Week 2 of my adventure in Concepcion by: Emily Smith

Hola!  It has been a crazy second week.  I went to classes for a semi-normal schedule this week, although I don't think its ever "normal."  The adventures of this week included physical activity such as American football, volleyball and zumba.  This was also the first week we went to plant trees with some students.  So a week in review:

The first couple of days I was back in a classroom with students and helping them either research topics they would present to class or helping out in a lab.

Closed system experiment demonstrating how mass is not lost in a closed system.

Working with the students is always a lot of fun and in science you don't need to know the language to communicate effectively.  Alex, Nick and I also were able to give a talk to several classes about the importance of wetlands and what the Coastal Roots program is designed to do.  We also got to adventure out to see the "Power Rangers" statues.  These were placed several years ago in a straight line all facing the same way.  However, after the earthquake they were moved in different directions and no longer in a straight line.  It is really awesome to see the power that nature possesses.

The "Power Rangers"

Our whole group was also invited to attend an anniversary celebration of the private schools in the system and were able to see some of the talent that they students possess. I really enjoyed getting to see the many different groups of school children and the variety of skills.

Dancers from one of the schools

 The end of the week brought about the first tree planting!  We had several students from school with us and were able to plant about 50 trees in the area of SpringHill.  I was not familiar with the types of trees that we planted, but knew that they were all local ones which is the most important part. 

Some of the students getting instructions on how to dig a hole for the tree.

My family has also done a wonderful job of taking care of me especially since I was sick at the end of the week with a sinus infection.  Cool thing is they let you keep the scans of your sinuses (which you have to have in order to get a prescription for antibiotics).  To end the week we had a great birthday party for a friend of the family!

Birthday Celebration Chilean style!