12th August 2010
TRAIN / JOBS / MUSIC
Valparaiso is the town of universities. The problem they have here, is that there is such a status of having a degree that everyone wants one. Most people believe that you will not earn good money unless you have some backing of a qualification. This means that the country lacks trades people. They are not paid a lot so people do not select these jobs as a career option.
Valparaiso and Vina have about three music schools between them at a university level. It is not uncommon to be in town and see people walking around with guitars or carrying musical instruments of some kind. I love it J
Today when I got on the train, a student was playing an accordion to the passengers. He was doing this in expectation of tips. I have a short clip on my camera I am hoping to download for you to see.
ASCENSOR
Used the as censor today. Valparaiso is a lot like Wellington. It has lots of hills and Mountains. Even though it is miles away I can see the Andes Mountains out my bedroom window. Just like Wellington they have a cable car that ascends the hill the ‘as censor’ It has two carriages that work on a cable system, as one ascends the other descends. It is really old and made of wood. You can see through the gaps in the floor boards the ground beneath you as you go up – basically grass and rocks. My family has a book of movies and there was a movie called ‘Valparaiso mi amor’ made in 1969 that uses the cable car. It hasn’t changed from the pictures in the book since then, except maybe for a new paint job but I wouldn’t know as they are in black and white. You pay $300 once you have completed your journey at the booth at the top. Outside is a rotunda overlooking the city and an array of small stores selling products. Unfortunately this is not the summit of the hill, I still have to climb a little way walking up the streets before I can return to my house.
SAN IGNACIO
I attend San Ignacio every Tuesday and Thursday. Today was a kind of second introduction to the school. I spent the day with another ‘Profesora’ I visited classes, spoke about NZ and observed. The level of English at this school is really quite good. The students were able to ask me things like: Who are your descendants? What is your favourite…? What did you notice that was different about Chile from NZ? What are the native animals? What animals are dangerous? Who is the Prime Minister? What is a mythical creature of NZ? I had to draw a picture of this on the whiteboard. They understood explanations such as indigenous, the origins of NZ names, a very brief explanation of Waitangi Day … The students today were aged between 15 – 18 years old.
Things that I noticed about the classrooms: Most of them were small for the amount of students. None of them had a TV, a DVD player or computer. Some of the lower classrooms had bars across the windows. This served two purposes. One was to stop thieves, the other to stop balls from breaking the windows as this classroom faced the one and only basketball court. I have only seen 2 computers in the staffroom for the entire staff. One of the teachers I am observing has her own personal computer, I am not sure of the other. The teachers move classrooms, the students stay in the same one. They have double periods of the same class, so lessons last 45 x 2 = 1 ½ hrs. The timetable looks like this: Not sure how the lunch works, but will find out.
8:00am – 8:45am
Double lesson
8:45am – 9:30am
RECREO
9:45am – 10:30am
Double lesson
10:30am – 11:15am
RECREO
11:30am – 12:15pm
Double lesson
12:15pm – 13:00pm
RECREO
13:15pm – 14:00pm
Single lesson
14:00pm – 14:45pm
14:45pm – 15:30pm
Double lesson
15:30pm – 16:15pm
Between classes the classroom remains open for the students use. The teachers carry a book with them about each class. E.g. 3MED. Once the class is over, they write what they have done with the class in the book and then leave it on the table for the next teacher to collect. This gives an overall image of what the class has learnt.
LANGUAGE
Yesterday was very frustrating for me. I have difficulty with Spanish verb conjugations. I reached saturation point trying to cope with daily life. I need sentences to be short and precise. i need only one version to be given to me as I get lost when alternative ways of saying things are said. I lost count of how many times I didn’t understand what was being said to me. Sometimes you feel like finding a corner and just hiding. This of course is not the best way to learn a language, so you get out there and know that things will improve even if it is slow.
BUYING AN ERASER
I decided after school today that I would go to a supermarket. So when I got off the train I found the local tourism office – which I think was really a travel agent, grabbed a map, got told that it was three blocks away and started walking. On the way to the supermarket which I never found, I spotted this stationery shop. It had lots of see through counters with glue sticks and pens, books and all other kinds of writing utensils in it. So up I walked to the counter. I didn’t know the word for glue stick, but luckily enough it was next to the lady serving me so I pointed and got the idea across. Next, I wanted an eraser and my mind went blank. I asked for a ‘lapiz correcto’ Lapiz in Chile does not mean pencil it means pen and or pencil, so I got shown correction fluid as an answer. I looked all around and guess what, no pencils on display. So I tried again ‘Es no duro’ it’s not hard. The lady had no idea what I was on about. And then, I spotted a pencil with a rubber on top. So I said the blue pen please, she passed me over the whole display lol I pointed to the top of the pencil which had a rubber and she got it – great I thought that’s it! But not quite, she directed me over to a window where I had to pay. The lady wrote down the amount on paper, I paid and got a stamped receipt and then I got directed to another counter. Here, another lady was bagging my goods. I had to show the lady my stamped receipt before I could pick them up. I’m not sure which was the most surprising, not knowing the alternative word for pencil in Chilean or passing through three people to buy an eraser.
Diego says:
LAPIZ has an accent above the A and means a pencil. Or you could say ‘lapiz grafito’ – this would be a graphic pencil.
‘Un lapiz pasta’ means pen with ink. They use the word pasta because the ink is not runny it is thick.
A calligraphy pen is ‘pluma’ – this originates from the olden times when people used to use feathers to write.
3 POSITIVES
1. People say my Spanish is improving. I think that I am making more of an effort. The language itself is not necessarily improving just the quantity of what I say
2. I can make myself understood through body language
3. I am enjoying visiting San Ignacio
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