Travels

Okey dokey,
So..history. My prof told me to go to the library and chat with friends waiting for me in Canada, because there really isn`t much time left to do a lot of productive work and I`m not sure how many classes I will still be here for.
Traveling...well, after the airplane delay.....I actually didn`t have to go when i thought I did, so could have kept on writing. I had some good conversations with some people in the airport tho, 2 Brasilians traveling, and another man on his first trip to Punta Arenas. The flight was uneventful, although I was at the far back of the plane, and the steward guy liked to sing in English when he was at the back..it was quite hilarious....I arrived, and went to an exchange friend of mines house, due to the delay my other friend couldn`t come pick me up. We stayed up late, talking laughing etc.. and the next morning enjoyed sleeping in, then pancakes. I went to Yasna`s apartment in the afternoon, where we cut my hair (i have bangs now) before a job interview for her. I was amused at the interview (for selling credit cards outside a store...she didn`t take the job...) when the man said that they had to dress warmly because it was very cold. I was warm with a long sleeved v-neck shirt....I started laughing, he looked at me, and I just said i was from Punta Arenas. We then went to a restaurant in downtown santiago for Pastel de choclo (a traditional food that requires fresh corn and therefore not possible to make in Punta Arenas...) I loved it. The next morning (nothing too exciting at night....) we headed off to viña. Upon arrival, Gonzalo met up with us (after a bit of shopping :) ) and we went to his place. I figured it would be cool to stay in the rented room at his house so that we could hang out more. That night, we ( a group of girls, Gonzalo had classes the next morning..) went out to Valpo. I met some fellow rugby players and we had a grand time salsaing it up and chatting. The next morning, we went to Valparaiso to see some of that city, we went up one of the ancient elevators...it was super cool (and quite slow....). We walked around the flat part of Valpo, the center isn`t really that big, all the people live on the hills. That night, a visit to a disco in Viña. In the morning, I got up and hung out with Gonzalo and then we went to a pizza place in Viña...with Canadian style pizza. (The stuff here really doesn`t compare..i was ridiculously happy....) Gonzalo and i were walking through the streets eating...we were lacking in time as well. Upon arrival in Santiago after the bus, I had about 2 minutes in Yasna`s apartment to get my stuff (forgot my host mom`s towel...) and then headed back to the bus station for Chillan, 5 hours south of Santiago to visit my cousin.
Chillan....got there at like 11 pm, and was picked up by my cousin. She had friends waiting at the house to get to know me (apparently I had a lot to live up to from the stories...) They were waiting with sushi, which I actually liked...and then I was shown the discos of Chillan. I was quite tired.....and dead when we got home at 8 am.....(Lisette and I were protesting at the others to go home...) we slept until 3 the next day. We had a good time hanging out in the house, and I got to know some of the other members of my adoptive family... The next day, I had a tour of chillan...a delicious buffet of vegetarian food, lots of fresh veggies, fresh pear juice...etc. First time I had seen nething like it in Chile. At night, I got back on a bus (my second home) and arrived in Viña the next day at 6 40 am. I didn`t sleep.... I was calling Gonzalo to come pick me up from the bus..but his cell was turned off..I had a coffee while waiting and put my bags in the custody thinger. We hung out in Viña and Valpo that day, taking combinations of fun and pretty pictures. Then..back to santiago (i was living on the run basically..) and to rancagua to visit a friend of mine. (exchange) We hung out, laughed...didn`t do a ton of touristy stuff cuz we were having a blast just walking around o(when we weren`t in her house, awesome family..they told me to go back and visit whenever I was in Chile...) Then santiago, where I had the bad luck of hitting the metro during the busy hour (and with 2 backpacks..not a good time..) Jesse and I (exchange friend...who i stayed at his house the first itme...) went to see the third pirates of the caribbean. The next day, we went to get my host mom`s towel...and almost missed my flight. I got to the airport at 10 30..flight at 10 50....they told me that the flight was closed..but because i pretended to start crying (but was actually very worried...) they let me on. A friend from Punta Arenas was on the same flight, and I went to sit with her on the plane, and the flight felt much shorter. The airline has gotten very cheap...and give a brownie, alfajor (chileno) and peanuts..and thats it. well..we got it twice for the two trips. And this was like my lunch. grr..
Newho, it was awesome to see my host dad when I got home...it had been more than 2 months! We laugh all the time, we have hot pepper sauce in my house again, and its a blast. Well..class is almost over, so thats all for now. I can`t believe how little time is left...blows my mind.
I hate goodbyes, but am looking forward to the welcomes :)

killin time in the airport

Well....i arrived at the airport to board my plane, a few minutes late really to be the hour early (which is not necessary in this airport...9 and learned that my plane is an hour late, so time to kill....although since I haven`t blogged since after my torres del paine trip, good opportunity. Travels you may ask? Yes...i am heading off to visit some friends in Santiago, visit Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, and my cousin in Chillan. (Chilean cousin...she came to brasil with us and is lots of fun). I hope to see some exchange friends as well. What have i been up to the last while?? Well, I have been busy visiting friends, meeting lots of new people...etc etc. It`s awesome meeting new people, and there are a lot of them i wish I had met earlier in the year. I am down to very little time left, and therefore eager to spend every moment I can with other people. I have a feeling this next month I will be super tired most of the time for lack of sleep. When I get back from the north, my host dad will have arrived home. I haven`t seen him since the 15th of march. And that was only for a week (if you remember, he didn`t come to brasil with us.) It will be good to have him back, but super different! I am gone for 9 days. Some of my classmates thought that when I left school today, I was leaving for ever, and some almost started to cry. (others knew I was only going for 9 days, and were super sad about it anyway...what are they going to do when i leave for ever??) Ì got bronchitis last week, `(that never ending cold from torres del paine got worse...) and so spent last tuesday afternoon, wednesday, and thursday at home. The first day was a nice relaxation, but after that I got bored and was happy to return to school friday. It was el dia del alumno (the day of the student) and we had an assembly in the morning. Afterwards, my class went to the multipurpose room where we watched movies of pics of my class. The first was funny pics, the second pics of groups of two (joke couples, actual couples etc..) and the third all pics of groups, with a song about when you grow up and such. There was a group that was crying, and afterwards the prof started talking and we ended up almost all crying. Especially when they handed out notes written by the parents at their meeting. clau`s parents wrote me a letter, because my host parents don`t go to the meetings, and they couldn`t get in contact with my parents at home. (it was a surprise, so they couldn`t exactly ask for the email of my rents...) Well..i heard an announcement about the flight..so I better go figure out what exactly it said..i wouldn`t want to get left behind.
All my love,
Jody

killin time in the airport

Well....i arrived at the airport to board my plane, a few minutes late really to be the hour early (which is not necessary in this airport...9 and learned that my plane is an hour late, so time to kill....although since I haven`t blogged since after my torres del paine trip, good opportunity. Travels you may ask? Yes...i am heading off to visit some friends in Santiago, visit Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, and my cousin in Chillan. (Chilean cousin...she came to brasil with us and is lots of fun). I hope to see some exchange friends as well. What have i been up to the last while?? Well, I have been busy visiting friends, meeting lots of new people...etc etc. It`s awesome meeting new people, and there are a lot of them i wish I had met earlier in the year. I am down to very little time left, and therefore eager to spend every moment I can with other people. I have a feeling this next month I will be super tired most of the time for lack of sleep. When I get back from the north, my host dad will have arrived home. I haven`t seen him since the 15th of march. And that was only for a week (if you remember, he didn`t come to brasil with us.) It will be good to have him back, but super different! I am gone for 9 days. Some of my classmates thought that when I left school today, I was leaving for ever, and some almost started to cry. (others knew I was only going for 9 days, and were super sad about it anyway...what are they going to do when i leave for ever??) Ì got bronchitis last week, `(that never ending cold from torres del paine got worse...) and so spent last tuesday afternoon, wednesday, and thursday at home. The first day was a nice relaxation, but after that I got bored and was happy to return to school friday. It was el dia del alumno (the day of the student) and we had an assembly in the morning. Afterwards, my class went to the multipurpose room where we watched movies of pics of my class. The first was funny pics, the second pics of groups of two (joke couples, actual couples etc..) and the third all pics of groups, with a song about when you grow up and such. There was a group that was crying, and afterwards the prof started talking and we ended up almost all crying. Especially when they handed out notes written by the parents at their meeting. clau`s parents wrote me a letter, because my host parents don`t go to the meetings, and they couldn`t get in contact with my parents at home. (it was a surprise, so they couldn`t exactly ask for the email of my rents...) Well..i heard an announcement about the flight..so I better go figure out what exactly it said..i wouldn`t want to get left behind.
All my love,
Jody

Torres del Paine..round 2

Ok...so here I sit, with a bad cough, runny nose, and extremely chapped lips...and with feelings of extreme happiness, lots of great memories, and also sadness because today I said goodbye to some people that I will never see again.
So....the trip.
David (the Hungarian exchange student, not Rotary, but living in Punta Arenas) picked me up to go to the airport to meet up with the group. I was super anxious waiting for them to arrive, and when they entered the luggage pickup, we had some window hugs....there were lots of real hugs and tons of conversation when everyone got out. Everyone wanted to know how summer had been, and I wanted to know the same for everyone else. Emily, a great friend from the north trip didn`t have her name on the list which I had been bummed about, but she was there and so that was a pleasant surprise. We also had 4 new exchangees, 2 from brasil, 1 from australia, and 1 from New Zealand. We had a pretty small bus to take us to Puerto Natales. Ie....lap sitting was necessary...but it was nice for keeping us warm. Oh..and we had amazing luck because it wasn`t raining when they got in. When we arrived in Natales about 3 hours later, it was raining. We had a while to settle into our rooms and check out the town before cena at 9. (sorry, dinner..) After that, we were hanging out, and the folks hanging out in my room ended up leaving at about 1 20. One of the girls was quite sick and was coughing a lot of the night, so I didn`t have the best sleep as we headed out of the hotel at about 9 in the morning. (I think it was 9...losing track of the time). After our hearty breakfast, we got in the bus and headed out. We had several stops along the way to look at wildlife (guanacos), and also at the park entrance and store (slightly overpriced...due to the location.) We stopped at a lake with the Torres in the background. The view was very different from when I was there in october, because this time it was snowing like crazy in the mountains so it was actually quite difficult to see the torres. We were quite excited about the "ice" on the edge of the lake, but upon closer examination figured out it was salt!!! Yes...we did taste a bit of it and yes, it did have a grooss aftertaste. As we entered the park (same route as last time) I noticed the work that I had done in october, still there. Oh the memories...We stayed in the hostal that they were working on when I was there. nicely done. We had 8 girls in the 6 person room, one on the floor (well, she was the rotarian chaperone) and 2 girls shared the bed (warmth...) We quickly made a mess of the room. I wish i could put up pics to go with most of these descriptions, but it would be all pics basically. It was amazing. We made ourselves some lunch on our campstoves and then headed out on a trek. We didn`t make it to the base of los Torres due to the lack of time and also the varying degrees of physical condition. It was a bummer, (but i was lucky to have already seen it....so can`t complain). After arrival at the hotel, we had dinner with candles because the hostel doesn`t have electricity, very romantic like. Good convos followed, and then bed quite a while later. (lots of funny little tidbits in between.) In the morning, we packed up and then headed out to los cuernos. They were stopped at the map for quite awhile, so eventually i just started walking because they didn`t really hear that i knew the way. The hike had lots of picture breaks as well. At first, a few of us were quite annoyed with the mass amounts of stops that we were making, but as time went on, it was alright. A river that we had had to cross using ropes and lots of care in october was now easily crossed hopping on a few rocks. We stopped to eat there, and refill water bottles in the mountain stream. After lunch, we continued trekking until we reached the next nights home. Those of us with lots of energy still dropped our bags, grabbed some water and headed back to help those a ways behind. It turns out I didn`t have to carry a bag, but it was amazing how light our legs felt without the weight of the packs. That evening was the birthday of a girl on trips, so we had a campfire for her on the beach. A bit before, I went off to the river to make tea with Lars....(a german friend) and he slipped while getting water...wetting his shoes and one knee as well as his jacket. They searched us out a bit later, apparently they had been waiting for us. But the tea was definitely worth it!! One of the guys working at the camp sang some campfire traditional folklorish songs which were really cool. We then all had to talk abit about our countries history and coat of arms. I noticed that I had never studied canadian history before 1900...... I did know a good deal of the chilean history questions that he asked tho :) Jesse, Emily, and I stayed out afterwards to look at the gorgeous sky. I have never seen so many stars in my life, and there were lots of shooting stars as well. We had sleeping bags to keep us warm. We ended up having the three of us sleeping in one twin size bed (emily and i had been planning to sleep in one bed, and then jesse fell asleep there, so, it was an experience...good laughs now...) We also got up at 6 30 to go watch the sunrise (also with sleeping bags) It was beautiful. We were lucky to find a bit of a wind shelter set up, which ended up sheltering us from the mist that came off the lake. It was some extreme wind. After about an hour, we headed in for breakfast. Some people had assumed we were a bit behind because we had stayed in bed...but really we had gotten very little sleep....the hyperness begun.... That day, we were told to be prepared for rain which was coming in...so I put the poncho over my backpack (and the hood was sticking up, so I had a little buddy for the trip). It rained a bit, but not anything significant, but enough to keep us cool. That day was a significant amount of hiking. We had been told it was flat, but had a huuuuge hill before the lunch break. After our lunch of chicken flavored water ("soup") and pesto rice (with lots of water, so like pesto soup with rice...) we headed up to see some amazng rock formations....This was without backpack. We had the luck to see 2 avalanches...from a distance tho..no fears!!! Then a group of us decided to finish off the hike with very little break and walking at a brisk pace. I ended up leading, and we did the 2 and a half hour hike in 1 hour, 32 minutes (minus our five min break, 1 h 27). I was fondly given the nickname of slavedriver. We still enjoyed the scenery, have no fear. A garbage bag flew off one girls backpack (crazy wind!) and Sam had a bit of a sprint with his backpack to go get it....many laughs there as well. When we arrived at our final destination, we showered and then celebrated with a beer. After dinner, (which i couldnt finish..surprising for having hiked about 15 km that day...) we had massage sessions upstairs. I fell asleep on the couch, and when i woke up only sam, jesse, arno and I were left. Emily came up toget her sweater and told us of the dance party happening...I obviously headed over there and we danced up a storm until about 1 or so. Jesse had my sleeping bag hostage (it had been used as the massage table), so we had to fight for that before the top bunk was our home for the night. I had set my alarm to see the sunrise again, but we couldnt see nething but the top of the window from the bed, and it was cloudy anyways. The next time we woke up, it was 8 and perfect timing to go down for breakfast. After that, we packed up our stuff and then got ready to go to the lookout for the glaciar. It was significantly colder than other days. (other days i wished for t-shirts..possibly shorts). That morning, it was snowing, quite heavily actually. The group that headed out was kindof eliteish..all in good physical shape. We had to go quickly because we were kind of lacking in time. We were all commenting how christmas like it kind of felt because of the snow....however, due to the snow we didn`t actualy see the glaciar. Only 5 of the original 10 or so made it to the glaciar..the rest didn`t want to have the intense hiking and sometimes jogging..that we did. At the top, we strained our eyes for an outline and enjoyed the soup and trailmix that sam had so preparedly brought up, took some pics with the camera timers, and headed back down. The mud made the trip interesting.....good laughs and memories. I loved the ability to fill up the waterbottle from a mountain stream. Upon arrival at the hotel, we quickly ate a boxed lunch and then headed to catch the boat. It was kinda neat because there were some people we had been kind of following the whole trip and they were also on the boat. Sam had talked alot with one of the couples and mentioned how he was living the life...and i commented how I bet that man thought that we were living the life...because we are! Our bus broke down about 30 min outside puerto natales, so we waited for awhile as they tried to fix it and then waited for cars to come get us. We had dinner in Natales, then got back into mini buses for Punta Arenas. We went to the hotel, and from there i called my host fam to tell them I`d be home around 12. (we had free time until that hour). We quickly changed (altho there wasn`t much clean to put on...) and then we went to a cafe,restaurant 2 blocks from the hotel. We stayed there til 1....the chairman was with us so it was ok. I called a bit before 12 when we learned there were extra beds in the hotel and said i would just spend the night there. We didn`t go to sleep til probably around 3 or 4, but due to my sickness I realy didn`t sleep much. At 7, my alarm went off and I headed home to put other ppls pics on my computer and pass along mine, then headed back to the hotel. We had a bus tour of punta arenas, and I had a few people asking to sleep under my bed. They loved it, and it made me realize, again, how awesome my city is. Sure it`s cold, but I have the luck of being given a lot of freedom and the freedom from pollution as well. Its also very un north american. Some of my friends in santiago were telling me about the malls and how many there are and how disgusting they find it (especially my nature loving friends...) It was fun to get pics in front of the cool stuff of my home away from home, and i was very proud of it. I went with them to the airport, along with David (who had come with us) and then we took a transfer back. It was weird saying bye, because I am pretty sure I`ll see a bunch of them before I go home, but it is still crappy saying bye after an amazing 5 days together. Time is passing more quickly than I would like it to. A friend of mine who has done an exchange told me that after that year, he has never felt completly satisfied in any place, which i think could definitely be true....
well...i should write my monthly report (which was sposed to be done in the beginning of april...) and then i have to do some computer stuff for my host mom...
Ps..it is now wednesday, i finished this morning, because I did not go to school this morning. My host mom is quite sure I have bronchitis.....o joy and bliss! It was worth it tho.
All my love

the skirt is gone...thank goodness!!!

Wednesday...I started a blog last thursday night, but never got around to finishing it, so we`ll have some cut and paste action going on. However, some of that info is now irrelevant. For example, the track meet that was sposed to be a large part of saturday was cancelled due to weather. (Which has been horrible by the way...rain and cold, rain and cold, rain and cold...) I woke up this morning with my throat feeling very weird and therefore did not go to school. I figured better to miss one more day than continue being sick on my trip to Torres del Paine this weekend. (I actually leave tomoro, hence the blog entry before the trip)
I slept in and then got stuff together, now waiting on the backpack to put it all in. And yes mom, I did buy new hiking shoes, north face..they are awesome! (I didn`t have any in canada either, so figured since I`m going to one of the best places in the world to backpack..i might as well get some good shoes, i don`t want a repeat of my knee accident!!)
In other exciting news..we were told monday morning that we were allowed to wear pants to school in the afternoon due to the bad weather. Originally, this doesnt happen until the first of may, so you can imagine the excitement!! Luckily, Karen`s pants fit me decently (a big big..but more comfy...) so I was able to go in pants right away. the girls who went in skirts in the afternoon were bugged abit...good naturedly of course.
Going backwards...the weekend! I guess I should first tell about last weekend and move forward...
We had an adventure last sunday afternoon...Mema and I went to my grandparents house and when we arrived, everyone was excited to tell us about an american guy in Punta Arenas who had some connection with Karen. Unfortunately, the phone number that had been copied didn`t work, but we did have the name of the hostal. We went around town later, looking for the place, and when we didn`t find it, came back here to see if he had called our house. Yuppers! We called the place (thank goodness for phones that record the numbers...) and then went to meet him. Turns out, his mom is a Rotarian in karen`s city. He has never met her tho. He has been traveling in south america since september, recently parted ways from his 2 other american friends. He has been staying at our house since monday. It`s been fun. The other day, I helped him sell his motorbike...because his spanish is so-so..and he can`t communicate everything or understand everything (altho I was impressed...) Mema recently started an english course that her cousin teaches, and so I have passed on some of the books i used to learn spanish on to her... The other day she asked me to photocopy pages of a mini dictionary thing I had....but I decided to buy her a dictionary of her own instead. I left it as a little present for when she got home (I had gone to the gym.) Johanna went up north for the long weekend so was not home to meet kevin much..only about 20 minutes. The long weekend only had one day off in chile..but she stayed for a week, and got home sunday morning at 3 am. It was lucky for kevin tho, because he had a place to sleep.
Other things....there are so many little stories, i just don`t know where to begin. I actually wrote some stuff down awhile ago when I was bored in class, and then lost the list (typical!)
Last thursday during break in the afternoon, the sound system was set up in the hall, and one of my friends started playing reggaeton and then ppl in my class started dancing..and we had a dance party for the 15 minute break. There was a mosh pit almost, kids fell, and water was thrown. I had memories of west hill dances...except that it was short and we were all in school uniforms (and it was in the day....) Fun times... Words can`t even describe it..things got vicious for a bit haha..some of my friends aren`t allowed to go to the discos...and i mentioned that school is more dangerous than the disco!!
Ok..now this past weekend....Friday, I didn`t have classes in the afternoon so Kevin and I went to town and walked around. I took him to Kiosco Roco (best choripan and leche con platano in town) and then we wandered around town. I also dragged him into some outdoorsy stores to look for my hiking boots. ( I say dragged because it was like torture for him, because he wanted so much stuff, but due to his limited space, couldn`t buy it) We also saw a huge carrot, and so decided to buy it (random i know....and we never actually ate it! he took it with him for the rest of his travels). Later, we came home and hung out, played guitar (my music teacher started to teach me a bit of guitar..) and then headed out for some live music. We had been thinking it would be spanish music..but it was covers of english bands, so we headed out to a disco. A friend of mine, Javiera, was with us too. (After all, the disco is a true Chilean experience...which he had not been to yet..)
Saturday, we went to go see my schools team play futsal. (We won). There was about 30 of us or so cheering the team on, complete with drums and everything. It was pretty sweet. I learned some of the school cheers (altho don`t ask me to repeat them now..i`ll have to relearn them...) Later in the afternoon (after lunch at home) we walked to the local beer brewery because we wanted a tour, but it wasn`t open for tours...bummer. We met Clau in town, and then ended up seeing other friends of mine too. We headed back to my house, where I ate and changed quickly because I had to be at a friends at 9. (we got home at quarter to 8). I had a bit of an adventure finding my friends house..the house numbers are the same on 2 streets, one behind the other..and i turned down the first not the second. I called her and said I was outside her house...but the wrong house! Oops..haha. Afterwards, we went to the disco and i ended up spending most of the night with a group of people from school, because the people i had gone with weren`t really dancing, instead complaining about how full it was so I wasn`t really up for that. (It was packed..difficult to cross the dance floor at times!) Sunday, I was going to get up to get chacarreros for lunch, but woke up late.....Kevin, Mema, and I went to town to get my shoes and then we went to my grandparents for the one month birthday of my baby cousin. From there, Kevin went to Puerto Natales in bus. Later that night (after chinese checkers...i lost brutally!!!), my sister Nelvia called me and we had an awesome chat.
Monday and Tuesday...classes as usual (minus the finally being allowed to wear pants...) I walked witha girl from my class to the gym after school monday, and we got soaked!!! We took some pics with her cellphone when we got there, it was ridiculous. The streets were rivers!! (Its a good thing i wore my heeled boots to school...to cross the puddles!) Well..i should head out, that was a little glimpse into my life...)
In other exciting news...I have reformed my host family in some ways. My host mom now really likes pan integral (brown bread) and has said she is only going to buy that :) And also, I put the french fries in the oven last weekend, and now she has said she will always do them that way too...yay
I have begun to really realize how little time left I have....so am trying to pack things in, people ask me if i want to go....and its one of the weirdest sensations I have ever had. Of course I want to see friends, family, home! (my bed, etc) but at the same time, I know that even if/when! I return, it will never be the same...It`s like i`m excited to arrive home, but not excited to leave here...
chau, besitos
ps...it says i published this the 12th of april..but its the 18th..i started the draft the 12th...

school life

Ok...well, i have continued going to school over these past few weeks. I realized that i haven`t actually gone to school as much as I do here in a looong time. I mean, i go traveling for kind of bulk periods of time, but since we started school march 4, i have only missed the first day and one other for being sick. A lot of you will probably know that due to student council and sports, i was missing a lot of school over the past few years. Here, we are under lock and key at school (seriously, you can`t get out except at certain breaks unless u have a note or your parent comes to get you, and you can`t come in whenever either....a doorbell and a note or parent accompaniment...)
I had the surprise a few weeks ago to be called along for a picture (no notice....they just came to class, told us to straighten our ties, and then a picture....). I noticed that the top students in my class were also called. It turns out that i had the second highest average in my class last year (thank you library work instead of tests, and skipping the tests that were really hard...) I now joke with classmates that we have to do the work perfectly so that my average won`t drop. The guy i work with in biology and chemistry is also on the honor roll (he usually holds the second spot) so i tease him the most.
What else has happened...the other day in gym class we laughed alot when the teacher told us one of our exercises was to stand up and sit down for the 30 seconds of the circuit station. I joined the gym a week and a half ago, and especially love the body combat. (Funny thing is..they advertise the class as body combat, most of the classes have english names). The only problem is that I have to go at night because of my long school days (in general) and it is dark when i leave. My friends have "yelled" or rather spoken firmly with me about the fact that I was walking home alone for the 15 minutes. I don`t like the idea of paying for the collectivo and walking on the treadmill for my cooldown..i prefer to walk in the fresh air...
Yesterday, I went out for lunch with a friend from my class, and then after school went to Yasna`s house. She is living in santiago now, and came back for a few days to visit her family. I left my house at 7 20 am, and didn`t get home til 9 20ish. When i got home, Johanna asked me for help with her english homework. We were working on that til about 10 30, then i showered quickly, and did my own homework til about 11 30ish. I got a text message at 3 am, and woke up at 5 thinking I had overslept..and therefore was dead tired for my bio test in the morning.
(sorry for the scatteredness by the way...)
Monday, a group of us were asked to do an english song at a program for the ministry of education here. claudia and i sang dust in the wind, accompanied by the same violinists and guitarist from the graduation ceremony in december. It was a bit of an adventure the morning before..the prof didn`t bring his guitar, so we didn`t have a great guitar. One of the violinists came to school in her phys ed pants and jacket so went home to change. She lives a good 20 minutes from town, and we had to be at the place at 10. We practiced as a group once before we headed downtown. We were told to get there however we could....
When we went out to present, I was delighted to find out that the ceremony wsa for a new group of english volunteers. There are a bunch of americans, a canadian, and an australian. I talked to one of the american girls and the canadian. They are both staying in punta arenas, as well as 2 others. Afterwards, we didn`t want to return to school right away, so walked slowly back, stopping at the grocery store for some food on the way.
Well...I did tell Yasna that I would drop by her house again today (most of her friends were also friends of mine..the ones who left...) We are going to go to my body combat class at 7 30. It`s bring a friend week.
Hoping life is good with everyone!
chau

Back to School

Back in school....
For the first time in my life..these words did not bring thoughts of new clothes, notebooks, nothing....It`s been tough getting up early in the morning (i have my cell alarm programmed for one snooze...) Braulio has called my cell several times in the morning to get me out of bed if he hears that i´m not up and about getting ready. He left last night, at 3 am until the 20th of May. Hence...i rushed out the door this morning with breakfast in hand because he wasn`t there to call me....It`ll be weird without him in the house, because I sometimes get home and Mema and Johanna have gone, so we chill for the evening.
This will be random.. a thought process and in no particular order of time...
I now walk to a friends house in the morning, where he is generally waiting for me (one or 2 minutes) and we walk to school together, much slower than when i go alone, but it makes for good company. After school i walk with friends til our paths part (i end up walking like 20 minutes with my ipod for company). I hope to continue until june..even in the cold (altho not sure about the rain...)
Yesterday afternoon I went to my Rotary counselors office for my monthly allowance, although it wasn`t ready so we just talked about my trip and such. He has been to Quebec city and we started talking about some typical canadian food (poutine, pancakes with maple syrup etc...) I then had a craving for pancakes so when i got to the house told Braulio i was going to make them...canadian style. Here they eat crepes. I looked up a recipe on the net, but we looked for baking powder and did not find it. Hence..we had little crepes. Later, when Mema returned, she found the baking powder...
I have also finally been given the approval to go to Tierra del Fuego for a weekend with 2 friends. Also was given permission to hit up Viña del Mar, Valparaiso, and Santiago in May for a week or two. YAY!!!
My host cousin is going to have her baby either today or tomoro by ceasection. (no idea how to spell that!!). This is the first cousin to have a baby, so the whole family is going crazy. The kid has tons and tons of clothes, blankets, soothers, like 20 hats..its insanity!! Mema and Johanna go along to doctors appointments and so on...
I have changed my airline ticket....for mid june. I`m looking into work for summer at home (i know..a bit of a shocker...) Kids in my classes forget that i wont be here for the graduation in june, the other torres del paine trip etc etc. I am told frequently that I´m not allowed to leave on this end, and from friends at home that i should hurry up and head home. haha.
It`s definitely been a learning experience. It was nice but also weird to arrive back in Punta Arenas because most of the people that I did stuff with outside of school are now gone, Julia, Gonzalo, Manuel...etc etc.
With the arrival of a new gym teacher, the class has changed alot. I also heard however, that the year always starts out with warmups, stretching etc, and then fades in the end months. We run 10 minutes in the gym (small and boring....) , stretch, and then do the work.
What else can i say??? I often think of things i should write, and then forget. I bet i am forgetting something important right now, but can`t think of more...so the blog, for now, ends here. Happy Spring!

Back in Chile

Well....here i sit in santiago, back in chile with too many adventures to share than time (both for me to write them and for you all to read them....) I shall start with the recent happenings and we will go backin time. So, we arrived in Chile nights ago, an hour and a half delay with the flight It didn`t bother me much, i was in high spirits to return to my friends and such (altho being in santiago....have only seen one...but that comes latr) We got to the house at 4 30 am (customs, and our transfer driverwent the wrong way....good thing we paid a flat fee....) We had sandwiches with avocado forourfirst food in chile. ( So delicios, avocado.....we eat it with salt here on sandwiches and stuff quite frequently and i missed it like crazy) We headed to bed around 5 15 or so....staying up to talk with my host aunt about the trip. Next day, w enjoyedreggaeton, music that they don`t listen to in brasi....that lisette and isang quite frequently but to sing is not the same as to listen. I met more of my Chilean extended family ( a funeral brought thm to stgo). Today, I met up with my best friend from Punta Arenas. We walked the distance of 4 subway stations (i hadleft the subway when she wasabout to enter, and I didnt want to buy anotherticket. We were (forgetthe word....) appreciating the good walking weatherbeforewereturn to punta arenas. We visited Santa Lucia, the place wher Stgo was founed,and i waswithout camera. They were using itin the house to download fotos from brasil...I met her sister and niece of 5 months (of whom I had seengrowing up in fotos, but it was so awesome to hold her in my arm...incredibly smily and adorable!) I set an alarm so that Iwouldn`t be late leaving to return, and now here i am. Alexi, my host brother is also here, and we were chillin yesterday. Cool guy, lots of laughs. I found out theother day that when we get back to p.a.,my host dad will be leaving after about a week until the beginning of may. It`ll be different....but as crazy as it sounds, i`m excited to go back to school to hang out with my friends (today the question of who i`ll sit with...
So..we went to rio the 15th of feb I loved it. The uncomfy part was the SUV meant for 5 with 7 people. We were 4 in the backand one in the trunk. The other passengers weren`t exactly tiny either.....we went squishy...but its a memory. The sugar loaf....gorgeous, lots of foto ops. Afterwards, we went to see the statue of the Christ, but it was all clouded over, so we have pics of the shadow. We also wentto the copacobana for some pics and i got my feet wet (unfortunatly te beaching it part of te day was mosty over....) We went to buzios....tourist beachtown for the night and beached it thre the next day. GOOORGEUS!!!! Many storiesto tell....Altho i did go to sao paulo one day for some shoppin. The boredom led to the yearning to return to Chile. I missed my punta arenanansian friends and such....
Well.....i think thats all for now...oh, one thing more. I spent teafternoon in the city of an exchange friend from canada, Becca, but i didnt have her phone number, and not enough time to adviseher via email that I wasgoing...bummer. We trave back to punta arens onsunday.....back to the cold. I will die of cold i think after th heat of brasil...good thing i have some adjustmen time in santiago. Classes start monday....
And thats allll
besos