Los Monstruos and Los Molles

Remember a month or so back when we inaugurated the English Room?  Apparently I did a good job with the little kids (1 through 5 years old).  The first day I came back to work after the Argentina/Uruguay trip I learned that our English preschool teacher had been put on bed rest.  This was two months earlier than expected.  So what happened? My boss said, effective immediately, I was the new preschool teacher.  Oh, and I also had to keep teaching 7th, 8th, and 12th grade too.

If you had told me a year and a half ago that my time in Chile would include teaching preschool for three months, I would have said that's crazy.  But I kind of love it.  We sing and dance and color all day, I have a regular schedule (finally) that runs from 8:55 to 12:35, and as of last week the new ChACE teacher took over my upper level classes so my afternoons are free and I finally feel like I'm actually planning and teaching effectively again.

Oh, and crazy adorable things like this happen all the time.

I do miss my older kids, but this will be a great experience.  The first couple weeks I just felt like I was hanging on for my life, especially since I was running between buildings trying to keep up with both preschool and older kids.  But now we're working through the material and it's going pretty well.

We have one more week of craziness and then my schedule should officially be on preschool time.  This is English Week, so I'll be working with all the preschoolers, 7th, 8th, and 12th graders because I prepared them all for their songs, dances, skits, presentations, and spelling bees.  It will be a whirlwind, but it will officially close my interaction with the older levels.  I'll miss them, but this is a good change, it's working better than I could have imagined.

Typical pre-kinder class.  They're learning the shapes so I have them lay on the floor in the different geometric forms.  Here they're going for a star...it's kind of close.

For English Week the little kids end their shows with a song called "The Monsters".  They love to growl.  So I've taken to calling all of them "Los Monstruos" which occasionally is quite accurate.

As I mentioned above, the new ChACE group has arrived!  Two weeks ago we got up at the crack of dawn to welcome them at the airport.  This is almost the whole crew.  Kevin, second in from the right, is teaching at San Nicolás with me.  He's doing a great job, especially considering he was charged almost immediately with all my middle school and senior classes.

I turned 26 last week!  On my birthday itself we went out for dinner and I got a deck of cards and a cupcake with a trick candle.  Great success.

We also celebrated with my host family a few days before.  I continue to be overwhelmed by their generosity.  They've been so good to me.

My fellow ChACErs enjoyed shoving my cupcake in my face.  South American tradition.  When in Rome, I suppose.

The real celebration happened over last weekend.  I've talked about Los Molles a lot before, it's a very special place for me here in Chile.  So I planned a little trip there for anyone that wanted to come--we ended up with 18 people!  What a great blessing to enjoy such a beautiful place with so many friends.

This was Friday night, we made pasta and hung out late into the night.  And we played cards!  It had been too long.

One of my favorite things about Los Molles is how peaceful it is.  There is no rush to do anything--sleep as late as you want, go for a walk on the beach, grill some meat, whatever.  We had a very lazy Saturday capped off by a beautiful sunset over the rocks at Puquen.

There are Sea Lions on that rock that make so much noise you have to hear it to believe it.

Probably my favorite place in Chile.  I could listen to music and watch the waves all day.

Thanks to everyone for coming out and making this a great birthday!

We had some cake on Saturday night.  Also, that thing with a candle in  it is a potato.  Those that know me well know how much I dislike potatoes.  Thanks, Erin.

But in the spirit of the occasion I took a big bite out of it.  I don't know how many of you have eaten raw potatoes but they're worse than cooked ones.

On Sunday, after one final stroll through Puquen, we went to my favorite fresh fish restaurant near the water.  Always caught that day, always crazy delicious.

It was a fantastic weekend, and I hope to go back once more before heading back to the states for Christmas.  I've thought about what will become of this blog when I leave Chile.  I don't have much of an idea what I'll be doing next; I might come back here, I might stay in the states, or I might go somewhere else.  Who knows?  But I can promise that my travels in January will merit pictures and stories, so stay tuned.