So I realize that I am very behind on my blog posts. The last two weeks have been really busy...a combination of the workload here and dealing with stuff (like rent) in the US. However, both weeks were 4 days work weeks which was nice.
Two weeks ago (June 20th-June 27th) was pretty busy. I had another fun parent teacher meeting...but this time it was one-on-one. And of course the kid I was there to discuss is a problem child. It also didn't help that he is one of the kids at the hogar that I do not know (since there are 80). It was definitely a little intimidating at first but by the end of the meeting I was proud of the fact that I was able to understand and communicate with the teacher one-on-one. This time I felt like I had somewhat of an impact instead of just sitting in a seat and listening to the teacher talk to 20 parents at once. After the meeting Ophelia and I went to Santiago to buy bus tickets to go to Argentina for the 3 day weekend. Then we met up with a friend to learn to dance "cueca"...the national dance of Chile. Overall it was a fun night but I still cannot dance the cueca very well because you have to keep and handkerchief moving in your hand the entire time you dance. Later in the week my sinus infection came back with a vengance. I think it is because of the mold we have in the house here. While we were in Argentina it got better, but was bad once we got back returned.
Argentina was tons of fun. Ophelia and I got first class seats on the bus...they were leather, laid back into beds, we were served a full breakfast and lunch (all for about $30)! Needless to say we were very spoiled and had a good 8 hour trip there. During the weekend we went horseback riding, tried lots of food (some good and some bad), went to 2 vineyards and an olive oil factory. It was action packed but definitely worth it.
We got back late Monday and started working again on Tuesday. This past week was pretty laid back. One of my kids was able to recognize and identify the number 1 (which made me very happy!). I also saw an adoption take place. One of the babies here, Jocelin, who is 16 months was adopted by a Chilean couple. While I didn't know her that well I was amazed at how emotional the adoption was and how emotional it made me. The tias that take care of her were very sad to see her leave (because she is like a daughter to them) but at the same time it was great to see her with her new parents. They seemed like very genuine people. I did not expect to get as emotional as I did. Maybe it is just because I am a girl, but it was a really incredible process to watch.
We spent a good part of the week planning winter vacation for the kids. I must say that these kids will not be bored during their vacation. We will still be doing some tutoring (for the kids that need it the most) but they have activities and field trips planned for every day (for 2 and a 1/2 weeks). We are going to the mountains to play in the snow one day. Other days the kids are competing in the "Olypmics" for all of the hogars in the region and having dance competitions and movie nights. There is something different every day and it will be a busy 2 and a half weeks.
Friday night we went out in Santiago. While this may not seem like a lot we could not take the bus back to Peñaflor until 6am. The last bus before that leaves a 1am (and people don't start heading out until 12 or 1am). All in all it was a fun night, we met up with a friend of mine from Pittsburgh and were able to dance some. However I felt like I wasted all of Saturday sleeping. Saturday I was able to meet up with the same friend again (that is interning at the embassay) and we got a new volunteer from Germany. Winter vacation starts this Wednesday so it will probably be busy....filled with lots of parent teacher meetings before vacation.
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