LSU CHILE: All good things come to those who wait! by Kenny Varner

It seems like forever since we have been thinking about this trip. It was a year ago this week that Margaret and I first started a conversation about the possibility of going to Chile. If I remember it was a modest conversation, with a simple idea -- why not bring students to Chile to work with a bilingual school to give our students the chance to practice their craft as educators, and provide a lot of English from native speakers of English for the children and the families of the children at the Thomas Jefferson School (TJS). I had previously been to TJS and had a relationship with Drs. Greg and Magda. It had been a number of years since I had brought a group, and Margaret thought it would be a good chance to help apply differentiation and other concepts related to Ken and Margaret's work. That simple conversation expanded to Ken, to the Academic Programs Abroad program, to our dean, to Greg and Magda, and then to Ms. Cecilia (the Vice Principal for Academic Affairs) and Ms. Catherine (the Department Chair for Elementary Education). The conversations became more substantive, we had out program approved, met with students for an informational meeting, and then it seems in the blink of an eye, the modest conversation during a lunch at a job interview became reality with 15 AWESOME LSU folks ready to go to Chile. This was all in place by December and we hurried up to wait for June to come. It was taking forever to arrive, but good things really do come to those who wait. This trip has been amazing, and like I said in a post earlier, truly life changing for all those involved. This week we had a turn of events and I was placed with an AWESOME family Claudia (the mother, but she says I should call her my sister), her children Fernando and Francisca, Claudia's mother Edith, Marta the extra family member who looks after the house, and Elodia a university student living in the home. I was originally supposed to be with a family but those plans fell though and I had settled into the apartment life, but then came with this family and they are great. The good news was Ken and Margaret had enough days with me in the city to get oriented (and now they have private time where they don't have to be around me all the time). I have a great family that I am getting to know more and more every day. My mother has already invited Fernando to Las Vegas when he visits the US with TJS in 2 years. Tomorrow Fernando will travel with Ken, Margaret, and I to Chillán for a 2 day vacation where we will meet up with the Zurita-Montalbetti family (who are also INCREDIBLE) where Jordan is staying. We will go to cabins in the mountains where we have rented cabins, check out hot springs, and hopefully not kill ourselves while we ski. Overall, it is going to be a great weekend as we explore the Andes and more of the Chilean culture.

As for our students many are going away this weekend, some families are sating, but ALL will experience a long Chilean weekend with the holiday on Monday. I have never been so proud of a group of students (the school calls them Gringas but in Chile Gringa/Gringo is an affectionate term not meant to insult). They are working hard, making meaningful contributions to the school, bonding with families and students, and making LSU proud with their representation. All of our students are standing out for different reasons. Blair, for example, has learned how to take the bus to her town of Chiguayante. Meredith has taught the whole time she has been here as the lead teacher because her mentor teacher was sick. Alison has received compliments from the Vice Principal for her activities. These are just a few of the excellent things we are noticing. All of the families have welcomed our folks into their homes as members of the family, and it is really awesome to see. I could write for hours about what the group is doing that stands out, but I think you are getting an idea. We have one BIG problem, however!: How will we ever get the Gringas to leave the school? Ken, Margaret, and I are already anticipating many emotional endings to our trip. We have been here about a week and the bonds have been AMAZING. Most everyone has even purchased some part of the school uniform (pictures to come next week -- we look like the US/Chilean College Soccer Team hahahahah). Below are pictures with some captions -- these are a random assortment of pictures I have taken this week, so enjoy!