I better start sharing

Since it has been a while, I have a whole lot to share so hold on (in chronological order). The other day we had a little time in the afternoon so we decided to squeeze in a short walking tour around the Parliament building. When Pinochet was dictator in the mid 70's to late 80's he moved the congressional arm of the government to Valparaiso. This was, and still is, an unpopular move and there is talk with the latest administration of moving it back to Santiago. You will be able to see the ornate structure in the video which I took of our elevator ride. To get to the elevator we went through the coolest old school turn style I have seen.Supposedly there are over 40 elevators or ascensors in the hills of Valparaiso. I get the sense that they provide one of the many strong pieces of identity which Valparaiso has a lot of. The ascensor from which the video was captured is very close to campus and it provides a nice view of our little world.


While on the elevator I was able to capture a nice view of Casa Central, the campus where we are conducting our research. Casa Central is right in the middle of the photo with the palm trees sticking out. Remember that detail because it will come up later.Also to be considered part of our walking tour was the reconnaissance we did of a couple museums after we had ridden the bus home one day. Outside of the Fonck Museum in Vina was a statue from Easter Island. It will definitely be the closest we get to Easter Island this trip. A couple clothing notes which captured my attention (and Jennifer's) While we were strolling through a market in Valparaiso we suddenly got a feeling that maybe we were not so far from home. Or maybe that 6000 miles is not as far as once thought.
When I saw this next sweater I had to restrain myself from asking the gentleman how much he wanted for it.
"Don't worry be happy" can definitely be combined with the other catch phrases for this trip in that of "Down to get down" and "Living the dream". I am finding you never know what you are going to see on urban streets around the world. Switching gears back to research. Friday was a very big day in the lab with Eduardo essentially giving his whole day to discussing background theory and the conduction of experiments with Nicole and Jen.


After the lecture Jen and Nicole went to work.

Unfortunately the days efforts did not completely go according to plan. Essentially what had happened is the first test which was run produced fair results. The consensus of the research team was to get some results which were a little better. This turned into a few hours of research not going according to plan and not securing any usable results at all. In a nutshell that is how research acts sometimes. Humberto's word as shared by his wife Carmen today are very fitting: "Best is the biggest enemy of good enough".

Remember those palm trees from earlier. Here is a photo looking out from our lab.Today we had two great experiences, one much greater than the other. First we discovering a working space heater in the office which we have the use of.
And second, we had the opportunity to share with Chilean K-12 science educators as part of their Master program in science methods. Carmen acted as translator and all in all it was very rich. We talked about why we were in Chile and what we hope will come from the experience. The Chilean contingent had many questions about our training and experiences in the classroom. Overall we felt very welcomed and that the Chilean science teachers were interested in getting a perspective on US students and schools just as we were interested in the same thing about them. We did make a contact with a science teacher who works at an English immersion school just down the road from where we are staying. Hopefully next week we will be able to visit since it is the only school represented at the meeting today that was not on winter break.
Tonight we have been invited over to Carmen and Humberto's home for dinner. A good time will surely be had by all.