These Days

 New Gringos in Calama,  por fin.

 "These days I seem to think about how all the changes came about my ways..."
--Nico

Vacation ended, as it must, after a very short two weeks and I was once again back in Calama, acclimatizing as best as I could.  This meant congestion, nosebleeds, and ashy skin.  Despite having spent fourth months in the desert already, it was a full two weeks before I was at stasis levels.  I arrived on Saturday night from Santiago, had a day to decompress, and Monday I was back in the fray at Luis Cruz Martinez (my school.)  This semester I was only teaching the Primeros (Freshmen) and Segundos (Sophomores) and after a week of observing their classes and introducing myself, I could already tell that things were going to be better than they had been with the Terceros (Juniors) and Quartos (Seniors.) The younger kids, by and large, are more interested in learning and already have a more proficient grasp on the language.  This is due to a few factors, not least of which being that they are part of the first generation in Chile to have benefited from mandatory English schooling beginning during 5th grade level.  The classes are better, but I have more of them and have to spend considerably more time at the school, getting there early everyday.  My second week back, one of the the three teachers I work with, Nelida, fell ill and from Tuesday on I took over her Segundo classes.  I volunteered to do this not realizing I would have to come up with a lesson on the fly for 80 minutes and 45 kids each class.  Everything worked out and I became further convinced that I could easily be a regular English teacher in Chile, not that it's something I care to do.

Other things were different as well.  After a few days back in Calama, I finally met the one host brother I had yet to see because of his being at university in Valparaíso.  Pancho, as he is called (the nickname for Fransisco), is nineteen years old and an engineering student.  While he was here he and my host-dad (whom he calls tio, or uncle) fixed the solar water heater and now it is not necessary to light the calefont every time we want hot water.  We shared the bunk bed in "my" room during his stay, but he pretty much kept to himself; playing Wii or basketball, not much else.  He looks very much like Carlos, whom he favors in temperament, but all three brothers are extremely different.

Our Star Trek-esque interface for the solar water heater.

 Ryan and I began, on the Monday after I got back to Calama, a work-out routine.  We were both sick of bread guts and decided to go out and join the fitness club.  Our fee allows for three days a week for a month.  Our schedules being what they are, we have to go after classes when the place is packed, but thus far it has worked out.  We also started long distance running on the weekends.  I immediately dropped two kilos just from exercising at all and cutting out the pan intake.  

For the past four months there have only been four volunteers in Calama, and Ryan and I were the only ones who saw each other.  Every once and a while we would see Mary (like when we went to Antofagasta) but we had started to believe Hannah had never really existed and we had just made her up.  However, the past two weeks since the ending of winter vacations have seen an influx of new gringo blood into this dusty city.  Almost all females, and numbering close to 10 people, the new volunteers belong to the 5 and 4 month programs and will be sharing our mise--er, uh, I mean, experiences until we all head out at the end of November.  Ryan and I decided, since we hadn't met everyone yet, to organize and asado in Parque Loa (the one pretty part) and invited everyone.  He and I mastered the grilling portion, and the event went quite well except for the cadre of dogs that surrounded our picnic table and the two extremely drunk, crazy people that accosted us at various times throughout the day.  Mary came too, as well as Hannah, proving that she is indeed alive.  Now we all have new playmates that speak English, so the next four months ought to be vastly improved.

As I write this, I am a few days over halfway through my time here, and its hard to imagine being here for the next half.  However, to quote the under-appreciated masterpiece of Crusader cinema, Kingdom of Heaven, "God wills it!"