¨I Put In Work And Watch My Status Escalate¨

*Note: my title for this post is a quote from the song Working by Gang Starr, one of the rawest hip hop groups of the '90s. If you don't know 'em, then you don't know rap music, boyeeeeeee... or girrrrrrlllll.....

A big fat que pasa (what's up) to all you party people out there in internet land! I hope that y'all have been well, that summertime en el norte is wrappin' up nicely, and that you've been missin' me! I have had a few minor bouts with homesickness, but then I remember how exhilirating it is to be down here and it's allllllll good!


Before I go into details about mi trabajo, I'd like to highlight a few happenings outside of the 9 to 5 realm. I've been getting a decent taste of la vida nocturna here. I am incredibly grateful to have acquired a solid back ground in Latin dance before arriving--¡me sirve muy bien (it serves me very well)! I am now an official member of the Chilean community after obtaining my cédula, which is the national I.D. card issued to everyone living within Chilean borders. My Spanish feels great; I'm using more and more Chilenismos and have started talking with a Chilean accent the best I can (although it's really tricky); I buy a newspaper every Monday and read it cover to cover, which is expanding my vocabulary; I'm finishing up the Paolo Coehlo novel I started before arriving (The Devil and Miss Prym) and am moving on to something more advanced: La Casa de Espíritus (The House of Spirits), written by Isabella Allende, a famous Chilean author and niece (thanks Lena!) of Salvador Allende, the president before Pinochet (google Pinochet now if you don't know him). And on the subject of la literatura, this past Saturday I accompanied my roomies and a whole pack of gringos from our program to La Isla Negra (The Black Island), the former summer home and now national musuem of Pablo Neruda, who I believe I've mentioned before in this blog. I learned a lot on this trip about Neruda: his filosofías about love, politics, and the human condition; his political activism--his poetry was very influential during la revolucion comunista in Cuba and he was very close to Ché and Fidel; and his vast collection of relics from all over the world. The man's poetry continues to blows my mind!

Okay on to the good stuff! Having nearly completed one month of work at Colegio San Fransisco de Paine, it is evident that I've become quite the fixture! From the start I stuck out because of my foreign features, although there are a handful of students of German descent who I would have mistaken for gringos had I not known in advance. At this point, however, I can safely say I now stand out in many other ways, all of which are positive!

First impressions are monumental. As with every teaching job I undertake, I made it a point to learn every student's name as soon as possible (I still can't remember all 200 something, but I'm very close), which my fellow teachers were very impresed by. I also made it a point to set a positive yet demanding tone for the rest of the school year. I accomplished this by striking a nice balance between my sense of humor to break the ice and my expectations of respect, collegiality between all participants in the class, and willingness to push one's limits. I basically gave the same spiel in all 13 classes, switching up my rhetoric based on age level. I was more successful in some classes in others; I think my biggest challenges in classroom management will come from 5th, 6th, and 7th grades. Not to sound cocky, but I pretty much have everyone else wrapped around my finger ;)

The other night, David called me on the phone after an evening of drinks with a bunch of other teachers, and he basically spilled his guts about how much everyone is enjoying my presence at CSFP. I think everyone was particularly jazzed about me that night because it was the same day I was chosen to play in a scrimmage against the boys basketball team in front of the entire school; after the game they all kept talking about how I play ¨like black people from the Bronx,¨ which still cracks me up. Anyways, I was flattered by the phone call, and I truly feel, as David kept telling me over the phone that night, like I am ¨one of them.¨ I couldn't have gotten luckier in my job placement, and feel that I should stay the entire year as I initially intended. I was considering a job switch in the pursuit of (financial) happiness, but am starting to realize more and more how blessed I've been to be a part of such a great place. Besides, I can teach priviate lessons to earn more income, which I'll hopefully be accomplishing muy pronto!

I think my posts from this point until December will chronicle the growth of both my students and my teaching abilities. Once in awhile I'll throw in some extracurricular morsels (I am planing a trip to the Atakama Desert in September), but now it's time to shed light on what goes on in my classes and within the greater CSFP community. But now I gotta finish planning and catch the 2:30 back to Santiago.

Hasta la próxima,

Ben

Assimilación

It's 6 a.m. Santiago time, and I have an hour to burn before I link up with my carpool, so why not blog?! It's been a few moments since my last post--mi culpa--so let's catch up on what I've been up to the last few weeks!

I am now completely settled in at the new apartment with my homegirls Melissa and Trish. The complex is located at Baquedano, a super central location that's buzzin' with culture (El Teatro Universidad de Chile is literally attached to the four building complejo), young folks (who all smoke like chimeneas), and la vida nocturna. Getting everything squared away with our arrendador (renter) was quite a process; let's just say I was missin' having my Pops as a landlord. The dude's name is Raúl, and every request we posed to him was answered, "Ok, bueno, mañana..." which really means next week. The place was a little dirty when we moved in--hair all over the bathroom and kitchen, dirt and grease por todo (throughout), condom wrappers, yeah you get the idea. Anyways, we now finally have everything (ojala--I hope) figured out. Despite the hiccups in our transition, we are very happy with our situation; we are literally footsteps away from the metro, the departamento is spacious and accommodates us well, and the elevator is one of those cool old-fashioned ones! Since we only have two bedrooms, we are going to switch off who gets the single room with the queen bed. Since Melissa has her little fling goin' on at the moment (with a guy from Colorado, jaja), she gets to enjoy it first. I'll most likely be next in a few months, and then Trish will enjoy it when her boyfriend comes and visits in the Fall, aka y'all's Spring. I love grammatically defunct vernacular.

Quick aside: Wow, I just dropped the biggest deuce in my entire life, and it was amazing. To all the readers out there who are uncomfortable with trivial things like pooping, I'll say this: get over it! I love the book Everybody Poops, and am adamant about it being in today's canon of contemporary children's literature. I'm sure many of you would prefer the title Nobody Poops But You. C'mon, I mean let's get serious: I need a small list of necessities to be happy--water, food and shelter, love and friendship, and smooth stools. Give me those things and I'm good to go! Melissa and I have poop talks weekly, and they have brought us a close bond as well as many laughs. Who's with me on this?! Ok moving on...

The 9 to 5 is amazing. I don't even feel like I'm working! I've established a solid rapport with most of my students (I've learned almost all 200-some names, which has also impressed the staff), I've started easing into my role as teacher (confidently planning and teaching more and more lessons, which is helping David and Solange, who are super busy at the moment), and I can't stop talking about how much I love my school! Job placement, as I'm sure many of you can attest, is a crapshoot here. I must have amassed some serious karma points after my last job at Knight Fundamental Academy (no offense Mrs. Keeton--principal of Knight), because CSFP is by far superior to the other colegios in its staff, teacher-student and student-student rapport, level of collegiality amongst cohorts, and administrative organization. Melissa and Trish are in kind of crummy situations; their schools are highly disorganized, the rapport is minimal (a lot of the teachers, from what they tell me, are burnt out and apática--apathetic), and the English curriculum is strictly based on following the books, with little to no room for creativity, not to mention accommodations and adjustments. They're both troopers and I know they'll be fine, but let's just say they'll be seeking new employers for the Fall semester.

It is time for me to link up with David, my co-teacher, for the carpool with the principal of CSFP, María Teresa, who is very sweet. David is also wonderful. A very good teacher who knows how to keep things tranquilo, we're very similar people who get along great. I'm excited to hit the town with him and get loco.

Much love to everyone, and hollatchaboyeee! I love comments, so get it poppin', folks.

Paz,

Benja