Anniversary Week

Buckle up, this is gonna be a long, photo-filled post.  The week before last was the anniversary of the founding of the school where I work, and here in Chile that merits lots of celebration. We're 124! 

the cutest nuns you'll ever see

Every year they have special activities all week, including a full day of contests instead of classes, and it all culminates in a "gala" at the end of the week (a school dance, but lasting until 2:30am--which a student complained to me was "early"--because we're in Chile).  Before we jump into the activities, let's start with mass. It's a Catholic school, after all!  Monday morning we all gathered in the gym for a special mass commemorating the anniversary and the coming national independence holiday.  A group of elementary students put on a little cueca performance (the traditional national dance) for everyone, and it was adorable! 

Before we move on from mass, I would like to draw your attention to the larger-than-life-size portraits that were in the corner of the stage all week.  Here we have San Francisco himself and the nun who founded the school (whose name I should maybe know but I do not).  I am told that a student(s) painted these a while ago and they trot them out each year.  They give me chills, and not in a good awe-inspiring way. I will admit that this is impressive work for your average high school art class, but ohhhh man are they terrifying...

Ok moving on.  Mass accomplished, the students could switch into competition mode.  As I may have mentioned, there are two classes in each grade, so there are 8 high school classes total.  Each one has a color, that stays with them through all four years, that is their team color come competition time. They get class shirts, make banners, pick a mascot, etc. and all compete in various activities to earn points for their team.  At the gala at the end of the week they announce which class won, but the prize is only bragging rights!  That being said, their competitive spirit lit up the school all week.  I have never seen these students get so excited about anything all year!  Bragging rights seem to go a long way...

First of all, the teams had been assigned the week prior to a music video, and they had to turn in on Monday their team parody of that video.  Some of them were a lot more exact than others, but they were all entertaining--even though I hadn't seen the original videos, I laughed my ass off watching these with my head teacher Karen! The winner was to be determined by the highest number of facebook likes, so they were all uploaded and shared a million times. You can watch them all at this public facebook page!

Monday afternoon was the first half of the soccer tournament, and the teams also got their assignments for the Mission Impossible that they had to do the following day.  For the Mission Impossible, they had to partner with another randomly-selected team to recreate a scene in the gym.  They had a set amount of space and a list of things to include in a little skit embodying a circus, a famous Chilean music festival, a fashion show in the future, or a fonda.  A fonda is part of the traditional independence celebrations--essentially a little booth/tent where they serve food and drinks (all the special foods and drinks that are part of Chilean independence festivities) and have music and dance performances.  They had to organize everything for the skits in just one day, and put them together after school on Tuesday.  I got to be one of the judges!  I was incredibly impressed by them all, and I could tell they were just having a blast, so it was very fun.  I unfortunately only have a few pictures of them preparing beforehand, since I was scoring the skits themselves.  

the circus ended up winning the Mission Impossible!

part of the adoring music festival crowd

the spread at the fonda table- we've got empanadas, pajaritos (kind of like sweet rolls)
and ponche (a delicious peachy wine punch drink)

our very elite fashion show attendees

and our runway models straight outta the future

Then Wednesday was the big activity day!  They started at about 9:30 and went until 6 or so, and there was not a dull moment.  The teams were all decked out in their colors, flying their banners, and they had little team sections in the bleachers to function as their headquarters for the day.  First, the soccer tournament!  It was actually "baby fútbol," just 20-minutes games played on the little indoor court in the gym.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Chilean high school boys are really good at soccer, but even I had no idea it would be the fastest-paced, most competitive soccer I had ever seen!  There are some seriously fast feet down here; it was very exciting to watch. 

the mascots, including Mr. Ladybug here, had to stay in costume all day-
it was another way to rack up points for their team! 

They had a little snack break, which most of them took as an opportunity to burn off some of their adrenaline goofing around in the gym.

Esteban was reallyyyy gettin' into his job as bannerman

another mascot

perfect example of the little team hubs

Then it was time for the square meter contest.  Literally just taping a square meter on the floor and trying to fit as many people into it as possible.  They did have to be able to hold their position for 3 minutes, so some thought went into their formations!

Can you guess how many people the winning team had in there? Wrong- they had SEVENTEEN. Whaaaaat that's crazy. 

Meanwhile, select members from each team had been backstage preparing contraptions for the egg drop competition (literally backstage- we put them up on the stage and shut the curtains). I mistakenly assumed that they would think an egg drop competition was lame, but no! There's hope out there! They got realllllyyy into it, and the actual drops drew a huge, fiesty crowd.

mid-air, the little egg gets its 15 seconds of fame

There was an argument over technicalities (as seen in the last photo), but only one team even had a crack in their egg! Little geniuses. Then lunch break!  Each team had elected a king and queen, and before lunch each royal pair got their assignment for the kings-and-queens dance.  They had only an hour to prepare a costume and dance according to whatever style they drew out of the bag: disco, colombian cumbia, mexican ranchera, flamenco, rock 'n' roll, sau-sau (from Easter Island), bachata, and salsa.  I got to be a judge again, and our little three-person panel had to take some time to look up all those styles before the competition (I had never even heard of a few of them before!). After lunch they performed them for everybody, and, once again, I was incredibly impressed.  I have no pictures, because I was busy marking down scores, but just believe me: they did an excellent job! 

Next there was a volleyball tournament, giving some of the ladies a chance to show off their skills.  It was the same idea as the soccer games, just 20-minute matches, but unfortunately volleyball is not as fast-paced and the skill level wasn't quite as high (I'm not saying they weren't good, but let's be honest, soccer is always going to be the strength here). Still fun to watch though! 

And finally! The highly anticipated focus of the day: the barra baile, or dance contest.  Each class had to prepare a 6-min dance routine, including at least 90% of their classmates and their head teacher.  The students had been working on these for weeks, staying after school and meeting up on the weekends. I had heard about it long ago, because classes still watch and brag about the routines from years past.  To my great delight, I got to be a judge again! But this time I handed my camera off to some students to take some pictures for me (in between selfies).

the first team to go was one of the freshman classes, and I could tell they were nervous! 

but they kicked it off wonderfully

this was the other freshman class--they got first place!

dance break for da men (the ladies are hiding far in the back)--this group tied for third!

our second-place winners, a sophomore team

And the final team, a senior class who donned masks, gloves, and finger lights! they tied for third

That last team had won the overall anniversary competition all three years running, and they had a very impressive showing and ended up winning the grand total this year as well! A perfect run. They announced the winner at the gala, which was Thursday night.  I missed the gala, though, because I zipped home for a special week with the family! (Related post to come).  Having obviously never experienced anything like anniversary week in my own high school, I was blown away by the whole thing. They poured so much energy into it and had so much fun! You can tell they look forward to this year-round, and I was so glad I got to see it.  The excitement was contagious! 

Things that make me laugh/smile in my day : )

I thought I would dedicate this post to some of the little things that make my days enjoyable! 

1.  my walks to/from school
- Obviously I have never called a small town "home" before, and I have found that I enjoy it more than I thought I would!  Angol is so pretty, and I underestimated how much I would appreciate having a beautiful landscape in the background every day.  I have plenty of route varieties on my 25-min walk between the house and school, and there are always new things to notice. Since I got back for second semester I have spotted two new graffiti murals by the same artist in the area near school.  There's hardly any graffiti art in Angol, but I like these! 

There has also been more pollen (which I learned is from the pine trees in the hills surrounding town, not from those yellow trees like I thought), and more rain, so I had plenty of sidewalk designs to spot this week.  The color didn't come out in this picture very well, because it was cloudy, but the powder is yellow, I swear!

it looks cooler in person, just believe me

2. our government-issued textbooks at school

- Some textbooks are just more entertaining than others.  The sophomore students found a picture in their book of a little gringa girl who they think looks like me, and between the curly pigtails, book, and smart-alecky caption, I have to give them credit. She bears a chilling resemblance to young Maddie. 

this is from a unit on expressing opinions. some real controversial stuff here.

My favorite picture in the textbooks, however, is this amazing photoshopped owlcat:

If anybody knows any geneticists with too much time on their hands, please forward them that photo.  We owe it to humanity. 

3. the animals I come across

- Mr. Llama, obviously. Not even bad weather can keep him away from his odd post.

But also the many dogs everywhere.  As much as I hate to see them out in the street, I stop to pet them frequently, which cheers us both up immensely.  And of course we have the cows that occasionally wander into our neighborhood.  They don't do anything particularly exciting--I mean, they're cows--but I do love surprises, and that includes turning a corner and seeing a cow where you are not expecting a cow. Yesterday I had a new surprise as well: a pig!  

this porky was pretty filthy. I have no idea where he came from

4. my host family

- I've said before how lucky I am to have been placed with my host family, but it always bears repeating.  They're somehow reserved yet goofy at the same time, much like myself. Luckily my Spanish is adequate enough for us to make jokes together.  My host mom's cooking is keeping me on my toes--this week I tried both cow udder and cow stomach.  I thought they both had the same flavor, and I did not like that flavor... but I'll try anything, and they know that! My host siblings are always singing or practicing guitar, and they have little family jam sessions every now and then.  A few weeks ago the power went out for a bit, so we had to light candles and they sang a bunch of lovely songs I didn't know.  They have beautiful voices! It's lovely coming home to them every day. I don't think I ever shared this picture, but this was from my birthday celebration back in April : ) 

Francisca (Panchi), Yeny, Franco, and Vlady

5. my students 

- I've gotta say, I had no idea I would enjoy working with high schoolers this much.  I was used to working with either much younger kids or people my own age, but high school students?  I wasn't sure how I would manage the teacher/friend balance.  But it has been fantastic!  They're disruptive sometimes, yeah, but I expected as much, and a lot of them are sweet enough to try to make it up to me if they can tell that I'm frustrated.  I am really impressed by the effort that a lot of them put into English, too.  They never run out of questions about different phrases they heard or words they saw.  Regardless of their level, they try to make jokes and show off by using slang I have taught them.  That ranges from them throwing up their hands with a "my bad! my bad, Maddie" when I catch them talking in class, to trash-talking their friends with "I eat guys like you for breakfast!"  And they are amazingly sweet.  My freshman students have been some of the most affectionate ones.  In fact, I have a fan club of freshman boys.  They call themselves "The Maddie Lovers," and they throw up hearts for me when I walk by. I adore them, but, as you can see from my face here, they can be quite exhausting sometimes! 

the core founders of The Maddie Lovers: Daniel, Nicolás, Julio, and Sebastián

But I have plenty of other, less-obsessed, sweet students too! And, in fact, I've even gotten to know some of the elementary and middle school students who I don't have in class but who I see during recesses.  

Patricia and Daniela, both freshmen

Francisca, who I believe is in 6th grade...

They all make me look forward to school every day! 

6.  this nameplate at school

- I saved this little gem for last.  This door is always closed, and I have never met this person, but that might be for the best... 

... because the day I meet Señor Assman just might be my peak.  I don't know if my life would get much better than that.  

Weekend Update*

This past weekend I went back to Concepción to get my haircut and visit some friends I made working together at English camp!  They're both university students studying to be English teachers, so they speak English just about perfectly.  I stayed with my friend Bastian and his roommates in their awesome downtown apartment, directly across the street from the huge iconic courtroom building and pedestrian mall.  Here's their view:

This apartment was just a few blocks from Bastian's university campus and the student bar area, both of which I got to see.  Just in case you would like to put things in perspective, he and his roommates each pay the equivalent of about $300/month! (and that is considered very expensive, but worth it for the location).  So... everything's relative... 

We met up with our other camp coworker, Gary, and a group of us took a bus out to one of the beach areas outside the city to have a nice seafood lunch.  Both of their friends that came with us also spoke English fluently, which I found so impressive!  They all speak English better, I would say, than I speak Spanish, and they have never been to an English-speaking county.  Made me feel a bit inadequate, if we're being honest. Doesn't matter though, it was a delicious lunch!  It was raining all day, BUT, on the plus side, that made this killer whale statue kind of look like a real killer whale... It's got a nice realistic sheen to it, don't you think? Just humor me, please.

We took advantage of the rainy weather to go see a movie in the mall downtown, and decided on  "Wolverine: Immortal."  I was not even aware that this was the second Wolverine movie; maybe if I had seen the first one it would have filled some of the plot holes for me...but I will say this: it was entertaining, and Hugh Jackman is some sort of superhuman beast man! My goodness.  As a special treat I got to take my picture with the One Direction poster in front of the ticket counter... think my students will believe I actually met them?? 

It was finally nice and sunny the next day, so I got a lovely campus tour of the University of Concepción.  It's one of the big public universities in Conce, and has about 20,000 students. In the art building there is a huge mural, painted by a Mexican painter almost 50 years ago.  Partly due to its size, and partly its subject matter, (the history and brotherhood of Latin America), it is quite famous--I heard about it a while ago and so I specifically asked Bastian if I could finally see it.  It's beautiful!  It's painted on stucco so it has a really cool, almost watercolor-like quality to it.  Here's a panorama, and also a photo of me in front of it so you can get a better idea of the scale.  

There was an explanation of all the things in the mural, but, as you can see, that would be a lot to remember. Basically, it's a timeline (from right to left) of Latin America and its riches (both natural and cultural), the arrival of the Spaniards and the mixing of cultures, the solidarity of different countries/cultures in Latin America, and at the far right a nice little gesture from the artist: copihues (the Chilean national flower) entwined around/growing on a cactus (the national symbol of Mexico).  

We continued through other parts of campus and I was really surprised by how campus-y it felt.  Universities here are very different from universities in the U.S. For one thing, the concept of a liberal arts degree does not exist here.  Students graduate high school and then apply directly to the professional/grad program of their choice.  English pedagogy is 9 semesters, whereas medicine is 7 years, etc.  But there are no dorms, or fraternities, or other elements of campus student life as we would think of them. I kind of assumed that meant the campuses wouldn't feel campus-y, the way we think of college campuses, but this one was!  It has a beautiful big belltower and a little duck lake, and a big central forum area for student activities. There were lots of pretty graffiti murals--this was my favorite tidbit:

While we were walking past the forum they were doing a community art/awareness event in commemoration of the coup that installed Pinochet's regime. This year marks the 40th anniversary of that military overthrow (which resulted in the death of the socialist then-president, Allende), and with Chile's Fiestas Patrias (Independence Day Festivals) coming up there are lots of looking-back-at-our-national-history things popping up everywhere.  It has been very interesting observing Chile's current relationship with its recent history.  As you may know, Pinochet finally left office by a democratic vote in 1990, but it was only a narrow victory for his opponents.  Almost half of Chileans still supported his government at the time of that election, and it was only 23 years ago, so many people still have fond memories of Pinochet's Chile!  I had been warned before arriving here not to engage in political debates, because you can't assume anything about a Chilean's political beliefs and could very easily be talking to someone who supported/still supports that dictatorship.  I have indeed met several people who have argued in Pinochet's favor (it was a very prosperous time for Chile, and very stable relative to other Latin American dictatorships).  So it's always interesting to me to see how the public handles discussions of the dictatorship.  It most often appears in the form of human rights violation issues: honoring the memory of activists who were tortured, exiled, or killed, etc. At this event people were making a huge floor map of Conce and its surrounding coast towns, titled "Geography of a Dictatorship," marking all the places that something happened (murders, kidnappings, etc.).

So far I've seen a different side of Concepción every time I've gone, and it keeps impressing me!  Very cool city.  And of course it was great to see my friends there : ) 

*this heading in honor of Seth Myers' (SNL Weekend Update writer/host) recent wedding!