Chilean Moment of the Day Archive

In chronological order:

(First day of school) On my way to school today, I realized that after about 20 minutes of discussing the route to school and promising that I will call her if I am lost, my mama nueva thinks that I am starting Kindergarten. I was reminded of the song "All I Ever I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"...except for I didn´t learn that...and my mom never pinned my address and a pair of mittens to me incase I ever got lost. Oh, and my real mom speaks the same language as me...that´s nice! So, I don´t know why it made me think of that song, but I hope these kind of thoughts entertain you like they do me!

(Pan + Toilet = Party) Today, while I was trying to teach kids Ultimate Frisbee (not as big a hit as Dodgeball) the Inspectora, who is like the Dean of Students, called all the kids over. As she proceeded to talk to the students, I was lost until I caught the words "pan" (bread in English) and baño. Using my best deduction skills I gather that the students were being ¨talked to¨ about the consequences of shoving pan down the toilet. The best part is that this is the SECOND time that students have had to be talked to about shoving pan in the toilet. I know I have been served a lot of pan while I´ve been here, but this was truly a child who does not know how to share is feelings appropriately. I don´t know the language kid...what´s your excuse!

(For today’s installment: Gringo Chileno Time.) Doss and I showed up at 7, as planned, to the girl’s house to leave for our weekend in San Pedro, and no one is there. The girl’s host family had left to camp for the weekend, and I thought about panicking until I had a Critical Moment (not really) and decided to get over it and sat down on the dirty street with the perros to wait for them. Doss and I read for about 45 minutes and then the girls stroll up around the corner. They had gone downtown to secure bus tickets, and found out that the earliest bus isn’t until 7 in the AM. Big surprise…change of plans! New plan: give Jake a 5-star haircut! And after hanging out playing cards and enjoying our Friday night of freedom, we took an evening nap and got up before the sun to catch our bus. I realize it was easy to survive jet lag because of the blessed Chilean Standard Whenever Time.

(Bowel Movements) What´s an international moment, without an inappropriate story about bowel movements! I ate so much on Monday night that I had to take a few mid-night trips to the bathroom. My body hated me for that, and decided to attack me viciously during class...with no pink chewable salvation in sight! I realize exactly how much no one cares about this, but I am telling you this now: if you ever wake up and know that its going to be a Pepto kind of day...just call in sick. Especially if you are a teacher! I spent the whole morning thinking of something I could teach the students that would occupy 10 minutes at a time for me to leave. In any event, I will be calling in sick if that ever happens again. But I don´t plan on gluttonously eating myself sick anymore. Doss and I are going to be careful for the next few days.

(The Gringas) So in honor of the females who I care for so much on this trip. I would like to pay hommage to their suffering. It was a crazy few days with no gas for hot food and water at the casa de Betty (where Katie and Gina are staying) and they have wound up discovering the uncomfortable presence of fleas in their bed (that they share)! It came to my attention that Doss and I are crazy spoiled gringos who have their clothes washed, warm showers daily, separate beds and get stuffed to the point of sickness. Oh did I mention she ironed our underwear? Yeah, talk about awkward, but I think I can safely say that I´ve never worn a firmer pair of boxers...so strange! I just thought the saga of Gina and Katie needed to be told. Please pass on their memory to everyone you know.

The Final Day...turned into days. I won´t repeat the bus ticket story, because it happened exactly like the last one to San Pedro, but we wound up inviting the girls to our house this time for dinner and then left in the morning for Santiago (instead of late Friday night). But the girls got tired just in time for the majority of our family (Rosalinda´s sisters and mother) to come over with the fish they had caught that day! So, not only did we eat those fish, but we had empanadas, pork chops, potatoes, and some good Chilean wine to wash it down. Oh, did I mention that we didn´t start dinner until 11:30 AT NIGHT! This was officially Doss and my Chilean Final Test, and we are proud to say that we passed with flying colors. Which was good, because if I had to spend the day in a bus feeling like crap, I would have just about died!