Ever Heard Of A Place Called Ovalle?
Greetings from Ovalle! Wait, what?! That's right. Since my prior post, I've not only completed my training in Santiago, but also moved to my placement town: Ovalle. I've met my host family, toured the school with my head teacher and have officially started my volunteer service. It's hard to articulate how I feel because it's happened so fast and I'm still trying to gain my bearings. It seems in the blink of an eye I’ve found myself in the middle of nowhere in northern Chile living with strangers and teaching high school children how to say the date. What a terrifying and magical position to be in! Although I feel a bit isolated here, Ovalle is brimming with life. Except on Sundays when absolutely nothing is open.
Anyway, allow me to introduce you to Ovalle! With inexplicably poor quality pictures. Looking at you, iPhone.
OVALLE.
Here she is, ladies and gents! Population: 113,000. I'm not buying it.
HOME.
My hood. I don’t know the rules about host families you’ve known for a week and posting their picture online, so I’ll refrain. But, they are nice humans. The family is comprised of a married couple in their early 40’s, two children (Agustin, 6 and Ale, 8) and two dogs (Napo & Res). As a rule of thumb, I generally avoid kids at all costs because they talk too much, shit their pants and wipe boogers on the wall. So, this is all new territory for me. The kids are cute I guess. But that only goes so far when I’ve already been spit on, eaten lunch with a recently pulled tooth next to my plate and had cookie crumbs thrown in my hair completely unprovoked. Trying times. For anyone who has ever told me I would change my mind about wanting kids as I get older, you’re fucking wrong.
PETS.
It's Napo! One of my smelly host dogs who looks like he’s about to defecate on my bed while making intentional eye contact with me. Both he and the other dog, Res, love hanging out in my room and picking fights with street dogs from this very window you see here. Easy to talk shit from the safety of your home, huh boys? On my first day at the house, I made the mistake of leaving the screen-less window open, affording him the opportunity to hop up on my bed and jump out. I then quickly shut it and acted like nothing happened because I didn’t want to be responsible for losing the family dog on my first day.
He’s fine.
And barks at 3am most nights.
SCHOOL.
Here’s my school, Liceo Alejandro Álvarez Jofré, before the cacophonous sounds of "recreo" (passing period) fill the halls. Most students are friendly and try to speak to me in English they learned from those influencers who are 15 and make 30k per Instagram post. I'm not bitter. Anyway, my students can’t know I speak Spanish because it will compromise our classroom dynamic. And mostly because I want to be able to understand the trash they’re talking about me. Most will laugh and run away if I say hello to them or wave. I'm already a big fan of these sweet and bashful kids.
FACULTY.
From left to right, the school guidance counselor, my head teacher, the new volunteer who has no idea what she's in for (re: me!) and the principal during regional orientation. I'm #blessed to have these delightful people as my mentors.
COMMUTE.
My morning commute has transformed from an hour and 15 minutes on the Dallas North Tollway to a 15 minute walk. No complaints here, for the exception that I foolishly leased my Honda Civic four months ago. Phenomenal foresight on my part.
FIRST DAY.
Here you’ll find me in high water pants panicking because I was told I have to address the entire school during passing period on my first day. Really, I should have been panicking about the first impression these pants were giving off. But seriously, how cute is this setup? I gave a touching speech that went something like, “Hello. My name is Emily. I am the new English teacher. Do you like my pants? Does it flood here? I am from Texas. I am happy to be here in Ovalle. Come say hi whenever you want.” I have reason to believe no one understood what I said, but hey, I puked multiple times on my first day of kindergarten so I'll call this first day a smashing success.
PLAZA DE ARMAS
The main attraction of Ovalle is Plaza de Armas, a beautiful little park at the center of town. Fortunately, my school is located directly across the street from this oasis. Plus, all of my favorite cafes and bars are here, too. What more could a girl ask for? Many trees have speakers attached to them, so at any given time you'll hear anything from early 90s pop to folkloric music blaring. Sometimes they'll mix it up and play Despacito or a random Christmas tune (yes, in April). The plaza also houses several adorable stray dogs who spend most of their day chasing birds and napping. Perhaps my favorite thing to do in Ovalle is to sit on a bench here and people watch.
PASEO PEATONAL.
Just beyond Plaza de Armas is Paseo Peatonal, a pedestrian-only amalgamation of restaurants, shops, department stores, casinos, bars, seedy strip clubs and dozens of pharmacies right next to each other. I end up walking up and down this area during my downtime to explore the shops and catch street performers such as the individuals you see in this picture. I also don't really know where else to go in Ovalle.
SUNDAYS.
Just a colorful street in town. Notably missing are humans. That's because on Sundays this place is a ghost town. Ovalle could really benefit from a trendy brunch spot offering bottomless mimosas. On a separate note, I wonder if the owner of that yellow and green truck would be willing to trade cars with me AND take over my lease? It reminds me of the car my sister and I argued over when we played Cruis'n World on our N64.
FOOD COURT.
This is the Ovalle food court, Open Plaza. It's a place to be and be seen among high schoolers. And look! It's Colonol Sanders' creepy face peering around a pillar that inaccurately boasts WiFi. Whenever I'm yearning for a piece of home, I'll come here to get a sense of familiarity. It's unfortunate I have to stare at this piece of work to ameliorate my homesickness. I take what I can get.
STREET ART.
Here's some graffiti I spray painted last night.