- Taken a bus by myself
- Tried out for a semi-pro soccer team
- Thought that coming home at 2am was normal
- Been so excited to see rain
- Had friends from so many different countries
- Talked so little and listened so much
- Had sisters
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Before Coming to Chile I Had Never...
Weeks 14-15
Hola a todos!
Sorry it´s been so long. I´ve been sort of busy/not using the computer. I sort of forget what´s happened since I last wrote so I have to think. I´ll begin by saying that 7 weeks from today I´ll be arriving in Miami at 4:45am. WAYYY too early. I really can´t believe that time is flying so fast. I have a ton of mixed feelings about going home. I´m so excited to see my family and friends and tell about my exchange because weekly emails don´t do it justice. I´m also incredibly excited about having an American breakfast. I´ve sort of been obsessing about it. I haven´t had a real omlet in more than three months and omlets are a staple in my diet. So are refried beans and I haven´t had those either. By the way, for all of you who speak Spanish, the word for beans here is poroto, not frijol. Anways....let´s see. Last week was our salida de aprendizaje, or field trip. 3º and 4º medio (the juniors and seniors) took two big buses to Stgo for the day. They were much nicer buses than I usually take to Stgo and we watched Next, with Nicolas Cage. I do not recommend it in the slightest. We all went to see a play called Valdivia, based on the life of Pedro Valdivia, one of Chile´s founders. If you´ve read the book by Isabel Allende Ines of my Soul, it´s very similiar. It was written in Old Spanish and I caught about half of it, although we did a question and answer session with the actors later and I understood much more of that. Afterwards we split into two groups and my group went to La Moneda, the presidential palace. They have these funny guards outside who wear big black boots and walk funny. We first went to the museum under La Moneda and saw an exhibit on Chilean mestizo religious art, which was actually really interesting. They showed how the european influences and chilean influences mixed. Then we went on a tour of La Moneda, which was really interesting. Here are the two most interesting things I learned:
1) The presidental paintings in the palace change depending on the president. So the presidents that Bachelet choses to display are different from the ones that Frei or Piñera will chose.
2) they might change the Chilean motto. For those of you who don´t know, it´s por la razon o la fuerza (by might or right). It originated during the war of independence when there was a lot intense patriotism going on but now it´s a bit too combative. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was seeing Allende´s old office and the room where he died. People got really edgy when we entered the room. Some people weren´t affected but some people got really uncomfortable. One of my friends and a guy from 4º told me I shouldn´t believe the stuff about Allende and that he was really bad. There are still really strong feelings about the coup here and it´s a sensitive subject. My school is much more to the right so there are more Pinochet supporters. I am so not in the Pioneer Valley it´s not even funny. So that was interesting hearing what my friends had to say about the coup. Umm...let´s see. We went to visit my grandparents and aunt and uncle in Rengo last weekend. That was fun. It was 3hrs one way but we had a yummy lunch and I really liked my aunt and uncle. I also talked to my cousin through skype. He´s in the US right now but he´s coming home next month. We were sitting out on the back porch eating empanadas, drinking mango sour (pisco with mango) and with the Andes behind us and I felt super chilean.
Let´s see....what else. Right now I´m trying to make lots of plans and make the most posible of my time remaining here. I´m hoping to go visit a friend in the South and take a cooking class but neither of those are set yet. My Spanish is....I don´t know. I think it´s good. Sometimes I think it´s good, sometimes not. I´m attaching my thesis I wrote for lit class in case anyone´s interested. It´s not very good but oh well. School finishes in a month. I´m so excited! I´m SICK of school. We have our finals in two weeks. One thing I need to clarify for anyone who might think South America is all nice and warm: IT´S NOT! It gets cold here. This morning it was 1º celsius. Brrrrr. Plus we have to keep the windows open because everyone´s been getting sick so they don´t want the germs floating around.
Chile is in 2nd place in the S. American World Cup qualifiers. People are really happy. We beat Bolivia last night 4-0. Wheee!! Argentina has lost to both Bolivia and Ecuador, which is sorta funny. Whatever Maradona´s doing is not working.
The teachers strike is over now, by the way but now students in Stgo are on strike. I´m not quite sure why.
That´s all for now. I think the Lakers game is being broadcast and I´m super excited to see it. GO LAKERS!!!
I miss you guys!
Much love,
Sela
Sorry it´s been so long. I´ve been sort of busy/not using the computer. I sort of forget what´s happened since I last wrote so I have to think. I´ll begin by saying that 7 weeks from today I´ll be arriving in Miami at 4:45am. WAYYY too early. I really can´t believe that time is flying so fast. I have a ton of mixed feelings about going home. I´m so excited to see my family and friends and tell about my exchange because weekly emails don´t do it justice. I´m also incredibly excited about having an American breakfast. I´ve sort of been obsessing about it. I haven´t had a real omlet in more than three months and omlets are a staple in my diet. So are refried beans and I haven´t had those either. By the way, for all of you who speak Spanish, the word for beans here is poroto, not frijol. Anways....let´s see. Last week was our salida de aprendizaje, or field trip. 3º and 4º medio (the juniors and seniors) took two big buses to Stgo for the day. They were much nicer buses than I usually take to Stgo and we watched Next, with Nicolas Cage. I do not recommend it in the slightest. We all went to see a play called Valdivia, based on the life of Pedro Valdivia, one of Chile´s founders. If you´ve read the book by Isabel Allende Ines of my Soul, it´s very similiar. It was written in Old Spanish and I caught about half of it, although we did a question and answer session with the actors later and I understood much more of that. Afterwards we split into two groups and my group went to La Moneda, the presidential palace. They have these funny guards outside who wear big black boots and walk funny. We first went to the museum under La Moneda and saw an exhibit on Chilean mestizo religious art, which was actually really interesting. They showed how the european influences and chilean influences mixed. Then we went on a tour of La Moneda, which was really interesting. Here are the two most interesting things I learned:
1) The presidental paintings in the palace change depending on the president. So the presidents that Bachelet choses to display are different from the ones that Frei or Piñera will chose.
2) they might change the Chilean motto. For those of you who don´t know, it´s por la razon o la fuerza (by might or right). It originated during the war of independence when there was a lot intense patriotism going on but now it´s a bit too combative. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was seeing Allende´s old office and the room where he died. People got really edgy when we entered the room. Some people weren´t affected but some people got really uncomfortable. One of my friends and a guy from 4º told me I shouldn´t believe the stuff about Allende and that he was really bad. There are still really strong feelings about the coup here and it´s a sensitive subject. My school is much more to the right so there are more Pinochet supporters. I am so not in the Pioneer Valley it´s not even funny. So that was interesting hearing what my friends had to say about the coup. Umm...let´s see. We went to visit my grandparents and aunt and uncle in Rengo last weekend. That was fun. It was 3hrs one way but we had a yummy lunch and I really liked my aunt and uncle. I also talked to my cousin through skype. He´s in the US right now but he´s coming home next month. We were sitting out on the back porch eating empanadas, drinking mango sour (pisco with mango) and with the Andes behind us and I felt super chilean.
Let´s see....what else. Right now I´m trying to make lots of plans and make the most posible of my time remaining here. I´m hoping to go visit a friend in the South and take a cooking class but neither of those are set yet. My Spanish is....I don´t know. I think it´s good. Sometimes I think it´s good, sometimes not. I´m attaching my thesis I wrote for lit class in case anyone´s interested. It´s not very good but oh well. School finishes in a month. I´m so excited! I´m SICK of school. We have our finals in two weeks. One thing I need to clarify for anyone who might think South America is all nice and warm: IT´S NOT! It gets cold here. This morning it was 1º celsius. Brrrrr. Plus we have to keep the windows open because everyone´s been getting sick so they don´t want the germs floating around.
Chile is in 2nd place in the S. American World Cup qualifiers. People are really happy. We beat Bolivia last night 4-0. Wheee!! Argentina has lost to both Bolivia and Ecuador, which is sorta funny. Whatever Maradona´s doing is not working.
The teachers strike is over now, by the way but now students in Stgo are on strike. I´m not quite sure why.
That´s all for now. I think the Lakers game is being broadcast and I´m super excited to see it. GO LAKERS!!!
I miss you guys!
Much love,
Sela
Week 13
Hola a todos!
I´ve been in Chile for three months. I´m coming home in two more. Hmph. I feel like time is flying and there isn´t enough left. A semester is, contrary to what Asher says, SUPER short. This week my big accomplishment was taking a micro by myself to Viña. A micro is a small bus that doesn´t go very long distances and I took one all by myself to the CITY and saw a movie with some exchange friends. I was very proud of myself, taking public transportation without getting lost or anything. Micros are not very comfortable. They´re like big buses only little, and if there aren´t enough seats you just stand in the aisle. It´s very tight and pretty much a breeding ground for the piggy flu. Oh well. My slightly smaller accomplishment took place when we went to see the movie. We saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which was pretty good, and although most of it was in English with subtitles there was some that was in Spanish with no subtitles and I could pretty much understand all the Spanish. It was very exciting. Speaking of accomplishments in Spanish, I had to read and take a test on Old Spanish poetry and I think I did okay, considering that it´s ANTIQUE SPANISH or however you say it. Ooooh, I had my first dream in Spanish!! Well, it was partially in Spanish. Okay, this is what I remember: I was walking through this city in the US and these guys started harrassing me so I started cursing them out in Chilean Spanish and someone (I don´t know who) goes "oh...Chilean". It was pretty cool.
This week has been a bit of a drag. Lots of school work! The highlight was Saturday night, when my little sisters and I had una noche de chicas. We dressed up and did each other´s hair and did a fotoshoot. It was really fun. I love my sisters. I bought a new camera because my old one is sketchy and doesn´t always work. My new one is pretty cool. I had to pay for it in cash and felt sort of like a criminal.
Let´s see...what else? I think I might have accidently tried out for a semi-pro women´s soccer team. Some of the girls I play soccer with on Saturdays and I were invited to Stgo to practice with a semi-pro women´s team associated with La U, one of the top pro teams. I didn´t really realize it was a semi-pro team or that it was a tryout (I´m still not quite sure if it was or not). Anyways, Carla, Dani and I went on Wednesday afternoon after school got out. We took the bus there. The girls were wicked good. I wasn´t sure what to expect because the Chilean girls I´d seen before were pretty bad but these girls were really good. They were between 17-20s, I think. Anyways, the new girls trained together and the veterans trained together. The coach was tough. She was this tiny, fierce looking woman who was a bit sharp but I liked her. My skills and fitness right now are horrible. I mean, horrible. It´s a bit embarrassing. I want to join a gym here but I´ve been procrastinating. It was cool getting to see another side of the women´s soccer in Chile though. It was fun taking the bus to Stgo too. I´m not crazy about Stgo. but I like seeing different parts of the country. They have Starbucks in Stgo. It´s funny. I want to go to a McDonalds here and see what the food´s like but I never eat at McDonalds at home so I have nothing to compare it to.
So that´s about it I think. I´m feeling a bit spacy so I don´t have a ton to say this week.
Hope everyone´s doing well!
Much love,
Sela
I´ve been in Chile for three months. I´m coming home in two more. Hmph. I feel like time is flying and there isn´t enough left. A semester is, contrary to what Asher says, SUPER short. This week my big accomplishment was taking a micro by myself to Viña. A micro is a small bus that doesn´t go very long distances and I took one all by myself to the CITY and saw a movie with some exchange friends. I was very proud of myself, taking public transportation without getting lost or anything. Micros are not very comfortable. They´re like big buses only little, and if there aren´t enough seats you just stand in the aisle. It´s very tight and pretty much a breeding ground for the piggy flu. Oh well. My slightly smaller accomplishment took place when we went to see the movie. We saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which was pretty good, and although most of it was in English with subtitles there was some that was in Spanish with no subtitles and I could pretty much understand all the Spanish. It was very exciting. Speaking of accomplishments in Spanish, I had to read and take a test on Old Spanish poetry and I think I did okay, considering that it´s ANTIQUE SPANISH or however you say it. Ooooh, I had my first dream in Spanish!! Well, it was partially in Spanish. Okay, this is what I remember: I was walking through this city in the US and these guys started harrassing me so I started cursing them out in Chilean Spanish and someone (I don´t know who) goes "oh...Chilean". It was pretty cool.
This week has been a bit of a drag. Lots of school work! The highlight was Saturday night, when my little sisters and I had una noche de chicas. We dressed up and did each other´s hair and did a fotoshoot. It was really fun. I love my sisters. I bought a new camera because my old one is sketchy and doesn´t always work. My new one is pretty cool. I had to pay for it in cash and felt sort of like a criminal.
Let´s see...what else? I think I might have accidently tried out for a semi-pro women´s soccer team. Some of the girls I play soccer with on Saturdays and I were invited to Stgo to practice with a semi-pro women´s team associated with La U, one of the top pro teams. I didn´t really realize it was a semi-pro team or that it was a tryout (I´m still not quite sure if it was or not). Anyways, Carla, Dani and I went on Wednesday afternoon after school got out. We took the bus there. The girls were wicked good. I wasn´t sure what to expect because the Chilean girls I´d seen before were pretty bad but these girls were really good. They were between 17-20s, I think. Anyways, the new girls trained together and the veterans trained together. The coach was tough. She was this tiny, fierce looking woman who was a bit sharp but I liked her. My skills and fitness right now are horrible. I mean, horrible. It´s a bit embarrassing. I want to join a gym here but I´ve been procrastinating. It was cool getting to see another side of the women´s soccer in Chile though. It was fun taking the bus to Stgo too. I´m not crazy about Stgo. but I like seeing different parts of the country. They have Starbucks in Stgo. It´s funny. I want to go to a McDonalds here and see what the food´s like but I never eat at McDonalds at home so I have nothing to compare it to.
So that´s about it I think. I´m feeling a bit spacy so I don´t have a ton to say this week.
Hope everyone´s doing well!
Much love,
Sela
Week 12
Hola a todos!
Today is Friday, and I have no school so I´m taking this time to write instead of my usual Thursday. Yesterday was the 21st of May, which in Chile is Navy Day. A looong time ago, Chile, Bolivia and Peru had a war and in the Battle of Iquique Arturo Pratt and his men showed much courage and gave their lives for Chile and with their courage inspired Chileans to a victory over the other two countries. At least that´s what I´ve heard. Ever since then Peru hasn´t been so keen on Chile and vice versa. Anyways, the way Chileans celebrate this day is by marching. On Wednesday the entire school had a parade around the soccer field while a marching band from another school played. It was incredibly official and we all had to wear our full uniform, which for me is a white blouse (buttoned all the way to the neck, which is suffocating but looks formal), tie, jumper, green sweater, long grey socks and black shoes. We marched in quadrants and there was lots of standing and waiting. In the afternoon, about half my class went on a field trip to this marine labratory in Quintay, which is a costal town about an hour and a half away. It was fun and we got to go on a big bus and hold spiky sea things. One of the guys there looked exactly like that Francisco Garcia Flores from our Spanish video. I wanted to take a picture of him to show you guys. I swear, Francisco has left his Florida barrio and moved to Quintay! Weird. Yesterday we had no school and instead went into the center around 10:30am (in full uniform) and marched again, only this time down the main street. All the schools in Quillota, save the public schools, marched. The public school teachers are currently on strike right now, so there´s no school. Our nana´s son goes to one and she was telling me about it. It was more fun marching in the center because there were lots of people and it all felt quite official. We actually didn´t march very far. I have fotos but they´re on my host dad´s computer so I´ll send them later. Everyone was asking me if we marched in the US, and I had trouble imagining my class in the US lining up in uniforms and marching. I would love to see the 7th grade versions of Nicolas, Wes, Joey and James march. :)
This week has been a really good Spanish week. I feel like every now and then my Spanish improves and I can feel the improvement and am really excited and proud of my self. Then I get used to my new level and feel like I´m not improving again. But right now, my Spanish feels good, which is an excellent feeling. This week was actually a good week in general. On Friday night we had a school dance to celebrate the end of the Alianzas. Unfortunately Brazil lost...by 5 points!!! Our Alianza was clearly the best. On Friday, the last day of the Alianzas there was a bit of drama. In the boys basketball game, some of the “Italians” kept fouling our best player (a Lakers fan who keeps my updated on the playoffs) and he got mad and pushed a kid who fell and hit his head on a table. He was fine, but mad and there was almost a fight but then they canceled the game and cancelled the boys soccer game too until they promised to play nice and signed an agreement. I have to say, it was a little painful watching the basketball game. The Chilean boys here are great at soccer but they just don´t really do basketball. It´s called a bounce pass, and it works quite well. I really wanted to run over and tell them all to stick to marking their man and quit watching the ball but I don´t think that that would have gone over very well. So the school dance. VERY different from the FRCS ones. For one thing, people danced. The music was deafeningly loud and of the reggeton/kumbia sort. Not music I was used to dancing too. There were a lot of kids from outside the school who came, including a lot of "flaite". I can´t remember if I´ve defined the term "flaite" or not but it´s basically sort of trashy, I guess. It´s hard to explain and it´s not the nicest term but I´ve started to classify people like the Chileans do. I guess that means I´m adapting to the culture but it´s not the greatest adaption. I had a really good time at the dance though, because three of my exchange friends showed up and so we all hung out together all night. On Saturday I went to one of my best Chilean friend´s bday party and that was super fun. A lot of her boyfriend´s friends from college were there and my Finnish friend (who came with her boyfriend) Olga and I spent a lot of the night talking with new people, which was fun. I love, love, love my exchange friends. My Chilean friends are cool too but it´s different with exchange friends. We made shishkabobs and ate choripan (chorizo pan = sauceage in bread). YUM!! My Spanish felt really good and I talked all night with people. So that was really good. Then on Sunday I went back to the soup kitchen with Panchi and we helped out there and that was nice.
Next week, I think, is a normal week and we have a ton of tests. Math, History, Lenguaje and Quimica (I´ve sort of given up on Quimica though) plus a presentation in Bio and a collage in Art. Eeek! This afternoon I´m hoping to go into Viña to meet up with an exchange friend and buy a camera. What else to report...I´m learning the national anthem.
Also, this is mainly for Tess, but anyone else who likes reggeton, here´s some of the most popular songs here:
Que Tengo Hacer - Daddy Yankee
Somos de la Calle - Daddy Yankee
Y Volar - La Noche (they´re Chilean!)
Amame - Antonio Rios
Que Te Pica - Notch
Nada Va Pasar - Arcangel ft. Yaga y Mackie
Es el Amor - La Noche
Na de Na - Angel y Khriz
Dejame el Drama - Big Yamo
I accept zero responsability for any of the lyrics although a lot of them are sung super fast and are hard to understand.
So....that´s all for week 12. I´VE BEEN HERE FOR 12 WEEKS! I can´t decide if that´s a lot or a little. Oh by the way, the piggy flu came to Chile. I don´t understand why it´s called the human flu now. Aren´t all flus that we worry about human flus? In the newspaper there was a photo of a goverment official demonstrating how to sneeze properly. I´ve been doing it the right way.
Hope all is well!
Love,
Sela
Today is Friday, and I have no school so I´m taking this time to write instead of my usual Thursday. Yesterday was the 21st of May, which in Chile is Navy Day. A looong time ago, Chile, Bolivia and Peru had a war and in the Battle of Iquique Arturo Pratt and his men showed much courage and gave their lives for Chile and with their courage inspired Chileans to a victory over the other two countries. At least that´s what I´ve heard. Ever since then Peru hasn´t been so keen on Chile and vice versa. Anyways, the way Chileans celebrate this day is by marching. On Wednesday the entire school had a parade around the soccer field while a marching band from another school played. It was incredibly official and we all had to wear our full uniform, which for me is a white blouse (buttoned all the way to the neck, which is suffocating but looks formal), tie, jumper, green sweater, long grey socks and black shoes. We marched in quadrants and there was lots of standing and waiting. In the afternoon, about half my class went on a field trip to this marine labratory in Quintay, which is a costal town about an hour and a half away. It was fun and we got to go on a big bus and hold spiky sea things. One of the guys there looked exactly like that Francisco Garcia Flores from our Spanish video. I wanted to take a picture of him to show you guys. I swear, Francisco has left his Florida barrio and moved to Quintay! Weird. Yesterday we had no school and instead went into the center around 10:30am (in full uniform) and marched again, only this time down the main street. All the schools in Quillota, save the public schools, marched. The public school teachers are currently on strike right now, so there´s no school. Our nana´s son goes to one and she was telling me about it. It was more fun marching in the center because there were lots of people and it all felt quite official. We actually didn´t march very far. I have fotos but they´re on my host dad´s computer so I´ll send them later. Everyone was asking me if we marched in the US, and I had trouble imagining my class in the US lining up in uniforms and marching. I would love to see the 7th grade versions of Nicolas, Wes, Joey and James march. :)
This week has been a really good Spanish week. I feel like every now and then my Spanish improves and I can feel the improvement and am really excited and proud of my self. Then I get used to my new level and feel like I´m not improving again. But right now, my Spanish feels good, which is an excellent feeling. This week was actually a good week in general. On Friday night we had a school dance to celebrate the end of the Alianzas. Unfortunately Brazil lost...by 5 points!!! Our Alianza was clearly the best. On Friday, the last day of the Alianzas there was a bit of drama. In the boys basketball game, some of the “Italians” kept fouling our best player (a Lakers fan who keeps my updated on the playoffs) and he got mad and pushed a kid who fell and hit his head on a table. He was fine, but mad and there was almost a fight but then they canceled the game and cancelled the boys soccer game too until they promised to play nice and signed an agreement. I have to say, it was a little painful watching the basketball game. The Chilean boys here are great at soccer but they just don´t really do basketball. It´s called a bounce pass, and it works quite well. I really wanted to run over and tell them all to stick to marking their man and quit watching the ball but I don´t think that that would have gone over very well. So the school dance. VERY different from the FRCS ones. For one thing, people danced. The music was deafeningly loud and of the reggeton/kumbia sort. Not music I was used to dancing too. There were a lot of kids from outside the school who came, including a lot of "flaite". I can´t remember if I´ve defined the term "flaite" or not but it´s basically sort of trashy, I guess. It´s hard to explain and it´s not the nicest term but I´ve started to classify people like the Chileans do. I guess that means I´m adapting to the culture but it´s not the greatest adaption. I had a really good time at the dance though, because three of my exchange friends showed up and so we all hung out together all night. On Saturday I went to one of my best Chilean friend´s bday party and that was super fun. A lot of her boyfriend´s friends from college were there and my Finnish friend (who came with her boyfriend) Olga and I spent a lot of the night talking with new people, which was fun. I love, love, love my exchange friends. My Chilean friends are cool too but it´s different with exchange friends. We made shishkabobs and ate choripan (chorizo pan = sauceage in bread). YUM!! My Spanish felt really good and I talked all night with people. So that was really good. Then on Sunday I went back to the soup kitchen with Panchi and we helped out there and that was nice.
Next week, I think, is a normal week and we have a ton of tests. Math, History, Lenguaje and Quimica (I´ve sort of given up on Quimica though) plus a presentation in Bio and a collage in Art. Eeek! This afternoon I´m hoping to go into Viña to meet up with an exchange friend and buy a camera. What else to report...I´m learning the national anthem.
Also, this is mainly for Tess, but anyone else who likes reggeton, here´s some of the most popular songs here:
Que Tengo Hacer - Daddy Yankee
Somos de la Calle - Daddy Yankee
Y Volar - La Noche (they´re Chilean!)
Amame - Antonio Rios
Que Te Pica - Notch
Nada Va Pasar - Arcangel ft. Yaga y Mackie
Es el Amor - La Noche
Na de Na - Angel y Khriz
Dejame el Drama - Big Yamo
I accept zero responsability for any of the lyrics although a lot of them are sung super fast and are hard to understand.
So....that´s all for week 12. I´VE BEEN HERE FOR 12 WEEKS! I can´t decide if that´s a lot or a little. Oh by the way, the piggy flu came to Chile. I don´t understand why it´s called the human flu now. Aren´t all flus that we worry about human flus? In the newspaper there was a photo of a goverment official demonstrating how to sneeze properly. I´ve been doing it the right way.
Hope all is well!
Love,
Sela
Week 11
¡Hola a todos!
I´m pretty sure the internet is down again so I don´t know when I´ll actually be able to send this but I´m writing on Thursday as usual. Today is the 14th and I feel like it´s someone´s birthday today but I can´t remember whose...There are a ton of birthdays this month both here and at home. Well, two of my friends here have birthdays this week. This week was super different than normal because it was La Semana del Colegio (The Week of the School). This is our anniversary month and our school´s official anniversary is May 13th. On Monday it was The Day of the Student in all of Chile, I´m pretty sure, and we had a little party for our grade in the morning. My teacher brought in little notes with different life lessons on them and gave them to each of us and we ate cake and played Pictionary, the prize being added decimals to our Lenguage grade. My team came in second which is good because I can always use decimal points. After that a performer came and did, well, a performance for us. It was fine...pretty typical performer stuff. Then after lunch we had our Community Service project. We all went to this home for girls who have been removed from their families and we did activities with them and then all had a snack. The girls were all really fascinated by my gringa-ness and wanted me to speak English to them. I made bracelets with some girls although they struggled to get the hang of it. One of them wanted to know why I had dyed my hair, and my classmate had to explain that some people are born with blond hair. Then on Tuesday we had normal classes in the morning and in the afternoon, the Alianzas began. I can´t remember how much I´ve said about Alianzas so if I repeat myself I´m sorry. The entire school, Pre-K through 4º Medio, divides itself into two teams: the even-numbered grades and the odd-numbered grades. Each year the theme is different but this year the theme is countries. We are Brazil, the other team is Italy. We all have to wear green and yellow and they all wear red and white. There are a ton of competetions and the team with the most points at the end wins! Tuesday we had the girl´s soccer game and sadly we lost, 3-1 but I scored our one goal (lefty!). We played 8v8 and one of the Italian girls has a wicked shot and basically would just wham the ball. It was fun playing though. At halftime all the guys in my grade had advice for me, which they all gave at the same time and I spent an entertaining few minutes trying to ask them how to say “man on”. Then there were a few highly controversial rounds of dodgeball. Yesterday we had our anniversary mass, which was long and Catholic, as many masses tend to be. I really don´t understand very much because it´s hard to understand people when they´re using microphones but I like the singing. My religious vocab is improving. I can now say santificado, pecador, fraile, desayunar, rogar, rezar, pecado and part of Our Father. For Lenguaje we´re reading Los Milagros De Nuestra Señora, which is 12th century Spanish poetry celebrating the Virgin Mary. It´s actually not super hard, because they rewrote it in modern Spanish and it rhymes, which I like. After mass we had two classes and then people went off to do Alianza-related things. I stayed in the gym and helped decorate our side. The gym is divided in half and each Alianza gets to decorate their side. I was really worried because we weren´t getting much done and we had only two hours and then we had to go. Somehow, we managed to pull of an incredible design though. I´m going to send a photo of it when the internet is up again. It´s so awesome. Much better than Italy´s, which was traced. It was really fun seeing our decorations come out so well. Today was the first full day of the Alianzas. We all showed up with country´s colors and there were competitions all day. I competed in Musical Chairs, which we lost. There was a relay race of sorts that involved eating an entire onion raw and drinking a liter of coke (although different people did each) which was pretty disgusting. The poor kid was gagging and crying as he ate the onion. There were also the presentations of each team´s King and Queen and the team dances. Our Queen was accompanied by a group of drummers which was pretty cool. Each King and Queen had to demonstrate a talent. Our Queen sang and our King hit tennis balls at water balloons. This whole thing is pretty intense. People paint their faces and cheer and it can get pretty competetive. Tomorrow is the final day and it culmunates in a school party in the evening for the upper grades. This whole idea of La Semana del Colegio is cool. It´d be fun to do at FRCS instead of Field Day. It takes a ton of work though. The whole thing is run by the Student Council and there´s a ton of preperation involved. Next week is different too because it´s Navy Day so we´re going to have a parade I think. Details to follow...
Let´s see...what else? We had a nice Mother´s Day. We took a picnic to the beach and hung out there and then drove along the coast and saw some seriously rich neighborhoods overlooking the ocean. Yesterday was my halfway mark, I realized. I left home 11 weeks ago as of yesterday, and I leave here in eleven weeks. HOLY GUACAMOLE THAT¨S NOT MUCH TIME!!! It´s hard to be believe I´ve been here for such a short time and I´m leaving so soon. Seriously, in two and a half weeks it´s June and then it´s only four weeks until I have a month left. Yikes. It´s hard to believe that my Spanish is going to improve much in that time but I have faith. Sometimes it´s hard to stay in the moment and I start to worry if I´m accomplishing what I want to accomplish here and all that. Tedious, yeah? So that´s my task: Don´t worry, be happy, learn Spanish. Oh, and see a penguin. I would loooove to see a penguin.
I tried making brownies this weekend with my little sisters. Asher sent me a recipe and I don´t know if it´s the one he usually uses but they came out really different. It was mad hard trying to convert a US recipe to a Chilean kitchen. There isn´t really one food in particular that I miss from the US but it´s really weird going to the grocery store and not finding the things I take for granted, like chocolate chips. I think the have them in the bigger supermarkets but I had to settle for chopping up a chocolate bar. Anyways, the brownies came out funny but they were really yummy and it was fun baking. Asher, if you want a math challenge, convert all the recipes you send me into metric system. That would be incredibly helpful. Actually, what I miss here is breakfast. Chileans do not do breakfast well. We have bread and cereal but no omlets, pancakes or bacon. And bagels are an unknown thing here. I´m pretty sure that this is what seperates developing countries from developed countries: bagels. I really like the whole big meal in the middle of the day thing. On the weekends we have our big meal at around two and I think it´ll be weird to readjust to eating big meals in the evening.
So, here is what I´m wondering, if anyone would like to enlighten me...What´s happening with the playoffs? At a party of Saturday I spent some time discussing them with a guy in my class who actually knows a lot about basketball. For some unfathomable reason they broadcast the entire playoffs except the final. Because who cares about that, when they can watch the first round! Jeezsh.
Hmmm...what else? My camera broke so I think I´m going to have to buy a new one. At least I think it´s broken. Its bateries die literally within seconds and last time I tried turning it on it made a funny loud beap and flashed at me. Grrrrr.
Oh, one last thing. They really have fall here. The leaves turn red and orange (at least some do, although not in vast quantities like in New England) and sometimes when it´s cold it smells the same. South America is not all tropical and warm, let´s be clear on that.
Much love,
Sela
I´m pretty sure the internet is down again so I don´t know when I´ll actually be able to send this but I´m writing on Thursday as usual. Today is the 14th and I feel like it´s someone´s birthday today but I can´t remember whose...There are a ton of birthdays this month both here and at home. Well, two of my friends here have birthdays this week. This week was super different than normal because it was La Semana del Colegio (The Week of the School). This is our anniversary month and our school´s official anniversary is May 13th. On Monday it was The Day of the Student in all of Chile, I´m pretty sure, and we had a little party for our grade in the morning. My teacher brought in little notes with different life lessons on them and gave them to each of us and we ate cake and played Pictionary, the prize being added decimals to our Lenguage grade. My team came in second which is good because I can always use decimal points. After that a performer came and did, well, a performance for us. It was fine...pretty typical performer stuff. Then after lunch we had our Community Service project. We all went to this home for girls who have been removed from their families and we did activities with them and then all had a snack. The girls were all really fascinated by my gringa-ness and wanted me to speak English to them. I made bracelets with some girls although they struggled to get the hang of it. One of them wanted to know why I had dyed my hair, and my classmate had to explain that some people are born with blond hair. Then on Tuesday we had normal classes in the morning and in the afternoon, the Alianzas began. I can´t remember how much I´ve said about Alianzas so if I repeat myself I´m sorry. The entire school, Pre-K through 4º Medio, divides itself into two teams: the even-numbered grades and the odd-numbered grades. Each year the theme is different but this year the theme is countries. We are Brazil, the other team is Italy. We all have to wear green and yellow and they all wear red and white. There are a ton of competetions and the team with the most points at the end wins! Tuesday we had the girl´s soccer game and sadly we lost, 3-1 but I scored our one goal (lefty!). We played 8v8 and one of the Italian girls has a wicked shot and basically would just wham the ball. It was fun playing though. At halftime all the guys in my grade had advice for me, which they all gave at the same time and I spent an entertaining few minutes trying to ask them how to say “man on”. Then there were a few highly controversial rounds of dodgeball. Yesterday we had our anniversary mass, which was long and Catholic, as many masses tend to be. I really don´t understand very much because it´s hard to understand people when they´re using microphones but I like the singing. My religious vocab is improving. I can now say santificado, pecador, fraile, desayunar, rogar, rezar, pecado and part of Our Father. For Lenguaje we´re reading Los Milagros De Nuestra Señora, which is 12th century Spanish poetry celebrating the Virgin Mary. It´s actually not super hard, because they rewrote it in modern Spanish and it rhymes, which I like. After mass we had two classes and then people went off to do Alianza-related things. I stayed in the gym and helped decorate our side. The gym is divided in half and each Alianza gets to decorate their side. I was really worried because we weren´t getting much done and we had only two hours and then we had to go. Somehow, we managed to pull of an incredible design though. I´m going to send a photo of it when the internet is up again. It´s so awesome. Much better than Italy´s, which was traced. It was really fun seeing our decorations come out so well. Today was the first full day of the Alianzas. We all showed up with country´s colors and there were competitions all day. I competed in Musical Chairs, which we lost. There was a relay race of sorts that involved eating an entire onion raw and drinking a liter of coke (although different people did each) which was pretty disgusting. The poor kid was gagging and crying as he ate the onion. There were also the presentations of each team´s King and Queen and the team dances. Our Queen was accompanied by a group of drummers which was pretty cool. Each King and Queen had to demonstrate a talent. Our Queen sang and our King hit tennis balls at water balloons. This whole thing is pretty intense. People paint their faces and cheer and it can get pretty competetive. Tomorrow is the final day and it culmunates in a school party in the evening for the upper grades. This whole idea of La Semana del Colegio is cool. It´d be fun to do at FRCS instead of Field Day. It takes a ton of work though. The whole thing is run by the Student Council and there´s a ton of preperation involved. Next week is different too because it´s Navy Day so we´re going to have a parade I think. Details to follow...
Let´s see...what else? We had a nice Mother´s Day. We took a picnic to the beach and hung out there and then drove along the coast and saw some seriously rich neighborhoods overlooking the ocean. Yesterday was my halfway mark, I realized. I left home 11 weeks ago as of yesterday, and I leave here in eleven weeks. HOLY GUACAMOLE THAT¨S NOT MUCH TIME!!! It´s hard to be believe I´ve been here for such a short time and I´m leaving so soon. Seriously, in two and a half weeks it´s June and then it´s only four weeks until I have a month left. Yikes. It´s hard to believe that my Spanish is going to improve much in that time but I have faith. Sometimes it´s hard to stay in the moment and I start to worry if I´m accomplishing what I want to accomplish here and all that. Tedious, yeah? So that´s my task: Don´t worry, be happy, learn Spanish. Oh, and see a penguin. I would loooove to see a penguin.
I tried making brownies this weekend with my little sisters. Asher sent me a recipe and I don´t know if it´s the one he usually uses but they came out really different. It was mad hard trying to convert a US recipe to a Chilean kitchen. There isn´t really one food in particular that I miss from the US but it´s really weird going to the grocery store and not finding the things I take for granted, like chocolate chips. I think the have them in the bigger supermarkets but I had to settle for chopping up a chocolate bar. Anyways, the brownies came out funny but they were really yummy and it was fun baking. Asher, if you want a math challenge, convert all the recipes you send me into metric system. That would be incredibly helpful. Actually, what I miss here is breakfast. Chileans do not do breakfast well. We have bread and cereal but no omlets, pancakes or bacon. And bagels are an unknown thing here. I´m pretty sure that this is what seperates developing countries from developed countries: bagels. I really like the whole big meal in the middle of the day thing. On the weekends we have our big meal at around two and I think it´ll be weird to readjust to eating big meals in the evening.
So, here is what I´m wondering, if anyone would like to enlighten me...What´s happening with the playoffs? At a party of Saturday I spent some time discussing them with a guy in my class who actually knows a lot about basketball. For some unfathomable reason they broadcast the entire playoffs except the final. Because who cares about that, when they can watch the first round! Jeezsh.
Hmmm...what else? My camera broke so I think I´m going to have to buy a new one. At least I think it´s broken. Its bateries die literally within seconds and last time I tried turning it on it made a funny loud beap and flashed at me. Grrrrr.
Oh, one last thing. They really have fall here. The leaves turn red and orange (at least some do, although not in vast quantities like in New England) and sometimes when it´s cold it smells the same. South America is not all tropical and warm, let´s be clear on that.
Much love,
Sela
Week 10
¡Hola a todos!
Today is Saturday and I´ve officially been in Chile for ten weeks. This was a pretty good week. On Saturday, after much deliberation, I went to Fantasilandia with a group of exchange friends and Chileans. Fantasilandia is an amusement park in Santiago and at first I wasn´t sure if I wanted to go because I find roller coasters and other unnatural contraptions of death a bit unpleasant. Nevertheless, I had no other plans and I love my exchange friends so I decided to go, which turned out to be a good idea. It was me, Mihi (his real name is Michael but the Chileans pronounce in Mihi), his friend, Sally, Tanja, Ham, Nut (a Thai kid from San Fernando), Lee Hao and his friend, Ham´s host brother Juan Pablo who was our chaperone although he´s my age and Clint, a kid from KY who was on exchange in Argentina but is now at a university in Valparaiso. We took a bus into Santiago at around 9:30am and got to Fantasilandia at a litle before noon. We all split up into groups and I spent the day with Sally, Juan Pablo and Clint. We didn´t go on any of the big roller coasters, but we did go on the Extreme Fall. They have it at Six Flags too. You go this tower and they just leave you sitting there waiting and then suddenly you fall back down. It was slightly terrifying but fun too. The one unpleasant moment occurred on the slide. There was this big slide thing that you took a little raft down and they put water down to make the boat go faster. Juan Pablo promised me I wouldn´t get wet at all. My entire butt and back of the legs got soaked. So I spent a lot of the day feeling a bit cold and clammy. On the bus ride home I spent the time talking with Mihi and his friend, who wants to go on exchange to the US. He had a lot of questions about English grammar and it was really funny because Mihi, who´s German, was able to answer them much better than I was. People get really confused by “do” as an auxilary verb. So all in all, the trip to Fantasilandia was fun.
Monday was a little hard but after that the week was much better. Tuesday was a really good day. Here´s one part of my exciting news for the week! So a few weeks ago we took a PSU (their equivalent of the SAT) Language test where we had to analize poetry and stuf like that and she handed them back on Tueday and I got a 5.3!!! In normal circumstances this would be a pretty average grade but considering I was taking a college-entry test in Spanish, I was pretty psyched. My teacher said I did really well. The weird thing was that my classmates scored wicked low. I had one of the higher grades, which was funny. Then later that day we got our history tests back and I passed my first test from way back in March with a 5 and somehow had managed to get a 4.2 on the PSU Precolonial Chilean History test, where I pretty much just guessed on every single one and chose the names I liked best. So passing a test always makes me feel good so passing three was very exciting. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had our midterm Language test. That was pretty hard. We had to analize poetry, read paragraphs and identify the thesis and intent of the writer, do synonyms, stuff like that. A lot of it was multiple choice, which was good but there was some open response too. On Wednesday we had to read and analyize a Neruda poem and afterwards my brain was exhausted. I feel like I´m begining to understand more, but I have to constantly be paying close attention, which is exhausting. In class discussions when everyone is talking over each other, yelling at each other to shut up, and just making lots of noise in general it´s completely overwhelming. I much prefer talking to people one on one.
One thing I really love about Chile is the public transportation. I can take a colectivo to and from my house to town for about a $1.50. I prefer to walk to town though and then take the colectivo home. I love being able to get around by myself. It makes me feel incredibly independent. On Wednesday I walked into town, did some little errands and then met up with Olga and went and talked to the people at the Tourism office, who know us. There are also buses to take into Viña but I haven´t taken one yet and I want someone to go with me the first time.
Thursday was a weird day. One of the funny things about being an exchange student is that you´re often surprised by things. On Thursday I get to school and all I knew was that the police were going to come and show us their dogs. Instead of Math, which is our first class on Thursday, we left the classroom (I had no idea where we were going) and went to the little chapel to have our school anniversary mass with 4º Medio. Next week is the official anniversary of the school. So we had mass and then went and hung our class cross on a tree out in the back field. Yes, we have a class cross. I think we go and pray to it if our class is having dificulties, I´m not sure. All I know is that FRCS never gave us a class cross. What´s up with that? Then after half of literature class we went and heard a presentation by a member of the Chilean GOPE (their version of SWAT). He talked to us about being a GOPE officer and showed us a video of their training. Then we went and saw a demonstration of the police dogs doing tricks. Some of it was pretty cool. By the time we had finished lunch, we had pretty much missed all of our classes except for PE. So that was all good. On Friday we also learned that in the national standardized test last year, my class scored the best in the region, and sixth best in the country in math. They were all so excited. The math profesor was so happy too. He said we´re going to have a celebratory breakfast.
Two more exciting pieces of news. One is I finally called home this week, since it was Mom´s birthday. I was really nervous about calling home because I thought it´d make my homesick but it was just really, really nice. J The other exciting piece of news is that I FINALLY EXPERIENCED A TEMBLOR!!! I´ve been in Chile for more than two months and although there have been others, I didn´t feel them, much to my disapointment. But yesterday we were sitting in Literature class and there´s this sort of far-off rumble and then everything just shakes a little bit. It was cool.
So that was my week. In a about a half-hour I´m going to soccer and then I´m hopefully going to a party tonight. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the mothers!!!!
Much love,
Today is Saturday and I´ve officially been in Chile for ten weeks. This was a pretty good week. On Saturday, after much deliberation, I went to Fantasilandia with a group of exchange friends and Chileans. Fantasilandia is an amusement park in Santiago and at first I wasn´t sure if I wanted to go because I find roller coasters and other unnatural contraptions of death a bit unpleasant. Nevertheless, I had no other plans and I love my exchange friends so I decided to go, which turned out to be a good idea. It was me, Mihi (his real name is Michael but the Chileans pronounce in Mihi), his friend, Sally, Tanja, Ham, Nut (a Thai kid from San Fernando), Lee Hao and his friend, Ham´s host brother Juan Pablo who was our chaperone although he´s my age and Clint, a kid from KY who was on exchange in Argentina but is now at a university in Valparaiso. We took a bus into Santiago at around 9:30am and got to Fantasilandia at a litle before noon. We all split up into groups and I spent the day with Sally, Juan Pablo and Clint. We didn´t go on any of the big roller coasters, but we did go on the Extreme Fall. They have it at Six Flags too. You go this tower and they just leave you sitting there waiting and then suddenly you fall back down. It was slightly terrifying but fun too. The one unpleasant moment occurred on the slide. There was this big slide thing that you took a little raft down and they put water down to make the boat go faster. Juan Pablo promised me I wouldn´t get wet at all. My entire butt and back of the legs got soaked. So I spent a lot of the day feeling a bit cold and clammy. On the bus ride home I spent the time talking with Mihi and his friend, who wants to go on exchange to the US. He had a lot of questions about English grammar and it was really funny because Mihi, who´s German, was able to answer them much better than I was. People get really confused by “do” as an auxilary verb. So all in all, the trip to Fantasilandia was fun.
Monday was a little hard but after that the week was much better. Tuesday was a really good day. Here´s one part of my exciting news for the week! So a few weeks ago we took a PSU (their equivalent of the SAT) Language test where we had to analize poetry and stuf like that and she handed them back on Tueday and I got a 5.3!!! In normal circumstances this would be a pretty average grade but considering I was taking a college-entry test in Spanish, I was pretty psyched. My teacher said I did really well. The weird thing was that my classmates scored wicked low. I had one of the higher grades, which was funny. Then later that day we got our history tests back and I passed my first test from way back in March with a 5 and somehow had managed to get a 4.2 on the PSU Precolonial Chilean History test, where I pretty much just guessed on every single one and chose the names I liked best. So passing a test always makes me feel good so passing three was very exciting. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had our midterm Language test. That was pretty hard. We had to analize poetry, read paragraphs and identify the thesis and intent of the writer, do synonyms, stuff like that. A lot of it was multiple choice, which was good but there was some open response too. On Wednesday we had to read and analyize a Neruda poem and afterwards my brain was exhausted. I feel like I´m begining to understand more, but I have to constantly be paying close attention, which is exhausting. In class discussions when everyone is talking over each other, yelling at each other to shut up, and just making lots of noise in general it´s completely overwhelming. I much prefer talking to people one on one.
One thing I really love about Chile is the public transportation. I can take a colectivo to and from my house to town for about a $1.50. I prefer to walk to town though and then take the colectivo home. I love being able to get around by myself. It makes me feel incredibly independent. On Wednesday I walked into town, did some little errands and then met up with Olga and went and talked to the people at the Tourism office, who know us. There are also buses to take into Viña but I haven´t taken one yet and I want someone to go with me the first time.
Thursday was a weird day. One of the funny things about being an exchange student is that you´re often surprised by things. On Thursday I get to school and all I knew was that the police were going to come and show us their dogs. Instead of Math, which is our first class on Thursday, we left the classroom (I had no idea where we were going) and went to the little chapel to have our school anniversary mass with 4º Medio. Next week is the official anniversary of the school. So we had mass and then went and hung our class cross on a tree out in the back field. Yes, we have a class cross. I think we go and pray to it if our class is having dificulties, I´m not sure. All I know is that FRCS never gave us a class cross. What´s up with that? Then after half of literature class we went and heard a presentation by a member of the Chilean GOPE (their version of SWAT). He talked to us about being a GOPE officer and showed us a video of their training. Then we went and saw a demonstration of the police dogs doing tricks. Some of it was pretty cool. By the time we had finished lunch, we had pretty much missed all of our classes except for PE. So that was all good. On Friday we also learned that in the national standardized test last year, my class scored the best in the region, and sixth best in the country in math. They were all so excited. The math profesor was so happy too. He said we´re going to have a celebratory breakfast.
Two more exciting pieces of news. One is I finally called home this week, since it was Mom´s birthday. I was really nervous about calling home because I thought it´d make my homesick but it was just really, really nice. J The other exciting piece of news is that I FINALLY EXPERIENCED A TEMBLOR!!! I´ve been in Chile for more than two months and although there have been others, I didn´t feel them, much to my disapointment. But yesterday we were sitting in Literature class and there´s this sort of far-off rumble and then everything just shakes a little bit. It was cool.
So that was my week. In a about a half-hour I´m going to soccer and then I´m hopefully going to a party tonight. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the mothers!!!!
Much love,
Two Months...
Hola a todos!
I have now been in Chile for TWO months. That´s twice as long as it was a month ago. :)Time flies here. I now only have three months left here, which feels like no time at all. Eeek! This week was a short week because tomorrow we have the day off, due to it being Labor Day here. This week has been okay. I was sick again, only this time it was my stomach instead of a cold. I think we exchange students are extra suceptible to getting sick. Anyways, that was no fun but it´s all good now plus I got to meet the nurse at school who´s super nice. I left math class to get something for my stomach and ended up staying in the nurse´s office for like a half hour talking to her. She had an exchange student from the US stay with her last year and so she knows all about the exchange process and all that. She told me any time I need to talk I can come see her, which I´m happy about. Oh my god, there´s this horrible music playing right now. Our house is under construction right now and the carpenters are playing really bad, repetetive reggeton-ish music. Anyways, last week I went on the AFS tour. It was fun. It was all of the exchange students from Quillota as well as all the prospective exchange students who are getting ready to go abroad and some exchange students from Viña y Valpo. My friend Leah is in Viña so that was good to see her. Oh, the morning of the tour I FINALLY got my carnet. In Chile everyone, even my two year old brother, has an ID card and all of us exchangers had to get one as well. Needless to say, there were some incredibly irritating complications with mine and I got mine like a month after everone else. But I have it now and the photo isn´t actually that bad. It´s all official and cool. I´ll show you guys when I get home. Anyways...tour. We started in the plaza and took a bus to this little emporium where we had breakfast. Then we went to the Carabinero School of Horses or whatever it´s called. It´s where the mounted police of Chile train. Is that how you say it? My English is getting a little funky. The horse that set the world record in jumping was from there and he jumped SUPER high. It´s crazy. So we walked around there and saw the museum and then got back on the bus and headed over to the huaso museum in the center of town. In Chile there is a tradition of rodeos and the cowboys are called huasos. One of Panchi´s friends is a national competitor in rodeoing. After that we hung out in the plaza and then went out to lunch at this little restaurant that served a TON of food. Remember, lunch is the big meal of the day but this was excessive. First came a salad, then a very large empanada de pino (ground meat, hard boiled eggs, onion and olives...yum) and then a heaping plate of mashed potatos and pork or chicken. Then ice cream. It was all very yummy. Then we went to this art school and checked out the work there and then went up to this rental space and everyone had to sing a song from their country. We gringas all sang Rudolph the Red-nosed Reighndeer. Then we had onces (tea and sandwhiches) and then we went home. I met a Chinese kid who´s been here since August who´s pretty cool. He told me that he saw the entire US Nat´l Mens Basketball team in person in Beijing. Lucky! On Friday night I went to a classmate´s birthday party, which was fun. She has a wicked nice house. The cakes here are sort of different from those in the US. For one thing, almost every sweet thing here incorporates manjar somehow. Manjar, manjar, manjar. I love manjar.
School this week was okay. I finished both the books I had to read, which I was proud of. I understood one of them, the other was really weird and surreal and I didn´t understand it very well. The problem for me is that I understand what I read but I have trouble retaining it afterwards. I think it´s because I guess what a lot of the words mean so I don´t remember them afterwards so I can´t picture what I read. This week my language teacher finally passed back our tests on the Odessy. I was really looking forward to seeing my grade but unfortunately she couldn´t understand what I was trying to say in my test so I have to stay after school and explain it to her. AAAGHH!!! That was sort of a blow to my ego, because I thought I could write better than that. Oh well. School is really hard. My next book to read is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It´s an abridged version I think.
There´s lots of talk here about the pig flu. Here it´s called gripe porcina, I think. Anyone coming into the country from the US or Mexico has to get a health inspection and my sister told me that people are wearing masks in Viña. Chivas, a Mexican soccer team, is here for a game against a Chilean team and apparently when the players went to the mall everyone was staying clear of them. It´s really weird hearing about what´s happening in the US as "over there". It makes me a little worried to hear about the flu in the US. Please everyone be careful. I feel so disconnected from what´s going on in the US. Yesterday I figured I should check up on what´s going on so I went on the NY Times website and discovered that the MLS has been in session for a MONTH and I didn´t know it. Weird.
What else to share...winter´s coming here. For the past two months it´s been super sunny and now all of the sudden it´s really cloudy all day. It´s sort of depressing. And cold. Here´s what I don´t get: I go to the most expensive school in Quillota so how is it they don´t have indoor heating? We wear skirts for God´s sake and there´s no heating! I miss Señor´s incredibly toasty warm classroom. Seriously, we thought Mr. Wallace´s room was bad? It´s not actually that cold here, like in the 50s, but when you´re sitting in a skirt at your desk all day it gets to you. Another weather-related observation....I´m still waiting to feel a tremor. In Chile, like San Francisco, there are very frequent tremors in the Earth. There have been two since I´ve been here and I haven´t noticed them. I was so disappointed because I was really curious to feel one! I can now take public transportation by myself. Well, I can take a colectivo. There´s like taxis but they have a specific route and take multiple people. It costs roughly a dollar to take one into town. I have yet to take a bus but I´want to learn to take them myself so I can go to Viña and visit friends.
So that´s all for this week I think. .
Much love,
Sela
I have now been in Chile for TWO months. That´s twice as long as it was a month ago. :)Time flies here. I now only have three months left here, which feels like no time at all. Eeek! This week was a short week because tomorrow we have the day off, due to it being Labor Day here. This week has been okay. I was sick again, only this time it was my stomach instead of a cold. I think we exchange students are extra suceptible to getting sick. Anyways, that was no fun but it´s all good now plus I got to meet the nurse at school who´s super nice. I left math class to get something for my stomach and ended up staying in the nurse´s office for like a half hour talking to her. She had an exchange student from the US stay with her last year and so she knows all about the exchange process and all that. She told me any time I need to talk I can come see her, which I´m happy about. Oh my god, there´s this horrible music playing right now. Our house is under construction right now and the carpenters are playing really bad, repetetive reggeton-ish music. Anyways, last week I went on the AFS tour. It was fun. It was all of the exchange students from Quillota as well as all the prospective exchange students who are getting ready to go abroad and some exchange students from Viña y Valpo. My friend Leah is in Viña so that was good to see her. Oh, the morning of the tour I FINALLY got my carnet. In Chile everyone, even my two year old brother, has an ID card and all of us exchangers had to get one as well. Needless to say, there were some incredibly irritating complications with mine and I got mine like a month after everone else. But I have it now and the photo isn´t actually that bad. It´s all official and cool. I´ll show you guys when I get home. Anyways...tour. We started in the plaza and took a bus to this little emporium where we had breakfast. Then we went to the Carabinero School of Horses or whatever it´s called. It´s where the mounted police of Chile train. Is that how you say it? My English is getting a little funky. The horse that set the world record in jumping was from there and he jumped SUPER high. It´s crazy. So we walked around there and saw the museum and then got back on the bus and headed over to the huaso museum in the center of town. In Chile there is a tradition of rodeos and the cowboys are called huasos. One of Panchi´s friends is a national competitor in rodeoing. After that we hung out in the plaza and then went out to lunch at this little restaurant that served a TON of food. Remember, lunch is the big meal of the day but this was excessive. First came a salad, then a very large empanada de pino (ground meat, hard boiled eggs, onion and olives...yum) and then a heaping plate of mashed potatos and pork or chicken. Then ice cream. It was all very yummy. Then we went to this art school and checked out the work there and then went up to this rental space and everyone had to sing a song from their country. We gringas all sang Rudolph the Red-nosed Reighndeer. Then we had onces (tea and sandwhiches) and then we went home. I met a Chinese kid who´s been here since August who´s pretty cool. He told me that he saw the entire US Nat´l Mens Basketball team in person in Beijing. Lucky! On Friday night I went to a classmate´s birthday party, which was fun. She has a wicked nice house. The cakes here are sort of different from those in the US. For one thing, almost every sweet thing here incorporates manjar somehow. Manjar, manjar, manjar. I love manjar.
School this week was okay. I finished both the books I had to read, which I was proud of. I understood one of them, the other was really weird and surreal and I didn´t understand it very well. The problem for me is that I understand what I read but I have trouble retaining it afterwards. I think it´s because I guess what a lot of the words mean so I don´t remember them afterwards so I can´t picture what I read. This week my language teacher finally passed back our tests on the Odessy. I was really looking forward to seeing my grade but unfortunately she couldn´t understand what I was trying to say in my test so I have to stay after school and explain it to her. AAAGHH!!! That was sort of a blow to my ego, because I thought I could write better than that. Oh well. School is really hard. My next book to read is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It´s an abridged version I think.
There´s lots of talk here about the pig flu. Here it´s called gripe porcina, I think. Anyone coming into the country from the US or Mexico has to get a health inspection and my sister told me that people are wearing masks in Viña. Chivas, a Mexican soccer team, is here for a game against a Chilean team and apparently when the players went to the mall everyone was staying clear of them. It´s really weird hearing about what´s happening in the US as "over there". It makes me a little worried to hear about the flu in the US. Please everyone be careful. I feel so disconnected from what´s going on in the US. Yesterday I figured I should check up on what´s going on so I went on the NY Times website and discovered that the MLS has been in session for a MONTH and I didn´t know it. Weird.
What else to share...winter´s coming here. For the past two months it´s been super sunny and now all of the sudden it´s really cloudy all day. It´s sort of depressing. And cold. Here´s what I don´t get: I go to the most expensive school in Quillota so how is it they don´t have indoor heating? We wear skirts for God´s sake and there´s no heating! I miss Señor´s incredibly toasty warm classroom. Seriously, we thought Mr. Wallace´s room was bad? It´s not actually that cold here, like in the 50s, but when you´re sitting in a skirt at your desk all day it gets to you. Another weather-related observation....I´m still waiting to feel a tremor. In Chile, like San Francisco, there are very frequent tremors in the Earth. There have been two since I´ve been here and I haven´t noticed them. I was so disappointed because I was really curious to feel one! I can now take public transportation by myself. Well, I can take a colectivo. There´s like taxis but they have a specific route and take multiple people. It costs roughly a dollar to take one into town. I have yet to take a bus but I´want to learn to take them myself so I can go to Viña and visit friends.
So that´s all for this week I think. .
Much love,
Sela
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
