wow, i´m having the time of my life here. seriously. i´ve thrown myself into the culture as much as i can manage and it´s felt really great to get in touch with this part of my heritage. September 18th is Chile´s Independance Day and for this special occassion, the university started celebrating the entire week before with live bands in the cafeteria playing traditional folk music and serving traditional dishes all last week. these people are very proud of being chilean as i have learned to become over the years and am even more so now.on the actual day (the 18th), every city throws a major party called a Ramada where they usually have a live band playing tradtional folk songs. of course typical Chilean food is served (empanadas, mote con huesillo, etc.), and many people like to wear the traditional Chilean clothing called El Traje De Huaso/Huasa or in English: Dress of the Huaso (for male pronounced: Waso) and Huasa (pronounced: Wasa for the feminine form). it´s a beautiful sight that´s full of energy with people dancing to the tunes of La Cueca (traditional dance) and enjoying time with family and friends. I´m proud to say that i was FINALLY able to learn how to dance La Cueca pretty well and took on the dance floor a few times! hehe! :o)

gotta love 'em empanadas!

dancing La Cueca - go me! :o)
poor guy - didn´t know how terrible i am at dancing Cueca. :o)

i thought teaching music here would be fairly similar to teaching it in the states... ha! how could it be since all the terminology is obviously in spanish. when have i ever needed to use spanish when teaching violin lessons or when teaching a basic theory class in the states? i don´t have a clue how to even say "eighth note" or "up/down bow" in spanish. ya see my dilema?

so, you can imagine how teaching my violin lessons and music theory class has been for the last few weeks. every week i have to not only study to brush up on my theory but i have to REALLY study to remember all the terms that i need to explain everything! woah... i wasn´t prepared for this at all. but it´s been good for me since i´ve forgotten like 80% of what i learned when i was a student... well, not that much, but it sure feels like it when i walk into my theory class. thank God for my violin lessons and English classes that revives my confidence and self-esteem since it´s something that i feel comfortable teaching. phew! :o)