Possibilities

Last week was full of adventures. We went to a lot of different schools that are possible volunteer sites if we decide to stay in Chillan. First we went to San Rafael which is a school for young adults with special needs. The school focuses on teaching the students skills so they will be able to get a job and work. It seemed like a great place and all the students were very nice. When we visited a lady who also goes to Casa Ursulina was teaching them some crafts which not only provides them with the knowledge of how to make the different crafts but it also improves their fine motor skills. Later in the week many of the students came to Casa Ursulina to present a dance they had been working on. It was the anniversary week at the school and one of the activities was to go perform to an audience outside the school.
We also went to a public High School in San Nicolas which is a town about a half hour from Chillan. Many students come from the country to go to the school and it recently won an award as a “Bicentennial School of Excellence.” While we were there we helped with the eleventh grade English classes. We helped review a test that the class had taken and also had conversations with the students. In one of the classes we took a mini field trip to the plaza which is a couple blocks from the school and the students had to point out important things along the way and tell us what they were in English. All in all it was a good day but a bit tiring.
The third school we went to was for children of all ages (infant to young adult) with disabilities. It is an amazing place and there are lots of possibilities for volunteer work. We could help with computer classes, I could teach cooking classes to a group of young adults or the group of mothers who come to a special workshop a couple times a month, we could do art projects, etc… the director of the school just kept listing off thing after thing that we could help with. She was clearly very passionate about her work and the school!
The last school we visited was El Libertador which is a public school a couple blocks from Casa Ursulina. It serves a poor neighborhood of Chillan and previous volunteers have worked there. Some possible options for this school are to teach English or tutor children who need extra help. We met with the director briefly and he seemed like a really nice guy.
On the 29th we started to celebrate my birthday! The celebration at dinner with longanizas (a type of sausage that is very popular in Chile and Chillan is said to have the best longanizas!), chips and dip and artichokes (they eat lots of artichokes in Chile, not just the hearts but the whole artichoke). I really like all of these foods so I was quite pleased. Then we had cake. Mimi, Ruth and Kym sang Happy Birthday both in Spanish and English. It was a great way to start celebrating. The next day began with birthday cake for breakfast. We lit the candles again and sang to Ale (a lady who helps around the house except on Wednesdays (the 29th was a Wednesday and her birthday)). Mimi says she likes nothing more than sweets for breakfast so we continued eating the cake for breakfast. I wasn’t going to argue with that! The cake they got was called Nogales and was a walnut cake with manjar (caramel) frosting between the layers. It was definitely good but adding some chocolate somewhere wouldn’t have hurt either :D Later that night we went out with Ale and one of her sons to a bar called Kactus. It wasn’t very crowed which was good because it meant it wasn’t very smokey. We could have gone out a Friday instead but it would have been really busy and very smokey so I decided that would not be as fun. We had a great time laughing, dancing and talking. Later Ale told us that it was one of her best birthdays in a long time! On Friday the celebration continued (for my birthday and Ale’s) when we went out to lunch in town. We would have gone out on Thursday but there was an extra morning workshop so there wouldn’t have been a lot of time to go out to lunch and return in time for the afternoon classes. The restaurant we went to serves typical Chilean food. It is really good, has big portions and is cheap! I got an Ave Palta (chicken and avocado) sandwich and it was great!
During the week we went to more of the classes at Casa Ursulina and I learned how to set up a loom and weave. Over a span of three or four days I set up the loom and knit a scarf (light blue and navy blue). If I may say so myself, I did a great job, especially considering I’ve never done any weaving before (unless you count weaving in fourth grade art class which is a bit different…).
On Saturday afternoon Kym and I took the bus to Talca where we met Maruja. From Talca we went to Vilches and will spend the next two weeks here. Ted and Maruja are a couple who have been Mary Knoll Missioners for a long time. They just closed the Chile branch (and many others) of the Mary Knoll program but they have decided to stay here. Vilches is a small, rural town. We haven’t seen much yet but over the next two weeks I will be able to tell you much more about life in Vilches.
Unfortunately the internet here is not great so I will not be able to post any pictures for the next two weeks. Also Skype dates are out of the question…