Fishermans Market

Hoy, we went to the fishemans market.  We walked around and talked to the fisherman.  Saw some sea lions up close and personal, I was so bummed I didn´t have my camera.  We talked to a nice old fisherman who voiced his frustration with the Ley Pescado.  Ryan fed a fish to the sea lions.

I want to go get an empanada and then we will watch a movie with Carlos.

Mc.Donalds is the universal drunk food, in every country. 

Chivelry- Carlos helped an older lady up the stairs with her bag

Spanis:
No me gusta- A me tampoco  (neither)
bajon- drunk food
la raja- bad word- like the shi**

Walk on the Coast

Today after class I walked from our metro stop Barron to Portales on the coast.  At first it seemed a little dodgy because it was 10am and there weren't many people around.  But then I saw 2 caberneros and more people so I felt fine walking along the path.  It was by the ship yard and smelled strongly of fish at times.  I sat down and watched some sea lions try and get up onto this tall cement structure that looked like an old bridge or dock.  The poor little guys couldn't make it up there. I have no clue how the other ones got up there either because it seemed almost  impossible.  They I walked more down the way past a run-down building and train covered in graffiti.  It was raining and sunny at the same time which made everything so beautiful.  As the sun came out it only lit up parts of the city slowly like they were in the spotlight. It was breathtaking.  Of course it was something my camera couldn't catch but as always I tried anyway.

pastel de papas, sweet mashed potatoes (sweetened with sugar) and meat and onions on the bottom

Elementary school y dinner con burns

Vocab:
Q hielado- how icy aka freezing

Today we went to a jesuit school called Centro San Ignacio de Loyola Valparaiso.  Originally this school was created to educate the lower class and is part of the web of Fe y Alegria (faith and happiness).  This school was very interesting because they are working to provide education of the same quality for everyone.  They are also part of the REI (la red educacional Ignacia) to help vulnerable families obtain better education.   Their goal is to make the education in their school more equal with more solidarity in hopes that this will carry on and create a better society in the future.

I forgot my camera so I borrowed on of the school from google

Stats:
746 students (kinder-8th grade)
60% socially vulnerable

Impressions:
they loved their principal
2 grade one main teacher one helper for 40 students
8 grade wilder and flocked us as we came around
Happy environment with very hospitable people (they gave us tea, cookies and bread as we discussed our impressions) everyone was so nice and willing to answer questiosn

Upper grades had less women due to old traditions of separating the genders and it used to be a only boys school

Grading System:
2 reds (which is less than a 3 on a 1-7 scale) then they have to repeat the year
Students with special needs stay in the same classroom but have special exams (assessment) and workshops
Summer is 2 months around January
Each class has a book with a picture of each student where they take good or bad notes about their behavior, they use these books to determine how to punish

Price:
20,000 Chilean Pesos per month- food provided by government  ($40,000 per month)
Low income students don't have to pay- there is a limit of 7 students per class with financial assistanships
There is a weightlist to get accepted and the headmaster interviews the families

Education Structure:
1a and 1b were when classes came in at different times in the day one in the morning/afternoon
Offered electives outside of the required classes, some of these electives they worked out a partnership with other schools to use their resources (for swimming went to a neighbor school for their pool)
1 day per week the older kids stay till 5
Offer a preuniversity class that is not necessary but prepares them for the PSU (ACT)

Interesting fact was that they allow their students to have a voice in the Centro de Alumnos and this teaches early on accountability and democracy because the students hold their elected president accountable.


Dinner at The O'Higgins Restaurante en Valpo

Google image, we were there at night, it was just a couple blocks away from our university

O'higgins liberated Chile from Spanish rule.  It was a really nice restaurant with a giant fireplace.    I think it was the first time that I took of my jacket when I ate in a restaurant. It was so nice and toasty.  The food was also amazing I got a fish (Reineta) covered in onions tomato and ham.  Then on the side it came with sauteed veggies.  I do wish it came with a heavier starch because I ended up eating a lot of Retmals fries.  Burns gave me a look like I see what you're doing.  He also teased Retmal because his meal looked like a fancy chicken friend steak.  We mostly discussed what we liked and didn't like about the program and Chile. Lindsey had the most to say because she had been here the longest.  Mr./Mrs. Hargis gave us some none stick pistol pete stickers for our phones and paid for dinner.  For desert we got tres leches cake which was amazing.  The director of International programs at PUCV was also very interesting he picked out all the wines and the restaurant and told us what he recommended. He also told me that Once, used to stand for a drink with 11 letters, so it was code word for Chileans to go get an afternoon drink.  He said Chileans know how to drink and enjoy wine.

http://www.restaurantohiggins.cl/valparaiso/

Walking tour 2

19 Julio
Fuimos a (we went to)
- Pablo Neruda's house La Sebastiana. Neruda was an awesome dude. I officially love every single one of his houses. This one had a great view of the beach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda
- walking tour of the street art
- had a traditional dish AKA huge fat lunch. It consisted of french fries, egg, onion and a huge I MEAN HUGE pile of meat. This was a beast. I ate way too much of it. But hey, it's a cultural experience right? It was in this amazing cool resturant with nick nacks all around the room and people wrote on every possible surface. I am pretty sure they only surved the fry dish too. The place is J Cruz and was in Valpo (cool website below)
http://www.jcruz.cl/

- bought my ticket to Peru after extensive deliberation
- went to class around 6:30 then the sniffles came into play, full force. In class we learned more about the chilean education system. This link talks about it more extensively http://www.mineduc.cl/
-was miserable and had to take a cold shower when I got home. Needless to say, my cold is sticking around :(

Hoy necesito descansar. Today I need to rest. Class this morning was interesting but yesterday was a very long day.

Hoy y ayer: Un foro Education forum y walking tour

Ayer: Yesterday: cloudy for the most part then it cleared up in the evening

Yo, Martha, Dana Lyn, Katie y nuestros profe went to a education forum they were having at the Maritime Museum.  It started at nine and our professor picked us all up in his car and drove us there.  It is on the top of a hill and at times it was a little scary to be a passenger in his car.  But we arrived safe and sound.  I was so thankful he drove us too because it would have been pretty difficult to find.  The forum was completely in Spanish but very luxurious.  It was in the center plaza area of the museum and it served cafe/te (tea and coffee) with cookies then a lovely lunch with wine and juice.  There was also ceviche with salmon that was SO YUM.  The presentations were pretty easy to understand. Some of them were a little boring. It was kind of interesting because it was a ton of scholastic 'good ole boys' who at times seemed very pompous.  For the most part they were all very liberal as well, but I think that happens in academia.  Our teacher was just cracking us up the whole time.  He is so blunt.  He talked about how when he was a young man and started getting recognized he was so arrogant as a result of the attention from his work.  It was also weird to think that all of these older Chilean men have lived through a coup and then a dictatorship where most of them fled.

There were presentations then they all sat at a table and discussed subjects. That was a bit more boring because some of them dragged on and held the floor. Even the men were bored. Passing notes etc. Playing with they eyes glasses.

Martin Carnoy, from Stanford, spoke with us quite a bit. Mostly because he spoke English.  He was an interesting man, but like the others really enjoyed to hold the floor. He is very knowledgeable about education and technology.   After all the presentations we went to look around and got to see the sunset on Valpo.  It was so beautiful.  There were some artisans selling things by the lookout.  It was overall a great day.

Then that evening I went over to Katies house and met her parents chilenos and watched the thunder game.  Her house is very lively with a bunch of kids (our age mostly).  It was fun to meet them all.

Hoy: cloudy all day then rained in the early afternoon to night
We went on the walking tour and got to see all the street art and took a gondola (the acensador) elevators to the top and bottom of the hill it was a blast.

Also, I think it rains 50%+ of the time here

boy on the train spoke spanish