Feliz Cumpleaños 182!

This week we have been celebrating the random 182nd year anniversary of our town with the lively Ovallinos living here. I thought something was up when my classes were cancelled to make way for 1.5 hours of marching practice....the kids are now able to put one foot in front of the other in time to music, but asking "how old are you?" still remains an issue.

The celebrations began with a regional Cueca dancing competition in the foreground of a live Chileno band. This is the national dance of Chile, and unlike Morris Dancing, it is very popular with people up and down the country, with every region having its own style and children taking it up from schoolage. It begins with a bit of flirting, the man showing off his new hat and spurs, the lady acting all coy, and finishes up with a lot of hanky waving, prancing about, and downing wine from horns. Needless to say (in the words of Jonny´s kids) "I bloody loved it"! If you´d like to get a glimpse of the winning couple, you can take a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p_wIWKGkko

The week was rounded off by parades, a circus in the Plaza, and of course, the staple of every Chilean home, an Asado (BBQ) with enough meat to feed a large army of rancheros. An exciting week for Ovalle....it has a lot to live up to from here on out!

Going native...

This month it dawned upon me that it had been over ten years since I last rode a water slide.

Unacceptable, and a trip to the local pool was scheduled with my family. Upon arrival, surrounded by colourful green gardens, we both thought we had finally found a little piece of paradise in our back end town. The coming months would be full of weekends and afternoons spent sunbathing and relaxing by the pool and picnicing amongst the avocado trees. Sadly, the next day the pool closed for the entire winter and we were left crying over our rapidly ripening avocados. Not before numerous runs on the slides, friction burn wedgies and high speed adrenaline with my new hermanos.

Luckily the next weekend we were taken to my family’s beach house on the coast for another sunny weekend, arriving just in time to see the fishermen bringing in their catch and throwing the scraps to two enormous seals playing in the bay. We bought enough seafood to feed a small army and spent the next 2 days holed up in the beach house, feasting on our haul and being taught dominos over numerous Chilean cervezas. Perfect relaxation after the first few weeks of teaching the increasingly boisterous Chilean 'Joven' and giving our voices a much needed rest!

Eh, Profe...

Well, the teaching has well and truly begun and we have been given free reign with our own classroom, 20 impatient muchachos, and left to our own devises to teach them whatever we deem appropriate. We are speaking so slowly and loudly that we often forget to switch off, and find ourselves chatting to each other over a beer in kiddy chat.





The kids are pretty excited to have us around, as there are literally no other foreigners in Ovalle. Our job here is to get them speaking, so we are coming up with plenty of creative ways to encourage them, and also to teach them interesting things about England and our culture. Even the smallest things are new to them...the material of the houses, the lush greenery, the huge mixture of people and culture, and the history.

We are quickly finding that there is no escape from the cries of "eh Profe" or "Tiiiiiiiaaaa" (they call their teachers "Aunty and Uncle" here!), and we are often spotted around town with our (Pololo/a - Girlfriend/Boyfriend) much to their amusement...We were even recognised at the beach last weekend (An hour´s drive from Ovalle!).