Week 10 and 11

So after constantly putting it off I finally made Irish Stew!!! be proud...be very proud, it was good!! but mum dont b thinkin ill be cooking when i come home :) it was a one off!!lol!! But at least the family didnt invite round all their mates for lunch that day.....oooo wait they did. The pressure was on...but it was a success!!

Last week we spent running about gettin all decorations for Javieras party, I was a little bit scared when she bought 42 bottles of Pisco and 10 bottles of vodka (alcohol), how many people had she invited???? But the actual day of her birthday we had a pool party a bbq, music and ended the night in the new Casino, i didnt dare play anything, i just casually blended in in the background however Im determined to learn to play the chilean game "cacho" but its soo confusing!!

The christmas tree is offically up!! Its so wierd to be decorating the house and the garden with christmas decorations when the sun is splittin the trees, but it was a nice day and I can happily say I decorated the tree (hem hem, mum never actually lets me!!) :)

So it was the night of Javieras actual party and all I can say is MTV!!!! Bouncers, vip, guestlist, dj, bartenders it was great and I loovvvved all the coloured balloons in her pool!! looked great!! and i got to wear a dress an heels....wuhhu!! It was a heels party...thanks to me ;) All the girls had their heels kicked off within an hour, suppose its just like Belfast!!!

WELL.......i experienced my firts earthquake on sunday!!!! scary stuff!! I thought my time was up...only lasted for a few seconds but was soooo freaky, iv never ever experienced anything like that so was a bit scary but app it happens all the time in summer, so ill be gettin use to them!!

At school weve been working on the christmas concert for 10th and 11th Dec and its so funny allt he little kids are singin frosty the snowman, and in their accent its just the cutest thing ever!! The older ones have a theme of the UK so im trying to help there although does anybodyactually know anything about Wales.....i have no idea!! They have extennnsivly used fairies and leprachauns for N.Ireland...I suggested Ian Paisly and the Sash but I dont think thats what they are looking for!! (not really but I know that will make emma long smile)!! Can´t believe I only have 3 weeks left here!!!!!! Im going to be sooooo sad when I have to leave, well that is if im not coming back to work here in March, but thats another story!! Sports day tomorrow and we had a class field trip today to a national park, was good, but 90 kids..not so good!! Seen Chiles national animal and flower and it was a nice day out with all the niñitos!!

Took a trip to the beach yesterday to a place called Tomé....ANOTHER paradise!!!! The scenery was beaaaaaaautiful!! it was a private beach so it was just three of us on this hugeee beach! The beach houses there can be rented out over summer so I would love to get one with a few friends it was like something from a film! The sea stretches sooooo far it meets the sky with a mist rising in the middle, nothing to see for miles!!! All the houses are on a huge hill that leads down to the beach this was really beautiful, unfortunatly no pics, the camera died...of course!!
While we were there a few guys came and started doing all these mad jumps and backflips they had music and were doing all this freestyle dancing, was so good!! While I was there I seen alot of signs "Danger of Tsunami".."Evacuation Route" so, between the earthquakes, hundreds of volcanoes that there are here and the possibility of tsunamis I´d say Im pretty safe!!!

Huge charity event this week called Teleton!! It lasts 26hours and everyone goes to the bank "Banco de Chile", online or phones up and donates money. Its kinda like children in need, huge huge event, everyone has it spray painted on their cars, including last years total so that they can beat it this year!! Its for all disabled children and poor areas of chile (which Iv seen alot more of)!! Ireland is actually everywhere, i went to the store the other day and they were selling "Sandwhich Irlandes" ....apparently it had Irish chicken!! ....im sure it did!! well i didnt try it anyway so well never know!!

Welll....enough for now muchachos!!
take Care...emails welcome!!!! I wanna hear all the bizz!!

sarah xxxxx

Well the

Life in Concepción

So....lately I have been so busy, with everything you wouldn't believe!! To mention a few, I went to Chile vs Argentina rugby match which was actually at Saint John's school , their rugby pitch is very impressive, one of the best in Chile I believe. Chile pathedically lost 71-3, lets say its just like going to see Northern Ireland attempt to play football!! That night I was invited to the Country Club where the team was hem hem..."celebrating" their victorious win, anyway I went and had a great time!!

Last week a group of friends and I went to Knockout...the hottest club in town...jaja!! No, it was a really good night, but seriously the parties herelast forever, especially when the car wouldnt start and we had to push it home at 6am, but still I was able to make it in school for 8am!!! I can safely say I splet like a log that night!! Spent the whole might telling creepy guys..."sorry we dont speak spanish"well that plan backfired when one shouted...its ok i speak english!!! On top of that lots of bbqs and the usual days at the beach and the pool, I think its impossible to get sick of this life....=)

School Time...

In the school I had to put together a presentation on the giants Causeway because some of the older classes were studying “Myths” so of course Finn McCool was included in there, it went really well!! Also had to do a powerpoint on Northern Ireland for the younger pupils, because it is a British school they are really interest in everything in Belfast from the people to the religion to food and to animals, and I cannot count how many times I have been asked about Guinness and Whiskey. WE DON’T ALL DRINK IT!!!! Apart from working in the classes, I help out in the junior library, I take a lot of the kids for “story time” it’s a way for them to get use to my accent. On Thursday afternoons I also have Art club, it’s only with 10 kids but when there are 10 7 year olds and a lot of paints its hectic!! I have to plan what they can paint etc, right now we are painting Santa’s and Christmas cards. I avoid speaking Spanish with the children because all their classes until they are 13 are in English (their English is really impressive) and mainly because I’m not allowed to speak in Spanish with them. There is this one little girl Macarena who asked, “Miss, do you know any Spanish?” and I said no I don’t know any, so we have to talk in English and every since she brings me a word in Spanish on a piece of paper and tells me to “learn” it for the next, she’s so cute!! I have to say working with kids is definitely eventful no two days are the same!! If I have told you about the story of the girl and her dog bones you will know what I mean.

Apart from that I have been on many day trips with the classes to museums and parks and picnics. The other week I went to a really poor school in San Pedro and donated some books form the library, I also have spent some voluntary days there reading to the children and helping them with everything really!! The school has been great in giving opportunities for voluntary work, they had a project in San Pedro to build houses over a weekend it was a really great experience!! I also went with a church organization to the same place to help with shelters etc!!

Santiago

Well, spent Halloween in Santiago is was definitely a different experience to Halloween in Belfast, no fancy costumes aka no girls dressed up in the shortest nurses outfit they can find!! Instead we had our own fancy dress, in bikinis. The pool party was awesome!! I was in Santiago for a long weekend at the end of October until 2nd November, wasn’t quite how I expected to be honest, was probably about the same size as Belfast, taking advantage of being a tourist I took the “Touristik” bus. Got to see everything in Santiago, which wasn’t really that much mainly buildings and statues although I did enjoy San Christabol hill, with the statue of the virgin. Valentina and I (a friend from Santiago) took the teleferica which went really really high up to the hill through the most beautiful park ever. Met some Mexicans there and we had a wee converse about Ireland, as you do!!

The best thing about Santiago was definitely the Mall (de las condes) it was like a city its self, it was huge with a boulevard and a live jazz band on all day and night, the restaurants where delicious…..Que rico!!!! Tasted my first Peruvian meal also in a gorge restaurant, food was very spicy but great and of course with it came a Pisco…que asco!!!!really not getting use to the drink at all!! It was so funny walking through the supermarket in Santiago and hearing ”you can call me Al” upper sixths song!!! It made me smile J Santiago was a successful trip, a lot of shopping, what I enjoyed the most was the main Plaza, it was beautiful and the buildings where impressive!!!! Loved the reggaetone band playing in the market and all the paintings also!!

Buenas Aires

Well, last night I just arrived back from Buenos Aires, what can I say....the city is magical!! And the Argentinians are feos!!!!!!! very delicious indeed!! I stayed with a friends friend in argentina and the family were so nice and really helped us to see around the city!! they introduced us to "factor A"aka factor argentina and they say anything random or strange that happens is simply factor A!! for example in the spanish fountain/monument there was a guy casually swimming......NAKED!!! he happily got out and danderd on down the road!!!
Seen soooo much in the city and it is completly different to Chile!! The weather was crazy, very hot and humid, around 34 degrees celcius every day!! Apart from the beautiful Argentinians I did see a lot of the city. Huge city and taxis and scooter take over about 90% of the road, the driving is crazy, seems traffic lights are just there for show!! From the buildings to the cafés, buenos aires is definitely the european city of south america, learnt alot fo history about the city too was really interesting but ill not bore you with it!! The amount of dog walkers was unbelieveable, every day I seen about 13 people with 10 dogs each walking through the parks!! I loved the late night flower shops that were open, they were beautiful and always looked better at night time. The ice cream was wow!! The meat.....delicious!!! I HAVE to mention La Boca, if you ever have the chance to go to Buenos Aires, La Boca is the place to go there is a street called La Caminito and it is fullllll of music, painters, dancers and of course the unforgetable coloured houses!! It was really fabulous!! The Tango show at Senor Tango was unforgetable....from the horses, the dancers, the costumes the live band and the hall it was superb!!!!!!!! I am dieing to go back already!! The clothes in argentina were dirt cheap, the handcraft "ferias"were amazin, Puerto de fruta was the best in Tigre, bought a few things...yano ;) !! While at Tigre we took a boat crusie along the river it was like Venice, the houses on the river and there was actually a boat that sailed about selling food etc, just like a shop, the thing that amazed me the most was the gas station in the middle of the river!!! To mention a few more memorable things was the Cemetery, the grave where like houses, the Design Mall, mechanical Flower (opened at sunrise and closed at sunset with hundreds of colours) oooh the japanese garden was beautiful also!!
"Si buscas un amigo comprarte un perro" If your looking a friend, buy a dog!! This was a free tshirt i got at a feria!!! One thing i really loved about buenos aires was the atmosphere, the whole vibe of life was great!! well i cud go on forever about it, but for now that will do!!!

October Blog

Sorry I have been so bad at keeping posts on this blog but I am making sure to keep in contact with everyone.

Well people this is number two of the updates i promise itll not be as long as the last one!! Iv alot to say yano, Im surrounded by these chileans all day and all night long, no escapin, but I have to say they are the friendliest people I have ever met! Im already invited to a prom (yihoo) and about 5 different people´s houses on Christmas including lots of relatives house across South america.wuuhuu!! "Work" has been goin great gettin use to this hole "Miss Sara" thing its a geg!! The little kids hang off my legs and clap when i walk in the classroom its such a different attitude over here compared to back home. The kids run up jump on ya and kiss ya on the cheek and its totally normal to hug, kiss and show a little bit of affection to the kids, if you dont its actually seen as quite rude! It was book week last week its been hectic , there have been storytellers, magicians, plays, parardes everything, all the wee kids really luv it!Startin to understand sooooo much more, its amazin how much u find urself learning after a few weeks, well really its about time, learnt alot of Chilean words and slag, which i dont think is too good for my Spanish but its something knew. There is this word they use allll the time, "Cacthai" translated as "You know what I mean" but at the start I was like, so what is the verb of that word and the past amd the future tense....but no such thing its just an invented word!! Another thing i found really funny, they call eachother "gorda" but in a pleasant way, como..."Hola Gordita" and another thing, if you put a S at the end of anyword it changes its meaning to the opposite, so by calling someone "Feos" (feo) you are actually saying that they are really good looking!! So yeah I could say Im gettin the hang of it, other slang words like, vacan (actually havnt found a relevant translation for it yet, its just threw in there anywhere) it´s kinda like "Que vacan"...like how cool!! Most of all I love when they try an speak with my accent its hilarious, "Aye right" thats the funniest!!

Just took part in a character parade all the little kids choose their fav book and dress up as a character from the book...and yes i did get roped into dressin up ...as a doll!! Honeslty was so much fun, book week doesnt sound like fun, but everyday was so different and so much fun!! Teachers Day...i swear it needs to be brought to NI it was sooo fabulous, i got so many presies from all the little kids and about 40 cards aswell, "Miss Zara happy day of the teachers, with a big kiss", keepin them all they r so sweet!! After this teachers day we all went to a beach called "Ramuntcho" (not to be found on any map)and it was like paradise no joke,,,the sand the water, it was a wee cove and there was about 50 of us so we fitted on it nicely!! It was with all the older pupils at school they r about 18/19 so we had a fabbb time, one of my best days here so far!!

The parties are great, beach parties are awesome!!! but beware,,, CATEPILLARS do bite and it DOES hurt!!! Dichato was another beach party we went to with my new wee friend Melanie shes brilliant, jst clicked when i met her!! Thats when a few people received a few early fonecalls from myself...again apologise, its the hole time difference thing!!

o my goodness it was hilarious...Catalina (the mum) I met her brother the other day and the first thing he said, "Hi nice to meet you..soooo mmmm did you have any toilet problems due to our water?" I actually stared at him waitin for him to laugh even a smerk.......but nope...nothin!!! Incase of my spanish skills misleading me I asked him...what do you mean?...well if that isnt the worst question Iv asked since iv been here....the conversation ended and i made a quick exit aka i went bright red with "skunderation" and wanted the ground to swallow me up. But for anybody that is concerned...no i havnt had any problems with the water here...thanx ...hope u havnt just ate :S

Planned a wee weekend trip to Santiago over halloween its a huge city and is about an hour on the plane so me and catalina are goin 4 a wee shoppin trip for 4days, and guess what....they have a house there so ...aye easy enough!

Just back from a weekend in Viña del Mar, it is the Miami of Chile no joke the place is gorjus!! about 70 people on the beach to watch sunset when i arrived and the next day hundreds of ppl my age on the beach which was lovely!! Wasnt too lovely on the 8hour bus journy tho. I was actually quite curious 2 see wat the "coaches" were goin to be like, but they wer pretty decent wee TV, pillows nal...wel flip i knew i was lucky when i looked out the window n seen a wee man on the back of a wagon with chickens and his suitcase....god knows where he ended up!! but at least he got there for free haha!! Seriously tho some of the places here are like paradise, i actually jst stand there and am like, WOW!!! havnt got all the pics up cuz there are far to many, but everyone should be lokin forward to a preview at mi casa when i come home!!

The weather has been fab here, gets a little cold at night but sure! Been in the pool nearly erveryday this week gettin a little bita sun, but im not too tan so dont be hittin the sunbeds!!

Two of the PE teachers at my school are from England their dead nice and iv been to theirs for BBQs n drinks etc, and we play RADIO ONE!!! I missed Chris Moyles!!! lol...they just got engaged and are plannin on stayin here, theyv been here for like 2 years and havnt even gone home yet. They have been EVERYWHERE in south america, so they have been given me some info! We went to this club called Almendra and it was pretty good, i think iv found my new local...move over Box!!haha.

The food has been pretty good, its all freshly made and no crap, but o my....there is this thing here and its called Manjar....and its delicious, its soooo good!! u can put it on anything, like nutella but not cuz nutella is rotten!! il bring some home. ull love it!!!!

I have already took part in lots of voluntary projects, after book week we visited an poorer school in San Pedro de La Paz and I spent a few days witht he children, bringing them books and writting materials, was really good experience I really enjoyed it!! Ill tell you more about it in my next mail. Also there was an activity last week in which some of us spent the weekend in San Pedro building shelters etc, was a really touching experience, you really seen that the local people was soo thankful for your help and it was such a rewarding experience for me, again thats another story!!

Right....i promised it wouldnt be as long so i better shut up now!! so much has been hapnin n iv missed so much out..so keep an eye out 4 number 3!!Missin everybody loads...Lots of Love Sarita/Sarilla/Sarah xxxxxxx