I'm home!

ahhh! I'm home!
My emotions are crazy and I don't know what I am feeling. I realize the urgency to get down on print my last week in Vina but I am completely blanking and cannot remember anything! That is really scary! Lets see...
On saturday Daniela came over after I finished my blog and we hung out and looked at pictures and talked about girl stuff. We were really bonding!! I hate that I had to leave her before we could be really good friends! Then we watched Kungfu Panda (in spanish) with chilean mom (veronica) and I ended up falling asleep.
Then next day Daniela and I went to Valparaiso together to el mercado de los pulgos (flea market). They do it every sunday in Valpo and it is like two blocks long and its just people with their stuff out on the street. It is such an amazing sight! On the way Daniela and I talked about the end of Kungfu Panda and she told me about her life long asperation of being a ninja warrior fighter. haha. When we got to Valpo and we were walking through the incredibly long line of clothes, electronics, food, household items, etc. Daniela told me that she and her friends used to sell stuff there too but as soon as she made any money she would just go and buy other things so it wasn't a good idea! Later we went to another street packed with antiques and they were so beautiful. I know my parents would have loved to have seen it.
After that we came home and had lunch (empenadas), and then even later Chilean mom, Marissa, Daniela and I "tomar"ed once at the grandparents house. So I guess I just wasn't as observant before but this was the first time I realized how ridiculously wealthy my Chilean Grandparents are. At dinner we started to talk about politics and it was an interested night because I found out just how much they HATE allende and the communists and everything to do with them. They talked really fast so I didn't understand everything but I could tell that Daniela was getting annoyed that she couldn't speak her mind (She has told me that she does not agree with her grandparents conservativism). I'm pretty sure that they were supporters of Pinochet, which is a touchy subject in Chile because although some believe that Pinochet did improve the economy after Allende, he was also responsible for the suffering of thousands and thousands.
That night us girls all watched "knocked up" together. It was great fun. Daniela was on the internet the whole time planning my Asado or "BBQ" for wednesday night (my last night), inviting people and such. It made me really happy that she would go to that trouble for me.
On monday Marissa and I went to Daniela's for lunch. Marissa and Daniela made lunch while I played guitar hero with the guys (a couple of Daniela's friends). I asked a million times if I could help but they wouldn't let me (I wonder why haha). That afternoon Marissa, Daniela and I went to a piercing place and I got my ears pierced and they both got other parts of their ears pierced. then we came back, Marissa went home because she had class the next day, Gerardo and a bunch of his friends came over to play video games, Gerardo and I shared some Piscola, and Daniela and I ended up talking for like 2 hours straight about everything. I feel like I have gotten to know her so well but just not well enough!! I'm really going to miss her! We both agreed what a shame it is that we can't get to know eachother better because there is just not enough time. Wow I am gettin kind of teary eyed just writing this....That night I spent the night there and in the morning the Daniela and Gerardo walked me to the micro stop. It was really nice!
I made it home just in time to take a shower, eat lunch, pack my bags, and then Marissa and I were off to Santiago! On the bus on the way there we talked the whole hour and a half. At some point we were talking about my bad luck with men so she decided that we should make a list of all the qualities that I want in my perfect man. At first I thought I was visiting middle school again, but it ended up being pretty theraputic. Marissa told me that from now on I know what I want and that I should settle for no less.
When we got to santiago, I went with Marissa to her pottery class and helped her finish up some of her peices. One of the ladies that works there gave us coffee and tea and alfajores. It was a good peacefull environment for me to collect my thoughts. later we went to Marissa's Parents in laws vacation house (She lived there while she was interning in Santiago). We ate eggs and a huge delicious caesar salad for dinner. Then Diego's Cousin, Raquel, came over. She is from Chile, but lives in Lebanon and goes to an american school so speaks fluent English. She was really witty and we all had fun together. We decided not to go out and instead to have a girls night and stay in a bake cookies. The cookies were sooo good! Then we watched Chilean soap operas and I fell asleep.. again.
The next day Marissa and I went to Patronato, this really cool shopping district with ridiculously cheap items. It literally goes on for blocks and blocks. Then we met up with raquel and we all went back to the house and ordered sushi. then we were out the door again and back to Vina! On the way home I suggested we make another list to kill time so Marissa and I constructed the "Reasons to return to Chile list." Then we slept the rest of the way.
When we got home we all tomar"ed" once and then we got ready for my despidida!! It was so much fun!! And I appreciated everyone so much, especially daniela who planned it all, but also everyone who came and made sure that I had a proper goodbye (again). Alot of people from the cabins were there and marcelo and Jasmine, and Ignacio, Callo, Kevin, Helma, Gerardo and Daniela ofcourse. They all encouraged me to come back to Chile and Gerardo and Daniela say that I always have a place to stay there if I need it. It was just a good fun night and it makes it even harder to leave everyone!
The next morning I walked to the mall to exchange some money for the bus ticket home, and print out my plane ticket in the internet and walking back I tried so hard to concentrate on everything, to remember it exactly as it was. but how will I remember? Its too hard.
Marissa, Chilean mom, and her friend Vivian all took me to the bus station together. I don't want to go into detail here because its too painful, but by 3:30 I was departing from Vina to Santiago. At 9pm I was leaving Santiago for Dallas, Texas. At 6AM the next day I was leaving for Knoxville, and now I am home! I cannot believe that my summer in Chile is over and how fast it all went by. I am thinking so much about all the people I met and wondering if i will ever see them again. My goal right now is to go to Chile again after I graduate, and although once I get a goal I usually follow through with it, I'm also afraid my goals will change, or that I just won't be able to afford it. But now my goal is to work as hard as I possibly can, enjoy my senior year, and then somehow, somehow, make it back to Chile.

Reasons to return to Chile

-the people: Mom(Veronica), Daniela, Gerardo, Marissa (y Patu), Daniel, Daniela (mi accompanera de lengua), Macarena, Martin, Nicole, Vivian, grandparents, Jao, marcelo, Jasmine, Ignacio, Helma(Helma says I must come back and see her baby when it is born!), Kevin, etc.

-Perfect my spanish

-get away from the Tennessee Flaites

-Be more independent

-Celebrate Independence week in Vina in September

-Celebrate New Years in Vina

-Pisco

-El Huevo

-Patronato

-The Beach, palm trees, and horsebackriding

-The Andes mountains

-Valparaiso (and the stairs!)

-Vina del Mar

-Casa Central (PUCV)

-good wine

-Adventures!

-Learn Salsa (go to Ache Havana)

-Chilean Salads (Palta)

-Reggaeton

-Empanadas

-Alfajores

-Travel South America

-TVN

-Cheap sushi!

-Fruits and Veggies!

-return to climb the volcano in Pucon with Marissa!

-the list goes on and on!!!!!!

I'm still here!

Well it turns out I must love chile pretty darn much because they just can't get rid of me!!
I didn't get on the flight to BsAs on tuesday because Martin told me he had to work so I decided to go by bus a little later on (he took two days off so that when I got there we would have some time to do some traveling). So the plan was to get on the bus today, take the 18 hour bus ride to cordoba with a 4 hour stop in Mendoza arive saturday morning, stay 4 days and take the bus back wednesday morning and arrive thursday morning, the day of my flight in santiago back to the states. Today when I got to the bus station though, the path to mendoza was closed because the mountains are too Icy!! So my choices are to either to try to go again tomorrow or just get a refund for my bus ticket and stay in Vina for another week. I have no idea what I'm going to do and I am running on about 4 hours of sleep as I didn't get to sleep until like 6 last night (I had quite an amazing "despidida" but I'll get to that later) and I got up at 730 to get ready to catch the bus this morning. I'll continue thinking.. but for now let me recap one of the most amazing weeks of my life...
Lets see... on saturday (I can't believe it was almost a week ago! time flies!) I stayed around the house for the most part and just chilled. After posting in my blog I went to download fotos and I couldn't find my camera!! I was sure that someone had stolen it because I remembered that I had stupidly left it loose in my pocket on the micro (bus). It is the best camera I've ever had and although it was cheap for its quality, losing it is not nice on the wallet. The most heartbreaking thing about it, though, was the fact that it had all my fotos from the week, Gerardo's bday party, the gringos goodbye party, last days of class, etc. I used my dad's Zen techniques (hahahaha) to stay calm, though, and I didn't freak out. I'll get back to the camera later..
That night my new sister (or as daniel and I joke my "reemplazo" or replacement) arrived at the house. Her name is Marissa, she is from Montana, and she just came from an internship in Santiago so she speaks amazing Spanish. Daniel thought she was Chilean when they first met! haha. She met her Chilean palolo like 6 years ago when he was a exchange student in the U.S. and they have been together ever since. With her she brought Pato, the most adorable hamster in the world. She is a very cool person with an awesome soul, and for a few days I feel as though I Actually have had a sister!
That night I had plans to go to Ache Havana (a salsa club) for Adrienne's last night in Vina y Valpo and I figured Marissa would be too tired to go out but she just jumped on the opportunity and came out with us! I knew then and there that I really liked her. haha. So that night Adrienne did some searching to see if there where any gringos still around that we could invite, so we invited someone who shall remain nameless... hm.. I think I'll call him Fred.... we invited fred, who is from Nashville and a very good dancer. He dances salsa and has won salsa competitions all over the state of tennessee. He lives in Ache Havana. Fred speaks about the very worst spanish I have ever heard in my life. So fred is like, yeah I'll come with you guys but look, my family here is kicking me out of the house and these girls at Ache told me I could stay at their place, but i just need a place to put my suitcases for the night. I thought it was kind of a wierd request but I asked my mom and she said it was fine, so I let him. He came over and immediately started complaining to my host mom (in what I must remind you is the worst spanish I have ever heard) about how horrible his family has been to him here and how they have been skimping on his meals and how they never talk to them. I never really knew fred very well b4 this night but Marissa and I immediately got a wierd vibe from him. When Adrienne finally showed up Marissa and I made a beeline for the door as to save our poor Chilean mother from having to listen to the guy anymore... On the whole way to the club he just talked marissa's ear off. Poor thing. So we get to the club, which is small enough not to get lost in and has this wonderful caribean atmosphere complete with live performers. The moment we arrived this old man dragged me out on the dance floor and started teaching me some salsa. It was super fun as I felt like I was dancing with a grandpa or something. The only problem with salsa, though, is that you have to know how to do it, and well I have a problem with the whole learning dance steps thing.. and by that I mean I am a gringa down to the core. At one point no one had asked me to dance so I went up to some random guy and said "bailamos?" and we danced and he was a really good dancer and I was HORRIBLE so he did a little show in front of his friends and they all laughed at me. But I was having to much fun to care that I was the brunt of their joke. Later, at like 3 in the morning "fred" comes up to me and says, "Laurel the girls have somebody else staying in their house right now so do you think that I could sleep on your couch or something tonight??" I couldn't believe his nerve!! but I didn't know what to do because If I said no I would basically be leaving him on the street as it would be pretty hard for him to find a hotel at 3 in the morning, especially since he doesn't speak spanish. So I let him come home with us. I dedided to let him sleep in the extra bed in my room (I'm staying in a larger room since Marissa is now in my old one) because I didn't want my mom to wake up and find him on the couch.. and that bastard had the nerve to try to get into bed with me!!! what a jerk! So as you can imagine I was pretty angry the next morning, especially since fred snored ALL NIGHT and I didn't get a lick of sleep. Not sensing my anger, Fred completely took advantage of us the next morning, eating my mom's breakfast (she was nice enough to make him something, and did not get mad at me for letting him stay), and he even asked if he could take a shower!!! I told him firmly no. I thought I was giving him all the signs for, "get out of my house you jerk" but he spent the whole morning trying to get us to help him find a place to stay and he keeps calling those girls from the club but he doesn't speak any spanish so everytime he calls them he hands the phone to me just assuming that I don't mind making his plans for him and without even asking me if I mind talking to them. so finally we get a hold of these girls and I talk to them and they give me the impression that they never had the intention of letting him stay with them. So he spends the next hour on my computer trying to get in touch with someone to stay with! (ignoring the fact that theres about a million hotels and hostels all over valpo and vina). Oh I was soo angry because I had plans and I couldn't very well leave him there alone with my mom because that would definitely not be safe, so I just kept saying, fred, I really need to go now.. and he just kept on stalling. Ugh!! i couldn't believe the lack of respect!! and when he left I even walked him to the main street so he could look for a hostel, and he left all of his luggage in our place without even asking! to top it all off he didn't even thank me or my host mom for anything!!! Oh I was sooooooo livid!!!!!!!! I apologized profusely to my host mom and she confirmed that it wasn't my fault. I just told her that I was so angry because he gives such a bad name to North Americans, and the whole point of study abroad is to be an ambasador for your country! AAAAAAH
moving on..... after "Fred" left I went straight to Valpo to meet with my accompanera de lengua one last time (although I'm sure I will see her again now if I am going to stay here for another week). We went out to lunch and I told her all about what happened with Fred and we laughed and laughed. It was really good practice to tell the story in Spanish. After lunch she went with me to a dept. store and helped me pick out a new camera (I found one on sale for 100 dollars! and a pretty decent one too!) Then we went to the plaza of victoria and had somebody take a few pictures of us. It was a really really good day. She is definitely one of the sweetest people I have met here. It was really sad to say goodbye to her!
On monday my Chilean mom and I took Marissa to orientation and then she (my chilean mom) and I went to el Jumbo to eat breakfast together. Then we took the micro that goes through all the hills in Valparaiso and we got off at random stops and visited like 3 miradores. I got some amazing pictures with my new camera. After that I went to eat lunch with the host family of a friend who had studied in Chile last summer. He contacted his family for me because he wanted me to meet them.. They were just awesome. There was Diego, the 20 year old son, the mom Jackie, Jackies sister (I don't remember her name), and her daughter Isabel, who was probably about 8. Oh they were just so wonderful. they complimented me on my spanish which made me beam with pride and they gave me the best salad I have ever tasted. I absolutely love the salad in Chile. Before I left Jackie invited me to go to a salsa class with her that night. So I met her a few hours later at her at her work, she works in a perfumeria (perfume shop), and as soon as she got off we walked together to the class. there were only a few people there but I must have danced with like 5 different partners and they were all trying to teach me how to dance and they all failed miserably. They said I was good for my first time but they didn't know that I have been trying to dance salsa in the clubs here basically since I got here. Jackie tried to show me how to move my hips and my knees and then laughs and tells me all the gringas have problems with this. I was annoyed that none of the guys that I danced with really knew how to lead a girl. They weren't forceful enough so I was kind of just floating around not really knowing where to go. It may sound cheezy, but that is why I like dancing with Daniel because he leads really well and he makes you feel like a good dancer. Anyway a couple of the guys were trying to talk to me in English and it really confused me because I was trying to answer them in spanish, listen to them in english (broken english that didn't make much sense) and dance the salsa all at the same time.. not an easy task. One of them started talking intensly about George Bush and what a horrible president he is and upon his request I quickly confirmed that yes, I would be voting for Obama (like I would have said anything else the way he was bombarding me). That made me a tad bit uncomfortable...
Over all it was a fun night and I enjoyed watching Jackie and the other experts dance even if I didn't have much success myself....
On tuesday (after "fred" finally came by and picked up his stuff, and somehow managed to convince us to call him a taxi to get to his hotel) I finally got to play ping pong with Daniel (he was busy with his family on Saturday). we met up at a arcade in the afternoon where they have tables. AFter all the threatening I did, turns out he is actually better than me. I didn't realize it but aparently his family are all really athletic and pretty into sports. He even brought his own profesional paddles. We played 11 games and I almost beat him once (although that was when he way playing with his left hand). In other words he creamed me. I think he was still pretty impressed with how good I was though. haha. He kept calling me "forrest."haha. Afterwords we went to the main street to this restaurant and drank coca cola and talked. I told him all about what happened with Fred and he thought it was hilarious and now its our little inside joke. He's always like, oh but what about your palolo Fred! haha. Then he walked me home, and I actually learned alot about him. He told me about how a few years back he decided he wanted to work in the country on a tobacco farm just to see what it is like. He only worked there for 2 months but he said it was the hardest two months of his life and it made him really appreciate how lucky he is. They payed him next to nothing for the backbreaking work he did. He told me that it was so hot and how by the time break time came at 2 he was dying of thirst. During the break all the workers are given this big jug of water that they have to share. On the first day he didn't drink any of it because he was so grossed out by drinking after all the other workers with gross teeth and bad hygene, but by the second day he was so thirsty that he overcame his disgust very quickly. He said that very moment changed his life completely. we talked about how lucky we are to have the lives we have and how there is no rhyme or reason for the way life has been handed to us compared to the workers at the tobacco farm. He seems to have a really firm grasp of reality. He also used to work in soup kitchens in Valpo, and as mentor at a home for children.. He said he would encounter children who had been raped at the age of 5 by their relatives and things like that. I just really admire him for facing reality the way he has, but also doing something about it. When we got home, my host mom was so excited to see him (she thinks he is just the cats meow. He has been a really great friend to Daniela for a long time). She forced him to stay to tomar once, but we didn't have any food so Daniel and I went to the market to buy bread and pastries. In the markets here when you go through the checkout line they always ask you if you want to round up your amount and give your spare change to charity. Its usually the norm to do so, but Daniel never does it because he said he looked into it and it turns out that only half the proceeds actually go to charity and the other half goes to the jefes... this infuriates him and he says that everyone always looks at him wierd when he says he doesn't want to donate like he is breaking a social norm. Anyway we got back and we all "tomar"ed once (MOm, Marissa, daniela, daniel, and I). It was really fun. AFter eating we all sat around and watched You tube videos together. Daniel showed us his clips from the work he has done in the news in santiago, and I shared the classic "one semester of spanish lovesong" video, (which if you haven't seen it you should because it is hilarious). Daniel absolutely loved it and by the next day had all the words memorized and was singing it everywhere we went. AFter the you tube fiesta Daniela, Daniel and I met up with a friend of Daniela's and we all went to this bar to listen to jazz. It was really great. Then we went to this party of a friend of the friend of Daniela's (I know that is confusing). Before at the bar I was feeling kind of generous and I knew daniela is really poor at the moment (and daniel wasn't carrying any money because he didn't realize we were going to go out right after ping pong and he wouldn't have a chance to go home) so I ended up offering to buy a couple beers for everyone. I felt completely comfortable doing it until later we were on the way to the party and Daniela and her friend stop and say.. oh we need to buy some wine to bring to the party! Oh no we only have 1 mil pesos what are we going to do?? It was like so ridiculously obvious that they were trying to get me to offer to help pay, and so ofcourse I helped them out but it really made me angry the way they asked because it made it seem like they thought I was so dumb that I couldn't see through their little scheme. It made me feel like a joke, and Daniel could tell right away that something was wrong. I tried to explain that its not that money that's important, just the way that they asked me for it. If they had just asked me directly it would have been fine. I felt like the rich american girl that everyone wants to take advantage of. He agreed that it was shady the way they asked and he apologized. I explained to him that just because I can pay doesn't mean I'm some rich snob that can afford anything. I'm not rich!! I told him. I worked hard to get here and I only spend money on things that I really care about. I told him that I felt like a joke to them, and he affirmed that this was not so and that he said he knew I was middle class just like him and to not worry about it and to just have fun, but my mood was sour for a little while after that. I got over it fairly quickly after we got to the party because it was really fun. We mostly stayed to ourselves and there was this sweet little orange cat that took refuge in my lap for several hours. At this point Daniela and daniel starts to teach me how to say "purr" in spanish, which is a difficult task because the word is "ronronear" and you have to trill your toungue when you say it, like a cat purring. It was funny! I told them all about my cat fuego and how much I missed him. Daniel ended up getting engrossed in a game of cards so I talked for a long time with Daniela who was upset because Gerardo had not called her and he knew that she didn't have the keys to their place so she didn't have anywhere to go (Daniel was pretty angry about this, he is very protective of her!) So i comforted her and we had the whole "men suck" conversation that women tend to bond over, haha. Overall it was a really great night. Also this day I forgot to mention that I found my camera!! I won't say where because it is embarrasing, but Daniela was interested in buying the new one I bought because I got it for such a great price, and she was really excited about it so I was happy to be able to pass it on to her. And I was ecstatic that I hadn't lost the fotos afterall! The next day my host mom informed me that Daniel's mom had called and had freaked out that he didn't come home after ping pong and was asking if he had been by. She is the only woman in a house of men (daniel has 2 other brothers, one younger and one older), so she gets super jealous when Daniel goes out. Daniel also told me the night before that his family doesn't approve of him going out as much as he does and that he is more less the "black sheep" of the family because his brothers are perfectly behaved boys that never cause any trouble or go out or anything.
Wednesay host mom took marissa and I to the beach in Con con and Reñaca and this day was super bitter sweet because it just kind of hit me that I was leaving. My host mom started writing something on the beach and then told me to take a picture of it to send to my parents. It said, "Hola padres, tienen una hija muy especial, la queremos mucho." or in other words "Hello parents, you have a very special daughter and we love her alot." The second I saw it it was just too much. I started Balling. I completely lost it. Here we were the three of us walking on the beach and I was just sobbing. My host mom just kept saying tranquilo! you have two days left and you should live them up, but I was just inconsolable. I finally got a hold of myself and we walked all the way through renaca as the sun was setting. It was so wonderful and surreal.
That night Marissa and I met up at a bar in Valpo with Daniela, Gerardo, and a bunch of their friends, (a couple more jotes but it was fun and good spanish practice). On the way we talked on the bus about free will versus determinism and she told me that she thinks the energy we put forth in our lives makes our life what it is. For example, if you want something to happen you have to think, boy I want this to happen, instead of boy, I sure do hope this other thing doesn't happen. Wow this made alot more sense when she was saying it. Anyway I really enjoyed getting an insight into her outlook in life. We were supposed to hook up with Daniel that night but he never showed up. Daniela supposed his mother just wouldn't let him come. The next day I asked him what happed he said that he had "family problems." Poor guy. I called him to make sure that he was coming to my despidida and he said ofcourse he wouldn't miss it.
So thursday I had planned to cook for a dinner party for my despidida. I spent all day getting ready and packing and running around to try and find all the ingredients I needed. finding cornmeal is virtually imposible!! but I finally found some corn flour and I made a variety of cornbread that was not that bad (although not quite what I was going for) then I also made black beans and rice and brownies and marissa made the salad. Daniela, Callo (one of Danielas good friends), gerardo, daniel, melissa, mom and I were all there and it was such a wonderful dinner!! There wasn't any food left over! they loved the cornbread! everyone kept complimenting my food! I felt so good that they enjoyed it. I was so overwhelmed with happines. Melissa got out her music and we all started dancing salsa in the living room ( i got a chance to show daniel what I learned at the salsa lesson, haha). Then a couple of Marissas friends from costa rica came over and they and marissa and daniel and I all went to ache habana. We really did my despidida right. We danced, talked, took pictures all night. When we were leaving daniel and I were waiting outside for the rest and it was like the most painful thing becuase I felt like it would be our last moment together. He said the important thing to do is just remember him because he told me that everyone always leaves and they say that they are not going to forget the friends they made in Chile but they always go back to the states and forget, but he always remembers everyone who comes. He never forgets. That made me so ridiculously sad and I told him I don't see how I could ever forget him. When we were walking to catch the bus it was raining and the weather matched my mood exactly. I just started sobbing. It was uncontrollable so I just let it out. Daniel just kept saying. We'll talk! We'll talk through facebook!" Marissa wrote me a goodbye message on the back of the bus and that made me start all over again. Daniel started in on the one semester of spanish love song.... "hola senorita. como te llamas? me llamo mike me llamo mike" and we all joined in. The people on the bus thought we were crazy. watching daniel get off the bus was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Marissa and I came back home and sat on the kitchen floor and just talked and talked. I had burnt the batch of brownies that I was going to take to Martin's family so I just took a spatula and started going at them. They were so delicious and comforting. Marissa and I looked at the pictures from the night, while Pato the hampster ran up and down my arms. Two hours later at 8 in the morning my host mom and I were waiting for the taxi to come take me to the bus station and I was crying all over again. I couldn't believe it when I found out that the path was closed. I was immediately happy. in the afternoon today I went back to the station and got a refund on my ticket. I did and still do have really mixed feelings about staying here. I feel horrible that I have to ditch Martin after he has been so great going out of his way to let me stay with his family, but its not worth it to risk not catching my flight back to the states. I'm so so glad that I have another week here with my favorite people in Chile, but last night was sooooo hard that I don't want to go through that pain of saying goodbye. It would have been easier emotionally to have left today. Its kind of like taking off a bandaid. If I had left today it would have been like I had just ripped it off. But no, now I am taking it off as slowly as possible......

despedidas son dificiles!!!!

aaaaaaaah!

I only have 3 more days here in Chile! Que fome! I am really depressed. I wish I could stay much longer. I am just starting to speak the way I want and getting settled into my life here and it is being pulled out from under me! I'm going to try and start where I left off last time...



The Wednesday of last week I went to the surprise birthday party of my Sister's boyfriend Gerardo. Nobody had school on thursday because of some holiday so my sister rented two cabañas (cabins) in this sweet little town near the beach called Mantagua, about 30 or 40 minutes outside of Viña del Mar. This was my first krette (krette is the chilean word for "spend time with friends and have fun") with all Chileans so I was excited. I don't know what I was expecting but the first couple hours were very hard because they talked so fast that I honestly did not understand a word. I became the fly on the wall in all of their conversations... just sitting there. not participating. I started to feel kind of down because I hate it when I am shy in spanish because I am not a shy person! I am a very outgoing person and I think I have a lot to contribute to any conversation! I don't think anyone should let language get in the way of being the person they really are!!! So finally after a couple hours I loosened up and started talking to a few people. Marcelo (Gerardo's sister's boyfriend) was asking me if I like Daniel.. and I just laughed and said I didn't know. Then he was like "ahh all the Norteamericanas like Daniel!!" Why do they all like Daniel?? I didn't know what to say but I should have said its because Daniel makes an effort to talk really slow that you can have a real conversation. So i just say I don't know. We laughed and then he points to the guy next to me (his name is Jobel) and says, Jobel is a great guy and has really bad luck with women and none of the Norteamericanas like him! Then he gets up and walks out of the room leaving us alone together on the porch. So at this point I am trying to be nice so I start to try to converse with him a little but he talks so fast and makes no effort to slow down and then randomly gets up and goes in to one of the bedrooms and shuts the door. ????? guys are soo wierd! After a while I just got a headache from trying to follow their conversation so I went to bed pretty early. This is not to say that I did not have fun. Truth be told I have a love of people watching and this time I spent with these people just confirmed what I already knew.. which is that I love the Chilean people, their mannerisms, everything about their culture is just beautiful. I only went to bed because I was so overwhelmed with the language. Just to set the record straight, Chileans are the fastest talkers in all of South America. I was told by a mexican a few weeks ago that even he doesn't understand the Chileans. So there!!!
The next day was alot better. everyone was really chill and the sun was out and it was just one of those days when you don't have a care in the world. At one point everyone starts talking about world politics and economic and I perk up and start concentrating as hard as I can to hear what they are saying. Jobel is sitting next to me so I keep asking him to explain what they are saying. They can tell I am really interested so I try to tell them that I love talking about this kind of stuff and its what I study in school and so randomly Daniela's neighbor (Helma) would stop the conversation and give me an overview of what everyone was saying, although for the most part I understood it without her. Even later Daniel, Kevin (Helmas boyfriend), and I get into this really intense conversation about the CIA and the military coup of the 1970s in Chile (this is the first time I have talked about this with Chileans besides my politics teachers and i was a little nervous because it is a touchy subject and the CIA was the cause of a lot of pain in Chile for many years) I tried to explain how guilty I felt about it and how I hated certain things about my government, but they confirmed to me how it wasn't my fault and every government is corrupt. So at this point we get into an even more intense conversation about the corruption of the governments all over the world. It was really interesting and I felt like I contributed so it was good. We basically concluded that politicians let power get to their head and that there is no such thing as a politician that is not corrupt. Then kevin gets out his guitar and starts to sing, "moralidad! Donde estás???" (morality, where are you?) Daniel and I just looked at eachother and laughed. They told me that they were really impressed with what I knew about Chile and that most of the Norteamericanos that come there I have no idea what's happening in the outside world (this is true as I had to explain to most of my gringos what happened in the coup). We returned home that night at about 7. On the bus on the way home Daniel was telling me that he always really wanted to go to the U.S. and study but that it is really really expensive, and I asked him why he wanted to go so badly and he says he wants to go and talk to all the Americans about world issues. (Daniel is really into news. He has an internship at a news station in Santiago and he is the news caster on TV at like 2 in the morning. He is on vacation right now though so that's why he's back in Viña). He loves english and he keeps trying to get me to talk in English but I refuse. I'm in Chile I say! But he asks me questions about words and grammar a lot. Every now and then he'll spit out a phrase in English and he thinks its the best thing in the world and he gets this look on his face like he just won the nobel peace prize or something.. and we always just laugh and laugh. I had to laugh at his bad game on the bus as he tried to get my number, but types my name in his phone as "Laura." Everyone here thinks my name is Laura! Although I suppose its the same in the States too....and I always have to say.. no with 2 Ls!! I figured out a better thing to say, because Laurel here is a leaf that they use in soup, so now I just say, "Laurel, como la hoja!" and then everyone understands.
Last weekend I went to Pucon with a bunch of my gringos. Pucon is a touristy city about 11 hours south of Valparaiso. We left thursday night and we had to first take a bus to Santiago, then to Pucon. There were 8 of us, Adrienne, Vaish, Kelliann, Amanda, Lisa, Jon, John, and I The seats were clasico on the bus so they were super uncomfortable and I didn't sleep all night! We didn't make any plans about what we were going to do once we got there so I was a little nervous. But the minute we arrived this man comes up to us, asks us if we want to stay in his hostel for 5 mil pesos (10 dollars) a night so we agree and we go check it out and it was really nice! I swear every hostel I have stayed in in Chile has been more like a hotel than anything else. They are nothing like the dirty ones I have stayed in in Spain and Argentina (not that I don't like the dirty ones as they have their own special charm too). The owner and his wife were ridiculously nice, and we felt at home immediately. They were almost too nice (I wonder if it was all an act because my friend had 20 mil pesos taken out of her wallet when it was in her room and we will never know who did it but there were only 2 other people staying in the hostel and they were out when it happened). After that we were all very careful about where we put our money. Any way the trip was really fun, but unbelievable expensive (i'm not going to talk about that though)
The first day we went rafting. When we went to the adventure tourism place we tried to get the guy to give us a discount and he eventually caved and gave us 2 mil off. We were joking about how poor we were and I threw in some charm and invited him to go out with us one night (that wasn't the best idea as it turns out he was only 16 years old! oops.... well I tried) But he did give us the discount :)
Our rafting guide was named Max, and I did my best to converse with him as much as possible in the van (you have to take advantage of being around Chileans when you are on a trip with all gringos because we all just speak english the whole time..) Max was from Santiago, but he works in adventure tourism. He did rafting in Peru for a few years and he would come to Pucon every summer and work, but a few days before he had moved to Pucon for good. I asked him what he thought about Santiago, and he says the people there are really stuck up and lame. hmm. interesting. That night Vaish and Adrienne and I went to the store (we all wanted to go shopping because the restaurants in Pucon are super expensive). We decided to have omelet night, and we had a good girl bonding time over dinner. It was so good we decided to have omelet night again the next night!!
The next day We took another adventure tour to the volcano. There was snow all over the thing and it was beautiful!! The hike was much more rigorous than anyone was expecting so little by little some of the group would go back. There were a couple times when I wasn't sure if I could go on. Adrienne, Kelliann, and I were together and everytime we caught up with the guys in front of us, they would be like, ok, lets go! and we would lose them again. There was one point when we had to put spikes on our feet so we could climb in the snow. It was sooo icy! and steep. We had to walk in a zig zag pattern and use ice picks to keep us from falling. I felt like such a bad ass!! Eventually the three of us got to a point when the guide told us we had only gone one fourth of the way (after like 4 hours of very rigorous hiking!) We laughed and accepted that it wasn't our destiny to make it to the top of the mountain. We took a break, ate our lunch (it was only like 10 but we were starving!) while enjoying the beautiful view of the surrounding lakes and mountain,s and volcanoes, took some pictures, and made our way down the mountain. I think I probably did about 10 years damage on my knees walking down that volcano, but it was totally worth it (everyone is getting so old these days that knee replacement is inevitable anyway right?). That night Vaish and Adrienne and I went to this club with some of the guys that work in the tourist company below our hostel. They got us discounted passes. When we got in it was alot different from the clubs in Viña. First of all everyone was looking at us weirdly for being gringos, which surprised me because Pucon is a very touristy town but I guess where we went alot of tourists don't go there, plus it was the winter so there weren't that many tourists there when we went. Max was telling me that during the summer there are about 15 clubs that operate in Pucon, but there are only 3 in the winter! that is a huge difference. The place was kind of sketch so we were happy to get out of there. When we were getting our stuff from the coat check they had lost Vaish's jacket!! so we spent like 20 minutes arguing with the coat check guy until they finally brought it out. the whole thing was very sketchy and I was pretty glad to make it back to the hostel. One of the guys that took us though had a crush on Adrienne and he took her on a romantic walk the next day and then gave her a stuffed animal tiger!! haha.
That sunday I just stayed in the hostel all day and chilled and did homework. I got in some good Spanish practice with the owner's wife. they let us stay there all day for an extra 2 mil. It was definitely worth it. We couldn't find any bus tickets that got back before our 8:30 class on monday so we had to miss it again and I felt pretty bad about that. My last week was horrible homework wise. I had a test monday a paper wednesday and a paper and a presentation on friday. I was kind of bitter that I had all this work my last week here!! This week has gone by so fast because I have been going from school, to homework, to krette, and back without even having a chance to breath!! This morning I finally got to sleep in and write in my blog a little bit!
On monday after class I went over to Ashleys house and we baked about a million coookies and brownies and then Adrienne, Vaish, and I all met Daniel at a bar called "OH." We talked for a few hours and it was really really fun! I found out that Daniel plays tennis and Ping pong so we made plans to play together thursday, but he ended up having to help his parents move furniture so we are going to play today instead. On tuesday I spent all night working on my politics essay so that was a drag. On Wednesday I went with ashley and adrienne to this french guy's apartment, a friend of Felipe, the Chilean who is the leader of our gringo group at PUCV. I was really good spanish practice. I think Felipe was relieved that he could speak spanish with us because usually he has to speak English to all the gringos that don't speak a lick of spanish. Then we went to this club called Scratch and danced all night. It was good fun, but I think I will always prefer El Huevo, the best club in the world. :)
On wednesday afterschool I met up with my language partner, Daniela, and Adrienne and her language partner, Andrea, and another one of Daniela's friends whose name I don't remember and we all went to Daniela's house to watch a Chilean film. It was called "El rey de los huevones" or "The king of fools." (they use the word huevon here alot, its kind of like "man" in some contexts, but in other's it can be kind of offensive.. it comes from the word huevo, or egg and if you use your imagination you can see why it's considered offensive). The movie was pretty funny. I have really enjoyed the Chilean movies I have seen, I think mostly because I can see so many similarities in the culture I have witnessed and the culture on the screen, especially in the accents and the chilenismos, like the "Po." Chileans are famous for adding "Po" to the end of everything for emphasis, or just to say it. it doesn't mean anything it just comes from "pues" (well). I have gotten so accustomed to the "po" and I am really going to miss it. The movies here are really well made too. My favorite is called "machuca" and it is about two boys from different classes during the military coup. I saw it in my politics class and the teacher gave me a copy so I can't wait to bring it home and show everyone how the Chileans talk!! Also it will be nice to have it as a memory, so I can just pop it in the DVD player everytime I start to miss the "po."
After the movie we "tomar"ed once. for once we had these amazingly delicious sandwiches with palta (avacodo which is really popular here and delicious) turkey and cheese.. yum yum yum. before we all left Andrea and Daniela gave Adrienne and I going away presents. Adrienne got some earings and I got this decorative hanging that says "Valparaíso." It was so sweet and I felt so bad because I didn't get her anything!! We are supposed to hang out tomorrow though so I will have to find something to give her before then... I wish I had something american to give her...
On thursday my sister had a party at her apartment for Geraldo (I swear he must be some guy because I have been to 3 of his birthday celebrations now!!) I invited some of my gringas so Ashley and Vaish came to my house first, and then Daniel picked us up and we all went together. We got to the party and we were the only girls there and there were about 20 Chilean men all lining up to talk to us! One of them was really obsessed with Vaish (she's Indian and she has come accross alot of Chileans that are obsessed with the Indian culture). Anyway I tried to aviod all of the "jotes" (which Daniel informed me means horny guys haha), so I just hung out with Daniel, Daniela, and Geraldo. Geraldo was so happy and kept giving me hugs and cheersing to me all night! it was alot of fun. A lot of the folks from the cabins were there and they greeted me like old friends. I asked Daniela where Helma was, and it turns out that she is pregnant!! It is super sad because she and Kevin are really poor and I don't think they are up for a baby but I didn't say anything. When Kevin saw me he was like, Laurel! I'm going to have another kid!! (I didn't even know that he already had one...) but at least he seemed excited about it... Later Adrienne arrived and I had to go get her from the bus stop because she didn't know how to get to get to Danielas apartment (there are alot of stairs! Daniela told me that the women in Valparaíso are supposed to have the best looking legs in the world! haha). Daniel accompanied me and on the way down to get her he started making fun of my accent and it was actually pretty histerical. So then I started making my accent really bad on purpose and he thought it was hilarious. We keep on joking about tennis and arguing about who is going to lose... he was telling me that I should get myself psychological prepared for my defeat. haha. Anyway by the time we made it back up with Adrienne the girls were ready to leave. They told us they were going to el Huevo and we said we would meet them there later. AFter that the party got pretty fun because all the "jotes" had calmed down a little bit after the girls left. It was really good practice for my spanish. It has really improved especially within these last couple of days here so I'm pleased. I still am not anywhere close to as fluent as I want to be, though. A little bit later Daniel and I finally went to El Huevo but it was super crowded so we didn't look for the others (it turns out they didn't go afterall anyway). We had fun though. We danced more salsa, and got a chance to talk. We had to wait like an hour to get in! that's how it is on thursday's apparently. In line I told him that someone told me that "all the norteamericanas like him" and he denied it profusely and continuously asked me who told me that and that it was not true and that he was just an average guy. Finally when we got inside he convince me to tell him who it was, and he was relieved that it was Marcelo because he barely knows Marcelo, and he thought that it was Daniela who said it and if it had been it would have hurt his feelings. He told me how important she is to him and how long they have been friends. It was sweet. I ended up gettin home at 5 in the morning and I spent the whole next day with a horrible headache and I could have done better on my presentation but as they say, valió la pena (it was worth it).
Friday was bittersweet. We had a goodbye party with all of the gringos and teachers and ISEP workers. Everyone was saying their goodbye's and taking tons of pictures. We watched a slide show felipe had put together for us and it was so great I almost cried! In politics I gave my presentation and even though it wasn't that great everyone told me I did a good job, and then David, our teacher, took us out for ice cream. It was really nice and it was sad to say goodbye to him when he got off the bus. He is going to Spain for his graduate studies soon and he wants to come back and be a full on prof at PUCV. Everyone kepts saying all day that they hope we all return. I hope I return too!! it was so sad and I am only now thinking about how sad it is that I will never see some of those people again in my life. I don't think it has truly hit me yet. Last night I didn't go out because I was still recovering from thursday and I had to finish a paper so I am kind of sad I missed the last night with all of us here in Viña. I have a few more days here, though, so I am going to try and take advantage of it the best I can. I leave tuesday for Buenos Aires then I'm going to take a taxi to the bus station and jump on a bus to Córdoba. Martin has planned a trip for us that weekend to these cool cliff things near his house and hopefully some of his friends will come too. My friend Vaish is on her way to Córdoba tomorrow because she is studying there for the year, so we are going to get to hang out a little bit more before the summer is over. Aw man I am so sad!! Don't get me wrong I really miss all my friends and my family but I really do not want to leave!!!!! I will definitely have to come back to South America after I graduate from College. I think I have realized even more that traveling is my passion just because I love people so much. I love meeting new people!! I love maryville but it is so small and I feel like I've already met everyone there. I think I have realized this summer that no matter where I end up, I am ready to get out of East Tennessee for a while........

Bibles and Salsa Continued

Ok! I've got my coffee and breakfast in me so I'm good to go!
On sunday morning we had breakfast at 8 (apparently some of the others in our group had had quite a night the night before because alot of them had hangovers. Kelliann and Adrienne and I all laughed because we knew the day was going to be active and we were glad we just slept. The day WAS amazing! We got to do a zipline across the river twice and then go hiking in the Andes mountains to this awesome waterfall! I couldn't have asked for a better day. We all really bonded a lot too. I think what I've liked most about this experience is just meeting new people. I love Maryville but I think you get to a point when its sooo small that there are just no new people to meet. Here I have met some amazing people, both Americans and Chileans and I am going to be so sad to leave them all! Don't get me wrong, I am very excited about finishing my senior year. I am going to be living with some great people in Beeson and we are going to have a great year. However, I think that I will be ready to graduate and get out of Tennessee for at least a little while.
Lets see.... that monday was a sad day. First, my politics teacher tells us that his good friend died over the weekend. The class, which is usually filled with jokes and fun times, was just completely quiet and awkward.. and then we got to talking about the U.S. and imperialism and all I could feel was guilty for what we have done to Chile... All of this was in great contrast to the amazing weekend I had had, so it was definitely a downer.
On tuesday in my lit class we had to give a presentation and none of us did very well. I think our professor was disappointed but I also think she has now realized that none of us are at the level that she was expecting so she has let up on homeworkd a little bit more, which is really nice of her. I had plans to meet my mom and sister outside of school at 3:30 to go to the house of Daniela's boyfriend's (Gerardo) grandmother's for her boyfriend's Gerardo's birthday. My politics class got cancelled at the last minute, though, because my teacher was still at the funeral, which lasted longer than expected. I called my mom to tell her, and luckily she and my sister were nearby, in the Jumbo (the big shopping center near my school). So I met up with them and hung out with them while they ate lunch. Then we browsed the clothes and home department in JUMBO for like an hour and went cake shopping for the party. Turns out girls like to go shopping in Chile too! Not really my cup of tea but we did do some girly bonding. We met Gerardo and his parents (I can't remember their names) and his sister, Jasmine, and his sisters boyfriend, Marcelo, at the bus stop, and then we all took the metro to Quilpe, a rural town about 30 minutes outside of Valparaíso. It was a beautiful quaint town, and I wish I had taken some pictures of it, but I didn't want to be that annoying American tourist girl with a bunch of native Chileans so I just enjoyed the walk to the grandmothers house without thinking about pictures. I don't know how to describe the house, accept to say that it was unbelievably charming and quaint. We all sat outside, drank wine and skrewdrivers and talked for a long time. Gerardo's dad and Marcelo were very interested in me and the United States. It was like I was being grilled! It was very very good spanish practice though.. I was weirded out a little bit because I thought that Marcelo might have been hitting on me because his eye contact was just so intense and he kept on asking me all these questions and at one point made a point to say that he was sooo glad to have met me. But obviously he wasn't as his palola (Gerardo's sister) and the rest of the family was right there! That is definitely something to be noticed about cultural differences! I can't believe how touchy feely everyone was all night, and right in front of their parents!! at random times Daniela and Gerardo and Jasmine and Marcelo would just start passionately kissing in front of everyone... crazy!
For the sake of the people reading this blog who I might not want reading this next part I am going to leave it out.. however if you are interested in what happened next let me know and I will tell you...
Later we all had dinner (they cooked some chicken special just for me because I didn't want the steak) It was about the best chicken I had ever had, cooked outside on the fire, with salad and rice. It was really good and I enjoyed everyone having a blast. We sang happy birthday for Gerardo, and his grandmother started telling us about how he used to wear a rag as a cape and pretend like he was batman, until he one day was crushed when he realized that batman doesn't fly!! over all it was a really really great day.
That night my chilean host mom and I were walking home from the bus stop and we passed by three women standing in the street. My mom whispers to me, "they are prostitutes... don't look at them" so I just stared at the ground as we passed.. then when we got out of sight she says, "did you notice that one of them was a transvestite???" I said no. she told me not to look at them! Geez...
On wednesday I had a meeting with my accompañera de lengua, or language partner. We were assigned through the school and we meet every week to talk a little bit in Spanish and a little bit in English. The week before we got to talking about George Bush and I think we bonded over our hatred for him. I find it really cool that Chileans are able to be so genuinely nice to Americans after all that we have done to them. Sadly, I think the truth is that we might not do the same. I hate how Hispanics are mistreated in our country. But I guess that is another story.
Daniela (my language partner) did tell me that there is still some resentment over the role of the U.S. in the military coup in the 1970's. I have definitely gotten that idea from my politics teacher too. Anyway our next meeting was a little bit more carefree. I invited her to come with my friends Ashley and Adrienne to go shopping in el Jumbo, and I was worried that it might be a little awkward, but Daniela fit right in and it was pretty fun talking all of us together. Daniela invited us to come see a Chilean movie at her place so I think she must have had fun with us.
Thursday was Adriennes birthday and so we threw her a surprise party at the house of my friend Rose's host family. Adrienne was genuinely surprised!!! It was sooo much fun.. We drank champagne, ate pizza and cake, and had a great time. Rose's host family two little girls and they were so adorable! They taught us how to sing happy birthday chilean style, and then we sang it again in English. After she blew out the candles we went around the table all giving toasts. It was so sad because we have all gotten to know eachother so well and we have so much fun together. We are starting to realize how little time we have left and none of us want to leave!! Our sentiments for eachother were put into words, and I think Adrienne and I were on the verge of tears! After that Adrienne, our friend Vaish, and I all went to El Huevo. It was so packed it took us an hour and a half to get in and check our coats!! It was totally worth it though.. We danced for hours and didn't get back until about 3:30 in the morning. Lit class at 8:30 was pretty rough the next morning but Adrienne and I both made it!
That day in general was pretty rough for me. I don't want to go into details, but lets just say I had some good bonding time with my Chilean host mom having the "Men are dogs" conversation. All is good now. How can you stay upset when you are in Chile?
After classes that day Ashley and I hung out and went to this restaurant near her house. We were both craving french fries so bad so we ordered some. They were soooooo greasy that at the bottom of the plate there was just a pool of grease. We ate almost all of it anyway though even though we knew we would regret it. It was a theraputic meal for both of us I think. haha. We are both pretty sad to be leaving in a few weeks. I think we are both going to stay a couple extra days in Viña and then go to Santiago for a few days to stay with her host sister from Ecuador who is studying there. After that I'm not sure what I am giong to do but I will have a week after she goes home until my flight goes back to the U.S. Right now I'm not worried as I'm sure everything will fall into place and I will find something to do.
Yesterday was an ISEP group trip to the last house of Pablo Neruda, his first and favorite house, in Isla Negra. This house was seriously swank. and the view of the beach was just gorgeous. We were all honestly a little tired of hearing about Neruda though... aren't there any more famous Chilean people who have museums!!?? No, but in all seriousness he had a pretty fascinating life, and besides, not everyone can say that they have been to all three of Neruda's houses. After that we went to two different wineries to taste wine. I have never really been obsessed with wine but this wine was to die for. At the first place we went we tried this one type of wine from a grape that was thought to be extinct, but they realized in the 1990's that they were growing it and they are the only winery in the world to producd this wine. One of the culture teachers from the ISEP program was there, he was like a wine expert and he tought us all how to brindar (toast). properly. It is very important to look the person in the eye when you are toasting him. So Randomly throughout the day he would toast to me and I made sure to look him in the eye. Talk about intense eye contact! Marcelo had nothing on this guy! haha. I hate to admit it but by the end of the day I had tried 9 different glasses of wine!! From the first winery to the second we were all starting to get tipsy and on the bus and the tour guides and the bus driver thought it was hilarious. admittedly, it was great fun. By the time we were done at the second place most of us were tipsy and we all bonded in this way. A few of us were out on the balcony looking out over the vineyards and Macarena (the ISEP coordinater) told us that we were one of the best groups she has ever had and that she could never ask for a better job. She said that if any of us ever want to come back and visit that we can stay with her. She is sooo cool! After that we went to lunch at this restaurant in Viña and it was just about the best meal I've ever had (although I might have only thought this because we didn't eat until like 4 and I had had so much wine and very little breakfast, haha). It was so much fun I cannot describe it. I was supposed to go out with my sister last night but when I got home I was glad to know that she didn't want to go out either. I just crashed.. I had a killer headache from all the wine. Today I slept in for the first time since I have been in Chile and it was wonderful. I have been writing this blog for like 3 hours but now my extended family has just shown up to eat lunch so I have to go! tonight I have to write another essay!!!! Blahhhhh!

Bibles and Salsa

AAAh! Its been so long since I've written that I am afraid I won't remember everything I want to talk about... its all meshed together in my head again! OK.. I will try to do the best I can..
On Wednesday of last week I finally went back to school. On tuesday Ashley had visited me and she brought me a zpac, which is a prescription medication but I decided to go ahead and risk it because I hate being sick in Chile when there is so much to do and see! I didn't want to tell my Chilean mom about it, and I wasn't sure if I was able to take other medications so when my mom brought me cold medication I just pretended to take it... Tuesday night I felt horrible, and I was freezing cold again and then I woke up in the night and I was burning up and drenched in sweat... I'm pretty sure that means my fever broke right? I don't know anything about that kind of stuff. Anyway that Zpac really worked because wednesday I was full of energy and felt great! My teachers were cool about me missing because my host mom had called the program director about me being sick. On wednesday afternoon we had these artesian workshops planned for the ISEP american group. I chose to do stained glass windows. When we got there I was kind of disappointed to see that we weren't going to be able to design our own window, that the designs were premade. As someone who has taken art classes her whole life, I was kind of wishing I had just gone home that day... but the process of polishing the glass and welding it was pretty interesting so it wasn't all bad. That night a bunch of us from the group went to Journal, a hangout in Viña. First I went to Ashley's house to meet up with her and I met her host mom and brothers. They had a BEAUTIFUL home and an orange tree in their backyard. They were pretty nice too. Anyway by the time we got to Journal I had a killer headache and the music was really loud, so I didn't end up staying very long so that was a kind of dissapointing. I don't remember anything particular about that thursday.. OH wait!! yes I do!! hahahaha. On thursday my host mom told me that the woman I met from the church (the other night when I got sick) has a group of women over to her house every thursday to talk about "wellness and how to live your life." I wasn't particularly interested in the topic but I saw it as a good opportunity to practice my listening skills so I decided to tag along. One of my mom's girlfriends picked us up in her car and on the way there, there was a guy walking down the street and apparently my mom knew him so they stopped the car to talk to him. He is apparently Daniel, Daniela's (my host sister) old childhood friend who lives in Viña and just got back from doing an internship in Journalism in Santiago. I didn't really get a chance to meet him because I was in the back seat, but when we drove away my host mom told me that he is a really nice boy and very handsome! (I was in agreement on that part. haha). Anyway when we got to the ladies house it only took me a few moments to realize I had been coerced into going to a Bible lesson!!!!! AAAAH!! I wasn't sure if I should freak out or just laugh at the situation (although laughing while people are praying is kind of disrespectful). So I just went along with everything. And I suppose it still was good listening practice. I don't mean to be disrespectful because I think Christianity is a wonderful thing but it is just not for me so I felt a little uncomfortable, and I also kind of felt let down by my mom, especially since I had already told her that I do not believe in the God in the Bible, so I wasn't sure how to take this whole situation. I wasn't sure if she was trying to convert me or not. Overall the women were really nice and it was a nice lesson filled with positive things so it was not as bad as some church services I have experienced in the U.S. However, at the end we did a group prayer and it was very dramatic with everyone screaming "Señor, señor!!!" and that left me a little on edge. I kept a smile and was completely respectful through the whole thing though.

Friday my uncle and his wife, my grandparents, my sister, my aunt, and my host mom's cousin, all came over to "tomar once" or literally "take 11," which just means that snack meal between lunch and dinner at about 5 or 6 in the afternoon. It usually consists of bread, butter, dulce de leche, avacodo, tea, coffee, etc. Again I spaced out because of the ridiculous speed in which they were talking but it was still fun to observe their actions, and I know they were having fun because they were laughing soooo much! My mom's cousin cracked a joke about every 30 seconds and everyone would just laugh and laugh! it was funny for me too even though I didn't understand most of it. That night Daniela asked if I wanted to "caretear" (the chilean word for go out and have fun with friends) with her. I knew I had to get up at like 6:30 the next morning to meet my American group to go to Santiago, but I hadn't gone out with my sister yet and I really wanted to so I was torn. Then she told me that Daniel was coming, so then my mind was made up. Daniela and I left at about 11 and went to "el Huevo" again (its funny this is the only club I have been to but I have been told it is the best and I love it so much and am completely content going there every time I go out). On the way on the bus Daniela and I were talking about the future and she asked me what i wanted to do once I graduate, and I told her that I had no idea and that I am pretty confused about all that. She is in the same boat as she has dropped out of both of her carreras (careers, or the latin version of a major) in school. I told her that my only plan is to travel as much as I can and she said she really wanted to travel too. She is hoping to be going to France next year with her boyfriend but she doesn't speak a lick of french. haha. She told me about her experiences traveling with Gerardo (her palolo aka boyfriend) around Chile and it sounds incredible!! I didn't realize how hardcore she was but apparently there were some days when they had run out of money and were sleeping in tents in parking lots and hitchhiking around Chile. What a badass! I told her that if she ever wants to come to the states she has a place to stay. When we got to the club we went down to the bottom floor (one I hadn't seen yet). On this floor is where all the grungy screaming rock bands play. I love rock and some hard rock, but this was not exactly my cup of tea. It was still, however, wonderfully entertaining, and My sister knew alot of the people playing so they would come over and say hi to her. I felt pretty darn cool just being seen with her. She has this adorable punky style that I could never pull off.. black leggings, black mini skirt, chain belt, torn black sweater, bright red lipstick, dark eyeliner, and dark hair in a bob haircut. After a couple drinks (the drinks here are strong!) we decided to go outside and wait for daniel, so we go and sit in the Plaza de Brasil outside of the club and just bonded like hell. She was talking about how her family is pretty conservative, and we joked about her mother tricking me into going to bible study. She thinks its pretty awesome that my parents never made me go to church, haha. When Daniel showed up he was not having the grungy rock band room so we went to the top floor which is the salsa room. Daniel asked to please exscuse them while they danced salsa so I just took a seat and watched. They were soooo good!! Watching them dancing and smiling and having fun just made me sooo happy, I can't describe it. When they came back we all sat for a while and chatted. Daniel is really nice and fun! He told me that in a few minutes they were going to teach the salsa steps and that we could all do it together. The lesson was very confusing and I had already had a couple of drinks so not the easiest! when the lesson was over Daniel tought me one on one and it made alot more sense to be dancing with a partner. It was soooo much fun! after a while i started to get the hang of it and then there was no stopping me! After that the three of us just danced all night. We went to every floor, danced to every type of music. It was quite possible the best night of my life! We didn't leave until 5:30 in the morning. When we got on the bus to go home, Daniela and I fell asleep we were so tired. When Daniel was getting off at his stop he woke us up and told us to not fall asleep again because our stop was coming up! Immediately after this Daniela fell right back asleep! So I was desperately trying to keep my eyes open to watch out for our stop. I was soooo tired! When we got to the stop, right as I was waking Daniela up this guy starts shaking me and telling me, "here! get of here! this is your stop!" I was confused as to how he knew that but I just thanked him and we jumped off. Later Daniela and I figured out that Daniel must not have trusted us to get off at the right stop so he told these other guys to make sure we did.. haha. We had a good laugh over that.
An hour later, my host mom was knocking on my door saying "Laurel! Ya! el agua caliente está encendido!" or in other words, "laurel, get up! the hot water is on!" (the hot water is powered by gas here so they have to turn it on by lighting a match). I had had one hour of sleep, but i jumped in the shower, got ready (thank goodness I had packed the night before), shoveled in my breakfast and coffee, and ran the 8 blocks to the meeting place for the bus to Santiago. I barely made it in time, but some of my friends had gone to el Huevo the night before too and were late this morning. they were there all night and I never saw them... that is just how big el Huevo is!!
I tried to sleep on the bus but everyone was just so excited about the weekend that it was hard not to be excited with them! So I ended up not sleeping at all on the bus. When we got to Santiago we went to La Moneda, the Chilean version of the white house. It was pretty sweet and we actually got to go inside which is not usually allowed, although I didn't catch why not. Then we went to the cathedral and this busy plaza area. I've seen alot of cathedrals and after a while they just start to all seem the same to me, so I was kind of thinking I should have just stayed on the bus. Then we went to lunch. Ashley and I sat with our tour guides, Margarita and Paula, and our ISEP program director, Macarena. These women are soooo much fun!!! The food was delicious and halfway through lunch some performers came by and start singing and the they all knew all the words. Margarita got up and started dancing with one of the performers. It was priceless!! I just love how the culture here is so laid back and fun! AFter that we went to Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago. This is where he lived during the military coup, and he actually died of prostate cancer 11 days after Allende's downfall. We had to wait a long time because each tour group could only be 10 people. While we were waiting, I looked around and half of my group was sleeping. Looks like I wasn't the only one who had a late night! By this point though I couldn't sleep at all. Neruda's house was sooo sweet! But we did have a good laugh about how ironic it is that he was part of the Communist party yet he had sooo many fancy material things (and three houses! all of which we have visited now!) But let me tell you this man lived in style.
After that we took a bus to Cájon del Maipo, a city close to Santiago in the Andes mountains. When we got there it was like 7 so we were given the keys to our rooms. I was in a room with my friends Adrienne and Kelliann, two really awesome people so I was pretty stoked. It was really dark so we couldn't see anything, but the lantern lit path to the dining room was beautiful and we could hear the river running somewhere in the background so we were pretty excited about being able to see everything the next day. Dinner was really fancy and delicious. That night we were all so tired that we just played cards in our room for a little while and then we passed out. Ok .... I'm getting so hungry!... I am going to have to finish this blog later!

Sick Sick Sick

I'm Sick!! In bed!! but that's not important.. I'll write about other stuff first....
lets see... On friday afternoon my friend Ashley and I went shopping again (this is the last time!) and I bought what I had been wanting to buy since I arrived here in South America, a pair of skinny jeans and boots that are really in style here... so who cares if they aren't in the U.S.! I'm going to wear them anyway! Anyway, now that I have what I want.. no more shopping. We made friends with our sales girl and she told us that most of the U.S. tourists that come in there don't speak any Spanish and it is ridiculously hard to help them! At one point she asked me if I had a job in Valparaíso, and I said no, so then she asked me how I could afford to go shopping (just to set the record straight I never spent more than say 30 USD all day). I told her that I have a job in the states and that I had been saving up to come to Chile, but I kind of got the idea that she was being kind of condescending, acting like I didn't deserve all the money I had or something. But maybe it was all my imagination. Other than that she was pretty nice and helpful so we invited her to come out with us but she never showed up.. hm.
Anyway that night I met up with a group from my school and we all went to El juevo (the egg), this really crazy club in Valpo. It has 5 floors, and each floor plays a different type of music for a different type of dance. My friends and I stayed mostly on the reggaeton floor. Its kind of like the latin version of hip-hop in the US, but I think its way better. Anyway that was really fun and we didn't end up coming back until 4:30 AM which is actually pretty early here. My Chilean mom had already told me that Chileans stay out really late so she would never start worrying about me unless i didn't come home by about 9 or 10 in the morning the next day! She also told me that the drinks here are stronger than I am used to so every time I go out she is going to make sure I eat a lot and I better not drink to much! What a supportive mom! I haven't been able to go out as much as the other students in my program though because most of them don't have class until 11 or so and I have class at 8:30!! My classes are really hard too!
On saturday I had to get up at nine to meet my american group to go on a horse backriding tour. We got there and I was a little disturbed because the horses all looked really skinny and unhealthy.. but maybe they are just a different type of horse than I am used to? I don't know, I'm not trying to be ethnocentric or anything....
First we rode through these amazing sand dunes, and eventually we hit the beach. It was so beautiful!! It was just really surreal. It was one of those moments when you just can't comprehend that this is actually YOUR life. It was a great bonding experience for us americans, and I finally let go of feeling guilty for speaking English with the americans. My horse was really chill and didn't take direction well but I finally got him to start galloping a little bit. what a rush! Anyway that night my mom was having a bunch of people over for someone's birthday and I wasn't sure if I should try and socialize or not but I was SO tired and the last thing I wanted was to be in a room of crowded people trying to decipher everything they say. Plus I wasn't even sure if it was appropriate for me to be there or not so I just told my mom I was tired and she told me not to worry about it and to just rest.
On Sunday I got up and procrastinated for a few hours doing absolutely nothing (I had an essay due on monday). Then my Chilean grandpa and grandma picked up my mom and I and we went to visit Daniela (my sister) at her artesian booth in Valpo. her booth is right next to this amazing view of the port and both Viña and Valpo. There we met my great uncle and aunt to eat lunch at this really charming restaurant. We all got the special.. a seafood overload!! first an empanada with cheese and shrimp, then soup with crab, fish, and shrimp, then the main course, salmon with a spinach and mushroom sauce, yum yum!
that day was the day of San Pedro (saint peter), saint of the fisherman, so they had this huge festival in the street where they transport the image of San pedro surrounded by dancers and marching bands and whatnot, then they put him on a boat, and all the fishermen acompany the boat with their own boats and they all take a trip around the port, and then return for more marching in the streets. All of this was happening while we were eating so we kept leaving the table and going outside to look.. we had the most amazing view from above from the restaurant. While we were eating my mom told me that my aunt and uncle had an american girl living with them too. She had been there for the whole semester and she didn't want to leave because she had found a Chilean palolo (boyfriend). They asked me if I had found one yet, and I just laughed and said I wasn't looking.. then my mom said that I was at school from 8-2 anyway so there wasn't much time then my uncle says, yes but from 2-10 I should be looking for a palolo!
After lunch my grandparents and great aunt and uncle left, and my mom and I stayed and waited for daniela to close down her booth. Then we dropped off my mom at church and I went with daniela to her place.. She has got such a trendy little apartment! WE had to walk up the stairs a LONG way to get there and I was completely out of breath. There Daniela helped me alot with my essay. I really really enjoyed hanging out with her. She does a good job of speaking really slowly and clearly and I feel really good about my spanish when I am with her. We listen to American music and talk about American bands. She was studying music before and her palolo goes to Santiago every weekend to play music in pubs and bars and such. I just love how free spirited and artsy they are!
That night is when the sickness hit. Now I had actually been sick for days... probably for about a week, but it was only a cold, or so I thought, so it was no big deal. The problem is that it is SO cold here without heat in any of the buildings and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep and I have been going going going with lots of energy so I never really gave my body a chance to recuperate. So when I met up with my mom after church to go home we started walking to catch the bus with this other couple from her church (they were really nice!) and all of the sudden I start feeling really really cold. It was already really cold outside but this was an unnatural type of cold. I tried to ignore it because I was trying to hold a conversation with the nice church people. On the bus they were asking me if I go to church in the states and I said no.. then they asked me if my parents go to church and I said no.. haha. they asked me if i ever went to church and then I had to try to explain to them what Unitarian-Universalism is (not an easy task, even in English). I don't feel like I really gave the religion justice in spanish, but I guess they understood the gist... I hope all of their questions were just out of curiosity and not judgement...
anyway on the bus my hands were like Ice so I started blowing on them and my mom noticed that I looked ridiculously cold and when we were walking home from the bus stop I told her that I was so cold I could barely walk! she made me get in bed right away and brought me a hot water bottle thing to put in bed with me. She felt my head and told me I had a fever and that I shouldn't go to school (which was a relief because I still hadn't finished my essay).
So yesterday I spent the whole day in bed.. my mom would not let me get up and brought me all my meals in bed. I felt kind of like a princess, but also kind of like an invalid. haha.
I probably could have gone to class today but my mom is making me stay in bed. She says if I go out in the cold I will just get sick again. And she won't let me take a shower because she doesn't want me to have wet hair! She says I can go to school tomorrow but I can't take a shower.. this is a devastating demand because I haven't showered in like three days and my hair is really greasy. So she brought me this horribly hideous purple hat that I can wear to hide my hair. I just smiled and nodded. maybe I will wear it out and then take it off once I am out of sight.. haha. So anyway, now I am here in bed bored out of my mind, but ashley is coming to visit me later to bring me my homework for lit class, so I'm looking foreward to having some more human contact!

La Serena

Today here in Valpo and Viña marks the first day that I have felt comfortable temperature wise!! I haven't written about this yet but it is REALLY cold here! Ok probably not any colder than the coldest days of winter in East Tennessee, but there is no heat in my house or my school! And the shower gets really warm, but never to that perfect hot temperature that the skin just yearns for. I have about 7 blankets on my bed and I can usually stay warm at night as long as I don't move, because then all the cold air will get in my blankets and swallow me whole. Alot of the students seem to be pretty miserable in the cold, but I haven't had much of a problem with it (although I'm sure it will get old pretty soon). I also have long underwear :) Anyway the weather was really nice today, so nice that I actually ended up taking off one of my coats (I was wearing two), my scarf, and my gloves! It was a good day for it too because today the whole group from the U.S. went to Pablo Neruda's (famous Chilean poet) house in Valparaíso, and then we went to this outside museum where famous Latin American artists had painted graffiti all over the streets. it was really cool! Yesterday I went to an artesian fair in Viña and bought three scarves. Its wierd.. I don't really like to shop for anything, accept for scarves... i have a weakness for scarves... and they are so beautiful here. And made by hand!
This past weekend I went to La Serena, a city about 7 hours north of Valparaíso. In La serena is Valle de Elqui... the place where they produce grapes for pisco, where there is an amazing view, and where Gabriela Mistral grew up (another famous Chilean poet). We arrived by bus Saturday at 5:30 in the morning.. navigated our way to the hostel and then at 9 we left for our tour. Our tour guide was obsessed with the temperature, the measurements, and details about fruit. At one point we stopped for like 20 minutes to talk about some oranges. He was trying to give the tour in both Spanish in English but it didn't seem like he was using one language and then saying the same thing in the other. He was just kind of jumping back and forth from language to language so I'm glad that I understood both. I thought it was pretty interesting that he was saying that the grapes and other species of fruit in this area are really healthy because Chile is well protected from invasive species and fugus and such. This is because it is surrounded by the sea on the west and the Andes Mountains on the east. How wonderful! We went to a pisco plant on this tour and at the end of this part of the tour we got to try the pisco... it was like 80% alcohol!! The only thing good I can say about it is it really warmed me up on such a cold day! For lunch they took us to this restaurant where they cook the food with solar power in these little containers outside. We had the choice between Chicken and goat and I was safe and chose the Chicken. A couple of my friends were adventurous and chose the goat though and it looked like it must have been killed that day or something...later we went up further into the mountains and go to see some amazing views! It was so beautiful.
That night it was so cold we couldn't decide wether or not to try and go out, so after we ate dinner at this overly americanized restaurant we bought some pastries and wine (wine is really cheap here!) and hung out in our room and bonded. It was good fun!