Weekly Update

Nothing super major to report so this will be a batch of things to give you all an idea of a week in Castro. This is an evening view across the bay out our back yard.

Teleton! started Friday night at 11pm and is going on till midnight tonight. Teleton is a big telethon for kids with disabilities. I'd compare it to the Jerry Lewis, US version but that would be understating Teleton. Every TV channel in Chile is broadcasting Teleton. The Plaza de Armas in Castro has a stage set up with live music, the firemen with their ladder truck, the church ladies with their empanada and milcao stalls and the knitting club with their scarves; all sales to benefit Teleton. Earlier this week the school had a tag sale of clothes to benefit Teleton. Meanwhile kids have been collecting change all this month much like the Unicef Halloween boxes of my youth. And....most life shattering of all....the Banco de Chile is open on Saturday to accept donations. This grand sacrifice from the people who consider customer service to mean being open only within 9 to 2, Monday to Friday. As they say down here: Chile: Solo un Corazon!

School had its sad moment to display Solo un Corazon (We are of one heart) on Thursday. The school secretary got a call that her home was on fire. By the time she got there the place was pretty well destroyed. No sooner did word get out at Carpe Diem than the Director scheduled a midday staff meeting. One teacher volunteered his house as a temporary home for the secretary, her 2 kids and her mom. Another suggested, and all agreed, that we cancel the end of the year outing and give the money to the fire fund. The advisor to the senior class said that the seniors had already agreed to go to the house and help salvage and clean what could be salvaged. Lists were made, duties were volunteered. I was reminded of the spirit of a barn raising.

Sadly we saw the Chilean rally spirit closer to home yesterday. If you've been following the blog you've noticed the name of our friend Margot. Margot is the sister-in-law of our neighbors, the host of another American English volunteer (Laura, who just returned to NY) and the Chiloe coordinator for AFS. Around our house she is Tia Margot, Berto & Gabi's Chilean auntie and Mike and Lisa's friend and endless source of help in all things Chilote. This week, after a long illness Margot's father died. Yesterday was the funeral in Chonchi. The four of us put on our best outfits and went to the funeral. The church in Chonchi was standing room only. Afterwards the assembled walked a hilly kilometer to the cemetery. Berto has really taken Tia Margot's dad's death to heart. The combination of Margot being his good friend and his being at the age to comprehend death seems to have made quite an impression on Berto. He insisted that we walk to the cemetery and go to the tomb to pay our respects.

In news from bureaucracy....We found out this morning that the US gov't has decided that packages mailed from abroad cannot exceed 500 grams. Just when we had finished all our Christmas shopping and had a box ready to mail to the States. No one said anything about packages mailed to Chile from the USA...
The quest to make Mike, Berto and Gabi legal residents of Chile goes on. Lisa went to the equivalent of the INS on Monday only to find that... the office was having a sitdown strike. She did find out that she needed notarized copies of the documents; so Friday, after a speedy taxi to and from school to get the school Director's signature (verifying that Lisa is employed), Lisa returned to the office where... their computer system was down.

Mike has struck up a friendship with one of the micro bus drivers over music. Rather than 80's pop or latin sounds, the mustached driver plays everything from heavy metal to old Deep Purple to country to BB King to Chilean alternative. Lisa proposed a music swap with him which met a big thumbs up. We will start with a pen drive of Robert Cray and Squirrel Nut Zippers and see what he gives us in return.

All for now - time to feed the kids and clean up for Date Night! We still visit our friend Sandra at Sacho's, but we also visit our landlady Monica's favorite restaurant Mary's and a little place on the square. There's still plenty of room in town for a good Italian restaurant (and Lisa mentioned that to some Italian tourists she met in the market this morning), but none has appeared yet. Regards to all!