Hola a todos!
Thursday afternoon and I´m the only kid home, as all my sisters are off doing track or studying for the college entry test. We´re doing construction on our house right now so it´s REALLY loud. I hear what sounds like a jackhammer going and it´s been going for the last while. We´re all super psyched for them to be done, especially my host parents because then they´ll have their own room again. Our house used to be white, but it has since been painted bright yellow. At first I wasn´t so psyched but I think it´ll grow on me. This week was a really short one, school-wise because on Wednesday we had our class jornada and tomorrow I´m skipping school to go on a tour of Quillota with AFS. Our jornada is a yearly event where our class skips school and goes to the house of one of my classmates with our head teacher and religion professor. We have a theme that we talk about and do activities around and at the end, we do something fun. Our theme was sexuality and we talked about different aspects but I can´t really give too much detail because I didn´t understand a whole ton. We played some games where we had to solve a sexuality crossword and stuff like that. Afterwards we had a bbq and all ate hamburgers and listened to music. It was fun. Tomorrow my school is celebrating International Book Day. There´s all this stuff planned. Each grade has produced a radio theater piece and they´re going to be performed. My English class is doing a production of War of the Worlds and my Lit class is going to be doing a poetry performance. Unfortunately I don´t think I´ll be able to participate because I´ll be with AFS. I´m bummed. I signed up for the tour before I really knew about the Book Day and I also really wanted to go, because I´ll get to see exchange friends from both Quillota and Viña. It´s hard to chose between being with my class and being with AFS. This week was another tough week. I just get very frusterated because I can´t understand as much as I´d like and communicating is hard. Grrr. Yesterday I was super frusterated so I walked to town and bought myself a Bon o Bon, which is a little chocolate thing with Chilean peanut butter inside.That helped, getting outside and moving around. I went into the center last night as well, to hang out with a friend from Finland. Her name´s Olga and she´s pretty cool. We just sat and talked, and it was super nice to talk to another exchange student.
This Saturday I went to play soccer at a soccer school at my school. It´s affiliated with La Universidad de Chile, one of the professional soccer teams here. There were only three other girls though, and they were freshman and younger. I´d like to play soccer but I want to find something to do that will help connect me with more people outside my school or with people my age. My soccer skills are incredibly rusty and I´m very out of shape. I´d like to join a gym here. Have to investigate that!
I´ve been sick this week but I´m feeling much better now. Actually, it was this weekend that was the worst - a bad cold. As such, my weekend here was very chill. I read a lot, because I have two school books to finish by next week. Yikes! I´m also still reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (in Spanish) and that´s going well.
Ooooh, exciting news. I PASSED MY MATH TEST. I PASSED IT, AS IN NO LITTLE RED FAILING NUMBER!!!! I got the lowest passing grade but I don´t care because I PASSED! Chem, no. But that´s okay.
What else...Oh, I know! In a few weeks, my school has it´s anniversary week. It´s called Alianzas (alliances) and all the odd-number grades are together and all the even number grades are together. My little sisters and I are together, but Panchi´s on the other alianza. There are all these different events. I´m going to be playing in the soccer game. Alianza is four days long and sounds really intense. There´s a theme every year, and this year it´s (Asher, you´´ll appreciate this) Brazil vs Italy. My team is Brazil! There´s going to be some samba-dancing going on.
Hope everyone´s well,
Much love,
Sela
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Week 7
Hola a todos!
I´ve now been in Chile for almost 7 weeks.
Before coming to Chile I´d never....
*had a cellphone and texted regularly
*seen yogurt and milk sold in bags
*kissed my teachers hello
*greeted pretty much everyone with a kiss
*eaten so much avocado, manjar and ham
*worn a uniform to school
*been on the other side of the hemisphere
*straightened my hair so much
*heard reggeton everyday
I feel like there should be a ton of those, but I can´t think of any. I don´t know if that´s because my life here isn´t that different or because I´ve become accustomed to the changes. I´ve been waiting to have some kind of cultural revalation but so far I haven´t really. I was watching the movie Twilight though and there was this scene in which one of the characters tells her friends she´ll see them later and leaves without giving them a kiss or anything and I thought "how cold!" before remembering that in the US we don´t kiss everyone. I really like how affectionate people are here. It´s very friendly. I´m still not completely used to how physical students can be with teachers.
Let´s see..This week wasn´t the greatest. I was really missing my family, esp. my brothers and I just felt frusterated with everything, esp. the language. I really go through ups and downs, or mountains and valleys as Señor McDonnell calls them. Some days I feel really confident with everything, other days no. I ended up having a talk with my host mom and my oldest host sister and that really helped me to feel better and I feel much better now. I feel my Spanish improving though because I can know undertand my soap opera fairly well. I think Camilo is now officially with his secretary but his family´s really mad and his old girlfriend is back in the picture I think. Scandalous!
Oooh! Here´s something exciting! I CAN READ SPANISH! As in read, read. In my Language class we´re reading El Hombre en Busco de Sentido, which is written by a psychologist who was in the concentration camps. I think it´s called A Man in Search of Sense or something like that in English but I´m not sure. Anyways, he´s basically writing about the psychological impact of the camps on the prisoners and it´s really interesting. But it´s a real book, and I CAN READ IT! It´s tough and I keep my dictionary close beside me but it´s definitely a triumph. Can´t say the rest of my classes are going so well. Math completely baffles me, as well as Chemistry. I have a Math test tomorrow and I´m so lost. Oh well. This week was Easter, which I thought would be a big deal but it was very chill. I went to mass with my host dad and we had a family lunch. The Easter Bunny came to our house and left eggs for my little sisters, but they shared them with me. Last Thursday I went to help out at a soup kitchen. It´s for homeless men and a few of my classmates and I helped prepare food and serve it to the men. It was a cool experience. I actually went back with a few classmates again to help out on Sunday and one of the old guys there read us his poetry. Another one welcomed me to South America. I´d like to go back again. The men there are really nice.
I have to go because my sister needs the computer. Sorry it´s so short.
Hope everyone´s well!
Much love,
Sela
I´ve now been in Chile for almost 7 weeks.
Before coming to Chile I´d never....
*had a cellphone and texted regularly
*seen yogurt and milk sold in bags
*kissed my teachers hello
*greeted pretty much everyone with a kiss
*eaten so much avocado, manjar and ham
*worn a uniform to school
*been on the other side of the hemisphere
*straightened my hair so much
*heard reggeton everyday
I feel like there should be a ton of those, but I can´t think of any. I don´t know if that´s because my life here isn´t that different or because I´ve become accustomed to the changes. I´ve been waiting to have some kind of cultural revalation but so far I haven´t really. I was watching the movie Twilight though and there was this scene in which one of the characters tells her friends she´ll see them later and leaves without giving them a kiss or anything and I thought "how cold!" before remembering that in the US we don´t kiss everyone. I really like how affectionate people are here. It´s very friendly. I´m still not completely used to how physical students can be with teachers.
Let´s see..This week wasn´t the greatest. I was really missing my family, esp. my brothers and I just felt frusterated with everything, esp. the language. I really go through ups and downs, or mountains and valleys as Señor McDonnell calls them. Some days I feel really confident with everything, other days no. I ended up having a talk with my host mom and my oldest host sister and that really helped me to feel better and I feel much better now. I feel my Spanish improving though because I can know undertand my soap opera fairly well. I think Camilo is now officially with his secretary but his family´s really mad and his old girlfriend is back in the picture I think. Scandalous!
Oooh! Here´s something exciting! I CAN READ SPANISH! As in read, read. In my Language class we´re reading El Hombre en Busco de Sentido, which is written by a psychologist who was in the concentration camps. I think it´s called A Man in Search of Sense or something like that in English but I´m not sure. Anyways, he´s basically writing about the psychological impact of the camps on the prisoners and it´s really interesting. But it´s a real book, and I CAN READ IT! It´s tough and I keep my dictionary close beside me but it´s definitely a triumph. Can´t say the rest of my classes are going so well. Math completely baffles me, as well as Chemistry. I have a Math test tomorrow and I´m so lost. Oh well. This week was Easter, which I thought would be a big deal but it was very chill. I went to mass with my host dad and we had a family lunch. The Easter Bunny came to our house and left eggs for my little sisters, but they shared them with me. Last Thursday I went to help out at a soup kitchen. It´s for homeless men and a few of my classmates and I helped prepare food and serve it to the men. It was a cool experience. I actually went back with a few classmates again to help out on Sunday and one of the old guys there read us his poetry. Another one welcomed me to South America. I´d like to go back again. The men there are really nice.
I have to go because my sister needs the computer. Sorry it´s so short.
Hope everyone´s well!
Much love,
Sela
Week 6
Hola!
This is my sixth week in Chile (as noted above in the subject). Today I´m home from school because it´s Semana Santa. In Chile, schools get Thursday and Friday off. Yesterday was a half day and in the evening we had a via crusis for all of the families. A via crusis (for all you who aren´t Catholic) is when you walk through the 12 stations of the cross and sing songs and say prayers. I only know one half of a prayer and that´s Our Father. I know it in English thanks to going to mass with Javier so it´s easier to pick up in Spanish. We all had candles and walked around to different classrooms and people read stuff at each station. It was fine but I didn´t understand very much. I liked the candles and singing though. Tomorrow we might go to Riñaca, a city next to Viña, for a via crusis on the beach but it´s still up in the air. A lot of the time our plans are up in the air until the last minute. I´m not quite sure what else we´re doing for Easter. I think we´ll go to mass on Sunday and have an egg hunt for the little girls. I´m sad to be missing passover. I think our family sedar was today or yesterday. This is my second time in two years missing it and it´s really a bummer. I was hoping to have a sedar here with a Jewish exchange friend but I don´t have a way into Viña and it would just be complicated, legistics-wise.
This week´s been okay. On Friday I got to leave school at 3pm and all the other exchangers in Quillota/La Calera and I took a bus to Santiago for our one-month orientation. That was pretty cool. There were about 50 of us there, all from the central part of the country. The students to the North and South had their own orientations. Lots of Americans and Germans. My Spanish was pretty good on Friday and it was a little hard to switch over to English because I was happy speaking Spanish but it´s so much easier to communicate with everyone in English rather than Spanish. I have to say, as much as I love speaking in Spanish it was such a relief to be able to express myself without really having to concentrate super hard. It was really nice to be with people who were in my same situation more or less and I click really well with a lot of the exchangers. We had to do some talking in groups about culture shock, which wasn´t that helpful because it was pretty general. I liked it much more when we just talked as a group about our experiences. On Saturday we went for a short bus tour of Santiago. We went to La Moneda, their version of the White House and took pictures outside. We also went to the central plaza, where there happened to be a group of actors doing a performance of Jesus Cristo Super Estrella. It was so funny. It took me a minute to realize they were singing in Spanish. Everyone was wearing hippy-ish clothing and dancing. We took a picture with the actors. Santiago is a fine city but I don´t think I´d like to live there. It´s super crowded. You can see the Cordillera from the city though, and it´s super pretty. One of the american girls waved from the bus at another bus driver and he waved back at her, lost his focus and crashed the bus. Not seriously crashed it but it made a loud noise and some glass broke. On Saturday night we had a party and voted King and Queen of the Camp. The winners were Thor, a 6ft+ guy from Iceland who looks exactly like you´d expect someone from Iceland to look and is really cool and Olga, a Finn living in Quillota who is also super cool. They got paper-napkin sashes and danced together. It was awesome. On Sunday we hung out and did an obstacle course competition which involved getting flour all over our faces and then we came home. When I came home, my Spanish was pretty horrible. I knew I could speak much better than I was but the words just wouldn´t come and I couldn´t understand my family very well. Aggh!! It´s better now though.
The highlights of this week: I found out I passed my bio test AND my physics test, with a 4.4 and a 4.1. They grade on a scale of 1-7, and 4 is the minimum passing grade. If I pass, I´m satisfied. My friend wanted to know how we grade at Four Rivers and I tried explaining it to her, although without the hamburger rubric it was pretty difficult. Let´s see...what else? Last night Panchi and I went over to my friend Cata´s house with a bunch of other friends and we had homemade sushi which was really good. We also sang kareoke in Spanish and English, including A Dios Le Pido by Juanes (speaking of Juanes, I saw a word search activity book with Juanes on the cover). There were really weird music videos that went along with the songs, including a video of baboons that accompanied a love song. This week was also the begining of soccer. It´s super chill. The first day there were only 6 girls: two from Primero Medio and 4 from Tercero Medio. The skill level isn´t super high and I´m super rusty, as in laughably rusty, but it felt really good to run around and play. We did some passing and finished with three v three and my team won. So that was all good.
I´ve been okay but feeling a little frusterated because everything takes so much work. Just talking can be draining and my Spanish is okay considering, but I still miss a lot and talking can be a challenge. Making a plan to go into town to meet a friend is this huge challenge because I don´t know my town very well, I don´t know how to use the public transportation and it´s hard to talk on the phone. I end up feeling like a little kid because I need so much help with everything. I´m SO looking forward to speaking Spanish better. Ahh well...in time. I can read Angels and Demons pretty easily, so that´s good. I have to admit, I´m hooked. I´m also sort of hooked on a Chilean soap opera called Cuenta Conmigo hasta que Morir (Count on my until death). It´s really funny and dramatic and they speak Chilean Spanish so it´s really good practice. This guy´s wife is going to die of cancer so he finds a replacement for her, who happens to be his secretary, but then his wife doesn´t die so he´s in a sticky position. I´m pretty sure there´s also a pregnant 15yr old and some other stuff is happening too but I don´t watch it often enough to understand, plus I miss a lot of the dialogue.
Oooooh! I had my first real empanada. I´d had empanadas before but they were pre-frozen. This was a real, huge empanada de pino (ground meat, hard-boiled egg and olives) and it was delicious. We ate them at the orientation. They served them at lunch and I thought that was our lunch because they were so big and then after that they came out with these big plates of chicken and rice. So much food. I also had this really good pastry on the bus. It was a cone of dough filled with manjar mixed with cream. It was yummy. I´m definitely going to bring back manjar for you guys, because it´s awesome. I don´t know what the difference is between manjar and dulce de leche but I´m pretty sure there is one.
Alright, I think that´s all for now.
Much love,
Sela
This is my sixth week in Chile (as noted above in the subject). Today I´m home from school because it´s Semana Santa. In Chile, schools get Thursday and Friday off. Yesterday was a half day and in the evening we had a via crusis for all of the families. A via crusis (for all you who aren´t Catholic) is when you walk through the 12 stations of the cross and sing songs and say prayers. I only know one half of a prayer and that´s Our Father. I know it in English thanks to going to mass with Javier so it´s easier to pick up in Spanish. We all had candles and walked around to different classrooms and people read stuff at each station. It was fine but I didn´t understand very much. I liked the candles and singing though. Tomorrow we might go to Riñaca, a city next to Viña, for a via crusis on the beach but it´s still up in the air. A lot of the time our plans are up in the air until the last minute. I´m not quite sure what else we´re doing for Easter. I think we´ll go to mass on Sunday and have an egg hunt for the little girls. I´m sad to be missing passover. I think our family sedar was today or yesterday. This is my second time in two years missing it and it´s really a bummer. I was hoping to have a sedar here with a Jewish exchange friend but I don´t have a way into Viña and it would just be complicated, legistics-wise.
This week´s been okay. On Friday I got to leave school at 3pm and all the other exchangers in Quillota/La Calera and I took a bus to Santiago for our one-month orientation. That was pretty cool. There were about 50 of us there, all from the central part of the country. The students to the North and South had their own orientations. Lots of Americans and Germans. My Spanish was pretty good on Friday and it was a little hard to switch over to English because I was happy speaking Spanish but it´s so much easier to communicate with everyone in English rather than Spanish. I have to say, as much as I love speaking in Spanish it was such a relief to be able to express myself without really having to concentrate super hard. It was really nice to be with people who were in my same situation more or less and I click really well with a lot of the exchangers. We had to do some talking in groups about culture shock, which wasn´t that helpful because it was pretty general. I liked it much more when we just talked as a group about our experiences. On Saturday we went for a short bus tour of Santiago. We went to La Moneda, their version of the White House and took pictures outside. We also went to the central plaza, where there happened to be a group of actors doing a performance of Jesus Cristo Super Estrella. It was so funny. It took me a minute to realize they were singing in Spanish. Everyone was wearing hippy-ish clothing and dancing. We took a picture with the actors. Santiago is a fine city but I don´t think I´d like to live there. It´s super crowded. You can see the Cordillera from the city though, and it´s super pretty. One of the american girls waved from the bus at another bus driver and he waved back at her, lost his focus and crashed the bus. Not seriously crashed it but it made a loud noise and some glass broke. On Saturday night we had a party and voted King and Queen of the Camp. The winners were Thor, a 6ft+ guy from Iceland who looks exactly like you´d expect someone from Iceland to look and is really cool and Olga, a Finn living in Quillota who is also super cool. They got paper-napkin sashes and danced together. It was awesome. On Sunday we hung out and did an obstacle course competition which involved getting flour all over our faces and then we came home. When I came home, my Spanish was pretty horrible. I knew I could speak much better than I was but the words just wouldn´t come and I couldn´t understand my family very well. Aggh!! It´s better now though.
The highlights of this week: I found out I passed my bio test AND my physics test, with a 4.4 and a 4.1. They grade on a scale of 1-7, and 4 is the minimum passing grade. If I pass, I´m satisfied. My friend wanted to know how we grade at Four Rivers and I tried explaining it to her, although without the hamburger rubric it was pretty difficult. Let´s see...what else? Last night Panchi and I went over to my friend Cata´s house with a bunch of other friends and we had homemade sushi which was really good. We also sang kareoke in Spanish and English, including A Dios Le Pido by Juanes (speaking of Juanes, I saw a word search activity book with Juanes on the cover). There were really weird music videos that went along with the songs, including a video of baboons that accompanied a love song. This week was also the begining of soccer. It´s super chill. The first day there were only 6 girls: two from Primero Medio and 4 from Tercero Medio. The skill level isn´t super high and I´m super rusty, as in laughably rusty, but it felt really good to run around and play. We did some passing and finished with three v three and my team won. So that was all good.
I´ve been okay but feeling a little frusterated because everything takes so much work. Just talking can be draining and my Spanish is okay considering, but I still miss a lot and talking can be a challenge. Making a plan to go into town to meet a friend is this huge challenge because I don´t know my town very well, I don´t know how to use the public transportation and it´s hard to talk on the phone. I end up feeling like a little kid because I need so much help with everything. I´m SO looking forward to speaking Spanish better. Ahh well...in time. I can read Angels and Demons pretty easily, so that´s good. I have to admit, I´m hooked. I´m also sort of hooked on a Chilean soap opera called Cuenta Conmigo hasta que Morir (Count on my until death). It´s really funny and dramatic and they speak Chilean Spanish so it´s really good practice. This guy´s wife is going to die of cancer so he finds a replacement for her, who happens to be his secretary, but then his wife doesn´t die so he´s in a sticky position. I´m pretty sure there´s also a pregnant 15yr old and some other stuff is happening too but I don´t watch it often enough to understand, plus I miss a lot of the dialogue.
Oooooh! I had my first real empanada. I´d had empanadas before but they were pre-frozen. This was a real, huge empanada de pino (ground meat, hard-boiled egg and olives) and it was delicious. We ate them at the orientation. They served them at lunch and I thought that was our lunch because they were so big and then after that they came out with these big plates of chicken and rice. So much food. I also had this really good pastry on the bus. It was a cone of dough filled with manjar mixed with cream. It was yummy. I´m definitely going to bring back manjar for you guys, because it´s awesome. I don´t know what the difference is between manjar and dulce de leche but I´m pretty sure there is one.
Alright, I think that´s all for now.
Much love,
Sela
One Month...
¡Hola a todos!
I have now been in Chile for a month. It both feels like I´ve been here for a while and just got here. Things are going pretty well. I´m in a super good mood right now because a) the week is almost over, b) I´m going to Santiago this weekend and c) I had a really good time at the pool today. This week was okay. We had a test in Physics (pretty sure I failed that one), a test in Lenguaje (I don´t know if I passed or not...I hope so) and a test in Chemistry, which was today. Honestly, I had no idea so I had to guess on quite a few. Hmmm. My stepbrother and brother´s names start with a so I´ll pick a! Oh well. Oh and I had a spelling test with the 6th graders as well. I think I got almost all the words right! It´s really weird to go from being a good student in the US to failing everything here. It´s really frusterating and can be sort of stressful, but I´m trying to keep everything in perspective and not put too much importance in how well I do. Hopefully I won´t have to repeat any courses in the US. I stayed after school with my math professor two days this week and that really helped. Yeah, school´s a challenge. I think right now it´s the hardest part of this experience. I´ve decided to transfer from my historia elective (lots of research) to art, which I hope will be less academic and a bit easier to follow.
Last weekend I went over my friend Vale´s house with some other girls and we watched Twilight and hung out, which was fun. On Saturday I went with my family (minus Panchi and Valentin) to this really popular resturaunt in Quillota called el Buho (the Owl) which is burger joint. The hamburgers are delicious and enormous and they make great fries. Then we all came home and the little girls and I watched a teeny-bopper movie. Sunday was, like always, a family day. I really like Sundays because they´re super chill. Everyone stays home and we prepare a really big lunch. I love hanging out in the kitchen and helping get lunch ready. It´s one of my favorite parts of the weekend. On Saturdays I also usually go to track with my little sisters. Me running track. Ha! Soccer starts next week. It seems super laid-back. We only play once a week. I´m also going to do theater, because one of my friends suggested it to me so why not?
Tomorrow I´m going to Santiago for a weekend-long AFS camp. I´m really psyched to see my fellow AFSers! Plus we get to leave school early to catch the bus there. It´ll be weird to speak English so much (which will probably happen). I speak almost all Spanish here. I´m not sure if my Spanish has improved in the last month. I can´t really tell. I hope so! It´s a little weird writing in English. It feels sort of awkward.
Sports....This week there were two World Cup Qualifying games for Chile. We beat Peru 3-1 and tied Uruguay 0-0. The Peru game was super intense. There´s some inter-country tension right now over rights to the coast and so add that to an already intense soccer rivalry....tons of security in Lima! It´s fun watching the games. The big news is that Argentina lost 5-1 to....BOLIVIA!! I have to say, right now I´m sort of glad to be on the other side of the ecuator than the Knicks. Oh dear, is all I can say.
So...everything is good. There are good days and hard days. The great thing about the hard days though is that often when I talk to someone about how I´m feeling down they really cheer me up. Tuesday was sort of rough and then I talked to a friend on the phone and she completely cheered me up.
I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Sela
I have now been in Chile for a month. It both feels like I´ve been here for a while and just got here. Things are going pretty well. I´m in a super good mood right now because a) the week is almost over, b) I´m going to Santiago this weekend and c) I had a really good time at the pool today. This week was okay. We had a test in Physics (pretty sure I failed that one), a test in Lenguaje (I don´t know if I passed or not...I hope so) and a test in Chemistry, which was today. Honestly, I had no idea so I had to guess on quite a few. Hmmm. My stepbrother and brother´s names start with a so I´ll pick a! Oh well. Oh and I had a spelling test with the 6th graders as well. I think I got almost all the words right! It´s really weird to go from being a good student in the US to failing everything here. It´s really frusterating and can be sort of stressful, but I´m trying to keep everything in perspective and not put too much importance in how well I do. Hopefully I won´t have to repeat any courses in the US. I stayed after school with my math professor two days this week and that really helped. Yeah, school´s a challenge. I think right now it´s the hardest part of this experience. I´ve decided to transfer from my historia elective (lots of research) to art, which I hope will be less academic and a bit easier to follow.
Last weekend I went over my friend Vale´s house with some other girls and we watched Twilight and hung out, which was fun. On Saturday I went with my family (minus Panchi and Valentin) to this really popular resturaunt in Quillota called el Buho (the Owl) which is burger joint. The hamburgers are delicious and enormous and they make great fries. Then we all came home and the little girls and I watched a teeny-bopper movie. Sunday was, like always, a family day. I really like Sundays because they´re super chill. Everyone stays home and we prepare a really big lunch. I love hanging out in the kitchen and helping get lunch ready. It´s one of my favorite parts of the weekend. On Saturdays I also usually go to track with my little sisters. Me running track. Ha! Soccer starts next week. It seems super laid-back. We only play once a week. I´m also going to do theater, because one of my friends suggested it to me so why not?
Tomorrow I´m going to Santiago for a weekend-long AFS camp. I´m really psyched to see my fellow AFSers! Plus we get to leave school early to catch the bus there. It´ll be weird to speak English so much (which will probably happen). I speak almost all Spanish here. I´m not sure if my Spanish has improved in the last month. I can´t really tell. I hope so! It´s a little weird writing in English. It feels sort of awkward.
Sports....This week there were two World Cup Qualifying games for Chile. We beat Peru 3-1 and tied Uruguay 0-0. The Peru game was super intense. There´s some inter-country tension right now over rights to the coast and so add that to an already intense soccer rivalry....tons of security in Lima! It´s fun watching the games. The big news is that Argentina lost 5-1 to....BOLIVIA!! I have to say, right now I´m sort of glad to be on the other side of the ecuator than the Knicks. Oh dear, is all I can say.
So...everything is good. There are good days and hard days. The great thing about the hard days though is that often when I talk to someone about how I´m feeling down they really cheer me up. Tuesday was sort of rough and then I talked to a friend on the phone and she completely cheered me up.
I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Sela
Week 4
Hi!
So, today we are nearing the end of Week 4. It´s been fine. What is there to report.....I know! Last weekend I saw Jeevon! Super exciting. I didn´t think we were going to be able to hook up but he called me on my cell on Thursday evening and we decided to hang out on Friday. I went over to their hotel after my AFS meeting. I hung out in their hotel room for a while then we went to go get something to eat. Ended up having Pakistani food. We just hung out together and talked until around 1:30 when Panchi came to pick me up. I was so happy they came down to see me. Really good feeling.
Let´s see...what else? This week I got the grade for my first math test: 3.3 out of 7. Ouch. I don´t understand my math profesor, but then neither do my classmates. Tomorrow I have a Biology test. I´ve stopped taking English because it was pointless and am now taking extra Language classes. One day with the sixth graders (who are super cute) and one day with the sophomores. I´m psyched. Any extra practice is great.
Yesterday I had a friend over for the first time. We hung out, talked and made bracelets. Tomorrow I might be going to a friend´s to watch Twighlight and High School Musical 3. People here are OBSESSED with Twighlight (it´s a book series). This weekend we might go to my host dad´s hometown for a festival but it´s not definite yet. Next weekend I have a three-day orientation in Santiago with the other AFSers. I´m looking forward to seeing everyone. I ate part of a rabbit yesterday. It was yummy....and cooked. I´m always super hungry here and I eat a ton. Yumm yumm yumm. They have this caramel stuff called manjar. Frickin´ amazing. You can put it on bread or pancakes or crackers or whatever.
Anyways, I´m feeling a bit grumpy today (don´t worry, nothing serious! :) ) so I´m going to make this short. One last thing: they have the game Guess Who here, but all the people have Spanish names like Guillermo, Maria, Roberto, etc. I started laughing when I saw it.
I miss you guys!
Love you,
Sela
So, today we are nearing the end of Week 4. It´s been fine. What is there to report.....I know! Last weekend I saw Jeevon! Super exciting. I didn´t think we were going to be able to hook up but he called me on my cell on Thursday evening and we decided to hang out on Friday. I went over to their hotel after my AFS meeting. I hung out in their hotel room for a while then we went to go get something to eat. Ended up having Pakistani food. We just hung out together and talked until around 1:30 when Panchi came to pick me up. I was so happy they came down to see me. Really good feeling.
Let´s see...what else? This week I got the grade for my first math test: 3.3 out of 7. Ouch. I don´t understand my math profesor, but then neither do my classmates. Tomorrow I have a Biology test. I´ve stopped taking English because it was pointless and am now taking extra Language classes. One day with the sixth graders (who are super cute) and one day with the sophomores. I´m psyched. Any extra practice is great.
Yesterday I had a friend over for the first time. We hung out, talked and made bracelets. Tomorrow I might be going to a friend´s to watch Twighlight and High School Musical 3. People here are OBSESSED with Twighlight (it´s a book series). This weekend we might go to my host dad´s hometown for a festival but it´s not definite yet. Next weekend I have a three-day orientation in Santiago with the other AFSers. I´m looking forward to seeing everyone. I ate part of a rabbit yesterday. It was yummy....and cooked. I´m always super hungry here and I eat a ton. Yumm yumm yumm. They have this caramel stuff called manjar. Frickin´ amazing. You can put it on bread or pancakes or crackers or whatever.
Anyways, I´m feeling a bit grumpy today (don´t worry, nothing serious! :) ) so I´m going to make this short. One last thing: they have the game Guess Who here, but all the people have Spanish names like Guillermo, Maria, Roberto, etc. I started laughing when I saw it.
I miss you guys!
Love you,
Sela
Week 3
Hola a todos!
I´ve almost finished my third week of school. It´s going pretty well. I like my classmates a lot, and some of the classes too. My favorite is my Literature elective, because I understand almost everything. The class is small, and I like the teacher. She´s also my head teacher so I´m more used to her voice, hence better understanding. Math, Bio and Physics are baffling. I just got home from an extra help session in Math but sadly I missed out on the help part. I dunno if it´s the language barrier or that I´m just so used to IMP that I´m completely lost in another teaching style. Probably a combo of both. I knew IMP wasn´t helping me! :) The teaching style here is very different from that of FRCS. It´s very traditional: the teachers talk and we take notes. In my history elective we´re doing a research project on the Chilean topic of our choice. My partner and I are researching the Chilean Public Health System and whether or not it´s serving all Chileans. School is hard. Actually, speaking Spanish 24/7 is hard. I sometimes feel like I´m living in my own little Spanish cloud and I don´t really know what´s going on. I just go where people tell me and figure it out as I go. I think my Spanish has improved since I got here though. I´ve learned some new words at least. Yesterday we had mass at school and I heard the priest use two new words I´ve learned: ayunar y pecadores (to fast and sinners). I was psyched! We don´t have mass every week. This was just the begining of the year mass. People get really interested when they hear I´m Jewish. It´s funny. I guess there aren´t many Jews here. I´m trying to figure out what I´m going to do for Passover. I don´t even know when it is. I´m hoping to have a sedar with one of my exchange friends in Viña but I don´t know. Speaking of which, last weekend I went to Viña and Valparaiso! Okay, so last weekend my host dad´s parents showed up and spent the weekend with us. They were really nice. My host mom asked me about five times if I live in the city or the country. On Sunday we all went out to lunch and then my grandparents left and we went to see Valentin´s (my host brother) apartment. It´s right in the middle of the city. Viña seems pretty cool. It´s right on the ocean and it was really awesome to see the water. There are a ton of colleges in Viña. After going to Valentin´s we drove along the coast. Viña and Valpo are right next to each other. Literally, you drive out of Viña and you´re in Valpo. I´m not sure why there are two cities right next to each other but it it works, awesome! We went to this little open air antique market and my host mom got me this tiny little bouy that says Valparaiso Chile on it. It was fun getting to see another part of Chile. Oh, back to the restaraunt. So I was talking to my sister Javi and she was describing papas fritas to me, and what she was describing was potato chips. Names of foods differ by country so even though I´d learned that french fries were papas fritas, I thought it was probably just a Chilean thing. Then she described papas hilos and I thought she was describing french fries. So when we were at the restaurant I wanted to order french fries so I ordered papas hilos. Well, papas hilos are true to their name. They are literally fried strings of potato. Papas fritas apparently can mean either chips or french fries. Oops!
Speaking of Chilean words, here are some new words I´ve learned:
maceavo - someone who does whatever their girlfriend tells them to.
pa´ mas remate - and on top of it all...
rancio - nasty, disgusting
choro - cool
arto, caleta - a lot
cachai? - You know? This one I love.
I really like Chilean Spanish. It´s super hard and they talk FAST but I like it. I´ve been trying to imitate the accent but it´s not really been working. People thing it´s really funny when I use Chilean words though. I´ve started reading Angels and Demons in Spanish. So far so good. I´ve also started to love the Disney Channel. Weird, huh? It´s because I can understand what they´re saying more easily. Seriously, I´ve almost got Hannah Montana down. Almost. Let´s see...what else? Soccer starts in two weeks. I´m PSYCHED!!! I haven´t been getting hardly any excersize lately and I really need to run around.
Another strange thing...I´ve started to feel really affectionate towards anything from home. I was watching TV (here it´s good to watch TV because I´m learning Spanish, cachai?) and I saw an ad for the World Baseball Classic, with Derek Jeter. I was like, awwwww Derek Jeter. That would NEVER happen at home. I was also watching a TV show where they had a Boston phone number and I got a warm, fuzzy feeling seeing 617. Yeah, it´s weird.
Yikes, this email has been pretty rambly. Sorry if it´s not super coherent. I´ve been at school from 8am - 6pm. Tomorrow we´re having an AFS chapter meeting. I really like the exchangers in my district. They are:
Tanja - Austria (she´s in the grade below me at school)
Ham - Thailand
Iris - Seattle, USA
Sali and Michael - Germany
Olga - Finland
On Tuesday we all got to skip school and go to the town hall to get our carnets. They´re Chilean ID cards. Every Chilean has one, even the little kids. It was really nice to have a day off. We went into town afterwards and hung out with one of the volunteers and then went to the AFS Quillota president´s house and chilled and ate pizza. Yum. It was really nice to connect with other AFSers. Tomorrow I´m hoping to either go out with friends or see Jeevon. Last weekend I went to see Benjamin Button with some friends. I liked it! It was in English with subtitles. The screen was square, not rectangular. This weekend is my host mom´s bday so we´re going to have a barbaque and make her tiramisu tonight.
What else.....tomorrow is my math test and I´m going to fail. Oh well. My little host sister is standing next to me with my little host brother. They´re pretty cool. O, bacan as they say in Chile.
Anyways, that´s all for now!
Love,
Sela
I´ve almost finished my third week of school. It´s going pretty well. I like my classmates a lot, and some of the classes too. My favorite is my Literature elective, because I understand almost everything. The class is small, and I like the teacher. She´s also my head teacher so I´m more used to her voice, hence better understanding. Math, Bio and Physics are baffling. I just got home from an extra help session in Math but sadly I missed out on the help part. I dunno if it´s the language barrier or that I´m just so used to IMP that I´m completely lost in another teaching style. Probably a combo of both. I knew IMP wasn´t helping me! :) The teaching style here is very different from that of FRCS. It´s very traditional: the teachers talk and we take notes. In my history elective we´re doing a research project on the Chilean topic of our choice. My partner and I are researching the Chilean Public Health System and whether or not it´s serving all Chileans. School is hard. Actually, speaking Spanish 24/7 is hard. I sometimes feel like I´m living in my own little Spanish cloud and I don´t really know what´s going on. I just go where people tell me and figure it out as I go. I think my Spanish has improved since I got here though. I´ve learned some new words at least. Yesterday we had mass at school and I heard the priest use two new words I´ve learned: ayunar y pecadores (to fast and sinners). I was psyched! We don´t have mass every week. This was just the begining of the year mass. People get really interested when they hear I´m Jewish. It´s funny. I guess there aren´t many Jews here. I´m trying to figure out what I´m going to do for Passover. I don´t even know when it is. I´m hoping to have a sedar with one of my exchange friends in Viña but I don´t know. Speaking of which, last weekend I went to Viña and Valparaiso! Okay, so last weekend my host dad´s parents showed up and spent the weekend with us. They were really nice. My host mom asked me about five times if I live in the city or the country. On Sunday we all went out to lunch and then my grandparents left and we went to see Valentin´s (my host brother) apartment. It´s right in the middle of the city. Viña seems pretty cool. It´s right on the ocean and it was really awesome to see the water. There are a ton of colleges in Viña. After going to Valentin´s we drove along the coast. Viña and Valpo are right next to each other. Literally, you drive out of Viña and you´re in Valpo. I´m not sure why there are two cities right next to each other but it it works, awesome! We went to this little open air antique market and my host mom got me this tiny little bouy that says Valparaiso Chile on it. It was fun getting to see another part of Chile. Oh, back to the restaraunt. So I was talking to my sister Javi and she was describing papas fritas to me, and what she was describing was potato chips. Names of foods differ by country so even though I´d learned that french fries were papas fritas, I thought it was probably just a Chilean thing. Then she described papas hilos and I thought she was describing french fries. So when we were at the restaurant I wanted to order french fries so I ordered papas hilos. Well, papas hilos are true to their name. They are literally fried strings of potato. Papas fritas apparently can mean either chips or french fries. Oops!
Speaking of Chilean words, here are some new words I´ve learned:
maceavo - someone who does whatever their girlfriend tells them to.
pa´ mas remate - and on top of it all...
rancio - nasty, disgusting
choro - cool
arto, caleta - a lot
cachai? - You know? This one I love.
I really like Chilean Spanish. It´s super hard and they talk FAST but I like it. I´ve been trying to imitate the accent but it´s not really been working. People thing it´s really funny when I use Chilean words though. I´ve started reading Angels and Demons in Spanish. So far so good. I´ve also started to love the Disney Channel. Weird, huh? It´s because I can understand what they´re saying more easily. Seriously, I´ve almost got Hannah Montana down. Almost. Let´s see...what else? Soccer starts in two weeks. I´m PSYCHED!!! I haven´t been getting hardly any excersize lately and I really need to run around.
Another strange thing...I´ve started to feel really affectionate towards anything from home. I was watching TV (here it´s good to watch TV because I´m learning Spanish, cachai?) and I saw an ad for the World Baseball Classic, with Derek Jeter. I was like, awwwww Derek Jeter. That would NEVER happen at home. I was also watching a TV show where they had a Boston phone number and I got a warm, fuzzy feeling seeing 617. Yeah, it´s weird.
Yikes, this email has been pretty rambly. Sorry if it´s not super coherent. I´ve been at school from 8am - 6pm. Tomorrow we´re having an AFS chapter meeting. I really like the exchangers in my district. They are:
Tanja - Austria (she´s in the grade below me at school)
Ham - Thailand
Iris - Seattle, USA
Sali and Michael - Germany
Olga - Finland
On Tuesday we all got to skip school and go to the town hall to get our carnets. They´re Chilean ID cards. Every Chilean has one, even the little kids. It was really nice to have a day off. We went into town afterwards and hung out with one of the volunteers and then went to the AFS Quillota president´s house and chilled and ate pizza. Yum. It was really nice to connect with other AFSers. Tomorrow I´m hoping to either go out with friends or see Jeevon. Last weekend I went to see Benjamin Button with some friends. I liked it! It was in English with subtitles. The screen was square, not rectangular. This weekend is my host mom´s bday so we´re going to have a barbaque and make her tiramisu tonight.
What else.....tomorrow is my math test and I´m going to fail. Oh well. My little host sister is standing next to me with my little host brother. They´re pretty cool. O, bacan as they say in Chile.
Anyways, that´s all for now!
Love,
Sela
Finally in Chile!
Hola a todos!
I am sitting at the computer in my host family´s house right now, right outside my room. Today is Sunday, my first day here. I will give you a synopsis of my trip so far
MIAMI
I met all the other AFS students in the airport and we had an orientation in the airport in a weird conference room with florescent lighting. It was really cool to meet the other students going to Chile and Argentina but the orientation was a little pointless. We left the US on 2-26 at 9:15pm or so... I didn´t sleep nearly at all on the plane! My first view of Chile was incredibly gorgeous...we started our descent into Santiago just as the sun was rising over the Andes. Everything was golden and pink and I was like "wow, this is my country for the next 5 months!"
ORIENTATION - SANTIAGO
This orientation was awesome. All the inbound exchange students from all over the world met for two and a half days in this religious center in Santiago. It was pretty nice and the food was good! I got to meet students from Austria, Germany, Thailand, Iceland, Finland, Russia, Brazil, Japan, France, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. So cool. Everyone spoke English and I started speaking in a weird accent and with wierd English because I was hearing so many accents. The AFS volunteers there cool and the info was very helpful too.
Today I met my family. They came to meet me at the orientation this morning. Well my host dad, Panchi and Jaci came. I was SO nervous about meeting them but when they showed up, I very quickly became at ease. They´re super nice and super welcoming. I can communicate MUCH better than I expected and lots of people have complemented my Spanish. I´m learning Chilean words and that´s fun. The Chilean Spanish is difficult but so far not impossible. We´ll see how school goes tomorrow...Our house is gorgeous. Quillota is surrounded by mountains and it´s like being in a beautiful bowl. I´ll send photos later.
I am good right now. I miss you all a lot, and I probably won´t call for a while because I think that would be hard. I´m a little nervous and overwhelmed, but I´m also very happy and excited. I´M IN CHILE! Es increible.
Sorry this is short, but I don´t want to spend lots of time on the computer.
Besos y abrazos a todos,
Sela
I am sitting at the computer in my host family´s house right now, right outside my room. Today is Sunday, my first day here. I will give you a synopsis of my trip so far
MIAMI
I met all the other AFS students in the airport and we had an orientation in the airport in a weird conference room with florescent lighting. It was really cool to meet the other students going to Chile and Argentina but the orientation was a little pointless. We left the US on 2-26 at 9:15pm or so... I didn´t sleep nearly at all on the plane! My first view of Chile was incredibly gorgeous...we started our descent into Santiago just as the sun was rising over the Andes. Everything was golden and pink and I was like "wow, this is my country for the next 5 months!"
ORIENTATION - SANTIAGO
This orientation was awesome. All the inbound exchange students from all over the world met for two and a half days in this religious center in Santiago. It was pretty nice and the food was good! I got to meet students from Austria, Germany, Thailand, Iceland, Finland, Russia, Brazil, Japan, France, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. So cool. Everyone spoke English and I started speaking in a weird accent and with wierd English because I was hearing so many accents. The AFS volunteers there cool and the info was very helpful too.
Today I met my family. They came to meet me at the orientation this morning. Well my host dad, Panchi and Jaci came. I was SO nervous about meeting them but when they showed up, I very quickly became at ease. They´re super nice and super welcoming. I can communicate MUCH better than I expected and lots of people have complemented my Spanish. I´m learning Chilean words and that´s fun. The Chilean Spanish is difficult but so far not impossible. We´ll see how school goes tomorrow...Our house is gorgeous. Quillota is surrounded by mountains and it´s like being in a beautiful bowl. I´ll send photos later.
I am good right now. I miss you all a lot, and I probably won´t call for a while because I think that would be hard. I´m a little nervous and overwhelmed, but I´m also very happy and excited. I´M IN CHILE! Es increible.
Sorry this is short, but I don´t want to spend lots of time on the computer.
Besos y abrazos a todos,
Sela
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
