The Unknown

I dedicate this one to my orientation group. I don’t have the bestest writing skills, but read on and I hope you appreciate it! And remember, “ I said Johnnnnnnn Brownnn, Who? John Brown, John Brown, Johnnnnnn Brown!

Before embarking on this experience I knew very little. Here is what I knew… I knew I would be teaching English in Region II, Antofagasta, Chile. I also knew to expect a bit of disorganization because of the recent earthquake. That’s about it.

Here is what I did not know…I did not know how many volunteers were participating in the “8 Month Program” (2 or 200?). I did not now which city or town I would be placed in. I was not even sure which towns were potential locations for my host town. I did not know the level of English I would be teaching, or what grade I would be instructing. I did not know if I would be living in an upper, middle, or lower class home. I had no idea if there would be internet in my home, or in my town for that matter. I did not know much Spanish before I left. And I certainly did not know the first thing about teaching. I thought to myself, “Am I the only idiot doing something like this?” I would soon find out I was far from alone and I was about to meet fifty of the most interesting people I have ever met.

I now realize I actually knew much more than I thought. I knew to trust myself. I knew I wanted to immerse myself in a whole new way of life and truly see how other people live. I also wanted to learn a new language. I knew I’d be leaving the greatest country in the world. But to me, that made it all the more exciting.

It only took 11 days to finally find out all of the questions to my answers. And today, here is what I know. Including me, there are fifty-one “8 month” volunteers. I say “8 month” because English Opens Doors has a 6 month program, a 4 month program, summer programs, and a year long program. The majority of my group is from the United States, representing places such as Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, D.C., Atlanta, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Washington, Illinoise, Minnesota, Colorado, and of course, New York. We also have two people from Australia, one from South Africa, and one from Slovakia who speaks better English than most of us.

Ages range from 21 to over 50. Some people are career changers, others are continuing on the path of teaching English. A few had taught in places such as Japan and Spain. Some people left careers in business, law, film, and we even had one former professional dancer for Disney. Everyone has been abroad at least once, and most of us had lived abroad for an extended period of time.

All of us are currently in the same situation, but with completely different circumstances. Some of us have been sent to large cities. Some people are living with families in a large home with Wi-Fi, have access to a car, and even have a pet dog (though cars are manual and dogs often stay outside all night and bark at the packs of stray dogs that roam the streets at night). Others have been sent to small towns, with populations as small as 2,000. Internet is usually available through the home’s one computer and Wi-Fi is unheard of. I am in a small town of about 12,000 people. Yesterday I went to look for a pair of sandals and had little luck because it is the end of summer and the town is all out…it is 75 degrees out and I am wearing shorts though.

We have a running joke with a volunteer Mighty Mike, working in small town, that within a month the people will have a statue erected in his honor. This joke started after he realized the only information available on his town was via a blog started by a local member of the community. Mighty Mike was researching his town and found the blog with an update that read something like this: “Important news, new medical equipment has arrived to town. In more exciting news, one English Opens Doors volunteer is coming to town”. I’m not sure if construction of the statue has started.

My point is this…I left feeling very uncertain of almost everything. I thought I may just be the only person crazy enough to jump into something like this, but luckily I was wrong. I know there are fifty other people in the same position as me. I can’t wait for our reunion in November, oh how the beer, wine, and stories will flow… Until then, Buena Suerte!