Culture shock

so, today was a little better. i didn´t lock myself in the bathroom and cry, so that was a major improvement. i went to school and lindsay helped me plan lessons and think of good songs to use to help them learn various things. i taught mainly by myself, but only after the director went into each class and told them they´d better quit the shit if they knew what was good for them. the kids were more or less okay. today i was more of the foreigner than the one they didn´t listen to. in the 8th grade class i taught in the afternoon, for example, one of the older boys who i´d noticed whistling at me yesterday had his cell phone out and was sitting there taking pictures of me with it. i took it and put it in the front of the room with my stuff and told him that if anyone had their music or phones out when i was teaching, i´d take them for good the next time. i think that made them realize that i was serious. it just sucks that i have to be the one disciplining them, especially because its so obvious that they don´t get it from anyone else. some of the younger girls, from kindergarten or so, were super cute and took me around saying ¨hello teacher¨ because that´s all they know. there was a staff meeting after school, which ends at 5 (and starts at 8....UGH) and the 2 ¨english¨ teachers and lindsay and me went over some of the stuff that we wanted to accomplish in the 7 weeks we have left. the teachers want lindsay and i to teach such complicated things, even though the students haven´t even started to cover the basics. i got home around 7 and just chilled in the freezingness. i guess mom and grandpa were worried because of the "anti-american" ideas here, but it isn´t like that. they just don´t like the war in iraq, which i don´t think too many people are pro-war at the moment. if anyone wants to read anything about chilean history, here is a link about pinochet that mentions some of the horrendous things he did to people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet
my two host parents were just 2 of the 30,000 tortured. it was in the late 70s, not recently, so don´t freak out about me being tortured for god´s sake. it isn´t like that. if anything, i am the one that is like the ones they see in the movie. i´ve been told i have beautiful eyes about 10x a day since i´ve been here.
oh, i also talked to clayton, the guy in charge of the volunteers in my area. he said that if i am that uncomfortable, he can cut back my hours and i can go and travel more or sit in on classes in maipu. i am obviously not made for the rural life. maipu is on the outskirts of santiago, which im sure i´ve already mentioned, so hopefully i could go hang there for a week or something with the 6 volunteers that are there. there is also a week break for winter vacations where a few of us are trying to coordinate a trip to buenos aires. that´d be awesome. it just sucks that all i have to look forward to as of now are the weekends. but, like i said, it is a learning experience. the phrase "what doesn´t kill you, only makes you stronger" comes to mind. alright, so i have said my two cents. i need to go get into the warm blankets on my bed and dream about friday being here already. my chilean cell is lame and doesn´t like int´l calls. if u want, call my american phone, even though my bill is going to be INSANE. haha what else is new? okay thanks for the concern, chill out, i´m okay. i will survive. i just would rather be in the city with my friends in a fun school, but anyone can do anything for 7 weeks, right???? haha okay chau and peace
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