Villarrica

Here’s a photo of our group attending the Long Field Practice in [tooltip text=”Villarrica” gravity=”nw”]This charming city is located in the Oriental Region. Prado (journalist and musician) wrote: “Villarrica is the city of the eternal youth, born from the waters of the Ycuá Pytá and the breeze that comes from the hills.”[/tooltip]
with our host volunteers, Nalena and Jon.  The four day field trip and workshop helped us trainees to integrate what we’ve learned – the language, technical and cultural adaptation experiences —  while experiencing the typical day-to-day life of a PC volunteer.

Nalena and Jon had prepared a full schedule for us, showing us the city, teaching us about their work, and helping us prepare for the classes we were to teach at the Colegio.  We had such a great time!   We taught a class to teenagers on the topic of self-esteem and had some great hands-on exercises for them.  They were so interested and attentive, it was heartwarming.

We were on a live radio talk show, which turned out to be fun and, at times, hilarious.  Most of us were very concerned about whether or not we’d understand the talk show host’s questions (in spanish, of course!) posed to each of us, and whether or not we would respond correctly enough to be understood!  At one point, after I had mentioned that I’m from Texas, the host asked me in his fast spanish about Formula One in Austin.  I got completely confused, had no idea, and answered that yes, Texas does seem to be known for its horses and cows!   jejejeje!

There were many more great experiences there, and Nalena and Jon impressed us all with their expertise.  They have a wonderful relationship with all the folks they work with and they are making a great impact in Villarrica.   I felt very fortunate to have been in the group that was chosen to go to their site.