08-11-08 G4

Today was my first day at G4, (I added a link to the school´s Web site, on the right), the basica where I´m going to teach. The students prepared a lovely ceremony, reading their best English off index cards. They sang the Chilean national anthem and also played a recording of the Star-Spangled Banner. Then, two pairs of students in traditional costumes (sombrero, shawl, boots, and ruffled dresses for the girls) danced the cueca, twirling white scarves in the air. (Just as Allison twirled her napkin on my last day of work!) The profesores had a little coffee and breakfast for me in the plush teacher´s lounge and told me to make myself at home. All of the teachers were very kind, although quite a few warned me that G4 is not only the smallest (126 students in 8 grades) school in Natales, but also one of hte poorest. Many students that do poorly in othe rpublic schools apparently wind up coming here. Until two years ago, it used to be a sort of boarding school for kids who had particularly bad lives at home. I met a psychologist who was on his way to make a visit to the hom eo a student who had not been showing up for school. Apparently last year´s volunteer had "discipline problems," but at least during my bisit today, I found no evidence of any of this--just lovely kids who were already calling me tia and running up to give me a kiss on the cheek. Claudio, the English teacher I´ll work with, and Ricardo, the school principal, took me on a tour of the school, which appears farily well maintained and active. There is one tiny room in the school with blue walls that they call the musuem. It is full of dead, stuffed animals, big and small--c cormorant, nandu, condor, and swan, even a Puma. The animals are old and worse for the wear, with fur and feathers that are patchy and matted down, but Ricardo seemed so proud to show them that I hesitated to say they were slightly sad, or scary. Then Ricardo, a heavyset bearded man in a suit, tie, and sweatervest, informed me that he used to unt. Once, he shot a guanaco. And when he walked up to his tach, he said the guanaco was still living. The animal raised its head to him, and Ricardo saw tears in its eyes. That was the last animal he ever shot, he said--now he just takes photos. But still, the school is proud of its little room and hwo it can be used to teach students. The aminals were donated from the Puerto Natales Musem, which no longer wanted its old collection. It´s turning out to be another relaxed week for me, since Claudio doesn´t teach Tuesday, and there are no classes Wednesday and Friday, because it is a holy day. The Spanish word for relax is descansar.