Count Down

Tuesday 7^th November

Day Sixty Nine

Every day and I am getting more tired and less able to sleep. Yet again I can’t seem to maintain my body temperature in bed and kept going between hot and cold. Well one more week just one more and then…

Dashing for the shower I changed and packed my walking gear, it was time to leave and start my walk to school. I left earlier planning to get to school before I got picked up by Ana again since my weight is still not shifting. Britney got me going on my walk in and I sashayed and swung my hips to the music as I power walked to school. Britney did not get me moving fast enough though and Ana stopped and picked me up half a kilometre from school despite the fact I was running at this point, and drove me the rest of the way.

The day was another packed one – sorry make that an unusually packed on since there seem to have been a lot of absences in my classes, and even today Bernie and I had to sit in on the first graders till the teacher arrived whilst Kinder were having breakfast.

After break it was the turn of the second graders again and although I was with them all lesson I can’t actually remember what we did since Bernie left me in charge whilst photocopying resources for the lesson and in order to keep them occupied and somewhat quiet I showed them what you could do with modern technology and a camera.

Big Mistake!

The next half an hour I spent chasing them around with my camera as they took pictures of each other climbing trees and larking around as you can see from the pictures. Wrangling my camera back off of them I managed to show them how to edit and enhance (ahem!) the pictures using the computer, deleting on the way a few odd shots including an accidental one of my cleavage – I didn’t think that needed enhancing in any way whatsoever. Bernie finally rescued me from my students and a somewhat more organised chaos ensued. I am so going to miss them all though and now wish I was staying again.

The first year’s lesson followed suit and I also let them loose with my camera although there was the absence of one bossy child that kept hold of the camera. Also this time the photos were more structured with Bernie and I trying to get evidence of them working (very difficult when they keep turning round to face the camera), or rather I was getting evidence and Bernie was playing with her new pink Motorola Razr and taking pictures with it as well. We even did a quick interview with the kids to see what they liked about English lessons.

“We get to draw and paint”

“I like the computer!”

“I like our teachers”

Were the replies we received and when Bernie asked me what I liked about the lessons, I just had to say My Students!

I’m definitely getting a copy of this from Bernie for my standards folder.

Lunch time and beans hereon the menu today. During lunch Bernie spent most of the time copying CD’s whilst I was using the internet in the school trying to send all necessary emails that I’d forgotten to do yesterday. The internet was so slow that I ended up being 10 minutes late for our last lesson with year 7’s not that they were on time either and they were still cleaning the classroom when I arrived, Roberto’s instructions to keep the place tidy still having to be reissued occasionally.

It was 4.30pm when I finally left the school after Bernie and I ran out of CD’s to burn and this time I managed to walk all the way home without problems apart from the obvious heat.

Back home I reorganised my bag all ready for Tres Cruces, my I am getting organised but it seems a bit late with only one week left to go. Re-organising my things for the umpteenth time and repacking my parcel ready for Friday I started to feel quite sad about missing my students, although for other reasons I was also looking forward to the change. I can’t believe I’ll be travelling for only another 6/7 weeks before I have to return to England and the real world again. I’m not sure I’m still quite ready for it.

Wednesday 8^th November

Day Seventy

I awoke so tired this morning and really not ready to face the cold of the morning. It was only the fear of falling back to sleep again after turning my alarm that motivated me to leave the warmth and comfort of my bed and brave the cold.

“Just one more week, Just one more week” in my head.

I could not remember what time I needed to leave the house but I thought 7.25am was right to catch the bus, and left just five minutes after Jose with Antonia still eating breakfast. 20 minutes later I was still waiting for the bus, Jose apparently being in time and me too late. The fact that I didn’t meet Karla on the bus at Paihuano confirmed that I should have been on the earlier one and I arrived at 8.15am to find her already at Tres Cruces although not in the middle of a class as I expected. Luck had shined on me again and it seemed that between us we only had 5 students today. Arranging a combined lesson for the last half hour I took my two students away and started on a lesson on fruits only to have my class reduced to one within 5 minutes as Alvero another of the specialist teachers for children with learning difficulties, took one away to do some one on one teaching. This was going to be an interesting lesson as I’d never done one on one teaching.

In addition to my reduced class size today it seemed that my number of classes were also permanently reduced since Diana, the teacher at Jose’s school the Cielo Claro, had a new timetable and it was now impossible to share in her lessons, so it looked like I wasn’t going to have much left to do in the way of teaching next week either.

At 9.15 Karla end her class joined us to make four students and 2 teachers and for the next 15 minutes we ran a short course on the history of Rapa Nui accompanied with Kari Kari music and slideshow. Only one class left to show these to now and my time in Pisco was definitely coming to a close. At 9.30 Juan picked us up and dropped us all in Paihuano where I quickly sorted out the necessary for the package (in rural areas they are happy to hold onto packages for collection) and resolved to drop it off later on today or tomorrow. Now all I had to do was finish packing the stuff again and get it here, all 16kgs of it!

As expected the bus was a while incoming and there was no traffic going to Pisco for me to grab a lift otherwise. I still got back at 11am though and sent the details through on the internet for Mum and finally got round to updating over a weeks worth of my blog. I can’t let this get so far behind again but I bet I will.

The afternoon was spent repacking the package and waiting for Carmen Gloria to serve lunch. It was a long wait by which time I’d eaten 4 bread rolls I’d brought for tomorrow. Just as I was about to leave for the pool lunch was served (3hrs after arriving home) and I had to eat what was given to me, knowing my weight had already gone back up from 63 to 64.5 kgs – and wished I’d escaped earlier or hadn’t eaten the bread rolls. I am NEVER going to shift these extra 7 kgs even on a 3 week endurance trek through Peru. I am destined to be Bridget Jones without the attractive male followers. This is NOT good news as I don’t think I’ll want to spend money on plastic surgery once the final balance of this trip is known.

Finally at 3.30pm I got to leave for the pool and left, only to pickup another tag-along on the way, my friendly homeless dog that insisted on accompanying me for the afternoon.

He followed me all the way to the swimming pool and then skipped in through the gates ahead of me. I tried to dodge him when I went to the bathrooms to change but when I exited 5 minutes later he was still there and continued in his pursuit. At the poolside I chose a lounger and went to sit down and read, thereby ignoring the dog and hoping it would leave soon. Instead the dog decided he would keep me company and made himself comfortable in the shade nearby where he stayed for the next hour and a half, moving only to come over and get me to pat him.

5.30pm and it was time to call home so I got up to go and change, sure enough the dog was still there and started to follow me. It was at this point that the owners dogs made and appearance and started a commotion causing the owner’s attention to be diverted our way. Trying desperately hard not to get involved I tried to move past the dogs to make my escape but it was too late by then and besides my new friend was trying to hide behind me

“Is this your dog?” She asked

“No, No nothing to do with me” I answered, not sure if this was the truth or not, but it wasn’t my dog at any rate and I pushed past all of them heading for the bathrooms. Exiting once more I walked straight into the stray dog waiting for me, oh boy! Walking back past the owner as quickly as I could, dog in tow, I heard her tell me not to return if the dog came with me again. Thanks Mate, I was thinking to the dog, now you’re just got me in trouble I’m going to have to stay away from here for a couple of days till she forgets.

The dog continued to follow me the rest of the day and was still waiting for me an hour later when I had finished in the Internet Café. Finally giving in and feeling quite guilt-ridden by this overwhelming show if devotion, I went and brought the stray some bread rolls to eat. Scared that I was going to leave it behind it kept running in front and trying to eat the bread before I caught him up, whereby he would grab the bread again and run further forward, repeating this step all the way to Carmen Gloria’s where I finally shut the gate on him and went to hide in the house. As I got to the front door I saw him leap through a gap in the fence and so I ran in quickly to shut the door so I wouldn’t have to see his dejected face.

Carmen Gloria came back about 15minutes later and I was all ready for the dog to still be at the door and get into more trouble but it seemed he had already moved on.

That night all I could think of was ways of re-homing all the stray dogs here or taking one home. Think I might get into more trouble if I did that though.

Thursday 9^th November

Day Seventy One

The last working day of the week and I was looking forward to it, however first things first I had to take my parcel to Piahuano for collection the next day – all 16kgs of it. It was a beast of a package to carry down to the bus stop and the orange string I’d tied round it was not helping at al, in fact all it seemed to do was cover my black fleece with orange fibres, even Pen and Flo don’t leave this much fuzz over my clothes. Rucksack on my back and parcel in front I waddled my way down the hills panicking that the bus would leave just as I got within sight of the corner. It did, but luckily it wasn’t the bus I needed and 5 minutes later the welcoming Green of Via Elqui buses arrived to transport us to Piahuano. The man saw me on the corner and got off to help me on board, I don’t think he was quite ready for the package to weigh 16kgs and I saw him rubbing his arms afterwards as his colleague sat their laughing and made some comment about muscles or lack of them.

Once in Piahuano I did what all the Chileans did, which was to make the bus stop exactly where they wanted to get off rather than walk a 100 metres. I did feel fairly justified in doing this today since the package was heavy and so once I was delivered to the front door I only had 20 metres to walk to the front desk, oh yeah and some blooming steps as well. Gently putting the package down I tried to explain to the woman that someone was picking it up tomorrow from TNT, obviously not very well as she weighed it (16+kgs at $63,000 (cheaper than in Santiago!!)) and fill4ed in a receipt. Finally I think she understood but I never did get to explain to her that I needed a commercial invoice. Looked like I was returning later today.

20 minutes to go before lessons were due to start and there was no bus in sight or cars for that matter, everyone was going to La Serena, surely Someone must be going the other way. Finally I got a lift by two men in a White truck one of whom spent the 15minutes of the journey trying to chat me up and arrange a day to meet up. I didn’t like to tell him I was leaving next week but I did, don’t think he was listening well. Anyway I got to Monte Grande and scurried into school waving goodbye to the van and escaping from yet another unwanted invitation. Why is it always the older men that ask me out? And why aren’t they the older men I actually like? Goodness, even widening my search criteria seems to turn up no more men that are even remotely fanciable.

Anyway I was on time and we started off with the 6^th Grade who seemed remarkably quiet again today and all were ready in their seats. I couldn’t work out what could happen to them over the course of a year to turn them into the maniacs that are the 7^th Graders and hoped that they might become and exception to the rule. Watching some of them as they were writing about “My Best Friend” (or in this case a picture of a celebrity) it seemed as if in some cases, my hope might not be realised since although there was quiet not a lot of work seemed to be going on for the first part of the lesson. Having said that they had all finished the task by the end so maybe……

Break time and for the 2/3^rd time Jorge came in to see Bernie and me to ask if he could re-arrange the timetable to allow him to leave for Paihuano early for some meeting. Obviously Bernie and I weren’t going to say no and so Jorge took the 5^th and 8th graders leaving Bernie and I free till after lunch. Bernie then suggested I could go back home and get my clothes for the weekend so we could leave for La Serena straight after school and the meeting. Well I did now have 3 hrs free so it seemed as good as time as any, plus I had to go back to Paihuano anyway with 6 commercial invoices.

Leaving school I started the trek back to Pisco but had only been walking 5 minutes when the bus came by and stopped to pick me up. Well it seemed rude not to accept, plus I had a few things to do in the three hours, the first stop being at the internet café to get hold of a commercial invoice that I could use for the package. 11.30am and I was back at the house and packing my clothes for the weekend, 2 skirts, one pair of jeans and 2 pairs of shoes in total nice and compact with not too many clothes and then……… shampoo, conditioner, hair serum, moisturizing lotion, body wash, makeup, camera, cables etc etc. My previously light bag was instantly transformed into one dead weight ready to give my already aching arms another workout.

Saying goodbye to Carmen and Antonia (who was taking the day off school after a concert) I hurriedly left to catch the bus back again. My luck was in, the bus was there and waiting to leave, albeit in another 15 minutes (I thought they went on the hour and half hour, oh never mind!) This time I spent the 15 minutes having to talk to the large overweight bus driver and his companion as we waited till it was time to depart. The bus driver complementing me and saying how lovely I was – again NOT the type of man I want to be hearing this from. Must just have been my lucky day I guess.

Back at the Post Office for the second time that day, I spent 30 minutes hand writing out 6 commercial invoices for the package – why hadn’t I just done one and photocopied it? My arms and hands were aching by the time I had finished and I just hoped that I’d filled them in correctly and there would be no trouble this time round. At least the lady was happy for me to leave the package there to be picked up so that was one thing...

Time to get back to school and yet again no-one was going in my direction it seemed and I was getting nervous waiting for the bus to get their in time. As it happened I got into school with 15minutes to spare before lessons, but 30 minutes too late for lunch. As it happened Maya, one of the other teachers there, just happened to have one large cucumber, 3 tomatoes and a tin of tuna which she not only shared with me, she even prepared my salad for me! This was a definite change from the Liceo and the environment there and once again I was pleased to have been moved to this school.

The last class was our 4^th Graders and they were learning animals and Old MacDonald reminding me what I was going to do next week. Mum had sent some capsules that you put in water to “Grow your own Farm” – I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but I was looking forward to trying them out next week. There was quiet for most of the lesson today as a test was being sat although went it came to the last part of the test, draw your two favourite animals, I seemed to be surrounded by children asking for help drawing animals. The dog wasn’t too bad since I have a standard one I draw but having started helping I wasn’t going to be allowed to get off lightly. It seemed every one in the class liked my dog and I ended up drawing it several times, before being presented with a request to draw a horse- oh my God, suddenly I couldn’t remember how to draw, I used to practice horses as a girl but for the life of me couldn’t think where to begin. Needless to say I wasn’t happy with my drawings, the body being to short in length for the head or the legs too long, basically the only thing I could vaguely remember was the technique to draw the horses facial profile that I’d learnt from Therwell’s How to Draw Ponies (obviously he forgot to mention you also need talent as well). The children seemed happy enough with my drawing though and in came the next influx of requests including a duck. I drew the line at a cow and a sheep as I couldn’t even picture that at the time and deferred them in Bernie’s direction; also I was beginning to get weary of drawing all these animals weren’t the kids meant to be drawing them? My arms were definitely aching by the end of the lesson and my brain hurting from having forgotten how to draw, how could that have happened?

Bernie and I has a meeting after school in Paihuano before leaving to go to La Serena and we were due to catch the bus down and probably would have if Bernie hadn’t kept getting distracted En route. At 4.45 we were still waiting for a bus to go to Paihuano whilst watching all the cars going in the other direction. It was like Déjà vu all over again but in reverse. In the end Ana gave us a lift to Paihuano where we caught up with Karla and I even got to see Claudia for the first time in over a week.

It seemed that I wasn’t the only one that had been having some difficulties in Chile as Karla and Bernie told me about problems Karla was having at the Liceo and with the people there. I admitted I understood exactly what she meant by the fact that they weren’t very welcoming and at this point I decided to relay what exactly what Ana Martinez had said to me on first meeting her. It seems that every one in the place has some kind of angle or axe to grind but Bernie and I did think that Karla needed to talk to her about this since she was not getting any encouragement or positive feedback from the Liceo – I was definitely glad to be out of there now after hearing someone else confirm my own feelings about the place and some of the staff. The teachers at our meeting (the other English teacher) couldn’t have been more different, Jessica (in charge of meeting) Diana etc were really nice and I was able to suggest some websites to help them put together the new guidelines and Scheme of Work for the 5^th to 8^th Grade. The meeting was adjourned early at 7 to allow Karla, Bernie and I to finish getting ready and to go to La Serena together, Karla apparently was bringing her cat along too.

8.10 and we meet at the corner for the bus to La Serena. My lack of luck in finding buses today was contagious and we were still waiting at 9.10 for a bus having watched 3 buses go in the opposite direction; oh I was missing having a car at this point. I needn’t have fretted too much though as Bernie’s knight in shining armour came to our rescue, a friend of hers in La Serena was driving up (1.5hrs!) to fetch all of us and so we returned to Bernie’s house to watch a video in the warm whilst we waited. By this time I was starving again and had to make do with some water biscuits with apricot jam since this was all Bernie had in the house.

Jonathon arrived at 11pm to drive us to la Serena, stopping on route for us to buy some chips which were scummy and we finally arrived, exhausted at 1am in the morning. Needless to say Bernie and I pretty much flaked out on arrival