Incendio

Although naturally, the aftermath of the earthquake is still here, its definitely settled down a lot. The roads are getting fixed, the rubbish is getting swept into piles and cleared away, and contact is being made with unaccounted family and friends. Things are going back to their normal routine, taking into consideration that there will always be little reminders of what happened- whether that be candles, pictures, and flowers in windows, a caved in roof, a crack in the wall, or a missing family member.

The amount of support that Chile has received has been incredible. A fundraising telethon was held last weekend called “Chile ayuda a Chile” (aka, Chile helps Chile) and people from all over the nation donated, including the giant franchises and wealthiest families. It doubled its goal with an amazing $60 million. The Red Cross and other organizations have been working non-stop to send relief down to the more badly hit areas. Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to go to Constitucion with a group to hand out care packages. Because the Universities have been postponed until April and many schools are too damaged to use, an amazing amount of volunteers have surfaced adding to the amount of support.

And last night, I witnessed another first. We were on our way home and when we turned onto our road, we saw thick puffs of black smoke coming from right where our house is. When we got a little further, we saw giant orange flames coming from the fields right in front of our house. All of the blackberry bushes and dead grass had caught on fire, and being an abnormally windy day already, it caught the entire field on fire. From the inside of the house, it looked like a lake of fire. I went out to take pictures and by that time the fire fighters had arrived and I watched them put it out. (Chile doesn’t have fire fighting as a profession. Its purely volunteer based.)  And then, I went to bed, because God knows, we’ve gone through enough weird things this month, that nothing really phases me anymore.

terremoto 2010

Well…I’m alive.

As crazy as it might sound, despite the fact that an 8.8 earthquake hit Chile, I am so glad I was here for those three minutes and x seconds. Chile doesn’t have a lot of stick houses built on mud, so it wasn’t nearly as destructive as Haiti, but nonetheless, its done a lot of damage. The epicenter was in Concepcion, the second largest city in Chile, which is about 80 kilometers away from where I live in Talca. By some sort of luck I was in Santiago that night so it was only about a 7.2ish and wasn’t quite as strong (although strong!).  We were at a birthday party that night and then a group of us exchange students broke off to go to a discotec. We had literally just gotten there and went up the escalators and were standing on the balcony trying to get in for free (because we’re gringos) when it started. At first, all of us looked at each other and said, “Wow. That music is so loud, it’s shaking the building!” Then, the tiles started to fall off the building, the lights went out, and everyone ran out of the door of the disco screaming. Across the street you could see the entire building flexing and some of the windows breaking. The ground level was just tons and tons of chairs and tables, and people were just running and shoving them out of their way. The balcony we were on felt like it was about to snap off the building or that the giant glass panels were going to fall down on us. So, another exchange student and I ran down the stopped escalators that had cracks in them and by that time, it had kind of “calmed” down, so we just sat down in some chairs and waited for the rest of our group. I think we were all more shocked than scared. It’s definitely not something you expect to happen…
By the time we decided we should probably go home, there were no more buses or taxis or collectivos or metro. Nothing. So, we just stayed on the sidewalk and waited. At about 5 in the morning half of the group left and when they came back, they brought bread and cheese and this 27 year old guy who then invited us back to his house so that we could get a little sleep. I thought it was incredibly sketchy, but we went anyways and just sat around his dining room table in the dark until the sun came up and we could go look for a way to get home. Of course, there was nothing. We waited for the bus for about an hour and experienced the first aftershock before some guy in a truck (sketchyyy) picked us up and took us home, to Andrew‘s house. The house had power so we just watched the news all day. We tried to sleep, but the aftershocks and phone calls were a bit preventative of that. For some reason, Andrew was drying a sock on a stick that was attached to his TV, and we used that as our  “Aftershock Detector” because it jumped so much. The news was crazy to watch. We didn’t really know how bad it was, especially in Concepcion and Talca and it was scary to see all of it. My host family was coming home from the beach that day, so they picked Sara and I up to go back to Talca. The ride home was ridiculous. The roads are so bad. There are just giant holes in them and huge elevated parts and ripples and the pedestrian overpasses all fell. At one point there was an hour and a half detour through hills and farms just to skip a 10 kilometer strip of highway. We got to Talca at night but we had to drive through town a little bit to drop off Sara. It was bad. Everyone was outside, either with fires or sleeping in tents or cars. We didn’t feel the earthquake like we would have in Talca, but it was pretty clear how bad it was just by how no one wanted to be near their houses. A lot happened to Talca, not just because it’s old, but because a lot of the houses are made of adobe.  On the way to my house there is (or rather, was) this long fence and giant house made entirely of adobe and brick and now its completely gone. My  neighbor’s house(who is also another exchange student) was pretty badly hit. He was sleeping when it happened but woke up to his host dad screaming his name out. So he ran out of his room right before his light fixture crashed down on to his bed, and made it down the stairs right as the books were falling off the shelf and finally out of the house as all the statues and glass knick-knacks shattered. Their fence fell down completely (rod iron and brick) as well as all the other fences in our ‘neighborhood’.  My host mom’s brother cleaned up our house before we got there, so I’m still not quite sure how bad it was, but they said that all the wine bottles fell in the kitchen and a few things fell off tables but nothing serious. The book shelves in my room broke, but everything was very fixable.
I went straight to bed when I got home, as I hadn’t slept in awhile and woke up the next morning to what they call an “aftershock”. It was totally another earthquake. It was like a 5 or 6 on the Richter scale. My family made fun of me because I jumped out my window.
That day they had to go visit a friend, so they dropped Matt and I off in downtown Talca. It was awful. Almost all the buildings were either on the ground or pretty badly hit. There was glass and bricks and rubbish all over the street. And there were police everywhere. Apparently they were shooting anyone they caught looting because the first night a lot of places got robbed.  There was another strong aftershock that night and I couldn’t sleep the entire night. I got about two hours of sleep and woke up sick and couldn’t eat anything. The aftershocks didn’t scare me at first. But they still haven’t stopped and its almost been a week. Monday and Tuesday we didn’t really do anything. The power still wasn’t on which meant no water either. That was gross. Almost 6 days without a shower…We had to go to a friend of Jorge’s house to take showers.  Wednesday I woke up early and went to Sara’s house so we could go help out downtown. I spent the night there with Chanel. We played Pictionary and Bullshit and made S’mores. In the morning, Sara and I went to help again. We went to the supermarket to buy hygiene products to send to Constitucion.

The stories are really hard to hear though. There were a few women that had babies during or directly after the earthquake. Nobody can communicate with people from Concepcion or Constitucion and a lot of people have lost family and friends there. People got hurt getting out of there houses. The Universities and office buildings are destroyed and no one can really work yet. Obviously, not a lot of good came from it. But things are finally getting back to normal, though. There aren’t mile long lines at the gas stations or overly priced food and water. The armed soldiers outside of the grocery stores are reducing and the buses are starting to run again. And we got power today! School still hasn’t started and for a lot of kids it won’t start for a couple weeks. Some schools are getting completely demolished. But for the schools that weren’t really damaged, they all start Monday.
I really don’t know what to say. Its been weirdly crazy. Yet fun.

Happy 1st Birthday, Sophia Marie. You have no idea how much I miss you.

playa!

"Update update update update blog blog blog blog please please pleas love love love"
                      -Cory Koch

I´m almost positive that it´s raining or maybe snowing in Seattle and it´s surrounding areas. And that makes me smile because I am at La Serena sitting in our giant apartment that you need to only go down the elevator and out the gate to touch sand that burns the toes and makes you run into the mildly cool water. We are going to be here for 2 more weeks. So I´m pretty content!

Before we got to La Serena, we stopped for a couple days in Pichidangui to visit with family and go to the beach. The first morning that we were in La Serena, I woke up because my bed was shaking and then I looked at the cieling and the light fixture was swinging back and forth and then I jumped up and yelled to Fran who was sleeping right next to me and we ran out of the room into the living room and Marisa and Jorje and Adriana were all standing in the doorway and Adriana was crying because she hates earthquakes. It was very strange. The only earthquake I ever remember was when I was in 3rd grade, but we all thought it was just someone on the roof for some reason. It started in Mendoza, Argentina and it was a 6 pointer, but it wasn´t that strong when it got to La Serena.  And today we were laying on the beach and there was a little tiny one.

I started reading Crepusculo, also known as Twilight. It´s in Spanish, might I add! I started it a couple days ago and I´m already half way done. It´s really cool because I was reading and then I realized that I don´t even have to translate into English as I read. I just understand. And I understand almost everything. It makes me very happy!

I´m also very happy beacuse of this family. It is such a difference from my old one and they are soo so nice and happy. Yesterday we were in the supermercado and Fran was walking around to everyone and sticking her cheek out so that they would kiss her. And then Adriana looked at me, and walked over and kissed me on the cheek. And then Marisa did the same. And then Jorje did. And then Fran did. Happy Happy Happy!

So really nothing to interesting to update about!

!

I´m afraid I have to make this short, but I just wanted to inform everyone that I am indeed safe and that I don´t have internet at my new house, so my posts and skypes and othersuch forms of communication will be very random and spaced. However, I am veryyy very very happy with my new host family and I love everything about them. More on that later. LOVEEEEEEEE


I hope you made it home safely, Mama Bear!

mi vida es la raja

I have the most amazing life. I've noticed that lately. I mean, how cool is it that I'm living in Chile? When I think about all the things I've done here, it makes me smile so much. I've climbed an active volcano. I've bicycled in the driest desert in the world. I've seen the Torres del Paine. I've swam in the Strait of Magellan. I've been river rafting and zippy lining. I've been to discoteks. I've been to asados. I've been to a rodeo. I've ridden the trains, the buses, the micros, the taxies, the collectivos, and even horses. I'm learning Spanish. And, I'm only half way done.

And my family is just wonderful and I miss them so much, but it's very nice to know how much they love me. And my best friend is a sweetie-pie and I'm pretty sure I'll keep her forever. And I get to come back to the US and start my adult life by getting a job so I can buy a ticket to Australia to live with my brother and my best friend. And then I get to come back and go to college. And then I get to do whateverrrrrrrr on earth I feel like doing- whether that be being a journalist, backpacking, opening a hostel, writing a book, being an English teacher in South America- anything I want.

So I kind of like my life. Thank you, Mom and Dad. And everyone else.

La Idioma

The language of Chile. Oh, where to start. Before I came here, everyone warned me that Chileans spoke "bad" Spanish. But of course, I thought, how could they? They're Spanish. I'm the one that is going to speak bad Spanish. It wasn't until I got here and spent the first three months in a constant state of confusion and frustration that I finally understood. They have their own rules, their own words, their own phrases, their own accent, their own conjugations, their own rapid-fire delivery... For example, Como estas? is now "como estai" (es-tie). Hablado is now hablao. Esta para alla is now "etapaya". They have no vosotros form. They pernounce b's and v's the same. They add "poo" or "pway" sounds to the end of words to add emphasis. Half the words I learned in school they don't even know or just don't use. For example, girlfriend isn't novia. It's polola. maiz=choclo. fiesta=carrete. And then they just have their own words. piola (alright, so so), bakan (cool), filete (super cool), flaite (ghetto, tough, unusual, loud), etc. All of their names for clothes are different. They say "mas o menos", "asi que" "es que" "entonces" a lot. AND HOW COULD I FORGET, "cachai" which literally means "do you catch it" or "get it? you know?". That makes itself into a conversation a couple hundred times.

I'm starting to be able to tell the difference from someone thats from Chile and someone that's from another Spanish country. Argentinians have really funny accents because all the double l's the pronounce like j's. Ella=Eyja, and all their Ch's are like S's. Spanish people have really throaty accents and talk with lisps. Mexicans just have a different accent. One day I was in the car with my exchange friend and her host parents and their was a guy on the radio from Spain talking and I understood every single word. And then her host mom told us that it was really hard for her to understand because of his accent.

At first it was incredibly hard for me. I felt like I wasn't learning anything and that I wasn't ever going to. Nobody was helping me and I wasn't understanding anything. December felt like a complete standstill and I thought that with my mom coming, it was only going to get worse. But now, I feel so much better. I can understand almost everything. I can carry a conversation. I can find my way. I think having to be the mom and do all the talking and arrangements for the past month has actually helped me a lot. I'm a little slower, but not at all as much as I thought I would be. I almost started typing this thing in half Spanish, too. So, I have hope. I don't feel so depressed that I'm going to be the one that never learns it and goes back to the US with nothing. I think in a couple more months, I'll be fluent (more or less) and I'm pretty excited about that.

por fin, 18

Whoopsadaisy... Ha, it's been a long time. I do get some slack though, because that mother of mine is still here. Not for very much longer though! :(

So, I last left off when we were in the desert. It was very hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. We were there a bit too long, but I had a good time, even if la madre didn't. We saw all the sights (and then some), played hundreds of games of Rummy, and got lots of sunburns. The stars at night were incredible (as I said before, we were in the middle of nowhere...) and the sky was BLACK. But, I'm never going back.

After San Pedro, we went back to Talca for a few days. One of the nights we were there we cooked an American meal for my first and next host family. We made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. It was quite the adventure. We went downtown with Chanel and Matias to buy a suitcase for her to take back, plus all of the groceries. We bought a giant red suitcase first, rolled that around the streets of Talca, and upon entering the supermercado, we wheeled it around the store in the cart. Then we had to find all the special things to make our food, which took ten years. And then! We had to take all of the bags from the store AND that lovely red suitcase on the tiny little micro back to our house. There was no room, it was about 90 degrees, and we were a Chilean boy, a black girl, a white girl, and a very american mother (all carrying a big red suitcase and groceries). So, we filled the suitcase with all of our bags and basked in the stares. There was enough food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day.

And after everyone left, Chanel was bringing all the dishes in from the patio. I watched her pick up the plate of chips. I watched her walk towards the sliding glass door. I noted that it was closed. I hear the bang and I watched her fall backwards onto the ground before I, too, fell to the ground laughing. Probably funniest moment ever.

The next day I packed all of my stuff to move host families. Like, all of it. I don't live there anymore!! I'm sad. Chanel has replaced me. Then, at 12:30 we went to the bus station and went to Valdivia for a couple nights. It's a German influenced town on the coast down south and it was really pretty. One of the days we were there we took a boat tour of the seven rivers that they have. And that was also the night of elections for the new Chilean President. Piñera beat Frei... Everyone was hanging out of their cars with flags and honking and singing and shouting and screaming and dancing and celebrating. I like it when they have something to celebrate. It's always so much fun.

After Valdivia, we went to Villarrica- the lake district. Favorite area in Chile. It's very similar to Washington in that it has trees and mountains and lakes and rivers all over. But it's somehow way prettier. It has this volcano. too. It's the most active in Chile and it's more than 9,000 feet high. Oh, and we climbed it! Whoo-hoo. And the next day we went river rafting which was also amazing! And then we went off into the middle of the forests to my birthday hotel! We were originally going to stay in the Magic Mountain one, but they put us in the giant tree house hotel! It was like a fairytale. EVERYTHING was wood. The trim was sticks. The walls were wood. The coasters were wood. The pictures were sticks. The railings were logs. It was built on tree stumps. Everything. And it was built with a spiral ramp up the middle and there was a tree growing up the center with a waterfall at the bottom. It was basically just huge and amazing and comfortable and amazing amazing amazing. On my birthday we went zippy lining in the forest and then went hiking and then spent the rest of the day at the spa before we went to dinner. They made me a cake and sang Happy Birthday, too! So, now I'm 18. Whoooooo. Bring it on.

Mama Bear

Mama Bear is here! Mama Bear is here! It doesn't really seem like she's the Mama Bear anymore. More like I am! I have to order the food, check in to the rooms, ask for directions, do the grocery shopping... She just says "Hola!" in her wonderful American accent! I love it.

We've had a good time so far. We spent the first week in Vina del Mar in an apartment that we rented. It was about 14 blocks from the beach and a few miles away from where my host family was staying. The first couple of days we just lounged about and she caught up on her sleep/calmed her travels nerves. New Years we spent with my host family, which didn't turn out so good, but was fun nonetheless. We spent days just walking along the streets and exploring. Every time we passed a tree or a house, she would stop and try and figure out what the name of the plant was, comment on how her garden would look so much better, or marvel at the spikes on all the iron fences. Then she would start walking again, trip on the unlevel, holey, cracked sidewalks, and then laugh until she saw another flower or fence. It was a lazy week.


After Vina we went to Santiago for two nights. We stayed in the Happy House Hostel, thanks to lovely expedia.com and it was soooo cool. It had giant (possibly 20 feet) ceilings and intricate molding and trim that they decided to paint hot pink to contrast with the light pink walls. "This is the pink room. The girls just love it." We spent the two days we were there walking around Santiago and going to all the main attractions. She HAD to go to the Post Office in the Plaza de Armas and we went into the Cathedral there, too. Then we went to La Moneda and Cerro Santa Lucia (Capital Building and a giant hill). Both nights we were there, I left her to go to going away parties for all the exchange students that leave this month. The second night I got home right in time to bring our bags down to the street and go to the airport to catch our 5:30 flight to San Pedro de Atacama.

And here we are, in the middle of the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world, sunburnt and wishing we were at the beach! Don't get us wrong, it's really amazing here. The mountains are giant and the desert is actually really pretty, despite it's ridiculous dryness and monotony. We saw the famous church from here, went biking into the desert where I got a flat tire, climbed ancient ruins and hills, bathed in the hot springs and walked through the markets. Today we're moving rooms, biking to a lake, watching the sun set in the Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) and tomorrow we're going to Satar de Atacama or the salt flats to see the flamingos and float in a pool of water with 40% salt. And then we're back to Santiago via plane and then down South to Talca via train!

Cambia de Casas

We're finally changing houses next week! I'm kind of split on feelings for it though.
I haven't always been the happiest in this house, but I think I'm really going to miss it. I've been spending a lot of time with Sofia and Javier and Matias lately and now I don't want to leave them. Sofia made me cry today because we were writing notes back and forth and it was the cutest thing ever. Matias and I have gotten so close that it's going to be really boring without him. And Javier! It's hard to explain, but I love him so much! I also live right next to all of my friends and it's really easy to get to downtown Talca.

On the other hand, my new family is so sweet and nice. I think I will learn a lot there in terms of Spanish and cooking and probably just any and everything. They're the kind of family that will help me with those kind of things I think. The house is really cool and it's in the middle of farm land and you can see this big volcano and it's just pretty. There is a little sister, too, who is 12 years old and really nice. They don't have stable internet though, which will probably give me Facebook withdrawls and make me really homesick. It'll be better for my Spanish though. Oh, and we're going to La Serena for three weeks in February! It's a super nice beach up north.

Just so I never forget....The other day I was playing "Would You Rather" with Javier and I was translating his questions for him. The question was: Would you rather have two harmless bats in your room for two nights OR five pigeons in your bathroom forever? And he said he'd rather have the bats for two reasons. One being that he didn't want them to poop on him and the other being that they might think his you know what is a worm. I couldn't stop laughing.

MAMA BEAR IS COMING IN LESS THAN TWELVE HOURS AND I'M EXCITED!

FELIZ NAVIDAD

Christmas 2008 consisted of 3 feet of snow, a successful completion of 2 seasons of Weeds, no presents, a major lack of brothers, and a cup of noodles dinner. I didn't think I would ever have a Christmas to top that one. But then, of course, I came to Chile.

Santa Clause/El Vejito Pascuero/Papa Noel comes at night when all the kids are not at home and then when they get there, they have like 8 billion presents. Unfortunately, that was as close to Christmas-y as the day got, because the rest of the day was spent listening to poorly chosen 80's music, swimming in the pool, and eating Popsicles. The extended family came over, but I always find that uncomfortable because they all talk about Pancha and how much they miss her and want her to be there with them. I understand that perfectly, as I would much rather be with my family, but they don't understand that I have the same thoughts as them so it's like I'm some gringa alien. Although they did manage to awkwardly make me part of the family by taking pictures and giving me presents. It was just when they would say "Oh, I wish Pancha could be here. We miss her sooo so so much" and then look at me and reluctantly add "Oh, but now we have Emily." That's just uncomfortable. Needless to say, I was incredibly homesick on the 24th.

Christmas Day might as well have been any day in July. We woke up late, ate breakfast outside, and never once said "Merry Christmas", or rather, "Feliz Navidad". It's like it ended when we went to bed the night before. But for me, it was still Christmas Day, and:

I spent Christmas Day swimming in a lagoon. Now, how cool does that sound?

Patagonia

Patagonia was AMAZING! We visited the National Park of Torres Del Paine, went horseback riding, ate glacial ice, watched sheep get sheered, toured a Chilean cemetery, took a three hour boat trip to icebergs and glaciers, swam in the Strait of Magellan, walked inside a giant cave named after ancient Chilean bear/dinosaurs, and saw little land penguins. I was sick all week, got almost no sleep, and broke my camera, but all the same, had the BEST WEEK EVER. (Thank you, again, Daddy!)

Not too much has happened since that, just a sleepover with the other Talquinas (Exchange Students from Talca), a Christmas chorus concert at the Cathedral, a long night at the airport to pick up Pancha who got back from Brasil, and getting a package from home full of food and presents!

Today, Sofia came into my room with a tray of origami things she made. She showed me a cat, a dog, a house, a boat, a tree, and adorably in between all those seemingly normal things, a piece of rolled up red paper, that she casually pointed out and named "el jamon" which means the ham. I almost died of laughter. It was the cutest thing she has ever done. I'm going to keep her rolled up ham forever. I mean, honestly! What kind of a child makes ham out of origami!?

(Swimming in a glacial river after jogging)

(Swimming in another river (in clothes!) after horseback riding)

(Swimming in the Strait of Magellan after jogging)

Tomorrow is Christmas. Mama Bear is coming next week!

VACACIONES!!

It's so summery out. Think sun. And heat. And NO SCHOOL!!! Today was my last test and my last day! No more uniform! I most likely didn't pass the year, but hey- I don't speak Spanish fluently. It was to be expected...

Last weekend we went to Santiago. It was a lot better than I predicted it would be. We got there late on Friday night and then we went to the movies. Matias and I saw 2012 and the rest of the family saw "La Princesa y El Sapo" which is like "The Princess and the Frog". We ended up going to bed at like three and then we were woken up at 8:30 for a day spent visiting any and every museum in Santiago. The first one was cool. It was a Chinese exhibit below La Moneda. But then, it was museum after museum and it was so boring. Luis even threw in a stop at the Chilean National Library. So entertaining... By the fourth one, only Luis went in and the rest of the family all passed out on a bench outside. Like, literally, we all passed out. He took a picture before he woke us up.

On Sunday we went out to lunch at a Chinese Restaurant with all the extended family and afterwards, Matias, and two cousins and I went to el Cerro San Cristobol and rode up in a little cart and went to the zoo! Of course, it was just like any other zoo in the world, but it was particularly cool because we were on top of a big hill and so there were giraffes and in the background, the entire city. We went to an aunt's house afterwards and had an "once" and then the whole family skpyed Pancha for like 2 hours. It kind of makes me sad that they ask her all these questions about Seattle and they never talk to me or ask me questions about Seattle.

On Monday, Anita and I went to "Partronato" which is this place in Santiago where they have really cheap clothes. It's like street after street of stores and then smaller booth things on the street. AKA, heaven. I bought some sandals, pants, a shirt, and a dress! The shirt was $3. Ahhhhhh! Afterwards, we went back to Anita's grandma's house and ate lunch and watched TV. She had her boyfriend and other friends from Santiago there and they were so funny. They watch Gossip Girl and Paris Hilton BFF so they know how to talk like annoying brats. I had to go home at like seven, and Luis told me he would come get me if I met him at Dunkin Donuts (Oh yes, Dunkin Donuts). I called before I left and then Martin (Anita's boyfriend) drove us there and when I got there I called to ask where they were and they just told me that they were at the mall and that I needed to take a bus and meet them there. lajf;lkasjdf;lkasjdf;lkajsdf;lkj I would like to know how on earth they expected me to a) know where to catch the bus, b) know when to catch the bus, c) know which bus to catch, d) not die on the way to the mall, or e) know when to get off the bus. I was really mad because they wouldn't even let me got visit my exchange friends in Santiago because it's such a big and dangerous city. But then they just casually tell me to catch the bus. So very, very inconsistent.
Anyways, Martin drove me to the mall instead and when I got there, Luis said, "We're going to do the jumpy thing". They had one of those slingshot rides outside the mall so we did it! It was so much fun! I screamed soooo much. We got back to Talca at like 2:30am.

Tuesday, I slept in, went to a lunch at our school with the family, and then I took Sofia and Javier to the movies to see "Los Fantasmas de Scrooge" (A Christmas Carol). Sofia was scared the entire movie and Javier didn't like it. A successful outing, obviously. I didn't like it very much either. I would have thought that they would make it funnier/lighter. Oh, it was in Spanish, too!

Wednesday, I woke up and went jogging and then went to my friends house. Except she is in Brasil for two weeks, so I went to hang out with her sister! Her sister went to Wisconsin last year and she's sooo sweet. We went swimming and then baked "Calzones Rotos" which are like little donuts with powdered sugar. DELICIOUS! I'm so excited I finally know how to make something Chilean.

Today I had my last final (which I undoubtedly failed), came home and ate some strawberries and now I'm sitting in my window in the sun thinking about going swimming in the pool before lunch. Nice, eh?

Our first Rotary trip is this Saturday! I'll be gone until the 19th, I believe.  Sooooo, hasta luego!

navidad en verano

Last week went by pretty fast. On Wednesday, Sara and I went to the centro and ate sushi (although mine was a picky-eater version of sushi). Then I met my friend Toto and we went to Jela's birthday party which was fun. On Thursday, I got my nose pierced...Sorry, Daddy! :) That night I also went to see Luna Nueva (New Moon) at the theater with Toto. I love how loud and obnoxious Chileans are. Whenever Edward or Jacob would appear on the screen there would be like groans and whistles and screams because all the teenage girls are in love with them. On Friday, I didn't go out at all. Sofia asked me if we could watch Hannah Montana on my computer and I told her it would be in English and she told me that was okay because she understands pretty much everything. Five minutes after the movie started, she was asleep. Saturday morning, Matias and I rode our bikes to San Clemente and then came home and swam in the pool. It's clean now!! That afternoon, we went on a car drive to this big hill in Talca and later went to a Exhibition that was really, really boring and then after I went to a small party at  a friends house. On Sunday, we went out to lunch at "La Viejas Cochinas" which translates to "The Dirty Old People".... It was actually dirty but apparently the food is like famous in Talca.  Afterwards we went back to the really boring exhibition. When we got home I went on a bike ride with Pancha and Josefina. We rode out to the vineyard and hung out for awhile and then we went back to Pancha's house and swam in the pool. I got a bloody nose!! It was weird. Then I stayed and  we went to the store and bought stuff to make tacos!! It was so much fun to make food with her family. I like themmm. Pancha is going to Brasil tomorrow. I'm jealous.

This week was all sorts of boring. I had a lot of tests. And I got sick from drinking the water from the tap, so there was some vomit, too. Yummy.

As it is December (although you would NOT know it by looking outside) we put up all the Christmas decorations in the house. There are snow men. Why do they even have snowmen for Christmas in the southern hemisphere? It doesn't make sense!! That's like us having snow men on the Fourth of July. Ridiculous. Everything is really pretty, though. Until you look past the Christmas tree, through the giant sliding glass doors, and outside to the blue sky, swimming pool, and leafy trees... That kind of ruins it. I like to go into the living room at night when the curtains are shut and pretend it's winter. Ha. This year is going to be weird....

On Wednesday, the school had a Nativity play. It was kind of weird to have all the Christmas songs in Spanish. I don't have anymore school! Well, I have to go for two hours on Thursday to take a test, but other than that, SUMMER VACATION!! (again!) I'll be going on our Southern Trip with Rotary on the 12 of December. I'm excited!! We're going to Puntas Arena, Torres Del Paine, and some glaciers. It's going to be freeeeezing. Maybe that will make it feel more like Christmas...

Today we're going to Santiago for the weekend. I packed in one backpack and I'm proud. I'll be back on Tuesday, I believe...

La Lista Negra

So if you all remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned my name was on "la lista negra"? Yeah, today the seniors came to school. We were in the gym and all of the sudden everyone started screaming at the top of their lungs and running away and there were dirt bikes outside. I had absolutely NO idea what was going on so I ran into the locker rooms and hid in a shower. Unfortunately, they found us and threw water balloons on us. I was spared getting rotten eggs shoved in my hair - Sole and Rosario weren't. Then we locked ourselves in a bathroom for a few minutes, but when we came out, they were still there! There were jeeps driving around on the grass and sidewalks and they were chasing people. I tried running into the building where everyone was hiding, but on my way there someone poured orange paint in my hair. Then as I was running away from him, someone else threw a handful of mud in my face. Needless to say, I locked myself in the bathroom again. It was sooo funny though because when we were in the bathroom, all you could hear were screams and pounding and it sounded like a horror movie where people were getting killed. But, they finally left after throwing fish heads and muscles, instant hair bleacher, and flour on people. Overall, a very eventful day!

"Culture Fest"

The last week has been pretty dull. I've mostly been working on college applications and Rotary things. Awhile back, the University of Talca invited me, along with the other exchange students in this city, to prepare a stand displaying information and have some food that is typical of our country. Of course, we agreed and of course, we waited until the last minute to put anything together for it. So, Wednesday night we all got together and put some stuff together for the following day. We made a giant poster with pictures and information and made about 9 billion peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the power even went out during everything). Sara and Chanel spent the night and we stayed up late watching movies and eating ice-cream. In the morning, Benny, Elizabeth, Breno, and Rafaela arrived from Curico to come help us. So, we had everything ready, even though it was last minute, and we got to Culture Fest to set up. And then we talked with the coordinator guy and he told us that because we had such bad coordination and other such things that we couldn't do it anymore. So, we ate some PB&J sandwiches and walked around Talca for a couple hours before the event actually started. We did go for a little bit but it turned out to be lame anyways.

On Saturday I went to the cathedral in Talca for my class's Confirmation. It was cool because it was in a church and it was all catholic and stuff, but it was so incredibly boring and obviously in Spanish...Afterwards I went to Anita's house for lunch and all her family and friends from Santiago were there. Luis was kind of mad at me because I went there instead of going to his office for a family day, which was dumb. It really didn't help because that night my entire class was having a party for Confirmation being over and I couldn't go because I had previously (but very unwillingly) agreed to go to a birthday party with the family. However, I should not have had to go. It was for a kid that I didn't even know, it was 29384 miles away, I knew absolutely no one there, and it was really lame. Not to mention, Luis and Miriam wanted to stay late because the parents were having an asado so we were there until like 3.

Tacos

Last night we ate tacos for dinner. BY FAR the best meal I've had here. When I come home next year, I want to go to El Caporel for my first meal. I miss Mexican food so much.

Nothing much has happened here. Luis wouldn't let me go to Santo Domingo, surprise surprise. I've just been trying to fill out college applications. :( Stressful.

This was last weekend before the 15 cumple, with Toto! And then this week in Viña at the beach with Sara and Benny.

Viña de nuevo

I got back from Viña Del Mar yesterday and I must say, it was a very enjoyable 3 day excursion. On Sunday afternoon, Matthew and I took the train to Curicó to stay with two other exchange students for the night. When we got there, we walked around the city for awhile and met up with a couple other kids from there. We stayed out until about eleven and then Elizabeth and I stayed up for about 3 more hours eating ice-cream and trying to illegally watch Mean Girls online before we passed out. The next day we all took the bus to Santiago and from Santiago to Viña. We stayed in Cabins right on the water that were like part Naval Cabins. That first day we didn't really do much at first. We explored the cabins, went swimming in our clothes, subimos la mierda/esa wea (hahahahhha), and at night we went into town and walked around and went to the movies. We saw Bastardos Sin Gloria. It was soooo good. When we got back we hung out in our cabins and tried to watch Mean Girls again. That failed so we called Chloe on Skype to wish her a Happy Birthday, which I would like to inform you all was on Tuesday, November 10 - not the eleventh as I may have previously accidentally written). So de nuevo, Feliz Cumpleaños a Chlo! 

Tuesday we unwillingly woke up and got ready to leave for a day in Valparaiso, but we ended up not going because Anna was really sick and so Ernesto and his wife took her to the Hospital. However, it was extremely sunny out so Elizabeth and I went and laid in the sun for 2 hours. Horrible idea in retrospect. We went back content with our faint tan lines, only to find half an hour later that our bodies were similar to those of lobsters. So that kind of sucked, to say the least. But we put some clothes on and left to Valparaiso to go to the Congreso Nacional de Chile. It was rather lame compared to the Congress in the United States, in terms of aesthetics, but we got to sit in on a vote and some lady was randomly singing and all the people were cheering, so it seemed a bit more relaxed and lively... We went back to the cabins after a bit of walking around and had an asado. Right before bed, Elizabeth put a pita bread in the microwave and forgot about it (the microwave was broken...apparently) and three minutes later our cabin was full of smoke and she was writing her name with charcoal on the pavement outside.

Wednesday was our last day, so we woke up and cleaned and packed and left for Valparaiso again. This time we went to the port and took a boat around the bay to see the city. It was a bit boring for me because I had done the same thing barely a month before with my family, but it was still pretty. After that we went to lunch and then back to the bus station. Before we boarded, Sara got sick with almost the same thing that Anna had. Booo. When we were on the train, I was waiting for the bathroom and one of the conductor guys started talking to me and then Matt and Elizabeth and I asked if we could go into the Conductor's room thing up front in the train and after promising that we weren't going to kill him, we got to go up and take pictures. I felt like such a little kid, but it was definitely cool.

When I was at Elizabeth's house on Sunday, I weighed myself. Definitely a little bit more than I was when I got here... Today I told my friends and one of my better friends told me that she noticed that my face got fatter. And I was talking to my Matias earlier and he told me that when I first got here my cheeks were more skinnier and skeletal-like. Daily bike rides, 8 minute abs, and no eating out of boredom will be incorporated into my daily routine from now on, I believe. 

Anddd, today I had a really good talk with Miriam and she hugged me for the first time.


P.S. No school tomorrow. Possibly Santo Domingo on Saturday. Thanksgiving next week!

HOLA?

TALK TO MEEEEEE!

Tanto Tiempo

I haven't been writing in this! That is a problem. Everything is great, though. I really love everything here. That is, except the food. And how strict Luis has suddenly become. It's weird how fast my ideas of normalcy have changed since I've been here. In the US, a midnight curfew was cool and thankfully accepted. Here, a 2am curfew gives me reason to complain to all my friends with their silly 5am curfews... And, I can only go out once on the weekends. But you'd be amazed at how ridiculous I find that. These are just things I have to get used to! It's just hard because the funnest times are when I'm with my friends. That's when I learn Spanish and don't feel at all lonely. It's not like I'm just gung-ho, let's-go-get-trashed-and-be-crazy-teenagers-living-in-Chile...It's not like that at all! It just sounds like it when I say I'm going to parties every weekend. But, it's part of the culture here. It's harmless. 

I've also decided I don't like the idea of exchanges. Not in general, but just the fact that when one kid leaves, another one comes to take their place. I think that is a very stupid idea. For someone to enter into a family as a replacement child is a very difficult thing to do. It's hard enough entering in a new family. But this way, the family has expectations. They know their own child so well and obviously love them quite a bit more than they like you. So, when you try and fit in, you are always being held up and compared to the other. The things you do differently make them not like you because it makes them want their own child. It's like you have to try your hardest to fill in the gap they left. Unfortunately, I'm not a champion swimmer and tennis player, nor do I have a desire to do homework during my exchange. I'm not learning Spanish the same way that someone else is learning English. I'm completely different. Which, yes, is part of the point of the exchange. But it could much more easily be done if you were WITH your opposite, instead of replacing your opposite. I'm more of a family-friends kind of person. But this is not my family. And this family won't let me hang out with my friends (as much as I'd like to). Sooo, what then?

On Saturday night I am going to a "Quince Años" birthday party. That's the Chilean equivalent to a Sweet Sixteen. This one is formal. Like Homecoming formal, almost. I'm excited!

On Sunday, I'm taking a train to Curico to spend the night at another exchange kid's house because Monday we're all going to Viña Del Mar for three days. There will be eleven of us and 1 adult! It's going to be nice to be with other exchange kids. There is a girl I met (Elizabeth) that lives in Curico and we were talking on Facebook and then Chloe joined in. Somehow, Chloe found out that Elizabeth knew Bo, an exchange student from Thailand, who Chloe knows because she is the daughter of one of the families that Chloe stayed with in Thailand. But Elizabeth knows her because Bo stayed with her family when she came to the US. And I know Bo because I slept in her bed when I went to visit Chloe. It was so weird to find that out, though. SMALL WORLD. Anyways, we're going to Viña Monday through Wednesday. I get to skip school! :)


And on November 11, Feliz Cumpleaños, Chloe Anna Cook! I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH AND MISS YOU JUST AS MUCH.

reglas estupidas

This is my first negative post.

I understand that I live with a new family. I understand that I have to live by their rules. I understand that I have a good family, compared to some other exchange students. I understand that I have a lot of freedoms that I didn´t have in the US.

But I don´t understand why I can´t spend the night at a friends house. It´s not even against Rotary rules. It´s completely normal here. But not with the Perez Heredia Family. And for some reason, this is bugging me beyond words.

I know, my life is so horrible.

(Este es mi primer ¨post¨negativo. Yo entiendo que yo vivo con una familia nueva. Yo entiendo que mi familia es más buena que las familias de algunos otros estudiantes de intercambio. Yo entiendo que yo tengo muchas libertades, que yo no tenía en EE.UU. Pero, yo no entiendo porque no puedo alojar en la casa de mis amigas. No es una regla de Rotary. Es demasiado normal acá en Chile. Pero, este no es el caso con la familia Peréz Heredia. Y por un razón desconocido, me molesta muchísimo. Sí, sé. My vida es horrible.)