Colegio!

Nooowwww for the post you've all been waiting for! School! There is so much to say about it!

For my uniform I wore 2 pairs of tights, socks, shoes, a skirt, under armor, a dress shirt and tie, a sweater, and a jacket! There is so much stuff. The school doesn't have heating, so it's pretty cold. In the morning I was kind of nervous. Here's me all ready to go!

Hogwarts here I come!

My mom and dad came in with me and found one of the ladies in charge to show me where to go. She is pretty strict. She's kind of like the Ms. Kanipes in Chile. She yelled at me right away for having make-up on. I didn't know it was rule!

We walked through the plaza while getting lots of stares and pointing and followed these fun arrows to the classroom:

When we got there, there was this nice sign and tons of balloons and a classroom full of excited student waiting for me! I felt so special.

Walking in with all eyes on me! Haha

Then, the room got silent and one guy got up and gave me a present. A pillow and a tortas curicana which is a Chilean dessert. And don't worry about the bag, I'm not actually having a baby (bebé!). The guy next to me, Ariel, speaks English pretty well and so he's my translator when I really get stuck.

I went to my seat and then they had me introduce myself. All the while my new friend Fernanda was taking pictures of me. These are all from her camera in this post except the one at the very top. :)

Everyone went around and introduced themselves. A lot of the guys said things like "my name is ______ and I'm single." Hahaha. (Don't worry Dad) (And to answer you question, Michael, no I don't have a boyfriend (here in Chile it's pololo!))

It is the anniversary (anniversario!) of my school this week. That means lots and lots of celebrating! Yay!

The first hour of school we had an assembly. They went over the history of San Ramon and it was pretty long. I was close to falling asleep because I couldn't really understand anything. My school is a Catholic one and so they said a lot of prayers. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do during them... They also sang the Chilean anthem and school song. I just stood there awkwardly. Haha.

During the school day we have three "recess" breaks and an hour break for lunch. I just walked around with my new friends. :) Here's some pictures from them.

Natalie and I:

Me, Vaaleery, Cata ,and Miriam

 Fernanda and I:

Everyone is so (tan!) nice to me here. They ask a lot of questions and want to know all about me. I get a lot of compliments here. I feel so pretty. :) Haha. People aren't timid with compliments, they just speak their mind. It's pretty nice. I sit by the windows and they are usually open during class. Every once in a while people will poke their heads in the window and look at me.

I got invited to go to a barbecue this Saturday. Also, a group of girls asked me if I wanted to dance with them for part of an assembly for the Anniversary. I just said sure why not!? On Wednesday I danced to "Wannabe" by the Spice girls. (Post to come later).

Hmmmm qué más?

That's all I can think of right now. And I'm super tired. And it's LATE. Today was my 4th day of school, so I'm behind on writing... Ugh.

Here's another one of me and some of my classmates (compañeros!).

I hope you're enjoying reading about my wonderful time here in Chile!! Feel free to ask questions!

So very, very, very happy here! :D

Domingo!

On Saturday night my mom somehow called one of the families in the church and told them that I was an exchange student and would be going to church on Sunday.

On Sunday morning I got up and dressed and went downstairs. My mom lent me a cute jacket (abrigo!) and scarf.

1

I ate breakfast and then my dad gave me a ride to the church (iglesia!).

I introduced myself to the missionaries and went and sat down. A minute later, the woman came and found me. I sat with her and her family. They were very nice. Church started and I actually sort of understood the announcements. Singing the hymns (himnos!) was really fun. I sang in Spanish! I knew what some of the owrds were and figured out the rest from knowing the hymns in English. The Sacrament prayers were cool to hear. I didn't really understand the speakers... But it was good to be there. I only stayed for one hour (hora!) because I wasn't understanding much anyways. I'm so glad that the church is world-wide and that so many people in so many different countries know about the Gospel!

I changed out of my heels and into flats and started walking home. Five minutes into it, I was walking past a couple and the man said "eyy hermana!" I turned around and he said that he had just gotten out of church too. I introduced myself and we walked together for 20 minutes or so. They were really kind. At one point we stopped and he took a picture of me on his phone. I asked why and he said "well I have an 18 year old son and you're very beautiful." Hahaha. I just laughed and asked his wife to take a picture of us:

We went different ways and I said good bye.
I still had another 20 minutes to walk. It was a beautiful day though. While walking, several cars honked and people yelled things like "ehhhh bonita!" It's so different here. I haven't even seen another blonde person here. I walked by a fútbol field and they all stopped playing and stood there looking at me and whistling. And that was at 11 in the morning! I will never be walking (caminando!) alone at night, that's for sure!

*Now I'm in class writing this post in my notebook on my second day of school. I'll write about my first day soon. Everyone is taking a test (prueba!). I took it too, but with 45 minutes to spare. It's a language one and has a lot of passages you have to read and answer questions about. I can't remember what else I did on Sunday so I'll write the rest tonight.*

Annnnnd it's tonight now! Here's dinner on Sunday:

Salmon, salad, tomatoes, and mashed potatoes. Nothing too crazy.

 For dessert I had papaya with cream on top. It was realllllly good.

 After dinner we went to the mall real quick to get me a pencil case and to get the security thing off a scarf we bought a few days ago. Chilean flags on display!:

 For our late night meal thing we had tea or hot chocolate, bread, and GUACAMOLE! My mom has never made it before and so I made it. :) Caroline, you should be so proud, I used your recipe and they LOVED it.

Yay guacamole!

And that's what I did on my first Sunday in Chile! My next post (hopefully tomorrow) will be about my first day in school! It's going to be a good one! Get ready!

Mi Primero Sábado en Chile!

On Saturday, we went out to my family's place in the country (campo!). Three of Felipe's friends came with us. So that was 8 people in a car meant for 5. Haha. But funny story, and this time it's not about me messing something up! When his friends came over, they said hello and kissed me. But one of them tripped on the rug and fell into me. I was laughing so hard! Poor kid. We packed some salad, chips, pop, and candy and we were off.

All ready to go!

Some M&M-like candies on the way

The yellow (amarillo!) house has a kitchen and then there is a pavilion past the trees. They also have a swiming pool (piscina!) and a fútbol field (and for all you people who are confused, (DAD!), soccer). 

On the edge of glory, oh wait the fútbol field 

Our family and Felipe's friends, my dad's brother, and the couple that are family friends were all there. We hung out and ate chips and mussels (charos!). I'm not a huge fan of food that you have to dig out of a shell to eat, but they weren't too bad.

My mom and I walked around the property while the guys built more (más!) of the pavilion.

Me by the cherry trees!

Kiwi trees!!

In November and December they will have a ton of fruit. I can't wait.

Later on, the guys put some big steaks on the grill for dinner and we had dinner.

Most of the group

Right after dinner, the guys went off to play fútbol while the women (mujeres!) cleaned up and had dessert and hot chocolate.

I was pretty tired most of the day because I only got six hours of sleep the previous night because we stayed up talking until 1. At dinner, when there were 12 other Chileans speaking Spanish super fast, I was feeling pretty frustrated. My first major wave of "what am I doing here?" and "why can't I speak Spanish yet?". Ugh... I only feel like this when I'm around a big group and I am just there listening. When I'm with my family, they stop every once in a while to make sure I'm understanding. Sorry for the complaining, but it's all part of the exchange process!

On the way home, Felipe's friends were trying out the little English they knew. Like "My number is blah blah blah." Haha. And then they used google translate to say cheesy pick-up lines. None of them translated right though. One of them said something like "I like cream in my coffee but your eyes are deep and blue like the ocean." uhhh thanks.

Before I went to bed, I tried on all my uniform things (cosas!) to make sure they fit right. Once a week we wear a track suit and it is soooo comfortable. I think that'll be my favorite day. :)

I got about 20 friend requests from my classmates last night. Apparently they only found out a few days ago that I was coming. :D And so I chatted with some of them for a while on Facebook. (See Dad? I'm using Facebook to learn Spanish and make friends!) They all seem very nice and they are all wanting to help me with my Spanish. Yay! And that's it for Saturday!

Empanadas and Shopping!

I'm almost caught up! Yay! This is about my 6th day in Chile. Boy it's hard to remember what I did on which day. The only way I remember is from the pictures on my camera and what order they're in. I'm sitting here as I write with my camera in front of me.

My breakfast: Toast and hot chocolate. :)

Peanut butter, or so they say. It doesn't taste like American peanut butter at all. It's very sweet and is closer to caramel (like the stuff you dip apples in).
When I explained to my mom that it was different and that American peanut butter is a bit salty she thought that was strange. So if you ever send me a package, send me some peanut butter!

Okay, so it's pretty cold here. I pulled out the big guns this morning when we left the house: my mittens. Conveniently shaped like Michigan! I'm from the upper left corner of the left glove! :)

I got to sleep in a bit and then my mom and I went to the mall. We got me some notebooks (cuadernos!), pencils, and a ruler. We also went to this clothing store and I learned sort of what good prices are for things. Meanwhile, my dad went to go pick up Vicente and Felipe from school. Here all the kids get an hour-ish break for lunch and they all go off campus (to the mall or home or in my case, my grandmas house). Before we went for lunch we got some ice cream in the mall. There were at least 40 different flavors to choose from. Mmmmm. I got some kind of chocolate (Chocolate! Thanks Dora. "Chocolate, Chocolate, Bate, Bate, Chocolate.")

Vicente and I challin with our ice cream

We went home for a while, and then my mom said we were going to some birthday party. Turns out it was for a little girl (1, I think) of a friend. There were a lot of little kids around and it was fun to watch. The little kids played a game where there are a bunch of balloons filled up about the size of a grapefruit and they had to put as many as they could in their shirts. Then, they took them one by one and saw who had the most. Hahaha. It was pretty amusing.

Hey guess what!??! I had my very first empanadas and sopapillas!!!! And yes, Dad, empanadas taste like pasties. But they had hamburger, potatoes, and hard-boiled eggs in them. Sounds weird but they were sooo good. Empanadas are usually bigger, but for a party they are smaller.

This is me as I was about to take a selfie with my empanada and my reaction when I heard my host dad saying "she takes pictures of everything! to a friend." Hahaha. Love it.

A real one. Haha

A sopapilla with guacamole on it! Yummmm.

Vicente :)

At the chocolate fountain!

My chocolate covered marshmallows and fruit and my sopapilla

We stayed at the party talking to people for a long time. The shoes I wore were not a good choice... My feet were hurting so bad. And we got in the car and I thought we were going home when my mom and I got dropped off at the mall again! And three hours of shopping later... we both had some new shirts and scarves.

We had the security guy take it. Haha

It was a lot of fun though. My mom is so nice and we talked a lot. After shopping, we went to the grocery store to get hamburgers and fruit for dinner. Here's me with some of the different vegetables: 

 And with the avocados (paltas!). Mmmmm. There are so many avocados here and they are all so fresh!  

 We finally went home (and thank goodness too because my feet were killing me) and made dinner. My mom, dad, Vicente, and I stayed up until 1 talking at the dinner table. :D I'm loving my new family.

School Uniforms, Finger Printing, and Spoons

I didn't really take many pictures today... Sorry! A few of my lunch but I'll post those later.

Today we went back to the police station:

and we verified my visa or something. Who knows... Anyways, we did something (algo!) official. Then we went to another government office to get me a Chilean ID. Or maybe I'm a real Chilean citizen now. I guess I need it to enroll in school. I had to get fingerprinted and take a picture. I thought that I couldn't smile, but apparently it didn't matter. It's a pretty terrible picture. Pretty similar to my passport one. I can't take a good non-smiling picture! I was meant to smile!

Then, my mom and I went to a little shop to buy my school uniforms. We bought skirts, pants, sweaters, a blazer, socks, and tights. I feel so ridiculous in the uniform... Pictures to come when I go to school on Monday for the first time! Speaking of school: A few kids have facebooked (don't you like how "to facebook" is pretty much a verb now?) me and introduced themselves and said that the whole class was very excited for me to come. So nice. I'm still pretty nervous for the first day. But everyone is very welcoming here, so I should be fine. The other night my parents did go over the list of swears so I know not to repeat them when kids say "ask the teacher what ____ means." I'm not that naive. Hahaha. My little host brothers thought it was pretty funny.

My mom, Vicente, and I had some yogurt together that night and I said (pointing at a spoon) "este es una cuchara cierto? (This is a spoon right? I was asking for the pronunciation) And she responded with si asdkeieklslkdjfosfjdksls es una cuchara. I just looked at her and said qué??? She was talking soooo fast! She just laughed and said (in Spanish) "Ooops! I was trying to explain something else and it slipped!"

Annnnd yeah! That's pretty much it for the day. Sorry again for the lack of pictures...

But here's how a corner of the house is decorated:

Germany for my host brother Sergio, Chilean for, well being in Chile, and American for me! :)