching it get stuck in the trees or the weeds near by, I finally got a hold of it. My host father and brother make it look a lot easier than it really is but on day one, I was actually the only person to catch a fish! I caught a nice 12” salmon. After a long day of learning a new fishing technique and fishing my line out of bushes, that salmon sure did taste good for dinner!
Since our first fishing adventure, we have returned to the river three times and our fish count as a group is up to 4 salmon and 1 big trout, which I can proudly take credit for. Each time we go, I get much better at the tin can technique, which allows me to focus more on the beautiful nature that surrounds me. My host father absolutely loves fishing, so I foresee myself returning to the river several times in the next few months.
"Do You Have a Permit For All That Wood?"
As I have mentioned before, most of the stoves here in Chile are wood burning rather than gas or electric, so good firewood is a valuable resource around here. Going into this past weekend, our host family was a little low on firewood, but after our weekend full of work, we should be set for the next few months at least.
On Saturday morning, nearly the entire family piled into our pick-up truck, and headed out to el bosque (the forest) in search of wood. The weekends must be a popular time to collect firewood because on our way to the woods we passed about 8-10 other families gathering wood as well. Logging is a huge industry in this region of Chile, so after the logging companies cut down all the trees and take what they want, the public is allowed to come through and take whatever branches and logs are left… or at least that is what I thought.
After spending a few hours hacking away at the wood with an axe, we were just about ready to tie the truck down and secure the wood when two men in big truck pulled up. The mood amongst the family immediately changed, as I could tell they were worried about what was going to happen. Before even saying hello, the men asked us for our permit for all the wood we were collecting. We spent the next 5 minutes receiving a lecture from the men on why we can’t take the wood and how they should be giving us a big fine, and then the next 10 minutes pretending like we had no idea and asking them to just let us take this one load of wood. Fortunately the men were actually pretty nice, and they let us keep the wood we had loaded in the truck. We said goodbye to the men promising that it would never happen again.
You would think that this would deter them from going back out to get more wood, but bright and early the next morning we were back out in the woods collecting more firewood. This time we didn’t just take back one load of wood, but two. I guess the 5-minute lecture and the threat of a fine just wasn’t enough. This time we borrowed a chainsaw from one of my host father’s friends, which made the job 10 times easier. Needless to say… this weekend I got to show off my Grove Landscaping skills, which my host family was actually pretty impressed with.Stickers Were a Bad Idea
As I have mentioned before, I have been volunteering at a local kindergarten school here in Los Alamos. The time that I spend with the group of 4 & 5 year olds is a blast and those little kids always brighten up my day as soon as I enter the room.
A few weeks ago, I received a package from my parents in the mail. The package was full of teaching materials, many of which are very helpful with my kindergarteners. In the package was a series coloring books to help learn the alphabet, learn sounds, colors, animals, as well as several sheets of really cool stickers. When I was looking through the coloring books and all the stickers, I thought to myself: “Wow! These will be perfect!”
The next time I had class with the little ones, I brought all the coloring books and the stickers. The coloring books worked incredibly well! The kids absolutely loved them, especially the ones with animals. (*Side note: monkeys are kids favorite animal all over the world!) The stickers on the other hand, turned out to be way too good of an idea. After I walked around and gave each kid a sticker, I didn’t stop handing out stickers for the next 30 minutes. Kids were non-stop pulling at my pant leg or my belt saying “I want another sticker!” “I want a smiley face sticker!” “I want a star sticker!” No matter how many times I said “Nope. Only one sticker per person”, they just kept begging. But those little kids are so darn cute, that I just couldn’t stand my ground.
Just as I thought it was all over, and I was starting to pack up my things to leave, I was attacked by all 30 or so of the kindergartners. Apparently the teachers and the students had planned a secret attack on me the whole time. It worked perfectly, and soon I was on the ground with a pile of little 4 & 5 year olds screaming and laughing. It was hilarious!
The Dictionary Is Starting To Fall Apart
Almost three months ago, I was sitting on a bus from Santiago to Concepcion where I was to meet my host family for the first time. In Santiago, communicating was easy because I was around other Americans all day everyday, so I could always fall back on someone else that knew a lot more Spanish than I did to help me order food, buy a bus ticket, etc. As soon as I was with my host family I was no longer going to have that support. Sitting on the bus, I was scared out of my mind! At that point I essentially knew absolutely no Spanish what so ever. I thought to myself; “I am not going to be able to communicate for the next 4 months! I know nothing!” I could hardly ask someone what their name was or where the bathroom was. I was also thinking; “Chileans are known for speaking terrible Spanish too!” Things were not looking good for me.
But things quickly started to turn around. Slowly but surely, I started to pick up words and phrases here and there. I also purchased a little notebook to keep in my back pocket so that every time I learned a new word, I could write it down to practice later. In the beginning I would only be able to pick out one or two words of a sentence, but I am starting to understand full sentences and I do not have to ask people to repeat themselves nearly as much. I now feel very functional, and am really starting to enjoy speaking Spanish. By no means am I even close to perfect, but after nearly 3 ½ months I feel like I have come pretty far, or at least better than I thought I would be at this time.
I now have a strong desire to continue to learn Spanish, and when I return to the United States, I will definitely search for any way possible to continue to learn and practice. I believe that as a teacher in the United States, knowing another language can be incredibly helpful especially in the ever-increasing diverse United States.
those kids are adorable... great post!
ReplyDeleteLoving your pics and blogs! Unforgetable experiences!
ReplyDeletegosh those kids are so cute. love the pics matt! miss you bro.
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