Dead poets society.

Today Lena and I ventured up Cerros Bellavista and Florida.  Our first stop was Pablo Neruda’s home.  I have to admit the dead poet's house was probably never going to make my bucket list but since we live so close and had sent many of our previous visitors there, I thought we should go.  I warned Lena not to hold her breath for anything amazing, thankfully I was wrong. 

The audio tour was offered to us in English and was fascinating and comprehensive.  The house is filled with the personal touches of the poet and his wife and almost everything in the house has a story or a purpose.  On the first floor, Neruda is said to have positioned two paintings opposite each other, one of a man and the other a woman so they wouldn’t be lonely.  Both Lena and I enjoyed Neruda’s house and even more so the walk down the very steep hill.  The streets are filled with art and interesting houses.

By the time we reached the plan we were hungry from all our roaming and photography.  Lena decided she would try a Chilean Completo (hot dog). The Chilean’s have their own take on the hotdog.  You may remember Ricky and Indy’s first inauspicious Completo in Santiago in our first week.  We have since found reputable vendors and so Lena and I headed over to one.  The completo has avocado, tomato, mayo and a strange cabbage salad mix.  The overwhelmed sausage didn’t stand a chance.   Half way through Lena called it quits and I gave it my best.  As we approached CD (crazy dog, who seems to enjoy terrorising Lena) I thought I’d make him an offering of friendship with some of the remaining hotdog.  Unfortunately he didn’t like the cabbage mix either.

Location! Location! Location!

It’s important in business to have to a product that people need, the right location and a steady supply of customers.  There are five Funeral Homes and several florist’s shops on the corner of Calle San Ignacio and Colón.  It makes sense to put a florist’s next to a Funeral Home.  Funeral Homes have a product that people need and as for the right location and a steady supply of customers?  But why are there so many Funeral Homes in one area?

Guess what building is in the top right corner of the following picture. 

It's Hospital Buren.  I hope this isn’t a reflection of the hospital’s success rate.

What are those things on the end of your legs?

Lena, a student who lived with us in Oz and has come to visit us.  We took her to the Botanical Gardens for a little bit of “Space Therapy.”  With all the hills and narrow streets of Valpo it’s difficult to find somewhere to run and kick a ball.

It would appear that winter is on the way out as we were able to take off our shoes and run in the grass.  This is the first time we have been barefoot outside the house since we arrived.

The last time we went to the gardens we had our puffer jackets with us – this time it was just with jumpers.

Hopefully it is the end of winter as we are down to our last four pieces of firewood.

A walk along the top.

It’s very easy to get into a routine and walk the same way to and from a location.  After Thursday’s Spanish lesson we walked the long way home along the tops of Cerros Santo Domingo, Toro and Cordillera.  This is a place where tourists don’t go.  It is all residential with streets that twist and turn in a disorienting fashion.  All the while we were without a map with a fog rolling in.  We had to keep looking for familiar landmarks.  The problem is they are only familiar when viewed from a certain angle.

Dogs of Valpo

There are many stray dogs in Valparaíso but there are only a few that aren’t looked after.  It is very common to see water bowls chained to seats and posts for the dogs to drink out of and there are always dogs walking around with winter coats strapped to their backs.  Our neighbour often puts a meal out by her front door for any dog walking by.

We’ve introduced you to Crazy Dog.  Now we would like to introduce you to Guard Dawg.  He resides over near the Aduana building in a vacant lot.  We’re not sure what he’s guarding but I think if you rubbed his belly he’d let you take whatever you wanted.  Every time we walk past for Spanish lessons we poke our heads over the fence and say hello.  If you connected his wagging tail to a generator you would light up three apartments.  He has a house and plenty of food and water but he is obviously starved for some company.

The student protests continue and one of the librarians told us that this is an important time in Chile’s history.  Since last Thursday, at around nine o’clock each night, people clang pots and pans together as a form of protest.  It usually lasts more than ninety minutes and sometimes longer.  It always starts off with a few people somewhere and slowly builds with people moving to the streets or beeping their car horns.  They blow whistles and hit anything metal.  Children as young as ten walk around with their families “banging the drum”.  It’s almost poetic how so many people are coming together and making some noise.  The question is, are the right people hearing them?

We hear snippets of opinions, catch the residue of tear gas and translate banners but still we don’t know who is right.  There are many wealthy countries that don’t have free education.  Just as there are many countries that don’t use tear gas on a weekly basis.  The cynic would say that many people want free education simply because they don’t want to pay for their children to go to university.  The optimist sees that if all Chileans can receive a free education then Chile has a chance to strengthen itself as a country.

Indiana's play dough farm.

Assessing language fluency is a complex skill.  Numerous theories exist on how many mistakes are acceptable as even native speakers make mistakes, or the length of the student’s response because native speakers often answer with one or two words. 

Randomness is our new gauge for detecting fluency.  While walking Truce to school, the following conversation transpired.

Dad, do you know how to say, “You’re going to eat a pigeon,” in Spanish?

No, I don’t.

Tú vas a comer una paloma.

The conversation ended there.

Día Del Niños

Tomorrow is Día del Niños, it ties in with Children’s Day.  This week at school Indiana learnt about the rights of children.  The right to be safe, loved, educated, cared for etc.  Día del Niño has all the trappings of a second Christmas with advertisements on every channel and major supermarkets erecting walls of toys for this one day.  We are yet to see any connection with the rights of children. It would appear it’s all about buying toys, not that the children are complaining.  The street vendors were out in force today with all sorts of toys and mini wrapping booths in various locations.  We were also lucky and stumbled upon a mini circus act, complete with trapeze, diabolo juggling and a clown doing tricks.  Our girls have been asking us for the last week, “What are we doing for Día del niños?”  We didn’t buy them any toys but as a treat they will be having pink milk and jelly for morning tea.  That’s the Australian version.

Truce, our little angle who celebrated her fourth birthday only a few months ago has brought home a report card and a test too.  There’s a great range of things that she’s been tested on.  Fine motor skills, recognising colours, drawing a person, participating in class, opposites of place and size.  We weren’t expecting a report card and for a child who only new a few basic Spanish words six months ago to following verbal instructions (colour the big balloon red, the middle size balloon yellow and the small balloon blue) she has made us extremely proud.  

A kodak moment for the heart.

For the past two hours students across the city have been clanging pots and pans together beating the same tune.  The main action is at the bottom of our cerro but we can hear it very clearly from our window. It’s now 11 o’clock at night and the riot police have walked past our building looking for protesters.  A friend of ours in Santiago said that she stepped off the metro and was met with a wall of tear gas and they were forced back into the metro station. 

We have our own student that we are very proud of.  Indiana brought home her mid year report card today.  The Chilean system works on a scale of 1 to 7 where 1.0 is the worst and 7.0 is the best.

Six months ago her Spanish consisted of numbers, colours and a few greetings.  Did I mention that we are very proud?  Her average score is 6.3

Language and Communication (Spanish)   5.0

Foreign Language (English)   7.0

Social Science   6.5

Natural Science   5.5

Technology   6.5

Art  6.5

Physical Education 7.0

This is followed by a section that talks about her conduct, school spirit, respect, willingness to learn and other characteristics, 25 points in total, and she has A’s for all of them.

Well done Indy.

YouTube Link

Sounds of a protest.