Ryan Greenberg

Already? Finally. Those two words describe my reaction to summer in Chile ending and work beginning. We’ve been waiting a long time to do something. I may come to regret those words, but for now, let the work begin!

Last Friday Emily and I had a meeting at a local agricultural high school, Instituto Agrícola Pascual Baburizza. We signed up to help with teaching English for a few classes during the week. We met the faculty, toured the school, and ate a nice lunch. The school itself is impressive and impressively interesting. You can rest assured that you’ll hear more about it before long.

And so with our Friday meeting, we had some work scheduled. Monday morning we left for work, somewhat delayed by the fact that our bicycles needed air in their tires. Mental note: take care of things like that the night before. After a 20 minute ride, we were at the school and sitting in an assembly for the freshmen. It brought back memories of my freshman year, although I’m not sure if I was so small and had such a deer-in-the-headlights look as these freshmen. Probably did.

The first day of school is always something of an anomaly. This one was no exception. Actual teaching was limited, but we helped make flashcards of different modes of transportation. We introduced ourselves to all the students, and took a back seat as Ms. Alejanda drove the class.

We left school early to make it to a 5:00 meeting in Los Andes with Caritas, a Catholic group that organizes visitation meetings to the hospital, foster homes, and nursing homes. I made a contact there and got information about their schedule. They don’t really start again until after Easter; with any luck I will have someone take me to the nursing home independently next week.

Then we left our meeting to make it to a 7:00 meeting in Calle Larga with the confirmation program. There are over a half-dozen programs currently running in the parish, and many of them need additional coordinators. Sounds promising.

Finally, we made it home and ate dinner. For a first day of work and finding work, it went well. When’s vacation start?