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