Friday, September 13

Today I had to wake up early for school so that I could put on my Hausa dress and do my hair. We were all supposed to come to school dressed up in traditional Chilean outfits. When I walked into the classroom in my Chilean dress, everyone cheered for the gringa dressed up like a Chilean.

First they had their last accumulative test, so Katie and I went to the library to talk. Then, we went back to the classrooms and took some pictures with our friends in our Chilean outfits. Then there was a big assembly for the whole school in the gym.

There were dance performances, we sang the national anthem, and a few people gave speeches. Then we were allowed to go get empanadas, the traditional Chilean food. We ate our empanadas in the classroom and talked for a while, and then we went back to the gym to watch the Cueca competition.

Anyone who wanted to dance could, and everyone encouraged Katie and me to dance because it was our first and only time in Chile for Independence Day. Katie was too shy, but I decided to go for it. I danced with my friend Diego (not Juan Diego, because I really didn’t want to give everyone any more reason to tease us), and it was basically a train wreck, but I had a lot of fun and we laughed the whole time.

After school, I went to my friend Coti’s house. Her little brother was having a party for his classmates, and they were going to play traditional Chilean games, so I wanted to see it. We talked for a while, watched a movie, played Just Dance, and went for a drive in her neighborhood (Coti has her learner’s permit, so I was “teaching her how to drive”). After a while, one of my neighbors whose kids were at the party offered to take me home. I went, and when I walked in the door around 9, my mom was waiting for me. We immediately left to go to a family friend’s house to help her cook for a big party they were having the next day. I helped cook for a little while, and then I went to hang out with Maxi and Nacho (Nacho is the son of the family friends). We played cards, ate pizza, and watched funny YouTube videos (although they were in Spanish and I didn’t understand enough to get all the jokes). We left around 1, and when I got home I was so tired that all I could do was get in bed and sleep.