Friday, June 6

Today I had to wake up earlier than usual to use the bathroom before Maxi needed to take a shower. I also thought that I was going to have to wash some fruit and put some cereal in a bag for lunch because Sra Adela hadn’t known to make me a lunch. When I walked into the kitchen, Nancy was already awake and making me a huge salad for lunch and had a bowl of cereal waiting for me at the table. It was honestly the cutest gesture ever and it just made me so happy that she hadn’t forgotten about me and that she still considers me her daughter too. School was boring, but then dance practice after school was really fun. I went home, relaxed and did nothing but watch videos on YouTube and practice the alianza dances for a while. Then Manuel and Lilian got home and we ate once together and they drove me back over to the San Martin house. Eric was having a little birthday party tonight and they had invited me. We cooked all together, and then Tio Mario and Tia Ximena arrived with the cousins.I loved seeing them again and catching up. I just feel so comfortable with these people, like they’ve been my family forever. We sat around the table and talked and laughed and played with the little kids for a long time, and then ate pizza and sang happy birthday to Eric.

The cake was mil hojas, which is an amazing cake filled with manjar that doesn’t exist in the US but that is absolutely amazing.

Around 11 Manuel came to pick me up, and we went home and I lay in my bed to watch a documentary about WWII and then sleep.

Thursday, June 5

Today at school was a pretty relaxed day. After school, I stayed for barras practice, where they taught me two new dances (I missed two days of practice so I was a little behind) that were extremely hard and sexier than I was used to. I love the dances, but they’re going to take a lot of practice before I can pull them off. At 4:30, I met up with Maxi and we took a collectivo together over to the San Martin house. I was planning on going to crossfit with Sally and then staying the night there. I walked in the door and Monse ran over and bear-hugged me. Then I went to the kitchen and caught up with Sra Adela for a while. I showed Sally and Monse my alianza dances, and we all had a dance party. Then Sra Adela served all us kids once.

It was just so normal; I almost felt like nothing had changed and it was just a normal day after school. I do like being an only child, but being with Monse and Maxi and Sally and always having someone to hang out with and laugh with and do exciting things with is also fun. Anyway, around 6:30, Sally and I took a collectivo over to the building where crossfit is held, and took part in the 1 hour class. It’s a bunch of exercises that you do for like 40 seconds and then take little 20 second breaks for an hour.

I had a lot of fun, but I’m definitely going to be sore for the next week. We got home and Eric was home. I sat at the table with my whole family (Nancy arrived later) eating pomegranate and talking to them until like 11. I filled them in on how I’ve been and how I’m feeling about having to go home so soon. They told me about the family activities they’ve been to recently and how everyone misses me. I honestly miss them all a lot too. We talked and laughed and it just felt like a normal night. I took a shower, and then Monse asked if she could brush out my tangly hair like she always used to. Then Maxi and I went to sit alone by the fire and we had a long talk about history, politics, and why Maxi should go on exchange. I think the distance that I have now between me and the whole family has made me realize how amazing they are and how much I love them and really do feel like they are my family. Sally and I went to sleep around midnight, and I felt so happy and at home with my family.

Wednesday, June 4

Today was a pretty average day at school. At lunch, however, there were tryouts for the "princess" of the alianza. Each alianza picks a prince and princess.

Little kids from like 3rd grade came to our classroom, we pushed all the desks together and made the kids stand on top of them and dance to reggaeton music. It was basically the cutest and most hilarious thing ever watching these ting uncoordinated kids dance to sexy music, but then things got a litle out of control when the little boys started taking off their shirts and shorts.

After school, I had to walk into the center to meet up with Louis, Katie W, and Sally to pick up the sweatshirts that we had ordered for all the exchange students in Rancagua. Vicente didn’t have anything to do for like an hour until his PSU prep class started, so he came with me. We met up with the rest of them in the center, and then went to get the sweatshirts (which by the way look awesome! They say “keep calm and kiss an exchange student” on the front and “Siempre juntos RYE Chile 2014” and our last names on the back), and then, even though it was raining, stopped for an ice cream. I was so impressed with Vicente. I knew his English was good, but we had never really spoken in English before. The poor guy was surrounded by 4 gringos talking quickly in English, and he didn’t even flinch. He just easily switched languages and continued making his same jokes and quick comebacks in English instead of Spanish. It was truly impressive. Later I told him I hated him because he’s never even been on exchange and he speaks English better than I speak Spanish after having been here for over 10 months. The most impressive thing was that he was able to keep his personality in a foreign language. People who hear me speak English and Spanish always comment on how much nicer I am in Spanish. I can’t be my sarcastic, pessimistic self in Spanish, so I opt for cute and sweet instead. Being myself in another language is definitely not an easy task.

The center is really just the street Paseo Independencia

Anyway, I got home around 5, did some exercises in my room (because it was raining and I couldn’t go out to run), showered, ate once with the family, and went to sleep.

Tuesday, June 3

Today I finally had to go back to school. We had a geometry test, and I actually sat down and tried really hard on the whole test, which is not usually something I do. I think I did pretty well, but it was a little surprising I was after having to concentrate so much for so long. I think I’m a little out of practice when it comes to school stuff and I’m really going to have to hit the ground running in college in 2 months. The rest of school passed uneventfully. As I was walking to the collectivo after school, it started raining, and it didn’t stop for the rest of the day. I had been planning on going to crossfit with Sally, which requires me to take a collectivo to the Jumbo. I bundled up tight over my sports clothes and made the walk through the rain to the big street next to my house where collectivos pass. The street was absolutely filled with a river of water and there was no way to get around the water to cross the street to wait for a collectivo, so I braved walking through it. I took one step in the water, got my shoes absolutely soaking wet, felt the cold rush into my bones, and I immediately turned around and ran home. I still wanted to do some sort of exercise, so I just did a bunch of squats and crunches in my room. I guess that’s what my workout routine is going to become in these next few days while it is raining cats and dogs (as Chilean English teachers like to say). Anyway, Lilian called me downstairs for once early, and so I was back upstairs and in bed by like 8:30. I watched Shrek the movie in Spanish, and then went to bed early to the sound of the rain pattering on the balcony outside.

Monday, June 2

Today I got to sleep in until like 10. I got up, got ready, and then Skyped for a while with Ana. Around 1, I took a collectivo into the center to meet up with the guy Gabriel. He is a guy from my school who returned about 2 months ago from an exchange year in Japan. He’s a little strange and I kind of feel like he only hangs out with me to later tell his friends that he was flirting with the gringa, but I really wanted to hear his cool exchange stories from a year in Japan (which honestly is a whole lot more scary and different than a year in Chile), so I agreed anyway. We were sitting in the plaza talking when this random guy tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a little gift bag.  He said “this is from your friend” and walked away. I opened it, and inside, there was a business card, and little card with a guy’s name, phone number, and the message “add me on Facebook”, and also a little chocolate bar. It was incredibly odd, but whatever, these creepy things seem to happen to me a lot in Chile. We ate empanadas for lunch, and chatted until around 4, when he walked me over to the mall and then left to go look at clothes. I waited there for Pablo, and when he arrived, we took a micro back to my house. I helped Pablo with math because we have a geometry test tomorrow and he really didn’t understand very much. I tried really hard to explain everything to him, but teaching things in English is hard, and in Spanish it’s even harder. I think he did end up understanding though, which is great. After we studied, we went on the computer and looked at old pictures of each other and our “dark pasts” (his is a lot more embarrassing than mine for the record hahaha). His mom came to pick him up around 8, and then I ate once with my family. After once, I Skyped with my mom about more college planning stuff (I’m still not completely sure what I want my major to be and if I want to try to double major in Spanish or something else useful). 

Sunday, June 1

Today Katie and I woke up around 10, and then went downstairs to eat breakfast and talk to Katie’s sister Berni for a while. Berni is actually planning to go to Katie’s house in the US on “exchange” next year, which I think is the coolest thing ever. Their two families are going to have a bond that really will last forever. After breakfast, I changed clothes and caught a micro to my house. I wanted to get home early because I felt kind of guilty that I hadn’t been with my family in so long. I arrived around noon as Lilian was preparing lunch. I showered and then went downstairs to talk to her while she cooked. Manuel arrived a little later, and we all stayed together in the kitchen for like 3 hours while Lilian cooked and then while we ate. After lunch, Manuel and Lilian went to take naps, and I went upstairs to do something productive. My room has been feeling really cluttered lately, so I decided to take all the unneeded stuff like souvenirs and summer clothes and just pack them up into a suitcase.

La puesta del sol de hoy dia

I Skyped Melanie, and then Emily, all while going through my stuff and packing the unnecessary things. I know I still have a long time left and this was just to rid the room of useless clutter, but it was still kind of weird packing up a suitcase. After I finished, I went with my parents to the Jumbo, where there was a big sale at Paris, a department store. They bought me a thermal plaid shirt for the winter (it was a really cute little gift, and I love wearing it because it’s from them), and we picked out a new sweater for Manuel and a pajama shirt for Lilian. Then we went over to Berezzi to get a coffee and talk about life (what we always do together). We arrived home around 8:30, where I was shocked to be informed by my classmates that we don’t have school tomorrow either. I had been all prepared to go to bed early for school, so I decided I would still go to bed early and just get a nice good night’s sleep. I ate once with Lilian, we Skyped for a while with Fran (my host sister who is in Wisconsin right now), and then I went upstairs, watched The Breakfast Club, and then went to sleep.

Saturday, May 31

Sam’s alarm woke us up in the morning at 9:30, and we all dragged ourselves out of bed to get ready. Then we sort of sat around waiting for Lilly’s parents to drive us all to the metro station while Lilly ran around the house frantically packing because she was leaving for the airport at like 4 in the afternoon. Lilly went with her dad to drop us off, and when we got out, we each gave her a giant hug and told her how much we loved her, and it was all too real that this would probably be the last time I hugged her, at least for a while. We got into the metro and made our way across the city to the terminal. I sat with the Talca kids and talked for a while until their bus came, and then I was alone waiting for Katie and Sally to arrive. I listened to music and waited for a long time before Sally showed up.

We got huge ice cream cones for lunch and had a really good talk. We talked about how much we’ve changed this year, and how scared we are that going home will change us back. I have become a better person during this year. I am nicer to my family, more responsible, more aware of the money I am spending, and more attentive to being good to my friends and remembering important things about them. I have also become more confident in myself and more true to who I am and what I like. I don’t ever want to lose these things, but going back to my old routine in the US will just make it so tempting to return to who I was a year ago. Sally and I made a pact not to go back to our old selves. Anyway, Katie arrived after a while and we all got on a bus back to Rancagua. We arrived at Terminal O’Higgins and we were starving, so we walked all the way to the center to get a late lunch of Reina Victoria sandwiches. We waited for such a long time in the restaurant that by the time we got out it was almost dark. Katie and I said goodbye to Sally and got a micro back over to Katie’s house. We sat downstairs and talked with her family for a long time, and then we went up to Katie’s room and just chilled and did nothing and went on tumblr and listened to music for a while. We had been planning on going out with my friends for Ingles, but it just got really complicated with finding rides and everything and honestly we were kind of too tired to go to a party anyway, so we just put on pajamas and brought some hot tea up to Katie’s room and watched Rent.

It’s a really amazing musical, even though it did make me cry. We were super lame on a Saturday night and ended up going to sleep at like 1.