Monday, April 28, 2014

Monday, April 21

Today we had to wake up at 7 and quickly pack and get ready to leave. We ate a quick breakfast, said a huge thank you and a sad goodbye to our Argentinean family, and hit the road for Chile.
We stopped first in the last town before entering the Cordillera los Andes, where Maxi and Vicente decided they couldn’t leave Argentina without eating a pancho, which is like a super long hot dog. Eventually, everyone but me ended up getting panchos.
I bought some gum of a weird Argentinean brand instead. After they all finished their panchos, we got back into our two cars and kept winding up the mountains.
Everyone went to sleep, but I stayed awake the whole time because the scenery was just so gorgeous.
There was bright red rock, green grass, a river flowing through the canyon, and gorgeous expanses in all directions. I even asked Eric to stop the car one time so I could get out and take pictures. Crossing into Chile, we first passed through this long tunnel, where there is a sign that marks the actual border, and then we arrived at the customs station where they check your car and your paperwork.
While waiting in the line, us kids got out of the car and went to play by the river. It happened to be the exact same place where Maxi and I had gone sledding on the car mats when we were up there in September. It feels like it’s been so long since then, but also like no time has passed at all.
Anyway, the customs process went easily and quickly, and then we started winding down the mountains into Chile. We were stopped again because they were doing roadwork in the Cordillera, and only one direction could go at a time.
While we waited in the car, we saw a random wild burro walking down the mountain. Maxi, Vicente, and I decided to go approach it. At first it was shy around us, but we charmed it into trusting us, and it ended up coming up to me and sucking on my fingers. I even gave it a kiss on the nose before we had to go back to the car.

We kept on driving down the cordillera and out to Santiago and I eventually fell asleep for a while. I woke up as we were arriving in Santiago. We had planned on going to Tia Irma’s house to visit Nancy’s Tia Alicia, who had grave lung cancer and will probably die within the month, but Tia Alicia wasn’t there because she was in the hospital. Nancy and Eric decided to stay in Santiago to visit her, but sent the rest of us home with Tio Mario. We drove the rest of the way to Rancagua very tightly packed into one car, and they dropped me off at my house. It was weird saying goodbye and realizing that we weren’t in the same family anymore, but I was still thankful to be home and able to be calm and chill for a while. I went inside and talked with Manuel for a while about the trip. I showed him pictures and gave him the present I had for my family—A turron, which is a bar of this honey-peanut substance that’s super famous in Argentina. Then, I went to my room and relaxed and unpacked for a while. As I was sitting on my computer, Sally walked into my room wearing my socks, tights, shoes, and school skirt. She told me that she hadn’t been able to go home last night (because her family was with me in Argentina), so she had slept here and then borrowed my clothes to go to school. We hung out for a while, although I didn’t talk too much about Argentina because I didn’t want her to be sad that she couldn’t go, and then we ate once downstairs with the family. By 9, I was getting tired, so I told Sally to occupy herself in my room while I went to take a shower. When I got out, I found her skyping with our friend Aiden, an exchange student from Santiago. We all talked for about an hour. Around 10:30, Nancy and Eric came to pick Sally up, saying that Tia Alicia was not doing well and that they were glad they had taken the opportunity to go visit her one last time. They left, and then I dried my hair and went to sleep.

Sunday, April 20

Today, after going to sleep around 5:30, I woke up at like 11, went into the family room to wish everyone a Happy Easter and pass out the chocolate eggs I had brought with me from Rancagua (here, the kids hunt for eggs in the morning, but they’re chocolate eggs wrapped in foil, not plastic eggs. They also don’t dye eggs. But they do sell these huge chocolate eggs in the supermarkets that are pretty cool.) Then I showered and came back to eat breakfast.
After breakfast, Ceci gave us a tour of her neighborhood, which is apparently famous for being one of two neighborhoods in the world (the other is in France) that is designed in a hexagonal pattern, making it a labyrinth. It is absolutely impossible to find your way around in there.
We walked out to the map of the neighborhood, and then Ceci let me try to lead us back to where her house was, and I absolutely couldn’t do it. When we got back, they were preparing lunch. We ate lunch and then all piled into the car to go to the mall in Mendoza.
We arrived at the mall around 5, and shopped there for a few hours. I didn’t find anything particularly interesting and everything was really expensive, but I still had fun just hanging out with my family.

Although there are still some things about them that I don’t absolutely love, realizing that I won’t have them forever has made me realize also how grateful I am for them and how much I love spending time with them. After the mall, we all went to Starbucks together and drank coffee.
Then we drove over to the Jumbo, and Maxi and I went off through all the aisles looking at the weird Argentinean brands. We even took pictures.
We drove home after that, and Nancy started cooking cheese empanadas that she had brought from Chile and her famous cheese dip. We all sat down to watch Smurfs 2, which Monse had bought at the Jumbo, and while we were watching, we ate empanadas and dipped cherry tomatoes in cheese dip (sounds weird but it’s so good).
Around 1, I was absolutely dead tired, so I excused myself and went across the street to Tia Vicky’s house. Her son had returned from wherever he was this weekend, but they were nice enough to let me and Ceci continue sleeping in his bed and he would sleep with his mom. I told them once again how thankful I was, put on my pajamas, and went right to sleep. This Easter wasn’t particularly religious for me. I guess it’s not such an important custom to go to church on Easter like it is in the States. I’ve felt the same way about all the special seasons that have passed during exchange—my birthday, Christmas, and now Easter—there are so many new and exciting things happening to me all the time, that these events that are supposed to be so special just fail to make an impression on me. It’s like always being drowned in a sea of new experiences, and when a little more water is added, it really doesn’t make a whole lot of a difference. That was probably a bad explanation but that’s how I feel.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Saturday, April 19

Today I woke up at 10 and was ready to go by 10:30 because Eric had told me that at 11 we would be going to the nearby city of Mendoza. I guess I really shouldn’t have been surprised when 4 in the afternoon rolled around and we had recently finished eating lunch and still hadn’t gone yet, but I was definitely disappointed.
Around 4:30 we left, but on the way we stopped first at the grocery store (which was actually one of the things I really wanted to do because I wanted to see all the different brands and weird products that don’t exist in Chile or the US) to order meat for the asado we were going to have that night, and so we didn’t actually arrive in Mendoza until like 6. Our first stop was the market, where they sold lots and lots of raw meat, among other foods. We stopped first at a discount candy store, where I bought some famous Argentinean candy—Turron and Mantecol for the people of the USA, and chocolate for my friends in Chile. I also bought dulce de leche, which is kind of like manjar but also totally different tasting.
Then we went around looking at the raw meat hanging everywhere and freaking out. Argentina is famous for their great tasting meat and also their asados. Argentinean people have a reputation for not being able to go even one day without eating meat. So basically what I’m saying is that little old vegetarian me would not do well in this country.

After the market, we walked around the center of town. I went into a souvenir shop to buy a mate cup with the word Argentina engraved on it and the special straw that you need to drink the mate with the word Mendoza on it. We walked around a little more and looked through the leather shops that Argentina is so famous for. By that time it was almost 9, and so we decided we should go home.
We arrived home around 10, and they all immediately started preparing the meat we had bought for the asado. More Argentinean family members whom I didn’t even know existed began arriving, and Tio Rolando started meticulously cooking the meat out on the grill.
We sat around talking and laughing and eating meat until like 2 in the morning.
By then I was kind of tired, but suddenly everyone decided that they wanted to go out to a club to dance. I sort of wanted to say no especially since I had only two options: go dancing with all the adults, or go dancing with Seyla and her friend whom I didn’t know at all and didn’t seem very welcoming. I finally decided that this was my only opportunity to go out in Argentina, so I went to the club called Petra with Seyla and her friend. We got in and I was at once glad that I’d come. It was just cool to see the way the people were dressed and how they were dancing and what they were doing and it was all so different from Chile.
The girls there literally where like short shorts, a bra, and the highest heels they can find and that’s all. They stood around half dancing and half texting until like 4 when the club absolutely filled up and there was no space to even move around let alone dance. Seyla is not a big dancer, but she danced with me (her friend went off with her boyfriend) and we actually had a lot of fun just the two of us. The guys there are a lot more daring with the girls, and a lot of them would grab my hand and twirl me as  I was walking by, or whisper in my ear that they wanted to dance with me, or just come up and grab my hips and start dancing with me. It was definitely a new experience.
Anyway, around 5 we got bored, left the club (there were still people outside waiting to enter), and walked a little through the center until we found a taxi to take us home. When we got back to the house, the rest still hadn’t arrived and we didn’t have the keys to Tia Vicky’s house, where we were supposed to be sleeping, so we just went to sleep in Tia Gladys’s bed.

Friday, April 18

I woke up in the car while we were still on the road, so I looked out the windows and got my first real taste of Argentina. The streets are a lot wider (more similar to the US), but the houses are still small, one story, and have big gates out front and bars on the windows sometimes and there are still dogs in the street. We passed by a bunch of water bottles piled together on the side of the road and Nancy explained to me that in Argentina putting water bottles on the side of the road is an act of respect and almost a religious tradition remembering a woman who died of thirst many years ago.
When we got to out Tia Gladys’s house, we had been traveling for 12 hours. All 13 of us piled out of the car and went into the house to greet Tia Gladys, Tio Rolando, and our cousins Ceci, Seyla, and Gabriel. They had breakfast waiting for us. We ate breakfast, and then basically just lazed around the house all afternoon. Nancy immediately started cooking lunch (she always makes herself at home in other people’s kitchens), and I felt really gross after a 12 hour car ride, so I took a shower. Then I sat outside at the picnic table and chatted with Ceci and Seyla. They’re super sweet, and I really love talking to them because their accents are so weird and cool. It’s a little difficult for me to understand their slang sometimes, and some of the words that I’ve come to believe are completely normal are apparently Chilean slangs that they don’t understand when I use them. We still communicate though. After lunch, everyone went to take a nap, as is the custom in Argentina (even the businesses close between the hours of 1 and 5 in the afternoon so everyone can eat lunch and then take a nap). I didn’t want to nap, so I decorated the cupcakes that Sally had made and Nancy had brought to Argentina. Monse, Laurie, and Joaquin helped me. Then I helped Nancy bake the cake. When we finished, Seyla could tell I was getting stir crazy and really wanted to see more of Argentina than just the inside of my tia’s house (I knew going into this that with my family it’s never a trip to really see a place, it’s just to see family who lives there and stay in the house and with luck maybe get out to the supermarket, but it still bothered me), so she took me and Vicente out walking to see the city.

The town we were in is called San Martin de Mendoza. We spent about 3 hours walking all through the center of the town and through the different parks and plazas. Everywhere I looked, I saw old cars driving down the streets (cars in Argentina are super expensive so old cars are more common), people sitting around drinking mate (Argentineans are crazy for their mate, which is a type of herbal tea), and bars and other fun places for young people to go and hang out. While we were heading back to the house, we passed a giant procession of people (like 2,000) walking down the street following a car with a big speaker and singing and praying. They were all holding candles and chanting along with the prayer. It was the same Viacrucis thing we had done at my school yesterday (reenacting the 12 steps Jesus went through before he was crucified), but on a much larger scale. It was pretty cool to watch.
Anyway, we got home just as the rest of them were leaving to buy some meat from the grocery store, so Seyla, Gabriel, and I stayed home and watched TV for a while. When everyone else got back, Nancy made ceviche and we had once together.
Then we stayed up talking for a while Around 1 in the morning, Seyla’s friend came over and they invited me to go out with them, but I was dead tired and I knew the Argentinean custom is to go out at like 2 in the morning and not come back until at least 6 and I was already dying, so I decided to turn them down and go to sleep “early”. I actually was sleeping in the neighbor’s house across the street because Tia Gladys’s house is small and there weren’t enough beds and Tia Vicky (across the street—remember that here the term tia is like a term of respect and endearment for your elders, it doesn’t just mean aunt) was nice enough to lend us a room, so Ceci, Seyla, and I were going to sleep there.
Tia Vicky

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Thursday, April 17

Today was a short day at school before Easter 3 day weekend. We had a special ceremony today called Viacrucis, where we went out to the track and one of my classmates carried a cross and we went to like 6 different stations where people read us prayers and then walking between the stations we also prayed. It was supposed to be a reminder of the tribulations that Christ went through before the crucifixion. It was a startling reminder that I was no longer in public school.
We got out at 1 today, and then I went with Fernanda, Vicente (her boyfriend), and Nico to the center to eat lunch. After lunch we went up to the mall where a new movie theater just opened, and we bought our tickets to see Divergent. Nico had to leave, and Pablo was going to come see the movie, so we sat outside the theater waiting for him and talking. I thought it would be awkward to be with Fernanda and her boyfriend (especially since they’ve been dating for 4 years already) but they are honestly two of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and I had a great time. Pablo made it just in time for the movie to start. Divergent is my favorite book, and the movie definitely did not let me down. It was absolutely fantastic (except for the screaming fan girls in the theater with us that wouldn’t shut up). After the movie I had to run through the center to get a collectivo, and Pablo was nice enough to come with me. So we walked really fast together while I explained to him why Berkeley was a really awesome school and what a sit in protest is. When I got home, I ran up to my room, changed clothes, and Manuel and Lilian quickly drove me over to the San Martins’ house because I was later than I’d said I would be. When I got there, everyone was there including the grandparents, and it was a nice little reunion. Monse ran out and hugged me tight, and so did Nancy. Then I went with Sally to her room (my ex-room), and we had a really cool little family comparison time. I’m half jealous that Sally had my family now and worried that they’ll like her better, and half really happy that I switched with Sally so we can compare the families and be actual sisters forever because I really love Sally. Sally was supposed to come to Argentina with us, but her parent permission from the US did not arrive on time, so she can’t come. I went with Nancy to drop her off at a friend’s house for the weekend, and then we went home, packed up the car, and left for Argentina at 10 at night. We were going in 2 cars (both were Tio Mario’s because if you all remember the unpaid tax on the car was the reason we couldn’t go to Argentina in September) and we were 13 people in all—Tio Mario, Tia Ximena, Tata, Abelita, Abueli, Vicente, Joaquin, Laurie, Monse, Maxi, Nancy, Eric, and me. We ate dinner of cheese sandwiches in the car, and then I basically just wasted time like on all long car rides. I think the fact that we don’t live together anymore has actually done wonders for Maxi and my relationship because we sat together and laughed and talked for a long time and I had a really great time with him the whole Argentina trip!! I tried to sleep for a while, and then woke up as we were climbing up through the cordillera. It was weird because I remembered the whole route ad it felt like just yesterday that I had been there and not over 7 months ago.

We were stuck in the Argentinean customs line for 4 hours (from 2 to 6 in the morning), so we all continued sleeping because it was way too cold to stay outside the car for too long. Then we passed through the border (this time without even a tiny hitch), and I went back to sleep as we would down the Cordillera Los Andes into Argentina.

Wednesday, April 16

Today after school, I met up with Louis and we walked over to the Jumbo. He took some money out of the ATM and I didn’t really put together what he was doing until I realized that he had taken enough money out to buy himself an iPhone 5 (I thought he was going to pay for it with a credit card). We literally walked into the Apple store and put $1,000 in Chilean bills down on the table. It was crazy and overwhelming to see all that money and dangerous and also kind of hilarious because it wasn’t my money.
Then we walked back to school (Louis to his house), and I met up with Pablo. We walked into the center to get his phone fixed at the technical service place. Then we walked back through the center to the mall, where he bought me a little Perry el Hornitorinco balloon on a stick because I had told him that the only way I liked to hit people was with balloons. Needless to say, I walked around the rest of the day hitting him with the balloon. We sat down in the center to watch a drum circle of people trying to raise money to help those affected by the fire in Valparaiso. Then Pablo walked me all the way back through the center so I could get a collectivo back to my house. I always have so much fun with Pablo, and even though we’re speaking Spanish, I feel like with him I can actually express my weirdo self and sense of humor and he’ll still understand me. I always end up laughing so hard that I cry when we’re together. At home, I spent a long time on college research, ate once with the family (once always lasts like 2 hours now because we sit talking for so long), and then went to sleep.

Tuesday, April 15

Today I woke up tired. School was pretty fun though because everyone asked me about the fire in Valparaiso. I guess it was actually a pretty big deal that I was there and had seen it start and everything. We had mass today because yesterday was Palm Sunday and Easter is this weekend. Catholic mass is so structured, with prayers, hand motions, and specific moments where you need to kneel down, but I’m actually getting used to it now. After school was basically a work day. I had to write in my blog, upload my Valpo pictures to Facebook, and do a lot of college research. I’ve now narrowed down my top two choices to Berkeley and UCLA, and I’m deciding between them. We ate once together. I love eating once with my family now because Lilian gets home from work around 6:30 so I don’t really see her, but once is our time to be all together and talk. We sit at the table for way longer than it takes to eat a piece of bread with cheese and avocado on top and just talk about everything. I love hearing their stories and telling them mine. They are such sweet people, and I love that they are receptive and laugh at my jokes and embarrassing stories instead of just kind of staring at me like I’m a nut job. After a lovely once, I took a shower, and lay in bed for a while watching the news before going to sleep. I’ve realized that I’m woefully uninformed about current events, and I’ve decided to change that before going off the college. However, the only channels that I’ve found are Chilean news, so ask me about the World Cup or the conflict between Bolivia and Chile and I’ve got you covered but other than that my knowledge is a little shaky. 

Monday, April 14

Today at school I was tired after the long weekend, but it was still fun just being with my friends. I really love going to school now just to hang out with them and I never ever ever want to leave them. It actually scares me sometimes to think that I won’t be with them anymore in a few months. Anyway, I got home from school, changed clothes, worked on my blog for a little while, and then around 4:30, Manuel and I got in the car to drive up to Santiago. He had been invited to a National Carabineros Band concert at the Escuela de Carabineros in Santiago. On the way up to Santiago, we stopped at Bavaria, a restaurant, and got a coffee. It was the first time I’d spent a long time together with Manuel and I actually really enjoyed myself. I liked that we could switch the topic between history, politics, and what I ate for breakfast, and we never ran out of things to say. When we got to the police school, I realized that this concert was actually kind of a big deal.
There were a lot of police in full dress uniform, and when we got out of the car (I was glad I was wearing my Rotary jacket because it made me feel a little more dressed up) one of the policewomen escorted us into the huge theater and even escorted me to the bathroom. We sat down in the theater and I took pictures like a tourist. Manuel explained to me what all the different epilates meant, and I was surprised to find that I was in the presence of 5 out of the 8 head generals of Chile. Then suddenly, everyone in the room stood up and another man walked in. Manuel whispered to me that he was the Director General of the entire Chilean police force. He sat down in the front row in the middle, and then everyone else sat and the concert started.
It was a fun concert, but the band played their nice classical pieces this time instead of the fun Latin stuff they had played last concert. After the concert, we went out to the foyer to drink some juice and eat appetizers. Manuel found a few of his friends from his school days and he introduced me. Everyone asked me about my blazer and all the pins and a woman even took a picture of it. Then, surprisingly enough, one of the 5 generals came up and introduced himself to all of us and then asked me about my blazer. I smiled and explained about being an exchange student and even threw in a couple jokes about embarrassing moments with Chilean culture. They all laughed, and the awkward tension of being in the presence of a superior was lifted. After we left the school and were on the way home to Rancagua, Manuel told me that the Director General had sent that other general over to find out who I was and what that weird jacket I was wearing was about. I felt pretty cool to think that a guy like that had noticed me. Guess I’m basically famous here in Chile now hahaha!
Anyway, Manuel and I kept up the great conversation until we got back to Rancagua, then we ate once with Lilian while we told her all about it. I didn’t end up going to sleep until very late. Sally, the girl who was in this house before me, warned me that Manuel can be very pushy with his opinions and a very judgmental person, but so far I like him a lot. I hope to make him recognize that I am not a stupid little girl and that I definitely have a head on my shoulders and know things about the world. I can hold an intelligent conversation with him, even if it is all in Spanish.  He won’t be able to treat me like a dumb child, and I think that if he knows that, we are going to get along really well together because I also like to have discussions about delicate topics like religion and politics and history and everything!

Sunday, April 13

Today we were allowed to wake up at 9, a rarity on Rotary trips where we usually have to wake up around 6. We lazily ate breakfast, and then were turned loose to walk around the town of Olmhue. Olmhue is famous because they have a music festival there called El Festival del Huaso de Olmhue, but it’s really a very small country town. We went to the feria artesenal for a little while, I bought some alfajores as a gift for my host family, and then we went over to this hippie store to buy traditional Chilean pants. They’re so ugly I can’t even handle it, but they are so typical in Chile that all us girls decided we need to own them and wear them shamelessly in our own countries even though they seriously look like clown pants. When we got back to the country club, another bus was arriving with a group of Rotary exchange students from Argentina. It was shocking to see the difference in their district and in ours. There were only 11 people in theirs, and only one girl from the US. She said she always feels left out because although the Germans and French people can speak English, they prefer to speak in their native language when together. I realized how lucky to have 70 amazing friends who are all really close to each other and all speak English together so no one feels left out. We all traded pins and exchanged Facebook names. It was cool to speak to them in Spanish and hear the French/German/American accent mixed with the Argentinean accent. It makes me wonder if I have a Chilean accent.  I hope so! Anyway, then we ate lunch. At lunch, my friend Anika, who had been so worried about the fire in Valpo last night that she had been up late watching it on the news, made an announcement that she was planning a campaign to raise money to help the families whose houses had been destroyed. Over 500 houses were burned and 16 people died in the fire. Anika is a really truly good person, and seeing how much she cared made me feel really guilty for not thinking too much about how those people were suffering last night while I was having fun with my friends so close by. I’m definitely going to help her with the campaign.
We left Olmhue on the bus at around 4, and after a very long 5 hour bus ride, we were dropped off at the bus station in Rancagua at 9. Lilian and Manuel picked me up and took me home and although I was tired I sat down and ate one with them and told them all my stories from the weekend and showed them the incredible pictures I had of the fire. I finally ended up going to sleep around 11:30.

Saturday, April 12

Today I had to wake up early to be waiting at the bus stop with all the other Rancagua exchange students at 7:00. We got on the bus, which had already picked up the exchangers from Talca and Curico and places more south, and went up to San Bernardo, where we met up with all the kids from Santiago. It was cool because this was the first time when all of us were together (since not everyone goes on the trips) and it was almost overwhelming how many of us there were. I think we were almost 70! We took 2 buses up to Vina, and then left our bags on the bus and walked around Vina for a while. I have been there 3 times already, so it wasn’t anything new for me, but it was still fun just to be around exchange students.
In Vina, we went to Castillo Wulf and took pictures of the view out over the water, and then we went to the Quinta Vergara, which is a big park where they hold the concert called Festival de Vina.
There was some sort of comicon going on there, and it was absolutely filled with people in costume. For once, 70 foreign kids speaking English, French, Dutch, and German did not even stand out.
We walked over to a nearby restaurant to eat a buffet lunch, and then we took the bus over to Valparaiso to start the walking tour of my favorite city in Chile.
We walked to this beautiful observation point, and then through a bunch of back streets covered with the gorgeous graffiti that I love. We stopped in another part, and while the tour guide was giving us some history of the city, someone shouted that smoke was coming up from another hill. We all watched at the smoke spiraled into the sky.
The guide told us that fires were common in Valpo and very dangerous because the streets are so narrow and the houses so jumbled together that a lot of times the fire trucks can’t get to where the fire is. As we continued the tour, ash began to fall around us, into our hair, and even into our mouths if we opened them for too long.
We watched street performers and took lots of pictures, and then eventually made our way down to the harbor. We watched a show of two men with drums on their backs and strings attached to their ankles that they would pull to beat the drums. They danced around and spun in fast circles to make the drums play. Apparently that’s a traditional military thing in Chile (it’s kind of hard to describe and better to look up on YouTube). We all got back onto the bus and went over to the other side of the harbor by the port.
There was a tall ship festival going on, and we got on board the ships to look around. Meanwhile, the smoke from the fire had painted the sky gray, and that mixed with the colors of the setting sun made for an eerie looking backdrop. It was then that we realized that this was no house fire and seemed to be spreading fast. We all got back on the bus and drove for about an hour and a half to Olmhue, where some relation to the Rotary club had leant us their country club to spend the night. I was in a cabin with Jodie, Anika, Stella, and Victor Hugo, our head counselor, which was a little awkward because he is a man, but whatever. We ate dinner in the dining hall, and then the counselors put on a “dance” for us. They pushed the tables to the sides, turned off the lights, and put on music. It was really incredibly awkward and uncomfortable but I danced anyway because it was my friend Brenna’s birthday and I wanted her to have fun. I guess it was pretty cool that she got sung Happy Birthday to in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, and Finnish. Anyway, the awkwardness finally ended around 1 and we all went to sleep.

Friday, April 11

Today at school was nothing incredibly interesting. The only thing I have to report is that driving to school with Manuel in the mornings is a really nice time. I like being in the car alone with a parent. I remember that conversations in the car were always the best with my mom, and they’re nice with Manuel too because we’re talking one on one, and so I can say whatever and not feel weird saying it in front of siblings. He’s really adorable because he always tries to impart little bits of life wisdom in the conversations, like a good daddy. Anyway, after school I got home and finally actually unpacked all the crap that was on my floor or still in my suitcases. This room is bigger but there is less space to put things, so I definitely had to be creative, but it all worked out anyway. I unpacked all this stuff while I was skyping with Kathryn. Then around 4:30, I went outside to the big street nearby to get a collectivo to the movie theater. It’s pretty far away and I had to change collectivos once but I made it there without any problems. Katie Ward met me there and we saw Rio 2 in 3D. It honestly was a pretty boring movie, so we sat on the side of the theater and talked during it. She was telling me about how it had been to say goodbye to her real parents for a second time. As we were leaving the theater after the movie, Nancy called me. She told me that one of her good friends (whom I had actually met at my cousin Laurie’s birthday party a few weeks ago) had been raped last night right down the street from Katie Ward’s house. There is a serial rapist loose in Machali (the town next to Rancagua where Katie lives), and she was just calling to let me know and to tell me to be careful. It actually scared me a lot thinking about that, but I was comforted in knowing that at least I don’t walk around alone at night and I have my pepper spray (which by the way is not sold in Chile). I walked across the street to Papa John’s, where I met up with Nice, Vicente (Fernanda’s boyfriend), Pablo, and their friend Dani. We all sat down and ordered a big pizza. It was the first time I’d hung out with their group of friends, and I had an absolutely fantastic time. I think I’ve mentioned before that the Chilean sense of humor is very different from ours, and that I don’t really like it. However, these guys definitely have the gringo sense of humor. We spent about 3 hours sitting there eating pizza and laughing until our stomachs hurt. I really want to spend more time with them. Around 11, I decided I need to go catch a collectivo back to my house. Lilian and Manuel were at a birthday party, and although they had offered to come get me, I didn’t want to be a burden on them and I wanted to let them know that they could trust me to do things on my own, so I offered to get myself home alone. It was a little sketchy waiting for a collectivo in the dark with the knowledge of the rapist, but my friends waited with me. I got home around 11:30, packed up my stuff for our Rotary trip to Valparaiso tomorrow, and went to sleep around 1. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Thursday, April 10

Today I woke up at 6:30 instead of my normal 7. Now my morning routine is a little longer because I have to make my bed and clean up my room before I leave, and also because I have to sit down and eat like a 15 minute breakfast. At school, nothing special happened. At 3, I left school and went to meet p with Louis. We walked all the way to the Jumbo to get him a haircut. He wanted me with him because he didn’t know how to tell the lady how he wanted his hair cut in Spanish, and I had time to kill anyway, so I agreed. After the haircut, I took a collectivo back to the center to meet up with Pablo. We walked around for a while and went to the technical service that I always go to to get his phone fixed. On the way back, we were walking in the street and we passed a carabinero (police officer) standing there watching over everything. He said hi to me and I said hi and kept walking without thinking. Then he said “como estas?” and I turned around because I was confused as to why this random man would ask me how I am. He said “you don’t remember me do you?” Apparently, he had been sitting in the row in front of me at the National Police Band concert I had been to a few weeks before with Manuel. We stood there talking about everything from his job to where I’ve traveled in Chile to Finding Nemo. After we said goodbye to him, Pablo commented on how I had friends in literally all places after being in Chile for only 8 months. I kind of think that’s true and I really like it that I know people from all different walks of life. I know the guy who plays the recorder in the center and begs people for money, and I know the police man there who yells at him to leave people alone. I took a collectivo successfully back to my house (it’s a little harder now because I can’t just get in and say “take me to the Jumbo”). Manuel was outside smoking, and I sat with him and we talked for a while until Lilian got home from work around 6:30. I went up and changed clothes, and then we all went together to the Jumbo. We went to the coffee shop there called Berezzi, and sat and had cafĂ© cortado and talked for a while. I shared a lot about me, and they shared stories about them, and we just kind of got to know each other. Then we drove home and had once together, and talked more. It’s a really nice feeling to be the only child again. I feel like I can talk freely about anything and I like not having to fight to be heard. Honestly, I think I like being the center of attention at family dinners. I feel much more comfortable in the role of an only child. After dinner, I went up to my room, took a shower, and went to sleep around 11.

Wednesday, April 9

Today I woke up feeling refreshed after sleeping for so long. Everyone asked me how I was doing at school, and I could honestly say that my side felt a lot better. The pain was manageable at least. School was nothing special, but when I got home I had a lot of packing waiting for me because today was the day that I was going to change host families. I already had all my clothes packed into one suitcase, but there was a whole lot more to my room and my life here in Chile than just clothes. I threw toiletries, books, shoes, school notebooks, and millions and millions of souvenirs into suitcases, duffel bags, and finally I just started using grocery bags to stuff everything in. I finished with 2 full suitcases, a big duffel bag, 2 full cardboard boxes, and 4 shopping bags full of stuff. I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to narrow that stuff down to fit into two suitcases when I return to the US. After I finished, I ate dinner with Maxi and Monse, and then I kind of just tried to waste time quickly. I played the Rio play station game with Monse. I felt sort of weird knowing that this house that felt so familiar to me would no longer be mine in a few hours. It was hard to think that the family in it, who had given me so much, taught me so much, and with whom I had been through the hardest and best 8 months of my life, would also no longer be mine. I called my new family and asked when they would arrive, and they said in about 20 minutes. I went and got the framed photos and letters I had written for my family, and called them all into the kitchen. I wanted to say how much I loved them and was grateful for everything they had done and that even though we had our differences and our misunderstandings that they were the best thing that has happened to me in Chile and they have had a huge part in shaping the person I have become here in Chile, but I just gave them the pictures, said “Los quiero mucho” and burst into tears. I felt kind of dumb, but then I saw that Eric and Nancy also had tears in their eyes. They told me that they loved me too and that their home and family would always be mine too. I really do think we have the type of relationship that can continue once I leave. I want to see them at my wedding. Around 9:30, Sally and her mom and dad finally arrived. We unloaded all of her stuff from the car, loaded mine in, hugged and said goodbye again (I was crying a little bit), and then I got into the car and left my old house and my old Chilean reality behind and started a new adventure in a new family. We talked on the way home, and then when we got to their house, they helped me unload my incredible amount of stuff, and sat on my bed and talked to me while I started the unpacking process. It was so late though, that I unpacked only my clothes and then went to sleep because I had school in the morning. I didn’t really get the chance to talk too much with the new family because it was so late, but I guess I have plenty of time to get to know them now. A little background—I am now once again the only child. Their only daughter is currently studying abroad in the United States. Her name is Fran and I actually got to meet her back at the beginning of my exchange when Cristobal was here. My parents are named Manual and Lilian, and the last name is Stange Camus. Manuel is a retired police officer and Lilian works as a secretary for Pepsi. In the house, they have a room downstairs, and I have a private room and bathroom on the second floor. Basically I have the whole second floor to myself because I am the only one who goes up there. I’m excited about the food they will serve me here because first of all Lilian doesn’t bake so many desserts, so I might actually have a chance of losing some of the weight I’ve gained, and second because for both breakfast and dinner they serve me a simple piece of bread with avocado and cheese on top. That is honestly my favorite food in Chile. That’s honestly all I know about my family so far!

Tuesday, April 8

Today at school I had a chemistry test that I didn’t study for, but I was pleased enough to find out that AP Chem has not complete abandoned me, and I was actually able to understand a lot of the test. School was going great until physical education after lunch. I was partners with Chichi, and we were running around the basketball court in the gym when I felt this horrible pop at the bottom of the left side of my rib cage, and my entire chest was filled with shooting pain. I stopped immediately and told the teacher I had t go to the nurse. Two friends, Isi and Rocio, were not doing PE that day, so they came with me. My left side had been bothering me for about 10 days, but I had always just kind of put it out of my head and decided it would just go away. I have been sick with a bad cough for about a month now, and my side hurt a lot when I coughed, so I thought they might be related. I wasn’t really surprised when the school nurse told me I had pulled an abdominal muscle from coughing so much and that I should call Nancy right away to take me to the hospital. I called and she came and got me, although she was worried about the insurance and didn’t know how we were going to do it. I was more worried about the crippling pain in my side. We got to the Fusat, which is a clinic next to the Jumbo and I checked in. We had to wait in an emergency room cubicle for about half an hour before someone came in to see me. I told her everything that had happened and she examined me to make sure it wasn’t appendicitis or anything. She confirmed it to be a pulled muscle and prescribed me 2 muscle relaxers, cough syrup, and something to clear the infection out of my lungs so I would stop coughing. Nancy had to pick Monse up, so she dropped me off at the Jumbo to get the medicines. I got them, bought myself a self-pity soft serve ice cream cone, and walked home. I spent the next few hours writing in my blog and hanging out with Monse and Maxi, but I was honestly just feeling tired, so I ended up going to sleep around 8:30. People say that the hardest exchange moments are the ones when you’re sick and you feel alone and helpless and just want to be home with your mom and able to communicate in your own language, but I really didn’t feel that way. I had no trouble explaining what was wrong to the doctor or to my mom, and I felt perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I’m usually pretty mature about being sick because I know that it will pass quickly enough. The medicines they gave me lasted 5 days and my left side was more or less healed by then.

Monday, April 7

Today I had to get up early for school. Nothing too exciting happened at school. After school, I got home and started packing up my room. It was really sad to take all the pictures off the walls and put all my clothes into my suitcase. I will be changing houses and changing families in two days, so I needed to start packing today. One thing is abundantly clear, I am either going to need to throw away about half my stuff, or buy a third suitcase for all the things I want to bring home with me. After packing, I ate once with Monse and Maxi, and then went out for a run. I showered and then played Rio the video game with Monse for a little while. Then I Skyped with Emily, Skyped with my mom, and finally went to sleep around 11.

Sunday, April 6

Today Katie and I woke up around 10, we got dressed and waited for her family to pack up their suitcases because they were all leaving for Santa Cruz that morning. They dropped me off at my house on their way. When I arrived, Nancy was still in bed, so I worked on my blog for a little while. Then she asked if I wanted to go with her to the Jumbo to buy supplies for the Spanish Paella we were planning on making for lunch. We went grocery shopping, and then when we got home, she taught me first how to make sopaipillas, then how to make tortillas, and finally, when Tia Ximena and Tio Mario arrived, she started on the Paella.

I took out my notebook of recipes and wrote everything down. I want to be able to bring all the amazing Chilean recipes that I’ve tried this year back to the US to share with everyone there. As we were making the paella, Tia Ximena remembered that she had tickets for the kids to go to the movies and she couldn’t take them because she was occupied cooking, so I took Vicente, Monse, and Laurie to see Sherman and Peabody. It was an animated movie about a talking dog, but it really wasn’t that bad. After the movie, while we were waiting for Tio Mario to pick us up, Monse got into a shopping cart and we took turns pushing her around the parking lot.
Mario picked us up, and when we got home the paella was almost ready. I sat down at the table with Eric and we talked for a while until the paella was served. It had about every possible type of meat in it, but it was also really good!
We sat around for a long time talking, and then it was time for the cousins to leave. Monse and I played Rio the play station game for a while, and then I took a shower and went to sleep early because I was feeling pretty drained after sleeping so badly the night before.