New beginnings and big challenges

I began looking for some new challenges around the end of last year. Finally I decided to take the plunge and I have changed job. I loved my position with Grant's English, and institute I would recommend to anyone looking for work in Santiago, but in terms of professional development there were not too many avenues left to me. So I have changed positions, and quite frankly I feel like I have changed worlds.

I am now working as an English Coordinator in 3 semi-private schools in some of the lowest socio-economic neighbourhoods in Santiago. There have very few resources, enormous classes (up to 45 kids) and very little support from home. All three are technical highschools which include education from kindergarten to year 12, but with the senior years having the option of focussing on a technical profession (gastonomy, automotor, electrical, secretary, early childhood education or tourism). 

I am in charge of organising the English programmes in these schools, including teacher observations, teaching and promoting workshops with students and parents, and organising English events such as 'English day' which will take place in October. The level of English is so low in these schools that in the annual national examination which takes place in year 11 in one of the schools none of the students passed. Admittedly the ministry set an exam which was out of the league of most of the schools involved (there goal is an A2 level upon completing school), but to not even have one student able to achieve an A2 was astounding to me. In saying that, I have one or two teachers who may not yet be of an A2 level.

The event that more or less summed up my week happened on Thursday. I was going to teach a workshop to an unknown number of 15-18 year olds with a completely unknown level (though I was warned they would probably be low). I walked into the classroom which was a mess and looked around for a board marker, no board marker or eraser. I asked the kids and they laughed at me. I asked the teachers and they laughed at me. I asked the academic directors and they more or less laughed at me. So I went to the director who didn't laugh, but told me he could probably have a marker for me by next week. Teachers are issued one refillable board marker for the year, that's it. One board marker, 45 students per class, 10 classes per teacher. So I guess they are issued one board marker and 450 students for the year. Welcome to the reality of education in Chile Karen.

The good news, is that barring the students going on strike for most of the year as happened last year, I can't really see the situation getting any worse. I don't think that there is much room to do any damage, the only way is up! Wish me luck.....

Riding the metro

So many stories encapsulated in one space. Each is a walking book, some romance, some drama, some history. They are of differing lengths, quality and interests; some are dry and crisp, others have pages full of cross-outs and soggy from tears. Each of us carry this book with us, sometimes it weighs us down, other times it provides support, but it is always there. What is the form to tap into these stories, each valid in its own right.


Maybe to think of them as books is an old-fashioned concept, antiquidated and gathering dust. What if they were each movies and each of us had a screen implanted in our backs, like on a 747. Would you be brave enough to set it to play? Would I? Would you be brave enough to let others see your life laid out in full colour? Would you be proud? How interesting it would be just to glimpse a little of the story of these people riding this steel tube with across the city with me. Similarities, differences, all relevant. Would we learn from others or are we blind to mistakes until we make them ourselves? Is it a mistake for another person in the same circumstance, or an opportunity? Who knows, but it's an interesting paradigm. All these untapped stories, words, floating around waiting to be captured.

Learning from our Teachers

They say that a great teacher doesn’t teach you, they lead you to discover things yourself. I believe in this completely and have had luck to have had many great teachers in my life, not just in the classroom. They have each taught me something different, and the greatest lesson is not usually the one apparent on the page in front of me.

My first two teachers of influence were my primary school teachers. Mrs Dobbs and Mr Harding taught me to love learning, and to always be inquisitive about things. They taught me to find answers for myself and never be happy with mediocre. They demanded the best, and by setting standards high you can achieve high.

My Highland dancing teacher, Mrs Hawke, taught me that kindness is inspiring. Students want to please their teacher, and even more so when that teacher is someone that they admire and love. Likewise my second piano teacher taught me that praise, patience, and kindness motivate a love and passion for of an activity, whereas my first piano teacher taught me that negativity does not.

But one of the biggest influences in my life was my first swimming coach, Roly Crichton. He taught me to fight. At times I truly hated him. He used to set me impossible goals. We would do relays, but I didn’t have anyone else on my team and had to swim the whole thing myself, and the other team got a head start. He used to pit me against boys twice my size and tell me to beat them. He used to set me long sets on impossible times, used to tell me that even though that was the fastest I had ever swum it wasn’t fast enough. He used to make me race every event in a carnival just to toughen me up. He used to yell at me, and I used to yell back. It wasn’t polite, it was passion and frustration, and those things drove me to be better. And it worked. As long as I believed it was an impossible task I wanted to conquer it. Mostly because I knew that he believed I could do it, therefore it wasn’t impossible. And this has been a theme in my life ever since. Tell me something is impossible and I will try and find a way of doing it. He used to say that they might be bigger, stronger, more experienced, have trained for more years and hours in better conditions, but you are tougher. And when it comes down to it, there are two people, in the same pool of water, and the tougher person will win. And I didn’t think this was impossible, I believed it because he believed it. This strategy didn’t work with all the swimmers, but it did with me. Thanks to him I swam in competitions around the world, met amazing people, won medals in Europe and Australia, and discovered a love of other cultures and people that is still driving my movements now.

Somehow, today I am a teacher. I need to learn this lesson again, but in a different form. I need to find ways of inspiring this level of motivation in my students. This time around the pool of water is a bit bigger – I have every type of student imaginable, and all of them will be inspired through different forms. Somehow I have to tap into all these different forms and utilize these internal motivations to produce achievement and success. And this means learning all the lessons I learned before from a different perspective. Teaching really is about learning, and although some may say this is an impossible task, that just inspires me to find a way to overcome it. 

Life clouds the judgement

I am a believer that if you keep your eyes and heart open life will show you the way. This approach has always worked in my decision making in the past, but maybe I have used up all my good luck and now it is just serving to confuse me.

As most of you know I am struggling with the decision of my future. It is no secret that I love living in Chile, but also no secret that I don't have the financial means to visit my family and friends in NZ and Aus as I would like to. Nothing new here. But everytime that I think I have finally made a concrete decision life comes along and changes my mind, and everything goes murky again.

Last Tuesday I was taken flying with my boss (Jo) by one of our students. It was an incredible cristilline day and we flew 2hrs south along the coast looking at all the towns and vacationers going about their relaxing days. We arrived at the holiday house of the student, landed the plane and were picked up by the caretaker. After inspecting the very nice house we went by jetboat to the restaurant and ate prawns for lunch, followed by a quick dip in the house jacuzzi while sipping on Baileys (me in my underwear because I forgot my bikini!). Around 6pm we got back in the plane and went back up the coast, flying low over any of the interesting towns on the way to get a good photo. I was dropped off at home in the BMW around 9pm. Yes, it was an incredible day and I was so lucky to go. The best part was that the student was genuinely excited to take us and treat us like queens. He was happy to have people that really appreciate these things and don't often (ever) have a chance to experience them. He is completely down to earth, as was demonstrated as we acted as a bus for every person walking to town when we were returning to the plane. I simply don't mix with these people in NZ or Australia. I don't know anyone who has a plane, let alone someone who would want to share what they have so freely. And this warm open attitude is something that I recognise at every level of society here, and something that will make me rethink (yet again) where I want to be in the world.

And here is a picture of me in the plane!

Resolutions

It's the time of year when we traditionally make resolutions. I have almost given up on this practise because I am horrible at keeping them. I do however like to set myself a challenge for the year. I don't have to set this challenge at the start of the year - sometimes it becomes clearer as the year goes on, but I need to complete something every year. In '08 I walked 100km for charity, in '09 I quit my job and moved to South America. I also walked the Inca trail. In '10 I learnt Spanish (an ongoing process which started the year before and continues, but 2010 was my year of breakthrough) and in '11 I read 50 books in a year. You might wonder what lies before me this year, and I can quite honestly say I don't know. The challenge hasn't yet become clear.

Every year I say I am going to write more on my blog, and every year I fail. Life gets in the way. However, it recently occured to me that this blog serves as an interesting chronicle of my time here in Chile. In the beginning the posts only thinly veil an underlying sense of panic. They improve around the time that I start to make Chilean friends and are filled with a sense of wonder and elation by the end of 2009. Life is good, and shiney, and exciting and stimulating. Coming into 2011 things become more negative. The earth starts shaking both voluntarily and from the stampede of Chilean students, and it seems that somehow everything becomes covered in dust. My last post of the year in 2011 sums up neatly what I now feel for Chile. I am comfortable here, and everything has lost its shine. I don't know if this is a sign to move on, or if my erratic chase of adventure leaves me missing the point of it all. When I am making a decision I try and weigh all the pros and cons. And when this fails I fall back on writing a list of three things I know to be true. So: I know that I have amazing friends and an easy life here; I know I love my job; I know that I haven't seen my family in two years because I don't make enough money to buy a plane ticket. And that is the thing that is going to provide my challenge for 2012.

Lack of lustre

When you live in a foreign country to begin with everything is shiney and new. Slowly it looses its lustre and everything becomes normal flat colours. It has taken some time, but Chile is down to normal colours for me. There are still things that surprise me, but last week I found myself writing an email to the teachers that suprised me for all the wrong reasons. Here is an extract from it:


As you are probably aware today and tomorrow are national strikes. This shouldn't affect us too much except for the normal problems of tear gas, water canons, barricades and transport disruptions. Tomorrow there is a march authorised from Plaza Italia down Alameda as far as Portugal (Uni Catolica) where supposedly they will turn off and go south. I suspect that may not happen and you should be prepared for severe disruptions all the way along Alameda (including in the metro). If you have to come into town consider using the Plaza de Armas or Bellas Artes metro stops. The march is supposed to finish near Parque O'Higgins so hopefully later in the day the disruptions for us will be minimal. Really, who knows!! I came across a flaming barricade before 8am this morning.... so it is impossible to predict.
Please allow enough time for disruptions in getting to class, and stay safe.


Now these events might seem surprising to you, but this in not what made me take note. It was the fact that I wrote 'the normal problems of...'. It strikes me as incredible that I see these problems as normal inconveniences now. I wrote about water canons not long after I arrived in Chile. I was impressed by them. Now I see them all the time and don't take any notice. A normal day can go: car, truck, bus, police horse (at which point I take a second glance as the police horses are beautiful), car, car, tear gas truck (run!!), water canon, car, car, hooded youth setting something on fire, police in riot gear, car, truck, police bus full of police in riot gear, car. 
I think you get the picture, it's all the same.


I do feel like I might be standing in the middle of a moment in history here. The eduaction protests, while they have quietened down for now, are not going away. They are beginning to build momentum in other countries too (Colombia has recently had hundreds of thousands of students in the streets protesting for reforms there) and there is solidarity between these two movements and burgeoning protests in Peru and Brasil. And yet I just see the inconvenience of getting tear gassed on a weekly basis, or of having to take the long way round the barricades to get home. I feel apathetic, but these things just annoy me now. Apparently my revoluntionary fire doesn't burn as brigthly as my ideals would hope.

Life in Facebook updates

I never realised how insightful it could be to track your Facebook updates. These random comments and observations of life illustrate the ups and downs of my journey from Melbourne to Chile (since approx September 2008). They aren’t in chronological order, rather completely random, much as they were random thoughts released into the ether of the internet. Recapturing them and remembering the moments in which I wrote them has proved illuminating, and given me lots of lovely times to relive. It really is incredible what you achieve and forget. This is an incomplete list, missing many which I am still editing and I hope to post in the future.

Wine with lunch - good decision; 5 glasses of very sweet orange stuff - bad decision; fish for lunch - good decision; left over chicken when I got home - really bad decision...
Celebratory lunch with Joanne after my first week as Grant’s Academic Director. Sept 2010

Thank goodness I was way up in the mountains enjoying swimming, swinging in a hammock, riding horses and drinking beer when the ABs decided to self destruct. Now, where has that good zen gone...
vs Australia December 2010

got caught by that rookie mistake - always have extra teaching material in case half your class doesn't show up and you have to postpone the planned test!!!
July 2009 – lacking those extra instant teaching ideas

needs a hottie. Any ideas on where to find one in Santiago?

en Buenos Aires esperando y esperando!
March 2010, waiting for my flight back to Chile

can run and talk in spanish, quite a workout for body and mind....
Running with Zeli, Nov 2009

Trabajo para hoy dia - un nuevo jardin con verduras....
Attempted vegetable gardening in Bellavista Sept 09. Unfortunately I went back to NZ, no one watered the garden through the hot Santiago days and what didn’t die immediately went to seed.



is watching the neurons march across the screen - again.
Mapping neuron trajctories in Melbourne July 2008



So this year I didn't walk 100km, but did the Inka trail instead. Next year the Himalayas? Who's keen...
Accomplishments and dreams near the end of 2010



thoughts and best wishes to all those affected by the mining tragedy - may you find some peace and closure soon.
After the Pike River mining accident in NZ, Nov 2010



Mañana Huaso Enrique? Tiki tiki ti!!
Any given Thursday in Santiago...



Has found somewhere permanent to live - yay! No more being a sponge!
First house in Santiago, March 2009



thinks house hunting is hard enough without factoring in a foreign language that you hardly speak!
The frustrations of house hunting in the first days in Santiago, February 2010



Observations of today: Bus drivers + road rage = frightening scenario, Karen running on the street + eating bread + choking = she has beautiful eyes, and cement truck + driving the wrong way on a one-way street = nothing new.
Santiago May 2010, its amazing the things that are no longer surprising.



slept through last nights aftershock. Apparently it was strong. Naty said she was waiting for me to come screaming up the stairs but it never happened... I must have been tired.
Getting used to the ground rattling underneath me. Stability has a whole new meaning. March 2010



Why does the word Spanish word for handcuffs look the same as the plural of wife? Two wives = handcuffs?? (Las esposas).
Language realisations, June 2011



won a trip to Peru, and is super excited about it!
April 2009 - won a trip with Intrepid to Peru, to walk the Inca trail and explore the villages surrounding Cusco.


will be touring Santiago today, giving classes in different corners of the city.
Sometime in early 2010. The realities of teaching English in Santiago are that you become extremely familiar with the metro and bus system as you pass many hours each day acquainting yourself with the insides of these fascinating places.



is enjoying the long straight flat roads of Lagmhor on her bike.
No traffic lights, no pedestrians, no significant hills, just miles and miles of flat road. Bliss on two wheels, at my parents house NZ February 2010



Sorry, what was the outcome of the game??? GREG????!!!!
Anytime NZ beats Aus at the rugby...



estoy cansada....
Tired, probably any given Friday of the year!



is on a diet of mote con huesillo until she gets paid...
November 2009, some very tight months financially when I remembered exactly what it was like to have to eat like a student, and to search under you bed / in the bottom of every bag you own, for every last peso that you have. Mote con hueillo is peach juice with corn in it, and it’s a cheap option when you have no money!



exhausted - too much talking, words finished....
After a day of 9hrs of class, including 3hrs at the airport, July 2009

really just wants to go down to the tav and have a few quiets with her bros and cuzzies.
Summer 2010 / 2011, a bit of homesickness. Summer is always the hardest when I talk to my family and they are all working hard in the harvest and I am not there to share it with them.



is at the library, planning English lessons, on a Saturday.
Planning practice English classes for my TEFL certificate, December 2008



had issues trying to hang her washing out with two fat possums sitting above her, just watching and waiting...
Fear of possums, especially after being peed on, Sept 2008 in Melbourne.



is totally over being sick and wishes the doctor would hurry up and figure what beast is living in her stomach!
The souvenir I brought home from Peru which didn’t allow me to be more than 10m from a bathroom for 2 weeks.... Nov 2010


en NZ. Gracias amigas y amigos para una despidida muy bonita. Los quiero mucho!!! Nos vemos pronto....
After a gorgeous farewell BBQ and a beautiful farewell from all my friends in Chile when I went to visit NZ for 2 months, Jan Feb 2010



Took 20min to put on her socks (stupid Tait back)
Put her back out sleeping in her bed, ridiculous and frustrating as everythign took twenty times longer than necessary, and I’m not known for my patience... July 2009

Today my elementary student told me he was having Christmas with his family and "political mother" (mother in law). I nearly fell off my chair, it certainly made my day!
Students poetic mistakes. Another student said ‘cheers’ when I sneezed (a direct translation from Spanish usage of the workd salud). They try so hard and it makes me so proud. Dec 2010S

thinks its even more annoying when you don't understand the words to the song that is stuck in your head than when you do. Who knows what I am humming as I go around the supermarket...
Language learning, Jan 2010



was interested to learn that there was an "explosion of gays" in 2004 in Chile. Where did they come from? The sky? The things you learn in Spanish class ay?!
Basic Spanish classes Feb 2009



working working, colours, boxes, arrows, more colours, not really like work at all!
Writing conference presentations and posters for the Neuroscience conference in Cairns. July 2008



pichileeeeeeeeeeeeemu eh eh eh!
Trips to the coast with Eduardo. So much partying, so much family, so much love.
Sometime in 2009 or 2010

quiero tomar el sol en una playa linda... pero estoy aqui en la ciudad y hace frio!
NOT enjoying winter in Santiago Aug 2011



is looking forward to a evening watching Cricinfo.
NZ cricket tests when they looked like they might actually win something....



has been watching High School Musical - in Spanish.
TV is in Spanish, radio is in Spanish, everything is in Spanish! Kids programmes are just easier to understand. May 2009



has bought the cheap airfares to Cairns, now she just has buy the expensive ones to South America...
Flights for Char’s wedding and to live in Chile, exciting times. Who knew what would lie ahead. Three years later I remember the exact moment I wrote this, and basically announced to the world that I was leaving Aus to live and work in South America. It was 6pm on a Friday, I had given my resignation notice that morning, and I was about to head up to catch the end of work drinks. An emotional moment Dec 2008.




is working working, but not too long to go now!
The excitement of my last days at the Florey, and the adventures ahead, Melbourne Dec 2008



Karen Tait: the Christmas grinch.
Not feeling the Christmas spirit (ie missing the family), Dec 2010



had an amazing time picking grapes in the south of Chile with an amazing bunch of people
A defining moment in my life - a weekend where I met my best friends and the people who would become my family in Chile. I participated in a wedding there later the same year, saw the house destroyed by the eathquake, and the resilience of the people who are now rebuilding it. Beautiful people, full of love, acceptance and courage. This weekend is the reason that I am still in Chile after 3yrs. March 2009.



No mucho mas tiempo ahora hasta voy a ver mi pequeña guacala!
Getting excited about seeing my little dog in Chile after 2 months in NZ. March 2010



ate her weight in steak in Argentina, almost. They even have steak flavoured chips....
Border run to Mendoza, May 2009.



Donde puedo ver 'le tour' en Chile??!!!
Trying to find a location to watch Cadel Evans win the Tour de France, mid 2011.



Huevos, cafe, pan y sol! Necesito el periódico y el dia es perfecto!!
Eggs, coffee, bread and sun. Just need the paper and the day is perfect. April 2010, enjoying a lazy Sunday.



All Blacks, 11am Saturday.... anyone else up for a breakfast guinness (or coffee??)
Trying to excite some supporters, always a battle due to the time zone.. August 2011



thinks that the yanks might have finally done something right.
The election of Obama, whenever that was.



was eating steak in Argentina when a crazy Latin dance remix of Fat Freddy's 'Hope' came on the radio - go NZ music!
Border run to Mandoza May 2009, getting sentimental about NZ music.



is waiting for the people of Australia to wake up...
Waiting to skype my friends in Aussie for a catch-up. All too rare unfortunately.



is amazed at the number of public holidays in Chile - there is one every month!
Living in a Catolic country isn’t all bad - a realisation from May 2009



primavera + cerveza + el sol = Karen muy feliz!
Spring, beer and sun makes a happy Karen. Enjoying the patio in Bellavista in October 2009



hopes Mr Laing knows the profound effect he had on so many people.
The passing away of my extraordinary swimming coach, Mr Lang. A sad moment when I felt very far away. Mid 2010?



got on the party bus today and realised she was in South America! Latin band on public transport, with people dancing in the aisles....
Catching public transport in South America is often quite entertaining. Another experience to add to the shiny and new category of happenings, June 2009.