Barba Rubia, November 2011

Yesterday the Nido de Aguilas group arrived at the Barba Rubia school, located in Hualañe, south of Santiago (Chile). The Nido students were received by the local kids.. they lined up, raised the Chilean flag and sang the Chilean national anthem, and then every student from Nido introduced themselves in basic Spanish. After that they had lunch and played some ball games. To understand how the earthquake impacted the area, the students watched a video about the earthquake that destroyed a big part of the village and saw how different volunteer activities have helped over the last year and a half. They then visited the village and saw the temporary housing, and the newly constructed permanent houses that have finally arrived, and the local community centre that has been rebuilt by many volunteers.When they got back to Barba Rubia, they spent time organizing the English classes they are going to give for the local kids every day this week, and participated in some welcome activities before setting themselves up for bed, ready for a full day of fun and interaction with the local children tomorrow…

Day 1

Today was our first at Barba Rubia, the bus drive was a fair four hours long. It was very tiring and long but we still had a lot of energy for when we got to the school. We played soccer, cards, and talked to the little kids about their adventurous life. We were definitely not expecting such a warm welcome from everybody. I must admit that we were also very confident about interacting with the kids.

Day 2

Hi my name is Maddie and I’ll be writing a blog from 15/11/2011. Today was the first day of TEACHING. Ahhhhhhhhh ö I taugt grade 7! They are a little difficult because the kids are as hyper and open as the youngins. I can undertsand that it is difficult to be taught bt kids that are so close to your age group. I think we can RELATE easier to them because since we are the sane ages we have the same ideas. Playing (wuhoo) with the children is SO much fun. No hablo mucho Spanish LOL. But I am really trying with the kids All the kids here are amazxing ang they smile over the smallest things. I loved walking into the house (Sylvia’s house) and see the people’s lifestyle. Even though they don’t haver a lot they still put effort to cook for us. The food as EXCELENTE! Can’t wait for TOMORROW!

Madeleine