I've been a bit busy and/or lazy.....

So much i haven't written about, i dont know where to start...
I guess i'll go ahead and start at finals week.
Monday: it was the physics test but my friends from AFS that had been here for a year were leaving so i went to say good byes instead. IT WAS SO HARD. i am the WORST person in the world to say goodbuys. i never know what to say besides "te quiero tanto y te extrañaré mas q la chucha" (love you and i'll miss you more that the ____) After that i was invited to go to a friends house but i was so tired and didn't really know how to get back to my house so i just went home.
another day that week was the Bio test but i didn't take bio so i went to school and read and then after the test got out (10am) and went to go get my friends nose pierced. in the end we didnt find a place that was good and clean that would do it for under 18 so she didnt get it done. After another test (hhistory friday) we went to santiago towe went to a street called Bandera. this is a street where they sell clothes from the US hella cheap. i found 3 sweaters from colorado, one Nuggets, one broncos and one CU boulder. I bought a yellow volcome long-sleeve shirt and a teal sweater that says "mountain climbing grandma" on the back, i'm glad no one understands its meaning....After that i ment up w/ a friend to go to the Carrete of a school called San Ignacio del Bosque. the party was a bit fome but hanging out w/ my friend was nice. we went to her house to sleep and i pent the day there before i realized that i needed to get home to pack for 234

234 EXPIERENCE:
we left the house sunday morning and went to the CVX house in santiago where we ment up w/ our cuadrilla(work group), got instructions and then headed off in metro to Peñalolen which is the neighborhood in Santiago where we worked.
My cuadrilla was definalty THE BEST!!! we sang and danced. i taught them the banna song and we learnt one in dutch (because there was also an exchange student from Belgium in my group) and was sang them the whole time we wern't listinging to the music from the iPod touch that one girl had.
In total there were about 24 other exchange studentes. but the difference between them and me was that i was the othly one who 1) had been here for more than 2 weeks and 2) i was the only one who chose to go. for the rest is was obligatory w/ their program. Most of them didnt have any problems but i talked to one form the group from Chicago (there were 8) she said "i have reached a new level of hell" this was on the 3rd day i think but then i talked to her the last day and her mind changed a bit fortunatly.
Pega: the traslation of this word is basically work, i didn't figure this out untill after i had confused myself about 3 times. my cuadrilla's pega was in a pre-school for kids from 2 to 5 years.
most of the work was to paint and clean the gutters/roof. when the guys were up cleaning the roof one fell throuh the roof over the patio. luckily he didnt get hurt at all but it was scary.
we also played w/ the kids. in comparasion w/ Techo para Chile, i liked Techo better just because it was sooo cold this time but the people in CVX are so amazingly nice that i had equally a great time!!!

2nd week of vacations:
well todays friday so i have a few days left but so far i've:
slept, cooked, went to fantasinladia, gone to Santiago, tried to go skiing but in the end didn't because it snowed (and when it snows its impossible to get up there and ski) and slept over at a friends house. tomorrow i'm gonna have a little junta (party) with the students in my generation (there a 60 in total but not all will come). and then monday i hope to take my sister to see toy story or shrek. Tuesday school starts and i stuck a little note to lolliepops to give to my friends.

And now i better start to pack b/c i have a whole bunch of **** to fin in to my two bags.
WAAAA I DONT WANT TO LEAVE, but afortunalty i'm coming back to beautiful colorado in the summer
=D

How were your finals? Did you only have one subject a day? How many hours were each subject?

haha finals.... yea there was a subject a day the first on thurday. we entered school the same time, at 8 and got let out at 10. each test was about 1 and a half long and then there was 1/2 an hour for revisions.

pregúntame algo!

How is your Papa? Is his eye better?

yea there is still a little mark but he hasn't said anything about it in a while and it dosn't apper to be bothering him at all anymore.

pregúntame algo!

Viña del Mar, partidos, 1ro carrete de despedida

Viña:
Defiantly one of the most beautiful beach towns out there. I took the bus friday morning to the station in Viña, which was an easy $6 dollar, 2 hour trip and met up Maddie, another excahnge student from the US. After walking around and dropping off my stuff we ment up with more and more AFS-ers until there was 8 of us. When it was just four of us we watched the second half of the game against Spain, wich we lost, in a resturant with completos (hotdogs). We went to Maddie's house at about 7, went out for dinner and walked along the beach a bit. When we got back to her house we just talked for hours (unfortunatly in english).
In the morning we packed up and i went to get a piercing and Viki got a tiny tattoo. Viki, Hapftnor and I then took a bus back to santiago where viki went to Las Condes and Hapftnor and I came back to my house to get ready for Daniel's good-bye party.
Despedida:
There isn't too much to say about this. just that i had a great time! Both my friends from AFS and school were there so i did not have even one second where i didn't know what to do. I slept over and in the morning we had breakfast and then i took the bus home.
Partidos:
well we lost the game against Spain but we still managed to classify into the next round so Monday we played against Brazil. We had asado at my house. Unfourtunatly a piece of coal jumped from the fire and hit my dad in the eye. LUCKILY he closed it in time that it didn't get inside but still, now he has pain and a black line on his eyelid.

GREAT WEEKEND! (it also lasted 4 days... maybe thats why)

RAIN DAY

This is exactly what I needed today(friday). I got to sleep in an extra 4 hours and now I am watching one of my favorite movies and typing al final!
TOUR TO THE NORTH
Thursday/Friday:
In the evening I went over to Daniels house (the other exchange student at my school) and waited for two other exchange students to arrive. We slept over there and then in the morning his mom dropped us off in Santiago at about 11. We went to lunch and walked over to the artesanal de Santa Lucia. An Artesanal is like a craf market. We ment up with a group a AFSers in the metro station, got a free dinner @ McDonalds. We got on the bus to sleep for our first night.
SAT:
We arrived in Caldera at 9:30. We ate breakfast right away and then changed to head off to the beach. I definatly didn't swim but i so wanted to.
We went to lunch (which for my table took about 2 hours to recieve our food) and then we went to a small artesanal. We came back recieved our cabañas, changed and headed off to walk around Caldera for a bit. When we came back I and another girl from my cabin went over to one of the guys cabañas and we palyed cards until about 2. The next day we learnt that they continued to play and pulled an all nighter. Smart men....
SUN:
woke up at 6 for a full day of driving. We stopped at this random hand in the middle of the desert, and a abandoned town where we looked at the cementary. We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in the evening where we ate dinner and played spoons until late.
MON:
BICYCLE RIDING!!!! Finally after 3+ months I got on a bike!!!
We went about 25 minuntes down a road to a place called "Garganta del Diablo" or the devils throat. after lunch we left to drive to a lake in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE that had pink falmangos. From there we went to Media Luna which is another national park. It was already dark so we didn't really get to see the dunes and rock formations but we got out of the bus and lied down on the ground to watch the stars. it was GENIAL(great)! We went back to San Pedro for the evening to buy and walk around and then went back to the hotel and played cards (again).
TUE:
Left super early to start driving. We passed Calera which is a HUGE mining town but we didnt get out. We stoped in Pica for lunch and fresh juice. This town was small but amazingly beautiful. After that we stopped in La Tirana. Every year they have a huge festival here with crazy costumes so we went to look at the church and plaza. In the evening we entered Iquique. It was really cool enering the city because it is a coast town and to get there one has to pracitcally go down a mountian pass. I counted 9 memorials for people who had died.
WED:
we walked around the center for a bit, bought things, then got on a boat and road out about 20 minuntes and back. For those who wanted to we had about 2 hours to go swiming and then we left for Zona Franca (Zofri) the tax free zone. I bought so much stuff. One outfit for me, a purse, 3 futbol jersies, and somehting else, i forget...
We came back and hung out in one of the rooms until 3.
THUR:
To Arica. We stopped at Humberston. This is an old mining setup. I dont really remember the word in english but its this mini-town with a chuch, theater, school, houses and a mine for families to come and live. When we arrived in Arica i escaped with Kate, Andrea and Mads to acomany them to get cigarretes and as we were leaving Javier was entering so we ended up walking around one large block with him.
FRI:
Went to the beach, went to this place to eat lunch and play football and i got soo bored but a least I got to tan.... We went to visit the Mural de Arica then the peruvian/bolivan Artesanal (everything super cheap) then got on the bus for the night.
SAT:
We woke up for breakfast in Antofagasta and then got back on the bus to drive some more, got out to take picures of the Tropic of Capricorn and then again in a mall on the other side of Antofagasta for lunch. Here, for some reason, I dont know why, I aggreed to pitch in with 3 guys and a girl to buy two family pizzas to eat in the mall and 5 small pizzas to take on the bus. BAD IDEA so much grease. We drove for the rest of the day and arrived in Caldera (de nuevo) at night.
SUN:
Left early for La Serena. We got there at about noon, got our rooms, changed and left for Valle Elique. This valley is amazinly beautiful but I was still was a bit disapointed because I wanted to hang around La Serena. We hung around the plaza for a hour or so and then drove up to the planetarium to look at the stars. This was really cool but also soooo cold. When We got back to the hotel we were given the dinning room area to hang out until 2/3-ish. After that people came over to my room to hang out.
MON:
Definatly the hardest day of the trip. The scenery on the drive from La Serena to Santiago is AMAZING but the entire time I was either sleeping or talking to my (now super close friends) about how hard it is to seperate. It was crazy how close of friends I became with the poeple on this trip. There are two girls from Finland who i could easily call my best friends. One day i'm visiting them!

To the North!!

I'm leaving soon (as in minutes) to my friends house. I'm gonna spen the night there and then tomorrow we are headed on a bus tour of the North. the cities we'll be visiting are Caldera, San Pedro de Atacama, Iquique, Arica, Antofagasta y La Serena!!!! I am so excited i can baerly type in english. I'll blogg about it when I get back, and, of course, take LOADS of pictures!!

2nd TECHO PARA CHILE construction trip

Wednesday to Sunday
There was about 35 of us from La Misión who participed this time and Sebatian was not one of those, he stayed home to study, que fome. After school i went with Cocó to her house and then headed off to Santiago to meet up with the rest of the TPC people. Parents were invited but there were very few there, fortunatly because it's more fun w/ teens. I didn't reconize most of the kids there but i ran into a few that i knew from the time before. I went to GRANEROS and was in cuadrilla 8 with 6 other "high-schoolers"
We arrived in Graneros at about 10 or 11 and went to bed around 1 to then wake up at 6 the next day because we stayed in a school that was in session Thursday. LUCKILY we got mattresses. This is not commun during consturction but both times i've been to TPH i've had a confortable bed =D
We worked the first three days (which should have only been two) in on one house. the first day we didn't arrive until about 11:30 and then we had to cut down a tree. We barely had enough space to work, one side had about 2 ish feet to the wall of the in-use house and the other side had about 6 inches to the concrete fence.
This time it was definatly harder to finishe because we could only work till 6:30 with natural light and after that we never had enough light to really work.
The third day it rained right as we were finish up with the fitro and zinc (tarry paper to protect against leaks and metal roofing) it started to rain. Luckily i stayed dry under the half a roof that we had working on the doors and windows but still it was a bit stressful unpleasent.
The fourth day, because we didn't not have enough to start and finish a whole house, we joined cuadrilla 12 to finish thier house. We were only REALLY needed to lift the floor boards (we had to lift them over from the neighboor's house over a fence) but we still helped a lot. The fourth day made up for all the ick of the 3rd day, it was super fun. There was sun the whole day and good company (and food) which made the trip so worth it!
We got back to the school 8ish and waited about 2 more hours for the other groups to finish up. La Mision had our own bus to Plaza Sur (rather then central Santiago) and i got picked up there at about 12. As soon as i could i jusmped into the hot shower and washed myself until i felt at least clean enough to sleep in my bed (which took about half an hour) and finally collapsed in my bed. =D


overall good weekend

concierto... fin de semana.

Thursday:
Wicked awesome! I enjoyed Devil Wears Prada more this time then when I saw them in Boulder. There was a lot more energy this time. The venue was tiny and there was a looooot of people. within 2 minuntes after entering i was aready smashed up against the 5 closest people and the music hadent even started. The opening band only played 3 songs which was a shame becasue I really liked them (they are a chilean hardcore band called Alive i think....) DWP got onstage really early, at about 6:30, 7. There was so many people sweating and it was so humid that it was hard to stand the floor tile were so slippery. The show ended early, about 10, and we waited across the street with a friend of Carol (the friend I went with). We got picked up and got dropped off at Carol's cousin's house (Panchi is also our classmate) to wait until Carol's parents got home.

Friday:
We woke up, had breakfast (which was bigger then the breakfast we eat in my house) and left for school in the rain. I was so exausted. I tried to sleep in history but we ended up have a "socratic seminar" conversation about homosexualtity and there was no way I could miss that. I'm pretty proud of myself i ended up talking more then some of my friends.
After school I went to volleyball practice, CVX and then to a "carrete" in the school to celebrate the soccer tournament the was held in our school (which by the way we came in 7th our of 10 teams). It was in the school's cafeteria and practically none of the guys were dancing because they had all been playing soccer all day ie: not the best party. We left at about 2 got home and slept!!

Sat:
Lazy day. watched most of Avatar and then left for my friend's house @ 4 ish. We were celebrating Nico's birthday. We made sushi (with rice that had wayyy too much water in it)
and i made calzones rotos (literally "ripped underwear" they are kindof like a thicker doughnut) almost all by my self.
I slept over there and got picked up in the moring by Max.

Sun:
Made french toast for breakfast. I only made 7 which was not enough. next time i'll have to make 3 pieces for each man in the house and 2 for us girls....

Mom's question: What do you do @ parties? Talk, dance, play ping pong? what soda? Coke or Pepsi? The party was outside can the nighbors here? Do parents really come pick up their kids at 3 in the morning?

At the bigger parties they dance. @ mine there were fewer people so it was talk and music. There is both coke and pepsi here but coke is more popualr. I also got Fanta and Sprite. It was outside and pretty loud too. The houses aren't as close as in Boulder but i'm still pretty sure that the neighbors could hear. No one complains though. And yes, no one here drives so the parents come and pick up the kids @ 3 in the morning. usually what happens is one parent takes 3-5 other kids who live in same direction... Aren't you glad I have my licence now?

pregúntame algo!

Do you talk/dance/ play games (ping-pong) at the parties? Does everyone drink Coke or Pepsi or another brand? Since it was outside can neighbors hear? Do parents come pick up their kids at 3am?

At the bigger parties they dance. @ mine there were fewer people so it was talk and music. There is both coke and pepsi here but coke is more popualr. I also got Fanta and Sprite. It was outside and pretty loud too. The houses aren't as close as in Boulder but i'm still pretty sure that the neighbors could hear. No one complains though. And yes, no one here drives so the parents come and pick up the kids @ 3 in the morning. usually what happens is one parent takes 3-5 other kids who live in same direction... Aren't you glad I have my licence now?

pregúntame algo!

formspring isn't working right now, but mom here is your answer:

At the bigger parties they dance. @ mine there were fewer people so it was talk and music. There is both coke and pepsi here but coke is more popualr. I also got Fanta and Sprite. It was outside and pretty loud too. The houses aren't as close as in Boulder but i'm still pretty sure that the neighbors could hear. No one complains though. And yes, no one here drives so the parents come and pick up the kids @ 3 in the morning. usually what happens is one parent takes 3-5 other kids who live in same direction... Aren't you glad I have my licence now?

Birtday and Mothers Day

Cumpleaños- 8 de Mayo
GOOD DAY (DÍA FILETE)! I got woken up with a fruit tart with magic candles, the kind that are hard to blow out when you are not half asleep to begin with. It was a really chill. In the afternoon we dropped Sebastian at a friends house to study (after which he was going to head off to Santiago) and Ignacia (with two of her compañeros) to a birthday party. We went to the mall after that to pick up somethings none of which we found.
At about 7 Max came home a started helping me to set up the music and all in the carretina (outside patio with roof). at about quarter to 8 Daniel, the other exchange student, came over b/c it was it easier for his mom and hey, its fine by me. People started arriving ay about 9. The parents and younger siblings of my friend Cocó to hang out with my family in the house while i was the party was going on outside. About 30 people ended up coming. I got gifts too!
-Cake My friend made a cake with layers of manjar, cake and cream as my gift along with a chile refrigerator magnet. I got it in my face.TORTEZA
-mucho, mucho, mucho chocolate
-indiopicaro (a comun southern chilean souvenir thats a indian and you lift it up and it's d**k pops out, how fab)
-baretes/hairclips
-makeup
-gummies
-more chocolate
-notebook with a chilean design in bronze
-wooden jar (also says chile)
-a shirt
-A CHILEAN FLAG that almost everyone at the party signed!! It is full sized and now hanging on my wall
I think thats it. ALOT OF GIFTS!!!
Everyone left at about 3AM and after that i crashed.

Mother's day
I was going to make French toast, but we all woke up at about 11, so we just waited to eat until lunch and i'll make french toast another time. We filled into the kitchen where my mom was each with a rose and the gifts that we got her. Our grandma came over with empanadas for lunch. The rest of the day was normal; studied, read, facebooked.

What is the big yellow roof thing next to the soccer field by your house?

I still haven't figure out what your talking about sorry!

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the first day back in boulder you should go hang out with friends ALL day!!! also YOU ARE SUCH A PRETTY BRUNETTE!!!!!

That sounds soo great! but I think i need to spend time with my family. how about if i go for a hike in the morning with them and then go swimming/go to the park with friends in the afternoon/evening. perrrrfecccttt!!

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How are your classes going? How much homework do you have each night? Are classes easier or harder than in Boulder? Are you able to understand all the Spanish spoken?

Classes are fine. I mean i'm not really trying that hard. I sit in class with my dictionary and take the notes but don't stress about the tests or anything. The classes here are definatly easier. Like if I understood more the the 60%-70% of everything spoken I would have a 100% in every class, except for geography because it is all new. For example my math class is like freshman/sophmore year, my history class is like a regular world history class, physics I took the semester before I left, chemistry is easy enough to understand.... I don't really have any homework any nights. There are math worksheets that I can work on but really those i usually worked on in class... Other then that I am doing a Topic Speech for English (but I'm doing it in spanish) yea, whatever.

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You are a beautiful Brunette. What does your Chilean family think of this? Did you ask them first? Are you treated differently now that you do not lo

Thank you! Well my family definatly liked my blonde hair better but they don't hate this hair or anything. I did not ask them first but neither did the other boy who changed his hair with me... i was kinda following what he was doing. I'm not treated super differently just about the same. I think I stick out a little less now tho.

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CrAzY WEEK!

THE ALIANZA:
This event celebrates the establishment of the school. Basically every school here has at least one and sometimes two every year. My school for this event divided in to two groups, China/red and Brazil/green, according to class. (This year it was IV˚A with III˚B and II˚A, ect... and IV˚B with III˚A ect...). The activities started Wednesday but starting wednesday the week before the practicing, and planning started. I participated in the Flash Mob (a coriographed dance in the street strating with one person and then more and more people add to it, youtube it), cheerleaders, volleyball, basketball and Extreme Makeover.
We lost the Flash Mob; it was kinda a flop. We shuttled over to the plaza in San Bernardo to film and there was not as many people there as we hoped. We were playing the music out of a car whose speakers were not the best so in the video you can't really hear the music.
Funny story about the cheerleaders. After learning about 3 minuntes of a dance in about the same number of days i realized that i couldn't eve participate because i didn't have the clothes AND THEN the next day when they all came out they weren't even wearing the clothes that i was missing. gurrr!!! well it saved me from having to learn the secound half of the dance....
Volleyball and basketball both went well, we won the two. It's been the longest time since i've played basketball but i still played comparativly well.
EXTREME MAKEOVER: about 5 minuntes after we got into the gym one of the alianza bosses came over to my roup and asked everyone if they were willing to participate it Extreme makeover. I kinda said i would. I really had no idea what i was getting myself into. After finding a guy to go with me and two others to dress us up we hopped on a bus and headed to San Bernardo to get cheep stuff. I picked out a brown hair color and for Nico we picked out a bloned that we never even ended up using becasue the bleach worked well enough.


We went to the house of my friend's grandma to get help from her aunt to do the hair. After coloring my roots we realized that it wasnt enough so the girls ran to get more to finish. And becasue of this my roots are now much darker then the rest of my hair. oh well!!! After we finished with the hair we went to a second hand store and got a skirt that my butt barely fit it. We then went to the other friend's house to eat lunch (already 3:00 btw), take a nap and get ready. We all pilled in the car at 6:30 and headed of to school. (We had half a day and then people returned at night to finish the alianza). To enter school I needed to put a bag over my head and run. Thank the lord I have good friends to guide me when I'm blind. Luckily we won, but hey it was obvious, who can reject these faces?

Al final we didn't win but hey, it was fun. After the winner was announced everyone went over to Manu's house for a carrete. It was freezing so we started dancing right when we got there. It wasn't the best of the partys according to my friends but hey, it was a party.

Please tell us about this party where everyone changed hair color?

hahaha. this is a long story. the short version is:
This week was my school's alianza. this is a huge birthday celebration for the school. three days of activities and lots to ANIMO! the last day one of the activities was extreme makeover. two people from each team went with two helpers and compleatly changed looks. I, the blondie, changed to rocker and Nico, starting with black hair, bleached it and went punk. the two others from the other team did the same thing. (different styles). IE: not EVERYONE changed their hair, just 4 of us.

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General: things I haven't talked about yet

Volleyball: Well I am obviosly playing middle. I'm a good 3 inches taller then the rest of my team mates. I really miss my setter Kimmy! Here we only run high sets, shucks. Practice goes from 4:15-6:30 ish on wednesday, thursday and friday and games are friday or Saturday. So far we have had 4 games and we are are 2-2. My serve is decent most of the time but every once and a while I mess up and my coach gets mad at me. Oops. It really funny when he gets mad at me though because he says something along the lines of "whats up, becky? Whats up?"
My shoulder is doing decently. It's weird not practicing everyday because i have days that it feels stong and days that is feels really weak. I'm trying to use the excersize bands to keep it in shape.

Parties: (hey my mom asked) So there are "carretes" and "juntas". A carrete is a party, party. Lost of people and soda and snacks. The drinking age is 18 so a party hosted by an 18+ person will most likely have some kind of drinks or people bring their drink. 18- parties usually have parents so if 18+ people bring alcohol it is brought it a small backpack. a Junta is a group of 6-10 people just hanging out. There is normally more food. Like snacks, sandwiches/pizza, and cake.
My birthday is in 2 weeks. I am planning my party. Right now what I think I'm going to do is invite a small group of girlfriends over for cake (which my friend is making for me) at 9-ish (like a junta) and then invite everyone else over at 10:30ish for the "carrete" part. I'll post about how it goes.

Movies: Movies don't come into theaters until like a good month (or MORE!) here. Alice in Wonderland is a special case because of the terremoto but it will be coming out the 13th(-ish) of May. I am really excited. Movies are also really cheep here. some thearters charge as low as $1.500 pesos which is $3.00 USD!!!

Weather: I have decided that I prefer when it is cold and it snows because it feals like the is an actual purpose to it being so freaking cold. Here it is cold, coLD, COLD, expecially in the morning, and without a purpose ie: no snow. I went to buy the school sweats today but they had run out. I have no idea how I will make it through the winter in a skirt. I hope I will be buying leggings soon though...

Food:
some one asked me on form spring:"what are empandas?"
Empandas are a typical chilean food. They look a lot like smaller calazones (the italian pizza folded in half). They are bake or fried and the most common fillings are cheese, pino and mariscos. My favorite are the baked pino. Pino is a mix of ground beef, hard boiled eggs and olives. yummy. =D
Also porotos are a super common food here. I heard the best frase today "soy más Chileno que un poroto" which means "I'm more Chilean then kidney beans". hahahaa. I'm my house we have eaten a soup with kidney beans, corn and potates multiple times and it is delicious!
Mayo: It is so common here. Of course it is probably more common anywhere in the world apart from my house. My mom makes a mayo and that is really the only time I eat mayo. Here it is if you want to try:
put 2 eggs in a blender. start the motor and slowly pour in vegtable oil. it takes about 5 minutes to get enough oil in the mix to get a mayo consistency. you will have to help the bender out with a spoon just don't put the utensil too low, you don't want bits of spoon in your mayo. Once it gets to a good consistency put in 1/2 a lemon(just the juice should i add) and some salt.
sorry i don't have ammounts. most recipies here are not make with ammounts. Like pan amansado. the only thing i know for sure is that there was 2 packets of levandura, a powered yeast, a hella lot of flour, some kind of butter that wasn't butter, salt, and water.

What do you want to do on your first day back in BOULDER!!???

wow that is such a good question. go for a hike? party?
Actually i have a feeling that the first day I get back I will be starting volleyball. ahahaha.
But i think going for a hike (one w/ family and one w/ friends) is at the top of my list @ the moment.

pregúntame algo!

Please tell us about the Tour of the Presidential Palace. Did you have to get special permits? Go though metal detectors? Did you go on the weekend? Was the China exhibit traveling? At a museum? You and Ignacia look cute in your "costume"

Well I really don't know exactly how it happened but before we entered the Moneda my papá made a phone call and when we walked in to the office of the carabineros the men there knew exactly who my dad was. We didn't go through metal detectors, get our bags checked or get patted down. It was Sunday so the Moneda was empty. We only saw one other person and she was arranging flowers. The tour was really cool because we were told where the original building was and what was added on. My favorite parts were in the old building. There was a coat room leading to a waiting room which then lead to the meeting room, all of which is still used!
We also got to walk up to where the President (now Piñera if you didn't kno) works. While we were in this room the security person called to make sure we were authorized and everything because he saw us in his little monitor.

The exibit on China was a traveling exibit and I'm pretty sure it is there until the end of May. It was so much smaller then the exibits that come to the Denver Muesum but it was still set up very well and was enjoyable (AND I understood a TON!).

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Getting to know more of Chile

Thursday:
VALPARAÍSO! VIÑA DEL MAR! REÑACA! CON-CON! We woke up at the same time as we do for school but we just dropped off Sebatian at school and then continued on a hour and a half drive to Valparaíso. I went to bed after we passed through the sunny cerros (hills)
and woke up just outside of the very very foggy Valparaíso . We drove through the center of the beautiful town very quickly so it was next to impossible to take photos but I got a foto of the first glance of the ocean! We parked (on the sidewalk by the way) and walked over to where all the barcos (ships) were docked. At first we were not allowed in (you need to be part of an athorized group) but my papá has a many connections with the right people so we ended up entering un "the delegation of Denver, Colorado". Whatever, it worked. There were ships from all over the world: Uruguay, Holland, Brazil, Mexico, to name a few, but the most elaborate and beautiful was Esmeralda- the Chilean barco of course.

After an hour or two of looking at the ships we left and headed North. It is only about a 15 min drive to Viña del Mar (w/o traffic). We didn't get to walk around Viña unfortuantly but I saw the building that Sebastian was in during the earthquake (on the 11th floor) sooo terrifying. We continued north to Reñaca. This town in the summer is even more of a party town then Viña. All the Argentinians and students rent these crazy apartments and go to the beach and go clubbing. Maybe for (colorado) winterbreak my Colorado parents will let me rent a place there and i can invite some Chile friends to join me for a few days.....
There we saw so people surfing. And by the way it was still foggy and just as cold. From there the next town north is Con-Con which is like a mecca for empanda resturants. The resturant that I was told has the best empandas was closed so we went to a different resturant, I would have picked to got to one of the hole-in-the-wall restuants for empanadas but papá picked a nice (more expensive) resturant. The empandas here were good but definatly not amazing (they were the deep-fried kind rather then the baked ones that I like better). From here we headed home arriving back at about 4. I took a quick nap while we waited for Sebatian to get home and then we left at about 5:30 for Santiago for a mass and dinner with the family of my papá. This didn't end until about 10:30/11 and we did have school the next day.....

Friday
During school it started to rain. There was i huge trueno (thunder clap) and the lights actually went off. Ignacia's class thought is was a earthquake so they all ran outside screaming. Smart, hun.
After school I had a volleyball game. We won again but in 3 sets not 2. Next week we will win in 2.
Right after that I took the bus to my friends house for a "meeting" with my curso. I guess they had been really worried about me because they thought I would arrive earlier so I had like 10 missed calls. opps. After I changed and had something to eat I headed off to a CVX meeting with Juampi on the bus. My mamá was so surprised that i was entirely cool with taking the micro that much friday but it is really easy. During the CVX meeting i was falling asleep and so I decided that it was not the best idea to go parting because Sebatian wasn't going anyway.
Because it had rained that basically means that every one makes sopapillas. Wow thats not spelled right.... Unfortualy since I got home so late I didn't get the fresh ones but they were still delicious.

Sat
A very lazy day. Very. I actually did homework i was so bored. jajaja

Sunday
Woke up at 10 had breakfast and then headed off to Santiago. Sebatian didn't join us because he was working on something for his class. We got a private tour of the Moneda because my papá used to be high up in the police force so he has connections. It is such a beautiful building inside. here are a few fotos:





We also went to a new-ish museo where there was an exibit about China. I was so happy about this because I had been trying to teach Ignacia a bit about China since that is our theme for the alianza. After that we got in the car and drove in to the cerros (hills) the the expencive part of Santiago. We went to a mall and basically just looked for a place to eat that wasn't there. At 4 we ended up leaving and stopping at a gas station that made sandwiches for lunch. Not the best but my stomach definatly welcomed the food. Thats about it for today.

How does Ignacia like the new Rat-a-tat-Cat game? Any more Volleyball games? Have you felt any more quakes? A big one in Western China

I heard about the big wone in China but no one could really tell me more. Ignacia likes the game a lot! thanks mom for sending it! I had a volleyball game yesterday and we won so now we are 2-2. Yesterday there was a huge thunderclap and some people swear that there was a tremble along with it but I didn't think so.

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Have you dreamt in Spanish yet?

yes! but I don't remember what my dreams were about and if they are in spanglish or pure spanish....

pregúntame algo!

April 6th-12th

Tuesday
4AM I woke up sick. I quietly went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and went back to bed. I only got to sleep another hour before I got sick again. This time I tuned on my light because I though it was 6:20 not 5:20. My papá came in a checked on me and quickly it was decided that I would not be going to school. I was dissapointed except for the fact that I got to sleep. And sleep I did. I woke up for lunch, to pick up Ignacia, dinner and to pack.

Wednesday
Felt better! But still I didn't have milk for breakfast. (Usually I have ceral with some fruit). This day was "Jean Day". This means that students can wear street clothes but they have to pay for this. 500 pesos which is like $1 USD but like 5 pieces of chocolate....
But I wore normal clothes and paid so I wouldn't have to change in school before I left for the AFS orientación. at 11:45 I peaced along with Daniel, the exchange student from Australia in IV medio (the grade above me). My dad then drove us to San Bernando to pick up the three others in our region and from there we went to Santiago where we were dropped off at a nun convent where the AFS orientación took place.

AFS ORIENTACION
We were one of the first people to arrive. We started off talking mostly Spanish in the car on the way down there and continued this for the first hour or so when we arrived. After that the rest of the students arrived. And all at once might I add. In total there were 56 students. I got annoyed that there was that much ingles being spoken but it was still great to talk to my fellow exchange students. The orientacion focused on incorperating the AFS mission in our experiences entonces we split into groups and each were assigned a part of the mission statement. My groups was Comunicación. That night we made some posters about our topic and shared it with the group. Thursday the activities were prety much the same. We slept in small dorm rooms and had a bathroom with a shower like they have on cruises and with out soap but still, we kept warm and fairly clean. FRIDAY was great! We woke up at 8:15 again had breakfast and then seperated into the the "newbies" and the students who had already been here for 8 months (which was about 10 kids including Daniel). The newbies got to learn the Cueca. This is the nacional dance of Chile. It was really fun even though I truely sucked. I just don't have rythem in my head but still! After that we were allowed to paint out pañuelos. And just to add giving a large group of teens paint is just about the same as giving the same paint to a group of pre-schoolers.....
We finished up at 3 after a group photo. On my facebook i have the picture with almost everyone taged if you are interested.

My mom asked if there were any other exchange students who went to build houses. One or two of the students who have been here 8 months went November-ish but none since the earthquake as far as I know. (BRAGGING RIGHTS!)

FRIDAY
Daniel's mom picked us up and dropped me off at school for volleyball practice. After practice I waited for Sebatian (which ended up being about an hour wait) at school because he had gone with the 8th graders to help with their "Friendship Camp". I guess it is a really big deal. There are about 3 through out the year and this was the first. Once Sebastian got to school we went directly to the CVX meeting. I was so tired ( and a bit sick) and I almost ended up falling asleep while we were talking. A girl in my class had a party that i really wanted to go to but I was so tired and Sebatian wasn't going because he had practice in the morning.

SAT
I needed to be at school at 8:30 for a volleyball game. We won!!! Finally!! After that I watched the bball game. The "varsity" team is overall like a sophmore level but it was still fun to watch. Sebastian and I then took the bus home (it's my 3rd or 4th time and I think I can do it on my own now). After a wonderful shower, lunch and the shortest nap ou could imagen i went to drop off Ignacia at a birthday party. I thought it would be a half an hour and i could go home and get ready for the futbol game and for the birthday party that night but it was much farther. What ended up happening is I told mamá what clothes to thro in a bag, Max brought them to his girl friends house (the birthday girl) where I met up with him, all his companeros in the police school and Sebatian. We watched the game there and then helped Mariana (the girlfriend) get ready for the party. The party was really fun even though there were not a ton of people or dancing. There were some of my friends from school there as well as Mariana's friends from university. Sebastian had set up all his DJ stuff but really just ended up playing a playlist that Mariana had picked out. Papá picked us up at about 4.

SUN
I was woken up for breakfast at 10 ish and then went to bed after breakfast for another hour. I got ready and then we left at 1 for Santiago for a Asado (bbq) with the family of my mamá because an uncle had died a few days ago. I met Guierrmo who lives in Texas and who I have heard a lot about. He was very nice and Luckily talked to me in Spanish and not english. Asados don't usually end until about 7 (just long engough to get hungry again) but we left at 6 and went to the Centro Artesanal de Los Domingos. This is like a big craft/art show that is always open. Most of the stuff is very touristy and expensive. But still there was some beautiful stuff and I need to go back with money!

MON
Today was a normal school day just that every one was asking why I had been absent the WHOLE week before. hahah opps sorry I didn't pre announce it. :b

Did you know a lot of spanish before you went to chile?? and do you think going was worth it?

Well yea i guess I did know a lot of spanish before I came here. I think I started with just about the perfect amount because it was enough to have a basic conversation with someone but an amout that I stick out as a exchange student.
Coming here was worth all the stress and time and everything I am missing in colorado. A year exchange would have been better though...

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Was your group both high school and college students? Was Techos para Chile set up after the earthquake? or has this group been around for a long time? Sounds amazing what the organization accomplished in a few days.

M group was all high school students, except the "boss" of course. All but one are in my grade and the other one is in the grade above. Un Techo Para Chile was started in '97 by a member of the church and a group of teens.

Ask me anything

4 days working in the dirt and heat with out a shower and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Wednesday March 31st
Today was truely a wacky day. It started of fairly normal: get up, shower, breakfast and off to school. We started the day in the Capilla. the 255 students in La Mision stood on stage to be reconized for what we were going to the extended weekend. At 1:00 Sebastian and I left Chemistry (this is our one class together) to go home and get ready to leave. Before I had thought I was going to work in San Fernando. But no. I got two or 3 emails that I would be going to Chimbarongo. The organization Techos Para Chile is not the most organized. Sebastian was super frustrated because at school his name was on list for a town but he had not recieved an email. At 4:30 we left to got the the university where we would meet up with the other zillions of students going to work. we didn't leave there until about 8 which was about the same time I figured out where I was headed. The only other students in my class who were going to Chimbarongo were Gonzalo and Ismael but there were about 10 students from La Misión in total. On the way to Chimbarongo we stoped in Parke O'Higgins to meet up with another 1000 people who were participating in Techos para Chile. The founder of the organization gave a speech which was fabulous. He basically said to always be animated and never be negative because we are all forntuante enough to have our homes and these people who we are working with are not. I started off sitting next to Nicol but I Ismael asked me to come back to introduce me to a friend so I ended up sitting next to Tomas and talking the whole 2.5 hour drive to Chimbarongo. We didn't end up arriving until about 1:00. We slept in a school that is for students to sleep in. I sleept in the top bunk next to my friends from school. The rules were announced: No sex, no carretes and no buying (anything). Also We were told that we were not allowed to use the showers, at all. We ended up going to bed at about 2:30.

Thursday Abril 1st
OH! I just realized I missed April Fools Day! Oh well. It would have been difficult to explain anyway. We were woken up a 7:20 and headed off to breakfast in the other part of the school a few blocks away which was bread and jam with warm milk. My cuadrilla (group) then met up and we walked about 30-45 minutes to the house where we would be working. Before: There was 7 people in my cuadrilla (group) which consisted of 3 guys (including the "boss") and 3 other girls.
The main activity was to dig holes and put in the bases (pilotes). we put in 16. it was not the easiest of work. We had help from the men of the house though. Once we finished we ate lunch which was rice and tuna patties and then continued working. We laied down the pre-made piso (floor) nailed that down. We had once (tea) at about this time and then finished up but putting the walls up. At about 8 we left our house to go help another group who had mis meausred by about 6 cenimeters so we heled them change around the floor a bit. We drove back (in the back of a truck) ate dinner and went to bed after a lot of talking.

Friday Abril 2nd
Woke up at seven, breakfasted, walked to the house and started working. It was a easy day because we weren't rushed at all. We worked on the roof until 8.
While I was sitting on the roof I got stung by a bee(it didn't hurt but in the morning it was a bit swollen and itched). Then we had the most amazing lunch. We had brought spagetti for to cook but the Tía had made something else: Empanadas de mariscos, pezcado frito AND sopa de mariscos. It was the first time I had eaten sea food in Chile and it was amazing! After lunch we put on the filtrio and the metal roofing. Done!

When we got back we ate dinner and after dinner I pulled out my cuaderno to write the "constuction" words. After that it became the center of attention and now i have mulitple pages of drawings and many more random words.

3 de Abril
Again woke up early, ate breakfast and got ready to leave. The new house was much farther away this time ie we could not walk there. The bus that was taking students to the houses over there was full so my group had to wait for another bus. We didn't end up leaving until about 10:15 and then to make things even better we got quite lost. The truck was heading south but we really needed to go north. We did no end up starting until about noon. At this house we did not have as much help but the family was just as, if not more, amazingly nice. The tío was much older then the men at the other house so he couldn't do the same amount of physical labor that the men at the other house did. Also there was a boy who is 12 and he was super nice. We ended up talking a lot and he helped us a bit too. The little girl was so adorible. Her name is Tamara which is the name of one of the girls in my group. I worked like a man this day. We had to make 15 hole to put the bases and I made 3.5 basically on my own and helped out with others breaking and removing rock with the chuso (a long heavy metal rod, I don't know its name in english). We worked till about 8 and then took the bus back to the school.

4 de Abril
Again an early start but this time my group was the first to leave rather then the last. We started working at 9 in the morning. We started the day with 14 of the 15 pilotes (foundation poles) in and finished at about 8. I was extremly exausted but kept working and did not pull out my camera until the night. We had troubles finishing the door. It woudln't close so we needed to take out all the hinges and re-do it all. I was finding it really easy to put in the screws so I offered to finish, which I did. Bu it was very difficult because tía brought out Empanadas de pino when I was about half way done. At least it made for a very rewarding finish.
By this time I was freaking nasty. It I had wanted to I could have easily had dreadlocks because my hair was it perfectly seperated curls that jus needed a bit more knotting and grime to become dreds.
During the 2.5 hour bus ride I ended up siting next to the same guy I sat with on the way there but we slept most of the time rather then talked. I guess while I was sleeping on the bus there was a very strong tremble. But I didn't feel a thing. Actually there were many trembles during Semana Santa. Sebatian felt them all where he was (he was actually sitting on the wall when one happened) but I guess I was too exausted to feel anything.
When I got home I took one of the best showers of my life, ate dinner, wrote a quick note to Ignacia because I would not see her in the morning, and crashed. The easter bunny had left chocolates in my room and bathroom which Ignacia had nicely put into 4 small piles. ¡Que tierna!

5 de Abril
Didn't go to school. Slept in only till 10:30 ( I swear no matter how tired I am I cannot sleep in). Ignacia had left me a note in resonce to mine. She is so sweet! I went for a quick run and took another amazing shower. I helped mamá clean the car ate lunch and then uploaded photos and facebooked until Igncaia came home. Sebatian had gone to the doctor in Santiago because he had gotten sick during his trip. Thats about it. School tomorrow and then there is an AFS orientation in Santiago wednesday morning till friday afternoon. (For those of you who didn't catch tha only one day of school this week!)
CHAO!!

Domingo de Ramos, cumple, y hoy.

Weekend:
Friday I went to a carrete. I don't really know how to explain it in english with out a long explanation. En castelleno: fue un poco fome. Saturday I only got to sleep an extra half-an-hour than normal because I had a volleyball game. We lost in two very close games. I was very disapointed in my playing because I had some amazing poins and then others my team would have been better off with me off the court. After the game I went with Max to drop off Ignacia at a cumpleaños and then went to the mall to get a birthday present for his girlfriend. I also went to the bookstore to pick up La Odisea for my language class. Sunday we all slept in which was a nice change. After that we had breakfast at about 11 and then headed to mass at my school for Domingo de Ramos. Sebastian didn't go and I soon saw why. Because it was at the school there were mostly young kids, ie it was very hard to even hear let alone follow the service. After mass was much better though. As we walked out we saludabamos (greated) all our friends and thier families.

Monday 29th
The day started off with a test in Language class (yes it was on the Odessy that i had bought two days before). There were 10 questions and a short answer section. I think I did well on the multiple choice. The short answer was about Penelope's faith in Ulises. I answered the question but I don't know if the teacher will be able to understand it... I will put up my grade when I get it. During our conjeo class (it is like homeroom) we talked about the alianza. This is one of the hardest things for me to understand but I think i understand now. To celebrate the anniversary of the school they do this Alianza. The school splits in to two teams; this year it is China vs. Brazil. Why they chose this, who knows. Then each team makes dances, videos and plays music. Some how I got talked into doing a dance in the street and being a cheerleader. *hurra*

Tuesday 30th
The Ultima Cena del Señor. We celebrated this in class. It incuded washing the had of the person next to me ( like Jesus did with feet)=, a bread the size of a large pizza, and grapes that tasted like grapefruit. After school I went to a birthday party for Josefa. She turned 18 (most kids in my grade are turning 17 this year). Overall it was the same as an american birthday. There was more food (first snacks, then sandwiches and finally cake). Not everyone brought a present and the presents that were brought were not opened all at the same time so i didn't really see what others got her but i got her chocolates.

Today Wednesday the 31st
I don't have much more time to write because I am about to leave to build mediaguas!! I am going wiht a program called Un Techo para Chile. THEY ARE SO UNORGANIZED! Right now i think I will be going to Chimbarongo but originally i was going to San Fernando. EKK! Well I think I am prepared so where ever I end up I will just do what they tell me to.

Chao!

Best thing about chile? Worst thing about it?

You have no idea how hard this question is to answer. It is so hard to think of one best thing. I gues I will have to go with the people. They are all very caring, open, affectionate.
The worst thing is also very hard to think of. Probably the driving. There are a few people like my volleyball coach who are very aware(=good) drivers but mi papá and sometimes mi mamá drive quite the opposite.
phew that was hard.

Ask me anything

What things do you miss most from America? Like item or food wise.

Not much. American gum, my cell, my tea cup, and that is about it. I only kinda miss my magazines. But I will just enjoy these luxuries even more when I get back to the US, yea?

Ask me anything

Did you get your carnet? what information is on it? mom

I have my carnet but not the actual card. I can pick up the actual card April 1st. The paper has my informacion, a long number and not the most attractive photo. I also get a carnet for school sports. Last game I had to bring my passport because it had not been made yet.

Ask me anything

24th of March
So last night there was a strong temblor right after I went to sleep. Luckily I didn't wake up because I needed the sleep. Sunday I had gone to sleep late and same with Monday night. Monday after school I jogged around the condominimo. The first lap was with Ignacia. We would jog slowly for about 2 minuntes then walk for a minute or two. When we reached the house she stopped and I ran only one more time around. I should have done 2 more laps but it was quite hot. Tuesday after school I went swimming with Ignacia while Sesbastian stayed at school for fútbol.
This morning my alarm didn't go off but luckily every mornig at about 6:30 mamá passes by my door and says good morning. After school I had volleyball which included an immence amount of excercizes. We did a pattern (30 sit-ups, 30 supermans, 30 push-us, 30 jumps and sprints) 4 times. ick. After volleyball I finally saw Juan Carlos (who I had been looking for all day) to ask if AFS woudl allow me to go work building mediaguas during Semana Santa with my class. He said no. I was devistated for about 2 minuntes. I had been in the car not more then 30 seconds when mamá said that Carmen Gloríes (the main coordinator of AFS) had called and said that I could go!!! YAY!!!
Now I will explain the project a much as I am capable of. My whole curso and possibly another curso as well has been invited to go do a service project in te 7th region of Chile. This is the region north of Concepción and about 2 regions south of Santiago. We will go to construct mediaguas from Wednesday the 31st until Sunday the 4th (5 días!). Mediaguas are a type of house named for the type of roof. Here is a photo: The only other thing I know is that it costs $10.000 so $5 USD. It seems a bit cheep even for just transportation.

Ok, estoy muerta. Necesito dormirrrrr!!!! Chao!

hey becky, your lucky you have no homework,but anyway how is school going?

School is great. My hardest classes are Philosophy, because it is 2 3/4 hours of talking fast; Music, because i am so un-freaking-talented; and my elective Language class, because like philosophy it is 1 1/2 hours of talking.
But my companeros help me out. Everyone is super nice and i have some really good friends so far.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/beckkbockk

Jueves, viernes, Sábado...

March 18th
School and volleyball. Volleyball on Thursdays is not required for my team but I went anyway to play with the "infatils" while Sebastian played soccer.

March 19th
School, volleyball and CVX. School was decent. We have music class on fridays as well as philosophy which should be super easy classes but are super hard for me. Oh well. I got a compliment; I was told that I am buena onda (soemthign like that) which means nice. I know the phrase ¿Qué onda? as 'whats up' but never really learnt the direct traslation. I'm in awe that some one can see that I am a nice person and tell me within 2 weeks even with the little spanish I have. If you counld not follow my thought process there the conclusion is just that I am really happy that my personality still is aparent.
Volleyball afterschool was lukily easy because of the game the following day. We just played 6 on 5/4 until 5:30/6 and then sat around talking when guys basketball needed the gym.
Because ended so early I took a quick shower when I got home and then joined Mamá and Igncaia in the car to drop off Sebastian off at Juampie's house for CVX. CVX is a club that stands for Comunidad, Vida, Cristiana or community, life, christianity. I had asked if I could join because it seems like for a good majority of my grade that is the activity on friday night and it will be a good way to do some community service. The usual process for joining the club takes a week because the participants have to vote on each person before they can join. I guess they were expecting me because when we dropped of Sebastian he talked with Juampie for about 30 secounds, turned around, told us not to leave, ran inside and came back out in 2 seconds tell me I could join them that night. There were 6 other kids including Ismael who early that day had told me that he wasn't really religious at all, he just goes to a catholic school because of his father. CVX started off with a prayer and then they started talking. we had dinner and after dinner we decided what our "project" would be. We decided on visiting abuelitos or seniors to talk with then 1 or 2 times a month. CVX is a club that helps out the community through communication rather than physical labor by the way. Over all it was pretty fun but most of the converstion was really hard to understand and I was tired. Oh well it will get easier eventually.

March 20th
Volleyball game!!! On the way there I drove in the coaches car with two other girls. Sebatian is jealous of me, whant to know why? Because The coaches car is a beautiful Eclipse that he had to go to Miami to buy. At multiple points during the trip we were going a good 80-100mph weaving in and out of traffic, but don't tell mom...(jaja)
I didn't have the right shorts or socks. Some one had brought shorts for me (which were way to small but hey I wore them) but I ended up wearing the coaches socks. awkward.....
I played fairly well I just need to fix a few things (get into the game sooner, know where I am in the front so I don't hit some one else's set, and know when to block and when to get off the net). I played the whole game which was fabulous. The game was soo close we lost the 3rd set buy two points. Final score: (25-17),(22-25),(16-18) MUY CERCA!!!

After that I came home (Coach drove faster on the way back becasue we weren't following anybody), took a shower and ate lunch. AFS people came over at 5 for once (literally 11 but it is the word for "tea-time"). Daniel, the boy from Melbourne, Australia was the first to arrive with his mother. His spanish is amazing. He has a chilean accent and participates in conversations like it is his native toung. I AM SO JEALOUS!!! He was in Punta Renias (far south Chile) for the first 2 and 1/2 months and then switched families and came here. He had troubles because he did not participated enough with his family. I'm glad that is not that my problem. Now he seems to be in a perfect placement with help from a change of attitude. The girl from Norway couldn't make it but Carola and Minami came. Both Carola and Minami speak only a little spanish and their native language isn't english but they both appear to be doing amazing dispite this. It was really fun. I felt really confident with my spanish the whole evening and met a lot of really cool people. My advisor is Carmen Gloria herself and her husband who is one of the principals at my school. Here is a photo of everyone. I'll tag people on facebook.

Sebastian had been out all day and came back about a half an hour after every one had left (which was at 9:30 ish). We had tacos and cake together and talked about our days. We had both had sports in the morning and after that he went to Santiago for CVX and to visit a family that he had built a house for last year. It was a good day but unfortunalty I haven't been to a carrete yet. People still are kind of shaken up from the earthquake.

March 21st
Slept it, had breakfast, played some games with Ignacia and then helped make lunch. We had tacos but insead of tacos they use pancakekes which is a crêp. I made the crêps and everyone was quite impresses that I didn't compleatly fail. "Bueno Becky". During lunch we were talking about Easter (or Semana Santa) and so I went online to look up Passover to see when that is. it starts the 30th and ends the 5th so basically the exact same time as Semana Santa. I called home just as my CO family was headed out the door to New Mexico. I had a 20 minute conversation with them and afterword expalined it all to Ignacia who had listened to it all dispite a great ammount of confusion. After we went swimming and now I am sitting here typing. Interesting yea? I am going into Santiago now to drop off Max at school. I'll take fotos no preocupan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! (And Happy St. Patties Day for the rest of you)

This is getting hard to do. The days are meshing together now that I'm getting more used to life. So Monday I talked about the tests and school mostly.

Tuesday
I took my camera to school and got a lot of really random photos. Me in uniform and students during recreo:




After school I watied for Tatan to finish soccer pratice. Girls basketball is also during that time so it possible that I might end up playing but I don't really want to. Who knows...
Once practice ended we went to the gas station to pick up a soda for Tatan. His coach pulled up right as we were leaving and they had a 20min "discussion" about an issue that had arrisen during practice. It was very akward for me because I didn't really understand what they were talking about at first and they were very close to one another and talked with their whole bodies. Finally the converstion ended and we left to take the bus. It was fairly easy. There is a bus we take for about 10 minutes in one direction and then another that we take about 7 minutes in the other direction. Facil ¿no?

TODAY: March 17th 2010

In the morning I woke up at the same time and got ready for school but did not go to school until 11-ish. After dropping of Sebastian and Ignacia we headed to Santiago (after waiting a good 10 minutes just to get out of the parking lot (estacionomiento). Once in Santiago we headed to register my Visa. Once that was done (which was surprisinly quick) we headed over to get my carnet. After taking a numer we went get photo copies across the street and to the bathroom. The lady collecting money for the bathrooms commented on my apperences "Que linda". My mamá was asked if I was her child and she said yea when asked where I got the aperances she said I looked exactly like my papá. Its healthy to joke around a bit in life.
After waiting a good 30minutes we realized that we did not want to wait another hour or more más. We decided to come back Monday morning and hopefully the line will be much, much, much shorter. So carnet Monday. And cell phone hopefully for this weekend!!
After school I had volleyball!! The coach works us hard but it is very fun. We started in the gym with all levels (and there are two guys playing!) and then at 5:30 went outside because the guys had basketball. I have realized that I am much more confortable playing in doors where I do not have to be terrified of road burn if I fall. Sebatian did not want to stay after school and wait for me so Papá picked me up afterwards. They are rally taking care of me here (SO) don't worry about me.
At the entrance of the condominimo there is a guy who maintains the gate. He gives us the mail as we drive in. AND TODAY I GOT A POST CARD!!! (Well it was addressed to my Chile family as well). Thank you Colorado family! it was a good surprise!
I took a shower and as I was coming out there was a phone call and I heard my mamá saying "i'm fine" or something like that in english which was a little raro. Sure enough I was not half way dressed when my name was called for the phone. I got to sing happy birthday to my dad and hear about his hopefully real birthday present.

Ok it is now 11:05 here. I'm tired. Nighty-night!!

Are you wearing the black shoes we bought? Are the school officials upset about your shoes? take a picture of the "revolting" shoes for us. And a fully picture of you in your uniform without regulation shoes. Please. Love Mom

Definatly wearing the Target shoes. I didn't really look to hard to find the other type because of my size, their uglyness and their price. I haven't gotten a photo of the ugly shoes yet. Maybe tomorrow. No one is upset about the shoes. They only really have to be black and they are ok with them.
Here is a photo that someone took of me looking at my new dirt stain. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4224440&id=631556007

Ask me anything

Black out and a Monday

March 14th (repetition I know) 10:00PM
Just before Mamá began to cook dinner the lights went off. Luckily I had my handy-dandy head lamp on a close shelf so I did not walk it to a wall or worse steep on Ignacia on our way to the kitchen where the rest of the family was. They were totally prepared. They have to emergency lights because black out are quite common in the rainy season and now with all the after shocks we need to be prepared for anything. Ignacia was really nerviosa the entire night. On the way to school she decribed how she kept waking up during the night. So the lights: they turned off and in about 5 or 10 minutes turned back on just long enough for me to put away my head lamp. And then they turned off again. The second time they came back on Mamá made dinner and just as she finished cooking the lights turned off again. We ate by candle light and after dinner Sebastian took us all out side to look at the stars. They were so amazing. I wanted to take a picture but I decided that If i tried to go get my camera I would probably end up walking into many walls and I don't usually go looking for pain. As we were outside the lights came back on for good. After that we all quickly go ready for bed while we had light.

March 15th 9:45
So today we started the 3 day process of ensayos (tests). They are like CSAPs because they are durring school and mandatory but also like ACT/SAT because they are for getting into University. Today was the language examen. Tomorrow math. I was the first to finish the test partly because I skiped about 10 out of 80 questions because I could not understand the question and partly becasue I have been taught such amazing test taking skills (thanks any teacher of mine that might be reading this). Hopefully I got some answers correct. After I finished I was allowed to leave but I waited for two others to finish so I would not be alone. We had about and 1 hour and a half of Recreo (recess) because we finished quickly. The only other interesting part of the school day was lunch. After eating we are allowed to go outside and do what ever. I ended up sitting with Sebatian and all of his guy friends. Things I learned: a popcicle at the school store only costs $.20 USD and a piercing only costs about $3.50!! (I just need to find the right place to get a piercing).
After school I tried to go over to a friends house to do a homework assignment for Humanista but I couldn't figure out how to get back home so I couldn't go.
Tomorrow hopefully I will learn how to take the bus so I will be able to get around easier. The bus (or Micro) only costs about 30 cents!! Que bacán!! Wednesday I will hopefully begoing to pick up my carnet in the morning and then go to school and the after school I have volleyball. If the bus goes well tomorrow then I will take the bus home. And don't worry I'll be safe!!

First normal weekend

March 13th
Good day. Lots of people. Yay! I sleept in but not too late don't worry. It was only about 9:30. Sebastian had soccer practice for school. It starts at 10 every sabado. 10! Can you believe it! Usually weekend practices @ BHS start at 8! After hi practice (about 12:30) we went to pick him and Colomá up. On the way we stoped and Kutchen Haus (a german resturant*) To pick up a torta (tres leche cake).
We got home took it easy for a while and then at about 2 guests came over. Jorge I, Jorge II, Gabriela, and finally(!) Max. They showed up in a red mustang whith what stripes. I'll jjust put up a picture.
Once they arrived the grill was started. First it is lit and they they wait for it to turn to coals. After that a half-a-dozen different types of meat. We also had a torta de verduras. This is basically crêps layered with corn, avacado, lettus, tomatoes and tuna. For dessert we had the torta that we had bought that morning and a another that the guests had brought (a raspberry cheesecake). After lunch, which started at 3 and went till about 5, I took Ignacia to watch Sebastian and Jorge play futbol at the neighbor's house again.
Jorge was trying to do a fancy trick with the ball and accidently got a ball in his face instead.
We came back to the house and had a light dinner of sandwiches with the left over meat and the cakes. The night ended with watching the 2nd Narnia movie.

*There is a lot of German influence in Chile. After World War II many people connected to the Nazi party fled to Argentina and Chile to dodge punishment. On weekend mornings we eat bread with an assortment of condiments. Mi papá always has a piece of bread with cheese and peach marmalade (that mi mamá makes). When I looked a little surprised as he took a bite of the cheese and jam combo he explained that this is a German custom.


March 14th
Leisurely day. Woke up, desayuné, me duché, and then started the day. Max came back with a friend from schooland later in the afternoon was joined by another. So lets see; we played lots of pingpong, swam and ate today. Thats about it. I'm still debating weather or not to finish my homework. I think i'll just copy it off from online. Perfecto! Chao!!