Tricotilomanía!

This post is about last week. (the 4th-ish to the 10th.)

If you have no idea what tricotilomanía (or trichotillomania in English), don't feel bad. Hey Dr. Tyler, do you know??

But before I get to that, I'll write about the rest of my week first.

This past week has been full of homework (tarea!), group projects, and a bit of stress. At this point, I feel like I should be able to speak more than I can. I am understanding more, but it's hard to make this noticeable if I can't respond. Okay, enough complaining. I've been having some problems here and there but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

On Tuesday in gym we did circuit training like we have been doing. It's actually pretty tough. Stairs (escaleras!), abs, exercises with medicine balls, jumping rope, squats, etc.. One of the stations was jumping over hurdle-like things. So after class, my classmates had me set up 3 or 4 "hurdles" and do them. While they recorded me. hahaha. The first run, they were too close and I tripped over all of them... embarrassing! (embarazoso!) But then I spread them apart and ran them again and nailed it! I felt pretty awesome. (That's for you Mr. Sim!) On Tuesday after school I went for a run and then called Dad and then Katie to talk. I have some great people in my life! It's always nice to catch up with them.

On Wednesday I had music class, which I always like because we don't have homework and I get to play the keyboard (teclado!) for a bit. The highlight of my day on Wednesday was math class. (Wow, am I a nerd or what??...) We got a test back that we took the other week and I got the best grade I've gotten here by myself. A 5.8! Which is an 83 percent! Whooo hooo! :) Some of my classmates nearby got lower than me and I was feeling pretty smart. So thanks math, for being international!

On Thursday I had a dissertation for biology/philosophy class. I was in a group (grupo!) with Natalia, Romina, and Carolina. We researched (well, let's be realistic, they researched) about Tricotilomanía. Which is a mania in which a person pulls out their own hair. On Wednesday night, I memorized a couple paragraphs of information. I talked about the history of it, which included dates of course. And I have a hard time saying years in Spanish. Like 1889 (mil ochocientos ochenta y nueve) It's just a mouthful to remember. Plus I had to say Tricotilomanía five times. But I memorized it and was prepared and I think it went really well! I had note cards but I barely looked at them. Yay! Since this project was for a big part of the grade, we all dressed up. Dress shirts, ties, and blazers. Here's a few pictures of me all ready to go!

 Nico!

 And Natalia because she's pretty. :)

Also on Thursday, in elective english class I had a dialogue to perform. A conversation between a receptionist and a client. I was the client and brought jeans and a jacket to change in to. It went well. Then after all the groups went, the teacher wanted 4 groups to volunteer to go again next week in front of a class of middle schoolers. And I got volunteered by my classmates. haha. Thanks Carolina. And also, I'll talk about my family and city and things in english for a few minutes. Easy peasy.

In other exciting news, we had an in-class, partner homework assignment in math and I totally rocked it. I was feelin' so smart (inteligente!).

As I was waiting to take a colectivo home, my friend Matias (but everyone calls him Pelao) came and rode with me. He lives a two blocks from my house and so he walked me home without a second thought. Awww. I have such good friends.

On Friday, I went to a meeting with my dad for my class trip to Bariloche, Argentina! The trip is from December 18th to the 23th and I am beyond excited for it! To pay for it, I went to the atm to take out money, to find out that my card didn't work. My bank recently switched companies and thus I got a new card. We forgot to tell the new company that I am in Chile... so they cancelled my card for foreign use. So I wasn't too sure what to do.

*Everything is all fixed now. After a lot of phone calls home to Dad later, it's fixed. That was fun, huh Daddio?

On Saturday, I went running and then in the afternoon went to a meeting with my mom. It was for the parents of 4th grade (the seniors). There, they had some nice powerpoints about how important parents are that had people crying. And then the tears really came from EVERYONE when they handed out letters thank you letters from the students to the parents. While the kids were in a different room reading the letters from the parents. Awwww. Qué tierno! (how sweet!) ;) We went to the mall to use the atm machines (maquinas!) there to no avail. And then got some ice cream together. I got a copa. Which is a plastic cone-shaped cup that you put layers of ice cream, whipped cream, caramel, and other toppings in. Yummm!

On to Sunday! I took a collectivo to church, but a few blocks away, it turned a different direction than I thought it was going to. So I got out and started walking. I was super short on time and really hoping that by some miracle I'd make it on time. And lo and behold, it did come. A car stopped and the driver yelled in Spanish "hey you! Get in!" and so I did. And yes I know, that's not usually the best thing to do... but I was desperate. hahaha. Just kidding. They were members from the church and recognized me (I have no idea how... :P). That was sweet of them. I'm so grateful that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is world-wide. It was a good day in church and in young women's class I was asked to give the closing prayer. I don't know how to pray in Spanish yet, but they said that I could say it in English and so I did. :) And even though I was the only one in the room that understood what I was saying, the Spirit was there.

And just one more thing that I've been meaning to write about. Chilenismos. Yes, the language Chileans speak is Español, but they have so many words and phrases in their vocabulary that are only used in Chile. I love it. There are soooo many of them...  So here's a few that I can think of at the moment:

Cachai?= do you understand?; get it?
Bacán!= cool!; great!
mijito rico= someone you think is attractive
po= This one needs a longer explanation. Po is taken from "pues" which means well. Po is used ALL the time here.
 "yaaaa po" "no po" "sipo" "sip" "Cómo estas po?" "más rápido, po"
It's basically tacked on to the end of every sentence. And I find myself using it all the time.

There are a lot more Chilenismos, but that's all I'ĺl write about now.

Thanks for reading!