Flojera Fin de Semana

(Lazy Weekend).

While my weekly schedule does not exactly include grueling hours; the weekends here are something to look forward to.  Classes end at 1:00pm every Friday for the students and teachers. Our typical weekend includes a weekly Friday afternoon trip to Temuco for groceries, shopping; perhaps a meal (completos, pizza, or churrascos in Lautaro) or a visit with extended family. 

Saturday mornings I am often the first to wake-up around 9:00 or 9:30am and usually make myself a tea and read in my bed until the family wakes up. We have a leisurely breakfast in pajamas around 11:30. That is followed by Antonia and me playing computer games, bilingual Bananagrams, or the Chilean version of “My Name is Alice, I live in Arkansas and I sell apples.” (Mi nombre es Antonio, vivo en Argentina y se vende aceitunas…” Usually our afternoon ritual is complete with dubbed Disney Channel programs streaming in the background. Somewhere around 3:00pm, seemingly just after I have digested breakfast, we eat lunch (lasagna, homemade pizza, etc). In the evenings we have once and a glass of wine followed by watching a movie together. Sundays are much of the same usually including an afternoon visit to one of the abuelas.  

In Milwaukee for the past two years the weekends were usually faster paced rather than a time to slow down after a busy week. With working a job that I loved and still upholding “social commitments,”  a few hours on Sunday evenings with a homemade dinner with my roommates (if we were lucky and not clocking hours at Raynor)was as close as we got to winding down.  

Quite contrarily, the work days in Chile are much longer for most people and the only chance to relax is on the weekends. An interesting difference is the mother still works very hard on the weekends. After preparing and cleaning breakfast, all of the beds are made and laundry is folded. When that is completed it is nearly time to prepare lunch. The cycle begins again in the afternoon. My natural instincts are to help with dishes or give her time to rest but it is the culture and they are accustomed to catering on their families.  She has allowed me to help or watch her special recipes that I plan to try to replicate at home. I am learning to enjoy the downtime to relax and reflect. I do really miss brunch, however.

"Hello Miss!"

This is what I am greeted with innumerable times a day in thick Chilean accents with an emphasis on “i” causing it to sound more like “Meees.”  Occasionally the greeting is followed by quick “I love you!” as I walk to class. I smile to myself because in some ways I still feel like I was just in high school and in others I think of how much I have done since then. 

                I have the fortune of living next to my school, but not only for the convenience of a 3 minute round trip commute.  This allows me to see the students outside of class, meet parents, greet them at the store, and truly feel like part of a community. It also allows me to reflect on the lives of the students and their situations.

Galvarino is a small town. Including all of the surrounding campos and rural neighborhoods it is home to 14,000 people.  A large number of the students are of Mapuche origin, the indigenous people that settled in the region. Araucania, my region, is the poorest in all of Chile.  For this reason, the students have very low expectations and motivations to create new lives for themselves. It is a generalization based on observation and conversation and, of course, there are exceptions. However, the reality of settling and living a life mirrored to the previous generations greatly outweighs the desire to excel or surpass these expectations for most of the students. 

I have seen in the school the lack of motivation but also the lack of expectation. Teachers and administrators try to encourage the students to complete tasks but there is very little enforcement or consequence. Initially I was frustrated by the lack of order and discipline in the high school. I have learned to be more patient and accepting of the different culture while also upholding my beliefs on education and respect. Often times I want to stand on a soap box about how they can excel and succeed but with lack of familial support, financial situations, and personal incentive all contribute to the reality that many of them will never leave Galvarino. 

Many of the students during our discussion on why we were learning English had nothing to say. One problem that I have detected is the difficulty they have in the native language. Deficit in spelling, reading or speaking in ones native language makes it nearly impossible to acquire a second language. 

This reflection is not meant to disparage the educational system or the municipality by any means. They are all thoughts that I have made through my observation and help me to further understand another world. It makes me additionally grateful for my educational opportunities. It helps me realize that my being here is not necessarily going to encourage them to study abroad in an English speaking country because that is not a priority. I hope that I am able to facilitate their learning and give them more individualized support to help them recognize their significance in their world.