Hola a todos!
I think that this might be the longest I'm gone without posting. This past weekend, the whole June class spent a fantastic weekend in Cajun de Maipu for Jornanda, which is a Reflexion weekend. We talked about our week, each other and our place in Chile. It was overwhelmingly positive for all involved, and judging from the shift in momentum for the past two days, I believe that goods things are coming. A full post about Jornanda, complete with photos, will follow.
Today was a great day, since we were able to take the kiddies to El Planetario (The Planetarium) anbd thanks to many people's coopperation it was gratis. It was especially fun for me, since I haven't seen my own kids in many days, and the rest of the children in the hogares who have been off from school could really use a few hours in a new place. Of course, it didn't hurt that the space show was followed by a dance dance revolution-type laser light show, complete with much clapping and giggling. Since I'm not really allowed to post photos of the kids, you'll just have to take my word for it.
And then there's the dog problem. After jornanda, I arrived home to an excellent surprise: Salchicho was visiting. Here is an awesome photo of him, taken by the fantabulous Rita, and he is officially my new personal mascot.
This time, Salchicho brought a friend. An obviously well cared for Cocker Spaniel who, for some reason, was under the impression that he lives in our house. We have an unspoken "don't adpot a street dog rule" but since we let Salchicho in, in came Crazy the Spaniel. We all know that Salchicho typically comes in to our house, pokes around for a few minutes, and leaves. And he did this on Sunday. Crazy.....not so much. Crazy wanted to stay so we put him outside (heartbreaking in and of itself) and hoped he would go back home.
But no. Crazy set up camp on our porch for TWO NIGHTS. Pawing, scatching and crying at the door. It rained, it was cold, and Crazy stayed. Crazy darted into the house everytime the door opened, and we had to put him out again. He followed us down the street when we left, and after being chased by Boris and Fritz, returned. Today was the first day he wasn't waiting for us, I'm hoping this means he figured out where he lives so that we are no longer being held hostage by a delusional canine.
Now, I'm a dog person. I grew up with dogs. This one definitely HAS a home. In a perfect world, we'd love to adopt him and make him our own. But a group of transient gringos simply cannot care for a dog...in all honesty, we can barely do our laundry. The rules are so different in Chile. People just let their dogs out, and they come back. The dogs that are actual street dogs for little cliques and posses and some survive. They have territory and secret meetings and talk about dog things. It is possible that Crazy's owners got sick of him and drove him to Jardin Alto because they couldn't decide what else to do. Perhaps the next stage of the organization should Voluntarios de los Perros...from around the world for the street dogs of Chile.
I've had an overwhelming number of emails asking me "Lauren, what do you do in your free time?" That is absolutely untrue, but I'll tell you anyway. I've taken to reading quite a bit, because to my delight, we have a pretty decent library of books in the house from volunteers past. It is also fairly common to have a seat on the Metro and read if you have a long ride. Not for normal people, mind you, but for gringos who aren't content drawing to attention to themselves just by being there.
I think that this might be the longest I'm gone without posting. This past weekend, the whole June class spent a fantastic weekend in Cajun de Maipu for Jornanda, which is a Reflexion weekend. We talked about our week, each other and our place in Chile. It was overwhelmingly positive for all involved, and judging from the shift in momentum for the past two days, I believe that goods things are coming. A full post about Jornanda, complete with photos, will follow.
Today was a great day, since we were able to take the kiddies to El Planetario (The Planetarium) anbd thanks to many people's coopperation it was gratis. It was especially fun for me, since I haven't seen my own kids in many days, and the rest of the children in the hogares who have been off from school could really use a few hours in a new place. Of course, it didn't hurt that the space show was followed by a dance dance revolution-type laser light show, complete with much clapping and giggling. Since I'm not really allowed to post photos of the kids, you'll just have to take my word for it.
And then there's the dog problem. After jornanda, I arrived home to an excellent surprise: Salchicho was visiting. Here is an awesome photo of him, taken by the fantabulous Rita, and he is officially my new personal mascot.
This time, Salchicho brought a friend. An obviously well cared for Cocker Spaniel who, for some reason, was under the impression that he lives in our house. We have an unspoken "don't adpot a street dog rule" but since we let Salchicho in, in came Crazy the Spaniel. We all know that Salchicho typically comes in to our house, pokes around for a few minutes, and leaves. And he did this on Sunday. Crazy.....not so much. Crazy wanted to stay so we put him outside (heartbreaking in and of itself) and hoped he would go back home.But no. Crazy set up camp on our porch for TWO NIGHTS. Pawing, scatching and crying at the door. It rained, it was cold, and Crazy stayed. Crazy darted into the house everytime the door opened, and we had to put him out again. He followed us down the street when we left, and after being chased by Boris and Fritz, returned. Today was the first day he wasn't waiting for us, I'm hoping this means he figured out where he lives so that we are no longer being held hostage by a delusional canine.
Now, I'm a dog person. I grew up with dogs. This one definitely HAS a home. In a perfect world, we'd love to adopt him and make him our own. But a group of transient gringos simply cannot care for a dog...in all honesty, we can barely do our laundry. The rules are so different in Chile. People just let their dogs out, and they come back. The dogs that are actual street dogs for little cliques and posses and some survive. They have territory and secret meetings and talk about dog things. It is possible that Crazy's owners got sick of him and drove him to Jardin Alto because they couldn't decide what else to do. Perhaps the next stage of the organization should Voluntarios de los Perros...from around the world for the street dogs of Chile.
I've had an overwhelming number of emails asking me "Lauren, what do you do in your free time?" That is absolutely untrue, but I'll tell you anyway. I've taken to reading quite a bit, because to my delight, we have a pretty decent library of books in the house from volunteers past. It is also fairly common to have a seat on the Metro and read if you have a long ride. Not for normal people, mind you, but for gringos who aren't content drawing to attention to themselves just by being there.
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