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