Why I'm Awesome

First off I just want to say that I am awesome and I deserve nothing short of everyones undying love, affection and admiration from this point on. That being said, allow me to tell you about my last couple of days, and in so doing explain the reasons behind my apparent greatness.

First off, I am now having students come to my office for help. Two days ago one of my students came to ask for help translating an article from English to Spanish. It was really cool, and we ended up working on it for about an hour, all the while speaking Spanish. Having the students coming to me for help is great, and I really enjoy being able to help them.

Yesterday was a crazy and wonderful day. I started by sleeping through my alarm for about the third time since I´ve been here. This time it all kind of worked out though, because apparently Estela had trouble getting up that morning also. We both had class at 9:50am and didn't leave the house untill 9:30am. So I was a little worried about being late, since it takes 15 minutes to get from the house the university on a good day. We managed to get there at 9:45 and I had her drop me off at the building where my class is. The day before we had had to cancel class because Ximena was sick, so I wasn't 100% sure if we were actually going to have class that day. As it turned out, Ximena was still sick, and class was cancelled. However, some of the students still wanted to have some sort of class. So I told them that if they wanted to, we could have a mini class. Four of the students decided that they wanted to practice, so we went to the classroom and sat around and talked in English for about 40 minutes. After that, as a treat, I let them speak Spanish with me for the last 20 minutes. I was really happy about all this for two reasons. First, because I wanted to do something other than go back to my office and figure out my fantasy football team. Second, because the students were actively trying to learn. This is a big step in the right direction for a group of students that are behind where they should be. I wish a few more had decided to stay, but I can hardly blame them. If one of my classes was canelled, there would be no way I would stay.
After that class I went to my next class. The first 40 minutes of this class were supposed to me telling the students about the history of halloween, and how it is celebrated in the United States, followed by a discussion of how/if it is celbrated in Chile. After that we were going to do book work. So I stood in front of the class and gave my presentation. Then when it was time for the discussion I was met with silence. No one really wanted to talk, so I tried asking more specific questions and started getting some answers, but only a few students were talking. So Raquel told everyone to take out their books to start doing exercises. There were general groans throughout the class to which Raquel responded 'Well, noone was talking. If you aren't going to talk, then we will do book work.' This seemed to light a fire under their asses, becaus suddenly there were plenty of questions. We started talking about Halloween, which quickly turned into a discussion about parties and drinking. Which led to drinking laws in the US. Which led to drug laws in the US. So my presentation started with the history of Halloween's origin, and ended with me trying to describe what meth was. God I love this country.
When that classes ended it was 1pm. This is the time when I usually meet with Estela to go home and get lunch. However, today she was nowhere to be found. As it turns out, she had to leave the school early that day and had forgotten to tell me. So I just kind of stood around for awhile not knowing what to do. At first I was waiting, but after 20 minutes I figured out that she was gone. So I considered going downtown and taking a colectivo back to the house. But that seemed like a lot of work. Instead, I ended up talking to one of the students from the previous class for about two hours. She had forgotten something in the classroom, but now it was locked, and noone was going to be back until 3. So, we started talking and continued talking until 3:30 when Estela showed back up. It was a very nice conversation, and a wonderful way for me to practice my Spanish. So I was quite content.
I went back to my office and hung out until 5:30. Then it was time to go. Yesterday Estela and I were going start tutoring one of her collegues who wanted to improve his English. Estela had asked me if I would be willing to help last week, and had jumed at the opportunity. All I knew was that he worked at the University. What I didn't know was that he was the director of continuing education at the University. So needless to say, the guy is important. So we leave the University, because the department of continuing studies is on the other side of the river, and next thing I know I'm sitting in this beautiful office, with huge windows looking out onto the river, drinking coffee and eating cookies while I tutor this very important individual in English. This man, Marcos, is sitting there, wearing an impecible suit, very dignified, struggeling through English sentences while I try to provide him with assistance. Pretty intimidating situation. So we continue for the hour that we had set aside for these lessons. When the time was up, he didn't want to stop. But since I hadn't eaten anything so far, Estela said that we had to go get me some food. To this he replied that he wanted to take us out to dinner. So here I am, this lowly students from the States, going out to dinner with Estela, who used to be the director of the language department at the University, and Marcos, the current director of continuing studies. WTF. Two very important people in the university, and me. Wow.
So we go to a restaurant on the other side of the city. First things first, pisco sours. Pisco is the national drink of Chile. It's a liquor made from grapes, tastes a bit like rum, but sweeter. And it's really strong, a fact that was not helped by the half a shot of cognac they added to it after I'd taken a few sips. Then they bring the food. First off is a kind of pastry. I can't remember the name in Spanish, but it is essentially flour and water, deep fried into what I can only describe as a savory doghnut type thing. Amazing, especially with a little aji, minced hot peppers. Then the main course, a giant bowl full of broth, and an entire chicken cut up into sections, and french fries. Once again, I love this country. This was all paired very nicely with a nice bottle of expensive Chilean wine. Estela and Marcos start talking about old friends and such, in Spanish I can barely keep up with, so I give up and go to town on the food. To say I gorged myself would be an understatement. Everything was delicious, and after my pisco sour and a couple classes of wine, I was feeling pretty damn good. And that's when I had a wonderful epiphany. I am sitting down to dinner with two very important people, from one of the most important universities, one of whom I am already very close with, and the other with whom I will be working a lot over the next month, eating delicious food, drinking amazing wine... in Chile. Wow again.

Throughout the course of yesterday evening I became aware that Marcos is very passionate about education and helping children with disabilities. When I told him about my own families interest in this subject he got excited and invited me to come with him to one of the schools in Valdivia today. I accepted the offer, so earlier today I went to his office and we went to a school for developmentally disabled children. From this experience I have learned two important things. One, Chilean children are adorable. Two, autistic children are cute everywhere in the world. The first group of children we went to see had autism and other developmental problems. There were six of them, all around 5 or 6 years old, and they were all adorable. One of the boys was hopping around the room on his knees (he has trouble standing) while throwing a stuffed animal into the air. Another was pushing a toy car around on the floor, then the wall, then just making it fly through the air. The cutest though, was a little girl, maybe 5 years old. When we first got there she walked up to me, grabbed my finger, shook it, and then ran back to the teacher and hid her face against the teachers leg. It was among the cutest things I have ever seen. After that we visited a group of children who had problems with producing sounds, speach imediments and such. Let me tell you, there isn't much in the world that is cuter than little chilean children singing songs. It was an amazing experience, and I'm very thankfull that Marcos was kind enough to take me.

So, to some everything up, my students are great, I'm making great connections with important people here, and I got to see some of the cutest children in the world. Pretty good last couple of days. Add to that the fact that today Ximena informed that if I ever decided that I wanted to move back to Valdivia, and work in the University, the application process would be a mere formality. Wow again. Apparently I'm making a good impression. So now I just have to get my masters and apparently I could have a job teaching at a University in Chile. Needless to say, life is pretty damn good.