Sunday, August 25

This morning, I slept in until 10 and it felt fantastic. I am still waiting for the day when I have my first dream in Spanish, but I do find myself waking up and immediately starting to think in Spanish, so I guess that’s a good start. I ate some breakfast and watched Mulan 2 in Spanish with Monse. Then I helped Nancy cook homemade lasagna. She made two lasagnas—one meat for the whole family and one chicken just for me. I think I’m going to be eating lasagna for the next week straight. Then, the whole family went to the movies to watch Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters in Spanish. I had read the books, and I understood enough of the Spanish that I really enjoyed the movie! They bought popcorn in the theater—something my family in the US absolutely never does—and I was shocked. Also, the popcorn here is only caramel corn. They never eat buttered popcorn. As we were walking out of the theater after the movie, we heard a bunch of honking and shouting, and we saw in the street a procession of cars with balloons and paint. It was a presidential rally. I’m not sure which candidate it was for, but it was very cool either way.

When we got home, Monse, Eric, Maxi and I played Escoba (that Chilean card game I mentioned earlier) while Nancy cooked the lasagna. Then, we all sat down and ate lunch together. After that, my friend Vicente asked if I could go over to his house to help with an English project. He rode his bike to my house and then we rode together back to his house. Bikes are the number one form of transportation for teenagers here since you can’t get a driver’s license until you’re 18. At his house, he had the project written out in Spanish, so I just had to translate it into English, which was pretty easy (he had to explain a few words to be but overall pretty painless). Then we talked for a while and listened to music (we have basically the same taste). Sidenote—the fact that I am a girl who likes Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and Green Day is practically unheard of here. All the guys are really shocked and impressed when I tell them who my favorite bands are. After a few hours, we rode back to my house only to find the gate locked and no one at home. My cell phone doesn’t work because Cristobal used all of the minutes for the month, so Vicente called my dad to see where they were. They were in the Jumbo, so we had to sit outside in the freezing cold and wait for them to get back. When they finally got back I said goodbye to Vicente and ran inside to the stove to warm up my hands. Then I Skyped with my mom for the first time since I’ve been here. It was really nice to talk to her! I had so much to tell her and I loved seeing her again! It was also really nice to be able to fully express myself to someone and talk as much as I wanted. I think the worst part about not speaking the language very well is not being able to say what you’re thinking all the time. I watched TV with Monse and talked with Maxi for a while until Nancy and her friend got home from Santiago where they were visiting another friend who is in the hospital. We all ate dinner together, and then I took a shower and went to sleep around midnight. I feel like I never get enough sleep here but I don’t really care because I’m having so much fun all the time!