Bathroom blues

I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to highlight the main points of my weekend

1) I went to see WALL-E yesterday.  It was great!

2) Today at lunch, my dad Juan told me that he thinks I'm depressed.

3) Right before church, I got locked into the church's bathroom.  The door was kind of broken.  There was no handle.  And I got locked in.  I called for help, and two moms along with an entire catechesis class ran to help me.  They tried to open the door, but because there was no handle (only a hole) and the lock was stuck, they couldn't open it.  One by one, a line of 10-year-old girls took their turn to peek through the door hole to watch me stuck in the bathroom.  After we realized that the door was definitely not going to open, we turned to plan B.  There was a 2 ft x 2 ft window about 6 feet off the ground.  I had to pass my purse and shoes through the window to a woman named Violeta, and then climb up on the sink and climb through the window.  I almost broke my neck, but at least I made it to Mass on time and I'm not still stuck in the bathroom.

That's all for now...

Tuna pizza, Pica, and choir

I feel like I'm finally starting to settle into my life here in Chile.  Consequently, I'm slowly feeling the minor aches and pains of homesickness...Nothing too severe for now, but there are certain things I miss about home...

I really miss the napkins back at home.  They just don't make napkins like in the good ol' US of A.  So soft, so big, so absorbant.  Here, the napkins are thin and small.  I go through three or four napkins every meal (I tend to spill things often, no shocker, I'm sure).  I might as well rip out a piece of paper from my notebook and use it as a napkin. 

Another thing: I miss having toilet paper available whenever I may desire to use it.  Every time I go to a public bathroom here, it's a gamble.  I hesitantly enter the stall.  My heart rate begins to increase...my palms become clammy.  Adrenaline rushes through my body as I think, "Will there be toilet paper?"  But don't worry, Kristen, I say to myself.  If there's no TP, you can simply open your purse and pull out your own roll.  Yes.  It's true.  I've started to carry around a secret stash of the good stuff in my purse just in case.  Right next to my cell phone and my wallet, I have a teddy bear covered roll of TP (I stole it from Cata and my bathroom).

In addition to quality napkins and available toilet paper, I also miss Subway.  And Panera.  And Sonic ice.  Oh what I'd give for a Large Diet Coke with extra ice from Sonic.  Speaking of missable beverages, I also

 miss non-instant coffee.  I haven't seen one household with a coffee maker here.  It's not a matter of a lack of money (my parents here have plenty but still no coffee maker).  It's just cultural, I think.  All the coffee I've had in someone's house has been instant.  There is espresso

though.  My favorite restaurant here in Iquique, Cioccolata, has amazing espresso.  And the best torta (cake).  I've already been there three times

in the two weeks I've been here.  Eesh!

I actually visited Cioccolata last weekend to buy some cake for a fellow volunteer's birthday.  John, volunteering in a desert town called Calama about 5 hours away from Iquique, came to Iquique last weekend to visit (along with three other Calama volunteers).  On Friday, I met up with John and Cat in the plaza in the center of the city.  We all went back to my house for an asado (b-b-q) with my family.  We hung out with my family for awhile, ate tons of food, and then went for a walk on Cavancha beach (the best and most popular beach in Iquique).  Around 10 PM, we went to the center of town to eat pizza at a place called Telepizza (a few of my students recommended it).  At this point, we were pretty hungry.  We decided on a large pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives.  I stepped up to the counter and confidently ordered a pizza pizza with pepperoni, champinones (mushroo-

ms), and atun (olives...or so I thought).  You see, the words for olives (aceituna) and tuna (atun, with an accent over the "u") are pretty similar.  So, half way through our first piece of pizza, when we realized that our olives were missing and in their place was tuna, we were quite surprised.  Actually, what my friends didn't know at the time was that I ordered tuna pizza on purpose.  It was merely a Spanish lesson in disguise.  Now they will always remember that olives are not "atun" but rather "aceituna."  I'm such a giving person...  ;)

Then, as the clock struck midnight, we celebrated John's birthday at Telepizza.  He turned 24!  There's nothing like pepperoni-mushroom-tuna-pizza indigestion to ring in a year of life.  After the mini-birthday celebration, I went home, slept for less than 6 hours, and then met up with the same friends in the plaza the next morning at 8 AM.  We hopped on a 2-hour bus ride to Pica, a nearby desert oasis town filled with fresh fruit, warm springs, and a cute old church.  Four other volunteers from Calama, me, and a German dude named Yenz (we picked him up at the bus station in Iquique) enjoyed an afternoon in Pica.  We ate lunch, swam in the natural warm springs, and then returned back to Iquique around 8 PM.  In Iquique, we bought wine and cake (from Cioccolata) and had another birthday party for John in their hostel.  You can only imagine how exhausted I was after two adventure-filled days in Chile.  I got home Saturday night late...around midnight...and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  

Sunday, I went to Mass with my family (no Mickey Mouse this time).  After church, we went to this awesome Peruvian-style fancy schmancy restaurant for lunch.  I ate fish, this bean/rice stuff, and some peas.  After lunch we went to 

Pinguinos again for ice cream.  It was perfect.  Rejuvenating.  Exactly what I needed...

<-- My host family above (Catalina, Yannett, Juan)

That brings me to the start of this week...

Monday was one of the hardest days of my life.  My students were unmotivated, rambunctious, and disrespectful.  The worst class I had was a class of sophomore boys.  Can you imagine?  Me trying to teach a class of only boys...boys who were more interested in whispering, "I love you teacher," or "You're so beautiful teacher," than paying attention to my lesson.  They were awful.  Absolutely awful.  I took them back to their teacher before the class period was over.  I felt defeated and disrespected.  I almost started to cry.  Yesterday afternoon, I came home and plopped on my bed...completely drained.  I medicated the bad day with a good dose of chocolate and Gilmore Girls.  I felt much better after that, so Cata and I decided to work out.  I ran on Yannett's treadmill.  A solid 30-minute run.  The best exercise I've had since I arrived in Chile.  I exercised away my frustration from the day.  When I was done, I felt like a new person.

Today was better than yesterday.  My classes ran a little smoother, and I went to CHOIR practice after school!  Yes, I joined the high school choir!  We have practice every Tuesday and Thursday from 4-6.  Practice was so fun!  We're learning this song in French.  It was surreal standing in a Chilean choir, singing a song in French, getting instruction from the teacher in Spanish.  

I'm also going to be helping out the with English debate team here.  The students are juniors and are very motivated.  That will be refreshing.

So, that's about all the updates for now.  I hope life back in the USA is wonderful!  Please let me know how you are!

OH!  If you want to write me a letter, here's my address:

Kristen Mascarenas

Avenida Arturo Prat #3582

Iquique

Chile

Bye for now!

PS:  If you're interested in viewing more of my pictures from Chile, just go to the links below (copy and paste in a new window).  I have 3 albums on facebook so far.  More pictures to come...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2295855&l=1e7c0&id=10206224

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2298479&l=86d02&id=10206224

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2300371&l=d9ef9&id=10206224

Lunch time!

I have a break now between classes, so I thought I'd update my little bloggy blog.

So, where should I start?

I guess I'll start with last night.  After watching a wonderful episode of Gilmore Girls season 6 with Spanish subtitles, Cata and I decided that we wanted to do something fun!  The day before we played Littlest Pet Shop.  The day before that we played Barbies.  And the day before that we played Monopoly, so we wanted to do something different!  Mix it up a bit.  I was kind of in the mood for chocolate (heck!  I'm always in the mood for chocolate), so Cata and I decided to walk to the nearby supermercado to buy supplies for chocolate chip cookies!  (Cata had never tried homemade chocolate chip cookies).  It was interesting looking for the ingredients at the store.  There were no chocolate chips (kind of an essential ingredient), the baking soda was different than the US, and we had to search high and low for brown sugar.  We ended up buy a big block of milk chocolate and cutting it up into little cubes.

Cata was SO excited to make cookies.  When we got home, we threw our cookie supplies down in the kitchen, flipped on some Gloria Estefan (Christmas edition...), and started whipping up las galletas!  It was so fun!  We danced...we baked...we sang...we ate cookie dough.  It was the perfect evening!  And I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself because I made the cookies without a recipe.  I guess that's not to impressive since I bake chocolate chip cookies back at home almost once a month...

Our cookies turned out wonderful with only a few modifications to the recipe.  Oh.  I forgot to say that I also bought some PEANUT BUTTER at the store because Cata had never tried peanut butter before.  I also bought some low sugar strawberry jelly and American-style wheat bread.  I made Cata and me an American dinner...peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, banana with peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert!  (Basically a kid's lunch in the US).  She really like everything, but she said that all the sugar made her head hurt (this coming from a little girl who eats dulces every day...).

That's all the time I have for now.  I'm headed to lunch in the fancy, exclusive teachers' lunch room.  ;)

Will write more later...

Ice!

I totally forgot to talk about ICE in my last post...

Today I learned that it's totally weird to put ice in your drinks.  Ice, I guess, is only commonly used in the summer. So, today when I put some crushed ice in my water, Cata and Yannet looked at me like I was CRAZY.  No joke.  They both seriously stopped what they were doing and just stared at me.  And I said, "Que?"  And Cata said in Spanish (don't worry, I'll be so kind to translate for you), "What the heck are you doing freaky American woman?  Why the heck would you put that crazy ice in your perfectly normal water, you wack0?!"  

So, maybe Cata didn't freak out that much.  But she definitely did say something like, "Ice in your water?  That's weird."  And I said, "Yeah!  I love, love, love ice.  I love ice more than I love the drink."  And then they explained to me that ice is only used in the summer.  

But, it was just kind of hilarious how they both stopped and stared at me when I put ice in my cup like I was some crazy person.

Okay...now it's laundry time.

El dia de los ninos!

Hello!

I just ate the most amazing chocolate ice cream cone in my entire life.  Don't worry.  I took a million picture of me eating it.  It was super rico.  Super super super rico!

Today is el dia de los ninos (kid's day) in Chile.  Just as we (along with Chile) have Mother's Day and Father's Day, they also decided to throw Kid's Day into the mix.  Today in Chile, children are the center of attention...they receive presents and get to celebrate their youth!

For me, the day started off by piling into my host parents' bed with their two children to open up presents.  They even got me one!  They bought me some really nice chocolates!  I've lived here less than one week, and they already know that I'm a chocoholic.  Nice.  They bought Cata (my host sisters) a couple stuffed animals, a new outfit, a bracelet...and, oh yeah, A FLAT SCREEN TV!  Holy cannoli.  Then, after we opened presents, we sat in bed and watched Fernando Gonzalez (Chilean tennis stud) play some dude from China in Olympic tennis match.  It was a great game!  Then, one by one, the family left the room.  The mom got up to go downstairs to make breakfast...Juanito (my 2-year-old host brother) left to follow mama...Cata went to the computer.  And then before I could comprehend the awkwardness, it was just me and my host papa, Juan, sitting in bed watching TV  (Kristen sits in front of the computer while making the "awkward turtle" action with her hands).  Upon realizing the weirdness of me sitting in bed with my new Chilean daddy, I quickly made some excuse as to why I needed to leave...I think I said I was going to play with Cata on the computer.  

Anyhoo, after the gift-opening-tennis-watching-awkward-session, the family and I ate a DELICIOUS breakfast!  My host mom, Yannet (pronounced like Janet, except the "j" sound is a little softer), made panqueques (Karli...it sounds just like I'd expect you to pronounce "pancakes" if you're being goofy), omelets with cheese and ham, bread, juice, and coffee.  Panqueques and basically crepes.  Not at all like our pancakes.  They're thin and rolled up...and there was this like dulce de leche (kind of like caramel) on the inside.  It was decadent.  By this point, it was about 10:30 AM.  We all were going to go to Mass at 12:30, so I had time for a quick run!  I asked Juan if it was safe for me to run outside (or if I should just run on their treadmill...yes, they have a treadmill.  Crazy!).  Juan told me that it was totally safe to run outside.  He said I should go run on the beach.  That sounded great to me!  So Cata and I went for a short run/walk down to the beach!  I decided I'm going to go running every afternoon after school on the beach by my house.  Running every day on the beach.  You can beat that.  Wow.  My life is unreal...

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a dream.  I live on the beach.  I'm surrounded by this crazy foreign language.  I have a swimming pool in my backyard.  I feel like I'm a celebrity at school.  I get served breakfast in bed (seriously, Yannet brought be breakfast in bed yesterday...and then Cata and I played Monopoly while eating our breakfasts!).  Surreal.

So, after breakfast, we went to Mass at the Cathedral.  It was a beautiful church.  The Mass was kind of weird though because it was special for el dia de los ninos.  All the kids sat in the first 10 rows.  There was super loud and intense music.  A lot of clapping.  A lot of shouting.  It was definitely geared towards kiddos.  Then, at the end of Mass, right before the priest blessed everyone, there was a little skit thing.  I'm still trying to comprehend what happened...all of a sudden, four adult women ran into the church from a side door dressed up as little kids with pig-tails and kiddy clothes.  They ran to the front of the church near the priest and started talking about how Jesus is our best friend and all that great stuff.  And the priest was a part of the skit too!  And then when I thought the women-dressed-as-children-madness was over, Mickey Mouse ran in from the side door (this sounds like I'm joking, but I'm serious).  Some dude dressed as Mickey Mouse busted through the side doors and ran to the front of the church.  Then, as Mickey Mouse reached the front, the priest said a blessing over everyone...

If that last story just confused you, don't worry.  I'm still pretty confused about what exactly just happened at church.  And, if you think I'm lying, I have proof that it happened!  I took tons of pictures of the chaos.

So, after church, my little Chilean family (including the grandparents) and I went to a Chinese restaurant.  I was really excited to see what Chinese food was like in Chile...I wanted to know if it was different than the Chinese food in the US.  The restaurant was completely packed.  Tons and tons of people...probaby because it was Sunday AND el dia de los ninos.  The food was good...the wontons and the chicken were a little different than in the US, but the beef stuff was the same.  Also, the fried rice had ham in it (is it like that in the US?).  Oh!  Another thing!  People here in Chile drink Coke like it's going out of style.  Juanito (my little bro) drinks coke in his sippy cup!  That's my only problem here.  I hate, hate, hate drinking regular coke, and it's really my only option.  Well, I drink tons of water at home, but when we go out I have to drink Coke.  We didn't order individual drinks...they just ordered 2 big bottles (one Coke and one Fanta) for the table.  

After lunch we went and got ice cream...and that's when I had the most delicious chocolate ice cream in my entire life.  Awww...what a dream.

Now we're back at the house for a descansito (little rest).  I'm kind of tired...it's already been a long day and it's only 5 PM.  I'm starting to understand why people siesta around here.  

In other news, I just bought the new Juanes CD on iTunes.  I'm very excited about it.  I have a couple Juanes CDs already (and have the songs memorized by heart), and I felt like part of the culture here when I heard a Juanes CD at the movie theater last Friday, and I was able to sing along!  :)

Okay, that's all for now.  It's laundry time...

Kung Fu Panda and 16-year-old boys

I don't even know where to start.  There is so much to write.  So much has happened in the past few days...it's crazy.

I guess I'll start by talking about my sick day.  Yesterday I had to go home at 1 because I was sick.  What a great first impression, right?  Going home early on the second day of work.  Oh well.  I really felt awful...like death.  I had a terrible headache, I was dizzy, I had the worst cough I've ever had, and I was exhausted.  I was running on empty.  So, I went home and slept all afternoon...ate dinner...and then slept all night.

I set my alarm on my cell phone for 6 AM, but somehow my cell turned off in the middle of the night.  I miraculously woke up at 6:45 without an alarm...but I had to get ready by 7:15 to eat breakfast.  I have never moved so quickly.  I was a little late, but no big deal.

The first thing I did this morning was observe a 4th grade English class.  The kids were so cute, and they loved me!  They asked me question after question after question.  "What's your name?"  "Where are you from?"  "Do you like High School Musical?"  We really connected thanks to High School Musical.  The little 4th graders all have iPods, so we listened to High School Musical together, and I sang along to every song...they were very impressed.  

Then, after class, the kids asked me if I wanted to go to a movie with them.  I asked them what time the movie was at, and they said 9:30.  I was thinking that 9:30 was pretty late for little kiddos, but then I quickly found out that they were going at 9:30 in the morning...A FIELD TRIP TO THE MOVIES!  Before I had time to comprehend what was happening, I was sitting in the back of a bus on my way to see Kung Fu Panda with all the 4th graders.  And, Catalina, the little girl I live with, is a 4th grader, so I was able to sit with her!  It was so fun.  Gotta love Kung Fu Panda in Spanish.

So, I came back to school, checked my email because I couldn't find my co-teacher, Raquel, and then another English teacher took me to lunch.  Lunch here was pretty fancy.  It was in a special room for teachers...we ate empanadas, salad, and dessert.  I felt pretty special privileged to eat lunch in the special teachers room!  :)

And then after lunch I observed two English classes...one sophomore year (they call it 2nd grade...aka, 2nd year of high school)...and one junior year (they call it 3rd grade).  The sophomore class was all boys.  They were pretty rowdy.  They whistled at and gawked at me when I came into the class (boys are like that here in Chile).  I think they paid more attention to Ms. Kristen from the "states" that their English lesson.  I have no clue how I'm going to teach a class of 16-year-old boys.  Maybe I'll talk to Raquel and tell her that I feel more comfortable with the little ones...

Now it's 4:45.  School ended 45 minutes ago, and I've been waiting for my co-teacher to get back from lunch.  We're supposed to be making my class schedule now...I'm kind of getting tired of waiting around all day for her.  I can't wait for next week when I have my own classes and I can just go teach and then leave when I'm done.  No waiting around.  People say that Academia Iquique (my school) is the best school in Chile, but the least organized.  I can totally see how that's true...

Oh!  I just found out that they're going to let me have Fridays off!  NO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY FOR KRISTEN!  That means I'll have a 3-day weekend every week...which will allow me to travel and sleep and hang out and get to know Chile!!!

Okay...that's all I have for now.  Hopefully Raquel will show up soon so I can get this meeting over with and go home.

Wish me luck with the high school boys...I'll need it.

-Kristen

...

This experience is going to be quite different from what I expected...

My new host family...

Let´s just put this bluntly...I live in a MANSION!

I live on the ocean.

I have a maid (a live in-maid)

My room looks over the ocean and their swimming pool...and I have a balcony.

Hardwood floors.

Flat screen plasma TV in the 9 year old daughter´s room.

Huge TV in my room.

Queen sized bed.

2 huge closets in my room.

Unbelieveable.

AND...I was on TV again today...on channel 9 and 11. Channel 11 interviewed my friend Annie, and I was interviewed my channel 9.

Am I dreaming?

My school is semi-private, new, fancy, demanding of the students, and always wins every competition. There are 7 other English teachers. I meet them all tomorrow.

My dad OWNS several pharmacies here.

Is this real?

PS...

By the way, just FYI, I'm really sick.  

Now don't you worry.  It's just a little cold.  It's called "living-in-a-hostel-with-80-other-people-incubator-syndrome."  No big deal.

I do I have to say that it was quite exciting buying medicine at the Chilean farmacias (pharmacy) today.  She wrote me a prescription write over the counter.  How exciting.  (Medicine is good, but I probably shouldn't be sacrificing sleep to stay up to upload pictures...oh well).

One last thought...I'm super excited to meet my host family tomorrow!  I move into my house tomorrow, thanks be to God!

-K

More pictures...

A few pictures...

American Celebrities in Iquique!

I was on Chilean TV!  Yes…the news is true.  Yours truly…Kristen Dawn Mascarenas…was on CHILEAN TELEVISION!  Unreal.  A dream. 

Where the heck am I?  That’s the question that continually runs through my mind.  Is this real?  Am I really in Chile?  Do I really live in Iquique?  Am I really being interviewed for Chilean television?  What is happening? 

This past week has been surreal to say the least. 

Now, I’m sitting in a hotel in Iquique called Bella Vista.  It’s 11:30 PM.  I have to be up and ready by 9.  But I’m staying up extra late to download pictures and write about my amazing day.  I want to get it down “on paper” before it escapes my mind…

So, we (7 volunteers including me) arrived in Iquique yesterday.  We were picked up at the tiny Iquique airport by our regional director, Juan, who is about 60 years old, his daughter Pamela, and her son (we call him “Chucky”…long story).  Juan took us to our hotel, and informed us that we were going to be staying at the hotel until Tuesday afternoon.  On Monday and part of Tuesday, we’d go through some orientation type meetings in Iquique and get to know the city a little beter.  Well, there was more to it than just “orientation type meetings.” 

Today, we started the morning by meeting Juan’s boss in the office of Education in Iquique.  She seemed very professional and respected.  She was a big shot in the office.  Just when we thought that our meetings with the big dogs were over, we walked over to the regional government building (right next to the ocean, by the way).  We marched up the second floor of this building, and sat in a waiting room for 20 minutes to meet this random lady (well, at the time we didn’t really exactly know who we were meeting…we were just being led around the city like sheep…we had really no idea what was going on…and this wasn’t because of any language barrier.  I could completely communicate with Juan…Juan just didn’t really inform us well about everything we were doing…silly Juanito).  So, after waiting in the office for 20 minutes, we’re told that we can enter this woman’s office.  And boy, was it fancy!  Fancy chairs.  Fancy carpet.  Big windows with views of the ocean.  And this woman just seemed regal.  Elegant.  Poised.  I had no idea who she was, but the air about her seemed important.  I soon found out that she was like the governor type person of the Iquique region, and we were meeting with her so she could welcome us to Iquique!  It was crazy.  This man was documenting the meeting by taking pictures of all of us…we were sitting at this conference table in her office.  And someone was taking video of our meeting.  And her assistant man went and got us all drinks.  It was quite fancy.

At the end of the meeting, we all got up and took a group picture with her!  And then Juan told her that we were going to be on TV later that day.  And all 7 of us looked around at each other like, “What the heck???  TV?”  And Juan wasn’t lying.  Later that meeting, crew showed up with cameras, microphones, and a man to interview us and Juan.  We were standing in front of the education building.  And the man interviewed Juan…and then Juan pointed at me (because I speak Spanish).  So the interviewer man came over and interviewed me for TV!!!  He asked me in Spanish why I wanted to come to Chile and teach English.  And then he asked me what I studied in college.  It was absolutely unreal.  Hilarious.

Well, long story short…our interview was going to be on TV at 9:30.  But then it wasn’t…so we kept watching…and then asked a local for what time the program usually comes on, and she said 10:30…so I turned the TV on at exactly 10:30, and I caught the last 3 seconds of the segment!!!  GRRRRR!  I was SO bummed!  My roommate in the hotel, Kristen, has a video camera, and she was planning to record the segment…but we missed it!  I can’t believe we missed in by only a few minutes!  We were so bummed that we really didn’t talk much after that.  We were sad for a while.  L  But the important thing is that it happened, and now I have some amazing memories.

To switch gears a little…my crew here with me in Iquique from the US (the other volunteers) are so great!  Their names are Kristen (from Atlanta, my roommate here), Bree, Annie, MacKenzie, Andy, and Collin.  They’re all hilarious.  I already love them all.

Well, I better go to bed now.  It’s almost midnight and I still want to upload some pix.

Goodnight and God bless!

Besos…

Kristen

Pay day!

Today I received my first Chilean paycheck (don´t worry, i took several pictures before I cashed it!). I can confidently say that I make quite the pretty penny here in Chile. My check was written for 85,000!!! I´m rich!!!

Well, actually, 85,000 chilean pesos translates roughly to 170 US dollars. But it was still very, very excited to get some cash!!!

Now i´m sitting in an internet café, checking my email, catching up on life the US (aka, checking facebook)...and then i´ll have a spanish class this afternoon...and then i´m going out tonight with my volunteers for one last hoorah before we leave for our designated locations.

Just to let you know, I will be LEAVING FOR IQUIQUE THIS SUNDAY AT 9AM. My flight leaves at 9AM...so this Sunday I will officially be in Iquique! Hopefully then my life will begin to settle down a bit...and I´ll get into a routine.

That´s life for now. I went to bed at 10:30 last night, and then got up at 7 and went running with my friend Kim (she went to CSU but she´s originally from California). People looked at us like we were crazy (Chileans don´t really work out...).

Anyhoo...that´s it for now.

Much love,
Kristen