List of Freaks

Before i begin blogging my 8 day bus trip to the north of Chile, i must fill you all in on the freaks that we spent the entire trip with as i shall be referring to them throughout the blog.
Our Tour Guides
Two very alternative characters who smoked pot and were mostly only interested in alcohol on the trip. Their interests were pot, alcohol and swearing, a lovely couple.
The Great/Crazy Danes
These two older ladies were bearable although had no shame and would regularly just drop their dacks if they needed to change no matter who was around. One was a prison guard, the other a school teacher.
Painful Brit 1
This lady was a dentist and had the most painful, piercing laugh i have ever heard. She was rather rude and felt the need to teach Tiffany and I a thing or two about the world.
Painful Brit 2
This guy was almost bearable but most of the time he was just there. Towards the end of the trip he was getting a little too deep and meaningful for me so he was painful.
Special Aussie
This guy was actually mentally unstable and had his psychologist on call. A very special dude with a pot set up in his backyard too. Thought he was pretty hot stuff, it was unfortunate that he wasn't.
Eating Machine from Holland.
This chick was very special. She also had a very painful laugh and ate quite a lot. She complained about money and yet spent it all the time. She too felt it was her duty to teach Tiffany and I a thing or two about the world.
Jolly, Smelly Germans
This couple were alcoholics, they began generally around 12 and only stopped drinking when they fell asleep. They didn't shower or change clothes which brought a stench to the bus.
The Silent Brazilians
This couple joined us later in the tour and the chick could speak English except i think they were terrified and therefore didn't interact, i don't blame them. They were actually quite lovely.
Older Poms
This couple were not too bad, except they had one fault and that was that they actually liked the rest of the group! Fools!
Rodrigo- The Driver.
This guy was cool, he spoke to no-one, went to bed early, didn't drink, smoke normal cigarettes and drove the bus. He was safe..... i think.

Jornada - Final Day 22nd July

Today we just wrapped up all the discussions. We finished around midday. I had a really great time and although it was really cold as usual we played some great games and had some really cool team building experiences. We all then made the journey home. We had a nice walk down the mountain back to the bus stop, lucky my luggage was not too heavy and then we made it home and Tiffany and I packed again ready for the next adventure, Pachamama!

Jornada - Day Two 21st July

We all rose at around 9am the following morning to begin activities at 10am. Breakfast was bread, traditionally Chilean with jam.

we began in the large room with a game. It was freezing but we got the fire going and we all huddles around it. It was interesting playing a game with all the rules explained to you in Spanish. It makes it rather exciting.

We had a long day of reflection and meditation but i had a really good time. Normally its not my thing but we had some large discussions on poverty, our work and our purpose, it was very interesting to hear other peoples experiences and compare them to my own.

After a few deep discussions in the morning it began to snow, which was very pretty.

During our free time in the afternoon, Team Man aka Brian, Seth and Luke decided it was perfect weather to go for a dip in the green pool outside. It had been snowing all day, I didn't even touch the water for fear my finger would snap off. But that didn't stop them, the three of them stripped down outside and leaped in. Everyone gathered for the event and after returned to the warm house where we played cards, while the boys tried to warm up by the fire.

Then we played some Team building activities. We had to get a partner, I ended up with D man. And one of us had the lead the other blindfolded. I led D man first and as we don't have a common language it was rather quiet and i went slowly as there was an obstacle course to get through. D man wanted to go faster so when i was blindfolded he decided to race me through the room. My life flashed before me! I was quite petrified. So not an incredible amount of trust was built there. Next we played an island game and it was interesting as it brought out quite a few frustrations and leaders in the group. we all had to get on an island of paper to save other people but the rules were all jumbled and we kept making mistakes but i had a lot of fun. One thing we lost was our personal bubble as many times we were hugging each other or stepping on each other to stay balanced so that was a lot of fun.

After the day, Tiffany, Chrystal and i helped prepare dinner and Janneke cut up one potent onion which sent the three of us into a tear fest which was quite funny.

We had a BBQ but because it was snowing, it seemed to take a little longer to cook the meat and considering the meat was very thick slabs they we rent cooked through so we all ate the edges but there was plenty to go round.

After that Tiffany, Lauren, Luke and I got a table and began a very long game of cards. We played a game called Pounce or Nerds depends on what state you are in in the US. It lasted from 11pm till about 3am everyone else went to bed but we soldiered on by the fire. By the time i got to bed my stomach muscles were very sore from laughing and I was buggered from a long day.

Jornada- Day One 20th July

We all left for Jornada on the 20th of July, straight after my kids holiday. Jornada is a retreat that every new class does about a month after they arrive in Santiago. Its a chance to create new bonds, talk about our experience so far and take a step back and look at what we are doing and why we are volunteering.
We left the smog in Santiago and went about an hour out of the city to Cajon Del Maipo which is in one of the mountains. We stayed in this old house which was huge and had heaps of rooms. They even had gas heaters which we were all quite amazed at.
We arrived around 5:30pm after a little exploring we discovered some interesting orange fruits on some of the trees. We were all a little peckish so we decided to try the fruits. Tiffany climbed up the tree and shook heaps of them down, they were a little soft and we had to dodge them but i finally caught one and they were quite sweet, we still don't know what they were but they filled a hole. After our snack we selected our beds. I was in a room with Brian, Tiffany and D man. We all headed to a large meeting room with an open fire (although it wasn't lit) and began our activities. More Spanish. That was the beginning of Jornada, we were all starving by 10pm and we were finally fed, we were all then ready for dinner but there were more activities. we were put into smaller groups and i got a really good group with Tiffany, Brian, Chrystal, Janneke and our leaders were Lauren and Pablo.
We finally got to bed around 1:30am after a hilarious game of Spanish charades.

Holiday Continued

By the end of the first day i was buggered. I was looking forward to a hot shower but my dreams were crushed when i was told we didn't have any water in our cabin, not even flush the loo. This meant that all toilet business had to be done at the main dining hall which was 100 metres from the cabin, a little far to be trudging to in the middle of the night.

At around 9:30pm we all began to organise the kids to head back to the cabins. I felt a little like a pack horse as i was loaded with kids. I had one on my back, three hanging off my arms and three grabbing different parts of my jeans to prevent themselves from slipping on the ice. I also had a torch which each child wanted to grab or run in front of, made the 100 metres a little longer then usual. All i could do was laugh as it then started raining so it was perfect! :)

One thing which was awesome was that no one moved until 11am the next morning so i was quite happy. After some bread and a lovely cup of sugar and a little tea we began the shower process. Luckily they had discovered that you could turn the water on in the cabin so we got water. I helped the Tias prepare 5 children for the shower and after one of the Tias it was my turn around 1pm. I got my hot shower and then we all headed outside for more games.

All in all it was a good experience. I was pretty tired after the three days as the total Spanish environment had fried my brain. I caught the bus home at 10pm on the Thursday night and once again had the same old codger wanting to practise his English on me. Fortunately for me he had run out of life story so there was nothing else to discuss so i got to sleep a little earlier.

I arrived home to Santiago around 7am and made the long journey home. I caught a little sleep but had to prepare for my next adventure Jornada!

Holiday with the Kids!!!

From the 16th of July to the 19th I went on holiday with 11 of the kids i work with and some other volunteers. It was a full on three days of no English, games and movies.
We left on Monday night and travelled 9 hours south by bus. I travelled with one of the Tias (Ladies that run the home) and 5 children. The bus ride took around 8-9 hours, we left at 10pm and arrived Tuesday morning at around 6:30am. I spent half the bus trip beside an old dude who wanted to practice his English so i got his entire life story!!! All i wanted to do was catch some zeds before i very busy holiday but it was not to be. When he had had enough of me correcting him he decided to go to sleep which was a blessing.
Trying to sleep on a bus is not the easiest thing to do though so i didn't sleep very well. When we arrived it was bitterly cold and it had been snowing. The kids were wide awake and ready to play and i felt like i had not slept in a week.

We arrived at our cabins a little out of town and we began to unpack. All the kids rushed and whipped on their snow gear and ran outside. I just wanted to curl up and go to bed but that was no possible. Then i came to the realisation that i had no proper shoes for the snow. I only had my joggers which were not water proof for 3inches of snow.
I headed outside at the call of the two younger girls and ended up being half led, half carrying the two younger ones through the snow.

There was a pool frozen over outside and all the kids were trying to break the ice with rocks etc and of course the two younger ones wanted to join in. We headed over and i was holding one of the back, i turned around for a brief moment and when i turned back in slow motion i watched one of the girls slip onto the ice and slowly slide out on her bum. Luckily another volunteer was there and she grabbed her and pulled her back. It wasn't funny at the time but her face as she slid out was quite humorous, she was half stunned, half confused.

After that heart stopping moment we headed into the dining room for games and breakfast. It was then the other volunteers realised my shoes were little pools of water. They all rushed around to find me some boots and sent me off to the cabins to change my socks and warm my feet. From then on any cough from me they looked concerned and shook their heads and pointed at my feet, quite funny...

The Taste of Chile

Its hard to believe i have already been here for 5 weeks!!! Living without Mum's cooking and all! So far my diet has been mostly carbs. Pasta is easy to cook and bread is extremely cheap! I have been branching out though and making soup so i have some variety.

I have also started eating avocado or Polta as its called which is also very cheap and used in almost everything.

I have refrained from adopting the Chilean way of cooking though which will save my waist as ALL Chileans love their salt, oil and sugar and when they can they use they all in enormous amounts. They begin cooking most meals with a very generous splash or oil, then with any ingredients they add a handful not a pinch of salt. Sugar is used on most things too. Most fruit is served with sugar to make it more appetising, you can pick up any street food with coatings of sugar as well.

Some Chileans also enjoy oranges with salt on top, and interesting combo they even have sweet lemons here which taste very strange. Cups of tea and Nescafe are also popular although they MUST come with a minimum of 5 heaped teaspoons of sugar. I headed to the corner store the other day and was offered a cup of coffee as it was raining. I don't drink coffee but had to as i had accepted without knowing due to my lack of Spanish. I received the cup of black coffee and tasted it and amazingly it didn't taste like coffee at all more like sugar syrup. He asked me if there was enough sugar and as my teeth were beginning to rot i replied Si, Si, Bien!

Working Girl!!!

So far work is good. I am working at a children's home in one of the nicer suburbs of Santiago. I work with 13 kids aged from 2-11. So far i have been working for 6 weeks which have surprisingly flown by. Work is not always FUN FUN FUN but its not too bad. The kids can be pretty hard work though particularly the boys and i was surprised when i discovered half my shift is spent splitting up fights which can often involve standing in between kids or physically pulling them off each other.

Two of the younger children are cute but VERY naughty. One of them (Right) often knows she is doing something wrong and has an evil laugh to go with it, so when you hear that you have to check out what she is doing or where she is.

The other little girl (Below) is very cute but very demanding. I was outside with her the other day and she wanted some cards that she couldn't have. After saying NO quite a few times (As that is all i can say) i had to pick her up and move her away, she didn't like that and decided to scream the house down. I put her on the floor and she went to bite my arm, luckily i had quick reflexes and moved away, i decided to leave her on the floor screaming to cool down. Later one of the other workers brought her over to apologise as she had seen her go for my arm. She had red eyes from crying but still had a little devilish smile, very cute!!!

The language is a little frustrating at times and its difficult to watch a 3 year old communicate with everyone and you not understand a word they are saying. But i am SLOWLY picking it up. I have been watching Shrek and the Lion King in Spanish and that seems to help slightly. Went and saw Harry Potter in English with Spanish subtitles and that was even better. So should be fluent really soon!!! :P

Adventure One- Creating a Blog

Well I have
finally gone global and created a blog thanks to the help of my trusty
American friend.

Watch this space as
there will be lots to read and many pics to
see as my adventures continue in

Santiago De Chile!!!