Mountains and two dates

Ok, I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. I was told the classes that i will have next year. My normal class load will be 4 classes a day and 3 preps but for about the first two months, i will have 6 classes a day as i will be covering the classes for one teacher that is due to give birth in about a month. Down here is Chile, women are given one months leave prior to the due date and nearly 2 months after without the risk of losing their job for at least one year after the birth. This teacher, she actually left one week ago so i have been covering her classes lately. The first class i covered for her was in a rather large room and all the students were seated in the back of the class when i walked in. I said to them, "what's wrong? do i smell or something?" then i pointed at all the empty seats in front of me. Immediately, nearly ten girls jumped up and occupied those seats closest to me. Teaching down here will be easy...which leads me into my next update...

A date. Yup, i was talking to this woman named Consuelo, yes she was a woman not a girl, at out halloween party for about 25 minutes and that was it. Her friend, who happens to work on my school, saw me about a week later and told me that her friend wanted me to call her (yes, those are the mad skills that i have...25 minute conversation, in spanish, and i get a number). On the phone, she offered to pick me up from my family's house, but i quickly threw that idea aside to avoid the awkwardness that surely would have ensued. We met up at some plaza and got dinner and talked for over 2 hours all in spanish. She asked me how old i was, and i told her, but obviously i refrained from asking her, even though i am dying to know because the running bet is that she is 32 years old. We are actually meeting up tomorrow for sushi but i am completely not interested in anything more than friends. She is really nice, and seems eager to show me around santiago so i feel bad not hanging out every so often (i am such a nice guy).

Two weekends ago, we hiked up the "mountain" Monquehue which the chileans really consider only a hill. we did it on saturday. we made it up these in about 5-6 hours to a view overlooking most of santiago. it was very beautiful but some of the girls struggled with getting up to the peak and climbing back down it. But that was really only practice for this past weekends hike...

This past weekend we hiked up to Punto de Dama. It is named that because there are two peaks shaped liked a woman's...Anyways, 5 of us went, Matias, our guide, myself, tony, jillian and katy. It was a weekend long treck. We all had to carry an overnight hiking backpack with enough food for two days, two tents, warm clothes for the night, sleeping bags, and a few other odds and ends. We hiked up the mountain for nearly 8 hours with breaks almost every hour. We finished much of the water we brought with us and started drinking the water from the streams, which we had planned on doing anyways. We hiked through snow, climbed over rocks and finally made it to the site Matias had aimed for.

The view we had from where we camped was amazing. At night, we could see the entire city of santiago lit up. In the morning we were above the clouds that covered the entire valley below us. However, it was also freezing at night. My sleeping bag was not nearly warm enough, and i was too tall for the tent we used. So my feet we touching the edge of the tent and they froze. I also forgot to bring a hat with me so i wore my underwear on my head to stay warm (and yes they were clean). The next morning we hiked up a bit higher to a point where there was a cross and from there you could see the other mountain ranges around us. Me and Matias also sprinted down the mountain (at least a 45 degree downward slope) to protect our campsite from some other travellers that were passing by it. We literally ran down the mountain in a straight line, meaning not using the trails, using a running strategy where you drag your walking stick behind you and lean all your weight on it while you sprint (kind of like Bear Grills on the Man v. Wild show on the discovery channel). I felt kind of like brave heart running through the mountains...

Afterwards we packed up our stuff, kind of skiied/slid down some snow, took some rediculous picitures, i nailed Katy in the eye with a snow ball, and made it down the mountain by six that sunday evening. Oh and for the most part we only ate tuna mixed with roman noodles, hard-boiled eggs, and some bread. it was awesome.

I went to the Uraguay vs. Chile world cup qualifiying match the other week two. It was electric at the stadium. Chile lost 3-0 on some horrible goals, but the highlight was definitely when the announcer announced the names of the visiting teams line up. After each player's name was announced, the entire stadium, (70,000 people) in unison would shout somethin like "cuncha tu madre" which depending on who you ask, is literally translated as "F___ your mom" or "son of a bitch". it was rediculous.

It has taken me two days to do this post so i should update that i went out with Consuelo again last night for sushi. This one was definitely a date as she was decked out and all. I felt like such a child though because she clearly has several years on me (now the running bet is that she is pushing 34), she picked me up from my house in her car (that was slightly weird for me), her spanish is clearly better than mine so the waiter talked to her and asked her all the questions and passed the bill to her...I am pulling the plug on it. My father down here warned me about those chilean women at that age.

Pictures in the collage: all are from our hike to punto de dama. top left is santiago at night, rediculous pic in the snow, the cross atop the mountain, me and matias making it to the cross, a sunset photo of the hiking group with underwear on my head, our campsite, awesome shot of the girls with santiago in the backgroun, katy about to get hit in the eye with a snowball (you can see the snowball in the photo and she let me throw it at her, she said i could have one free shot as she thinks my aim is bad...silly katy), and us hiking to the cross with santiago in teh background coverd in clouds.

Why didn't I go to ND?

So I got in trouble for the first time at school the other day. Apparently us gringos are too loud in the computer lab at school and the head of the english department gave us a gentle warning of sorts. At least we are living up to the american reputation of being loud and obnoxious.

I have been training much harder for the half marathon. I have recently acquired a trainer. He is one of the track coaches at the school and has been friends with the group that has been here. His name Mateas (sp?). Same age as myself and really cool. He came up to me about two weeks and offered to create a workout plan for me and to kind of be my trainer. Was he implying that I look skinny? Anyways, he is getting me ready for the half marathon right now, and he told me the other day that once that is done, we will change our workout routine and make me mas fuerte. He must really think I need to work out...

Two weekends ago was the Santiago Athletico which is basically the largest track event is Chile for middle and high school students. It was hosted at the national stadium and the main attraction definitely was not the competitors. Every school that was there (roughly 30) was given its own section in the upper levels of the stadium. Each section was completely packed with its students and they all wore their school colors. Stages were set up at the base of each section for each school crowd cheering leaders and they were definitely cheering. The place was nuts and at one point, during the track and field competition, the announcer would come over the loud speaker, announce the name of a school and then that school would break out into some choreographed cheer with props and all. Each school went in turn and then they were judged on their performance. We came in 9th. During the entire day, there were numerous times that the announcer would have to ask the fans (students) to be quiet in order to hear the gun to start the races.

So last weekend was a bit rediculous. It really began on Wednesday of last week which was Halloween. The ND group ahead of us threw a party at the apartment. We all went as characters of Gilligan's island (i was gilligan). We worked in some beer pong and flip cup although the flip cup was a bit dissapointing because these chileans here suck at it. The party didnt even really get started until about 1:00 in the morning with loud music and dancing in the living room and it probably reached its peak at about 4:00. I crashed at about 5:00 and i think everyone left by 6:00ish.

The next day, both ND groups left with our director, Kat, who had flown down from ND, to go on a retreat for four days. We got a large van from the school and drove out about two hours from santiago into the mountains to an area called Cajon del Maipo. We stayed at a refugio there in the valley between several towering mountains. Immediately when we got there we made our way to the hot mineral springs to recover from the previous night's party. The water was amazing and I am pretty sure I gained an extra ten years of life by swimming in it. The food at the refugio was amazing as well.

The next day we had some reflection time in the morning followed by a hike through a picturesk green valley to nearly the base of a glacier. I had my first snow ball fight of the year there, saw wild horses and just soaked in the views. The next day a bunch of us had planned on doing a full day hike into a different mountain but two of the girls didnt want to, nor were they really capable, so we had to accomadate them and all drive (the were either too scared or incapable of driving the stick shift on the rocky roads) to some stupid market about an hour away so they could shop and other stupid stuff. Me and Brian just wandered away to find a soccer game to watch. We were in one of the most beautiful places and we had to leave to go SHOPPING. Anyways, we got a shorter 3 hour hike in up a steep mountain with some difficult, if not dangerous parts. We got up there just in time to see the sunset. That night we had more reflections and sharing around a fire.

So how did we end our retreat? Good question, Kristy. We went to a vineyard. Yup, the last day of our retreat was spent touring a vineyard, drinking some wine, and purchasing a huge 5 liter bottle of wine. The entire retreat, excluding the 5 liter bottle of wine, was payed for by ND. So i feel i am entitled to make the gross generalization that all ND retreats are like that, so I have to wonder, why didnt i go to ND?

To end on a boring note. School has been going well. I am finally receiving some work to do. This past week I had to create a test covering two chapters for all the 10th grade classes and this upcoming week i will be doing some teaching. Last thursday, three of us went to another Holy Cross school to tutuor english. This school serves only poor students and has a great vision. It was amazing to see though the difference in their level of english compared to the english at my normal school, Saint George's. These students hardly knew any english and they were in 8th grade and had been taking it for several years. It is a good school too but I definitely think that this displayed the difference in social classes here. The richer students at Saint George speak exponentially better than these students.

Ok, in the collage, the first two pictures are from the first hike, the third and fourth are views from the refugio, the middle one is from teh mineral baths, the next is from teh second hike, the bottom two on the left are from the vineyard and the last is all of us dressed up for the halloween party.