18 de septiembre

Friday was the big independence day for Chile. I was a little bummed out because I didn't have anything exciting to do, plus I was sick. I went with Luis and Javier to Rancagua for La Copa Davis which is a tennis tournament. It was against Austria. I felt out of place because the second I saw the players, I instantly hated "Nico" (the Chilean one) and I loved the Austrian one. So, the entire time I cringed when Chile scored and got excited when Austria did. Nico was really full of himself and it annoyed me. But Chile one in the end! However, I didn't know this before going, but there were supposed to be two or three games. The first game lasted four hours and half way through I asked Luis what time we would get home and he told me very casually, "Oh, like two or three". After the first game was over, I went to the car and slept. Tennis is boring after awhile...

On Saturday, Luis's family was over. I really have no idea who was related to who, but there was an aunt and an uncle, two girls that were at the University, and an old woman. I do not know any of their names and barely talked to them. I'm so friendly... We went to a Rodeo, though, and it was sooo cool. Well, kind of. It was cool because of the fact that the people there were wearing traditional Chilean outfits (aka the cape, the boots, the hat) and they were riding horses and their was Chilean music. But it wasn't cool because they were chasing cows around a pit and slamming them into the walls! After that we drove up this big hill that overlooks the entire city. Because it was the 18th, about eight billion people were camped up there and there were booths and tents and cars and people EVERYWHERE. And all the people were flying kits because that's part of the holiday and it was so pretty because it was on these really pretty hills that were green and perfect and there were kites all over and it just looked so happy with all the people. We didn't stop and get out though. That made me saddd.

We went home after that and I got to Skype with Dad, Andrew, and Daniel for like ten minutes. It was really good, but after, for the first time since I've been here, I got homesick. So for the rest of the day, which actually was really fun, I had this awful urge to cry. I think I just didn't like that I was doing this with a new family and I wanted my actual family to be here.

Anyways, we made shish kabobs and had a big barbeque outside and it was really fun because there was classic Chilean music and everyone was happy and we were flying kites and eating bread...Ah, I don't know.

After the barbeque (asado) we were all just hanging out and Sofia was riding her bike around the patio and she kept making us look at her and nobody was paying any attention and then all of the sudden we heard a crash. She had ran into a pipe next to the house and broke it and water was seriously gushing at her like a fire hose and she couldn't move. So one of the cousins helped her but the entire time I could NOT stop laughing! And she was bawling for like an hour.

Later we went to a Fonda in the town which was just a bunch of booths and food and dancing but it was in the sketchy part of town so Luis was super stressed. He gave us like a walking order and was like code talking to Matias to make sure that nothing happened to anyone. It was really annoying. And we didn't stop and look at anything. We just marched in a straight line through the entire thing and I was mad. And the people there weren't even scary. They were happy and minding their own business. I don't like how he takes me places to see Chile but it's only to walk by or quickly see and go. I'm excited for when I can speak more Spanish and go out on my own.

I'm getting a double chin. It makes me very sad. Whenever I take pictures, I always look fat. And I told Matias and now he points it out all the time. And he even asked me the other day if I used to be fat when I was a baby because I have one. And today Sofia made one and then laughed and said "Emily tiene" which means Emily has one. Ahhhh.