Halloween has only become popular in Chile in recent years. Halloween candy started getting imported here, and in order to sell it they had to create the holiday. It truly is a consumerist thing here:) Ironically, last month Chile decided to make October 31 an official Evangelical holiday, so we had the whole day off. There weren't a whole lot of kids, and it didn't feel quite right since there was no smell of fall in the air, but I think Halloween is a tradition worthy of importation.
Obama is big news here right now... there have been special programs on tv and it's all over the news in all medias. At one of our meetings, all the women in the house came and gave us big hugs in celebration. Tonight we volunteers will be having an Obama celebration with funfetti cake and maybe some macaroni:) I know there are some people back home who aren't happy with the results of the election, but literally everyone here is. It's great to be able to say I'm from the United States and actually feel good about saying it!
As far as projects for the rest of this year and next year, things are starting to fall into place a little bit. On Wednesday mornings we are all teaching creative art at San Rafael, a school/centro laboral for youth with different developmental capacities. Some have mild learning disorders, some have down syndrome, some have autism, and there is a wide range of others. On Thursday afternoons we all will be teaching circle dance at Los Heroes, another school along the same lines, and right from there Andrea and I walk over to San Rafael for a faculty meeting to discuss how class went on wednesday, how our development objectives are going for each student, and so forth.
If those activities work out well, we can continue with them next year after summer break. We'll also be doing basic skills reinforcement at Libertador, where we now go with Kristy and Caryn to teach English. We'll be able to do some home visits and keep tabs and build connections w/ the kids there in a more personal way. We also plan on doing a self-esteem and creativity class with the girls at the Casa, a reflection and art class, and of course oil painting!
Now the big thing is planning our summer activities. I'm hoping to be able to go to Peru to visit a friend there, we're doing a dance retreat in January, and Andrea and I would really love to go south to Patagonia or something along those lines. Time is flying by! Every day gets busier, and every weekend we have more activities than would ever be possible to do.
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