Learning the Ropes

Today was everyone's first day of teaching; however, Kate and An had a much more real start than I (one will hopefully discuss in a forthcoming blog post).

For the IYPT program today was more of an introduction day.

I successfully took the metro to the San Joaquín campus of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile ( abbreviated UC). About a 30 minute commute.

There I met up with Alex and Andrea (the two other MIT students I will be working with), the professor coordinating the IYPT camp at UC and two of his graduate students. The number of participating students they were expecting has been very uncertain. Originally the program expected 100 students that would be divided between 3 universities. Alex, Andrea, and I would work with a different university each week. However, only about 25 students were present today, so the format has been shifted - all students will work all three weeks at UC. I am happy I will be able to stay with the same group for the whole time. Overall, the program will be a lower time commitment than the programming group - 3 hours a day, 3 days a week.

After walking around the campus and looking at the lab in which we will be teaching we drove to Juan Gomez Millas campus of la Universidad de Chile for the 'commencement' ceremony. Professors from the three organizing universities gave brief speeches about the history and virtues of the program and introduced us to the students. Upon leaving, we received a Chilean goodbye (a kiss on the cheek) from all 30 or so people present. The repetition hopefully has made us more adept at this new mode of greeting people. It is interesting - I really enjoy the cheek kiss greeting because it feels more intimate (and in these scenarios where I am nervously meeting many new people it is rather comforting); however, it is likely not viewed with the same degree of intimacy from those initiating it because it is routine for Chileans. Regardless, we are considering bringing it back to the States to shake-things up.

After taking the metro back to our neighborhood, I grabbed lunch at a small place nearby - La Estarcha. I got the lunch special which came with una Entrada (App): small salad with hard boiled egg, Fondo (main meal): Choice of a couple plates, and juice.

Guiso Mixto con ensalada surtido de La Estarcha

I got "Guiso Mixto" which seemed to contain potatoes, eggplant, onion, and some sort of meat (tasted similar to Sheppard's pie), and a watermelon juice. Very good.

Tomorrow I will hopefully be going to a museum with Alex and Andrea after we make lesson plans for Wednesday. Will update on what we see!