Tuesday, May 20

Today I had to go to school without tights on even though it was absolutely freezing cold because like half the senior class (the taller ones who could march to a beat) had been chosen to march in a parade. Apparently for some holidays, all the schools in the city are called to march in a parade in front of the government members. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Battle of Iquique where Arturo Pratt (an important Chilean war hero) died. We got out of second and third period to go walk downtown, wait about 45 minutes lined up, and then march for about 2 minutes in front of a few government people lined up in front of the train station in the center of Rancagua. It was kind of funny how much preparation and attention to detail in our uniforms (they made all the girls change socks so we would all match perfectly, and they made us wear white gloves) went into such a little parade.
I guess it was to keep up the reputation of the school. A lot of people told me that all the other schools hate Instituto Ingles because they see us as being spoiled rich kids, and they told me that sometimes in parades like these people will actually spit on the blonde people from our school as they walk by. Nothing happened this time, but I could definitely sense some classism between our school and the others that were marching. Anyway, after school I went home and relaxed for a while before my parents dropped me off at Cata’s house around 9. Louis was already there, and we ate once together and watched a movie while chatting. Then we went next-door to Augustin’s house, where Isa, Vicente, Stefano, and Augustin were hanging out. We sat around and talked and sang along to some good music for a while, and then Cata, Louis, and I left to go to this party called Cumbre. Cata’s brother dropped us off in front of this disco where we thought it was, but when we walked in, the dance floor was completely empty and there were a few older couples sitting around the sides of the room drinking and talking. It was obvious that we were in the wrong place. We had to go outside in the rain and walk around the club to the building behind it, which was also a club, and apparently the place where Cumbre was being held.

We walked in and this time we knew we had gotten it right because it was packed with people and playing good music. I thought going out with just Cata and Louis would be awkward because they are kind of flirting and I would have been totally a third wheel, but right when we entered, I saw Sally’s curly blonde head sitting at one of the tables on the side, and when I went up to her and hugged her, she turned around looking relieved to see me and said she was bored and wanted to leave. I stole her from her friends and made her dance with me so I wouldn’t have to dance with Cata and Louis. The night went from being totally awkward to being totally amazing. Neither Sally nor I have any clue how to dance, but we had the most fun ever trying together.
We just did the stupidest things, but we weren’t at all embarrassed to do them in front of each other, so it was really fun! Sally even commented that half the people in the club probably thought we were drunk because we were dancing so terribly, but we didn’t care because we were together and having fun. At 2:30, Cata, Louis, and I had to go outside to wait for his dad to come pick us up. It was raining outside, and we ended up having to wait until after 3 because Louis’s dad is a typical Chilean, which means that everything happens a little later than planned. When he dropped me off at my house, I had to run upstairs, but on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, turn on the space heater and the bed heater, and jump under the covers shivering  I was so fricken cold. Overall, it was a really great night with some really awesome people.