Voodoo in the Classroom

Things have been pretty busy here, sorry for my absence dedicated blog readers (Mom and Kelsey) but I have been busy grading my students, watching the World Cup, and defending the USA's honor in it.
Some highlights from the past few days:
My host sister and brother threw a house party. This was my first ever high school party and it did not disappoint (it also included my friends another difference about Chile is that here everyone hangs out with each other regardless of age, it's not even weird). The party wrapped up around 7 a.m. but since I am old and I was in bed at 5 a.m. We threw a father's day party for Jorge the following day and were all a little worse for wear, but did not hesitate to indulge in an asado.
If I start acting more unusual than normal, I have the answer, yesterday my students asked me to close my eyes. I was expecting them to draw on my face, or give me a homemade chocolate (this happens quite frequently usually with some smooth line like, "A beautiful sweet flower for a beautiful sweet flower") but instead I am fairly certain they stole a piece of my hair for voodoo purposes. I can't be sure, but they definitely took some of my hair.
My students and I tried to watch the USA game today in class, but started a fire on accident because the t.v. cord was bad. They didn't act too surprised so I think this happens more often that one would hope.
I ate pigs head, it was really fatty. It included the meat from the face and brain. My stomach promptly punished me for that and went into spasms for the next 8 hours. How do Chileans do it? I want to be proud of them for not wasting any of the pig, but mostly I am nervous that their stomachs are not only strong enough to survive this they actually enjoy it.
Kristin Kientiz is coming down here and I could not be more excited! I am not sure if South America is ready for us, but this has been a dream ten years in the making, I can't believe it is finally coming true. If you don't hear from us, please either assume we are enjoying ourselves way too much or we have been kidnapped. I think that since we have both recently survived natural disasters we are more than cut out for any situation, Chile and Peru may not be though.

This also happened in my class, he was trying to be famous so that Hannah Montana would date him, isn't he clever? You can understand why I thought they were going to draw on my face now (don't question why I agreed to close my eyes please, I have already thought long and hard about it and the answer is, I'm in Chile).

This is me with a few of my fellow teachers during the game on Wednesday. I would like you to note that we are inside and I am wearing my scarf, headband, two coats, long johns, and I was still freezing.

I am trying to keep up with the changing times and have created a youtube account so you can view some of my favorite videos.
This is the Waka Waka performance from Tuesday. The quality isn't incredible, but I am the least technologically savvy person on the internet, so please forgive me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPJ2iFzD-xk

Enjoy!

Chichichi Lelele Vive Chile!

Chile won their World Cup game today! It would be impossible to be here and not know that because horns are honking, people are going wild, and there are tons of blowhorns everywhere you go. They played at 7:30 this morning and the whole city was excited about it. I woke up to take my host sister to school and all the cars were honking their horns, the students were dressed in red, white, and blue (I felt at home) and flags were all over. It was a rude awakening for me because I had made a deal with my students that we could have a party if Chile won, so I had been preparing for the party until 2 in the morning the night before. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled about all the noise, but decided to get into the spirit anyway.
I dressed up as a soccer player for school, carried a soccer ball around with me and tried my feet at dribbling it, but alas, I am no futbolista (soccer player). We spent the day doing the cheer from the title of the post, my students harassed me about being from the United States, and we danced to Waka Waka about 30 times. I would like to defend my choice of class by saying it would have been nearly impossible to have a real class because there was so much energy. It was incredible.
I feel pretty lucky to be able to be here and experience all the excitement.
I have heaps of videos to share, but google no longer uploads videos so I'm not sure how to share them, anyone have any tips?

Here is my host sister (on the left) and her friend. We made those headbands the night before. I am so patriotic!

My Return to Normality (it doesn't actually exist in Chile, but I pretend)

I decided to throw caution into the wind and live my Chilean life by going to visit friends in Temuco this past weekend. The good news is that I realized this illness has not taken away my love of dance nor my ability to have a good time, thank goodness, I was worried about that while I was stuck in my bed. I actually had the thought, "I may never have fun again, I am so bored, maybe I forgot what fun feels like" this was after about 40 puzzles and 80 games of monopoly. In retrospect I think I know why I felt that way. Monopoly really isn't all that fun. Once we all got together we decided to go to a resort town a few hours from Temuco, rent a cabana and live the luxurious life (translated ten people sharing 3 bedrooms, how luxurious).
Villarica is the love child between Red Lodge and Bozeman, it has all the necessities but has somehow managed to keep the small town vibe. It is located right on a huge lake with a stunning view of Volcano Villarica. My friends Honni, Johnny, and I decided to go for a walk late Friday night. It felt like a ghost town, we were the only ones on the road when all of a sudden two men with painted faces like the bank robbers from Point Break hailed us over to them. I was certain we were going to mugged or worse killed, and all I could think was, I only have $1 on me, they'll never believe that, but alas they were just free loving mimes. Johnny decided to have a mime off with them and I cannot remember ever laughing so hard nor being so confused. I love that this is my life in Chile.
I had a great weekend and felt ready for school so I have been going to school and listening to Waka Waka by Shakira no less than 35 times each day. The students had to prepare a 5 minute English presentation for me and as soon as I figure out how to upload those on here you will get to enjoy the hilarity that is Liceo Juanita Fernandez Solar.
I have to go catch a World Cup game, I will be cheering for Uruguay because I think a large part of my heart is still there.

Here is a list of things I have learned about Chileans, it is a work in progress, but a list nevertheless.
1. They love the Simpsons a lot, as in more than I thought anyone could.
2. They need a lesson in central heating.
3. They eat a lot of sugar and salt.
4. They know how to move their hips.
5. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation that is not full of passion. Sometimes this results in yelling during class, which is startling, but entertaining.
6. The circuses feed the street dogs to their animals. This breaks my heart and makes me think I would be the crazy dog lady here.
7. They love their families a lot.
8. They watch really bad telenovelas (soap operas) that I can't get into, but love to pretend I am.
9. Chilenismos are huge here which means they speak a little Spanish and a lot of Chilean.
10. Mi casa es su casa is actually the truth here. I have never felt more at home in a place that is not my home. They are extremely gracious and kind about including me in their lives.
11. They love Chile. They have so much pride for their country it is awesome!

I shall update this list every so often. I hope you are all doing well.