Día de Recreación

Hola Todos!

Hey Guys! How are you doing? Well, I am here at the Public Library in Copiapó using the free internet. Why am I here you ask on a Monday when I should be in class? Well, once again the Professores in Chile are on strike over the money that the government owes them. This time only 50 % of the teachers are striking...unfortunately the professors at my school are a part of that statistic. Anna's school has decided not to strike and to continue classes so that is why today she is teaching and I am visiting the Library. So, with all this free time on my hands I thought I would post and tell you guys about the event at my school last Wednesday called "Día de Recreación."

But first, have you guys ever seen or tried this fruit before?

This is a Chirimoya or "Wood apple" in English. It is a common fruit here in Chile and Anna loves them! I think that they are ok...they kind of have a funny flavor and a ton of seeds.

Anyways, so last Wednesday I didn´t teach because once again we had a celebration. AGAIN!! I swear, Chileans celebrate everything!! Wednesday´s celebration was called "Día de Recreación" or "Recreation Day." The whole day was filled with recreation games and activities.

Here are some of my 7th grade students playing ping pong while waiting for the activities to start. I thought that they were pretty clever to convert a table from the cafeteria into a ping pong table with a card board strip as the net. They talked me into playing a game or two with them, so I hung out for awhile and tried to dust off my ping pong skills. It was fun to connect with the students outside of the classroom.


The first event of the day for the young kids was an Aerobic Class. I watched a little, but I did NOT want to dance so I hung out in the back and talked with the kids. After that the PDI, or Chile´s FBI of sorts, came with their Canine Unit and put on a demonstration for the kids. The kids loved the show and kept chanting "Canela, Canela, Canela", the name of the dog, over and over again. Whenever the dog came near them they lunged forward and tried to pet it. A few times they charged the field to pet the dog and the Director or Principle had to shew them away and tell them to sit down (only in Chile :).

One of the things that the PDI Detectives did was have their search dog look for a "drug" that they had placed in one of the kids backpacks. Or course the kids loved being a part of the show and seeing the search dog at work. The demonstration wasn´t super long, but it was fun to watch the police interact with school kids just like they do back in the U.S.

After the PDI demonstration I watched some of the kids play "baby fútbol." Baby fútbol is a smaller version of soccer with 5 players on each team that play on a smaller concrete field and with a smaller soccer ball. While I was watching some kids from my 6A class asked if I wanted to play some Jenga. I said "Yeah!" and found myself battling it out with 6th graders to see who would win at Jenga.

Here I am taking my turn at pulling out a block. Just like with Ping-Pong it was fun to connect with the kids outside of the classroom. They really didn´t care who won or lost, they just wanted to hang out and spend time with the strage Gringo, me!

Here are the 5th and 6th grade classes battling it out. You guys would be amazed at how good these kids are! They play very seriously and with a lot of passion which make it a lot of fun to watch.

Well, that was basically "Día de Recreación"; lots of games and activities. Some of you are probably thinking the same as me "don´t they ever have class and study?!" But, then you have to look at things from their perspective...they´ve asked me "Why do you guys celebrate so little in the U.S.?" When you really think about it what do we celebrate in the U.S. at school? In Elementary School I remember dressing up for Halloween (Kindergarten), dressing up with my classmates as a Pilgrim or Indian for Thanksgiving, having a class party for Christmas, Easter, and Valentines Day. That is a lot of fun activities, but we always did things on a smaller scale from what I remember. When I compare the funnest activity I did in Elementary School it pales in comparison to the celebration of the "Aniversario" or "Día de Independencia" at my colegio. Both of those activities involved the whole school and in the case of the Aniversario each class was pitted against the others for a championship.

What you have to realize is that here in Chile they love to enjoy life and be with friends and family and so they have lots of holidays and celebrations. Part of me sees the inefficiency in that, but then part of me wishes I had grown up that way too.

Well, I hope that you guys enjoyed today´s post! :) Since the Strike is "undefined", meaning there is no exact end date, I may be able to post again soon. But with only 4 weeks left I would prefer to be teaching so pray for a quick resolution between the Gov. and the Professors. Thanks and ¡Hasta luego!