ME GUSTA QUE ... I love it that ...

 

   is my favourite phrase at the moment because I have so many uses for it!

Me gusta que I can just flag a bus down where ever it suits like a taxi and jump on for a dollar!

Me gusta que there are portable street stalls selling all the day to day necessities and a few niceties can be found everywhere.

Me gusta que the people of Arica proudly love where they live and have created a joyful place amidst the desertscape.

Me gusta que at the beach I can have pizza, empandas, chocolate caramel cake, fried donuts filled with chocolate condensed milk, frozen juice and even a newspaper delivered right to my towel!

Me gusta que live music, pan pipes and drums, are often heard in the streets.

Me gusta que an afternoon siesta is a routine, an expectation rather than an exception!

Me gusta que even when it gets dark its still not cold.

Me gusta que sometimes not understanding can work to my advantage!

Me gusta que wine bottles are stopped with good old fashion corks!

Me gusta que the Chilean flag flies proudly on the highest peak above the town and can be seen from everywhere.

Me gusta que the markets and stalls fill entire blocks have everything you would want from a mall but at a quater of the price and with no hard sell or bartering needed.

Me gusta que after siesta, the town comes alive again at 6 and bustles on until as late as 11 o'clock.

Me gusta que the main meal of the day is lunch and dinner is just a snack.

Me gusta MUCHO que  this list is growing more and more every day!

Mi Vida Loca

I am starting to etch out some kind of routine in my new life which currenty consists of school, Spanish classes and negotiating day to day life and loving it all. 

I am participating with three schools, each very different from each other and from MBS but all fascinating! The variety is fascinating and though provoking. 

My main school, North American College ( although we are in South America?), is a government subsidized high school, I am enjoying working with older students, inyear 12 and 13.  English is and has been compulsory for them for at least 6 Years.  Today we analysied the lyrics to a Bob Marley song Is this love?  Although teachers have to pay for their coffee, there is a t.v in the staffroom! On the whole, the students are keen and classes are full with 30+ in each.

My next school is Junior College is a fully private school with obvious benefits in facilities and standards. This school has students has about 600 students from Year 1 to 13). I am working with primary students, who are enthusaistic teachers themselves and the Spanish in their classes  is at least at level that I can understand!

Then there is a Montessori school, where I work with an English teacher who has a very interactive and communicative approach to teaching and learning.  Her philosophy is learning through play, these classes are so much fun and again I am learning a lot of Spanish from the kids who are so curious and keen to share. 

I have formal Spanish lessons three times a week, which is so incredibly necessary and helfpul!  Laura, my teacher' is from Switzerland.  Although French is her native language, she speaks flawless Spanish and good English, so is able to point out similarities and difference in vocabulary and grammar between these languages.

However, I do as much, if not more, learning in day to day conversation as I do in these formal lessons.  I am finding that making mistakes is, not only funny but, the best way learn!  My approach most of the time is to simply get the courage to open my mouth and hope that something comprehensible falls out and eventually I will get it right!  My flatmates keenly discuss, and patiently explain, all sorts of things from politics, to education, grammar, films, and local customs.  They are my best teachers.  They laugh easily which makes living with them great fun and helps to cross the language barrier.

As you can imagine with all these different professional experiences, approaches and philosphies, and constnatly needing to negotiate my way through a linguistic jungle ~ much time for reflection and analysis is needed.  Fortunately the beach is not to far away and it`s always sunny! Ciao!

ARICA SIEMPRE ARICA

Arica is known as the City of Eternal Spring, a perfectly appropriate name for a desert town that serves as an oasis to the people who love living here, the city has everything the people would want for a comfortable life in such a hostile environment. 
 Itis a self proclaimed slow, chilled out, town that revells in its isolations and its warm climate.  The endless sunny days and lack of commercialism gives it a certain `island` feel, and I love it.  With a populstion of 180,000 and only a couple of double storied buildings, the town sprawls out from the gorgeous coatline, far and wide into the desert basin, with baron hills sourrounding it like a natural guardian or boundary.

The flat rooved buildings, make complete sense since there is no rain. Brick and concrete walls boast big colours, yellow, blue, pink, purple and the climate poses no threat to the the make shift tin shacks on the outskirts of the city. A massive Chilean flag flies playfully in the sea breeze at El Morro, a lookout point that can be seen from all over town, huge sign, Arica Siempre Arica is written on the hill side for all to see, and Pasion Por Arica is grafitied on the street walls, clearly announce the pride the people have in this town and I feel very priviledged to be here.  I look forward to peeling back more layers of this fascinating place. 

JUMPING THROUGH PAPER HOOPS

  A mere four hours before boarding my flight  from Auckland to Santiago I finally got my hands on my tickets, passport, and the correct visa.  I optimistically thought that his would be then of it, but of course the fun of jumping through ‘paper hoops’ didn´t end there! 

Today Paulina and Daniel patiently accompanied me to faciliate the registration of my visa and apply for a carnet,  an official Chilean ID card, called at carnet.  After making copies of every important page in the passport at a ´hole in the wall´ type establishment, we went to registister the visa.  We were then told we needed to passort photos con numerous, in English this would be better described as a police mug shot, you know the type were the accused holds up a board with a serial number on it.  Fortunately we could do this just across the street were we had photocopied the passport. We filled out the forms, a good opportunity for a lesson in the Spanish alphabet and pronunciation- Morrinsville does´t seem to translate easily?! I signed as instructed and after yet another photo to verify the photos that I had just submitted were actually of me, we took our confirmation of registration to the office for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

We took a ticket and waited amongst dozens and dozens of others, in a room that would be best described as a across between a hospital waiting lounge and a bingo hall.  Although seeriously offical work was being processed there seemed to be nothing formal about this place.  No white walls or suits, or fancy chairs or glass offices, just a humble room with paint peeling from the walls, too few seats and a quiet tv capturing patience and attention of those waiting for the turn to formalise their status by the government.  The wait would be so long that we had time to drive down to the port and stop in a the fish market and still do some more milling about with out missing our turn! 

Finally after an entire morning of jumping through paper hoops, our number was up, however ironically we, three university educated and professional adults, had filled in the form incorrectly! by one number and were missing 2 further copies needed fro my passport! Eventually we regathered and corrected all the necessary paper work and didn´t have to re queue (thank God for small mercies!) I was then finger printed both digitally and in ink on all ten fingers, even the year and cause of my scarred finger was recorded - no chance of mistaken identify in this country!

One last mug shot that will end up on my carnet, (no surprise that in this photo I was look rather like a stunned mullet) we were given a reciept with which I can redeem my carnet when it is ready... one day...soon.

Arrival in Arica

It is difficult to believe that only one week has passed since my in arrival in Chile.  Every hour is packed with learning new things and time seems to be flying by! Ironically It was raining the day I left - quite possibly the last down pour I will see for a long while!

 After a couple of days orientation with AFS in Santiago, I came north to Arica (pronounced arrrriiiiiiiiica and is best said with the accent of that Mexican mouse cartoon Speedy Gonzales).  My introduction to this city has been nothing short of wonderful!  The flight path into Arica was guided by the incredible snow capped Andean Mountains on the right and the vast, deep blue Pacific ocean on the left. The sprawling town of flat rooved buildings, which will be my 'homebase' for the coming year, seem tiny and unimposing in the vast desertscape. As the plane descended from the early afternoon sky, it seemed as though it would land on the desert floor itself, as the tarmac was hardly to be seen.  

Paulina and Daniel greeted me with a genuine friendliness, beaming smiles and a generous willingness to help me integrate into life here in Arica.  With some nodding, smiling and questioning we seemed to bumble through conversation after conversation. My three word phrases in response to their 3 paragraph explanation seems to have worked, fortunately they are patient and interested people!  It seems to be that they are as close to 'normal' as I could wish for!  They are both psychologists who work with students who need help with their learning or behavior at school.  In short they are interesting people who are interested in others and I feel fortunate to be hosted in their home which is near 'to the downtown'.  We have labelled all the items in the house in Spanish, and already my 3 word phrases have extended into the odd compound sentence. I am stunned and encouraged by the improvement in my Spanish already.

Each moment of this week has been packed with new learning and expreriences, new sights, sounds, smells, feelings, words, perspectives, all too many to describe in one post.  However, in short I have;  been on a tour of Santiago, wandered the streets of down town Arica, jumped through paper hoops to register my visa, been to Peru to get my nails done, been shopping at the local fruit market, visited the local port and talked with the fishmonger at the local port.  Each of these experiences deserve a post of their own, so stay tuned.  I still learning the ins and outs of how to share photos and get my phone and computer connected, but be assured I have some great photos to come.