Karaoke fun

The Wanderer loves to see Outbound students showing how they are getting along with their host culture. The excerpt and photos below come from this post of Hanah’s.

On Wednesday I had to go get my supplies for tea ceremony club. I met three of my classmates from school to help me get them in the morning. Unfortunately the shop was closed so we went and did karaoke instead. We first stopped by a convenient store to get food to eat while we were doing karaoke. At the karaoke place we rented our own room. It had a table, couches, and a karaoke machine. It was so much fun and a great way to help me with my reading Hiragana and Katikana. I sang a couple of songs in English as well. My other classmates knew the song “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne so we all sang it twice and danced around. After I sang that song my throat hurt! We then went to McDonald’s for a snack and I had mini pancakes they were really gross. Many teenagers like to go to McDonald’s in Japan. We then went shopping, however, I did not buy anything. I had a great last day of break with my classmates!

As our Outbounds become busier in their host countries, their blogging becomes understandably more sporadic. In another great, long post, Emily updates her readers on the events of the last month. You can read her full post here, after reading the excerpt below. There are also some fantastic photos.

8 September I had dinner at parliament with 2 MPs [Members of Parliament], Chris and Trevor something. I went with Peter and Phil (Rotarians) and Kendyl and Pia, 2 other exchange students. We got a tour around the “bee hive” and then just had dinner there.

These are all from Belmont regional park, which is right behind Anne’s house.

Rae in São José da Coroa Grande

Rae wrote a great, long post that you can read here. Below is just a short excerpt on her recent trip to São José da Coroa Grande for a Rotary conference. Students often have the opportunity to travel their host region to attend Rotary functions.

It’s been over a month since I wrote my last blog post! I’ve been really busy, but that’s not a very good excuse, so I’ll try to make this a good post and fill you in on everything that happened in the past month!

The first weekend in September I went to a town called São José da Coroa Grande. Say that 5 times fast! São José da Coroa Grande is about a 5 hour drive south and it’s just a few minutes north of Maragogi, where the Rotary conference was. I drove down with my host brother Daniel, his girlfriend, and his dad. We all slept the whole way there because we left at 5 in the morning. Before we left Marisa and I ate breakfast together and I was lucky enough to watch the sunrise here from my apartment balcony! It is said that the sun rises here first out of North America, Central America, and South America because João Pessoa is so far east. It was SO pretty and I’ll put a picture of it on here. The whole weekend we were with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. My cousin Lara from my class and her best friend Amanda were there too. The weekend was a lot of fun. Lara’s grandparents have a house right across from the beach, so we were in the ocean the whole weekend. One of the days we went out on their speed boat and went to a small island. The water was sooo clear there and beautiful! Independence day was Monday, September 7th. I was expecting a huge party like we have on the 4th of July, since here in Brazil they have parties for everything. But there were no fireworks, parties, or celebrations so we just drove home Monday.

Finnish Fotos

On a recent trip to Oulo, Finland, Lauren took some great photos. Below are a just a few, more can be found here.

So, Oulu was pretty sweet! I went shopping, and my feet hurt from the stone streets there. It was really pretty! Unfortunately, it was raining all day, so between shops I had my scarf wrapped around my head to keep my hair from getting all funky.

I took plenty of pictures!

These are statues that are supposed to describe Oulu and its history. The beginning has statues of trappers and fisherman, and it goes to artists and other types of people. Someone decided the little boy was cold I guess.

Seriously, all of the streets were like this. It was like it in Tampere too. I think it looks really cool, but its not fun to walk on after a while.

Hanna on Korean cleanliness

This amusing post is an excerpt from a series of musings from Hannah’s longer post here. We will continue to highlight some of Hannah’s entertaining insights.

In Korea, cleanliness is HUGE. I brush my teeth when I wake up, after lunch, and before bed. Every time I come home I have to wash my feet, face and hands. We even had hand-washing lessons in school. Did you know there are seven steps? They also hand out bags of cotton balls with rubbing alcohol (to clean your hands) to each student. Today on the way into school, the nurse was picking kids at random to test their temperatures. You can’t wear outdoor shoes inside, not even in schools or church. For school, you must have your own pair of indoor shoes, but other institutions supply them. H1N1 is taken much more seriously here then I feel it was back home. Everyday, I see many people wearing flu masks. Its kind of disconcerting, especially at night! Who are they? Which way are they looking? Do they have H1N1?!?

School musings

Emily gives us a taste of school life in New Zealand. This post here was edited for length, you can see the full post here.

So last week 2 girls in my school got back from America. They did some kind of exchange program that lasted 5 weeks. They are both in a few of my classes. It’s really funny because I hear them talking to other kids about what America is like. Most of the things they say, I just think, hmm I didn’t know that was special. Things like dollar stores and the drive-through at Starbucks.

I also brought my yearbook from last year to school and gave it to my kiwi friend. She kept it for a few days. During the week, people came up to me and said they saw my yearbook and asked me about it. They went crazy about our football field, saying it’s a giant stadium. They were very amused at the fact that people dress up and actually go to all the football games. There’s no school spirit here, competition between schools is not as epic as it is back home. Students don’t attend any sporting events and no one really cares how the school teams are doing

Even though Hutt High is probably one of the best schools in the Wellington area, it feels like they have nothing compared to my school back home. They use chalkboards here and overhead projectors are their “modern” technology. Very few classes have them. Also, we have to pay for all our school books and uniform and everything is ridiculously expensive.

Every couple weeks or so we have assemblies. Our year goes into the assembly hall and we all sit with our form class. Then the deans walk in and we all stand silently. If you talk, you get a detention. Then when all the deans are on the stage, we sit and they just stand there and stare at us, straight-faced. It’s a very formal process, I see why there is no school spirit. Then they introduce the principal and we stand again and clap. The principal goes up on stage and starts lecturing us from a written speech. It’s never very motivating. One time, it was a cold, rainy day and I was wearing a black zip-up (same color as the school one) and the dean took it from me. I went to get it after school and she said next time she’ll keep it the whole term.

But anyways, school is alright. Math is hard now. We’re doing calculus and of course, I’ve never done anything like it but my classmates have for a few years now. I also wrote a big history internal last week. It went well I think, even though the teacher even said it doesn’t matter for us international students.

Teacher for a day

Today brings a quick update from Chris in Ecuador. You can view his original post here.

I don’t have any pictures for this but yesterday I got to teach two English classes. Right before class, my teacher said that one of the teachers was gone and asked me if I would teach the class because I speak English. So, I got to be a teacher for a day.

Any reason to celebrate

In this post Kelcie tells us about her Chilean Independence celebrations. She offers some fun insight into school and home life. Her entire post is here.

Basically all you need to know that I did this week in school was anniversary activities. Yeah, more of them. I thought it was just going to be the costume party, but nope. On Monday, we did nothing in school, whatsoever. Like, we sat outside on the benches and hung out. Some teachers didn’t even show up. And then at night was a type of talent show thing, except it was all for the Alliance Competition. I haven’t mentioned this yet, have I? Part of the anniversary activities is this competition between the different grades. I’m in “Alianza Azul”, by the way. Well, anyways, they take it serious here. I don’t even think theres a prize or anything, but still, it’s pretty cool. Tuesday was the closest day of actual school. Except for we had an hour early start, because the talent show went pretty late the night before.

After ‘school’, my family and I went to the Grandmother’s house for an aunt’s surprise birthday party. It seems like there’s always a reason to celebrate here. It was a lot of fun. Wednesday, we had a field trip to the beach! It’s like only forty-five minutes away! The beach was totally weird though. Imagine looking to your right and seeing the driest desert in the world, and the to your left the Pacific Ocean. There we had more anniversary competitions, like a sand castle building contest, volleyball, etc. It was a lot of fun. On Thursday, I didn’t really know what was going on. I figured just a normal day of school, but nope. I ended up showing up to school and hour early, and wearing my uniform when we were supposed to wear our gym uniform because we were doing more anniversary activities. Friday, we once again, did nothing in school. But everyone was all excited because that night there was a school dance! It was a lot of fun. Except for the fact I showed up early, once again, and I wasn’t really wearing the right attire so to speak. But still. I had a good time.

Saturday, my host sister and the grandmothers went to this little town called something that sounds like I E Eye. It was this celebration for the Diez y Ocho de Septiembre, which is their Independence Day. It was like, this big park thing with cabanas and a pool and little petting zoo. We basically just ate Empanandas, watched the Cueca (Their National Dance), and did everything else Chilean. There were also a lot of silly games, and to my surprise, the same ones that my school did for the anniversary competitions! I think it’s so awesome how much everything is steeped in tradition here. They always ask me, ‘What’s your national dance?’, or ‘What’s typical American food?’, and honestly, I don’t know what to say. Everything is a big mix in the United States. But here, the culture is so rich and amazing. I just love it.

-I’m no longer Kelcie Litchfield. They say my name like this: Kaylcie. And my last name? Forget about it. They think it’s the hardest thing ever! The closest way they say it is Leetfeel. Haha.
-Everytime I walk into a room they all go, Kelcie!!! Everybody seems to know me at my school. I feel really bad too, because a lot of them has also added and talked to me on Facebook, so that just makes it worse.
-My Spanish tutor warned me about this. For some reason, when you say you’re from Minnesota, they go Venezuela? No, Minnesota. Venezuela?! Hahaha.
-Oh, and when they’ve figured it out that I’m not from Venezuela, they go, “Ahhh, Minnesota…” And when I ask if they know it, they don’t. Haha.

I never really know what’s going on here. Life is just so unpredictable and crazy right now. It’s awesome.

Five pairs of shoes

In this fun post, Hannah tells us about the shoe protocol at her school. Her original post is here.

For school I have five pairs of shoes. One pair is to walk to school in. They hurt really bad and are very unattractive. My second pair of shoes is to wear inside during the school day. They are not that bad and at least they are comfortable! My third pair of shoes is for gym class inside. They are not that bad either. My fourth pair of shoes is for dancing inside. And my fifth pair of shoes is for gym class outside. They are very big and clunky and not at all fun wear. I couldn’t believe how many shoes I received! My host dad told me what they were all for but I forgot. On the bright side I can leave four out of the five pairs of shoes at school. Two of them are stored in my locker in the classroom and two of them are stored in my shoe box. On the first floor there are shoe cubbies assigned to the students. I have to be careful where I go outside with my inside shoes because sometimes we have to walk from building to building. I think I am getting the hang of which shoes to use when. However it is awfully complicated!

One month reflections

In another round of one-m0nth insights, Kelcie shares about her milestone in Chile and her reflections thus far. Her original post is here.

It’s been one month. One month since I’ve seen my parents, friends, home, town, and in general, The United States. I already feel like little bits of me have changed.

• I’m not a picky eater, at all, whatsoever, anymore. I’ve tried every food possible. There’s only like, two things here I don’t like. Garbanzo’s and Lentil’s.
• I’ve become much more adaptable and versatile. Before, I was more like, “I have to have my bed this way, ” or “I can’t have my foods touching,” etc. etc. Now I just deal.
• I’m not afraid to make mistakes and take risks anymore. I just go.
• I’ve learned to just laugh at myself and there’s no such thing embarrassment anymore.
• My personal bubble has gotten a LOT smaller.

So I should probably mention the Spanish thing. Wow. I’m surprised at myself. People back home would tell me that its really easy to ‘pick up’. I always was like, what does that mean?! But now I totally get it. I’ve gotten really used to hearing Spanish so it’s easier to tell what people are talking about, and then you kind of figure out what words mean. And not just random nouns either. Like, before I came here, I knew no past tense. But coming here, I’ve got it almost down. All without the help of any books or teachers or studying. The culture: Is awesome and I love it already. This is probably the most I’ve learned about. Here it is.

• They’re very affectionate and touchy feeling. Always hugging, kissing, touching. I remember the first time I was given the customary kiss on the cheek. I was so taken aback! But after that the first time it’s like whatever.
• They’re not very private people. They don’t lock doors, or sometimes even close them.
• They think if you don’t want more food, you don’t like it.
• I always considered myself a pretty well-dressed person before. But I am constantly feeling under dressed. Their style is just so different. Mine is like, colorful, cute, and kind of quirky. Here it’s just different. It’s always dark wash jeans, heels, and a dressy top.
• I love their slang. It’s really catchy. They have a habit of adding -po to the end of things. Like, Si-po, No-po, Claro-po. And they drop the ‘s’ of a ton of things, which honestly kind of works for me, so I don’t have to worry about the exact verb conjugation. Like, they say Gracia, not Gracias. And they never, ever, day Adios, always Chao. And the super casual ending of -ai to things. Like, Como estai? (Como estas) Que tienai? (Que tienes). I though some of you Spanish Speakers back in MN would enjoy reading about all their dialect.
• Smoking, once again, super common. All my friends smoke. I don’t think I’ve met one person my age that doesn’t. But don’t worry, I haven’t picked up on that habit.
• They have so much Chilean pride. I haven’t met anyone that’s been like, “I hate where I live” blah blah blah like we have in the U.S.
• Although I go to the most expensive school in town and my family is considered pretty well-off, they aren’t snobby or anything. They don’t look down upon those who ‘come from the other side of town’.
• They consider Copiapo small. So everytime I mention that I come from a town with 7,000 habitants, they’re so amazed.
• They never go out to eat here. The closest thing to that is going to the cafe for some coffee.
• Their main form of entertainment is spending time with friends and family. No going out to the movies, concerts, bowling, shopping, amusement parks etc. etc.

The people here are soooooo amazingly nice in general here. My family especially. I should probably talk about them a bit more. My host mom, Maria Eliana is really sweet. The other night she told me how happy they are with me, and that they think of me as another daughter. She’s funny too..She thinks Obama is the most handsome man. Haha. Her and my host dad, have a really cool relationship. They’re always teasing each other. Roberto is really kind too. He always says to me, “If there’s anything you need, whatever at all, call me”. Maria Jose is great host sister. She’s 11, but quite mature for her age. Really smart, and also really kind. I can’t stress that enough. That probably the biggest culture difference here. Just the warmth and generosity and sincerity. My family is constantly asking me if I am happy and content here. And I always, always say yes. And it’s the truth.