tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71825253214894721422024-03-19T03:19:43.691-07:00Memoirs of a GringaA white girl's year in Latin America. (And in case you were wondering...no, it is not always chilly in Chile when you're eating chili!)Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-2165548475179657432010-09-19T13:15:00.001-07:002010-09-19T13:15:48.759-07:00The end...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> 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unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">As you may know, my three years in Chile has come to an end.<span style=""> </span>It’s a bittersweet moment for me as I say goodbye to a country that has held my heart for so many years and also joyfully return to my home where I can regularly spend more time with family and friends.<span style=""> </span>I have been home for two months now, and as I write this letter on the 200<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Chilean independence, I realize that I still very much miss being there.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The Lord has blessed me so much and taught me even more in the course of my three years there.<span style=""> </span>I learned how to be a teacher and that I actually like it!<span style=""> </span>I realized that’s the career path that God wants me to pursue, whether I end up staying the States or going out elsewhere.<span style=""> </span>I spent an intense and interesting semester as both full-time teacher and co-administrator of the school, and that was certainly a stretching experience.<span style=""> </span>I learned what I do and don’t like about being in charge, and I learned to take on boss-like qualities that I don’t normally exhibit.<span style=""> </span>I don’t necessarily feel the need to try my hand at being the head boss again.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>I learned to trust and depend on God, although I still feel like I have a long way to go in that realm.<span style=""> </span>I often battled loneliness as at times families celebrated holidays without me, or I had to make my own birthday plans so as not to be forgotten, or a family problem caused plans to fall through, leaving me with a lot of alone time on my hands.<span style=""> </span>The time that this loneliness was the most acute was the week after the earthquake as families came together, and I felt particularly lost in the shuffle.<span style=""> </span>God certainly provided a strong network of support through the other missionaries and friends that I met along the way, but life was much different for me there, and there were times that I found myself without the social support that I could usually count on in the States.<span style=""> </span>This is when I learned that I needed to rely more on God, even more than I already was.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Obviously, after three years in South America, I was able to gain a relatively high level of proficiency in Spanish, and I would like to bring my love of languages and culture to students in this country.<span style=""> </span>My last year or two, especially, I was able to get to know the Chileans better and get involved more due to my growing grasp of the language.<span style=""> </span>I was able to worm my way in to one or two families, and I truly miss them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Probably the most impacting part of my experience was the relationships I was able to form with my students.<span style=""> </span>Honestly speaking, it was for them that I kept extending my time in Chile.<span style=""> </span>They lodged themselves in my heart, and I was equally concerned for their education as well as their spiritual and emotional maturation, to the extent that I felt a burden to be a positive role model and felt greatly saddened when a student acted in rebellion or defiance.<span style=""> </span>I know I was able to make an impact in the lives of several kids and teach them lessons about life that perhaps they had never considered before.<span style=""> </span>I was especially shocked to hear that some students had actually taken my advice to heart!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Now that I’m back home, I’m going to grad school to get my master’s in education so that I can be a “real” teacher.<span style=""> </span>It will take me approximately two years, and I’m hoping to be certified in both English and Spanish.<span style=""> </span>I’ve also found an almost full-time job that provides benefits as well (God blessed me once again by giving me the first job I applied for!).<span style=""> </span>After I’m done with my schooling, I honestly have no idea where God will lead me.<span style=""> </span>My plan is to stay in New Jersey unless told otherwise.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>I want to thank you for supporting me so heartily over the years.<span style=""> </span>It was such a comfort to know that I had people praying for me and interested in the ministry that I was involved in.<span style=""> </span>It was especially comforting when so many people contacted me after the earthquake to let me know that I was in their prayers.<span style=""> </span>I certainly needed it.<span style=""> </span>I could not have gone to Chile and done the work God had called me to do without both your financial and prayer support, and I know God will bless you for your generosity and faithfulness.<span style=""> </span>I don’t know how else to express the fullness of gratitude I feel, other than to once again say thank you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Still serving where I am, </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Kelly Wentzell</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-17049228697008831622010-03-22T13:52:00.000-07:002010-03-22T14:30:00.678-07:00Rumblings and Grumblings<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Well, we had nearly a full week of classes after the earthquake before anything of note happened. We started classes again last Monday, a little over a week after the initial quake. There were still tremors, but the large aftershocks seemed to have calmed down. This did not last long. Thursday morning, around 11:30 in the morning, I was standing in the front of my classroom, trying to give a pop-quiz to my 11th and 12th grade British literature class. Slowly, subtly, the earth started to undulate beneath us and the windows and walls rattled in protest. I stood there grinning at my class as we discussed the intensity of the tremor and if it was strong enough to merit any action. I commented on how I felt like I was standing on a boat (although I was in a brick building with a tile-covered concrete floor). After about 15 to 20 seconds, it still hadn't calmed down, and in fact, the windows seemed to rattle a bit more. So we decided to skidaddle out of the classroom. People seemed to be handling it pretty well, although I heard another teacher admonishing her class that they're the "big kids" so they should remain calm as an example. <br /><br />Half the school congregated in the parking lot and the other half met in the back field. Since that was supposed to be our emergency meeting spot, those of us in the parking lot headed around the buildings to join the rest of the school. The kids lined up according to grades. At this point I noticed that the elementary far outstrips the high school in their ability to form straight and orderly lines. I contemplated that perhaps the high school should return to a class of rudimentary shapes as their "lines" looked more like clouds, or at the very best, a rope with a snarled, tangled knot in the middle of it. My pointing out this fact was only successful in getting the Jr High to imitate a perfectly straight line. The Sr High students were far too old and important to do something as mundane as lining up according to their teachers' instructions. :o)<br /><br />After congratulating the kids, we reviewed the emergency procedures with them, laughing that the drill we had planned for the following week was no longer necessary as God provided us with His own "drill." The reminders and instructions were repeated in Spanish and then in Korean, as many students (especially in the elementary) do not speak English OR Spanish...a challenge on a normal day, but throw in a strong aftershock....forget about it! We completed our "head check" and headed back into the classrooms.<br /><br />As a teacher, disruptions are annoying because it can take awhile to get the kids back on task. The bigger the disruption, the longer it can take. And this had been a pretty big disruption, although I was impressed with how well they had handled themselves. Well, I jumped right back into my pop-quiz, but barely had completed another question when the earth started waving beneath us again. I stood there, again grinning at the class (perhaps with a slight roll of the eyes as I contemplated another disruption), as we assessed the situation to see if we needed to evacuate again. Meanwhile, others, in their attempt to illustrate the effectiveness of hiding under desks as a possible means of protection, proceeded to awkwardly scrunch under the desk, knocking over chairs and thrusting limbs in the aisles. (Perhaps this also attributed to my eye-rolling.) This aftershock wasn't nearly as strong, but it did last quite awhile. So I opened my classroom door, saw another class filing out past me, and turned to tell my students to complete the drill they had just learned.<br /><br />We headed out to the back field, and the students lined up, or "lined up," depending on the age, once again. The other administrator and I decided to go to lunch 15 minutes early and end class. Since the landline had been temporarily cut short, people were calling out on their cell phones, trying to get a hold of family members. Parents were already calling the school in mass quantities, hoping to see if their kids were ok. The phone lines being cut made this impossible for a little while, though. As we discussed the situation and comforted a few of the elementary kids who were crying after the second shock, there was apparently another one. I, however, did not even feel it.<br /><br />Some parents came to pick up their kids, which I understood completely although I thought that it would be better for the students to remain in their normal routine to avoid being unnecessarily scared. However, the parents were panicking more than the students were. The problem with panic is that it's contagious. So some of the students, who previously were handling things pretty well, saw their parents freaking out, and so they lost their sense of security and succumbed to their fear as well. It was impressed upon me how much those in charge of others need to squash their fears for the sake of others. And I will admit, that although having the students there made the aftershocks more stressful, I was actually LESS fearful because I was preoccupied with keeping the kids calm and keeping the school running.<br /><br />Well, we found out that the aftershocks were 7.2 (the largest since the original earthquake), 6.9, and 6.3, I believe. Those aftershocks had their own series of tremors, and the earth moved more that day than it had in quite awhile. That was a week and a half ago, and since then there have been very few large aftershocks, thank God! We had heard that we would need another big aftershock to get the jostled earth back in place, as it were. We're hoping that was the one to do it. We've heard that we're due a few more 7.0 aftershocks, but as yet we haven't received any. In fact, the tremors have calmed down to just 4-5 a day. I check the map frequently (the one that I provided a link for in the previous post) and it's starting to clear up. It only posts what has happened in the last week, so it's been a bit difficult to keep track of how many aftershocks we've actually had. I lost track at around 300!<br /><br />Thank God that life is almost back to normal and the earth has been relatively calm. I have heard reports from so many people who have gone down south to provide supplies to those who experienced true destruction and loss. They've told me that the people down there are doing pretty well as far as food and other necessities go (people from all over the country are taking truckfulls down), but the real need is for construction workers to go to help rebuild. That is the more difficult problem to fix as it takes longer, but it's getting more and more urgent as winter approaches. Please continue to pray for the needs down in southern Chile, as well as for the emotional wear-and-tear of those of us here in Santiago. The wind rattling my window and people running up the stairs outside my apartment set me on alert, and twice I've woken up with my heart pounding, the sound of the earthquake roaring in my ears, only to discover it was all in my head. It's amazing how much it has affected my subconscious. I've been told that it will take a couple years for a passing truck on the road to stop getting my heart racing! But I've been leaning on God more than ever, and as expected, He's given me more strength than ever!<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-83605892651090671412010-03-04T09:39:00.000-08:002010-03-04T09:47:59.238-08:00More earthquake aftermath<span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">So, last night we had another pretty big aftershock at around 11pm (we had two yesterday...which we haven't had a big one since Sunday, and a medium one on Monday. Nothing on Tuesday besides tremors.) So I decided to look on a map to discover what magnitude it was (although as I've said before, I'm getting pretty good at guesstimating.) The closer an aftershock is (obviously) and the shallower it is, the more things move. The last one was pretty close, so it felt pretty strong. It's a very strange sensation...almost as if I'm on a boat, even though I was just standing in my bathroom flossing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Anyway, to put things into perspective for you, I'm going to share some statistical data with you. This will show you how shaky my life has been for the last 5 days (and I think it's wearing on me, because I've been very tired today even though I've been able to sleep in decently the last few days, and that last aftershock kind of put me on edge more than the other ones have. It's VERY wearing to always be reminded that the place where you're living isn't necessarily safe and you never know when it will happen again. It's like sitting on a ticking bomb that every once in a while starts beeping after having come out of no where with a preliminary explosion.) Anyway.....</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">As you know, there was a decent sized earthquake in Haiti in January. It was a 7.0 at its epicenter. Here is a map of it and its 43 aftershocks... <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/aftershocks/?event=2010rja6&network=us"> http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/aftershocks/?event=2010rja6&network=us</a></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">What you may not know, is that about 10 hours before our earthquake here in Chile, there was a decent sized one in Japan that was also a 7.0 at its epicenter. It's still having aftershocks. Here are two maps, one of all of Asia..... <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia.php">http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia.php</a></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">and one of a 10 degree window near the epicenter..... <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/125_25.php"> http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/125_25.php</a></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Notice that in the 10 degree window it shows only 20 earthquakes/aftershocks as of 10pm EST on Wednesday... (this number may change a bit by the time you see this, but the ratio should be about the same). Notice that the map of all of Asia only shows about 61 earthquakes/aftershocks.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Now, our earthquake at its epicenter was 8.8 which I'm sure you know....Here in Santiago it felt like a 7.0 (same as Haiti and Japan). However, the notable difference is in the sheer number of aftershocks (and many of them have been quite large, in contrast with the other two countries' earthquakes). Here is a map of a 10 degree window of Chile (same size as that one from Japan that I showed you)...... <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/290_-35.php">http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/290_-35.php </a></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Notice, as of 10pm EST on Wednesday, there are ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN earthquakes/aftershocks.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Can you even imagine how old this is getting? For a fleeting second after that aftershock tonight I wanted to hop on a plane and get out of here for good and go to safe, little New Jersey where an occasional snowstorm is the biggest of our worries. I'm trying not to have a spirit of fear, but it isn't always easy. I'm VERY glad that I decided to cancel classes until Monday. Who knows how long this is going to go on!!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Well, keep praying. If this is just now starting to get to me, someone who hasn't really been scared at all since that initial 3 minutes of craziness, imagine how the people are faring who've been freaked out for 5 days straight!!</span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-85165198189968505232010-02-28T11:39:00.000-08:002010-03-22T10:21:51.853-07:00Earthquake!<p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">There have been many thoughts running through my mind in the last 36 hours as I processed and dealt with a new experience—an earthquake.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Since many people in my acquaintance haven’t experienced this either, I’m going to try to describe my life for the past 36 hours, as well as share what the foreseeable future looks like.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I’ll probably add in some statistical information too.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Earthquake news has become my new hobby.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">It all started in the middle of the night after a very, very long week of work.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It was the first week of classes, and as a full time teacher and part of the temporary administrative team, it was an incredibly busy one.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The first couple days were teacher inservice and setup, and classes started on Wednesday. Each day I probably averaged a cool 10 hours of work, easy.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Since I knew life would calm down after a couple of weeks, once the beginning craziness calmed down and I figured out how to juggle what is essentially two fulltime jobs, I didn’t mind working like a crazy person for a while.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Needless to say, by the time Friday rolled around, I was exhausted and very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I took it easy Friday evening, but was so tired that I turned off the movie I was watching and went to bed around 10:30pm (two things I never do, as those who know me well can attest to).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">After 5 blissful hours, I slowly awoke as my subconscious told me that the shaking in my dream was actually happening in real life.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Having lived in Chile for 2 and a half years, I have experienced a handful of tremors, so I laid there waiting for it to pass.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>However, it didn’t pass.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>In fact, it grew stronger and stronger and without even thinking about what I was doing, I ran (or rather stumbled and staggered like a drunken person due to the intense shaking) to the doorframe of my bedroom and held on for dear life.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Having accomplished this, I was able to be aware of my thoughts again, and I simultaneously considered a multitude of possibilities, fears, and observations.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>In no particular order, here’s what ran through my mind: it’s very dark and I’m alone…an older lady lives alone in another apartment here at the school, is she ok?...my apartment is on the end with no offices underneath, just a breezeway, what if I fall through?...ok, now things are falling over and glass is crashing…Dear God, please let it stop soon!...my gosh, my heart is racing…oh, maybe I should go stay in the bathroom, no that’s for tornadoes, there are tiles in there that might fall on me…man, this is lasting a long time and getting worse!...i’m barefoot with broken glass nearby…God, please please let it stop…that bookshelf is blocking my way to the exit…what on earth is that annoying sound?...</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">I think that about covers it.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>As soon as the shaking stopped, I started running around my bedroom getting things I needed, foolishly trying to turn on lights as I went.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Obviously they were not working.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I ran to get my slippers so I wouldn’t hurt my feet on the unseen glass; I grabbed my sweatshirt because I knew I’d be going outside; I found the candle in my bathroom and hunted futilely on the floor for the matches.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Somewhere during all this the school’s guard ran up and pounded on our doors, making sure we were ok and calling for us to come out. <span style="font-size:+0;"></span>At this, I abandoned my attempts to find light, hefted the bookshelf upright so it would be out of my way (it had fallen and was propped against my kitchen counter, angling across my path to the front door), leapt across all the items scattered on the floor from the bookshelf, and went downstairs with my neighbor.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">For an hour and a half we stood outside with our guard, the guard from across the street who we know, and the neighboring pastor and his wife.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>We swapped stories.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Nobody was hurt.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The pastor’s dishes all fell and shattered.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Some people were able to get a hold of family before the phone lines went down, some weren’t.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The guard was in the parking lot when it happened, and he could barely even stay standing.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>When he imitated his experience, it looked very much like a person surfing on dry land with no surfboard!<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>As we talked, we felt an aftershock and many tremors, but these didn’t really phase us at that point.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>We had a radio and were listening to updates as we watched helicopters fly overhead and heard sirens from all directions.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>They were saying it was an 8.5 on the Richter scale (it actually ended up being an 8.8).<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The pastor’s wife said it felt worse than the big one they had in 1985 (which was a 7.8) and everyone commented on how unusually long it lasted—nearly three minutes as we found out the next day.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Finally around 5am we decided it was safe to go to the apartments and assess damage.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>We found our candles, figured out what that annoying sound was (a smoke detector that had fallen in the unoccupied apartment next to mine), and took a look around.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Things were in disarray in my apartment, but the only broken items were a mug and a blender that was already broken. Just then the electricity came on, which I was very surprised about (36 hours later there are still many parts of the city without it). <span style="font-size:+0;"></span>I grabbed my blanket, pillow, and cell phone (although it wasn’t really working) and headed to my car with my neighbor to try to get some sleep.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I was cold and could feel every tiny vibration as I sat still in the car.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It was both soothing and freaky.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Around 7am I went back upstairs, hoping to sleep for real.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It seemed safe enough, although I wasn’t sure I’d be able to calm down enough to sleep, exhausted as I was.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I wasn’t afraid, just very much on edge.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>At 7:25 am, about 15 minutes after I had lain down, we had our first big aftershock (6.9 at its epicenter).<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I laid there, wide awake, waiting to see if it would get worse.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Since it didn’t, I tried to sleep and dozed fitfully for just a couple of hours.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Then I woke up to answer the many phone calls and talk to the many people who stopped by to see the damage or use the facilities.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>We were blessed in that by noon we had electricity, phone service, water, and internet, so we were able to notify friends and family in the States that we were safe.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">All afternoon on Saturday I went around the school grounds, surveying damage and taking pictures of the school, righting all of the apartments, and beginning the cleaning of the school.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>All throughout the day there were tremors, and about five or six times there were decent sized aftershocks.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>In fact, once I was on the phone with a missionary who lives just a little to the south of the city, and she mentioned the fact that she felt a big tremor.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>About two seconds later I felt it too.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I thought that was quite interesting, as it must have rippled from its epicenter in southern Chile.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>They move quickly!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Around 7pm last night I collapsed after much cleaning, phone calls, and emailing.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Chile is in a state of emergency until at least Wednesday, so classes can’t start until then at the very earliest.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>So we decided to take Sunday off and have work days on Monday and Tuesday to try to get the school put back together.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Luckily there was no structural damage but many floors are covered with books and other odds and ends as bookshelves fell, and the library is almost completely on the floor!<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I made dinner, watched a movie (all the while feeling rumblings of tremors…almost constantly it seemed), and went to bed utterly exhausted after a very long day.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">My goal was to sleep in this morning since church services were canceled.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Well, that didn’t exactly happen as I was awoken once again by a large aftershock (6.1 at its epicenter…although felt like a 5 in Santiago) around 8:30am.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It was long, but since it didn’t worsen, I decided to go back to sleep…not an easy feat since there were constant tremors for the next half hour.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The tremors are much more noticeable as I sit still on a couch or lay in my bed. Any tremors during the night (I’m positive they happened) weren’t big enough to wake me up.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>I did sleep more and woke up around 10:30 and figured it was time to get up.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>That brings us up to current time since I haven’t really done much today.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Tomorrow and Tuesday will be full of work, so I’m sure I’ll have more pictures of the clean-up process to share (to see pictures of the school and my apartment, go to my facebook page).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">I’ll give you some stats, and then I’m going to try to describe what all this earth movement feels like.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">The earthquake, on Saturday at 3:34am Chile time (1:34 am Eastern Standard time), ranks at an 8.8 which ties for the fifth worst earthquake in recorded history.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The worst one happened in Chile in 1960 and was a 9.5. (Every whole integer on the Richter scale is 32 times more powerful than the previous one.)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">The epicenter was a little under 300 miles south of Santiago.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Here in the city it felt like a 8.3 on the Richter scale (much stronger than the earthquake in Haiti a few months back which was a 7.0).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">The larger aftershocks (those in the 6.something range) have felt like 5.0’s here in Santiago.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>In the past, those would have felt quite big, but in the perspective of the main one, they’re no big deal!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">There have been countless aftershocks, floodings from tsunamis, losses of lives, homes, and entire villages (mainly down south), and tsunami warnings for Hawaii, Japan, and Russia.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Much of the city is still without electricity or water, and HUGE lines are forming at grocery stores and gas stations, all of which were closed yesterday and have limited supplies today.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Here in the city, the main highway is closed as many of the overpasses have collapsed, twisted, or overturned.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The airport is also completely closed for awhile as the outdoor elevator structures and walkways collapsed (and who knows what happened inside).<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>The metro was closed yesterday as they checked for damage. I have not heard what they found there.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">I went out once yesterday to the little corner store to get something to drink, and the people there were all a bit solemn, but everyone is much more friendly and talkative with strangers than they usually are.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It’s like the entire city has been bonded by this experience.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">I’ve been told that the big aftershocks will last a few days, but the tremors will last a few weeks.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Thank God that it happened in the middle of the night (although the dark added to the scariness), because the metro was closed, public transportation at a minimum, and children weren’t in schools but at home with their families.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Since it was a Friday night, I’m sure many places downtown were still full of people, and I haven’t heard how those places fared.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">In my mind, there are three levels of earth movement that we’ve experienced, and I’m going to try my best to describe them.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>They are the main earthquake, the aftershocks, and the tremors.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">The main earthquake—Imagine that you’re cooking something in a frying pan—an omelet, a pancake, stirfry—and you pick up the frying pan and start shaking it quickly back and forth to move the stuff around.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Now, imagine that your house is on a huge frying pan and someone picks it up and starts shaking it back and forth.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It’s very difficult to walk or stand properly, and furniture starts tipping over and decorations fall off the walls.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Now imagine that the base of the house is <i>attached</i> to the frying pan and someone starts shaking it.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Just imagine what that would do to the structure of it—the frame, the windows, the ceiling and roof.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It all depends on how tall it is, how well it’s built, if it’s going to survive or not.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Imagine that in the dark for almost 3 minutes, and you’ll be pretty close to that first big earthquake.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">The aftershocks—Think of those TV shows or movies you may have seen where a small apartment or dingy motel is situated near a subway or train track.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>(Some of you may have actually had that unfortunate experience!)<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Think of how the whole place shakes slightly, the things on the walls rattle, the vibrations bounce you around ever so slightly…but nothing falls or is broken, and you could easily walk across the room.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Imagine that about for about 45 seconds 5 or 6 times a day, but add to it the consideration that it you don’t know if it’s going to turn into the frying pan situation, and you’ll be pretty close to how these aftershocks feel.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>They don’t do any damage, but they do make us all pause in what we’re doing in order to assess if we have to run to safety or not.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">The tremors—Imagine you’re in a larger vehicle like a large van or a truck and you’re traveling on the highway.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>There’s a constant vibrating, and every once in awhile you feel a slight rocking in your core.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Imagine that for anywhere from a couple minutes to half an hour, on and off all day long, and you’ll be pretty close to understanding the tremors.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>They’re not easily felt when walking around doing things, but are quite obvious while sitting or laying down.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="COLOR: rgb(51,0,153)">Well, that’s a very long update on my life this weekend.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>It’s very surreal and has completely changed the outlook of the week for me, but all in all, we were very lucky.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>Those in the south have received the brunt of it, and we need to continue to pray for those without homes, those who have lost family members, those who are trapped in buildings, those who haven’t been heard from or are missing, and those in charge of dealing with it all.<span style="font-size:+0;"> </span>What an opportunity for God to be glorified and His love to be shared with many hurting people here and many watching people around the world.</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-76132238418296691122009-08-15T09:15:00.000-07:002009-08-15T10:04:11.317-07:00Discipline, Patience, and Goals in General<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Well, this semester is shaping up to be quite good! It started out very busy for me, with an extra class plus being in charge of two extra-curricular activities. I was feeling overwhelmed, so I asked one of the new teachers to take over the worship team, and I was feeling a lot better about that. Then I was told that one of the senior parents wanted to be in charge of fund raising for the class trip, so now I'm just helping out and am no longer in charge. Yay! Then just a few days ago we heard that yet another teacher is coming down (he taught here several years ago and has been back for many visits, so I know him), and he's going to take my extra class, along with the extra classes of the other teachers. I am a little sad about this, because I was kind of enjoying the math class, and the kids really liked me. I had gotten attached enough that I feel a little protective or territorial. :o) Plus I'm afraid they'll be disappointed. But it's a good chance for them to learn that change isn't necessarily bad. So what started out as a busy semester, has turned into quite an easy one, especially considering that I've already taught these classes, so half of the prep work is done. But this is good, because it gives me time to work on things outside of school. And this leads me to the main reason for this post.<br /><br />I'm trying something new this semester. I'm setting very specific goals for myself. It started with wanting to set goals for myself as a teacher. How can I improve myself this semester? I feel like I have a handle on the prep work and all that, so I figured it was time to work on one of the skill sets that I've had to put on the backburner. And two things popped immediately into my head, and in a way they go hand in hand.<br />The first is that I want to try to maintain patience. I used to think I was a very patient person, and then I became a teacher of teenagers. And I'll be honest. Those kids drive me crazy sometimes. I don't know if it's because I have too high expectations or what, but I get so frustrated when they complain or slack off or talk incessantly, especially the older kids. I feel like they should know better, but they're the worst ones! So I'm going to work on not letting it get to me.<br />And this leads me to my second goal as a teacher. I'm going to try to be mean this month, and maybe longer if necessary. What do I mean? Let me tell you. I know these kids well enough now, and I've seen how the school runs, and I know what they are capable of and what they get away with. So first of all I'm not going to let them talk so much. This is difficult to control, but I have a few ideas. I need some more though. I'm also not letting them get away with late homework anymore. No more excuses. They should know better. So basically, I'm trying to teach them responsibility. They haven't really had to learn it all that much because the school is so small and the teachers have the capability to be understanding. It's a family environment. So these kids get away with a LOT. But not anymore. There have already been a few instances where I haven't been lenient when I usually would be. I view this as my last opportunity with these kids, so I really need to make it count. I know I still need to crank it up a few notches in some ways, but I'm working on it.<br /><br />So my mind was already in goal-setting mode, and I was sitting in church my first week after being back from my vacation. I had been moving and traveling so much over my break, that I had very little time for devotions. Or should I say, I made very little time for devotions. I and could tell. I was getting upset much easier at things, and a small "trial" in my life was still eating at me. I was having a hard time dealing with it. So I decided to change all that by setting a very specific goal. Usually I say things like, "Ok, from now on I'm doing my devotions, that's it." And that's as good as it got. It was too vague, too hard to keep up with. If I missed a day, I kicked myself and grew discouraged and frustrated. I'm learning this about myself. I need more specific deadlines, but reasonable ones.<br />So here it is. I've set three very specific goals for myself in the three things I know I need to do and have a hard time staying consistent with.<br />1. Every Sunday, I should be able to sit in church and know that I did my devotions 5 times that week. (I told you I needed to set reasonable goals. If things go well, and they have been so far, I'll bump it up to 6, etc. We shall see.)<br />2. I need to work out 4-5 times a week. (My trainer had already set that goal for me, and since I have him as accountability, I usually get it done.)<br />3. I need to floss 3 times a week. (I know, it sounds silly, but I really need to take care of my gums!) :o)<br /><br />So, I'm trying to learn discipline in my life, trying to teach discipline in the lives of my students, I'm doing it through very specific goals, and it's going to take a lot of patience on my part! We'll see how it goes. So far it's been going very well. It's been so nice to spend time with God pretty much every day, and it makes all the other difficulties much easier. I know it's an obvious lesson, but sometimes after so many years we forget.<br />So I'll let you know how it goes. It's good for me to have accountability. :o)<br />Until next time...<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-45249125528249952302009-07-29T18:58:00.000-07:002009-07-29T19:29:06.048-07:00And so it begins....again<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">So I've been neglegent, again. My sincerest apologies. I guess I feel that since I've been here so long, my life is a little repetitive and I don't have as many new things to share. But I'll try!<br /><br />The last semester ended in a storm of craziness, as usual. I think I could teach for 40 years and it would still be the same. :o) Several events made it crazier than usual, however.<br />First of all I was in charge of the class who was in charge of putting on the high school banquet. Which means that I was basically in charge of putting on the banquet. I did have 2 moms/teachers helping me, but I definitely felt the weight of responsibility most of the time. The last few days wasn't so bad. This is a good thing since the day of the banquet I started to feel under the weather. By the time the banquet had arrived I had a full-on headache, felt miserable, and was starting to get very warm. This was both a blessing and a curse. The curse is obvious--I felt horrible. The blessing is that I didn't have enough energy to care if everything went perfectly or not. So I pretty much gave up control (although the kids didn't realize it), and let the MC's take over (2 of our Juniors). They would come ask me questions, or I would sign directions to them from my seat, so I appeared to be in charge, but I really didn't care what happened at that point! </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">And no one could tell that I was wearing sweatpants and slippers underneath my fancy dress...except for the fact that I showed everyone because I thought it was funny (I told you I didn't feel well enough to care!).</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">The banquet was a huge success...a few moments fell flat, but those were few and far between. The room was decorated beautifully, the food was pretty good, and the entertainment was hysterical. All in all, a fun time. Then we had to clean up, and I had to drive home. I think I got in bed around 2am.<br />The next day I felt even more miserable with achy joints and an obvious fever. Needless to say I stayed in bed several days. I was just starting to feel better when I passed out and felt even worse than I had before...although in a different way. And then just as I was truly getting better, the high school classes were canceled because 2 other teachers had gotten sick as well! So I had a few extra days to get completely well and not have to push myself too much. This made the class schedule interesting as the 2 days that were canceled were the last 2 days before review days for the finals! So it was quite interesting to figure out how to fit everything in...especially since I wasn't even at school to do it! I had to be flexible, of course, and some tests ended up being take-home-open-book tests. And then I had a LOT of grading to do when school started again. And since I wrote my finals while I had the flu (which may or may not have been the swine flu...Several kids in our school had it, although I never went to the doctor to check since my fever went away by the third day), I found several typos in them! Oops!<br /><br />So anyway, finals were taken, grades were figured, and report cards were handed out. All with minimal stress for me. I'm not quite sure how that happened! Then I had to start saying goodbye to my friends. Remember how in the last post I said that there were several Americans that I spent a lot of time with? Well, they ALL left in July. I said goodbye to 3 of them just after school let out. Then my friend Amy and I went on a little tour of South America for 2 1/2 weeks. We went to Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Iguazu Falls, and San Pedro de Atacama (in the north of Chile, in the world's driest desert). It was a very fast and tiring trip as we could only stay a few days in each place and had to take a few VERY long bus rides (two 18 hour trips and two 24 hour trips). But it was so worth it. (Pictures are on my facebook page, if you have access to that...as are pictures of the banquet.) And then we got home and I had to say goodbye to Amy. The friend situation was looking gloomy. I was left with my Chilean friend Lorena, my high school friend/little sister Melissa Rogers, and my roommates who I don't spend much time with although they're all very nice. Obviously I have other friends, but none that I spend a lot of time with. Then I found out that Melissa is going to the States for a semester to study there. And then there was one. :o(<br /><br />So this semester is a semester of transition. I have to start all over again making friends. I've already met a few (some teachers and another exchange student who I met through Amy), and one more teacher is yet to come. So we'll see. But it's a completely different group dynamic this year as the new young missionaries are either married couples or guys. And I tend to be close friends with girls. So we shall see!<br /><br />Another transition has to do with my teaching schedule. Not only is it still PACKED (I haven't dropped anything, although worship team was taken out of my schedule and now I'm teaching it after school on Mondays...yay)...BUT I'm ALSO taking on a new class. A class I'm a little nervous about. And that class is 8th grade math. What? you say. An English teacher giving a math class? Are you crazy? Well, I just might be. But I purposefully picked an easy math so I can reteach myself as I go (I liked math in high school, but I haven't HAD any math since high school!!), and since I've already taught the English classes my first year here, the prep work won't be so bad. And math prep work is pretty light, and the class has only 4 students. SO. Not to bad of a situation. It's just another challenge I wasn't expecting. And math isn't my forte like English is, so my instincts aren't kicking in as well on how to organize the lessons. So please pray for that!<br /><br />So there you have it. My two main prayer requests. My potential lonliness as my social life has been upended, and my potential stress and I'm forced to use the other side of my brain now. :o)<br />Thanks for reading! I will try very hard to post more often!<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-53546359578234468162009-05-21T10:11:00.000-07:002009-05-21T10:43:24.939-07:00Life is funny<span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">Well, if the amount of blogs I've posted this year is any indication to you, I've been very busy! I feel as though my life has gone through some ups and downs in the past few months, and I'm not sure if it's at the point of stabilizing yet or not!<br /><br />But before I get to all that, let me fill you in on what's been going on:<br /><br />~School has been going very well. I still have a struggle with my oldest and biggest class. They really like to talk and there are a few people who try to push the envelope every day. It is difficult to keep them in check without feeling like I'm riding them every single moment. Although they may drive me crazy at times, I don't want them to feel that I'm against them or don't like them, because that is certainly not the case!<br />The most interesting thing that has happened recently is that we just had Spirit Week last week, which I coordinated again this year. It went very well, although there was some complaints about the fairness of the judging. Of course. :o) Each day was a different theme, and each day the teams had a competition. Monday was clash day, and each team had to come up with a team name and team poster. Tuesday was backwards day, and each team had to spell their name by standing in the form of the letters...but they had to do it backwards. Wednesday was PJ day, and the teams created lullabies. Thursday was Nerd/Jock day, and there were some very creative cheers performed. And Friday was Prom/Dress-up day and we had the final awards ceremony. It was quite a blast! To see pictures of the week, click <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/SpiritWeek2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJupqej-_uzhXQ#">here</a>.<br /><br />~In the church realm, things are also going well. About a month ago we moved to another venue that is a little bit bigger and a lot a bit nicer! :o) I think there are still a few kinks to work out, but all in all it's going well. I have joined the worship team this year, and my first week we sang one of the few songs that are difficult for me!! It's so fast and jams so many words in. But I practiced a lot and got it pretty well down...Although I've forgotten it since then! :o) The building project is moving along, although I'm not sure at what pace. They are going to start pouring the concrete for the third floor sometime in the next week, and the building should be roofed by the end of June, so they say. After that, if I understand correctly, the hired workers will be finished and work teams will come to finish it up. I believe they're hoping to have work teams that consist of some people who know how to do construction work (electricity, plumbing, etc), instead of JUST a pair of willing hands...although we need those too!<br /><br />~In other areas of my life, I'm keeping quite busy. I have a good group of American friends here this semester, and we get together regularly. About half of them would be pretty homesick and a little sad if we didn't keep them busy, so in a way, I view it as a ministry. I mean, it's fun and they're friends, but it does take up a lot of my time to keep them entertained! :o) We all took a trip to Argentina together to renew some visas, and I tagged along for fun and to help translate. It was a quick little trip, but very fun and relaxing.<br />I'm also getting closer with a few Chileans, and there are one or two in particular that I'm quite close to. And talking with them certainly helps my Spanish!<br />I've also gotten a trainer with another friend of mine. He's the brother of a girl in my church, and he studied that kind of thing in college. So he comes over every Monday to see our progress, and my friend and I work out 2 other days a week without him. I'm actually enjoying it and can already see some results. So, yay!<br /><br />~Ok, now to the part that I mentioned at the beginning, about all the confusion and uproar in my life. Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, I had decided that this was my last semester here. But I would stay until September to help out, work at the building project, and say my goodbyes. When I told all this to my "boss," he refused to accept it and told me I'd realize one day that God wants me to stay! :o) He's quite the guy. The rest of the field team and my friends and roommates all made frequent comments about wanting me to stay. It distressed me for awhile because I felt that I was doing what God wanted, and it would be hard enough to leave as it is, and that was just making it worse! So I smiled and rolled my eyes when people said anything and left it at that. Well, in the past month or so I've begun to see the desperate straits the school is in for teachers next year. We have many people leaving, and they're having a hard time replacing them all. And since I teach so many classes, I was leaving behind a big hole as well. So I started thinking, praying, and talking to my parents and a few other people. It started to become clear to me that I should probably stay...I already have my support raised for half the semester, so I figured it wouldn't be hard to just tack on an extra 2 and a half months. So I emailed some supporters, and it all worked out perfectly. I told my "boss" last weekend, and it felt relieving and peaceful to say it and admit it. This is how I feel when I've decided something that is God's will for me. It's always a great feeling. So, I've been somewhat of a hero this week, from field team and students and roommates alike. Although, many people are already joking about me staying a whole year!! They never let it go! :o)<br />So, I will still be coming home in early October for 2 weeks for a good friend's wedding (one of the conditions of me staying), and then I'll come home for good in December. This actually works out quite well, because now I can bring a lot of my clothes and things home in October which will make packing sooooo much easier in December!!<br /><br />Ok, well that brings us up to date. I will try very hard to keep posting more regularly. I'm sorry about my negligence!<br />Thank you all for your support and prayers over the past 2 years. Keep it coming, please! :o)<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-81085266395138540402009-03-29T15:06:00.000-07:002009-03-29T15:41:00.706-07:00Oops!<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">I had no idea that it's been so long since I've blogged! I apologize profusely!<br />Well, apparently I have a lot to catch you up on, so let's see what I can do. :o)<br /><br />~The school year started off really well. We had a retreat at school the first weekend for the students, and it was a great time of bonding, learning, and playing. I was staying in one of the apartments with the high school girls, and the other teacher was in another apartment with the junior high girls. I was really hoping that this would be a good time for me to connect with some of the girls, especially those who have had attitude problems in the past, knowing that overnighters tend to involve "girl talk." :o) Well, it worked to some extent. I tried not to push myself into the conversation, but the girls willingly involved me, to the point of suggesting I bring my bed into the room too so I could relax as we talked. At one point, the girl that I've mentioned before who had a spiritual revival at camp, apologized to me for something that had happened last semester. She said she understood now why I felt and acted the way I did. The next day, the retreat leader had all the kids say what they appreciated or learned during the retreat, and this girl mentioned it was nice to get to know people better, like me for example. She said she now understands why I do what I do, because if she were a teacher she'd probably act the same way. And one of the other students told me that girl said, "You know what I realized? Miss Kelly's actually kinda cool." Progress! It's still been a bit of a struggle in class since then, because although she has had an attitude adjustment, she still has some teenage things to grow out of. She has very strong opinions about everything and isn't afraid to voice them, and this often is done through complaining. She still talks almost nonstop during class, and that's a constant source of frustration for me. We're working on it though.<br /><br />~The teaching staff is quite bare-bones this semester, so we're all really busy. It's been going really well though, and we all get along quite nicely. I'm kind of the veteran teacher in the high school now. There is one other teacher who has been here longer, but he only comes in 2 1/2 days a week. So, since I'm ALWAYS there, I'm kind of the pointman of the high school. For the most part I like this role, but it did frustrate me after being gone for a week and a half, coming back and being asked questions or being expected to do things I had no idea about because I wasn't here!<br /><br />~That brings me to my next point. For those of you who don't know, I had an unexpected and very brief visit to the States last week. My uncle passed away very suddenly, and I felt that it was very necessary to go to be with my family. I was very close to him, and it's still difficult for me to think about him being gone, to realize that he won't be at family get-togethers anymore. I almost can't believe it. But going up for the funeral helped, and it was so nice to be with my family and reminisce about my uncle. I think we spent more time laughing at my uncle's antics and odd quirks than crying for our loss. We definitely did cry, and we all felt his departure keenly, but he was such a fun-loving jokster that it was hard not to have plenty of things to laugh about too. I will miss him so much, and I look forward to the day I will join him in praising our Lord in heaven!<br /><br />~As I was on the plane on the way back to Chile, I got very sick. It started with a bad headache and nausea and then moved into light-headedness and general weakness. This is NOT something fun to deal with while traveling. Needless to say, it was the worst traveling experience of my life. And I was all alone. Luckily I had 3 seats on the plane and could lay down. I didn't eat anything and could only keep down tea or ginger ale. When we landed in Chile, I knew there was no way I'd be able to walk and wait in all the lines at customs, so I requested a wheelchair. I felt like SUCH an idiot being rolled around the airport, but at least I didn't have to wait in any lines! :o) I got home, literally collapsed into bed, and slept for another 6 hours. Needless to say, I was NOT going into work the next day. So I tried to send instructions for a substitute, and spent all day Tuesday in bed as well. By then I was able to keep down some bread and chicken soup, and of course, the ever-present hot tea. Wednesday I got up to get ready for work, and I was feeling WORSE than the day before. It took me a little while to realize what had happened, but I had caught a cold on top of the stomach bug. So even though I was no longer nauseous, when you haven't eaten in 3 days, a cold wipes you out pretty well! So I went back to bed, very frustrated that I STILL wasn't getting back to work. I knew things would be more difficult the longer I was gone--both for my sub and for me when I got back! So Thursday I dragged myself to school (in a taxi since there was NO way I could survive public transportation) and taught my classes sitting down with a mug of tea in my hands. When I got back to school I was inundated with hugs and comments about how skinny I looked. I explained to them that that's what happens when you don't eat for 4 days. As it is, my stomach is settled, but very small, so I can't eat very much without feeling full or even sick if I push it too much. So I'm still not eating very much, but at least I'm eating. I'm still a little low on the energy level and get tired easily, and I have a pesky cough that won't go away. Other than that, I'm fit as a fiddle. :o) However, I do have PILES of work on my desk. I have a friend helping me, but she can only do so much. So I'm just going to plug away at it and not be stressed. But I still have all of the regular work to do too, so I'm going to be very busy for awhile!<br /><br />~Ok, I think that about brings us up to speed. I have some exciting things coming up in school, in travel plans, in my social calendar. And Easter is coming up, as you know, and so I'm hoping to be able to invite a new friend to church. Pray for me that I'll be able to find an opportunity to invite him and that he'll be open to coming. I'm making more and more friends here, some American and some Chilean, and I feel that I'm getting more and more ingrained in life here in Chile....which is not going to be helpful when it comes time to leave in September! I have so many people who want me to stay here, for various reasons, both social and work related. It's very difficult, and at times I'm very confused as to what God has for me. So there's another prayer request...Wisdom! Guidance! Clarity on His direction! And peace and strength to follow through. Whichever way I choose, I'll be leaving someone and something behind. I have two lives (Santiago and NJ), and I can't live both, but I don't want to give either of them up!!<br /><br />Well, it's been a long post. I tried to give you the highlights. I will try to not neglect you all for so long in the future! Thanks for reading!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-80944488644856790192009-02-21T14:42:00.000-08:002009-02-21T15:00:15.317-08:00And here we go again!<span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">Well, the summer has flown by, as it tends to do I suppose. I spent a few whirlwind weeks at home for the Christmas holidays, had a few relaxing weeks when I returned, and then had several more whirlwind weeks as I went on several trips. I went down south (by myself! a first for me) and spent a few days at a beautiful little town on a lake, then took a "cruise" (and I use that term loosely...we traveled with cows!) down to the northern most glacier in Chile. It was so beautiful. Then I went to a beach town with a Chilean friend and stayed with a Chilean family. None of them spoke English, so it was 24/7 Spanish. I did pretty well! I can hold my own in Spanish now, but there are still soooo many words I don't know, and there are still plenty of times I don't know the best way grammatically to say something, and when a group of Chileans gets together, I still get lost amidst their rapid-fire conversation. But practice makes perfect, right? Then my parents came down for a visit. We spent a few days in Santiago (where my poor dad was pick pocketed!), a few days in Peru to visit Macchu Pichu (honestly one of the most beautiful areas, in my humble opinion), and a few days in a beach town in Chile. I had anywhere from half a day to a day and a half between all these trips. That's it!<br /><br />My parents left, I had one day to recuperate, and then it was on to teacher inservice! It's been a busy week (and has felt oh-so-much longer than it actually was), but I'm FINALLY ready for classes to begin on Monday. I'm excited to see what God will bring. We have very few teachers this semester, so everyone is pretty busy. But I think it's going to be a fun and productive semester (what a combination!).<br /><br />I guess now is as good a time to tell you as any... The last several months I've been feeling a shift within me, some unrest and uncertainty. And being at home for Christmas only helped to intensify those feelings. Then I came back to Chile, and my first week or two was very difficult for me as I faced some unexpected challenges. I actually went through something akin to depression, although it wasn't nearly so severe. Needless to say, all those factors put together led me to pray more fervently and specifically about my future in Chile and my future in general. I've spoken with a couple of people I trust as well, and I feel that God is leading me back home. So as of right now, the plan is to remain here until the end of September. I told Duane Cross, the school administrator, the other day, and he wasn't willing to accept my news. He's sure I should stay and has mentioned some ways he sees my changing my role in Chile, at least for another year or so! I promised him I'd pray about it though. So I will. :o)<br /><br />What will I do when I get back? Well, I'm praying about that as well. I'm looking into getting my teaching certificate, although I'm still not 100% sure that's where God is leading me. It looks like it, but it's too soon to tell. I don't make these decisions quickly, that's for sure! So when I know, I'll let you know! :o)<br /><br />So, here are a few prayer requests as my last semester in Chile begins.<br />1. Wisdom as I try to discern where God is leading me.<br />2. The wisdom (again!) and sensitivity to be able to connect with some of the students I haven't been able to so far.<br />3. We have one student, Kimmy, who has had some struggles spiritually in the past and has been quite a handful at times. She went to camp this summer and came back a changed person, as her mother informs me. So pray that she'll be able to stick with it, and that she'll be able to trust me enough to help her grow.<br /><br />I guess that's it for now. I'll keep it kind-of-short and relatively-sweet. I could tell you so many stories of my summer adventures, but I'll just stick to the important, informational stuff (although hopefully not boring!) for now. Until next time...<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-10422853766082347442008-12-27T13:40:00.000-08:002008-12-27T14:33:30.686-08:00Festivities and Celebrities<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Well, I know it's been awhile since I posted, but I'm sure you all understand how it is at this time of year!<br /><br />Let's see what I've done since I last spoke to you......<br />Thanksgiving was wonderful, as I expected it to be. I had a wonderful time with the field council, and of course, there was a lot of yummy food! The day before, though, we had a Thanksgiving program. A friend and I had written the words to the high school choir's Thanksgiving song...a witty (if I do say so myself) version of 12 Days of Christmas.<br /></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">For those of you who have Facebook, you can see it posted on my profile by clicking <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/posted.php?id=508416257&share_id=53298270785#s53298270785">HERE</a> (I hope).<br />I wrote the words underneath the video so you can be sure to understand everything.<br /><br />A few days later I spontaneously went to a World Cup Finals game. Although, it was women under 20s soccer, the USA team was in the finals and I was SO excited to go to the game. We were playing versus North Korea, and it seemed as though the Chileans were rooting for the Koreans. Anytime the Americans in the crowd tried to cheer for their team, the Chileans would whistle and boo so loud that we would be drowned out. However, once we WON, I was an instant celebrity, along with the other gringas I was there with. People were asking to take their pictures with us, they were chanting USA, they couldn't get enough of us! Here's a picture of the "Celebrity Gringas." :o)<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzU87Xs7la3dounxjqgq5jW1U1Zo3xT1BRrWmawWmAqlT6XUu5y-lzYaXQ6nKC70dorxzwSh36JyJlElzm8UlHQ2KhXn4Doa8Q4gqsTunpdOpocw71Vq8wnNa0KXp20aBjK3w5-ajkKYRE/s1600-h/Fun+357.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzU87Xs7la3dounxjqgq5jW1U1Zo3xT1BRrWmawWmAqlT6XUu5y-lzYaXQ6nKC70dorxzwSh36JyJlElzm8UlHQ2KhXn4Doa8Q4gqsTunpdOpocw71Vq8wnNa0KXp20aBjK3w5-ajkKYRE/s320/Fun+357.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284596656585426914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">After that, I was engulfed in a whirlwind of grading and exam writing, but I survived. I had the choir all ready for the Christmas program that I was unable to attend because I was 35,000 feet in the air at the time! I've heard that the choir did VERY well, but I haven't seen proof of that yet! Once I have a video of that, I'll pass it along to you.<br /><br />Since then, I've been home, running around like crazy, visiting friends and family, enjoying American culture, etc. I only have a few days left at home, and I'm trying to enjoy them to their fullest. Then it's back to Chile to enjoy the summer sun once again! Once I have had a few days to settle in, I'm sure I'll have more to report.<br /><br />In the meantime, Merry Christmas!!!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-31820492344475082082008-11-20T03:09:00.000-08:002008-11-20T03:31:10.168-08:00Older AND maturing...Who knew it could happen?<span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">Well, in just a few short days I will be celebrating aging. My birthday is just around the corner! And although I'm excited about all the plans I've arranged for myself, I can't help but remember that I'm approaching closer to 30...what an ominous number! :o)<br />But this is not the purpose of this post. I want to tell you about how God has been growing and maturing me in the last few weeks. It's been a painful process, but I can tell it's working.<br />There have been two main "fertilizers," if you will:<br /><br />One has been a recent struggle with finances. Since my roommate moved out as I mentioned in an earlier post, life has been much more expensive. However, that has not been the most difficult part. What has taken a normal stress to the next level is the fact that there are now arguments about how to finalize the finances from when she did live her. There are a few outstanding bills and of course the deposit which is the main source of contention. Both girls are being stubborn and unreasonable in their own way, and I'm in the middle. I'm friends with them both and get along with them both--they do not get along that well. I'm trying to act wisely and find compromises, but it hasn't been easy. I've asked some friends I highly trust for help and advice, so I'm not completely alone, but I honestly feel that I'm in over my head at times. Normally in this situation I would remove myself and let my friends take care of their problem themselves after I realized that my help wasn't effective. However, I'm directly involved in this debacle because I pay too...It involves my money as much as anyone else. I'm praying for wisdom for me and reasonable-ness for them. We'll see where God takes this!<br /><br />The other "fertilizer" has been a girl (or two) in my class who has severe attitude problems. She's very rebellious right now to pretty much all authority figures. (There are a couple of the young guy teachers she's ok with, but that's because they're more friends than authority.) So I'm forced to compensate and be strict with her. And she does not like it. She complains all the time, and I have to stop her. She has excuses for missing assignments, and I have to know when to punish her anyway. She's unhappy with me and the school in general, thinks we're unfair and unreasonable, and automatically assumes that we're out to make life more difficult for her and teenagers in general. <br />Basically with this behavior she's begging for me to be exactly what she thinks she hates: uber-strict! :o)<br />So in a way, it's been good for me. Handing out punishments and trying not to be too lenient has been one of my main weaknesses as a teacher. This girl is single-handedly helping me to fix that problem! God has given me a thorn in my side so I'll have tough skin, I suppose. :o) Pray that I can remain consistent with her and not let my anger and frustration get in the way. Pray that she sees that I love her and am actually acting in her best interest. Pray for her spiritual condition as well, as that's obviously the root of her problem. Ah, teenagers!<br /><br />So, I suppose it's very fitting to call these growing processes "fertilizer." They're messy and stink everything up, but in the end they also accelerate growth!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-8582430643964888912008-11-10T18:01:00.000-08:002008-11-10T18:36:14.605-08:00Close Call<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Have you ever locked yourself out of your home or your car and had your keys right in your hand? It takes a special kind of talent to be able to do that. Well, apparently I'm special because that's exactly what happened to me today!<br /><br />Let me explain.<br />I came home from school and spent about 2 hours cleaning (something that was sorely needed!), and by the time I was done I was starving. I was about to go upstairs to make dinner (well, reheat dinner, really...I cooked pasta yesterday and I have enough leftovers to last until the rapture), but first I had to take out the trash from my cleaning frenzy. Our trash receptacle is a little closet halfway down our hall, so usually I don't even bother closing my door all the way. Well, my roommate was gone, so I felt it was safer to take a set of keys with me, just to be safe.....<br /><br />(I suppose I should take a break here to explain my door. There are three deadbolt locks on it, each one with its own key. There is no real door knob--I <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> to use a key to get in, even if they're not deadbolted. Then from the inside there's a chain and one of those slidey lock things that are most commonly found in bathroom stalls...You know the ones I'm talking about.)<br /><br />So, I pulled out the slidey lock thing all the way so it would keep the door from shutting all the way. Good thing, too, because as I pulled my door mostly closed a gust of wind from inside slammed the door against its frame. But upon seeing that my plan worked and the door didn't completely close, I congratulated myself on my ingenuity as I walked down the hall with an armful of trash.<br />Thirty seconds later I was back at my door, and as I pushed it open, to my horror, I found that it wouldn't budge. I guess the gust of wind and semi-slam had jiggled the slidey lock partially into place! I was locked out! And my keys were cheerfully jingling in my hand! So I tried pushing several times at varying levels of strength. I tried shaking the door to move the slidey lock back out. Nothing worked! <br />What was I going to do! I had no cell phone, money, or metro pass. My roommate wouldn't be home for another 4 hours. Well, I walked outside looking for the caretaker. I found a custodian, and she told me the guy had left and wondered what I was looking for. So I tried to explain my situation. I found this very difficult, particularly in translating "slidey lock" especially seeing as how I couldn't even remember the word for lock. :o)<br />I eventually gave up and walked back to my apartment, praying hard and swallowing hard to press down the tears that were threatening to make me look even more stranded than I already did. I decided to try the door one more time. So I walked up, pushed and jiggled a couple of times, and then slammed my shoulder against the door with as much strength as I figured wouldn't break the door. And it popped open!! Yay!<br />Upon entering I laughed, talked to myself since there was no one else to say anything to, and fervently thanked God for getting me back inside. Then I made dinner, and it was yummy.<br />So the moral of this story is: Don't try to cheat the system. Just take the keys with you, shut the door like a normal person, and endure the hassle of having to unlock it a mere 30 seconds later. Otherwise you may end up looking like an idiot to some stranger in a strange land.<br /><br />I think I need more sleep! Perhaps...<br /><br />It's getting to be that point in the semester where a weekend just isn't enough time to rest and recuperate from the week. I was talking with some of my teacher friends about it today. I said that very same sentence to them, and they both groaned in agreement. One told me she wakes up as tired as when she went to bed. I groaned in agreement. The other told me about the emotional breakdown she had in class with one of her students who had tried her patience to the enth degree. I groaned in sympathy.<br />I always feel this way about a month before the semester ends. Just ready for a nice long break. And unfortunately, the last month of the semester is always the busiest! Here's a quick list of all the things to do before the semester is out: prepare the choir for the Thanksgiving program, then prepare the choir for the Christmas program, write finals and review sheets for all of my classes, help the students write and then grade research papers ranging from 4 to 12 pages in length, throw myself a birthday party (first time hosting Chileans all on my own. Yikes!), prepare food for the Thanksgiving Program, prepare food for Thanksgiving, go to a ladies' retreat at church, figure out the quarter grades, grade the finals, figure out the semester grades, and finish my Christmas shopping...Not to mention all the normal weekly work that goes in to teaching. Whew, I'm tired just writing about it!<br /><br />So please pray for me and the other teachers. Pray we'll have the stamina to get through, the time to do everything well, and the patience to handle the rambunctiousness of the kids. Not only is it nearing the end of the semester, and nearing Christmas, but it's also getting to be summer time! The kids are crazier than usual! I mean, how do you solve a problem like teenagers? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? ...Many a thing you know you'd like to tell them. Many a thing they ought to understand. But <span style="font-style: italic;">how</span> do you make them stay and <span style="font-style: italic;">listen</span> to all you say? How do you keep a wave upon the sand? Oh, how do you solve a problem like teenagers? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?....<br /><br />For those of you not familiar with musicals, I'm sorry about that. For the rest of you....I'm still sorry. :o)<br /><br />I told you I need more sleep!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-74258586386818460662008-11-02T15:18:00.000-08:002008-11-02T16:37:35.705-08:00Who said changes were good?<span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">I would seriously question the sanity of this person. :o)<br /><br />Let me explain.<br />I've been happily living with my two Chilean roommates for several months. One I hardly ever see because she works many evenings, goes away for weekends, and spends time with her boyfriend on her few free nights. The other I see a lot around the apartment and we hang out together here. And we've become good friends in the process, obviously. Well, she told us Wednesday that she's going to be moving out. And through the course of conversation, as we discussed details, they decided that today would be a good day. Just 4 days later! That gave me no time to adjust emotionally!<br />Wednesday night she told us, and I went to bed shortly thereafter. Thursday I was busy teaching all day, then I went out with a friend for most of the afternoon/early evening. So I only had time to vaguely think about it throughout the day. But as I went home Thursday night, I had time to digest what was going on, and literally the second I walked inside my apartment I started crying! This is only the second time (that I can remember) that I have cried since I got here---not counting touching movies and sappy songs, of course!<br />I was able to squeeze some quality time in with her in the few days before she left, and I dropped her off at her new house today. It was sad to see her go. I felt like an overly attached mom leaving her only child at college! :o) I'm nervous that I'm going to be lonely now since my other roommate is rarely home. And as of now, we don't have anyone lined up to move in, so life will be more expensive for awhile. That's adding stress to sadness!<br /><br />So, there are several obvious prayer requests that come from this post (and one hidden one)...<br />1. That I won't be lonely in my own home!<br />2. That we will be able to find someone (that we get along with) to move in soon!<br />3. That until then, we will be able to afford to live in our own home!<br /><br />And now for the last and hidden prayer request....<br />I've been having a cockroach problem in my classroom (I told you it was hidden). Seriously, it's gross. They're about two inches long and look like they have a personal vendetta against me. The first one or two that I found, I thought, "Well, I'm serving God in a country where I can't just exterminate things at a whim--we don't have money growing on trees here. So I'll just grin and bear it and chalk it up to missionary work...." Well, when cockroach number four started scuttling towards me from the book I had just opened, I thought, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"<br />And then I thought, "Something must be done. I can't work in these conditions!!"<br /><br />So, that's my prayer request. That the cockroaches go away or DIE!<br /><br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-26358415543747183802008-10-20T14:43:00.000-07:002008-10-20T14:58:31.297-07:00Independence Day!<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Ok, I know it's a little late in coming (a month late, to be exact!), but here's an little synopsis and some pics of the Independence Day celebrations from September.<br /><br />First there was a shindig at church one Sunday. It involved food, traditional music, and the traditional dance, the Cueca. I had learned the basics of the dance, but when it came to actually doing, I chickened out!! Maybe next year. :o) We spent most of the day there, enjoying the shows, the food, and talking with each other.<br /><br />That week was a full one at school (even though it only involved 2 1/2 days of classes!). We had room decorating on Monday to make the school look festive. Each class did it and it was a school wide competition. Then Tuesday they had a "Dress in Chile Colors" day, also involving a competition. They also rehearsed for the program they would be performing in the next day. Tuesday night we got our food ready for the next day. I'm "in charge" of the Junior class for right now, helping them raise money for the banquet next semester. We baked some Chilean food to sell. Then Wednesday was the program, a game time, and then lunch of all traditional Chilean foods....All yummy foods too!! Then school was out until Monday! After school that day, a few of us went to a Chilean fair that they have during September. There's a ton of food, craft stands, shows, music...all sorts of fun stuff!!<br /><br />To see pictures of all these events (and a little more detail than what I just mentioned...even a couple of videos at the end), click <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/Dieciocho2008?authkey=8vfpV7CqaeU#">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><br />After that, I went on a trip for a couple of days with some friends of mine. We went about 5 hours north to a town called La Serena. We walked around, did some shopping at the artisan shops, walked along the beach, went to a HUGE fair, visited some Japanese gardens, and had a fun yet relaxing time. My favorite part, though, was the evening that us girls took a tour to the observatory. There are a few sections of Chile that are famous worldwide for their clear skies and star gazing potential. And there are several observatories scattered around this area. We went to one that was about an hour away from where we were staying and took a tour that was almost 2 hours long. It was SO AMAZING! I saw Saturn and the rings around it. I saw some shooting starts. I saw a star cluster. I saw several of the constellations. I saw the Milky Way and its two satellite galaxies. It was a gorgeous night and the sky was crowded with stars. It was so incredible, and I was glad for this, because this was the main reason I wanted to visit this town. And after so much waiting and effort, I was afraid of being disappointed. But I definitely wasn't!!<br /><br />To see pics from the trip to La Serena (although none from the observatory, since it was nighttime), click <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/LaSerena?authkey=ZlhTTYpwgWA#">HERE</a>.<br /><br />I hope you enjoy everything! I just took a trip back to Argentina to help a friend renew her passport. It was a pretty mellow weekend, and Amy and I were both sick with a cold (I even stayed home from school today), so I don't have too many pictures to show you. But maybe I can come up with some. I'll see what I can do. :o)<br />Until then....<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-29894077428247637292008-10-06T20:50:00.000-07:002008-10-06T21:20:47.505-07:00Growing Pains<span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Wow, the last several weeks have been packed full of things to tell you about! The only problem with doing lots of things to share about is that there's less time to actually write about it!!<br />We had our Independence Day celebration, and then I went on a short trip with some friends, and I have a lot to share about those events (including plenty of pictures!), but that'll be a project for another day. For now, I want to share with you how God has been stretching me lately.<br />It has been a very difficult couple of weeks for me...mainly because I have made myself very unpopular with certain groups of people. Let me break this down into three main events for you (I'll just give you the brief version).<br /><br />1. Many of us teachers felt that the young guy teachers needed some help learning to be teachers and not students. We saw some things that worried us. One event even provoked me to speak with them directly. They pretty much blew me off, so I talked to the administration about it, knowing they had tried to talk with them too. So stories were passed around, details changed in the process, and things got a little ugly. The younger people involved didn't seem to understand the problem that the rest of us saw. They were upset with me (since they viewed me as the principle cause of the hullabaloo), and basically said they couldn't trust me anymore. This was very hurtful to me (although not unexpected) since I felt that I had done what was best for the students and for the other teachers. I assessed what I had done, and still didn't feel I had done anything incorrectly. Knowing that the other teachers felt the same way helps, even if I am the one to take the fall for it. Luckily, things seemed to have blown over. Unpopular event number one (the second followed hard on its heels).<br /><br />2. A former student has returned to the school under some difficult circumstances. She was always talkative, but now it seems to be worse because she's grown very rebellious. Now that she's back, the whole class feels that they can talk, and I feel that I'm spending every 3 minutes reigning them back in. This is how my first semester of teaching was, and I didn't remember how miserable that was for me until the day this girl returned. It's nearly impossible to teach them now, and I've found myself feeling like I'm wasting my time and breath and that I'm not enjoying teaching at times. So I'm having to learn new things. I have to learn how to deal with this new attitude, how to be strict and firm with her even if that makes me her enemy. I tried to be kind and loving, but I gave her an inch and she took a light-year. So I can't take that route. Tough love it is, and this is not my forte. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on the view point), her attitude often makes tough love easy to hand out!<br /><br />3. I caught some cheating on a homework assignment (involving the new girl, unfortunately), and unpopular event number two entered my life. I had to call the moms of the copier and copiee, and then I had to talk to each girl, give each 3 demerits and a zero on the homework assignment. Neither of them were happy, and my conversation with the new girl did not go well. It was heart breaking to see her so cold and defiant. She tried to excuse it, she complained at the way I was treating her, she tried to get me to see she was already in enough trouble. And in the end she told me she just doesn't care. I've taken enough psychology classes to see the defense mechanisms as the words flowed out of her lips, so I didn't take it personally. But it was difficult to do the tough love thing. I much prefer being the fun teacher! But sadly that is not what she needs from me.<br /><br />So, all of this loveliness leads me to some prayer requests.<br /><br />~ Pray for this girl. Pray that her heart would be softened and she would grow up some more. Pray that her defiance would melt away and she can be restored to healthy relationships with God and her parents.<br />~Pray that I would best know how to teach in the light of these new events....keeping the class under control, handling the new girl's attitude, keeping my patience and acting wisely.<br />~Pray that I would remain strong and not take the easy route. The verse "be not weary in well-doing..." has run through my head a lot this week. Pray that I learn what God is teaching me through this time.<br />~Pray that I still have the trust of my students and coworkers and that relationships I have built will not be destroyed.<br />~Most of all pray that God will be glorified in my life and the lives of all the students, because most of them are effected in some way by this new dynamic in school.<br /><br />Thank you all for your prayers and support. I know God has me here for a reason, and I hope that each day I'm fulfilling His calling in my life. I feel very deeply for these kids that I teach, and I yearn to see God's fruit in each of them. I know that God can do abundantly more than I could ever hope or imagine!!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-62955463685461642312008-09-11T19:17:00.000-07:002008-09-11T19:29:55.142-07:00ESL<span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">So, here's something new to share. This semester I've joined some of my coworkers at school in a ministry teaching English as a Second Language at their church. They've been asking me to do it every semester since I've been here, and I finally gave in. ;o) I didn't want to be over committed before, and honestly, I feel a bit over committed now that I have taken it on. It's every Wednesday evening, and after spending a full day teaching, the last thing I really want to do is spend another two hours teaching. It can be very draining. So the jury's still out on how long this ministry will last for me. I probably won't do it next semester, but for now, I'm warming up to it some more. (Plus, I'd like to be involved in a ministry in my own church, but I don't feel like I can take on another thing and still maintain my sanity!) :o)<br />Anyways....<br />The main reason why I'm stickng with it is because there is TREMENDOUS potential for evangelism in these classes. Only about half of our students are believers. None of mine are. I teach the advanced class, and I usually range between 1-3 students per class. My most faithful student, Cristina, has been coming every week, and quite often she is my only student. This is an excellent situation, because she's incredibly curious about the Bible. Each Wednesday there are 2 one-hour classes, and the pastor gives a devotional in between. She eats it up, but she says she doesn't understand it. So she asks me questions, and I try my best to answer in a way she'll understand. There have been plenty of opportunities to share the faith with her. The book we use to teach English is a Christian book that goes through the book of Mark, so each week we're actually studying the Bible. I've given her a tract in English to study at home and then we translated it together. Then I gave her the same one in Spanish to be able to read and understand more quickly. I've witnessed to her several times. However, despite all of that, there is still a gap of understanding. I'm not sure how much of it is a language barrier (I have to simplify my English for her to understand, and if I switched to Spanish, it would be just as simple) or how much of it is her still being in the dark, spiritually speaking.<br />If you could pray for Cristina, that would be great. I won't see her for class this week or next week (this week is national protests, so it's unsafe to be out much, and next week is Independence Day)., so pray that God will keep her curious and receptive during this time.<br /><br />Ok, well, that's it for me for now. I'm looking forward to the festivities of the month, and I'm sure I'll have a lot to tell you in the next couple of weeks!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-39940306814175070612008-08-24T13:08:00.000-07:002008-08-24T13:48:32.063-07:00Night and Day<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">It's amazing what a difference a year makes. Last year, the ski trip was one of the worst memorable experiences of my life (to be a little dramatic about it). This year it was incredible.<br /><br />For a reminder of how bad things went last year, you can click this link and reread my post:<br /><a href="http://kellywentzell.blogspot.com/2007/09/skiing-in-andes.html">http://kellywentzell.blogspot.com/2007/09/skiing-in-andes.html</a><br /><br />Anyway, I knew this year's ski trip was coming up, and I wasn't sure what to do about it. My first reaction was to say I'd go. But then the more I thought about it, and the more I remembered the horrors of last year, the less I wanted to go. So I started to talk myself out of it. However, my friends convinced me to go, and being as swayable by peer influence as I am (positive peer influence, mind you), I decided to go.<br />And I gotta say, IT WAS AWESOME!<br />Let me explain the differences.<br />First of all, I was not slightly sick and sleep deprived, like I was last year. Secondly, I bought some dramamine-like medicine to help deal with the insanely curvy mountain road. Thirdly, I sat near the front of the bus and slept for most of the ride. Although I did wake up when we got to an icy curve that the bus couldn't pass. We all kind of gritted our teeth and pretended to smile nonchalantly as the bus backed up, closer and closer to the small guard rail protecting us from the precipice, in order to stop on dry pavement and avoid slipping. This was quite the experience. (And really, not nearly as dangerous as I'm portraying it, although it did have potential). The driver got out and put chains on the tires while the rest of us were entertained by watching cars try to race around the curve and over the ice. We cheered those who made it and laughed at those who didn't, and the whole time heard the commentaries of the 3 or 4 young, 20something guys who felt they could do it better. <br />We finally got up to the top, got in line to get our equipment, and headed back over to the lodge. Somehow, once again, I was one of the last ones through. And it was stressful, because people were rushing me, and I HATE being rushed when I'm in an unfamiliar situation. And skiing is one of those situations. Although, I will say, this year I decided to try snowboarding. I will never in my life ski again, but I was willing to try something else. This made all the difference in the world!<br />The boots are soooooo much more comfortable! They have a little structure to them, but you just tie relatively firmly two different sets of laces. So much better than the vice-like contraptions that are called ski boots!!<br />By the time I got everything settled, all the good snowboarders (one who used to actually be an instructor) were long gone, so I decided to take the class with one of the ninth grade girls. The problem was, we had to wait a little over an hour for our class to start (so why all the rush earlier? I don't know!). When we finally got to the class, it consisted of me, my student, and 4 Chilean girls from another school. I was the oldest person there, besides the instructor. His name was Cristian, and he did a quick survey to see what language people spoke. He discovered that I understood most of his instructions in Spanish, so very little of it was in English. For the first half of the class, he didn't know my name, so he just referred to me as "Teacher." :o) After he heard my student call me by name, he picked right up on it. Anyway, I'm glad I waited for the lesson, because I never would've figured that stuff out on my own.<br />He'd teach us something, and we'd try it. When he'd ask me if I wanted to try again, I'd always say yes. Many of the other girls were not very bold in their practicing. This may be why I made an impression on him. This is not a usual occurrence for me...usually I'm in the bottom of the middle of these types of groups. Anyway, my first little attempt at snowboarding resulted in a fall, and I immediately heard Cristian say, "Muy bien!"...which means "Very good!" Ha! I don't know what he saw, but it certainly didn't feel "very good"! In fact, I fell pretty much every time I tried something, but I always smiled and jumped back up again, so maybe that's why he said "very good." Who knows.<br />Every new thing he'd teach, I'd try (although not very successfully). He seemed to help me more and more as the other girls slowly gave up in varying degrees. I was the first one to make it down the little mini-hill that was the practice slope. Then he taught me how to take the little rope-y thing back up. I'd make small squeals and groans intermittently throughout the lesson. The word I heard most from my instructor was "Tranquila, tranquila," which means "Calm, stay calm." Easier said than done!<br />After an hour, class was over and he had to leave for his next class. But he stopped to say bye to me, and to say he was sorry he had to go. He said I was doing very well, and that now that I've had a base lesson, next time I should come and have a TWO hour lesson, but one-on-one...not in a class. Wow! When am I ever the one to pick up something sporty? Rarely.<br />Anyway, I went down the mini-slope, this time with no instructor, no one yelling tips to me. And I flew down the hill, at break neck speed (or so it seemed to me) and with almost no control. However, I didn't fall til the end! So I went back up, and talked to my student as I recooped. She had given up at this point. But she did say I "looked hot" going down the hill. I don't know how that's possible, with arms flailing and body jerking in a desperate attempt to maintain balance, and then tumbling to a snow-covered stop, but apparently I did. :o)<br />I tried it again, this time practicing the turns he had taught me. I was doing ok, turning a teensy bit, when I saw a skiier standing in front of me, watching me. He made no signs of moving (I figured as a beginner he didn't know how), and I didn't have enough control to turn, so I fell down on purpose and skidded to a stop. He smiled at me, and then turned as someone from his ski class asked for a tip. He was an instructor!! I stood up, changed directions, and went again. Two falls later, I was at the bottom again. I collected myself for a bit, and the ski instructor asked me where I was from...in English. I said the States, and he asked where. At this point I noticed that he had an American accent. We ended up chatting for awhile, he asked me what I'm doing here and how long I'll stay. He told me he just graduated from Penn State and took the summer to teach skiing and be able to ski for free before having to settle down to a real job. It was very interesting to meet someone who lives so close to my home on the side of a mountain in the Andes!<br />It was time for lunch, and then I headed out for a little more snowboarding. This time I was by myself, and the practice slope was almost completely empty. I tried a few more times, and I think I gained a little more control, but I still didn't turn or stop very well. I think I stopped without falling just once the whole time. One time, as I tumbled down the slope, the board stuck in the snow as my body kept rolling, so that by the time I stopped, my leg was almost completely backwards! That hurt a little, and I quickly spun the other way to straighten out my leg. Another quarter turn and I probably would've torn and/or broken something. It was about then that I decided to call it quits since I was virtually alone...after one more run. :o)<br />The day was over and we headed home. I was a little sore, but not all that bad. My knee hurt a little bit from the twist the next day, but not too much. All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience. I don't know if I'll ever get enough practice to be a competent snowboarder, but I'd definitely try it again!<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-11150994195809811972008-08-19T19:49:00.000-07:002008-08-19T20:39:03.141-07:00New Experience #487-495<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">You know, there's just nothing like sitting alone and eating dinner in a mall food court in a foreign country where they speak a foreign language. It really is quite amazing. I should know; I just did it tonight. But let me start from the beginning.<br />I decided to go to the mall after school today to pick up a few random yet necessary items. Now, in the States, I would know what to do. I would know which stores would carry what I needed at prices that I wanted, and I'd know where these stores were located, for the most part. And if not, I'd be able to search helpful websites to answer these questions. But here, well, none of that is true. I know a few stores down here, but I'm not familiar with the majority of the types of stores, let alone their names, price ranges, and stock. Throw on top of all that the fact that I didn't know the Spanish words for most of what I was looking for, and I was in for a long afternoon. I needed cheap sunglasses for my upcoming ski trip, guitar strings and bongos for the school's worship team, and that yellow mushy stuff that you use to stick things to the wall...what's it called?...I can't even think of the word in English now...Sticky tack? Man, that's going to bother me.<br />But I digress.<br />I invited a couple of friends to come with me, but by the time we got to the mall, they only had a half hour to stick around. Well, we found the bongos right away. Shocking? I thought so. I decided not to get them just yet so as to not have to lug them around as I did my other shopping. Smart move number one. Soon after my friends left, and I was on my own. Now, I have been to this mall several times, but I'm not overly familiar with the layout. I know where a few stores are, but that's it. I find it to be quite a confusing layout--like a rectangular tic-tac-toe board. For these reasons, I traversed the mall, right and left, up and down, back and forth, willy nilly, retracing my tracks and generally wasting time. I should also add that, having come straight from school, I was wearing my "nice" clothes, and my shoes were definitely not engineered for aimless marathon walking. They quickly grew uncomfortable and also had next to no traction on their soles. This made walking on the highly polished fake-marble tiled floors very treacherous! Especially when descending the slight ramp to the food court. I very nearly slipped and fell!<br />After wandering aimlessly and being discouraged at only finding sunglasses ranging from $70-$400, I decided to head to the one solace of the afternoon. This particular mall houses a Starbucks. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I indulged. And it was heavenly.<br />After this recharge, I was back on my quest for reasonably priced sunglasses and that sticky stuff. Well, I found $15 dollar sunglasses that look like bug-eyes, but at least they'll protect me from the wind as I fly (or should I say tumble) down the slopes on Thursday. I may never wear them again after that, but I had already resigned myself to that eventuality. I found the sticky stuff in a store where I had previously been to search for sunglasses. Oh the joys of not knowing your way around! This whole process took me approximately 17 times longer than it would in the States.<br />An hour and a half and 2 purchases later, I decided to go to the food court for dinner. I know if I didn't it would be very late until I got home and I certainly wouldn't feel like cooking anything. So I headed to Pizza Hut/Taco Bell. Interesting combo, huh? I waited in line for about a year and contemplated my choices. I noticed that they sell French fries as a side for everything: pizza, tacos, burritos, what have you. So I ordered a taco and papas fritas supreme, which is basically your typical nacho toppings (cheese, beef, sour cream, tomatoes, and chives) but instead glopped over French fries. This truly was an experience I could not pass up. It wasn't all <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> bad, although I had to eat it with a fork since the fries had become relatively soggy. I also had the wonderful privilege of experiencing taco sauce drip down the <span style="font-style: italic;">inside</span> of my sleeve. <span style="font-style: italic;">That </span>was thrilling, let me tell you.<br />Finally I was off for my last purchase: the bongos. I knew right where to go and I headed there like I was on a mission...the first time the whole shopping trip. I walk in to the tiny store and up to the counter. They smile and ask how they can help me. I falteringly tell them I need guitar strings (of which I suddenly can't remember the word for, so I just point at them right in front of me and say "these"...I don't even read the word printed on the packaging right in front of me), and then I point to and ask for bongos. This I remembered the word for because it's "bongos" just pronounced differently. They kind of give me this odd look, and one guy gives a quick, odd grunt/chuckle...a gruckle, if you will. I could read their thoughts in their eyes, "What the heck is this gringa who can barely say what she wants in our language going to do with guitar strings and bongos??" And then their look of thinly veiled bewilderment intensifies as I choose my items--a fairly high quality set of bongos and then the cheapest guitar strings they have. I am at times an enigma in this country. :o)<br />I leave the mall toting my large, bright yellow bag with the long bongo box in it. I decide that my best bet is to stop by school on my way home to drop the bongos off. It would be very difficult to travel with it in the cattle herding that it my morning commute. So I take a slightly longer path home in order to pass the school. Even still I run into some human traffic and inadvertently collide my box with some heels of people crowding in too close. This doesn't last long, thankfully, and I have room to breathe. Well, I make my stop at school, which basically involves getting off the metro that would take me almost straight home, walking about 8 minutes to school, making a much needed bathroom stop (thank you, Starbucks), trading my bongos for my backpack filled to near overflowing with school papers and clean laundry (I'm doing laundry at school since we still haven't bought a washer for our apartment...and we'll never be able to fit a dryer in here as well, anyway), and making the 8 minute walk back to the metro. It may have been the longest 20 minutes of my life.<br />At 8 o'clock I trudge into my apartment, having for the last hour ignored my feet's announcements of their displeasure at every step. I peel off the burdens of bookbag, purse, coat, scarf, and shoes and collapse onto my bed, wishing at that moment that I had a massage therapist at my beck and call. After a few minutes I come to grips with the reality that this is, in fact, <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> the case. I give myself some time to regroup, then pull out <span style="font-style: italic;">Uncle Tom's Cabin</span> to prepare for class tomorrow...<span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> an easy book to read when you're tired! I took a break from work to write this lovely commentary, and now I will head back to work and begin writing a test.<br />Is it Friday yet??<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-73232813262445777892008-08-14T05:27:00.000-07:002008-08-14T05:38:06.176-07:00Culture Shock<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">It's an interesting thing that I've been here over a year and I'm going through culture shock. But I am. And I know that culture shock goes in cycles, especially after having left the country for a bit, but it's still not a pleasant experience.<br />I'm not really quite sure why I'm feeling this way, and it's not a type of culture shock I've felt before. It comes in brief flashes when I'm not expecting it...usually when I'm not all that occupied with something else. I'll be riding in the car and think, "Ugh, this is not what things look like in the States." Or I'll see some missionary who's been here for decades and think, "Ugh, how can they stay here for that long? Doesn't it drive them crazy?" It's the strangest thing because I absolutely love this country and the fact that I get to live here for a while. I mean, there are some practical reasons why I'm frustrated. For instance, I still haven't found a cooking/meal schedule that doesn't involve leftover pizza. ;o) What's more, every basic little thing here is a chore: grocery shopping, renting a movie, going to a restaurant, answering the phone. I can cope with most of these things, but I never know when they're going to say something to me I don't understand. It can be very difficult. And I don't know why it bothers me so much, except for maybe because I so desperately want to be fluent in Spanish.<br />I guess this is hitting me now because I'm out on my own. I have to do more things for myself, and that leaves my weakness wide open and exposed. Plus, I guess the honeymoon is over. My first year is done, and this year is very different.<br />I don't know. I'm just talking through my thoughts on this blog. I am 100% certain this is where God wants me for now, and I'm thrilled about it. But being here isn't all sunshine and carefree days, and I guess I feel like I should share those sides of life with you too. So, if you could pray for me, I would love that. It does help knowing it's culture shock, which means it's a phase and should pass. But in the meantime, I'll be praying about it...<br />Ok, I should finish getting ready for school. I need to leave in 5 minutes! :o)<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-53762116351752960702008-08-10T19:42:00.000-07:002008-08-10T20:13:39.741-07:00Simple Discoveries and Strange Experiences<span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Well, the first week of school is over, and it's going to be a very different year from last year. There are less than two thirds of the amount of students we had last year, and most of the loud ones are gone. So it's much more tranquil than we're used to...and kids don't hang out in the halls as much and are consequently on time for class! I'm not used to such luxuries!<br />It's going to be a busy year for me. I'm doing the reading class this year, which I've decided is going to be a lot of fun. Mostly because I get to read the books with them, but they have to do all the work! I just sit there and make sure they did their roles well and guide the class as needed. I love it! It's a refreshing change from the typical class. My other classes (English) will be much the same as last year. I also gave up being in charge of yearbook and took on the chapel ministry (which is basically a worship team). I'm co-sponsoring the junior class this semester to help them raise funds for the banquet next semester. I'm helping lead the high school choir (a new addition) to prepare for the Christmas program they'll be taking part in. I'm helping record the accompaniment music for the elementary's half of the Christmas program. Sound busy? I think so. But I also added a non-school related ministry. A couple of the elementary teachers run a ESL class (English as a Second Language) and have been asking me to help out. This semester I said yes. So we teach two one-hour classes every Wednesday. I've only had one week, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I may not be cut out to be that kind of teacher. Ironic, I know, since I teach English at school! :o)<br /><br />Life in my apartment is going well. I really like my roommates, and we seem to get along well. We speak in Spanish about 80% of the time, so I've been learning a lot. Although, since they both know English, we can switch back and forth if we have to. This is very helpful in the morning when my brain is a little too sluggish to think in Spanish! :o)<br />We just got our fridge and stove hooked up on Tuesday, and I haven't had time to do grocery shopping since then, so meals have been an interesting experience. Hopefully I can figure out some kind of routine soon, because I want to get back to eating normal food and not prepared-by-a-culinary-challenged-bachelor type meals!<br /><br />After all that, I'll finally get to the items that inspired the title of this post.<br />You know, I've been here a year, and I'm still finding things out for the first time. For instance, last week I made a very simple discovery that made me soooo happy. In the whole time I've been here, I have not known that the Subway sandwich place exists in Chile. But last Saturday I found out it does. And not only that, but there's one a block and a half from my apartment! I don't know why that thrilled me so much, but I was definitely entertaining my roommates with my exuberance over sandwiches!!<br /><br />I've also experienced another first, and this happened just this morning. It was a very strange experience. I was on the metro heading to church, and I started to hear some strangely familiar words coming from a guy about 5 feet away. I realized he was speaking in English (although with a pretty thick accent), but I quickly understood that he was emphatically spouting some of the worst swear words and other crude comments that the English language has to offer. It was plainly obvious to me that he was saying all this for my benefit although he was talking to his friends. Since it was incredibly offensive stuff he was saying, I put on my best poker face, never looked over in that direction, and pretended that I don't understand English. It seemed to work. After a couple of minutes I noticed that one of the guys was slowly backing up to be closer to me. He stood parallel to me, but not overly close and he never made any kind of contact. I had a sneaking suspicion what was going on, and sure enough, when I quickly yet nonchalantly looked over at them, they had a camera out. They took his picture with me!! Not that it's going to be a good picture, because I tried to look as far away as possible and still look natural. I think they took several pictures though. This was definitely a first! It was the weirdest thing, like I'm some sort of celebrity or freak show...not quite sure which!! :o)<br /><br />I just never know what to expect when I'm down here. Some days are hum-drum, and others are anything but! Plenty of other things have happened already, including Children's Day at church, countless visitors at our apartment, an unwittingly illegal bonfire, a weekend retreat with the students, being tackled by some of the girls during a game, experiments resulting in small burns from a finicky shower, growing frustrations at my limitations in a Spanish speaking country, and many other things...but I've written a lot already, so I'll save some for another time.<br />Until then...<br />:o)<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-58312944445126507142008-07-31T20:23:00.000-07:002008-07-31T20:44:59.666-07:00Mustard seed faith<span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Do I have it? I have conflicting proof on that account. Let me explain. I came home after my first year in Chile to spend some time with family and friends and to raise more money for my second year. My mission would not let me come back to Chile until I had 100% of my support committed. When I landed in the States, I needed $4,300 and had 2 1/2 weeks to raise it! After a week I was down to needing $2,200. A day before I left I needed $800. Here's where my mustard seed faith comes in. I never doubted that the money would come in. I knew it would. I knew God wanted me here, so He would provide the money. I just wasn't sure when or how. Here's where my lack of faith comes in. I was only expecting the bare minimum of what I needed. I didn't even consider the possibility of getting more. Well, after I made a small presentation at my church, informing them about my need, I literally had people shoving checks into my pockets as I talked to other people about how to support me online!! When I counted it, I had received well over twice what I needed!!! What does this mean? It means that I was able to also pay for my plane ticket back to Chile, something that my non-mustard like faith hadn't even considered a possibility. Praise God that He does more than we can even hope or imagine!! I was truly humbled by the amazing generosity displayed that day.<br /><br />After a whirlwind trip in the States (honestly, I don't think I had more than one afternoon of solitude!), I returned to Chile on what was quite possibly the oddest flight I've ever been on. And I've been on maaaaany. It all started when we were on the plane, still at our gate at the Atlanta airport. People just couldn't sit still! The flight attendants kept announcing through the speakers that we couldn't go anywhere until everyone was seated. I swear that every time they said this someone else got up! People ran to the bathroom and rummaged around in the overhead compartments. Little children crawled, toddled and sprawled in the aisles. Flight attendants wandered around orchestrating an elaborate game of musical chairs, trying to reunite mothers separated from their children by those nasty seat-assigners. At one point they even had to make an announcement reminding passengers that sleeping on the floor was not allowed! And we hadn't even left the gate yet! Once we finally did get airborne, things seemed normal. Until my light (and the lights of the people next to me) decided to sporadically turn on and off. It was the oddest thing. Just when I thought it was the strangest flight of my life, the turbulence started. It wasn't the bumpiest I've ever experienced, but there was a LOT of it. In fact, the captain made the flight attendants stop serving dinner and take their seats. Of course, after they did this there was no more turbulence for quite awhile. However, it did return intermittently. Despite the Tilt-a-Whirl type flight, I was able to sleep, thanks to a very tiring 2 weeks and a couple Tylenol PM! But I think the turbulence must've continued, because I dreamed that I was living through an earthquake--a very long earthquake. :o)<br /><br />My first day in Chile was filled by spending time with my previous host family and unloading all the gifts I had brought back to them from various people. Almost a full suitcase just of gifts for different missionaries here! On my way home I found out that I did NOT have work the next day as we were originally supposed to. Yay for sleeping in! That was my plan. I spent a little while with my new roommates in my new apartment, and then went to bed. But sleeping in was not in the stars, I suppose. At around 9am I was awoken by a Sousa-like sound coming from what seemed my very bedroom. But actually there was a marching band (without the marching) at the hospital behind our apartment, and for 30 minutes they celebrated their anniversary with national anthems and other brassy songs. I was in heaven. After they were done, I fell back asleep, for awhile. My roommates had a meeting, and so I heard every labored step of our visitors up and down our squeaky stairs. I finally re-fell asleep and didn't wake again until noon! Oops! Well, I was very tired from my flight. I spent the day unpacking and relaxing. Then the next day it was back to work and life as normal.<br /><br />Thus, my first few days back in Chile. Strange, but good. :o)<br />I'm sure I'll have many more things to post about as this seems like it will be a very busy and entertaining semester!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-20642257408817660592008-06-28T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-28T07:09:00.175-07:00Financial Update<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Well, my first school year is almost over (4 days left!), which means that the next school years is just around the corner! There is a 4 week break between school years, and then we start all over again! I will be spending about 2 1/2 weeks at home in the States, and I'm so looking forward to it! I'm going to be able to spend time with friends and family, something I miss a lot.<br /><br />However, the main reason I'm at home is to finish raising support for my second year in Chile. I have received commitments of support for the majority of my needs. However, I'm still missing a good sized amount. It works out to be about $7000. (The absolute minimum is $6000, but this is cutting it pretty close.) And the kicker is, I have to have all of the money in or at least committed before I'm allowed to come back to Chile!! So that means, I have to raise $7000 before July 28th!<br /><br />I know that God will supply the funds, because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He wants me here another year. So I have faith it will come in, I'm just not sure how and when! So I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray about supporting me. It doesn't matter if it's a one time gift or a monthly donation. I need about 70 people to support me one time for $100, or about 10 people to support me $50 a month.<br /><br />Thank you all so much for your support over the past year. I can't wait to see how God works in the coming year as well!<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-84867094615387358792008-06-25T19:48:00.000-07:002008-06-25T20:07:07.229-07:00The Light at the End of the Tunnel<span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted! It's been a busy month, that's for sure. I had to catch up from missing school while I was in Argentina, then I caught a cold and had to catch up from missing school from that. Then the whole school was turned upside down. Let me take a minute to talk about that.<br />Instead of having a science fair every year, the school varies between science, art, language arts, and history. This year was the Language Arts Fair, so as you can imagine, I was pretty involved. There were two parts: writing and speeches. I had been working with them all semester on their essays in writing class. For the most part I was very pleased how well the kids did. I was so proud of them! The two weeks previous to the actual fair, kids were pulled out of classes to practice their speeches. When actual performance time came, my schedule was so different. I felt like I was running around like a crazy person, trying to teach, prepare for the following week, and still see (and video) as many speeches as possible. Then we had the actual awards ceremony that Friday night. It was an excellent time of awarding the winners and hearing examples of outstanding essays, stories, poems, and speeches. At the end of the night, flowers were given to all those who had a special part in making it possible: Linda Cross for organizing the whole thing, an American girl who came down just to help them practice their performances, the guest judges who came from different parts of Chile especially for this. I was not on the list, and I was ok with that because I wasn't expecting anything. It was my job to help them write well! Just after, at the end of the evening, one of my students stood up and said, "And I just wanted to thank Miss Kelly for being our writing teacher!" And everyone applauded, including some other kids sitting by him who I could tell encouraged him to do it. I've gotta say, that one comment meant more to me than any bouquets of flowers from school board presidents!! It's good to know the kids appreciate my teaching, even if I can't always tell! :o)<br />After the fair life calmed down for awhile. But just for awhile. The end of the school year is always crazy busy, and it was fast approaching. I was trying to get ready for it, but I felt buried already. Luckily (and thank God for this!), there's a girl here who came just to help at the end of the year. And so I've given her so much work, and she's done it so willingly, and I've been relieved of so much stress because of it!<br />Last week was the banquet (their version of prom). So of course the school was all up in a riot again. Schedules were changed, kids were antsy, tension was high. But the night ended up being so much fun, albeit cold!! (I brought my slippers with me to keep my toes warm under the table!) :o) About part way through the evening the MC (a very goofy Junior guy), said that the Junior class (which consists of 5 guys) had a surprise. They pulled a chair up on stage and asked me to come up there! I had NO idea what they were planning on doing! And I've gotta say, I was a little nervous! But it ended up that they had "prepared" a song to sing to me! Aw, how sweet! However, I could tell they hadn't rehearsed it much, because even with the lyrics on the music stand in front of them, I still knew the words better than they did! It was quite comical. At any rate, I was very touched as they sang "My Girl" along with the Temptations. A few of the others joined in for parts. A few times I had to help them along and sing with them! Haha. It was very cute.<br />Since then my life has been consumed with preparing for finals. I'm about done. Now it'll be consumed with finishing the yearbook. Then it'll be consumed with figuring my grades. Then it'll be consumed with packing up my things and moving to an apartment! Then I'll come home and my life will be consumed (but in a relaxing way) with seeing friends and family again! I can't wait!! I'll be home in 15 days, and I'm ready for the summer! It's cooooold down here!<br />Well, I'm tired and I've been typing typing typing today. So, until next time...<br /></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-22148645405663456072008-05-23T08:12:00.000-07:002008-05-23T09:02:08.861-07:00Stranded in Argentina<span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">It's been a crazy week, but an incredibly fun one!! But before I get to all that, let me back up to where my last post left off....<br /><br />After my weekend at the beach, the school was full swing into Spirit Week. Unfortunately I missed the first day due to being sick (which was sad, especially since I was one of the two in charge of Spirit Week), but it was good that I rested. I was there for the rest of the week and it was so much fun! The kids really got into it, more so than any other year, I'm told. We had "assemblies" in the mornings where they did things like pick team names, create team posters, create team cheers and team songs, and decorate office doors. We had a high school class teamed up with an elementary class to help bond the school even more. We had judges every day who looked at individual outfits, team participation, and creativity on the challenges. Then at the end of the week we treated the winning team to ice cream sundaes. It was a huge success... It was also very time consuming for me. I had to concentrate all my time on Spirit Week and on grading 33the first draft of stories for the Language Arts Fair that's coming up. All of my other grading just piled up! Luckily I was able to find a little bit of help. But I'm still behind, 2 weeks later!<br /><br />To see pictures of Spirit Week, click on this link:<br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/SpiritWeek?authkey=t-bDnDsxMgk">http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/SpiritWeek?authkey=t-bDnDsxMgk</a><br /><br />The following week was also really fun and really busy. I was able to hang out with a girl who's down here for a few weeks, so that was fun. I caught up on some of my grading, but I also still had the second draft of those 33 stories to grade for the fair. That certainly kept me busy. Then on Thursday I had to collect the final draft. Thursday was absolutely crazy. The papers had to be in a very specific format, and very few of the kids had it correct (they're not so good at following instructions). So I had to help them fix it, and the computers at school aren't Windows. It's a completely different operating system, and I'm not very well versed in it. So I was trying to learn it myself so I could help the kids. It was a very stressful day, as I had kids calling my name every minute or two to come help them. But I finally got everything in (even from the absent kids!), organized, and ready to be mailed off to the judges. The rest of my evening was dedicated to preparing for my trip to Argentina the next day.<br /><br />A group of six of us were heading off to Argentina for the weekend because one boy needed to renew his visa. A common way to do this is to leave the country and head to Mendoza, Argentina, a small city on the other side of the mountains. It's about a 7-8 hour bus ride, depending on how things go at the border. The original plan was to take an overnight bus Friday night, and come back Sunday during the day. Well, we found out the pass through the mountains was now closed at night due to snow, so we had to leave Friday afternoon. I had to scramble to get someone to cover my last class of the day, but it worked out.<br />So we headed out: me, Randy (the high school boy who needed the new visa), Mike (one of my friends here, the interim ABWE Chile accountant), his mom who is visiting for 2 weeks, Nikki Russell (she's on the field council too, and it's a really good thing she went with us!), and Jill, the girl who's here for a few weeks that I've gotten to know.<br />The trip there was pretty uneventful, except we were stuck at the border for a really long time for two reasons. Argentina was giving a diplomatic family from the Philippines a hard time about coming in to their country, which isn't supposed to happen. The family didn't speak Spanish, so the border people found Nikki and asked her to translate. This was also good because Nikki has an unbelievable skill at talking her way into or out of things, depending on which way she needs it to go. This came in very handy for us...You'll see what I mean. The other thing that held us up at the border was that one girl forgot her passport. Oops! They eventually let her through with a fine, but it did slow us down a lot.<br />Once in Argentina, we spent our days shopping, walking around town, taking a tour, going to Walmart, snapping goofy pictures, and generally having a good time. In one store, they called over their worker who speaks English (which was interesting since Nikki and I were talking to her in Spanish). We started chatting with this English speaker girl, and she was asking where we were from. I told her, and then explained that I was living in Chile. I went on to tell why, and she started asking what religion I was, Catholic? I told her Protestant, more specifically Baptist, and she got really excited. She was a Baptist too, and she was so happy to meet other Christians just out and about because she hardly ever does. So we talked for awhile (intermittently, since she had to keep leaving to help other customers), and she told me about her brother who lives in Tennessee, who she's worried about. She compared him to the Prodigal Son. Ironically, Jill is from Tennessee (although a different part), and was able to suggest one or two good churches that her brother could try going to. It was so incredible to meet a fellow believer, and to see that just talking to her about our common faith could be such an encouragement to her!<br />Well, the time sped by, and Sunday afternoon we headed to the bus terminal to catch our ride home. And that's when the real fun began. We were informed that the pass was closed due to snow, and it would probably be closed at least 48 hours. It all depended on the weather. So we were stuck in Argentina! Not a bad thing, if you ask me. The city was cute with plenty to do, and the weather there was absolutely gorgeous! So we made a few phone calls to inform people at home, called our travel agent in Santiago to get him to help us out, and I called the school to give them instructions on what to do with my classes in my absence. Luckily I had left my lesson plans at school...luckily I had them pretty much finished! :o)<br />We headed back into town and had to go to a different hotel since the other one had jacked up the price. Our first hotel was nice, but the rooms and beds were pretty small. Our second hotel was spacious, but it wasn't quite as nice. For instance, the toilet in the girls' room would clog all the time. So we had to keep asking for the plunger...we learned the Spanish word for plunger. And one time I had to go ask the front desk guy (who was pretty cute) for the plunger at 2am since the real Spanish speaker was already asleep. So Jill and I headed down there, tired (and therefore giggly) and a little embarrassed. We get down there and the front desk guy is talking to a group of 4 other guys! That made us giggle more. So I asked, he got us the plunger, and then I started to ask what I should do with it when I was done. But he cut me off half way through, thinking I was asking how to use the plunger, and he started to explain it to me. That made me laugh even harder. Oh, it was quite the experience.<br />We spent our extra days in Argentina doing more shopping, going bowling, going to the laundromat (since several of us had run out of clean clothes at this point), hanging out at the hotel and taking naps (pretty much the whole town closes down between about 2:30-5ish...this worked well for us since we stayed up late most nights. Naps were very welcome!). If we stayed another day we were going to go white water rafting, too. Amidst all the fun, we continued to call our travel agent and make trips to the bus terminal to check on the status of things. We kept checking the weather, and it didn't look like it was going to clear up at all the entire week! And Mike's mom and Jill are flying back to the States this weekend. We had to come up with Plan B since Plan A didn't seem like it would happen any time soon. We checked into flights, but the airlines take advantage of stranded people, and the prices were insane. So our other option was to take a bus through a different pass through the mountains, farther south. We had heard of one or two other people who had done this earlier in the week, but it didn't sound at all appealing, so we tried to hold off. But eventually we had to take it, being our only option. The reason this wasn't on the top of our list of things to do is because the ride through that pass and back up would end up being about 30 hours. Thirty hours on a bus!!! But we had to take it. Tuesday was the last day they were sending out these buses for the rest of the week. So we prepared ourselves for a very long trip.<br />It actually wasn't that bad. We had the front row of a double decker, so we had plenty of leg room. We were able to sleep a lot, although not well, and the bus made several stops...some for a few minutes, and a couple long enough for us all to eat. (At the border I had enough time to wash my hair, which was definitely a necessity!)<br />I will say this. We saw some of the shadiest bathrooms during our bus rides to and from Argentina (including the one on the bus!). You just never knew what you were going to get. At one place, as I was washing my hands, the lights in the entire area went out! It was pitch black in that bathroom! I heard my friends talking about me being inside, so I said "Nice." in a subtly sarcastic way, then headed toward the general direction of the door as they laughed. I found the door and clawed at it (I may have hammed up the situation a bit) in an attempt to find the handle. I got out, safe and sound, and handed my cell phone to Jill to use. For some strange reason my cell phone has a small flashlight on it.<br />Well, after many, many, many hours we got home, a little tired, but no worse for the wear. It was sooo nice to take a shower after that long trip! We ended up getting home around 9pm on Wednesday evening after a 31 1/2 hour bus ride. We were originally planning on being home Sunday evening! Luckily Wednesday was a holiday here, so I only missed 2 days of school.<br /><br />To see pictures of my time in Argentina, click here:<br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/Mendoza?authkey=OY_a1moXWY0">http://picasaweb.google.com/kellbellkw/Mendoza?authkey=OY_a1moXWY0</a><br /><br />Apparently the two days away were enough to make many of the kids appreciate me more. I received many hugs and cheers upon my return, and was told the "horrors" that were the substitutes. It feels good to be loved! I spent the day rearranging things, catching up from being gone, and getting back into the swing of school. It had been raining all week in Santiago, and we were joking that they may have to close school due to flooding. Well, around 6:30 this morning we got the call that school was canceled! I've had a one school day week!! Unfortunately I don't have all of my school work here at home (just some of it), so I'll probably have to make a trip in at some point this weekend. Like I said at the beginning, it's been a crazy week! But I had sooo much fun, and I'm so blessed that God has allowed me to meet some really awesome people and do things like this.<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7182525321489472142.post-36487280793221380502008-05-05T14:29:00.000-07:002008-05-05T14:49:31.490-07:00Grading, grading, and more grading<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> It's been crazy the last couple of weeks...again! The end of the quarter rolled around, which means I'm 3/4 done my first year here in Chile. Wow! It's flown by, and I've loved it! <br />But with the end of the quarter comes a lot of work, and that seemed to consume my life for the better part of 2 weeks. I had a LOT of grading to do, making sure everything was turned in on time, and then doing math (Yikes!) to figure out the quarter grades for report cards. It was hectic, but it was finally done last week! <br /> I had an interesting conundrum, because several people bombed my writing class. Now, I wasn't quite sure how to take this news when I figured the grades. I mean, I know it's a new class for me, and it's a new format for the kids, but I didn't think it would be this rough! I've been struggling with them for about a month now, because so many of them aren't following instructions. And with this writing class, if you follow the instructions and include all the requirements, you can get a good grade. So even those who are less adept at writing and communicating can do well. And, when followed correctly, it really does improve their writing. Well, several of them haven't bothered to follow the instructions. One or two because they genuinely don't get it, but most of them because they're too lazy or too indifferent to try. I wasn't quite sure what to do with this, so I called one of the administrators, who is infinitely more experienced than I am. She suggested that I curve the grades (just a teensy bit) since it's their first time with this course, but other than that, just let it go. The kids need to learn to follow instructions. They've had the luxury of being in a small school with lenient teachers who often are concerned with seeing that they understand the content rather than on how they present the content. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it needs to be in balance. So by letting some kids fail, hopefully I'll be teaching them some other life lessons that they haven't been pushed to learn yet. I don't know. I don't like failing anyone, but at the same time they earned it themselves.<br />Oh the joys of teaching! :o)<br />After the end of the quarter, we luckily had a long, holiday weekend. So several of my friends from church and I got together and headed out to the beach. (Granted, it's getting cold, so we weren't going to the beach for your typical "going to the beach" reasons.) I woke up Thursday morning to get ready to go, and realized I was coming down with a cold. Lovely. I was able to enjoy myself anyway, but it did get progressively worse throughout the weekend...to the point where Sunday and today I was at home in bed. However, it was so much fun with my friends, and it gave me 3 days to work on my Spanish. I learned a lot, of course, and made many mistakes, of course. I almost wish it had lasted a few more days, because by Saturday I really was feeling comfortable in Spanish. We had so much fun, going out to eat, going to the beach, taking crazy pictures, hanging out at the house we rented, laughing, talking, and just goofing off together. I'm so happy that there's such a great group at the church, and I can't wait until the day I can understand them! :o)<br />There are only two more months of school left, and then I'll be home for a few weeks before the next year starts. I'm hoping to be able to fit some more fun, new experiences into the next two months....including a possible weekend trip to Argentina, a day at an amusement park, and a weekend at another missionary's house for some more Chilean culture experience (they have several kids that I teach and I get along really well with all of them). Hopefully these things will come to pass!!<br /><br />It's hard to believe the next school year is only 3 months away, but it's true. What does this mean? I need to have 100% of my support in by then! I've sent out letters and spoken with several of my monthly supporters, so I've definitely gotten the ball rolling. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see how God provides! Please pray for me in this, because I'm not allowed to come back until I'm 100% supported. If you're interested in helping out, please check with me (or read the letter I sent) on how to do it. My monthly support level is now just over $1700, due to the drop of the dollar over the last year. I have a portion of that already committed, but I'm still lacking. <br />Thank you all for your encouragement, support, and prayers! I really do appreciate them all! It's good to know that my family back in the States is supporting me as I follow God's leading half way around the world!<br /></span></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02251746657104660332noreply@blogger.com0