Education

I am part of a facebook group called "English speaking moms living in Santiago, Chile." It is ridiculous how much help these moms have been. We ask each other all kinds of things... where to send kids to school, where to find thread, or sell furniture and foreign things to each other.

One of these moms had a preschool teacher tell her child to stop reading because she was getting ahead of the other students. That blew me away. Wow wow wow...

I cannot believe that that even came out of a teacher's mouth! In my opinion, that makes her no longer a teacher but a dictator.

I have been shocked how different education is here. Parents don't read with their children much so the first time they start to try to read is at school. It is so sad to me. Not only as a teacher but a mom. Reading is a huge bonding time with kids and it's sad that they don't have that.

In addition to this crazy preschool thing, all of the college students here are rioting and protesting for free education. You get what you pay for. If no one but the taxpayers are paying for your college education, it is going to be a waste of everyone's time and money.

ELL

I earned my bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education from Brigham Young University about one year ago. I learned a lot about how to teach English language learners (ELL) learners yet when mentor teachers or professors would talk about how to work with the family to help the student succeed, I didn't really understand.

Now I do.

I understand how frustrating it would be to go to a parent teacher conference and not be able to be understood or understand what is said about your own child.

I understand how it would be so important to have notes sent home to you from the teacher that you could read. And how much that would mean to me that a teacher bothered to take the time to do it.

I understand now why my mentor teacher never tried calling the parent of an ELL student because she knew that they wouldn't answer the phone.

I understand why Pedro was so quiet in class.

I understand just how hard all of that is.

And now, I understand why I am here. Well, at least one reason why.

Mexican rice and beans

We finally have found a good rice and beans recipe. I am so glad because I was getting worried that it would never happen.

It's not like we eat rice and beans everyday but they are cheap here so it's a good to thing to know how to use. I like how this recipe makes everything moist and beans don't taste just blahh...

I am glad to have that living in Chile has forced me to finally figure out how to cook dry beans properly. Here I don't have the option of opening a can of beans. I had to learn how to do it from scratch. I also have learned how to use dry milk in all of my recipes, but that's another story.

What to do with the dry beans...

Rinse the beans with water and make sure they are clean. Add the black beans to a pot and cover with water three times the height of the beans. They soak up a lot of water so it may be necessary to add more water as they cook. Let boil for as long as they need to become soft. This may take at least one hour or more so plan ahead. I like to make a bunch more than the recipe calls for and then use it in different recipes in the next few days so that I have it already prepared. It may sound complicated to use them but it's really not! Just try it out!

Mexican rice and beans

• 1-1/2 cup cooked black beans or 1 15 oz can black beans


• 1 cup of rice


• 2-1/4 cups water, divided


• 1 tomato diced


• 1 cup tomato sauce


• 1-2 tsp olive oil


• 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped


• 1 jalepeno, optional


• 2 tsp ground cumin


• 1 tsp chili powder (have not yet found this in Chile so it's not crucial apparently)


• 1/2 tsp oregano


• salt and pepper, to taste


• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely

Once the beans are about soft, bring 2 cups of water to boil in a large pot. Add the rice, cover with lid and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for another 5 minutes. While the rice is cooking, dice the tomatoes and slice the other ingredients if you haven't already. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and jalepeno to the skillet and saute for one minute, stirring constantly.

The beans should now be fully cooked. It is important that black beans are well-rinsed after cooking or they make everything else turn black. Drain the beans and rinse them several times or until they no longer leave a black stain in the water (or as little as possible). Add the cooked black beans, cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir in the tomato juice, 1/4 cup water, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans absorb much of the liquid, 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cilantro and cooked rice then cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is warm, 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

BYU Football

I am very excited for this upcoming season. We are hoping that all will work-out for us to see all the games on byutv.edu. I am unbelievably grateful that BYU has gone independent because of that. YES!

We have found that there is a sports bar in Providencia, an area close to our municipality of Nunoa, that will play games from regular United States ESPN if we ask. It would be fun to go see a game there but otherwise I guess we'll be spending a lot of Saturdays this Spring at home.

Oh, and make sure to watch the Cougarettes during the game. That's my sister!

20,000 Pesos?

Of course it's hard to switch from a dollar to 500 pesos. Who wouldn't find that difficult? I went to the store a few weeks ago and took with me what I thought were 2-2,000 bills. Little did I know that I had grabbed 2-20,000 bills instead. So, instead of carrying maybe 5 dollars with me, I had 45.

I went through the store, found what I needed, and went to the register. When the cashier said the total, 2,489, I pulled out my 2-20,000 bills and she stared at me with this look of shock. I was really confused. I kept looking at her thinking, what is the big deal? Do I have something on my face? Did I do something wrong? Then she repeated the total to me again and I again tried to give her the money. Once again, she repeated the total. I looked down at the bills and said, "Oh, goodness..."

I was throughly embarassed. Everyone was looking at me in the other check-out lanes and now the cashier and the bagger obviously knew that I was not Chilean. That always causes slow speech and lots of gestures.

I finally got out of the store and I was just glad that I was able to leave.

I wonder if foreigners have had trouble with U.S. bills and I have been less than patient with them before...

No longer waiting

It's kind of been like I've just been waiting to start my life again.

I was waiting until I had my sewing machine, measuring cups, and mixer.
I was waiting until I had my buttons, thread, and fabric.

But then I decided that even if I had those things it would always be different here. I can't have a normal cooking or sewing blog. I can't lie that everything is like it was or will be eventually. It's not the same here at all. I am always substituting for this and that so that I can have something that tastes a little bit like home.

I can blog about our experiences here. So that's what I'm doing.

Blogging about what I can do here and what I learn and experience. At least at the end I can have an interesting book made to share with my family and I am excited.