A Week....

Since this is a week in review...it could end up being a bit lengthy...but I´ll try keep it somewhat brief...
Not a ton to write about Tuesday and Wednesday....altho I did recover from the lack of sleep on the torres del paine trip....waking up at 7 to take my meds..and then heading back to bed til about 10 30 or 11. Joanna came home from santiago on tuesday...bringing home honey (which is super expensive here). My parents called me Tuesday night (I wanted them to hear about my trip and also hear that I was indeed doing well. I went to another Rotary meeting for the women on Wednesday night, and saw a bunch of of people from school, asking how I was and such. Julia and I made quite a pair walking downtown, her with an australian rasberry tart/pie, me walking weird, and talking spanglish.
Thursday morning, we only had 15 minutes of the hour and a half of math....which was sweet cuz I got to talk with all the ppl in my class and such. In the third class of the day, I was called out to go talk with the principal, vice principal, and other people about my trip and how I´ve been in school. There was no recuperacion classes in the afternoon, so Gabi (one of Karen´s best friends) came over and we hung out for a few hours. Maxiel, Johanna´s best friend, also came over for lunch. She is heading to Argentina and the beach for a week, so I lent her my mini (they don´t have a ton of use for them here..and thus she doesn´t have one). We joked about me going along in her suitcase....... Friday I had my first history test....and got a 6.6 out of 7.
Also friday...I went to a concert for a famous Chilean pianist. The other ppl who went from my school all play piano..but, being the exchange student I got to go:) Friday night, there was a Folklore Festival, which I went to with Julia, Gonzalo, and an american who is down here teaching english. A very popular Chilean group was playing (a lot of friends were jealous that I was going to see them), and they were pretty good. After, there was a dance kind of thing and then a chilean comedian.....by that time Gonzalo and Justin had left. Julia and I didn´t understand all of the jokes; but from the interesting types of instruments he played (a watering can clarinet, doorbells, a frying pan banjo...etc etc) he was the type of guy that could make an appearance at Summerfolk. Saturday, i slept til 11 (having arrived home around 12 30, 1ish) and in the afternoon went over to Julia´s to chat a bit and to hang out before she left for brasil. At home, I got ready for the gala, and then waited for my date to come get me....i had had other invitations to get ready with girls..but didn´t end up going. At around 10, he showed up and we headed to another friends house to meet up with some other folks before heading over to the gala. It was in a very nice hotel. (I wore my nancy lee dress....the peacock type one, wanting to get more wear out of it) I borrowed shoes from another girl,not being able to use my heels for 2 reasons.....my knee and not wanting to be taller than most of the guys. We left there around 1 30 or 2, and headed to the disco til about 4 30. My knee was hurting, and I lost most of my energy around 4ish. Sunday morning, I woke up at 10 and then met Julia for one last time. We parted around 1, and when I arrived home empanadas were being made in my house!!! Company came for lunch, which was super good. At 5 i went to go help with a group from my school who had an english debate today..and then this morning I went to the debate with the group from my school. there were 8 debates in total....and there was a lot that i wanted to say. The quality of the english was pretty good. My school won their debate...so moving on to the next round...i´m going to be helping with the topic of wanting to censor the internet, in favor. That´s right dad..i guess i´m following in your debate footsteps....And now....at home, and should let my host sister use the computer....
Hope all is well at home!

Torres del Paine...and other Adventures

Ok.....so, Torres del Paine was fantabular!!! But i´ll start from the beginning (this will likely be a fairly long entry......so much to tell!) Wednesday night, when I arrived home from my first woman´s Rotary meeting (very nice...i plan on going often) Braulio told me that my trip had been postponed... I asked if he was joking, and he said no and Mema went along with it as well. I was a bit bummed...but we still made lots of jokes about things. Then about 20 minutes later, just before I went to bed, Mema told me it was indeed a joke and that I was going the next day. Yay.... 6:00 am was early the next morning (having gone to bed around 12 30ish...) and I ate a bit of food before hopping in the van with Braulio and a girl who lives down the street (Tatiana). The bus ride was long.....I tried to sleep but was unable to. We stopped 3 times for stretch breaks. I talked with the people around me, many of whom I hadn´t really seen at school before or hadn´t talked to. We walked around Puerto Natales for about 10 minutes (about the size of Owen Sound...) and noticed a lot of signs in English and tons and tons of signs for the glaciers and Torres del Paine (PN is the closest city, and thrives on tourism from about november to march). The day was gloriously warm as we drove into the Park and I caught my first glimpse of the Torres. We saw some flamingos in a lake...but my camera was too far away in time to snap a picture. We saw lots of the animal here that is kind of like a deer (but not a deer.....) and therefore I have tons of pics of them. When we arrived at the main entrance to the park, we switched from our coach bus to smaller van/bus (15 person) with trailers for our backpacks. (Mine about half the size of my body....or more). We went over a river on a bridge that looked kind of like the Golden Gate bridge, but very skinny (pulling in the side mirrors...). We didn´t actually have to walk very far with our big packpacks to our campsite (we could have driven straight to it..but walked for about 15 minutes..crossing another little river and staring in awe at the gorgeous Torres and all the nature.
Our campsite was about a 10 minute walk from a gorgeous hotel, the hosteria del torres (not like best western style...all wood, low, very classy....) My group set up our tent near the brook in the campsite with one other tent near ours (the others were about 3 metres higher). There was bathrooms and showers as well. After lunch and tent set up, we got ready to work. Torres del Paine is expensive for most Chileans, so the way to make it affordable for us was that we worked the first afternoon and the second day. My group consisted of the people in my tent and 2 other tents as well, we walked for about 15 minutes or so, getting shovels along the way. When we arrived at our destination, the other girls were sent to pick up garbage, while the boys and I started to work on clearing the rocks out of a trench that went from the top of the hill to the bottom (my guess is about 30 metres or so...maybe more). Hard work, but lots of fun. Thursday night we went to the hotel for a presentation that showed the possible excursions from the hotel (done in both english and spanish for the benefit of the english tourists...I understood the spanish). I was talking with someone from the hotel and my class headed off for a bit of a hike. After I was done talking, the man told me where he thought my class was, so I headed off and when I saw them started running (which felt amazing!!) Later, when we arrived at camp we cooked a bit more food and then had a campfire before going to our tent around midnight. In my tent, they started to get me to say hard works in spanish. They succeeded in finding many that I cant say (basically any word with a rolling r). I then told them the longest word in the english language (antidisestablishmentarianism). We were up past the silent hour of 12.....laughing and such. Friday morning, we worked again...this time shoveling dirt from the huge pile to fill the trench...again lots of hard work, but tons of fun as well. We were working near some permanent canvas tents which we toured later in the day. The idea is that people can come stay for however long they want in the nicely furnished dome tents, a comfy living room/tent, a kitchen and so forth. It is low impact on the environment..they use composting toilets, solar heat for the water and so forth. (www.ecocamp.cl) Gorgeous view too!! Lunch was bowtie pasta and cheese (noodles and cheese with either salchichas (hotdogs) or a type of sausage was pretty much the favorite meal of the weekend. I changed into shorts for the afternoon when we worked again, and was actually decently warm...almost fell asleep when we were finished more shoveling of dirt. Friday afternoon, we relaxed at camp.....the case of our pots flew into the brook and was going downstream...I saw it and went to the rescue. The first time I went in the river I was a little to late..so I ran along the bank again and went in with enough time..but the water got a bit deeper than I expected and I slipped.....now being wet up to chest level instead of knees. I missed the bag.....but did catch it a bit farther when it got stuck in a whole bunch of sticks. Two people in my class followed my adventure and we all had a good laugh when we got back to camp. In the night, we went to the hotel again, this time for a special presentation just for us done by a guy who has lived in torres del paine since he was little, an amazing rockclimber (he actually went to punta arenas for high school..studied at contardi, and went on exchange as well..) Afterwards there were some prizes given out, and I won a white baseball cap with a torres logo, very nice. One girl won a jacuzzi in the spa, and 4 people got to share a plate of pachanga (not sure I spelled that right) which is meat, fried eggs, french fries, and tomatoes (actually really good..ive tried it) Another campfire and star gazing at the amazing clear, southern sky and then bed. I was on the outside of the tent (another girl arrived inmy group in the afternoon....so we were now 5...warmer but more cramped..) I woke up kind of wet in the morning, and due to the rain our 6 30 wake up time was pushed back until 11. I didn´t sleep much more tho due to the wetness factor. Our hike saturday was gorgeous, despite the bad weather at the beginning. The lake we could see for most of the hike was turquoise...reminding me a bit of Lake Louise (altho i´ve never seen it for real...) Lots of gorgeous pictures taken. About halway through the hike...my endorphins kicked in and I was full of energy!! Our lunch break was taken at Los Cuernos, ie.. a gorgeous view of mountains where there is a cabin, camping space and so on. I went in to the cabin to go to the washroom, greeted in English by someone working there. Lots of hikers in the cabin, eating their lunches and cooking.
We cooked our lunch outside..having brought our campstoves and such. My group had 2 kinds of soup...one with some rice, corn, meat etc (maggi variety, powdered, but tasted good). The next kind was supposed to be cream of chicken..but we added a bit too much water...so instead called it "water with a bit of chicken flavor" (which by the way sounds better and is more fun to say in spanish...) The hike back was again lots of fun.....one girl and I sang disney songs, her in Spanish, me in English. Then we did some english classics like britney spears, back street boys etc oh the laughter. We didn´t arrive back at camp til after 8 (long hike....) and started cooking soon after. My group unfortunately ran out of gas as we were cooking, so borrowed from other groups. One of the guys in my group had won the pachange...so only 4 of us were eating that night. We headed to bed earlier..the weather not ideal for another campfire. And by headed to bed..that means we talked for a long time in the tent....me wearing a tanktop, sierra designs shirt, another cotton long sleeve, and a sweater that a guy in my tent lent me. (I had lent my fleece jacket...actually my host sisters... to another girl who had only 2 dry shirts....both not very warm...) Sunday morning we were up at 6 30, ready to go by 8 in order to get to the base of Torres del Paine. Breakfast was a bit more substantantial (Saturday morning everyone in my tent was a bit lazy, hence my breakfast was a cup of hot chocolate, which I drank about 2 minutes before we started the hike.....).
The hike was more climbing on Sunday...I loved it!! Again lots of gorgeous pics and good conversation. We stopped briefly at a lodge about halfway in distance for some snacks. The final leg of journey was the toughest....picking our way through huge rocks and going at a fairly decent steepness (wow my grammar is bad). We stopped fairly regularly for some of the ppl in my group, and refilled water bottles in mountain streams (beautifully cold and tastes wonderful) The higher we got, the more snow. When we reached the top..it was snowing enough that we wereen´t actually able to see the Torres, but the lake at the base was still beautiful, as was the snow. A few of us went down right by the water, and took some pics there as well. Going back down was a very slow affair..taking lots of precautions because the snow made it more dangerous. Everyone made it down safely. We had to walk back with more rhythm...not having tons of time because the morning was more leisurely. I was walking at the back, and every once in awhile we would run to catch up.
When we were about 25 min from camp, I was walking with 3 other ppl and then said i wanted to jog abit...so I did. Then as I was walking later..quickly, and admiring the view I tripped and fell. My hands stung, and my knee a bit, but I got up and continued going along...just slower. A few minutes later i felt warmth on my leg and realized I was bleeding. A guy ahead of me stopped to wait, and we walked together.... When we arrived at camp, I lifted my pant leg and saw that I had indeed bled a lot....I changed into my pyjama pants and the prof looked at my leg and said there wasn´t much he could do but clean it and cover with bandaids (altho they weren´t really sufficient to do much, the cut being of a decent size...). A few minutes later, I was down by my tent, starting to pack things up when I didn´t feel so hot so went to sit down..One moment I was sitting on the bench..next thing there was ppl shaking me and carrying me onto a mat....giving me water, juice, and sweet things to raise my blood sugar. My amazing new friends packed up all my stuff for me, and carried it to the vans waiting to take us to our coach bus. I sat near the front with a friend of mine and we talked most of the way home......trying to sleep but not being able to. We arrived back in Punta Arenas around 10 30, and I was greeted by my host father. I limped off the bus.....he got my backpack and my prof talked to him about my cut. Back at the house...Mema took a look, put some new bandage on it, and we headed to the hospital. Turned out that I was extremely lucky...because you could see my tendon..but I had not torn it! Nevertheless...I had to go into the operating room for anasthesia and stitching up. Mema stayed with me until 1....when she left so I could sleep a bit. I was woken up at about 3 15 and taken to the operating room. It´s a weird feeling to have the lower half of your body asleep....with a bit of feeling (I didn´t feel any pain..but I could feel that they were working on my leg...). I was then taken to a recovery room where I was until about 11 this morning. The dressing was changed on my leg and such.
I am not allowed to shower until tomoro......when we got home, we washed my hair in the sink because I hand´t showered since Friday (I was camping......) The water was disgusting from all the dust in my hair. Washing my face with warm water also felt amazing. I had some food, and unpacked my stuff....all very dirty, some wet, and some bloody. Mmmm .....
Despite the whole knee thing, i had an amazing amazing amazing time...getting to know new ppl in my school, making awesome new friends, and enjoying the beauty of Torres del Paine. I was extremely happy, and so many ppl yesterday were so surprised that I was still so happy after I had fallen. Life is good!
Oh...other things that I forgot earlier...I tried Mate (a type of tea.....full name Jerba mate) which is quite traditional here.......even more so in Argentina. Also....we had a joke in my tent because I can´t say "Porky porky nuestro reye" everytime nething happened, they would make me say it and by the end I couldn´t finish porky porky without laughing. Before bed, before eating, I was told to say it and when i couldn´t was told that there was no food for me, or that i was going to have to sleep outside. of course..this never happened. I was also given marks for the words that i said....and had a lot of negatives.
It´s a friend of mine´s birthday here (Claudia). Since I have to stay in my house, she is going to save me some cake :) I have orders from about 50 or more people to be very careful with myself.....and have been told by many that its best to not go to school tomoro. I wonder how many ppl from the trip went to school today, because many were thinking of not going, being extremely tired (with good reason).
And now I think I will end this blog entry and let you get back to your daily lives. If you ever have the chance to come to the south of Chile......you haven´t really been until you have been to Torres del Paine. I joked that my journey was complete and could return to canada...but sorry mom..you cant have me back for 8 months or so...
I could write so much more....about the horses that were free to wander the park and near our campsite...about the misunderstanding between my prof and the girls picking up garbage (they couldn´t find any garbage, and in the misunderstanding...understood that the horse caca (poop) was garbage...so picked up 3 bags of horse crap. Lots of laughter about that incident as well....Seriously...I´m done now!
Chau
hasta la vista....

2 months ago....

Wow...its hard to believe that 2 months ago at this time, I was on the airplane, or somewhere in transit!!! Time flies eh?
Sunday night, the girl didn´t come to my house to go to la inglesia...so I watched some TV and ate pancakes (which are actually crepes) with my host parents. Very yummy!!
Monday was the day of the professor at school. I was told there was breakfast in school..so slept a bit more. Breakfast was cookies, cake (banana, and super good), and salty snacks like potato chips. There was also coke....but I stayed away from that at 9 am...Later, there was an assembly in which classes had different acts for the teachers. Dancing and singing were again the favorite choices. Claudia and Nano (of my class) sang and there was a slide show of pictures of the teachers at the same time. The only thing with assemblies...is that they are very squishy...not much space in the bleachers. So you´re sitting crammed with everyone else, with someone´s knees in your back, and someones back at your knees. There was also one show that had music through the ages, and ppl dressed up in typical costumes of that time period (the past century..) It was neat, and another that was the music and characters of Shrek.
After this was over, I walked home from school and changed quickly in order to meet Julia to go for lunch. While in the center, we ran into her host mom who told us of a place that was good and cheap (of course we were happy about this...cheaper is always better for exchangees...) and as she drove us there, I learned that she is organizing the trip to Easter Island. This is nice, because I can travel with her to Santiago so I won´t be alone. I also learned that the date is different than the internet says.....trip starting the 8th of December, which means I won´t be staying in Santiago, and my trip with Julia will be 2 days shorter.
Newho..the restaurant had a set lunch, a type of salady thing, ravioli, dessert, and a drink for 2500 pesos (about 5 bucks...) Pretty good i´d say! Then we walked around for a bit, and I bought a wool bag with a penguin on one side and a house scene on the other. It´s nice cuz its a souvenir with good functionability..and I was needing a bag about that size. Then we met some other ppl for once (afternoon snack). It was a gorgeous day, and in the restaurant we were quite warm, so ordered a delicious chocolate milk with ice cream, cream, caramel, and a maraschino cherry. Super good! We walked around a bit more, stopping at a clothes store (i resisted...helped by the fact I didn´t have enough money...) Later, we walked to Gonzalo´s house (stopping at the cemetery on the way, cuz it was seriously a gorgeous day, and we had time, and the cemetery is gorgeous.....) I was walking in just a long sleeved shirt!! (and pants of course...but no jacket or sweater which is impressive). We chatted at Gonzalo´s for a bit, and then they drove me home; after making plans to hang out the next evening.
Tuesday at school was...well, i didn´t want to get out of bed in the morning that´s for sure. Can´t think of much exciting that happened right now (altho i did walk all 4 ways....) After school in the afternoon..I was walking with 2 friends and it took almost an hour instead of the regular 30 minutes..but I had company so it was good. I arrived home, showered, and was having tea and some crackers when my host dad came home from work (my host mom was out for the evening.) He and I had a good chat, and shared some laughs as he made some delicious beefsteak sandwiches. I went to the store around the corner to buy paltas (avocado) to make some guacamole type stuff, which is eaten on a very regular basis. Gonzalo came to pick me up around 10..and when we picked Julia up learned that there is no salsa on Tuesday nights, so we went to pick up Yezna and then went to a pub where we chatted, laughed, and hung out til 20 to 12, and then did the rounds of bringing everyone home.
This morning, I slept til 9 because I went with Mema to el centro for more paperwork for my residence card. Good news...I can pick it up in 15 days!! We had to go to 3 offices, and another place to get my picture taken (not one of my best..but oh well...). I went straight to school from el centro to pick up the food that I have to take to Torres del Paine tomoro. (This is important...becaus eI wasn´t wearing my school uniform.....) Nothing was said when I arrived at the school tho, which was nice. I was a bit late for the meeting, but got my food items (and the tent poles...) before heading home for lunch (meat..what a surprise). Mema asked this morning what to make for lunch, and I suggested meat.....we joke about that and how we always eat meat on a semi regular basis.
I spent most of the afternoon packing my backpack for torres del paine..it is about half the size of me. Seriously..it comes up to my hips!! But a lot of the space is my sleep mat and sleeping bag...so I think it´s doable for the 3 hour hike tomoro!! (Ps....least amount of clothes I have ever taken for 4 days...) We leave tomoro morning at 7, being at the bus stop at 6 30. A girl who lives close to me is coming to my house at 6 20 to catch a ride (my host dad doesn´t know yet that he´z driving us..hehehe) So..I should probably go get changed, a womens rotary meeting is tonight; so I´m going for the first time; but I´m walking to Julia´s to meet up with her first. Hasta luego....xo

Salsa Dancing

So....Sunday afternoon, and time for an update as I sit at my friend Claudia´s house, waiting for her to finish making lunch (i asked..and nothing I can do to help...)
One thing I forgot to mention in my last update was the pasta buffet. It was super good, not quite how I had imagined, we continued to order throughout the evening, so everything was freshly made. The exchanger from a different program of Germany mentioned that the table behind me was speaking english. I told Julia and said i thought they sounded australian. She listened and was like, no Jody, thats English. I felt pretty stupid....Later, Julia said something in an exagerrated aussie accent, and one of the men turned around. I was sitting closest, so started talking to him; and it turned out that there were both Englishman and people from New Zealand, so I wasn´t too far off. They work with wool manufacturing, and it was neat to talk for a bit. He was impressed with our ability to converse with a group of Chileans.
Friday afternoon after classes, I went to a corner store with a guy in my class (on the condition he´d buy me something, and he did...a banana) The lady at the cash register said that I had the face of a gringa, and then I told her that I was indeed a gringa. (ie someone not of Chilean descent more or less....more European/North American). We had a practice of our dance in the gym, which had been transformed into a stage. Oh, and Friday at lunch I looked at our kitchen table and saw a Lan thing (airline) and my host sister said that she was leaving for Santiago the next day for a week. So....I´m the only child in my house for a few days.
Saturday morning, I went for a run and ran into (not literally....) 2 people that I know. Again, a shorts and tshirt run!! After lunch, I waited a bit for a girl in my class to come and then around 3 I headed to the house of a girl in my class where we started to get ready for the salsa. My hair was in perfect ringlets (and therefore quite a bit shorter). There was so much hairspray!!! I was ready first, so had time to paint my nails and such. When we got to the school, I ended up doing all the girls makeup after I had done mine. (You´d be proud Ju.....haha) It was a good mix of the dramaticness needed to be seen while we were dancing, but also looked good for just walking around.
The festival started at about quarter after 7 ish (sposed to start at 6 30..but that´s how things roll around here. ) There was some sweet drumming (people wearing some cool Magallenes jackets..i want one...) and a 10ish year old boy dancing. He goes to the place where we learned our dance, and is super cool! There was lots of dancing at the festival. Some good old Beatles - doin the twist, some reggaeton (of course....the unofficial national music of Chile) and another group did some salsa.
Newho...we looked pretty darn good I´´d say. All the girls in red outfits (skirts shorter on one side, long on the other and tube tops) with curled hair and black shoes. All the guys had black pants and red shirts. The part that I always screwed up in practice I did perfectly! It was so much fun to be dancing away. Julia and Gonzalo came, as did another friend, Gezna.
As a group we went to thank our teacher, who is so nice. I´m really gonna miss dancing every day after school, it was super fun. Julia, Gonzalo, and Gezna stayed a bit longer, but when they headed out i rejoined my class and continued to watch until about 11 or so.
I went home in collectivo, very hungry cuz I hadn´t eaten anything since lunch. I figured my host parents would be asleep, but they weren´t, and there was a sandwich and pancakes waiting for me!! I told them about the festival de la familia, and learned that sure enough, the time was changing. (I had noticed on the computer in the morning. ) So when I went to bed, it was actually 1 am. When I woke up in the morning, I had some more pancakes (with cut up apple and syrup, hmmm) and then showered to remove the mass amounts of hairspray!! I had another parade in the morning for the anniversary of my school. Also went into the Catholic church which is absolutely beautiful!!! We were supposed to get there at 10 30.....i think I joined my class at about 11 15, and was definitely not one of the last. I learned that every sunday, there is a parade to raise the Chilean flag with the military and such. I want to go another time when I can watch instead of participating and seeing only the backs of my classmates.
Well....not much more to write. This afternoon I´m going to watch my school play soccer again, and then going to church with a girl in my class. I´m not sure how much I´ll understand.....

Lawnmower Horses

So....yesterday as I was walking home from school in the morning (classes let out 15 minutes early, so i had time to walk) I saw something that was definitely worth taking a picture of. At first I only saw one..and then like 2 seconds later another. In the middle of town (well, in a very residencial section), there were 2 horses just chillin....having lunch on the lawn (ie mowing the lawn) Thankfully I had my camera with me....They did not appear to be tied up in any way. A little later as I was still walking, i could have sworn I heard a cow moo...twice. I dunno, but Ican´t deny what I heard.
Yesterday afternoon, I received some exciting emails... if I am able to get that Chilean ID card...i´m going to Easter Island with Rotary Santiago in December!!!
Yesterday...I also walked to dance in the afternoon and home..so about 2 hours in total of walking yesterday, (desperately trying to keep of this weight gain...). I have decided to wait about 2 weeks to join the gym, because I probably won´t be here for most of december....and will want the gym in november as Julia is not going to be around; so I´ll go make friends at the gym. Also, I haven´t had much time lately, what with the insane amount of practice for the salsa show tomoro. (Not actually insane....but not much time for the gym...) Plus, this saves me money, i´m trying to live cheaply so that I can travel and such. The other night Mema handed me a book on the area in both spanish and english with tons of gorgeous pictures and touristy sights I had never heard about before. I can´t wait to visit some of those as well!
Yesterday, math didn´t actually start until 9 (the bell rang at 8, but we just talked until 9) and the lesson was about 5 minutes long; it was a decent class. I´ve started bringing my journal with me to class so that I can write. I have to go to the Zona Franca soon, because there are no envelopes in myhouse, and envelopes are kind of essential to the letter sending process!!
Today, I should be getting the list of the things i need for my 4 day trip to Torres del Paine, much of which I will be borrowing I imagine. Well...that´s all I got for now.....

A week in Review

Wow..the last week has flown by. Earlier I had to review my journal to remember what I had been doing. Thursday, lunch with Julia was international, joining us was a friend from Germany and a Chilean. I had chicken and a plate of green beans and corn...hmm vegetables. We then walked around a bit, until going to the house of a friend of hers for once. (Like a snack at dinner time). She went to New Zealand for a year, so wanted to practice her english (lived with Chileans..so didn´t get perfect..) but Julia and I controlled the conversation in Spanish.
I found out Friday that i am going to Torres del Paine for sure!! Yay! We´ve still be practicing lots for the dance thinger. Saturday, I went to a friends house in the afternoon after going for a glorious run. A bunch of us went to the center of town...walked arounda bit looking at stuff, and then went back to her house and made popcorn (i put salt onsome, and at first they looked at me like i was crazy..and then enjoyed it). We watched Dick and Jane before I headed home for a tradiotional dinner of Chiloe (an island in Chile with lots of seafood). Yep..more clams, but I actually enjoyed. Hard to explain..but really yummy. Then I headed over to Gonzalo´s house where I met Julia and some other of his friends to hang out. Oh...I found Canada street!!! Pretty excited about that, and took a picture. I went to a soccer game (at the stadium, my school versus another) and my school won! The weather was crummy afterwards tho...and some friends went with me to the grocery store so that I could buy food for my canadian cooking the next day. I went to the store where there aren´t veggies tho (silly jody). Back at home, I waited for my family to call....and then talked to them for almost 2 hours. (One at a time..the first time i talked to my sibs, it was fantastic!) We used a whole phone card, finished the other, and then went on the internet to talk with my sis. I was home alone by then...family had gone out, so headed to bed. Monday morning, I woke up and walked to the grocery store to buy veggies, a chicken (my mom had taught me over the phone the night before how to properly roast a chicken...instead of turkey). I started cooking soon after I got home....I made wild rice pilaf (mom´s recipe.... with lots of veggies) and a roasted chicken. The apple pie (which Julia cut the apples for) was a bit interesting....because we couldn´t find a pie plate!! I ended up using a cast iron fry pan... Mema had to show me how to light the oven (have to take a fire and light the gas, not used to that). Lunch was fantabular, and my family loved it!! Julia and i both ate more than our hunger, because there was lots of veggies and it was so yummy and different! (yes..i am aware that i am flattering my cooking...but I had never cooked a whole meal other than something very basic before...) Then Julia and I hung out...watched miss congeniality and talked. Tuesday was back to school.....my teacher in bio said that I was to write the bio test today because I understood the stuff...too bad for me..haha. then at lucnh...learned that I wasn´t going to school this morning.going to try and figure stuff out for my chilean ID card. So that wasn´t too bad...I danced last night after school again. This morning, i slept in, grabbed a shower, and then Mema and I went downtown to go to various offices for my ID card. We have to wait til next week for a definite answer, apparently I was supposed to do this in my first 30 days..but noone ever told me or my host family that. We got home at 11, and I emailed a Rotary lady in Santiago because I wanted more information about the trips that those Rotary students go on (a friend of mine asked, and I can go on them!!!) And then after lunch (delish...porotos, and with the addition of some of the celery I had was even better than usual) walked to school in the rain. I was soaked when I arrived, but didn´t care. We did some more aerobics...which was aight, and now (after walking home again...) here I am..writing to you. Tonight, I´m meeting Julia, Gonzalo, and some other friends to go for a pasta buffet....should be yummy. That´s all for now, hope thingsa re grand for everyone!

Singing and Dancing

Monday morning, I had music class. A friend of mine told me that I was singing in front of the whole school with her and a guy from my class. I started laughing, and she looked at me and said ´En serio´and I was like...oohh. So, we are doing a trio of Dust in the Wind (thank goodness its in English, so I won´t make a complete fool of myself). I sing the melody the whole way through, with the other two doing melody. It is four the graduation of the cuartos, in december. Monday, I also left school early, at 4 30 in the afternoon to go get my Rotary allowance. I met Julia at 5, and we did a few other errands at stores that close at 6 30 (i am in school usually) . We went to a cool nut/ dried fruit shop, where I bought some dried pears. Very scrumptious. Then we went to a restaurant that only sells chortipan and leche con platano (milk with banana). Chortipan is a traditional chilean food, and quite yummy. Next, we headed to a travel agency for Julia to finalize some plans for her parents to come visit from Australia next month and to ask about our possible trip up to the north of Chile. Then we went to get our Rotary allowance and walked around the center a bit more before heading home. After lunch Tuesday while walking to school, I came across a friend of a friend that goes to my school, so caught up to him and we talked and laughed. The vice principal saw us and offered us a ride, but since it was so gorgeous, we continued walking. He is in the class going to Torres del Paine (in the last grade), and mentioned that I was going. I didn´t know for sure yet that I was....so asked the teacher, and he said that the trip is 90% sure, and I am 100 % sure to go if it happens!!! I´m super excited, it´ll be awesome!!!!! A lot of ppl here have actually never been. Later in gym, we had a running test, and I was able to complete it without much pain in my knees. We had to run 30 laps of the (small) gym in 10 minutes, and i did 31. Yay...haha. Salsa after school again, but my partner wasn´t there. That was aight tho, cuz I danced with a different guy in the class who is really good, and helped me to get some salsa "attitude" so to speak. Yesterday it was raining a lot in the morning, so my host dad drove me to school on his way to work. It slowed down in the afternoon for me to walk to school where we basically did aerobics. At the end of the class,we showed the prof in smaller groups (and most of you know i have a lack of coordination....) and i stepped a bit to far towards the outside of my box and it flipped over...after we were done, we all laughed (well, everyone laughed when it happened too....). Quite comical. Then I walked home to grab some food and change my clothes. I then left again, to do some mailing and then walk to dance. I am cheap, dutch, and don´t want to gain weight so walk as much as possible so that i dont spend money on collectivos. I met a guy in my class when almost there, and then went to a girls house to get her, and so ended up arriving with like 5 other ppl. I danced til 8 (finally remembering most of the routine.....and the teacher said my partner and I had a very good pose at the end...my toe is pointed perfectly...) and then went home. And now, it was a beautiful morning (altho I did not want to leave the warmth and comfort of my bed and pyjamas...plus I didn´t know it was a beautiful day when I woke up, cuz my room doesn´thave a window) so Mema and I walked. I wrote some postcards at the same time as my math homework....No classes this afternoon (we were sposed to have class to recover from the 2 week strike in may), so Julia and I are going to meet for lunch.
Other things to note.......My days are getting longer. There are daffodils, the start of tulips, and trees are budding. One day while in el centro, Julia and I (both wearing a decent amount of clothing) were laughing/commenting about the fact that most of the people we saw were eating ice cream (it was sunny, but not overly warm...) and we saw a little girl wearing shorts!!!!!! Both of us are excited to have heat and sun (shegoes to brazil at the end of the month, and I in january). Well...i think thats all the news I have for now!

6th Weekend

Well...this is what I´ve been up to since Friday morning....
Classes friday were more or less regular.....In biology I got a back an assignment I had done in a class instead of test...I got a 7 (which is the highest mark possible). Bio is my favorite class here (Macmurd would be proud..haha) After class, we went salsaing. I know most of the dance now..but sometimes get the order a bit screwed up...lots of practicing in the next 2 weeks!! Then I went home with a headache, so didn´t go out to the birthday I was invited to. However, while I was sleeping, my cell phone rang at 2 30. I was not so happy, my lovely sleep being interrupted... Turned out to be a good thing, because Johanna got home at 7 am, and I had to get up at 8 30 to go to the school to do more salsa practice. I found out that some people here have classes as university prep on saturday morning. Wow, I´m glad we don´t have stuff like that; even more hours. In the 4th year, a lot of ppl also have classes on the thursday afternoons(which everyone else has off...except on recuperation weeks...) I danced til about 11 30 ish with a few ppl in my class, which was good. (also sent a few emails) Then in the afternoon we went to pick my host dad up from the airport...he had been gone since the 16th or 17th of September. Good lunch to welcome him home (lots of salad...ie a vegetable with vinegar and salt, but hey, if its a vegetable, i´m happy). Later, I went to buy nylons to wear to school, cuz it´s getting too warm for the thick ones that the school lent me. I also went to try and join the gym (fighting off the weight gain!) but the receptionist wasn´t there, so couldn´t do that. Another day, soon! Then i took a needed shower, and around 6 30 or so went to the birthday of a girl in my class. People showed up at varying times..i think the last to arrive was around 10 40.....craziness. The girl i went with left at 12, without really telling me.....(i was sposed to leave with her....) but I was glad, because we had tons of fun after that. (plus cake wasn´t til 1 30, and it was super good). Seven girls from my class walked with me to go get a collectivo, because its skechy if your alone here at night. It was cute...i didn´t have much of a jacket, just a sweater, so one of the girls wrapped her scarf around my neck....after i was like `gracias mama`and everyone laughed. She also took my camera for the weekend, cuz i didn´t have a big enough pocket to hide it. The collectivo took me pretty much right to my house (which isn´t on its route, but i asked and he said he would) and then i went straight to bed. My family had gone to a birthday for an 80 year old woman (relative...) and turns out I was the last one home. There was no van tho..so I had thought i was early. sunday morning, I went for a run when the church bells were ringing. I went to the stadium, ran a few laps, and then ran the stairs of the bleachers 10 times...also did some pushups and situps (more situps..need to work on my arm strenght). There were a ton of ppl there, some kind of track club i´m guessing, but not sure cuz it didn´t seem to be super organized. It was a beautiful day..so I was in shorts and tshirt, which felt amazing!!! At home later, i was talking with Mema and Claudia, and suddenly we smelled something funny, and realized we had all forgotten about the meat on the stove!!! The kitchen was kinda smoky, but the meat salvagable. We opened the door for a bit, and never knew the difference. Julia called me around 4, when I was the only one in my house, and asked if i wanted to do something. Of course I said yes, so i headed out, calling my host dad´s cell and then leaving a note as well. She had hurt her foot, so we walked slow, talking about different stuff. She also is a healthier eater, so we talked about some of the difficulties with that here. We parted ways around 6 30, and are meeting up tonight to go get our rotary money!! Yay! I watched city of angels with Johanna last night (here it is called un angel enamorado ie an angel in love) I´d never seen it before.... Also, i talked with Karen a bit on msn and then signed out to let her fam talk to her. I can´t believe it is already October, and that Thanksgiving at home is next week!! i´m excited to get to talk to my whole family when they are at home. Monday is a holiday here too, so I am going to cook for my family. Wild rice, apple pie, and i don´t know what kind of meat yet (if there isn´t meat, its not really considered a meal here...haha) Well..that´s all for now..chau