Today we enjoyed our first full day at our sister-school, Colegio Santa Ursula. For me and Ms. Bauer, it was thrilling to be reunited with our old friends, the faculty and administration of the school with whom we have been collaborating for the past three years. Ms. Bauer has been assisting the school with its technology initiative and, as a result, they have the distinction of being the first laptop school in Chile. We had a full day of meeting with department chairs, administrators and the Technology department.Of course, the very best part of the day was reuniting with our students and hearing what they had to say about their time here thus far. They were bursting with enthusiasm and with all sorts of news of their adventures with their new sisters. I asked them what they have learned about Chile during these last few days and they said that they had no idea about the great geographic diversity of Chile - that you can ski in the morning and be on the beach in the afternoon. They have also experienced the many districts in which Santiago is divided and they had no idea that so many people of German origin live in Chile. Certainly, all are aware of the situation of the trapped miners in the north and now they also know the personal stories of their new friends who experienced the big earthquake in February - it's been quite a lot of listening and discovering as you can imagine!
I do have to say that our wonderful students are quite a sensation at the school and they are very popular as you can imagine. Their plaid "Scottish" skirts are the envy of the students here (the Ursuline sisters noted that they have a very respectable skirt legnth - Yeah UA !!). The girls attended classes today and Anushka was particularly excited about cooking class where today's topic was "cake." Needless to say, I was so sorry to have missed that class since we were discussing technology integration! Indeed, each UA student is fitting in beautifully (two have already said that they would love to go to school here ). I was particularly amused by Cami who rode a horse for the first time over the weekend (we don't have those in Texas - haha) and is so confused because she is being hosted by triplets -- she loves them but can't tell them apart!
As you can see by the photos, the Ursuline sisters are a warm and loving presence in this school. The sisters are originally from Germany so German language and culture have a major role in the school. The co-principal of the school is Sister Angela (pictured showing Anushka a map of the German Ursulines) and Mother Paula (pictured opening a note from Ms. Elizabeth Bourgeois) is the leader of the Ursuline Community. There are at least 4 sisters working in the school and it is a great joy to see them interacting so closely and lovingly with the students.
Tomorrow will be another big day at the school!! Buenas Noches!
Yes, Ms Nipp, as Marissa says, get some sleep too !
ReplyDeleteI see you are working (as usual) late into the night, blogging on to keep us all posted on this fabulous exchange
I too, wish I were in Chile, enjoying as much as the girls are, all the biking, climbing mountains, visiting architectural and poetic sites such as the Neruda house, and participating in a vibrant pro-active environment as Chile's Colegio Santa Ursula - Ursuline school, apparently pioneering in technology with a little help from UA Dallas friends such as yourself and Mrs Bauer...
Of course, if I were there we would probably be looking at other very interesting scientific alternative visits such as the to the massive fish meal plants, the entrails of copper mines (out of question at the moment, I would agree...) astronomic observatories in the Andes, or even Strawberry Fields... By the way, we owe a lot to Chile and international explorers like your group for our Strawberry pies and cakes, as you certainly know that....
"The modern commercial strawberry is derived from hybridization of the Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) and the beach strawberry (F. chiloensis). (http://www.macroevolution.net/hybrid-plants.html)"
and that...
"As early as 1624 the larger wild American strawberry had been sent to France for cross breeding with the European wild strawberry. But real progress in producing the big modern varieties began when Captain Frazier, a French explorer spy, was observing Spanish fortifications on the west coast of South America and noticed the giant fruited but tough Chilean wild beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, which native Indians had been cultivating for centuries. On completing his mission, Frazier dug up five plants and brought them back to France. He claimed that they bore fruits "as large as walnuts," but no one could tell at first, for although he was an amateur botanist who should have known better, the captain had selected only female plants with no males to pollinate them. This was remedied by planting the Chilean species next to American types, and eventually the big pineapple strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) was crossbred from the two.
http://www.allaboutstuff.com/garden_tips/Everything_You_Ever_Wanted_to_Know_About_the_Best_of_Berries.asp
scientific regards,
Dr SCOTT
Love these fabulous blogs!
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