Bailes Típicos and Great Traditions

When we were in Lima in July, we went to a special buffet lunch as guests of Victoria Campoverde's family (one of my former teachers at Joyce Preschool). It was a delightful day and included with the lunch (which last for several hours) is a show that highlights some of the typical dances from each region of Perú. I was incredulous that the entire restaurant full of Peruvians all knew the lyrics to all the songs and the dances (as was obvious as volunteers from the crowd were pulled up to dance).

Well, so it goes in Chile. I think it's one of the coolest traditions. Every year at fiestas patrias time (independence days parties) all the school children learn a different regional dance and perform it in traditional costume.

Our kids had so much fun. Theo danced the "Costillar" from Chiloe and Gracie danced the typical "Cueca" from central Chile. We all are singing the "costillar" song - or humming as the case may be -since Theo is the only one that knows all the lyrics.

It was a lot of fun and all the kids did a fantastic job. Here are some photos (I'll see if I can get Dan to put up the video) of their dances.
- Laura

¡Apagón!

The ships in the harbor, and a few emergency lights, were all that was shining Saturday night.  Photo from UPI, via here.

It's been quite a year to be here in Chile.  Violent protests, massive demonstrations, student strikes, a tsunami alert, a soccer game cut short by tear gas and riot police, and earthquakes strong enough to wake us from a deep sleep.  What's next, you might ask?  How about a massive, nearly nationwide electrical blackout affecting more than 10 million people?

It's kite-flying season here in Valparaíso, with 15-20 knot winds almost daily.  But it was a beautiful calm evening on Saturday when the lights went out.  As we looked out our window we saw only darkness in the city below, and as we watched the lights of Viña del Mar, the city up the coast, dimmed and flickered out as well.  An ominous red glow flickered above the mountains to the north, over the oil refineries and power plants of Ventanas.  Uh oh.

We filled up water containers, and dug out an FM radio, anticipating a long outage.  The radio confirmed that the capital, Santiago, was also dark, as well as smaller cities up and down the country.  There was no indication of what might have gone wrong.  We sat around the candle and told stories from power outages and storms of the past.

But then, an hour or so later, the lights came back on.  Two days later, the news is still reporting only 'instability in the power grid' as the cause, and small regions up and down the country continue to have brief unexplained blackouts.  And we find ourselves wondering again, what's next?

Gracie's birthday party!

Hi everyone I had a really cool birthday party on Friday and I am going to tell you all about it!

For my birthday party we decided to do it in our house and do some games from the United States. So on Friday right after school we took all the girls in my class to our house. They were all really tired by the time we got up to our house so, we had some water and a snack. Then to start with the games we played two rounds of musical chairs, after that we played pin the tail on the donkey with counting in different languages then after a break of making sugar cookies to finish the games we decided to play Pictionary which was hard but fun. Then for the end of the game time we colored eggs which was fun to do it again for me and Theo and a fun new experience for the other girls.



After that we eat tacos, some dessert ,and some crazy fun time.



I really liked my birthday party being in Chile because it was fun to show my friends some traditiones from my country. But I kind of missed having it the U.S.A. because there we have a park so that we could play outside because here our house got a little destroyed.


Grace

My new creations

I've gotten busy all of a sudden. I'm doing some pro bono nonprofit work, connecting with the ICA (Institute of Cultural Affairs) facilitators network here and teaching an English class. It's a bit of a shock to be so busy, but I interested in it all. I'm having to reprioritize my time a bit. More on those experiences later.

I am still managing to hang on to my once a week mosaics class and I continue to love it. It's a bit like gardening for me - I completely lose myself in it. No multitasking, no coordinating multiple family schedules and needs. I turn off my phone and just cut tile.

Here's a photo of my teacher Monica, and my friend, Cecilia, who has now joined our class. We went on an outing to buy some beautiful ceramic tiles and see some cool mosaics along the way. We stopped for sushi and lots of laughs afterward.

My two latest projects are the box and the flower pot - thanks for indulging me and looking at all three angles of the pot. I haven't told Dan yet, but I am thinking if I can't get a job upon returning to Minnesota, maybe I can just make mosaic flower pots! :-)
Laura

Great article about schooling abroad

For all of you who have taken your kids abroad and those of you who are considering it, here's a link to a great New York Times article Dan's friend Celia pointed out. This family's experience in Russian schools is fascinating and hard core. We could relate to the desire to attend a local school and some of the challenges involved with that decision. All four of us enjoyed reading the article.

My Family’s Experiment in Extreme Schooling - NYTimes.com

Ciao,
Laura

Felices Fiestas Patrias Chile!

September 18th is Chilean Independence Day and we have seen weeks of build-up for the four-day weekend; Chilean flags everywhere, cueca (a traditional dance) outfits sold at every street corner, fair grounds converted into ramadas - filled with rides, food, and games, the kids learning several traditional dances in gym class, runs on meat at the grocery store, etc.

This weekend is not so different from the 4th of July or Thanksgiving in the States, when family all gather and eat! We made it through four asados (bbqs) and/or picnics in two days and then we ran out of steam.

Today, I told our neighbors we were just resting and eating vegetables all day and they were so appalled that they sent over more grilled meat to our house tonight!

Here's some of the essentials for Chilean fiestas patrias:
- Flags everywhere: on cars, flying in front of houses, on kites!
- Asados; a lonely day for vegetarians.
- Rodeo complete with cowboys
- Cueca dancing
- Some chicha (fermented grape juice), good wine or pisco sours
- Gathering with friends and family
- Kites (September's winds provide recreation for young and old. Everywhere you go kites are high over head, especially in the cerros (hills) of Valparaíso.

It was a lovely weekend and we were lucky to share it with some good Chilean friends.
Laura

Happy 10th Birthday Grace Harriet!

Double digits! Wow!

Everyone in Gracie's class made a birthday card for her today - replete with Chilean flags no less (as Independence celebrations approach this weekend)!

Then this evening, the four of us headed out for our favorite ice cream (with a candle) at Amor Porteño and pizza at Allegretto at one of the nearby cerros (hills). We ate in that order because the ice cream shop closes early and the pizza shop doesn't open until late. Yum. Cards and gifts from all the grandparents (no small feat) topped off the evening!

At one point at dinner, we went around the table and talked of all the other places we might visit someday. Just hanging out in Minnesota for awhile was definitely on the list, but so was visiting all of Asia! Who knows where these kids will end up someday.

Because its the equivalent of Chilean 4th of July this weekend, we've postponed a friends' party until next weekend. More on that later. Also pictured, is Gracie testing for her first Tae Kwon Do belt last night. We're so proud of Gracie. What a neat kiddo she is growing up to be.
-Mom

p.s. Thanks for all the great messages! It was really fun for Gracie to hear from so many of you.