Dear Mr Mason,
Just wanted to give you a quick update on how I am getting on after over a month living in Chile. First of all I would just like to thank you again for awarding me the scholarship that contributed to my fundraising that got me here in the first place, earlier this year. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it! Without your help, I would not be living this amazing experience!
After setting off from Heathrow on Friday 26th August I arrived in Santiago, the capital of Chile on Saturday morning. We spent our first night in a hostel with the 7 other Chile volunteers before I set off with Patrick (my Project Trust partner) to Valparaiso on the coast of Chile. We are living with a lovely family, the Mum Eliana, Dad Manuel and youngest son Elian although the three other older sons are often visiting! What was quite a shock was finding out they spoke no English, especially given we spoke no Spanish. A month later and communication has got slightly easier!
Monday to Friday we work in the school as English teaching assistants (including some of our own classes), taking the whole school from ages 5-15. The children are lovely though, and despite not understanding the majority of what they say they are all very interested to know everything about me!
Valparaiso is an incredible place, completely different from anything I have ever know and despite being relatively poor it is very beautiful in a lot of places. They also love celebrations, September is their month of celebration for their Independence so it has been lots of fun!
I have attached a couple of photos of Valparaiso for you to see.
Many thanks again and I will keep you updated as much as I can!
Kind regards,
Oli Reid
