Difficult Personal Experience, Good Program

My experience in Chile was hard. I got sent to a very difficult mining city in the North of Chile. I struggled with the the dry air, the intense pollution, the lack of young people, but mostly the grimy men and the lack of ability to feel comfortable at any point. I tried to learn to like the city I was in, I just found it impossible for so many reasons.

Having said that, I did stick it out and came out of the experience having learned a lot about the lives of others, especially about the lives of people less fortunate than I. I learned what it feels like to be a minority, what it feels like to be laughed at, what it feels like to be different. I learned about people live in a mining city, the wage disparities, and the ignorance or apathy of people happy to live in a place where it seems everyone is sick with some disease, and kids are raised in a mall instead of outdoors (as the whole town is filled with dust and cement).

Like I said, it was difficult, but I don't regret it. My kids, head teacher and school were awesome, and school was a sanctuary for me- as it was for the kids. I've never seen a group of kids so happy to be at school before in my life. They loved each other, loved their professors, loved me, and loved learning English. A lot of them came from hard family lives, but you never saw it on their face. Though teaching was sometimes a struggle for me (mostly just being exhausted at the end of the day), the level of dedication that my kids had to me and my class made me dedicate myself to them in return. I participated in absolutely everything and threw myself into the school portion of the program, as it was the most positive part of my experience (and luckily so, as I spent most of my time at the school anyways). I recommend that, by the way.

For a quick example of the awesome school experience I had, I'll share two things my school did for me (they treated me like a rock-star). On the Monday after my birthday ( I had mentioned to absolutely nobody that my birthday had been that Saturday) I got called into school early, and when I showed up the ENTIRE school was assembled with a banner that said "Happy Birthday Miss Lauren", and a gift from every course. I'm not kidding (imagine my suitcase for my flight back to Santiago....). A week before I left, they called another assembly to thank me for my service and gift me a beautiful glass plaque with my name engraved and a thank you note engraved on it. I almost cried.

Anyways, my family was highly unpleasant. Just bad people, not sure what their deal was. I didn't decide to move until the last 3 weeks of the program, but I wish I had done it sooner. The program was very supportive about my problems with the family and the town. They called often to check up on me, sent me emails, called again, and went out of their way to help me. They gave me suggestions when they could and they supported any decision I wanted to make. The support staff couldn't have improved their service to me in any way. I truly believe they did everything they could for me when they realized I was struggling. I was also very communicative with them about what was going on. If you are concerned about volunteering with a credible program who have excellent support staff and will never leave you hanging when you have a problem, English Opens Doors is a very good option for you.

So, while I may not have had the time of my life teaching in Chile, it is an experience I will never forget. Sometimes it requires a tough disposition and I'm sure it always requires perseverance. I can also tell you that out of almost all the other volunteers in my program that I've talked to, they loved just about everything and had the time of their life. I think I'm definitely in the minority with the problems I faced. It's just a matter of how everything plays out. In the end, if you have a hard time, it's just four months of your life and I guarantee you'll learn something!