Author: craig_lazarski

Waking up from the first night at the student´s house was not fun, seeing as we were waking up the same time we would if we were going to school. But, we got out of bed, got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed to school. At arrival, it was obvious that Santiago College was very diffrent from Cary Academy. To begin with, the mood was more relaxed. Their equivalent of our 10th grade hallway was not clear until at least 5 minutes after the bell rang. At CA, the hallway is clear before we get to class. When we arrived at homeroom, something we don´t have at the Academy, the students were louder, and generally more crazy.  This was a trend seen in every classroom we visitied. The teachers told us that it was because we were there, but the students laughed and said that this was their routine. Chemistry class was all too familiar, with the lab being the same one done by Ms. Allen in our CA Chemistry class. By the time lunch rolled around, we were all hungry and bored with the classes. Our exchange students assured us that they understood why we were bored and promised fun times after school. Immediately after school, we went with our student to do individual things. My student and I went to the gym, and then stopped at a cafe with some other exchange students. After, we went to the supermarket to get the ingredients to make brownies for a pasta party the field hockey team was having before their tournament the next day. We bought cookie dough, brownie mix, and oreos to make brownies. We had issues getting it to cook all the way, but we got it to bake. It was hard just resiting the temptation to eat the things. We finally left for the pasta party. There, some of the other exchange students met us and we hung out eating pasta and an assorment of other deserts. Afterwords, we came home and were so tired that we fell asleep after groggily washing our faces.

Today was a day filled with violence, passion, and danger. I knew when I was told where we were going that there would be a risk of injury, but I could never imagine the amount of blood that would be shed. Today, for the first time in my life, I attended a rugby match. At 10:30 in the morning, Lucas Valde and I arrived at the campus of a rival high school for an all-day rugby and field hockey tournament. We were greeted by about half of the Cary Academy exchange students, who were there for the intense competition that Cary Academy has let us grow so accustomed to. Before I knew what had hit me, Lucas had run off to join his teammates, and the games had begun. Never before have I witnessed such elegant, graceful brutality as I did today. Throughout the day, I witnessed 5 rugby matches. Three of them involved a player leaving on an ambulance that was always nearby, as per Chilean law. One of the matches involved a double expulsion after a fistfight broke out. I feel as if my eyes were opened to a new expression of the most basic and simple expressions of masculinity – to push and shove and grunt. As the Cary Academy Chargers stood watching in awe, the students of Santiago College approached us and used many colorful metaphors in broken English to explain the sport. “It’s like ice hockey, but with a ball and no ice.” “It’s like soccer, but with your hands, and also more punching.” And the ultimate Chilean burn, “It’s like American Football, but for real men.” After watching kids I had just met grapple in the open fields of Santiago for nine hours, Lucas informed me it was time to go home. As we walked, I noticed a slight limp in his step. “It’s fine,” he said, “I had some leg trouble a while ago.” Upon returning to the home however, both Lucas and I noticed that his knee had swollen up to the size of the oh-so-precious rugby ball he had been chasing all day. Long story short, as I sit now at home and write this blog, Lucas Valde is currently in the hospital. On his way out the door, I asked him if he was going to be alright. His response?

“It’s rugby. Nothing is ever ok.”

On Thursday. We started the day in Viña del Mar. There, we got up early, ate breakfast and packed the bus with all our luggage.  We got on the bus and drove for about an hour to Santiago.  We arrived in Santiago right outside the presidential palace.  At the palace there were lots of guards because there were going to be protests later that day.  The tour guide told us that they were going to be dangerous and that we would have to stay far away from the protests.  From the presidential palace we walked several blocks to a museum where a once rich man had illegally owned many artifacts. The artifacts were all about the Native Americans. There were some from the Inca, Aztecs and the Mayans.  There were also artifacts from some non-civilized tribes from Chile.  One of the artifacts that was particularly interesting was a mummy from seven thousand years ago and was preserved better than the mummies found in Egypt.  Other artifacts included pottery and clothing and stone carvings. After we saw the entirety of the museum we went to an empanadas restaurant that was very good.  Next, we walked from the restaurant to the main plaza, plaza de armas. The plaza is called that because back when the Spanish were settling cities in South America, they had a rule that no one was allowed to own weapons, so at the center of every town there was an armory to collect peoples weapons as soon as they entered the city.

At the center plaza we went into a huge cathedral that we visited. Soon after we got picked up by the bus and went to Santiago College. A soon as we arrived we met our exchange students.  Our new friends then gave us a tour of their school, showing us the gym, the cafeteria, coffee shop, and the technology room. After they gave us the tour some of the guys played basketball. Then the school day was over and we all watched a soccer game that some of the exchange students were playing in. we did not do anything in the afternoon except just hang out at our houses. I met the family of my exchange student, Jose, they were very nice to me and made me feel at home. When night came the whole exchange group went out to an American burger joint that was not in North Carolina. The restaurant was  really good and we all had a great time.

So today your chaperones spent the whole time at Santiago College.  We told the students that we were available if they needed anything or if they had any issues with their host families.  Not a single student stopped by.  We watched through the windows as they laughed and played with their host student and never once looked back at their courageous caretakers.  They left us alone all day.  We had to hunt them down to check in on them.  Apparently, they are all doing great and have no need for chaperones.

They also apparently have no time to write blog entries despite our nearly constant harassment to do so.  Don’t worry, we still have more pictures to post and hopefully we will get some blog entries soon that will fill you in on all of the fun they are having….without their chaperones.

 

So we have had some difficulty with internet connection.  Yesterday we finished our tour of Valparaiso.  Here are some pictures of our adventures.  A blog post describing these should be up soon.

Today we dropped the students off at Santiago college with their host families.  Everyone was anxious but seemed to quickly warm up to each other.  Let’s hope the first night with their new family is a great night!

Yesterday our group had a wonderful time exploring Vina del Mar.  From the airport the first place our tour guide took us to was a small cafe that had a llama, an alpaca, and their unique offspring.  In order for the llama’s to not spit on us we had to give them some grass as a peace-offering.  The llama’s were very nice and took the grass happily.  After feeding the animals we headed into the café and enjoyed a variety of different Chilean deserts as well as a beverage of our choice.  This was a fun activity because it was our first taste of what Chile had to offer.  Next our group headed to a small museum which had a variety of different Chilean artifacts.  On the outside of the museum stood a statue that originally cam from Easter Island known as a Rapa Nui.  Inside the museum our tour guide showed us some more interesting artifacts.  The one that stuck out to me the most was the mummy of a man that had been around fro more than 7000 years.  It was very interesting to learn that the Chileans knew of multiple simple, but advanced techniques for mummification.  Next on our tour we went to visit a beach that was also located in Vina del Mar.  This beach was very beautiful to look at and we enjoyed walking around and taking pictures of the scenery.  We did not enter the water because we were advised not to do so.  This was because the ocean was extremely cold and located inside the ocean were multiple huge rocks that served as safety hazards.  After this activity we headed back to the hotel and had a little break before we headed out to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  For dinner we were served empanadas, an entrée of our choice as well as a dessert of our choosing.  After this outing we were all exhausted and headed back to our hotels to regain some energy and prepare for the next day.

 

Some pictures to keep you in the loop…details are coming soon!

It’s been smooth sailing since we left Raleigh. We just made it to our hotel and everyone is freshening up before heading out to a museum and lunch in Vina del mar.  All is well and hopefully everyone is checking in or will be doing so soon!