Esta noche, tenemos que ganar!

Hi everybody! A lot has happened in the past week or so - here's a quick run-down...

(1) Last weekend there was a gourmet food festival a few blocks from our apartment. Pretty awesome - a few dollars to get in and then tons of 'free' samples of fancy cheese, wine, ice cream, beer, bread, and meat.


(2) Chile vs. Argentina. We had the chance to go to the final home World Cup qualifier of the year, against Argentina (who Chile had NEVER, ever beaten in a competitive match of any kind). Chile is doing very well in the South American standings right now, and they played extremely well. Chile went up 1 - 0 in the first half and then held the score for the rest of the game. It was incredibly exciting, with lots of opportunities for both sides, and the crowd (and entire city) went crazy for the rest of the night. The stadium is miles from our house, but even after we got home we could hear car horns and people screaming for hours.

(3) Parent conferences. This should be prefaced with the following: if we haven't mentioned it yet, the standard way to greet someone in Chile is with a kiss on the cheek (except for when it's two guys, who shake hands). In any case, you can imagine all of the hilarity that goes into being an American and never being sure whether you are supposed to be kissing or not. Well, the kissing custom mixed with Parent-Teacher-Student conferences at school this week heightened all of said hilarity (and oftentimes awkwardness) to a new level. LPHS teachers who might be reading this: think about typical conference days. Now think about kissing all of those parents before (and after) the discussion. Now imagine if students were expected to be present as well, and if the kissing custom were extended to them (because usually it is). (Ex-LPHS students, picture the same thing - kissing all of your teachers on the cheek before they talk to your parents about how you need to focus more in class and study harder for tests and quizzes. Pretty weird.)

(4) We spent yesterday in Cajon de Maipo checking out a valley across the river from where we explored the last time we were there a few weeks ago. It was a perfect day and the hike was great - a larger overall elevation gain than on the other side of the river, but also a much more gradual one. It was a hot day, but we were eventually blocked on the trail because of too much snow, so we're excited to get back and explore further once some of it has melted (although it's called San Francisco glacier, and so I imagine there's a fair amount of snow/ice throughout the summer as well).



This was another hike with TONS of lizards...


We've been trying to keep up with new music, but it's a little difficult being so far away (unless you're into Kylie Minogue or re-mix after re-mix of American pop songs, which they play constantly at our gym). I'm still getting a lot of ideas by listening to podcasts of Sound Opinions, but here's some of the new stuff we've been listening to lately: The Avett Brothers (it's not new at all, but it's still super-awesome), Or, the whale (pretty awesome alt-country stuff from San Francisco), and Benji Hughes (has a new double-cd with some good songs). Plus I've been listening to the songs that Aaron (of the internationally lauded and critically-acclaimed superband Beardog) has been recording - you can check them out at his website: http://www.myspace.com/mymoonyacht. Aaron also just filled me in to the new album by Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, which might be the best of anything I've mentioned so far - check out 'As Tall as Cliffs' and 'Broadripple is Burning' first.

Besides that, we're getting ready to perform some songs together at a fundraiser show next month in November. We're allowed about 20 minutes of time (and there won't be any drums, so it will just be guitars or guitar-and-mandolin). Right now we're planning on the following...

1. American Music (Violent Femmes)
2. Paradise City (Guns n Roses)
3. Strangers (the Kinks)
4. Any Way You Want It (Journey)

...but we're still looking to add a few. Ideas are welcome.

Finally, the mullets of the week! The first is in honor of Chile's liberator, the red-haired Chilean of Irish descent that led Chile to its independence. It is the O'Higgins Mullet:


The second is another in my series of I-know-you're-taking-a-picture-of-me mullets. A lot of teenagers have it, and so we can call it the Angsty Mullet:

I hope everyone is doing well! Talk to you soon...

Two things I don't want to forget to tell you...

1. A student in my class has repeated told me, "Mees, this is a real sideball" or "Mees, this [US history concept, idea, event, etc.] is a real sideball." Finally today the following interaction occurred:

Mees: Ok, today you are making political cartoons about Jacksonian Democracy.

Student: Oh Mees! You are throwing me a real sideball. I can't draw--I'm really terrible.

Mees: Wait...do you mean I'm throwing you a "curveball"?

Student: Yes. Whatever. I like to say sideball.

2. During the same class, one of my Mexican students pointed to the following image and insisted that this cartoon MUST be depicting the Mexican eagle stabbing Jefferson in the heart in outrage over the outcome of the Mexican War. It might be my nerdy US history teacher side, but I thought this was hilarious.

Cajon de Maipo

Greetings all! Another week in Chile and we are still finding new and cool stuff all around us. School continues to go well. I learned that as part of our school's Week Without Walls program (where students go out on week-long trip aimed to get them outdoors, learning about the environment and/or doing community service), I will be going on the "EcoSurf" trip. That's right. I'm getting paid to go to surf camp. And maybe learn about some marine life. This would be an upside of teaching in a private school. The best part about this is that while I am a chaperone for students, another one of the chaperones is my principal (and incidentally all-around great guy), so the kids will hopefully be scared into behaving by his mere presence. Score!

We're playing basketball every week with a group of teachers and other Americans in Santiago. The group includes some fathers of students (one in particular is here on a Mormon mission but spent the last 25 years coaching and is AWESOME) and marines stationed in Santiago. It has been really fun for us both to get to play again. The games are friendly but a good workout. I'm the only woman (not that shocking), and despite going 1 for 79 the first week shooting, I think I'm actually remembering what it feels like to play. I actually might buy a pair of basketball shoes (right now it's a running shoes with ankle braces set up). If I do, I'll be sure to buy a quality Chilean basketball shoe. Which I'm sure they specialize in...

The past two weekends have been great. We fell behind a little bit last weekend with our blogging, so here goes. We took a salsa dance class on Saturday with a bunch of other teachers. It was much fun and very sweaty. I think we're naturals. No seriously. We're really awesome. Why are you laughing? On Sunday morning we headed to Valparaiso for Justin's half marathon. It was a really gorgeous day and the run was basically down on the port (with one brutal hill thrown in just so the runners didn't forget they were in Valparaiso). If you don't remember Valpa, check out the pics from one of the first blogs. Here is a picture of Justin next to a runner that was slightly below the average height of the other runners.

Yes...she was a wee one. Justin was also hilariously "interviewed" by an enthusiastic man with a video camera that we think was working for the folks who ran the race. We're not sure though. Somewhere some guy has two gringos saying "Bueno!" and giving a corny thumbs-up on camera.

Last week was uneventful at school. A true sign that we are deeply in the flow of things. I have some kids who are getting very excited to see Millencolin (and old American punk band), who is coming to Santiago next week. They pronounce it "Mee-LEN-co-LEEN." We had a good time watching the VP debate on Thursday, as well as the subsequent SNL parody. We love NBC right now for making the latest SNL skits available. Hopefully that won't go away.

Last weekend was absolutely terrific. We took off on Saturday morning and drove for about 2 hours southeast to get to Cajon de Maipo. Below is the German run hostal that we stayed in (called Lo Valdes). Germans are all over the hospitality industry here. If you remember, the folks that ran the last place we stayed were Germans. The owners of Lo Valdes were significantly less entertaining, however. No stories involving sailing from Africa to Australia or about people sticking fingers up other people's butts and pretending that it was gun. However, they had showers, clean beds, and a great breakfast (and cats that hung out in the bathroom with you while you did your business) so we were pretty happy. No electricity after 10, but we were knocked out by then anyway. It was quite lovely.


We went on a great hike immediately when we got there to the banos colinas. They are thermal hot springs. The hike should have been easy except there was snow over lots of the trail and some of us (ahem--Justin) were wearing converse all-stars.

We would have love to have gone in, but we were without towels and it would have been a COLD hike back. Next time!


The next day we did a spectacular scramble up a mountain behind the lodge. I say scramble because you had to pick your way up this steep hill to get to the trail. There was plenty of slip-sliding, especially on the way down, because the footing was basically dirt and loose stones with some low shrubbery. I'd show you the bruise on my butt but that would result in my mother being disappointed in me.


This reminded us of being in Denali in Alaska where there are no trails to speak of. There is a feeling here that you basically go anywhere and do anything you want. After a tough climb the view was the most incredible we've seen since we got here. Can you believe this is real?

Justin found a fossil...

On the way home there were goats...

And empanadas for empanabrahs...

And here we are again. Probably no adventures this coming weekend because of the end of the quarter grading, but we are angling to get back to Cajon de Maipo next next weekend to do a hike we were drooling over from across the canyon. We want to do it before too much of the snow melts. The days just keep getting nicer here. I think I can safely say it is spring.

Hope everyone is doing great. Lots of love, C/J