An Alzar School Holiday

We are lucky to have so many great friends here in Chile. It’s a reflection of how warm and welcoming the people are down here. We’ve spent the last week getting ready for the Rivers of Chile 2011 program to begin, and so many people have been helpful and generous that we can’t start the program without sharing our experiences of the past week with you.

When we arrived in Santiago we knew that our first stop would be Curico, Chile. Our Jean Bierle Scholarship students have all come from this town and these families have been very supportive of what we are trying to do. We wanted to catch up with our alumni and see what they are up to. Rosario, RoC ’08 alumni just took her PSU (the Chilean equivalent of the SAT/ACT, but more elaborate and with higher consequences). She gets her results on January 3rd and will go to school to become a speech therapist/pathologist. She was one of the leaders of her graduating class, and we are so excited to see her take the world by storm. She is completing service projects around Chile before her classes start in late April, including volunteering in a prison for females and mentoring a young group within her church group.

Titi, RoC ‘10 alumni is also waiting for her PSU results (the pressure is on for good scores so she can receive a scholarship to medical school). She is working sports camps for girls this summer and one of her favorite expressions is “girl power.” Love it.

After catching up with alumni, we ventured south to Valdivia on Dec. 23rd, where we spent the night with Alzar School instructor Claudio’s family. They were nice enough to store all of Alzar School’s gear for the last year. We had a fabulous dinner and stayed up late hearing stories and sharing photos. His parents had us try traditional Holiday foods and drinks. The next morning Claudio’s mom, Patricia, took our instructor Jeff into town to see the sea lions at the fish market while Sean and Kristin packed.

Rosario’s family invited us to spend the holiday with their family at their grandparent’s farm. We were honored to be invited and had no idea what was in store for us. First of all, Rosario’s aunts, uncles, and grandparents are just as nice as she is. They welcomed us with open arms into their beautiful home. Rosario’s grandparents live outside of Chillan, on a farm, but not just any farm, an organic fruit farm. What a delicious surprise! Cherries, blueberries, and raspberries were in harvest and we wandered through the trees picking fruit.

Their family opens gifts on the night of the 24th, and does a gift exchange of sorts where they each have one person they need to buy a gift for. There is lots of clapping and kissing as each person delivers their gift and then the recipient thanks them with a hug and a kiss on the check. It was a very gracious and warm way to see the holiday shared.

We are now waiting at the airport for the students to arrive so we can share this amazing place with them. Hurray for travel and hurray for new places, experiences, and cultures.