Is it Really June?

It's hard to believe it's June!  That means we've been in Chile almost 9 months, in the program almost a year, and we're nearing the middle of the school year.  Time flies!

Last Saturday I went to the Festival de Voz (Voice Festival) between the three Diacono schools.  They had a great backup band and we had maybe a dozen students participate.  They did a great job!

Highlights came from Nora Jones, Bruno Mars, a slew of Chilean bands, and some numbers performed entirely by the student bands.  San Nicolas did Sweet Child of Mine, it was great.  Good job kids!

Since the school year is off-set here, the TV seasons are off too.  I've been looking for some summer shows, so when I was home I started watching Breaking Bad.  I'm hooked.  I'm all caught up, just waiting for the last episodes of the series to come out starting in August.  If you haven't seen it, it's a captivating storyline about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth cook.  Dexter starts end of this month too!

School has been pretty uneventful.  They call final exams "global tests" and they start the 26th.  Then it's just a week and a half to winter break.

This is a pretty typical pronunciation lesson.  The kids love singing American pop music and one day I was tired of hearing "Demons in the Sky" by Rihanna.  I mean, "shine bright like a demon"?  Come on, kids, you can do better than that.

One of the English teachers had her appendix out the day before I got back from the states and this past week another English teacher was sick so I've been taking a lot of extra classes, especially with young kids.  I've been enjoying it, the little ones are fun.  Plus it gives me an opportunity to get rid of all the extra Easter-themed coloring sheets we have.

I've mentioned before that Chilean schools run on a system that keeps the same students in the same room all the time.  They call them "cursos" (courses) and I've been responsible for Cata's while she recovers from her appendectomy.  The kids are a riot.  I'm glad I don't teach 6th graders all the time, but 2 weeks with them was fun.

After all the rain we had the air was clearer than I've ever seen it.  We had one day driving home where we could see all the mountains very clearly.  It's so exciting to see snow!  I'm heading up to the mountains tomorrow for the first runs of the season.  I'm very excited, my board is waxed and ready to go.  Watch for pictures!