Sunday, October 20

Today was an incredibly lazy day. I woke up around 11, and immediately started working in college applications. I looked at the Common App for the first time and realized that this was going to be a lot more work than I had originally thought. I started filling it out, and then took a break to go have lunch with my family. After lunch, I went and had a long Skype conversation with Kathryn. I had been feeling pretty neglected by my friends in the US. Literally no one besides Kathryn and Melanie have asked me to Skype in the past month and a half, and I haven’t received any Facebook messages or anybody checking up on me at all. I even ask people to Skype sometimes and they always tell me they are too busy. I know college apps and AP classes are hard for everyone, but I was just feeling very forgotten and unimportant. I started thinking back on all the promises to Skype a ton and always make time for each other and not lose contact, and I was shocked by how quickly that changed (although I have to admit I haven’t made the biggest effort to Skype with them either so I can’t put all the blame on them). Anyway it was really nice Skyping with Kathryn, and then later with Emily today. I finally got caught up on what’s going on with them, and I finally got to tell them all the funny, awkward, and exciting stories I’ve been saving up over the past month and a half. I'm definitely going to make it a point to talk to them more often. I worked on college apps for a while afterward until I absolutely couldn’t think anymore and then I went for a run. When I got back, Nancy had dinner on the table and we all sat down and ate together and talked for a long time. I was really excited because I felt like that dinner was the first time I really understood everything that was being said and I felt like I could express myself completely. It was a pretty great feeling. After dinner I showered, and dried my hair while I worked on my blog. Then I went to sleep around 10:30.

Saturday, October 19

Today I had to wake up early to shower and get ready to go to Techo Para Chile. I left Katie sleeping in my house when Juandi came to pick me up at 10. We went to Techo headquarters to find that there were only about 8 volunteers coming today instead of the usual 20 or so. My friend Jose came today for the first time. We went to the camp and went to get the kids, but almost all of them were sick or out somewhere and couldn’t come. It was a super lazy day with almost no volunteers and almost no kids. Jose and I were playing soccer with a few kids when one of them fell and started crying, so I went with him back to his house to make sure he was OK. His little cousin was playing outside the house with a water gun, and when he saw me, he immediately squirted me in the face. It was really high pressure and it hurt my eye a lot and got me completely soaked. His parents came out and offered me a towel, and then we got into a really long conversation. They were super sweet and asked me a lot about my exchange process. I found it so interesting to talk to these people who have literally nothing, but seem so normal and exactly like anyone else I’ve met here. They invited me into their house, and we sat around the table and talked for a while about everything from how I’m doing in school here to how much they make in their jobs here (about $400 a month in a family of 6). It was a little awkward for me knowing how different our backgrounds are, but I also got along with them really well, and I was really glad to have had the opportunity to meet such a different class of people from the ones I am used to. After we left Techo, Jose and I took the micro back to Rancagua, and we walked around for a while and he gave me a tour of his school. Then my dad came and picked me up. I went home and ate lunch, and then my mom came home and took me, Maxi, and Monse to my friend Joaquin’s birthday party (they came because my mom was helping his mom cook and she didn’t want to leave them home alone). Maxi, Joaquin, Lila, and I went on a walk through the fields (he lives in the country and has acres and acres of farmland behind his house), and then we went back to the house for a while and played GTA.

Then Pelao came over and he and Joaquin rode motorcycles while Joaquin’s sister followed them in a pickup truck with Lila and me standing in the back. Riding over the bumpy dirt roads was like being in a roller coaster, and we kept falling all over the bed of the truck and got completely covered in dirt. When we got home, Chichi, Matias, Panchi, and Cristobal were waiting there. We all sat around and talked for a while. I really like Chichi and Matias, but I’d never talked to Panchi before even though he is in my class, and I’d never met Cristobal before because he dropped out of school to be homeschooled before I arrived. I was pleasantly surprised that they were both really nice and super funny. They are good friends of Juandi’s, and they spent basically the whole night trying to convince me that I would be so lucky to date him. It doesn’t even bother me that people make fun of me still for going to the movie theater with him. I guess I have more self confidence now or something, but I really don’t mind being made fun of, so I just laughed and encouraged them to keep telling me great characteristics of Juandi’s. Around 1:00, my family went home. We gave Panchi a ride, and we actually had a conversation in the car for the first time (the ride is about 40 minutes). I get along well with him, and I’m glad I finally got to meet him. Like I’ve said, it’s a lot easier to meet people outside of school.

Friday, October 18

Today at school was pretty boring. During one of the breaks, the seniors went outside on the back field and had a giant water/mud fight because today was their last day in uniform, so they didn’t have to worry about getting dirty. As we sat in math class listening to the teacher, we could hear screaming and laughing from the seniors just on the other side of the wall. I was so jealous. After school, Katie and I walked over to the costume shop to pick up our costumes for the party that night. Then we took a micro to the Jumbo to pick up a few last minute things Katie needed for her costume. We got some soft serve ice cream and walked back to my house. We were both feeling really tired and lazy, so we rested and watched YouTube videos for a while because we had to get our energy back for the party tonight. We ate dinner in my room while we watched Sweeny Todd, and then we put on our makeup, I curled my hair, and we put our costumes on. The theme was supposed to be good vs. evil, but I was a sailor and Katie was a cheerleader so neither of us actually went with the theme. When we were completely ready we still had about two hours until the party started, so we went to the kitchen to drink coffee and get our energy up to stay out super late and party. Then we Skyped with Katie’s family. They’re really nice and her brother is absolutely hilarious. It was cool finally meeting them after she’d told me so many stories about them. I felt like I already knew them even before I met them. My mom finally drove us over to the party around 10, and on the way we picked up Cata.

When we got to the party, I realized that it was going to be a lot of fun. Everyone was in costume, and I didn’t even recognize some people, but they were all being super nice and friendly (like I said before, it’s a lot easier to talk to new people at parties than it is to talk to them at school). We all danced a lot, and we took breaks to go outside and talk and take pictures.

It was kind of weird because there were teachers there chaperoning, but people were outside smoking a lot, and a bunch of kids showed up to the party drunk or brought alcohol in with them. Around 1 when the party ended, Cata’s mom came and picked me, Katie, Cata, Vale, Anto, Jose, and another guy that I don’t know up and took us to a nightclub called Kamikaze. A bunch of the seniors and some of the juniors were going there to continue the party. I didn’t really have a lot of hope that they were going to let us in when we didn’t have ID cards and couldn’t prove we were over 18, but they let everyone in. We sang karaoke (I didn’t because I didn’t know any of the songs in Spanish), and danced a bunch. They gave us wristbands for free drinks, and so I had my first experience ordering at a bar, even though I wasn’t drinking and I just ordered it for my friend Popi. Around 2:30 (way too early), my mom came to pick up me, Cata, and Katie. We dropped Cata off and Katie came back to my house to sleep over. We were so tired when we got home that we crashed around 3:30. I had such a great time, and I really want to go back to Kamikaze to dance some more. The parties here in Chile are so incredibly better than the parties in the US (or at least the ones I went which admittedly weren’t many).

Thursday, October 17

When I got to school, I was shocked to find that the senior boys had come to school in the girls’ skirts and the girls in the boys’ pants. It was an uncomfortable and slightly disturbing sight. The seniors last day of real school is tomorrow because after that they will still come but they don’t have to wear uniforms and they don’t go to classes, they just take practice tests for the PSU (like the SAT but more important) which is in December.

Today we had a field trip at school to La Universidad Catolica in Santiago. We came to school in jeans and the polo shirt from the uniform, and we went to our first three classes like normal, and then we ate lunch and got on the bus for Santiago. I sat with Chichi and Thomas on the bus, and she taught me more bad words in Spanish while he just laughed at my accent.

When we got to the university, we went to like an expo with booths from each major, and we got some information. Then Katie, Coti, and I went on a tour of the engineering department in the university. After a while we decided the tour was boring and so we walked across the campus to Starbucks instead.

Having Starbucks twice in a week after not having it at all for two and a half months was like a dream come true. We met up with a lot of other friends in Starbucks and talked for a while, and then we went back to the expo to look around some more because I really wanted to see the campus and maybe actually get some information about international relations since that is the career I am currently pursuing while applying the colleges in the US.

I went to the international relations table and was surprised to find that if I were to go to a lot of the schools I’m applying to, I would be eligible to do a yearlong exchange to study at la Universidad Catolica in Chile. It’s not a fully baked idea, but it would be pretty cool to come back, use my Spanish again, and be able to visit all of my friends here again.

Later, we got back on the bus and drove back to school. I was going to have to take a micro home, but  I left my wallet in Katie’s backpack, and she left before my bus got back to school (because each class A, B, and C had their own bus and I’m in A and she’s in C), so I asked my friend Vicente for a ride home. When I got back I was dead tired from staying up so late yesterday and having such a big day today, so I made myself some food and then I showered and went to sleep early.

Wednesday, October 16

Today I brought my flute to school. On Monday, my friend Joaquin had called me and told me that he and another guy were supposed to play a flute and guitar duet in front of the school for “Dia del Profesor”, but the guy who plays the flute just got his wisdom teeth out and couldn’t play. He like basically begged me to do it, even though I told him I hate playing in front of people. He brought the music to school and we ditched religion in the morning to go rehearse for the first time. The music was pretty easy, so we were able to learn in quickly. After second period, we went into the theater and had like a “dress rehearsal”. I found out we were the only juniors performing, and there were only three other acts. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to get nervous before the whole school came into the gym (that’s like 1,200 kids plus all the teachers) and the show started. Our song actually went really well even though I was really nervous, and afterwards everyone came up and congratulated me. I am kind of the center of attention at the school because everyone knows I am a gringa, so when I do something it’s like more public and awkward because everyone is looking at me anyway (I don’t know if that made any sense). After school, I worked on college essays for a while, went for a run, showered, and got ready to go to my first Rotary meeting in Rancagua. I got dressed up in nice clothes and my rotary blazer, and then Nancy and I took a collectivo into the center of town. She thought she knew where the building was, but we ended up getting lost and wandering around a few blocks for about 15 minutes before we found the place. When we finally found it, I walked in and greeted everyone (with a kiss on the cheek like always), and then Katie, Nigel, Pierre, Debbie, and I hung out together (we’re all the exchange students in the Rancagua Club). We were all seated at different tables with our families and a few other Rotarians, and then the club meeting began with speeches and official business. Then we were served a three course dinner, and each table talked individually. My table had two guys with very opposite political views and they got into like a really big fight about the history of politics in the US. I didn’t really want to get involved in their heated discussion, even if they were talking about my country, so I just sat back and absorbed more interesting tidbits about how foreigners views the choices of the UD government. After dinner, each exchange student was expected to give a presentation about themselves and their lives in their home country. I was a little nervous about this because my counselor only told me about this speech yesterday at 11:30 at night, so I only had time to make a PowerPoint with pictures, and I hadn’t prepared anything to say. I just got up there and talked about my family, friends, school, and what I like to do in my spare time. I was actually pretty proud of how I did because I may not be fluent in Spanish, but I can speak enough to get my point across and be sure that everyone understands what I’m trying to say (which is a lot more than some of the other exchange students).

After we all presented, each of our families gave a little speech about why they were excited to have exchange students in the Rotary program, and then the meeting finally ended. We had arrived at 8:30 and we didn’t leave until 12. My counselor, named Monchito, finally gave my salary. Every month I am supposed to get 100USD, but I hadn’t received a single cent since I’d been here. He owed me $300 and he gave me $100 at the meeting. I don’t want to fight with him about money, but I really want to make sure that I get the money I am owed. Also, the Rotary club here is incredibly disorganized. Rotary is supposed to check up on the students, invite them to club meetings and rotary events every month, and have special events, tours, and gatherings for the exchange students. We’ve all been here over two months and I had to call Monchito and remind him to invite us to meet the club. Katie and I are thinking of just going to more meetings without being invited and forcing the club to take responsibility for us because we really do want Rotary to become a bigger part of this exchange. Rotary is an international organization that has some of the most influential people. Making connections with them could be very beneficial in the future (and also I want to have more opportunities to experience new and fun things here).

Tuesday, October 15

Today Daniel, Katie, and I met at school in normal clothes because we were going to ditch school that day and go to Santiago together. Antonia couldn’t come because her parents thought it would be too dangerous, and I had to listen to a long safety speech from my parents because apparently Santiago has a reputation for having lots of robbers and thieves. We walked from school to the bus station, and took an hour long bus ride into the city. Then we took the subway (called the metro) to Costanera Center, which is the biggest mall in South America and the sixth or seventh biggest building in the world. We got Starbucks for the first time since I arrived in Chile almost two and a half months ago. That has been one of the things I miss most. I was happy to finally get my frappuccino, but incredibly disheartened to find that pumpkin flavored things don’t exist in Chile, which means neither do Pumpkin Spice Lattes. (sidenote: other things that do not exist in Chile include licorice, Sour Patch Kids, graham crackers, goldfish, cheez-its, and pretzels) After walking around in the mall for a while without buying everything because it was all super expensive we jumped back on the metro and went to a little market of artsy hippie stuff that was super cool. There were a lot of little Chilean souvenirs, and I had to resist the urge to buy them all. I’ll have to go back there before I leave to buy gifts for everyone back home. After that, we walked up this big hill called Cerro Santa Lucia.

Apparently it used to be a castle and it was a pretty hike and an amazing view of Santiago at the top. Later, we met up with Jaimee, another exchange student from New Zealand who has been here for about 9 months, and her boyfriend and we took the metro to another area to eat a late lunch. We were all kind of starving, so we went to this burger place where the burgers were absurdly huge (mine was a turkey burger). As we ate them, we talked a lot and it was really interesting to hear the experiences of Jaimee and Daniel. It made me more and more excited about exchange and all the amazing things that are bound to happen. It also made me want to come to Santiago more often to hang out with the exchange students there. After lunch, Daniel, Katie, and I said goodbye to Jaimee and her boyfriend and took the metro back to the bus station (Katie and I were really excited to buy our very own metro BIP cards) and took the bus home to Rancagua.

Overall it was an incredible day just walking around and kind of doing nothing in Santiago because the city is so alive and there are like a million new things to see everywhere I turn. I also really enjoy spending time with Daniel and Katie (and Antonia too—we missed her a lot today). I don’t know if it’s because we all speak English and so it’s a lot easier to make friends, or because we are all sharing similar experiences as exchange students here, but we get along great. When we got back to the bus station in Rancagua, Katie’s mom came and picked us up, but when she got to the gas station near my house she realized that her gas cap was broken and they couldn’t take it off to put more gas in, so she had to leave Daniel and I there and drive straight to the mechanic before the car ran out of gas. We walked to my house while Daniel called his parents and asked them to pick him up. They said they were busy and couldn’t come for him and told him how to take a bunch of different micros and collectivos to get to his house. I walked him over to the Jumbo to catch a micro. I may not have the perfect relationship with my family, and I may get pissed sometimes that they don’t let me go out as much as I would like, but I am really lucky to have them because I know they care about me and would do anything to make sure I’m safe and comfortable. I feel really bad that Daniel doesn’t really have that. Anyway, we said goodbye when he got in a micro, and then I went shopping at the jumbo and bought a cute new skirt and shirt. When I got home, the Chilean soccer game had already started. We were playing against Ecuador, and we had to win this game to advance to the world cup. It was incredibly important, as I quickly figured out when I walked into the house and found Maxi running around the house wearing the Chilean flag as a cape and screaming “GOL CONCHA TU MADRE” at the top of his lungs.

We ended up winning, and I went to sleep to the sound of people yelling and horns honking out on the street as people celebrated Chile getting into the world cup.

Monday, October 14

Today was a pretty average day at school. Katie and I ditched physical education to hang out with Daniel and Antonia, the other exchange students, in the library. They’re super fun, and it’s a lot easier to be friends with them because we all speak English. It’s probably not a good idea to just rely on my English so much, but it’s nice to take a break sometimes. I don’t take for granted anymore how wonderful it is to be able to express exactly what I want to say. I feel like I have two different personalities. In English I am exactly myself because I can say exactly what I want or what crosses my mind, but in Spanish I am someone else because I can only say certain things. I am still waiting for the day when I feel certain that I can truly be myself in Spanish. I want to be able to tell jokes and use sarcasm and make quick sassy comebacks and everything. After school I came home and worked really hard on my college essays, and then I went for a run, showered, and ate dinner with the family.

Sunday, October 13

Katie and I woke up super late this morning because we were really tired from the party the night before. Then we just sat around being lazy and watching Netflix in our pajamas until her mom called us down for lunch. It was like a big family lunch, so I got to meet some of her aunts and uncles and grandparents. They are all really nice and eager to talk to me. After lunch, Katie’s brother drover her and I to the Jumbo. We shopped for clothes, and I got some new shorts because the weather is finally starting to warm up. Then we got some ice cream and started trying to figure out how we were going to take public transportation all the way back to Katie’s house. First, we took a micro (like a bus) from the jumbo to the movie theater. Then we walked for a long time until I got brave enough to hail a collectivo (which is like a taxi except it has a route that it doesn’t really deviate from, so it looks like a taxi but it’s actually more like a small bus). It was quite an experience trying to describe to the cab driver where exactly we wanted him to stop, and we ended up having to walk a few extra blocks because he didn’t understand what I told him and went too far, but we ended up getting to the house ok. I love the independence of taking public transportation, although I would much prefer being able to drive. When we got to her house, we sat around and talked to her family for a while, and then when they left we talked to her sister Bernie. Bernie is a sophomore, and she’s like a really crazy party girl, but she’s also super hilarious and I love talking to her. After a while we went upstairs and the whole family sat down together to watch a movie. During the movie, my family called me and said they wouldn’t be home from Santiago until 11. I was a little frustrated that they would return so late on a school night, but I figured there had to be a good reason, so after the movie ended I showered and put on pajamas and then waited for them to pick me up. When they finally came, I apologized to Katie’s family for staying so late, and we went home. They didn’t even say sorry for picking me up so late. They just said “oh we decided to go to the mall and buy a refrigerator and then we got hungry and it took longer than we thought to eat”. That didn’t do much to make me forgive them, but staying up late is just a reality in this family that I have no choice but to accept. As soon as we got home, I went to sleep without even helping to unload the car.

Saturday, October 12

Today I woke up around 9:30 to get ready to go to Techo Para Chile. Juandi picked me up at 10 and we went to the headquarters, took the micro, then walked the long walk over to the camp. They were fumigating in the camp today so we took all the kids over to the meadow nearby and let them play for a while. There was this one little kid with crutches who had his birthday that week, so we put some candles in a snickers bar and we all sang to him. I figured out that he was turning 17. He looked about 7. It was pretty sad, but it made me happy to see how happy he was at all the attention he was getting from everyone. I was playing with the kids when this other volunteer that I’d never seen before came up to me. She asked me where I was from and I told her California. She burst out laughing and said “woah what a small world I’m an exchange student too and I got here two months ago from Texas.” We started talking for a while and she is with AFS and also here for a year. She was at Techo for the first time today with her host sister and cousin. We all sat around in a circle and talked for a while (in a weird mixture of spanglish), and I had a great time. Sarah is super cool and really funny, and talking to all of the other volunteers made me feel like I was finally being accepted into the Techo family. Sarah and I made a plan to get a group together with all the exchange students from Rotary and AFS and hang out. I really love exchange students because we all understand each other and it’s so easy to make friends with them. When I got home, my family was eating lunch, so I joined them, and then I showered and packed. My family was going to stay in Santiago Saturday night to go to my dad’s friend’s son’s 5^th birthday party, but I was really fed up with never being able to go to parties with my friends because I always have some family commitment, so I asked them if I could stay over at Katie’s house and go to my friend’s birthday party instead of going with them. They gave me a lecture on party safety (never leave your drink unattended) but they let me go. I went over to Katie’s house, and then we went to our friend Coti’s house to get ready with Coti, Lorenza, and Gabs. Katie and I came in pretty normal clothes because that’s what you wear to parties in the US.

The other girls laughed at us and told us to borrow Coti’s clothes because we weren’t sexy enough in our jeans and tshirts. We got ready, then ate some pizza for diner and danced around Coti’s room. Around 10:30 we left for the party. It was super far away in the country and we had to drive through dirt roads and we actually only found the place because we heard the music from far away. When we got there, my friends clapped for me because I finally broke out of the house and got to go to a party (they have been inviting me to parties like every weekend since I got here but I’ve never been able to go because I’m always busy with my family).

We danced, everyone around me was drinking, and we talked to a lot of new people. People had told me that the best way to make new friends was to meet them at parties, and they were totally right because I started talking to a lot of people from school with whom I usually don’t  talk to. There were a lot of seniors there whom I don’t know, and I had a great time meeting them. The guys were super flirty as usual, but it was still nice to talk to people.

Friday, October 11

Today was Friday, but it was a really stressful day at school because they had two tests. First period we had history, and I took the test. I had been planning to study, but since I got home so late last night I didn’t have time, and I didn’t do very well on the test. I don’t know if I’ve made this comment before, but learning history in another country is incredibly interesting. When we learn in the US, it is always about how the US intervened in one country or another for the good of our country and for the good of the world. However, not all countries or people believe that the US has such noble intentions. In the Chilean presidential election of 1970, the CIA secretly donated large sums of money to the candidate from the right to ensure that socialist Allende wouldn’t win. Once he did win, the CIA continued to fund parties from the opposition to ensure that Allende’s government would be a failure. It seems to me that Chileans view this meddling as uncalled for and they resent the US for sticking our nose where we don’t belong. It is the same history we learn in the US, but with a very different spin. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, except that I ditched Language class after lunch to go watch a movie with Katie’s class (they had Philosophy and even though I had already seen the movie with my class, I was not in the mood to go to Language). I really like the girls in Katie’s class. They are always so sweet and eager to talk to me.

After school, I came home to meet our aunt and uncle from Brazil who were staying with us only for the afternoon because they had a flight to catch back to Brazil. My aunt speaks Spanish, but my uncle speaks less than I do. It was nice not to be the only one who didn’t understand everything, and we basically spent the whole time teaching each other phrases in Portuguese, Spanish, and English and trying to communicate between the three languages. It was really cool to talk to them and actually be able to understand a little Portuguese (because it’s kind of similar to Spanish). After they left, I Skyped with Cristobal for a while, and then Maxi and I watched the Chile soccer game. We Skyped Cristobal and he watched the game over Skype because it wasn’t on TV in the US.

To qualify for the world cup, they just had to win this game. At the end of the first half, they were up 3-0, but in the second half, Colombia came back and tied the game 3-3. Now Chile has to win their last game on Tuesday against Ecuador to qualify. Everyone was heartbroken when they lost. After the game, my friend Jose (the one I met through Rotary who went on exchange two years in a row) picked me up and we went over to his house. We went for a walk around his neighborhood, and he told me really great stories about his exchanges. I really like talking to him. Then we went upstairs and he played me some music on his guitar. We chose a movie and sat down to watch it.  Around 1, he asked his dad to drive me home. I got home super late and went straight to bed without even taking my makeup off.

Thursday, October 10

Today at school was nothing out of the ordinary, except that Katie, Daniel, Antonia and I skipped two classes in a row and sat and talked in the library. For the first two hours, we all just talked, and then school ended and Daniel and Antonia left, but Katie and I had to stay for sports until 4:30, so we stayed in the library a while longer, and then walked over to the ice cream store down the street and ate ice cream and sat outside. Basically, we did the exact opposite of sports. After school, I went home with my friend Cata. We hung out for a little while at her house, talking to her family. I really love her family; they are literally the sweetest things, and I feel so comfortable with them. We have a test on the book The Count of Montecristo (El Conde de Montecristo) next week, so we watched the movie instead. Then we went with her mom over to the mall to shop for shorts for Cata. I love shopping and the clothes and style here and really cute, but everything here is so much more expensive than it is in the US, and it makes me really sad because I want to buy everything but I can’t. Also, my clothes from the US are kind of weird and not stylish here, so I have to slowly buy new stuff to be able to fit in better. After we finished shopping, Cata’s mom dropped me off, and I showered, ate a late dinner, and went to sleep.

Wednesday, October 9

Today at school was nothing super special, other than the fact that this week I have been making an effort to talk to more people in my class, and I’m really happy to be making more friends. There were a few people in the class that I really hadn’t talked to at all in two months, and I started talking to some of them this week and they’re all really nice and friendly. I just had to break the awkward barrier of not talking. After school I worked really hard on the letter of recommendation packet again, and then I went for a run, ate dinner, and sat and talked with my family for a few hours. I really love talking to them, and now that we’re back on the same page about me going out and everything, I feel a lot closer to them and more comfortable asking them for things.

Tuesday, October 8

Today at school was nothing special, except that Tuesdays are always my favorite days because we have math, English, and English laboratory. I really like English Lab. Today, the teacher asked me to translate the school song into Spanish so that the PE teachers could have it (I guess they had asked for it or something), and so me and the kid next to me worked on translating it together. It was actually really hard (If anyone knows the word for “welkin ring” in Spanish let me know) but we did it more or less. After school, I went home and worked really hard on finishing that entire letter of recommendation packet. I took a little break to go for a run and to eat dinner with the family. Then, I talked to Nancy for a while. I have been a little frustrated with the family lately because every single weekend they make plans for me to go to some family party with them, and I never have time to do anything with my friends. I always have to turn down the invitations to parties that I get because I’m busy with my family. This weekend my family is invited to a birthday party for my dad’s friend’s son who is turning 5. We are supposed to go to Santiago and stay overnight on Saturday just to go to this party. That was the last straw and I decided I really need to put my foot down and make them let me hang out with my friends more. I talked to my mom about it, and she said yes I can stay here this weekend and sleepover at Katie’s house and go to the party I was invited to Saturday night. I was really happy, and I think now my family understands more of what I want. I just have to be less afraid to ask them for things. But I also understand why they are so protective of me. Taking care of someone else’s kid is a really big responsibility.

Monday, October 7

Today waking up for school was hard. But school today was really fun. In physics, we had to take a partner test, and I was partners with my friend Thomas. He literally just took out his cell phone and everyone in the class started texting the answers and photos of the work back and forth and then we just copied it all. I was shocked and very amused at the same time. The other thing that happened today was super fun too. Every year, the juniors plan a party for the seniors. Since school ends in November, the party is always a Halloween costume party with a theme. This year the theme is Good vs. Evil. The juniors have to plan the party and then they put on a show to invite the seniors to the party. Today during third period, a siren went off and everyone rushed out of their classrooms. Some of the juniors had dressed up in costumes and gone into the classrooms of the seniors and kidnapped a few seniors. They were sitting in the quad tied up, and the juniors called out the names of a few seniors who were asked to do funny or embarrassing things in order to “rescue” their friends. It was really hilarious. The party is next Friday, and I’m excited about it! After school, my friend Vicente drove Maxi and I home, and on the way we went to the place where his dad works. It is a farm where they harvest pears and apples, and there is like this huge room that is a freezer/storeroom for all the fruit. We went in and had fun in the cold for a while, and then took some apples and went home. After that, I went for a run, ate dinner, and took a shower. Then I received a cold shock of reality. I began to start looking into college applications. Everything is due at the end of October, and I still have to decide where I want to apply, write the essays, and actually fill out the applications. I also have to fill out a packet to turn into ANHS so that my guidance counselor can write me a letter of recommendation. When I looked up the packet online, I realized that it was due last Friday. I looked through and realized that it was really a lot of work. I would have to work hard the next couple of days in order to finish it as soon as possible and then just pray that the teachers will accept it late.

Sunday, October 6

Today I woke up around 8:30 after getting 5 hours of sleep, and I quickly got ready to go to the run. Nacho, Maxi, and I left the house around 9 and took the bus over to the train station 9Santiago is a big city that requires various modes of public transportation). When we got to the train station, Nacho realized that his metro card only had enough money on it for two people, so Maxi and I took the train while Nacho took a nearby bus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maxi was super nervous to ride the subway alone, but I was completely calm. I never worry about these things because I figure the worst that can happen is that I get lost, and there will always be someone willing to help me. It would just be another adventure. After two months of exchange, I am already pretty good at just rolling with the punches and not worrying too much. We got off where we were supposed to without a problem, and met Nacho outside. Then we walked for a while to the start of the run. We got our numbers and then talked and stood in the shade and waited for the race to start. During the run, Nacho and Maxi run faster than I do, but they slowed down for me and I had a lot of fun running with them. It was also really cool to run through Santiago and see the pretty and important buildings.

I really like big cities. I even like the ugly parts (which we also ran through) because everything just feels so awake and alive. We finished in 54 minutes, which is 15 minutes faster than Nacho and I did in Rancagua. I guess I’m improving! Then we took the bus home, showered, and I helped my mom and aunts make lunch. More and more people arrived at the house, and pretty soon it was a huge family event. I hung out with my cousins Nacho, Matias, and Vale, and with Maxi. We talked, played Monopoly with Monse and my littler cousins, and then Vale, who is studying to become a medical technician, asked us if she could practice drawing our blood. I’ve had my blood drawn millions of times, and it really doesn’t scare me at all, so I agreed. We sat down at the table and she took out all her professional supplies. She stuck me 3 times trying to find a vein, but I have really small veins, and even the professionals usually have trouble finding them, so eventually she gave up and forced Nacho and Matias to volunteer (it was their first time ever having blood drawn and they were really nervous—they were so shocked by how calm I was about it).

We went inside to sing happy birthday to Maxi again and to eat some cake.

Around 9, we finally started getting ready to head back to Rancagua (once again I was a little ticked off by their lack of consideration for the fact that we all had school in the morning and when we got back to Rancagua we were going to have to shower and get ready and everything). We left around 9:30 and got back to the house at 11. I was way too tired to shower or do anything at all, so I literally just fell into bed and went immediately to sleep.

Saturday, October 5

Today I had to wake up early because I volunteered to work in a campaign called Siempre Por La Vida, whose goal is to collect enough signatures to send to the congress to ensure that abortion never becomes legal in Chile. My group was stationed in the bus station in the more dangerous part of Rancagua. I got there around 10 and helped Mery blow up balloons for a while, and then when Coti arrived, she and I went out to start asking for signatures.

It was in a metropolitan area, so there were a lot of people walking around on the streets. I carried balloons and bracelets to give to the people who signed, and Coti had the pamphlets with more information and the clipboard with the signature sheet. She went up to people and asked, and I followed her around and smiled and said “gracias” to the people who signed. At first I was too scared to ask anybody to sign because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to explain anything or understand their responses, or that they would start a fight with me over the issue of abortion (sidenote: I really don’t have a clear view on the matter of abortion, but I actually think I am more in favor of abortion than against it… but I’m still glad I got the experience of doing this campaign). However, after listening to Coti give the same speech to people 82046123864 times, I got over my fear and started asking people too.   If they are having fun, they won’t leave until they want to. I was pretty angry with their lack of consideration for me and what I need,  but I couldn’t really say anything, so I just waited quietly until they came upstairs to tell us we were leaving. We arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house around 3 and I immediately went to sleep. It was a long day and I was really pissed at my family and I just wanted to sleep.

We walked all over, through street markets, through a taxi depot, into stores and restaurants, and through the bus station, asking everyone we saw for signatures. We only took one break to go buy some lunch, and when the campaign ended at 4:30, we had collected over 400 signatures. I was tired and my feet hurt a lot, but it was a really cool experience. I got to talk to a lot of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I got to walk around and see a part of the city that I didn’t know about. When I got home, I had about two hours to kill before my family would be ready to leave for Santiago, so I ate some leftover birthday cake, played Monopoly with Monse, and then walked over to the Jumbo to look at clothes and bought a new sweater for $10 (which was really shocking because things are usually way more expensive in Chile). When I got home, I packed for Santiago and waited for my family to be ready. We drove up to the house of one of Eric’s best friends, who was having a birthday party. Maxi, Monse, and I were the only young people there.

We sat outside and talked for a while, and all the adults asked me about my exchange and they were very nice, but Maxi and I got bored after a while and so we went upstairs to play GTA. We were up there playing until 3 am. I was actually pretty angry with my family at this point. Like I get that it is their culture to stay out late, but they knew that Maxi and I had to get up early the next morning to run a race, and I just thought it was inconsiderate of them to keep us out so late. I even asked them and reminded them around 1 that we had to be running in exactly 8 hours, but they didn’t seem to care. Maxi just said that they do this all the time. If they are having fun, they won’t leave until they want to. I was pretty angry with their lack of consideration for me and what I need,  but I couldn’t really say anything, so I just waited quietly until they came upstairs to tell us we were leaving. We arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house around 3 and I immediately went to sleep. It was a long day and I was really pissed at my family and I just wanted to sleep.

Friday, October 4

I am always happier on Fridays. Today at school we had a history test, which I didn’t really study for, so I don’t think I did very well on. Then, during our second class, we were supposed to work on a physics worksheet, but I spent the whole class teaching my friend Chichi how to do the math lesson we were learning because we had a test next period. During the break before the test, I went to hang out with my friends from another class. When the bell rang to go to class, we stayed outside, because everyone always stays outside until long after the second bell. However, I forgot that all of the teachers don’t care EXCEPT the math teacher. So, when I said goodbye to them and walked over to my classroom, the door was closed, and everyone was seated and the teacher was passing out the test. Being the clueless American that I am, I opened the door and walked quickly to my seat because that is what you do if you are late. Apparently here it’s different. The teacher saw me walk in and then yelled at me to get out and shut the door behind me. I walked back outside, and the people from the other classes who were still outside because their teachers don’t care if they’re late just looked at me and burst out laughing because they knew exactly what had happened. The teacher finished passing out the test and made me wait outside for like 5 minutes, and then he came outside, yelled at me that I can never arrive late again and that if I am late I need to be polite and knock on the door and wait to be let in. Then he let me go to my seat and take the test. I like taking math tests here because I don’t have to study anything and I understand almost everything. Math is by far my favorite class. After school, I walked to the costume shop again with my friends Vale, Anto, and Jose. The store was closed, and so we walked around for a little while and then took the city bus over to the Jumbo where we met up with Coti, Mery, and Katie.

We bought supplies to bake desserts, and then Coti drove us over to Anto’s house to bake. We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes and just hung out for a while. They are so adorable and sweet, and I love hanging out with them. I really like the people here, and I’m so happy to finally have real friends here.

After a while, Coti and I went to the Jumbo because she had some errands to run and I had to buy a birthday gift for Maxi (I decided to buy him a giant Toblerone). Then Coti dropped me off at home. Maxi was having a barbecue with his friends for his birthday, and I sort of didn’t know how to behave. I wanted to be social and talk to them, but at the same time I didn’t want to steal the spotlight from Maxi and distract his friends on his birthday. I went out and said hi and then sort of hung out in the corner and talked to them a little.

They barbequed a chicken burger especially for me, and then we sang and I had some cake. By that time it was about 12, and so I excused myself early and went inside, showered, and went to sleep because I had to get up early the next morning.

Thursday, October 3

Today was Maxi’s 15^th birthday, so the first thing I did in the morning as wish him a feliz cumpleanos. Then at school was nothing out of the ordinary. I took a philosophy test that I didn’t study for, and I was actually pretty surprised because I remembered most of the answers from the lecture that the teacher had given the week before. Also, today was my friend Pablo (who I know will read this and will be incredibly excited to finally get a shoutout in my blog) and my first Nigganish Day. He is really good at English, and he always wants to speak it with me, but I never let him because I would rather practice my Spanish. So we made a deal that every Thursday we will speak in English (and also have competitions to see who can talk more like a stereotypical black person). It’s pretty fun, but I still feel really weird having a conversation with a Chilean in typical American slang. It’s just not fair that he speaks English so well and I’m still struggling to understand Spanish!  After school, I went home and basically did nothing for a while. Monse and I entertained ourselves by playing tic-tac-toe. Then after a while I went for a run and came home and took a shower. I worked on my blog and got completely caught up while I watched Maxi play his birthday present—Grand Theft Auto 5. The game is set in LA, and Maxi kept stopping to ask me if this was really what LA looked like. I guess it is more or less similar. Around 8:30, Nancy and Eric came home and we all sat down together to eat Maxi’s birthday dinner—hot dogs (turkey sausage for me) with avocado and fresh tomato (yep the hot dogs are a lot better here than in the US). Then we brought out the cake and sang happy birthday in both English and Spanish.

Then we ate some fantastic homemade cake, had a long discussion about the different measurements of poverty in Chile and the US (apparently here about 60% of the citizens make less than $1,000 per month), and, after wishing Maxi one last happy birthday, I went to sleep.

Wednesday, October 2

Today at school was kind of a boring day, but I was in a really good mood and I have no idea why. Katie, Gabs, and I ditched Religion to go to the library and talk, and then the other exchange students from New Zealand and Canada, Daniel and Antonia, came in and we all talked for a while. It’s so fun to be able to talk in English with people. I always used to take for granted being able to express exactly what I want to, but not anymore. I took a test in PD3 (History) that I actually studied a little bit for, and although it was pretty hard, I think I did less terribly than usual. After school, we were supposed to have art until 4:30, but Cata, Gabs, and I ditched to walk over to the costume store to find a costume for Cata.

We had a great time playing around with the costumes. We walked slowly back to school, and then I went home in Cata’s carpool and went over to her house. We ate a snack, watched videos online, and went to her park for a while.

Then my mom came to pick me up around 8. I went home and helped Monse with a project she had to do for geometry, and then I watched some TV with my grandparents. I wrote in my blog for a while, and then went to sleep.

 

Tuesday, October 1

Today at school was another day of basically nothing super exciting. We talked and doodled on the desks in English class.

 

 

Then after school, Katie, Coti, Gabs, and I walked over to a nearby costume shop to look at Halloween costumes. There is a Halloween party at the school for juniors and seniors on October 18, and we wanted to get our costumes early before all the good ones got taken (here they don’t buy costumes, they just rent them). We got to the store and took like 2 hours trying a bunch of costumes until we all finally decided. I’m going to be like a sailor, which I know sounds weird, but I thought the costume was really cute, so whatever. Katie, Gabs, and I only had debit cards, and we had to pay to rent the costumes with cash, so we had to find a nearby bank to take out money. By the time we found the bank, we knew we would be late getting back to the school where our parents were picking us up, so we ran through the center of town back to the costume store to pay, and then ran back to the school so as not to make our parents wait so much. My mom picked Katie and I up and took us back to my house. We made ourselves dinner and ate with Monse and Maxi, and then we went to my mom’s art studio in the backyard to work on an art project (not for school, just for fun). We are making “French Art”, which is like 3D paper in a pretty frame (I’ll post a picture that describes it better when I actually finish), and it is taking forever to finish. We worked for like 2 hours and got about halfway through the project. I really love spending time with Katie.

It’s weird because I know that we would never be friends in the US, but here we are, and it’s nice to have a friend who is so different from my friends in the US. It’s also really nice to be able to talk to her about how I feel here and my frustrations and funny things that happen to me that I know she will understand because she is going through the same experience. After her parents came to pick her up, I went for a run and then showered and got ready for bed. I studied PD3 (History) because we have a test tomorrow and I wanted to do better than my usual suckiness. Then I went to sleep around 10:30. I always say I’m going to go to bed earlier, but it always ends up being like 10:30-11. I should really change that.

Monday, September 30

Today I had to wake up early for school… my favorite thing in the world. In school, nothing very exciting happened, but I did bring the peanut butter cookies for all of my friends to try! They loved them and I was really glad to have introduced them to something new! After school, I went home and worked on my blog for a little while. Then, Maxi, my grandma, and I walked over to our aunt and uncle’s house to visit our cousins. There are 3—2 young like Monse and 1 who is 13. The 13 year old, Vicente, is so incredibly quiet and shy it’s almost painful. I tried to talk to him a lot to bring him out of his shell, but it’s like basically impossible. I also met another cousin who was visiting them from Talca named Vale who is 18. She is super nice, and I hope I can go to Talca sometime to visit her again because she seems like a really good time. We brought ice cream over to the house, and we all ate it and talked for a while. We walked home afterward, I had a really nice conversation with my grandma (I finally feel really comfortable with her, like she is a part of my immediate family here instead of a distant relative like all of the other millions of family members I have here) and then we ate dinner and I went for a run. Then I got home, showered, got ready for school the next day, and went to sleep. I think I finally figured out where all my time goes during the day. I am always texting a lot of people (my friends here, not my friends from the US), and it takes me a while to type messages in Spanish. But I like talking to people here, and it’s a nice way to make friends. I understand a lot more over text than I do in person.

Sunday, September 29

We all had things to do on Sunday, so we woke up early (I only got like 5 hours of sleep and I was dead tired). We ate cake for breakfast and talked for a while before my dad came and took me and Marianna home. When we got to my house, Coti was already waiting outside to take me to the Siempre por la Vida meeting.

SPLV is a campaign that my school is participating in where a bunch of kids go out in the streets for one day and ask people to sign petitions to ensure that abortion stays illegal in Chile. Personally, I am not sure that I am completely against abortion because I do believe that women should have a choice about what happens to their own bodies, but I figured that this cause was very important to my classmates and I am here to experience the full culture, so why not help out? Anyway, this meeting was like a briefing on what we would be doing.

We all sat down and there was a long presentation on why abortion should be illegal and how to answer the common reasons people have for supporting abortion. It was all actually really interesting, and I learned more about the other side of the argument. Later, we broke into our groups and each group was assigned a place to go and stand and ask for signatures. I don’t know how much help I’ll be with explaining the problems with abortion to people in Spanish, but I’m going to help in any way I can and hopefully nobody will pick a fight with me (apparently sometimes people who passionately support abortion will get into big fights with the kids in the campaign). After Coti dropped me off at home, my family ate lunch, and then Nancy asked me if I wanted to help her cook some desserts (we literally always have way too many desserts in the house… it’s not going to help me keep off the 20 pounds that exchange students usually gain). Maxi and I walked to the store to buy the supplies that we needed to cook. When we got back, I started baking peanut butter cookies (since nobody eats peanut butter here, obviously they don’t have peanut butter cookies, and everyone has been wanting me to make them for a while so that they can try them for the first time).

Maxi made this one dessert that he likes, and Nancy made cream filled donut holes and flan. Then my grandparents and uncle came over, so I finished the cookies (I burned the first batch but the second actually turned out pretty good and everyone really liked them) and went to go talk to them. Then, our neighbors and good friends came over to eat dinner. We all sat around the big table and ate sopaipillas and tomatoes and then all of the desserts we had made. The food was fantastic, and I ate way too much dessert. Then, by about 9:30, I was dead tired after 2 days of lack of sleep, and so I excused myself from the table early (In Chile, when people sit down to eat a meal, they don’t just eat and then leave. They sit at the table and talk for like 2 hours after the meal is over. Every single meal. Even if it’s just the family. It’s a nice time to catch up, but sometimes I really just want the meal to be finished!) and went to go shower and get ready for school tomorrow. I got to sleep around 11.