Wednesday, December 18

Today I got up early and got ready to go to Monse’s premiacion (it’s like the end of the year awards ceremony). The class meets up in their classroom and they get medals for things like “most athletic”, “teacher’s choice”, “best classmate (chosen by students)”, and “overall GPA”. Monse won some good awards, and it was really adorable to see how happy she was. Then Nancy and I dropped Monse off at home and we went to the feria (farmers’ market) to buy fresh fruit and veggies. We spent like an hour there and by the time we had everything we needed my hands were about to fall off from carrying around all the bags of heavy fruit. Then we went home and ate lunch and I walked over to the Jumbo to meet Cata and go Christmas gift shopping. I was really happy to see Cata again because she is definitely one of my best friends here and one of the people I missed most. I had left my purse with all my money in it at Katie’s house, so I told her all about Patagonia while we took a micro over to Katie’s. When we got to her house, I realized that although she had told me her parents would be there, there was no one home. I decided to try the gate and surprisingly enough the lock was open, so I went it. Then I got to the front door and it was locked, so I went around the back to the sliding glass door that had been left completely open. I went up to Katie’s room and grabbed my stuff and then left like nothing had happened. Basically, I broke into Katie’s house. Then, Cata and I waited for a micro to take us back to the Jumbo. When we got on the micro we were the only ones there, and while we paid the guy, he took one look at me and asked me if I was a gringa. I told him yes and he said he had met another gringa on the micro not too long ago. I was totally shocked because just yesterday Katie had told me about a micro driver friend that she had made. He asked Cata and I if it would be ok for him to stop the micro and the depot and go to the bathroom really wick and we said sure. He left us alone on the micro and so obviously the first thing I did as give Cata my camera and go sit in the driver’s seat and pretend to drive the micro. Then the driver came back and saw me “driving” and laughed and asked if I wanted to drive for real. I said yes of course, and he told me to go sit in the seat up front with him (where usually no one is sitting), and although I didn’t actually get to drive because another passenger wanted to get on, the driver talked to me the whole way back to the Jumbo and ended up giving me his number and inviting me to his house in the country. He even pulled the micro over to take a picture with me before Cata and I got off. When we left the micro I confessed to her that I hadn’t understood a single word he had said to me and we laughed a lot. Being an exchange student is so fun because something weird and crazy and awesome always happens to me. Then, we walked over to Cata’s brother’s pastry shop and I got to see the back room where they do all the cooking. Then we went to the Jumbo and I bought a cookbook of chicken recipes for my mom (a joke since I don’t eat beef), a pillow and slippers for my dad (because he always works and doesn’t sleep enough), a puzzle game for Maxi, and some Violetta (Monse’s favorite actress) pencils for Monse. Then I said goodbye to Cata and went back home. Directly after going home, I walked over to the restaurant where Chichi works and waited for Thomas and Ale to arrive. We surprised Chichi by eating at her restaurant. It was nice to sit and talk with them and I really felt comfortable like they were just as much my friends as they were each others’. Around 9, we were still sitting outside at the restaurant, talking to Chichi when she came by and talking amongst ourselves, but it was absolutely freezing, so Thomas called his sister to take us home. She dropped me off at my house, and I had just gotten out some cherries and was planning on relaxing a little with Monse, when Marianna called me and invited me to her house. She lives on the other side of the Jumbo, so like a 10 minute walk, but it was dark and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. I went anyway, and she, Vicente, Augustin, and Stefano were having an asado on the patio of her apartment. They are really hilarious people and I need to spend more time with them because there is absolutely never a dull moment. We sat around and talked and played never have I ever and other games until like 12:30. It was really late by then, so Vicente walked me home. I told him he didn’t have to but it was really nice of him to do it and I appreciated it a lot. I was really tired by the time I got home so after talking to my parents a little while, I went to sleep.