!Baile, Baile!

This week teaching wise was a big challenge.  I'm mostly facing how to discipline some of the out of control students.  While I've mentioned that my students are really funny (this week a boy found a girl's hair extention in the corner and taped it to the armpit of his jacket), I also have some students that are aggressive towards each other in the classroom.  This is definitely uncomfortable and not something I expected to face.  Although I have good students, I walked away feeling discouraged this week.  Sorry to be a downer, but figured it was a good idea to share the true part of my experiences here.  It's not always roses and empanadas!  I might also be going through the classic "cultural adjustment" phase.  A student actually asked me (in Spanish) if it's difficult for me to speak English and hear everyone around me speaking Spanish.  Yes and no.  It's hard enough to communicate in the same language and it's a bummer (slang word of the week for my students) to want to say things or join conversations but not be able to communicate.   On the otherhand, I see my Spanish greatly improving after just a month and a half being here.

So in the words of Lady Gaga, after a long week, I decided to "Just Dance."  Sorry, I know, I know cheesy.  Every week, there have been Cueca lessons at a volunteer's casa.  The Cueca is Chile's national dance that was created in the 1800s.  It's a big tradition of Chilean culture.  The lessons are a nice break to see all of my fellow volunteer friends.  While twirling our hankerchiefs in the air like we just don't care, we also catch up on our weeks.  It's a beautiful dance that will come in handy in just a few weeks when Chile begins celebrating its Bicentenario.  The festivities for this independence anniversary have been in the works for years and I'm in a great city for it.  Everyone keeps talking about how amazing it will be and I can't wait.  We even get a week off from school.

So while there have been some unexpected obstacles, they far outweigh the positives.  I mean, as I'm typing this, my host mom just brought me breakfast in bed. !Que suerte!

Traditional Cueca.  NOTE:  I don't look like this nor do I have the traditional garbs...YET!