GOOD NEWS!
I changed my keyboard to an international setting and now I learned how to make accent marks! Instead of copying and pasting from Google translate I just have to do key combinations :) I'm pretty stoked about that, I feel smart.
Funny story my host dad told me the other day: A past gringa's real dad asked him how old he was but doesn't speak much Spanish. He said ¿Cuantos anos tiene? To you, that probably looks right,but he missed a crucial tilde above the n. He should've said ¿Cuántos años tiene? Instead of saying "How old are you?" He asked Wladimir "How many anus's do you have?"
Speaking is coming to me soooo much better now. I must have just talked to my host mom for two hours straight and only struggled with a few words I had never learned. I love that I'm able to explain the concept and then they can teach me the word I lacked. The best thing is that I don't hesitate anymore. I just jump right in. They looove to talk here, love to chit chat, love to fill the silence with any chitter chatter in their mind. I don't sit and figure out what I'm going to say anymore, I just jump in. I'm also not afraid to ask for directions, talk to store personel for help. I can't leave this country.
Something that freaked me out yesterday, that some of you might have noticed I tweeted about, was the moon. I was doing homework hardcore (for once) and I looked up and noticed a sliver of light through the lace/drapes of my window and noticed it was the moon. I realized that its the same moon that you see in the United States. It really pulled me back home for a second, made me feel not so far away. I started thinking about the differences between here and home, the climate, the people, the relations. Its just crazy how there are different worlds within this world.
I love the culiquitaca dance/song. I'll have to videotape it one day and show everybody.
Cata taught me, Catalina. The one I met on the dieciocho holiday. She's such a sweet heart! You might have noticed a bunch of pictures of me and her on facebook, haha, her idea. Poor girl was so bored. I had no nail polish nor magazines (she's 15). I always got confused when people called for her because they'd say "Catita! o Cata!" which sounds really close to "Cati! o Catita!" jaja Actually they use the same nickname for the both of us: Cata o Catita.
Wellllll, I've got my bus tickets to Santiago... which leaves... TONIGHT. Holy shit. Thats exciting! I cannot wait to leave my computer here for 6 days. I hate being so attached to it. I don't mean to be, I'm not inseperable from it, but I always find myself on it. And getting distracted from tareas haha.
What else to say.
I'll have a hell of a lot to blog about when I get back from Buenos Aires I know. Until then!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Dia de fiestas patrias
YESterday I went to Dichato and Tome with Sean (my friend from SCSU who up and moved to Santiago in June) and his friend Dan (also from SCSU but a different year). We took a bunch of random buses to get there. Pretty much watched the sunset over the beach. It was fantaaastic/beautiful. Had Escudo, vino, and the freshest empanadas de manchas (razorclams) ever. Can't wait to get back there too, like Lota. Theres just so much to see/do. On the way there we saw this park with a bunch of fake dinosaurs that I totally need to see.
After the beach we hung out in a house of Dan's friend in Dichato. She was really nice and excited to speak Spanglish with us.
Entonces, el dia de fiestas patrias
Well today started out kinda boring, it was hard to get going and speak Spanish, especially with Hayley around. If there is another gringo around I just lose all confidence and rely on them. But the day got better. After lunch we socialized, danced some cueca, drank some delicious ponche.
My mom, aunt, cousin, other aunt, dad, Hayley, and I were all learning to dance in my room. They taught me some more of the cueca and a while bunch of other Latin American dances that were really fun. After that, Hayley and I tried to teach them the Electric Slide and the Cha Cha slide. I have to buy some CDs down here and burn my mom those songs, she loved learning to dance them!
After the beach we hung out in a house of Dan's friend in Dichato. She was really nice and excited to speak Spanglish with us.
Entonces, el dia de fiestas patrias
Well today started out kinda boring, it was hard to get going and speak Spanish, especially with Hayley around. If there is another gringo around I just lose all confidence and rely on them. But the day got better. After lunch we socialized, danced some cueca, drank some delicious ponche.
My mom, aunt, cousin, other aunt, dad, Hayley, and I were all learning to dance in my room. They taught me some more of the cueca and a while bunch of other Latin American dances that were really fun. After that, Hayley and I tried to teach them the Electric Slide and the Cha Cha slide. I have to buy some CDs down here and burn my mom those songs, she loved learning to dance them!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Busy Bee.
I've just been so busy I haven't been able to blog much! Aahhh and these last few and next few days have been/will be especially packed.
One thing I forgot to mention about skiing was that there was one point that I took the lift to the top of the mountain and I wasn't able to ski down. Therefore I took off my skis and slid down on my butt. For probably about 200 feet or more and again but in shorter incrimants. I really wish someone would've gotten a picture, it was sooo funny! After a while some really petit woman came sliding down next to me and said in English "Thanks for the idea! I can't ski this one either!" haha
Well Saturday after skiing my whole body just ACHED like hell. Buuut Cheryl, Hayley, Alison and I needed to get to the travel agency very early to square away our Argentina trip. We made it to Turismo Gestur in the morning. Paulina was the agent who helped us plan the trip and she was very nice. We found out she had hosted students from California before so she was able to speak really clearly for us.
What ended up happening was she couldn't book our hotel for the next day therefore our trip got bumped back to the 24th of September. But that wasn't bad news at all: for 100 dollars less we get to stay an extra night and also stop in Uraguay for about 7 or 8 hours. The whole package deal we got for 360 dollars included: plane tickets, four nights at a hotel, transportation from airport to hotel, breakfast every day, ticket vouchers to some discotheques, and a city tour. We are all SO STOKED!
On Sunday and Monday me and Lindsay hung out a lot and did .... next to no homework, haha. My dad liked talking to her a lot so that didn't help much, but it was nice he wanted to talk with us. Lindsay and I watched this movie called The Linguists which you can watch for free at http://thelinguists.com. Its SO SWEET, and I recomend it to everybody.
Monday night though there was a welcome dinner for international students at la U de C and I met some really nice people from Germany, Mexico, and France. They served us vino tinto and empanadas, my favorite :)
Unfortunately I didn't get any last names nor numbers so I'm not sure when I'll see them again, but I have a feeling some other gringos did and we'll see them on the bar strip soon.
After that welcome dinner we went to a bar called "The Beer Place." Yes, it has an English name. Its really close to campus. There we just socialized some more, obviously ordered beers, and just had a good night.
I went to bed at like 3 or 3:30 because I was talking to people online, and I had to get up at 6 to make it to campus by 8 to go to Lota. Lota was AWESOME. We only had to pay about 500 pesos to get there, pretty cheap. First we had a presentation at this school and helped some students practice their English. Then we saw a semi-boring museum. After that we got to walk through this INCREDIBLY beautiful park in Lota right on the beach. I'll have to wait for others to post pictures and steal them because after the museum my camera died, unfortunately! We ran around there like a bunch of kids. Loved it. I know for sure I'm going back someday before I leave.
After eating lunch (of which I ate a salad and split a bottle of vino tinto with other gringos) we went down to some legitimate mines. It was so cute we got to wear the lights on our head and ride a swinging cage all the way down into the mines. The tour guide was kind of boring so Jess and I amused ourselves by somewhat splitting off from the group and exploring places we weren't supposed to.
I was so pooped after that I fell asleep on the bus ride home! Which is something I usually can't do. I'm still tired now, but I need to finish up some homework due tomorrow for Ostrias class. After his class I'm going to the travel agent again to really set in stone this trip since there was problems with my credit card last time.
After THAT tomorrow theres a big party on campus where everybody gets wasted and dances the cueca! Apparently its huge tradition and all the students go. I'm pretty stoked! My brother might come too. Hasta luego.
One thing I forgot to mention about skiing was that there was one point that I took the lift to the top of the mountain and I wasn't able to ski down. Therefore I took off my skis and slid down on my butt. For probably about 200 feet or more and again but in shorter incrimants. I really wish someone would've gotten a picture, it was sooo funny! After a while some really petit woman came sliding down next to me and said in English "Thanks for the idea! I can't ski this one either!" haha
Well Saturday after skiing my whole body just ACHED like hell. Buuut Cheryl, Hayley, Alison and I needed to get to the travel agency very early to square away our Argentina trip. We made it to Turismo Gestur in the morning. Paulina was the agent who helped us plan the trip and she was very nice. We found out she had hosted students from California before so she was able to speak really clearly for us.
What ended up happening was she couldn't book our hotel for the next day therefore our trip got bumped back to the 24th of September. But that wasn't bad news at all: for 100 dollars less we get to stay an extra night and also stop in Uraguay for about 7 or 8 hours. The whole package deal we got for 360 dollars included: plane tickets, four nights at a hotel, transportation from airport to hotel, breakfast every day, ticket vouchers to some discotheques, and a city tour. We are all SO STOKED!
On Sunday and Monday me and Lindsay hung out a lot and did .... next to no homework, haha. My dad liked talking to her a lot so that didn't help much, but it was nice he wanted to talk with us. Lindsay and I watched this movie called The Linguists which you can watch for free at http://thelinguists.com. Its SO SWEET, and I recomend it to everybody.
Monday night though there was a welcome dinner for international students at la U de C and I met some really nice people from Germany, Mexico, and France. They served us vino tinto and empanadas, my favorite :)
Unfortunately I didn't get any last names nor numbers so I'm not sure when I'll see them again, but I have a feeling some other gringos did and we'll see them on the bar strip soon.
After that welcome dinner we went to a bar called "The Beer Place." Yes, it has an English name. Its really close to campus. There we just socialized some more, obviously ordered beers, and just had a good night.
I went to bed at like 3 or 3:30 because I was talking to people online, and I had to get up at 6 to make it to campus by 8 to go to Lota. Lota was AWESOME. We only had to pay about 500 pesos to get there, pretty cheap. First we had a presentation at this school and helped some students practice their English. Then we saw a semi-boring museum. After that we got to walk through this INCREDIBLY beautiful park in Lota right on the beach. I'll have to wait for others to post pictures and steal them because after the museum my camera died, unfortunately! We ran around there like a bunch of kids. Loved it. I know for sure I'm going back someday before I leave.
After eating lunch (of which I ate a salad and split a bottle of vino tinto with other gringos) we went down to some legitimate mines. It was so cute we got to wear the lights on our head and ride a swinging cage all the way down into the mines. The tour guide was kind of boring so Jess and I amused ourselves by somewhat splitting off from the group and exploring places we weren't supposed to.
I was so pooped after that I fell asleep on the bus ride home! Which is something I usually can't do. I'm still tired now, but I need to finish up some homework due tomorrow for Ostrias class. After his class I'm going to the travel agent again to really set in stone this trip since there was problems with my credit card last time.
After THAT tomorrow theres a big party on campus where everybody gets wasted and dances the cueca! Apparently its huge tradition and all the students go. I'm pretty stoked! My brother might come too. Hasta luego.
Friday, September 11, 2009
I SKIED! ME! I SKIED!
I'm sooo sore! But skiing was SO WORTH IT!
The whole group of us, minus a few, had to get up sooo early to make it to the university so we could all take a bus up to las termas de Chillan. We all got there before 7 and I think we left by 7:30 or so? Anyway, about 2/3 of the way there we stopped at this small shop to rent ski and snowboard equipment for really cheap. It was only 6 mil pesos (12 bucks) for poles, boots, and skis. Everyone loaded up their stuff again and eventually we made it. The ride to las termas de Chillan took about 2 or 3 ish hours total I think... could've been shorter if we weren't on a stupid micro.
Well we got there, ate some food, geared up, paid half day and half price for our lift tickets (11 mil pesos or 22 dollars) and soon I found my self strapped to two skis holding two poles and not the slightest idea how to use them. Several times I asked myself what I got myself into...
Eventually Cheryl taught me how to ski: toes pointed in to stop, squat kind of like you're almost going to sit in a chair, keep balanced, et cetera.
After several runs, I got the hang of it! There were a bunch of long and winding trails we could take, and also some straight down simple ones.
There was one point where I was with Allison and Patsy (a chilean student who accompanys us sometimes) decided to take a lift we had never taken before. So we hopped on and sat. And went up... and up.... and up.... and up.... and up...
We kept going and all we could say was "Ohhhh mierda.... ohh mierda.... ohhh mierda... vamos a morir... vamos a morir...." (Translation, Oh shit, we're going to die.)
We get off the ski lift at the top and look down to our future death. IT WAS SO HIGH and we could have gone higher! The view was SPECTACULAR though! Outrageously beautiful! My camera was nice to me today too and WORKED well! SEE FACEBOOK FOR THOSE SHOTS, SOOO BEAUTIFUL! It was all sun today so I got all sorts of wonderful light and we could see so far from the top....
I'm so glad I did this, it was so insanely worth what I spent. It was only about 35 dollars for the whole day and thats pretty decent for a ski resort!
Words just can't describe, unfortunately...
The ride home was HELL but I don't even want to talk about it because the day was so wonderful :)
CAN'T WAIT TO PLAN MY TRIP TO ARGENTINA TOMORROW! I'm getting up super early to meet Cheryl, Hayley, and Allison at la plaza en el centro.
The whole group of us, minus a few, had to get up sooo early to make it to the university so we could all take a bus up to las termas de Chillan. We all got there before 7 and I think we left by 7:30 or so? Anyway, about 2/3 of the way there we stopped at this small shop to rent ski and snowboard equipment for really cheap. It was only 6 mil pesos (12 bucks) for poles, boots, and skis. Everyone loaded up their stuff again and eventually we made it. The ride to las termas de Chillan took about 2 or 3 ish hours total I think... could've been shorter if we weren't on a stupid micro.
Well we got there, ate some food, geared up, paid half day and half price for our lift tickets (11 mil pesos or 22 dollars) and soon I found my self strapped to two skis holding two poles and not the slightest idea how to use them. Several times I asked myself what I got myself into...
Eventually Cheryl taught me how to ski: toes pointed in to stop, squat kind of like you're almost going to sit in a chair, keep balanced, et cetera.
After several runs, I got the hang of it! There were a bunch of long and winding trails we could take, and also some straight down simple ones.
There was one point where I was with Allison and Patsy (a chilean student who accompanys us sometimes) decided to take a lift we had never taken before. So we hopped on and sat. And went up... and up.... and up.... and up.... and up...
We kept going and all we could say was "Ohhhh mierda.... ohh mierda.... ohhh mierda... vamos a morir... vamos a morir...." (Translation, Oh shit, we're going to die.)
We get off the ski lift at the top and look down to our future death. IT WAS SO HIGH and we could have gone higher! The view was SPECTACULAR though! Outrageously beautiful! My camera was nice to me today too and WORKED well! SEE FACEBOOK FOR THOSE SHOTS, SOOO BEAUTIFUL! It was all sun today so I got all sorts of wonderful light and we could see so far from the top....
I'm so glad I did this, it was so insanely worth what I spent. It was only about 35 dollars for the whole day and thats pretty decent for a ski resort!
Words just can't describe, unfortunately...
The ride home was HELL but I don't even want to talk about it because the day was so wonderful :)
CAN'T WAIT TO PLAN MY TRIP TO ARGENTINA TOMORROW! I'm getting up super early to meet Cheryl, Hayley, and Allison at la plaza en el centro.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Chile vs Brazil - Pisco Sour
On four hours of sleep and a headache I've had for over 24 hours I managed to get out of bead and navigate downtown for a while before going to class where I understood nothing of what the teacher said again.
Anyway, tonight I went to a house of a friend of the papa chileno of Haylay to watch the Chile verses Brazil game. (Wow, talk about an English sentence with Spanish grammar... what a shame). It was super fun even though there weren't many people there because no matter who is playing, Chileans get so into futbol games. Brazil is the best team in the world and we knew we didn't stand a chance, but the score was only 4 to 2 so its not like Chile was creamed. I also had my first pisco sour. Consensus = YUUMMMMM! So delicious! It tasted like a super sweet lemonade, or a spiked Mike's Hard. Era muy muy rico, buenisimo.
The son of the owner of the house (Spanish grammar in an English sentance again, oops) was really cool and I hope Hayley gets him to go to a discotheque with us sometime. His name was Mataias I think, and they called him Mati. Tonight Hayley, Cheryl, and Christina and I were talking about ditching our only class next week to fly up to Macchu Picchu or Buenos Aires totally spur of the moment. I'm prepared to invest in that... I'm only down here as a 19 year old once, you know?
The partido and the pisco sour were the only things really worth mentioning today I guess. I'm starting to feel like I live here and even not taking my camera everywhere anymore (though I should probably still do that.)
Its such a weird feeling to know where stuff is... I'm really getting to know my barrio and the surrounding city. Driving back from the guy's house we watched the game at today, I practically could've drove us home. I also have a good sense of direction. But since I'm really starting to know my way around, know how to take public transportation, know how to communicate, its starting to feel normal to wake up and live here day to day. Thats cool. And a little freaky. I guess its been almost 3 weeks, or almost a month. Is that normal? I don't care. I'm happy to be here.
Anyway, tonight I went to a house of a friend of the papa chileno of Haylay to watch the Chile verses Brazil game. (Wow, talk about an English sentence with Spanish grammar... what a shame). It was super fun even though there weren't many people there because no matter who is playing, Chileans get so into futbol games. Brazil is the best team in the world and we knew we didn't stand a chance, but the score was only 4 to 2 so its not like Chile was creamed. I also had my first pisco sour. Consensus = YUUMMMMM! So delicious! It tasted like a super sweet lemonade, or a spiked Mike's Hard. Era muy muy rico, buenisimo.
The son of the owner of the house (Spanish grammar in an English sentance again, oops) was really cool and I hope Hayley gets him to go to a discotheque with us sometime. His name was Mataias I think, and they called him Mati. Tonight Hayley, Cheryl, and Christina and I were talking about ditching our only class next week to fly up to Macchu Picchu or Buenos Aires totally spur of the moment. I'm prepared to invest in that... I'm only down here as a 19 year old once, you know?
The partido and the pisco sour were the only things really worth mentioning today I guess. I'm starting to feel like I live here and even not taking my camera everywhere anymore (though I should probably still do that.)
Its such a weird feeling to know where stuff is... I'm really getting to know my barrio and the surrounding city. Driving back from the guy's house we watched the game at today, I practically could've drove us home. I also have a good sense of direction. But since I'm really starting to know my way around, know how to take public transportation, know how to communicate, its starting to feel normal to wake up and live here day to day. Thats cool. And a little freaky. I guess its been almost 3 weeks, or almost a month. Is that normal? I don't care. I'm happy to be here.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Well I'm legal now.
I finally finished registering my visa. It was kinda frustrating because the lady behind the desk noticed I wasn't very good at Spanish and then just completely gave up on me and just gestured from then on instead of even attempting to speak. Grrrr I'd rather they try and understand her than give up on communicating. I mean I came here to learn Spanish in the first place.
We walked from there all the way downtown to change some of our American money and apparently it was the same place Hayley exchanged her money too and we know it was a good rate: 550 pesos to the dollar. Perfect. I've got cash again.
The plaza de independencia that we got to walk through to get to el centro is beautiful. I love that place and people of all ages were just chilling EVERYwhere. On the fountains, on the grass, on the benches, at the street vendors. Love it.
Today, like every other day I guess, guys of all ages try to hit on us by saying "Hello, how are you?" because its the only English they know (as I explained in an earlier blog). Anyway, today I really threw them off because I turned around to face one of them with a confused look on my face. He said it again "Hellllllooooo, How you?" And I shook my head and said "Je ne t'endends, je ne parle pas anglais." (For those of you who don't speak French, I said "I don't understand you, I don't speak English) And he was SO THROWN OFF he just said "que?" hahaha. It was FANTASTIC. I'm going to do that from now on.
Random...
List of things I won't be able to live without when I go back to the states:
-Manjar
-Fresh baked bread
-Cheap and fresh fruits
-Chilean empanadas
-my mommy y daddy chilenos
-my guatero for the winters
-the thing in the kitchen that heats up water in 2 seconds
-free cueca/salsa classes
-fresh miel (honey)
I am sure that this list will grow as the weeks continue to pass.
I remembered at the study abroad orientation they said we'd start asking "Why don't we do it like this in the states?" And now I'm really starting to feel it.
We walked from there all the way downtown to change some of our American money and apparently it was the same place Hayley exchanged her money too and we know it was a good rate: 550 pesos to the dollar. Perfect. I've got cash again.
The plaza de independencia that we got to walk through to get to el centro is beautiful. I love that place and people of all ages were just chilling EVERYwhere. On the fountains, on the grass, on the benches, at the street vendors. Love it.
Today, like every other day I guess, guys of all ages try to hit on us by saying "Hello, how are you?" because its the only English they know (as I explained in an earlier blog). Anyway, today I really threw them off because I turned around to face one of them with a confused look on my face. He said it again "Hellllllooooo, How you?" And I shook my head and said "Je ne t'endends, je ne parle pas anglais." (For those of you who don't speak French, I said "I don't understand you, I don't speak English) And he was SO THROWN OFF he just said "que?" hahaha. It was FANTASTIC. I'm going to do that from now on.
Random...
List of things I won't be able to live without when I go back to the states:
-Manjar
-Fresh baked bread
-Cheap and fresh fruits
-Chilean empanadas
-my mommy y daddy chilenos
-my guatero for the winters
-the thing in the kitchen that heats up water in 2 seconds
-free cueca/salsa classes
-fresh miel (honey)
I am sure that this list will grow as the weeks continue to pass.
I remembered at the study abroad orientation they said we'd start asking "Why don't we do it like this in the states?" And now I'm really starting to feel it.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Worst language slip-up thus far.
So I'm in the car picking up my brother and dropping off my aunt with my mom and my mom is excitedly telling my brother that I learned to cueca and salsa tonight at this nearby high school for free. She jokes with him that he should go (her and I both knowing he doesn't like to and cannot dance) and I say "SI ven conmigo! Necesito un pa, par, paja...ro?" Well I was TRYING to say I need a dance partner (pareja), but everyone in the car just BURSTS out laughing.
So I'm flustered I said something embarrassing and I can't speak Spanish so in English I'm like "What did I say? WHat happened?!"
Well after Vlado manages to catch his breath he told me I just said that I needed to jerk-off. Isn't that wonderful. I don't think they stopped laughing for about ten minutes. The funny thing is, I'm telling all sorts of people on skype this story and I keep forgetting the word for partner but remembering the word for jerk-off. This might get me in trouble, hahahaha.
Wellllllll
before THAT whole ordeal I was at a local high school learning the CUECA! Check it out! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cueca) And I got a refresher on the salsa too. Dang I love latin american dances! Anyway the cueca is the national dance of Chile and its really complicated, but super fun, I'm so glad I'm starting to learn it. This class we went to is free every Monday and Thursday and the school is just a 5 minute walk from my house! I went with Trevor, Karl, Adrianne, Brenna, Al, and Jess. I was the odd one out so I didn't get to dance with any of them but it was still super fun. It was only about an hour or so. The instructor was male and suuuper nice and veeerry good at dancing obviously. I always love dancing with the instructors, they make me look good.
Well I had class with Ostria (big bushy white eyebrows guy) today and it gets better each class period. I can understand more and more, plus, I just found out he publishes his notes on our website. SCORE!
So I'm flustered I said something embarrassing and I can't speak Spanish so in English I'm like "What did I say? WHat happened?!"
Well after Vlado manages to catch his breath he told me I just said that I needed to jerk-off. Isn't that wonderful. I don't think they stopped laughing for about ten minutes. The funny thing is, I'm telling all sorts of people on skype this story and I keep forgetting the word for partner but remembering the word for jerk-off. This might get me in trouble, hahahaha.
Wellllllll
before THAT whole ordeal I was at a local high school learning the CUECA! Check it out! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cueca) And I got a refresher on the salsa too. Dang I love latin american dances! Anyway the cueca is the national dance of Chile and its really complicated, but super fun, I'm so glad I'm starting to learn it. This class we went to is free every Monday and Thursday and the school is just a 5 minute walk from my house! I went with Trevor, Karl, Adrianne, Brenna, Al, and Jess. I was the odd one out so I didn't get to dance with any of them but it was still super fun. It was only about an hour or so. The instructor was male and suuuper nice and veeerry good at dancing obviously. I always love dancing with the instructors, they make me look good.
Well I had class with Ostria (big bushy white eyebrows guy) today and it gets better each class period. I can understand more and more, plus, I just found out he publishes his notes on our website. SCORE!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
A weekend & 254 photos to Blog about
Hole.ee.shit.
I have a loooot to blog about and no time to do it.
I feel like I'm going to be up all night updating this thing.
Before I forget, I met some primitos today! Some little cousins! One was Kevin and he was about 10 years old maybe, and Liset could've been 6 or so. I'm really bad with ages but they were little and adorable. She was sooo shy! Her aunt kept trying to get her to speak in English becuase she's learning it at her school down here, but she was way too shy.
Lets start from Thursday.
I didn't have morning class, so I didn't have to go to campus till 12. At 12 we had class with Omar, my host mom's brother who is also the Chilean director. I know I'm going to loooove his class. I have so far, these past two weeks I've had him. In his class we talk about the Chilean accent, Chilean way of life, and just any random interesting thing about Chile that comes up! He's so knowledgeable about Chile and the differences there are between Chile and America and its just so damn fascinating I don't know where 2 hours go. I wish all my classes were like Omar's.
Well after his class I think I hung out on campus for a while and then went home for a bit before heading to Hayley's to work on that ridiculously long difficult article we were assigned for Ostria's class. Hours later we had managed to decipher about 4 of the 8 pages we were assigned and it was PAINFUL. We'd have to read the sentance...translate the words we didnt know, look up half those words in an online ENGLISH dictionary, and then read the sentance again to get the gist of it, and finally put all the sentances in the paragraph together to try and figure out the main point. Yeah. Ouch.
Jess came over and we were kinda sorta supposed to work on it but we all chit-chatted and putzed on our computers instead. She left, and Hayley and I ended up staying up all night packing and watching Youtube videos. Damn Youtube.
Well we got up at 7ish... more like, I got up at 7ish and Hayley stayed in bed till about 7:50. We ate some desayuno, packed up the car and hit the road.
Pretty much as soon as the sun was on our faces in the back of the car, Hayley and I slept like guaguas.
2 and a half hours later we woke up on quite the bumpy driveway to my family's cabin outside of Chillán. We unload our crap and AnaMaria, Hayley's host mom, cooks this massive almuerzo that we eat around 11:30. Next we pack our swimsuits and head over to las termas de Chillán, aka, NATURAL HOTSPRINGS FROM A VOLCANO.
Froze our BUTTS off climbing up to a building where we could change, that had NO heat. Walked, barefoot, through some snow back down to the termas, and climbed in the super dirty water.
Everything was sooo worth it.
Hayley and I sat and chatted in those termas for a long time. Made some friends for the day too. One guy we met had traveled to California, Hawaii, Peru, and all sorts of other countries in order to surf. Told us the best place to surf was on Chile's coast. But we're not really sure if he was just being proud of his country or not :P
We think we saw a Russian couple on their honey moon. I wish we would've talked to them. They didn't hang out in our terma very long, though.
Cheryl had been skiing all day with her host family and she joined up with Hayley and I to stay at my family's cabin because she didn't want to go home. We had once and watched a fantastic movie on friday night called "Has visto el Jardin?" But I don't think that was the title. It was in English so I'm sure I can find it somewhere.
Anyway after Andres and AnaMaria went to bed we raided the kitchen, it was fantastic. Miel (honey) is my new favorite food to put in my tea and to eat with crackers.
When we made some jelly (marmalada) sandwiches, I was reminded of a Dane Cook routine and ended up mixing up the words and said "Gimmie the twat, you jelly!" and then Cheryl messed it up later saying "Gimmie some waffles you twat!" Man, we fell laughing on that kitchen floor many-a-times.
We played some UNO too, a game I hadn't played in years.
That night, and Saturday night as well, the three of us shared a bed to preserve warmth. It was the best idea ever. It was SOOO cold at night!
Saturday morning we got up, packed up stuff for skiing and termas just in case, and drove up to the mountain top. Skiing endup being way more expensive than we thought so we decided to hike up behind las termas for a while. It was AMAZING. Only my facebook pictures can half justify the sweet views we saw from the top of a smaller peak. Beautiful!
We climbed down the mini-mountain to drive further up with Hayley's parents. We ended up just hopping in las termas again, it was soo nice.
The last night at the cabin we watched "Como perder un hombre en diez dias" one of my FAVORITE movies in English (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days). It was badly dubbed, however. After that Hayley taught us how to play this sweeeeet game called Phase 10 and I think I'm going to have to buy it soon.
On the way home on Sunday we stopped in the actual city of Chillán to shop and walk around. It was sooo cute! I bought a cute scarf at one of the vendors for 1000 pesos. Thats super cheap (less than 2 dollars) but Hayley's dad told me I should have bartered. I knew that, I just would like to be a little bit more confident in my Spanish before I try to argue prices.
Before Chillán we also stopped at some cuervas (caves) and Andres told us a story that cow thieves used to hide there, years and years ago... it was hard to pay attention to him because the sights were so beautiful.
Hayley's host mom and dad drove me a little crazy sometimes, but they're so cute. Andres, the dad, is just in love with everything. Anything you mention he says "Oh me enCANta (fill in the blank"). And they both always say "Aaaaaaaaaaaah ya." LOVE IT. He'd always be helping her and holding her hand because she recently had shoulder surgery. AnaMaria would almost never understand what we said the first time but she just wanted everyone to be comfortable so she tried her hardest. We'd say like "Oh today we want to hike instead of the termas" and the next thing she'd say is "You know, you can hike instead if you don't want to sit in the termas." haha oh she's lovely though.
My host mommy was very sick when I came home today :(
It was a problem with her heart and half her family was over so I was pretty nervous. I guess she's been kind of sick all weekend and she thinks she'll get better tomorrow. I hope so.
I really missed my host family while I was gone! And my computer a little bit too, since its my only window to the American/familiar world.
Tomorrow I have class with Luz at 10 and Ostria at 11. Not excited. Need sleep.
I wish I could remember more to blog about it. FML.
I have a loooot to blog about and no time to do it.
I feel like I'm going to be up all night updating this thing.
Before I forget, I met some primitos today! Some little cousins! One was Kevin and he was about 10 years old maybe, and Liset could've been 6 or so. I'm really bad with ages but they were little and adorable. She was sooo shy! Her aunt kept trying to get her to speak in English becuase she's learning it at her school down here, but she was way too shy.
Lets start from Thursday.
I didn't have morning class, so I didn't have to go to campus till 12. At 12 we had class with Omar, my host mom's brother who is also the Chilean director. I know I'm going to loooove his class. I have so far, these past two weeks I've had him. In his class we talk about the Chilean accent, Chilean way of life, and just any random interesting thing about Chile that comes up! He's so knowledgeable about Chile and the differences there are between Chile and America and its just so damn fascinating I don't know where 2 hours go. I wish all my classes were like Omar's.
Well after his class I think I hung out on campus for a while and then went home for a bit before heading to Hayley's to work on that ridiculously long difficult article we were assigned for Ostria's class. Hours later we had managed to decipher about 4 of the 8 pages we were assigned and it was PAINFUL. We'd have to read the sentance...translate the words we didnt know, look up half those words in an online ENGLISH dictionary, and then read the sentance again to get the gist of it, and finally put all the sentances in the paragraph together to try and figure out the main point. Yeah. Ouch.
Jess came over and we were kinda sorta supposed to work on it but we all chit-chatted and putzed on our computers instead. She left, and Hayley and I ended up staying up all night packing and watching Youtube videos. Damn Youtube.
Well we got up at 7ish... more like, I got up at 7ish and Hayley stayed in bed till about 7:50. We ate some desayuno, packed up the car and hit the road.
Pretty much as soon as the sun was on our faces in the back of the car, Hayley and I slept like guaguas.
2 and a half hours later we woke up on quite the bumpy driveway to my family's cabin outside of Chillán. We unload our crap and AnaMaria, Hayley's host mom, cooks this massive almuerzo that we eat around 11:30. Next we pack our swimsuits and head over to las termas de Chillán, aka, NATURAL HOTSPRINGS FROM A VOLCANO.
Froze our BUTTS off climbing up to a building where we could change, that had NO heat. Walked, barefoot, through some snow back down to the termas, and climbed in the super dirty water.
Everything was sooo worth it.
Hayley and I sat and chatted in those termas for a long time. Made some friends for the day too. One guy we met had traveled to California, Hawaii, Peru, and all sorts of other countries in order to surf. Told us the best place to surf was on Chile's coast. But we're not really sure if he was just being proud of his country or not :P
We think we saw a Russian couple on their honey moon. I wish we would've talked to them. They didn't hang out in our terma very long, though.
Cheryl had been skiing all day with her host family and she joined up with Hayley and I to stay at my family's cabin because she didn't want to go home. We had once and watched a fantastic movie on friday night called "Has visto el Jardin?" But I don't think that was the title. It was in English so I'm sure I can find it somewhere.
Anyway after Andres and AnaMaria went to bed we raided the kitchen, it was fantastic. Miel (honey) is my new favorite food to put in my tea and to eat with crackers.
When we made some jelly (marmalada) sandwiches, I was reminded of a Dane Cook routine and ended up mixing up the words and said "Gimmie the twat, you jelly!" and then Cheryl messed it up later saying "Gimmie some waffles you twat!" Man, we fell laughing on that kitchen floor many-a-times.
We played some UNO too, a game I hadn't played in years.
That night, and Saturday night as well, the three of us shared a bed to preserve warmth. It was the best idea ever. It was SOOO cold at night!
Saturday morning we got up, packed up stuff for skiing and termas just in case, and drove up to the mountain top. Skiing endup being way more expensive than we thought so we decided to hike up behind las termas for a while. It was AMAZING. Only my facebook pictures can half justify the sweet views we saw from the top of a smaller peak. Beautiful!
We climbed down the mini-mountain to drive further up with Hayley's parents. We ended up just hopping in las termas again, it was soo nice.
The last night at the cabin we watched "Como perder un hombre en diez dias" one of my FAVORITE movies in English (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days). It was badly dubbed, however. After that Hayley taught us how to play this sweeeeet game called Phase 10 and I think I'm going to have to buy it soon.
On the way home on Sunday we stopped in the actual city of Chillán to shop and walk around. It was sooo cute! I bought a cute scarf at one of the vendors for 1000 pesos. Thats super cheap (less than 2 dollars) but Hayley's dad told me I should have bartered. I knew that, I just would like to be a little bit more confident in my Spanish before I try to argue prices.
Before Chillán we also stopped at some cuervas (caves) and Andres told us a story that cow thieves used to hide there, years and years ago... it was hard to pay attention to him because the sights were so beautiful.
Hayley's host mom and dad drove me a little crazy sometimes, but they're so cute. Andres, the dad, is just in love with everything. Anything you mention he says "Oh me enCANta (fill in the blank"). And they both always say "Aaaaaaaaaaaah ya." LOVE IT. He'd always be helping her and holding her hand because she recently had shoulder surgery. AnaMaria would almost never understand what we said the first time but she just wanted everyone to be comfortable so she tried her hardest. We'd say like "Oh today we want to hike instead of the termas" and the next thing she'd say is "You know, you can hike instead if you don't want to sit in the termas." haha oh she's lovely though.
My host mommy was very sick when I came home today :(
It was a problem with her heart and half her family was over so I was pretty nervous. I guess she's been kind of sick all weekend and she thinks she'll get better tomorrow. I hope so.
I really missed my host family while I was gone! And my computer a little bit too, since its my only window to the American/familiar world.
Tomorrow I have class with Luz at 10 and Ostria at 11. Not excited. Need sleep.
I wish I could remember more to blog about it. FML.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
"Take it Easy" (Eagles)
Woke up with awful feelings. Physically sick feelings, but caused by emotions sort of thing. Its the one year anniversary of my Grandfather's death and it still slaps me in the face sometimes being my first funeral of someone so close to me. It literally kept me from speaking Spanish this morning with my family, kept me from getting out of bed, kept me from being motivated to call someone or do homework. I just kept thinking about everything that happened a year ago today. I remember exactly where I was sitting in between Atwood and the PAC where I was forced to sit down and cry becuase I my knees gave out when my mom told me he was dying. My terrible memory of course remembers those moments I'd rather for get. Ugh, life.
Eventually I showered and went to class via Lindsay's host dad. We all, again, ghetto packed into this pick-up truck. We walked over to the artes y humanidades building but of course class ended up being on the opposite end of campus hiding behind some other buildings. It turned out to be pretty sweet though, we do a lot of computer activities in this class, so at least I can understand that much. It was funny because they blocked social networking sites and translators about 10 minutes after everyone logged in, but we all found ways around it. Felt like high school, ha.
After that, I chilled with Lindsay and Jessica on the steps for a while as Lindsay was supposed to be doing her journals for Luz's class. We ended up talking instead. Going to class and being with people really helped me, I just wish I could see that to be motivated to get up and out to help myself. There is no way I could retrace the conversation, but I know the conclusion was that the most important thing in life is to be happy. Yeah, things happen, other emotions are necessary. But once they're felt and dealth with, its not right to sit on sadness or anger for too long. Its not worth it.
I came home from then, had own-say, got teased by my papa that I had a pololo since I was home so much later from class, and then watched Donde esta Elisa. Well, Elisa died. Chile is devastated. It is like the most popular Chilean telenovela, and I'm not going to lie, I am hooked.
Now I'm curled up in bed with my guatero (that thing full of hot water my mama puts in my bed at night to keep me warm) and trying to figure out if I want to run tomorrow. I think I need to, I ate too much pan again. I found out its going to be ZERO celcius tomorrow. AKA 32 degrees fahrenheit in the morning. NNnooOOooo! It was like 75 at one point last week! Meh, I'll just suck it up, becuase soon it'll get really cold in St.Cloud and I'll be on the beach :)
Eventually I showered and went to class via Lindsay's host dad. We all, again, ghetto packed into this pick-up truck. We walked over to the artes y humanidades building but of course class ended up being on the opposite end of campus hiding behind some other buildings. It turned out to be pretty sweet though, we do a lot of computer activities in this class, so at least I can understand that much. It was funny because they blocked social networking sites and translators about 10 minutes after everyone logged in, but we all found ways around it. Felt like high school, ha.
After that, I chilled with Lindsay and Jessica on the steps for a while as Lindsay was supposed to be doing her journals for Luz's class. We ended up talking instead. Going to class and being with people really helped me, I just wish I could see that to be motivated to get up and out to help myself. There is no way I could retrace the conversation, but I know the conclusion was that the most important thing in life is to be happy. Yeah, things happen, other emotions are necessary. But once they're felt and dealth with, its not right to sit on sadness or anger for too long. Its not worth it.
I came home from then, had own-say, got teased by my papa that I had a pololo since I was home so much later from class, and then watched Donde esta Elisa. Well, Elisa died. Chile is devastated. It is like the most popular Chilean telenovela, and I'm not going to lie, I am hooked.
Now I'm curled up in bed with my guatero (that thing full of hot water my mama puts in my bed at night to keep me warm) and trying to figure out if I want to run tomorrow. I think I need to, I ate too much pan again. I found out its going to be ZERO celcius tomorrow. AKA 32 degrees fahrenheit in the morning. NNnooOOooo! It was like 75 at one point last week! Meh, I'll just suck it up, becuase soon it'll get really cold in St.Cloud and I'll be on the beach :)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Hate Luz, but the day turned out alright.
Well.
This morning I got a ride to campus- WOO! Even though I don't mind taking the micro at all, a free ride is better than a paid one. I'm so damn cheap. My host brother is always calling me a jew. No joke.
Well Luz's class ALWAYS drives me crazy, she is the worst professor I have ever had. She should really be teaching middle school, not at the college level. This is the third semester in a row I've had her, and I think I've hated her more and more each semester. Honestly, sometimes she makes us sit around in a circle and talk about our host families and our feelings about Chile. Last time I checked, I paid hundreds of dollars for the credits for this class and I want to learn something dammit, not have group therapy sessions. PLUS: She's so incredibly disorganized, has NO schedule for this semester abroad whatsoever, and never knows how to help us and never bothers to find out. Worst professor, director ever.
I didn't even want to wait for her after class to find out how to finish processing my Visa since I wont be in Conce this weekend when the rest of the gringos are going (I'm going to my family's cabin in the ANDES MOUNTAINS NEAR ARGENTINA).
After chit chatting after class with otros gringos, Hayley and I took the micro home to have almuerzo and after that her, me, and my family went on a little tour of the surrounding boroughs/cities of Conce. Took a buncha pictures! (see fb in a few dias).
My dad and mom were driving us around for a while when all of a sudden Vlado, Hayley and I are getting out of the car and preparing to take this train across the Bio Bio river! It was super cool though, got some sweet shots, learned how to take panoramic pics on my camera too. We switched trains in the actual city of Conce and then accross the Bio Bio we got off in San Pedro de La Paz. It was a cute little city accross the river, we walked through a mall, then walked around, and it started getting super cold so we went to Telepizza and I had my first pizza in, like, months! It was soooo good! My brother, Hayley, and I had really good conversations about politics, history, Americans, Chileans, food, and langauge. My brother didn't believe me that frozen pizzas are super popular in the United States, haha.
After that we took a micro back to el centro in Conce and walked around. I think we went to the top of 4 different floors just for the sake of going somewhere, haha. It was fun though! My brother and I were teaching each other swear words. He taught me "andale la chucha," "No me wayi," and "chupalo" which I already knew. Bwah haha. Don't take those and write them on my wall though (KRISTOPHER!) because I'm friends with people who will know what they mean and its not nice!
Tomorrow, apparently, I don't have class at 10 anymore, since Luz thinks she can just switch up our schedule however she wants it. Sooo I dont have class till 3 technically, but Hayley and I are heading downtown to start her Visa processing and just to shop. I need a Coro Coro Chile jersey de futbol! And a giant flag for my wall. And stuff for people (maybe I should put that off till November or December...).
DAMN the Chilean accent is weird.
Something I keep forgetting to mention in my blog is how they ask questions. Sometimes, the -as ending of a quesion in the tu form turns into -ai. Which is like, where "cachai?" comes from. Its supposed to be really "cachas?." I figured this out lately because a lot of chilenos ask me "como estai?" and they're asking me "como estas?" but it took me so long to figure this out.
THERE ARE SO MANY CHILENISMOS (words unique to Chile).
Like, some spaniards say "peus" at the end of sentances, it just means like, mhmm or yeah. Well Chileans use "pu" or "po" for pues. For inmediatamente they say "al tiro." And they say "yah" just like we do, hahahaha.
My brother always jokes that if I wanted to learn Spanish, I shouldn't have come to Chile, becuase lots of other South American countries don't consider Chileans speaking spanish, they literally call thier language chilian.
I'm still glad I came here though, its so unique. I like that it has its own language. I mean, I can still communicate, and thats what matters. I was thinking today that I have a minimum of 10 more years of my life I can travel and learn and all that. Ten more years! Zach told me about this amaaaazing program for teaching English in foreign countries for free room and board and I for SURE want to do that. I have so much life left! Its like I'm impatient to live it sometimes. No, thats not the rights words.... whatever, I just love traveling and I'm glad I'm only 19 and I have so much life left to live.
Gonna be lame and sleep early tonight. Chao!
This morning I got a ride to campus- WOO! Even though I don't mind taking the micro at all, a free ride is better than a paid one. I'm so damn cheap. My host brother is always calling me a jew. No joke.
Well Luz's class ALWAYS drives me crazy, she is the worst professor I have ever had. She should really be teaching middle school, not at the college level. This is the third semester in a row I've had her, and I think I've hated her more and more each semester. Honestly, sometimes she makes us sit around in a circle and talk about our host families and our feelings about Chile. Last time I checked, I paid hundreds of dollars for the credits for this class and I want to learn something dammit, not have group therapy sessions. PLUS: She's so incredibly disorganized, has NO schedule for this semester abroad whatsoever, and never knows how to help us and never bothers to find out. Worst professor, director ever.
I didn't even want to wait for her after class to find out how to finish processing my Visa since I wont be in Conce this weekend when the rest of the gringos are going (I'm going to my family's cabin in the ANDES MOUNTAINS NEAR ARGENTINA).
After chit chatting after class with otros gringos, Hayley and I took the micro home to have almuerzo and after that her, me, and my family went on a little tour of the surrounding boroughs/cities of Conce. Took a buncha pictures! (see fb in a few dias).
My dad and mom were driving us around for a while when all of a sudden Vlado, Hayley and I are getting out of the car and preparing to take this train across the Bio Bio river! It was super cool though, got some sweet shots, learned how to take panoramic pics on my camera too. We switched trains in the actual city of Conce and then accross the Bio Bio we got off in San Pedro de La Paz. It was a cute little city accross the river, we walked through a mall, then walked around, and it started getting super cold so we went to Telepizza and I had my first pizza in, like, months! It was soooo good! My brother, Hayley, and I had really good conversations about politics, history, Americans, Chileans, food, and langauge. My brother didn't believe me that frozen pizzas are super popular in the United States, haha.
After that we took a micro back to el centro in Conce and walked around. I think we went to the top of 4 different floors just for the sake of going somewhere, haha. It was fun though! My brother and I were teaching each other swear words. He taught me "andale la chucha," "No me wayi," and "chupalo" which I already knew. Bwah haha. Don't take those and write them on my wall though (KRISTOPHER!) because I'm friends with people who will know what they mean and its not nice!
Tomorrow, apparently, I don't have class at 10 anymore, since Luz thinks she can just switch up our schedule however she wants it. Sooo I dont have class till 3 technically, but Hayley and I are heading downtown to start her Visa processing and just to shop. I need a Coro Coro Chile jersey de futbol! And a giant flag for my wall. And stuff for people (maybe I should put that off till November or December...).
DAMN the Chilean accent is weird.
Something I keep forgetting to mention in my blog is how they ask questions. Sometimes, the -as ending of a quesion in the tu form turns into -ai. Which is like, where "cachai?" comes from. Its supposed to be really "cachas?." I figured this out lately because a lot of chilenos ask me "como estai?" and they're asking me "como estas?" but it took me so long to figure this out.
THERE ARE SO MANY CHILENISMOS (words unique to Chile).
Like, some spaniards say "peus" at the end of sentances, it just means like, mhmm or yeah. Well Chileans use "pu" or "po" for pues. For inmediatamente they say "al tiro." And they say "yah" just like we do, hahahaha.
My brother always jokes that if I wanted to learn Spanish, I shouldn't have come to Chile, becuase lots of other South American countries don't consider Chileans speaking spanish, they literally call thier language chilian.
I'm still glad I came here though, its so unique. I like that it has its own language. I mean, I can still communicate, and thats what matters. I was thinking today that I have a minimum of 10 more years of my life I can travel and learn and all that. Ten more years! Zach told me about this amaaaazing program for teaching English in foreign countries for free room and board and I for SURE want to do that. I have so much life left! Its like I'm impatient to live it sometimes. No, thats not the rights words.... whatever, I just love traveling and I'm glad I'm only 19 and I have so much life left to live.
Gonna be lame and sleep early tonight. Chao!
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