Friday evening we went for our last drinks in the local bar which as usual was a lot of fun. Saturday was nice and relaxing during the day Nathan and I just did some cooking then at 6pm we went to play some basketball.
Sunday evening rolled around and it was time for our final beach sunset an wow what a sunset it was. The sky turned a beautiful pink colour which seemed the perfect way to remember Taltal as a beautiful coastal town in Chile with the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen
The school was amazing and the students made us feel so welcome every single day. I must mention a few special students firstly Miss ViVi who attended the housewives class, she was there every morning without fail, even after her night shifts at the fire station and she worked so hard learning her words for the spelling bee. As well as this she was an amazing cook and would bring Nathan and I cakes and cookies. Just this past week we even went to the fire station where she lived after class so she could cut us a big slice of cake she had just baked that morning. What an amazing and kind lady who was a pleasure to teach.
ViVi mainly worked with Nathan but always turned up with a smile and worked really hard, also we saw a lot of ViVi in the house we lived in and she was so friendly and lovely.
John was the teenager that I worked with the most and he was the only one in 5 weeks that did not miss class once. I could not have been happier when he won the spelling bee as he absolutely deserved it and worked so hard to learn all the words and meanings. John was a pleasure to teach and one of the politest and kindest 15 year olds I have ever met.
Rocio won the adult category of the event of Friday, delivering a speech about bullying off by heart which was so amazing. It was a pleasure to get to know Rocio, she is 18 years old and has 2 more weeks of high school, then will head to university after the summer to study English, to one day hopefully become an interpreter. She is a dedicated and driven young lady who we both know will make it in whatever she chooses to do in her life.
Paulina, wow where to start! From the moment we arrived she made us feel so welcome. It was so lovely chatting to her about all different things especially travelling. She was so generous and kind to us while we were in Taltal and we loved visiting her home in Antofagasta. We know we will see her again in London, Paulina you know you and your cousin always have a place to stay with us.
I worked with Cristina a lot over the past 2 weeks and it was great getting to know her better as she is really fun to be around. Cristina worked so hard on her speech making sure every word was perfect. She delivered it word perfect on Friday with such confidence. I hope that getting second place will give her the confidence to continue with her English as she is much better than she thinks she is.
Carol was wonderful to us from the moment we arrived, giving us lifts to the beach in her car and coming out with us every weekend. I worked with Carol a lot and had so much fun learning about the Chilean folk story of Loyola Fat (even if I still cannot pronounce it properly).
Daniel was such good fun and I know Nathan really appreciated having a mate to go and watch the football with. Daniel was kind enough to have us to his home the first weekend we arrived and he also came to wave us off when we left Taltal, we really hope he makes it to London one day.
Pablo lives with Daniel and he too invited us to his house the first weekend which we were so grateful off as it was lovely to feel straight away like part of the group. Pablo also shares my passion for food and delivered a speech about just that. Pablo's English is excellent and we are sure he will make it over to visit at some point to taste some of the great food London has to offer.
The last student I want to mention is Martin who actually lived in the same house as us in the room next door. Martin was so kind and friendly to us during our stay, he even told us about a wine club he belonged to and gave Nathan and I a bottle. That bottle of red wine was the best we had in Chile and had now inspired us to look into wine clubs back home in the UK. Martin won second prize in the speech contest on Friday and it was well deserved as he worked hard on making his speech funny.
A special mention must go to the three amazing volunteers we got to work with at different time throughout the 5 weeks, Valou, Denisa and Marcelo were so much fun and we could not of wished for better people to work with.
So finally this leaves Hector our boss and friend. From the first correspondence over email he was so enthusiastic about us coming it made us even more excited. We couldn't have asked for a nicer person to have spent time with over the past 5 weeks. He would make us lunch everyday and always got us invited to all the weekend events in town. He has a drive and vision to ensure as many people as possible learn English in Taltal and he is doing an amazing job. We are so grateful that he allowed us to be a part of it.
So finally all that is left to stay is thank you and that you all know you have a place to stay if you ever come to London. Taltal will forever be in our hearts x