New beginings by James Kuterbach

            My flight from Baton Rouge to Dallas was enjoyable with only a small delay in getting into the gate. There was a small malfunction with one of the boarding gates in Dallas which turned into a short 15 minute waiting game before we went to another free gate. Luckily there were no complications with my flight to Santiago. Some fellow 'LSU Gringos' met up in Santiago and together as a pack we tackled the Santiago airport with the only problem was us attempting to decipher the Wifi password so that we could get in touch with our families at home with an update. 

Francisco with the LSU football

           I honestly did not know what to expect upon arriving in Concepcion nor how I was to be 

greeted. My host family immediately surrounded me and welcomed me. I immediately became one of their family members. My host mother (Maggie), and father (Jorge) speak very little english but are always attempting to communicate with me by using short english words and I communicate using short spanish words. Their son, Francisco speaks a lot more english but still needs help using Google Translate at times and their daughter Yani is quite fluent in english. As a greeting I gave my host family a LSU football to which I taught Francisco how to throw around the 'ol pigskin.' 

         It turns out, my host family and I have a lot in common and our nature and characteristics are quite similiar. I've connected with each member of the family and absolutely feel that I am a part of their family. I was treated to a lovely 3-course lunch that consisted of avocado over lettuce that is seasoned with lime and olive oil, some chilean beef with rice, a lovely dessert consisting of a pear that has been put into some beer and seasoned with cinnamon. And to top it all off a small espresso.

Francisco and I at the movies.

       In the afternoon, Francisco took me to one of the three malls of Concepcion. It was by far the largest mall I have ever been to. It seemed to stretch endlessly and it appeared that every corner there was some new unique ice cream shop. Francisco invited me to the movies and we selected to see Godzilla. Upon finishing we had a late dinner around 9 that was very good. More avocado but this time it was in a paste that you would spread onto bread. We spent the rest of the night chatting and translating to each other with many laughs along the way.

           Not knowing what to expect at the school, I learned that I will be teaching Math to high school students throughout my stay. This was a pleasant surprise due to I was anticipating that I was going to be teaching English and not Math. The school was very generous and collaborated with the University of Concepcion to acquire some english students to be translators for us. This is a fantastic opportunity for all parties involved and really provides a more dynamic experience due to having a translator that is also a university student. My translator, Barbara, wants to go to Clemson after she graduates to pursue her studies in English. It was extremely fortunate to have a translator to communicate with everyone.

My translator Barbara and I being introduced at the school.

         I met one of my two Math teachers today and she does not speak any english. I was so greatful for having Barbara with me to assist in translating. I also learned that Francisco is going to be in one of my classes. We toured both schools, the middle\high school building and the elementary building. Each classroom that we entered or passed immediately bursted out in excitement with many "hello, how are you's" along the way. I was completely blown away with the structure and atmosphere of the school. There is a large emphasis on creativity and to the arts with their own 'art room' in which guitar classes were going on that accompanied singers and classrooms dedicated to engineering and construction.

I am so excited and thrilled to be here and it has already been a blast. I'm looking forward to the next 3 weeks!