Halloween and Holidays

What great alliteration....
So, Tuesday was halloween. I had invitations to go to the disco and a birthday of a friend; however I was sick thanks to the very quickly changing climate here in Punta Arenas. (Combined, I think, with a lack of sleep from Saturday night...). So I spent my halloween in my house. I also ran out of money on my cellphone, so couldn´t call anyone to get actual directions to the location of the birthday (don´t have house phone numbers, and can´t call cell phones from a house phone). We didn´t have any candy, so I felt pretty bad hiding from the little kids who came to the door. There are no supermen or princesses in this part of the world...all the costumes are witches, goblins, etc. I slept for a ridiculously long time, and had breakfast wednesday morning around 11. Mema commented how late it was when she got up a few minutes later...I had forgotten to change the clock next to my bed and had actually woken up earlier, but thought it was an hour earlier, so fell back asleep.
(Ps...I wasn´t playing hooky, this was a holiday. ) After lunch (porotos..which is not only traditional, but also one of my favorite foods here....possibly because the main ingredient is a type of white bean, also contains carrots etc and a spicy type of sausage...yummy stuff), Mema and I went to the cemetery to walk. The holiday is All Saints day or something.....day of the dead, so everyone goes to the cemetery to lay flowers on their loved one´s graves. My Chilean family doesn´t have anyone in the cemetery, but it is very pretty with all the flowers. There are also markets of flowers outside (you could buy flowers to plant for 500 pesos...which is a bit over a dollar canadian). We ran into my tio, tia, and abuela who gave us a ride home. (Uncle, aunt, and grandma). I was, by the way, back to using my winter jacket with a toque and mittens due to chilly wind. The other day, it snowed a bit when I was walking to school. So, my days are longer, but its not all that much warmer here right now.
Later in the afternoon, I watched Ciudad de Dios (City of God), a Brazilian movie with spanish subtitles. I had never seen it before, and was a bit disturbed at the fact that young boys were killing in the wars of the drug lords. I was, however, quite proud of the fact that i understood the whole movie. (Spanish and portuguese do not sound very similar......brazil will be an experience, that´s for sure!!)
Thursday morning, classes as regular. I walked to school for the first time since busting up my knee. It was good, and I could notice a difference in my energy level (higher). I talked to my brother for a bit on MSN which was nice. For some reason, we do not have recuperacion now from the strike in june (and to be honest...the reason isn´t important..i´m just glad to have more free afternoons!) So, yesterday afternoon I went to go get my rotary allowance and then walked to school to help with making completos..hot dogs, in order to fund the sweaters that we are going to have made for the class. I get one too (a sweater that is...) and also helped out with the next round of english debate. Then we had a practice for the song that I will be singing (with 2 ppl from my class) at the grad of the cuartos. My commencement in Canada is this weekend.....
I walked home after that, and hung out with my host parents until I went to bed.
And now..I should return to doing other things....
keep smilling!