Thursday, June 26

Today was another good day. School was fun. I promised my friends Vicente, Stefano, Augustin, and Heian peanut butter cookies like the first time I met them, and finally, after 11 months, I gave them the cookies. They laughed at me and said that they were really good even though they were burned and hard as rocks. After school, we had barras until 6. It’s kind of annoying that they make the rehearsal 3 hours long and then we basically do nothing the whole time and everyone finds some excuse not to attend practice and I end up alone with like 2 other classmates. Anyway, after barras, Popi drove me and her friend Molly (the one who she met while she was on exchange in Boston and is now visiting her here) back to her house. We changed clothes and then Maca came over. We all went over to the casino in between Rancagua and Santiago that’s huge and famous. It’s called Monticello and it’s really gorgeous with walls of lights that change color on the outside.

One of the last things on my bucket list was to go to the casino, since you only have to be 18 to enter here. We got in and immediately went to start playing. We wanted to feel all grown up and professional and awesome.

It ended up a disaster. We tried to insert bills into the machines and they kept getting rejected until Popi finally worked up the courage to ask someone how to do it. We had to go put money on cards to be able to play. Then we tried scanning the cards and the machines still wouldn’t start playing. We had to ask an old woman playing next to us to explain to us how to use the machines. Once we got it, it became easier. Popi and Maca each won $30 and Molly won $60. I lost the $6 that I had been playing with. I looked on the bright side and decided that I don’t have good enough luck to develop a gambling addiction.

It was still really cool to be with them when they won and to watch the money amount rise and rise and rise. Around 9, we left the casino and stopped by McDonalds for dinner. We talked and laughed (all in English because Molly doesn’t speak any Spanish) and had fun. It was the first time I’d talked to Popi and Maca in English and it was cool seeing how their personalities change (just like mine does) in English and Spanish. Popi dropped me off at my house at like 11, and after filling in Manuel and Lilian on my lack of luck, I went to sleep.