Christine's Fin de Semana....or Weekend

And what a long weekend it was with the teachers strike on Friday. The national strike involved public schools, which meant I had no classes.

So, a busy weekend it was. First, I got to play with big trucks! I was invited to an open house at Finning Catepillar. Caterpillar Inc. is a US based corporation headquartered in Peoria, IL. They claim to be "the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines."
Famous for their products featuring caterpillar trucks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme, Caterpillar produces a wide range of heavy equipment, including the range of Caterpillar bulldozers. So, I got to climb up on some major equipment and even sit in the drivers seat!

I like big trucks.

Afterwards a friend invited me to her daughters cheerleading competition. Her daughter is 7 years old and is part of the "WildCats" cheer club. I've seen competitions like this on TV or movies but never in real life.

I thought it was interesting how the whole stadium would cheer in English, "Let's go WildCats" or "Let's go Giants," or whomever they were cheering for. The winners in each of the 4 categories had the opportunity to go to the United States for the finals, so there was definately competition in the air.

This is Ale, a fellow salsera, and me.

Then it was beach day and a few of us volunteers made it to our local beach for a day of tanning (and maybe some burning), american football, food, and fun. And in our attempt to play some football with some local kids, I can safely say that we were the entertainment for the entire beach.

Last but not least, a few of us got our hair done with trassels from a local artesian vendor.

I've only got a few more weekends to enjoy like this before I head back to the states.

Heres to a great upcoming week!

CW

Christine's Semana de Inglés

Last week was "English Week" for the country and in Antofagasta the major festivities were Tuesday, September 29th. From 9am-1pm there were presentations and performances put on at the local municipal building. My students performed at 10am. There were 9 students in total, 3 girls and 6 boys. They sang a version of "baby got back" but, of course, i completely changed the lyrics to reflect a song about colors. It was so cute! They were so nervous and excited at the same time.

CNN Chile showed up and did some interviews, as well as Malcriados, an Antofagasta TV show. Somehow I made the cut along with some others and we showed up on the Malcriados show. I have yet to see it.

Of course, the two boys hovering around the CNN Chile crew were my students. The boy in the red shirt is the same boy that gifted me a little blue stuffed dog that i wrote about previously.

All of us together after the performance.

Afterwards we went to the beach behind the municipal building to take some pictures with the students after their performance. Bad idea! A few of them started running straight for the water. All of a sudden, i see t-shirts flying in the air and pants around one boys ankles. (Proof below-haha)

One boy had started taking off all his clothes so he could go swimming! Fortunately he left his underwear on and we quickly made him put his clothes back on. It was hilarious though! Children are so free spirited!

Thanks for reading!

CW

CLARIFICATION

Just a quick FYI- Any blog entry with "Christine" in the title is Christine's blog for easy reference. If it doesnt have Christine in the title it is Donny's blog. However, Donny is not living in South America anymore, so most of the blogs are from Christine.

Thanks for reading!