The Volunteers Celebrate!

Cueca dancing...

food....

pisco sours....

coffee...and english learning buttons?...

smiles...

..and sharing stories. It was beautiful to see how our experiences together merged into a brilliant patchwork quilt: every person had such a distinct experience, but together we were able to cover chile with our love, passion and effort. and....We have all made some beautiful friendships along the way.

El Fin

The end is finally here.

I am writing from Santiago, where i started my Chilean adventure. It is nice to be with all the other volunteers again to share stories, reflect, and celebrate. We also have the opportunity to give feedback to the ministry to improve the program. Tomorrow we end with a bang!...a formal ceremony at the UN. Afterwards, I will return to Curico to have a goodbye bbq with the family and pack up my things. Nicole and I are then taking a week vacation to Buenos Aires to reward ourselves for an awesome school year. I will be home on December 17th...in time for Christmas and to be a bridesmaid in my best friends´ weddings. It will be good to be home.

I am going to miss many things about my chilean experience:
my adorable chilean family, my energetic students, the lively community of curico, but most of all, the peace i found here.

Sure, there were difficult times, but i knew that i would encounter challenges with this type of independent program, not knowing the langauge or culture and having to adapt to a whole new world. I am now a stronger person for sticking it out through the more difficult moments.

I learned so much about life and about myself. I came here to teach, but in reality, i think learned the most of all.




ps. and good news....i was asked by the English Open Doors program in chile to work with them to finish a 2 month project: the volunteers´teaching curriculum. I will be returning mid January. So my chilean experience is not quite over.....

Thank you all for your encouragement along my journey. Besitos.

Talent Show!

My coteacher and I planned a school activity for all of my students (grades 5-8) on my last day (yesterday) We had an English talent show that included singing and dancing acts and dialogue performances. It was a riot to see the kids practicing their dances all day, in all parts of the school. ( i have no idea how they escaped from their normal classes all day long)

The show was a complete success. And afterwards, we celebrated with free! icecream. It was a truely rewarding day.

before--->

after--->

los ultimos dias en mi escuela

My last two weeks at school were insanely fun. We played and played and played some more. We sang kareoke in english, threw the frisbee (for hours), danced, and exchanged plenty of love and laughter. I am going to miss these kids like crazy. Im amazed by their energy, how they have progressed with english, and how they have positively affected my life. They are all little treasures.

Maybe my students didnt learn a heckofalot of english, but i think that my presence in the school brought out many smiles. It's more important to me to know that i have made a difference in their lives. maybe some will speak english fluently in the future. but many wont.

I wanted them to walk away with knowing one thing: that miss corissa believed in me.

Many students asked me to write "recuerdos" or memory notes. Yes, i always preach "keep learning english" but also...

follow your dreams.

because i did, and it lead me here.

Llico (gee-ko), que rico!

'Volunteering' in Chile isnt exclusive in any means.....to giving my time to one area, but also, i am asked to spread my knowledge over and beyond the limits of my school walls...just ask Nicole!

But usually i am quite good at dodging those unwanted questions that make me shiver and hide behind the nearest object..such as when i am asked by random people on the street: "Could you tutor me in English for free?"

However, when Marcela, my newly adopted aunt, invited me to make a school visit to Llico (pronounced geeko), I signed right up.

A group of students from Llico had performed in the debate competitions last month in Curico. Petra, Nicole and I were the judges at the competition. We ALL remember the students from Llico, because their speeches were amazing........ly incomprehensible. Their English was gibberish. I felt terrible about my quiet giggles...i was judge after all! And I wonder how my spanish sounds to so many Chileans!

So I was gun-ho about making this road trip to allow these students the opportunity to hear real spoken English. It was not their fault that their pronunciation was lousy. In rural areas, it is almost impossible to find english speakers to interact with and thus, english teachers lose their english or make catastrophic errors when it comes to pronunciation.

Warren, Emma, Caitlin (all other volunteers from Curico)and I with Marcela drove 2 hrs to reach this bucolic, beach side town, where we were soon welcomed as the visiting english-celebrity-teachers.

We had a nice but awkward day traveling from room to room to share our voices with the students. We were greeted very warmly. The debate team took us on a tour of the town, which lasted about 5 minutes because it was only one street, which dead-ended into a tranquil beach.

And in the afternoon, the students took us to Lago Vichuquen (a lake) on the other side of town. We walked down a hill on someone's beautifully cut garden full of exotic birds to reach the lake water. When we reached the water's edge, i had realized that I had left my swimsuit in the car. Though, a swimsuit isnt necessary when your clothes are drenched...

MARCELA! used her kind words and cute smile to persuade me to walk ankle deep with her into the water. Who would have known? that was when she would make her surprise attack...and dunk me under with all my clothes on! But we had a hellish battle afterwards, with all the Llico students silently watching the two crazies splashing as if they have never played with water before. ...and I somehow tempted the other two girl volunteers to get in!

...You are now probably thinking * "What exactly ARE you teaching these Chilean students, Cori?"....I'm sure i was shrieking in English when I was play fighting with Marcela.

So even though we sometimes look exploited, it never really seems that way. haha. There have been wonderful perks for being an english volunteer.

Good til the last drop

I cant believe 6 months are almost over. Time is flying by even faster because I'm packing my last days with friend outings, weekend trips, family time, and end of the year school projects. I am trying to make the most of my last few weeks in Curico.

Last weekend update: (thanks to nicole's handydandy camera!)


Last weekend, I went with the girls (Nicole and Petra) on a getaway weekend to Santa Cruz and Pichilemu. We visited the Montes winery, which to our surprise, was quite breathtaking. The vineyards laid on rolling hills and the actual winery had an incredible modern design. We were very impressed when we heard soothing monk music in the barrel room. It reminded me of how pregnant mothers play classical music for their baby's intellectual growth..thus the music helps age the wine. plain brilliant.


We hit up Pichilemu for the night. This small beach town is known for its surfing waves, yet it was a quiet evening because of off season. We sat in our room, drank wine with cheese and crackers, and a much needed girl chat. I love my girls!

I will write more about my adventures in Llico and my school updates...for now, im exhausted! And its getting very difficult for me to think in English! besitos!