Things I Miss!

I absolutely love it here. And I don't get homesick hardly ever. Sometimes when I have a bad day there are flashes of it, but I never WANT to go home. Because this is MY year in this amazing country! But there are a few things that I have missed from time to time from the good 'ol US.

1. My family!
2. Friends
3. Understanding what's going on in school
4. Understanding what's going on
5. Ice cream sundaes with Dad
6. Knowing where I'm going when we leave the house
7. Pancakes
8. Being capable to say every little (unnecessary) thing that comes to my head
9. Using sarcasm (sometimes.. they just don't get it)
10. Cooking and baking a lot
11. Feeling at home 100 percent of the time
12. My kitchen mix master
13. Dare I say it? snow.
14. Sports practices
15. Walking down the street feeling like a normal human being (a.k.a.-- not being stared at 24-7)
16. Band class
17. My piano
18. A glass of milk
19. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
20. Going to bed early
21. My house

It is CRAZY how fast my year here is going. I'm in the process of choosing a return date. ugh. It's so hard thinking that I have to leave my life here and then go back and do important college things back home. I don't want to grow up! That is enough talking about that! I'm on exchange!

Termas del Flaco!

Hello again!

Sunday (the 26th of January) marked exactly a year since I found out I would be going to Chile. I had been waiting since November (when I submitted my application) to hear where I'd be going. In the afternoon, other people in my district were finding out. And Kati (district Outbound coordinator) told everyone that the club Rotary officers knew. So the Rotary officer from Ironwood had an email in his inbox saying where I was going. After waiting for an eternity, I called him. And it went straight to voice mail. And I called him again and again with no luck. I sent him an email. No reply. I called him yet again and he finally answered. I explained the situation and he said that he was not able to log into his email because it was connected to work and there was a weird setting. And he wouldn't be able to look at it until Monday when he went into the office. So I talked with Kati and asked her to tell me. And so, by good ol' Facebook chat, she told me I'd be going to Chile! I quickly called all the family and friends. And then I started researching about a country I knew almost nothing about! Oh how that year flew by. :)

So anyways. This post is really about the Termas del Flaco. The hot springs! We wanted to leave on Thursday but my parents had lots and lots of work and it didn't happen. We then planned to leave in the early afternoon on Friday. But we didn't end up leaving until 8. And then going to the grocery store for snacks and really leaving at 8:30. But then we were off! We drove for an hour and a half and were at the bottom of the mountain. We planned to meet up with my host dad's brother, wife, and daughter Fernanda, and so we waited for 45 minutes there. While we waited, we sat in the car, looked at fashion magazines, and looked at the stars. There were sooo many stars and it was beautiful. We started up the mountain and we drove for I don't know how long. An hour and a half? I was so exhausted. so we got up there at 12:30-ish.

Up this mountain, there is a little town. Made purely out of places to stay, vendors, and restaurants. We found a nice hotel type place and brought our bags in. Then we went to the eating area and they served us sandwiches and tea. By that time, it was 1:30 or so. So we quickly got out of there and off to sleep.

We got up and going at 8 the next morning. We had breakfast and then were off to hike! It was hot out and I'm getting pretty out of shape. haha.

 So gorgeous:

 After an hour of hiking we looked down on the town:

 I don't know how to spell their names... but Fernanda, my dad's brother and wife, me, Felipe, and my host dad.

 Another one including my mom.

We hiked for a bit more and got to our destination. The dinosaur footprints (huellas!)!

 My mom and I:

 Fernanda and I:

When we got there, there was a group with a guide. So we waited 20 minutes until they left so we could take a picture of me sitting in one. hahaha. And after we had taken one, another group came and yelled at us. mehh.

On the way down! Apparently my footing isn't very good because I fell three times. ugh.

When we got back to the hotel, we went and ate lunch. And after that, we took NAPS! It was fantastic. I woke up after an hour and my mom and I went to shop a little. I bought a few souvenirs and she bought us rings and ankle bracelets. :) I have boughten two other rings here in Chile and I have lost them both. Not to mention my ring-losing-history started when I was like 7 with the fake engagement ring from Michael and Caroline (remember that Caroline??) So I'm determined to hold onto this one.

Later that night after dinner we headed off to the hot springs!

Here's a picture of them from earlier in the day:
The one with people in it, is the most popular one. The pool in the bottom left is pretty hot and not many people go in it. There were a few other small ones out of the picture. And the one in the bottom right was described to be so hot you could hard boil and egg in it. So it's safe to say no one ever goes in that one.

 Fernanda and I:

By the it's-so-hot-you-could-boil-an-egg hot spring.

We went back and showered and changed and headed out at 11:30 to find something to do. I was pretty tired and would've been happy to just go to bed. In all honesty... I was a little grumpy. There wasn't really much so we ended up going a place to eat. I ordered a little pizza and tried to order an alcoholic drink. aghh. Language problems. My mom ordered a dessert and it was rock hard. And my pizza was terrible. The worst I've ever eaten. And I wasn't feeling that great after it. But I slept well that night!

We all slept until 9:30 and it was nice to sleep in. After breakfast, we headed off for a quick hike. We walked to this big building and explored it. So here's the history. In 1939, there was a tuberculosis breakout. So they started building this hospital that was isolated and in the fresh mountain air. Since there weren't roads up the mountain yet, ALL of the materials were transported by mules. But as they were constructing it, penicillin was discovered. So they tore it down a bit on the inside. But then just left it. In 1960, Chile had a 9.5 (!!!!) earthquake. And so that destroyed it a lot more. So here's some pictures!

 Pretty views out the windows:

After that adventure, we went back and went looking at shopping at the markets again. And then we had lunch. After that, we took a little nap and got everything packed up. We left there at about 4. And we drove and drove and drove home. It was a good trip! My first time going to hot springs!

So today is... Tuesday. And this morning I went for a run. I ran to some workout machines and was using one when 30 teenage guy fútbol players ran by. It was pretty funny. :) They slowed down and their jaws dropped. hahaha. It's good to be a blonde.

Ohh I have a joke for you guys! I heard it when I was talking with some Rotary guys at María Ayuda. Obviously supposed to be spoken but here it is:

What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages?
Trilingual.

What do you call a person who speaks 1?
An American. 

As I was the only American there, everyone turned and looked at me and said oohhhhh... But it's kinda the sad truth..

Okay. Well that's it for now!

Cookies and Carolin!

On Tuesday at 3, I went to Fernanda's house to make chocolate chip cookies!! On the way out of the house, there were two things for me in the mail! A slip telling me that there was a package waiting for me at the post office and a card from my favorite Chem teacher Mrs. Mazzon. :) I was so excited!

Once at Fernanda's house, her and I waited a bit until everyone came. It was Fernanda, Carolina, Julio, Rodrigo, and I. We sat around for a bit, listening to music and watching youtube videos. And then we played Monopoly for a bit. And it was a fútbol world cup version. hahahhaha. Within 15 minutes I owned Chile, Brazil, and a stadium. And then Nico came and we stopped. I was totally going to win. :P hahahah.

We played some ping pong and when it wasn't too too hot, we walked to a market to buy some things we needed. And then the baking began! I didn't take a ton of pictures on my camera, but when I get the other ones, I'll add them. 

We mixed everything together and the dough tasted good.

Then I put them in the oven! 

We tried them first in the little electric oven that is more used. They started out looking fine... but then started burning on the bottoms. So we took them out and at them with raw insides... hahah. FAIL.

So then I put the next batch in the regular oven. Once again, they started burning on the bottoms a bit, so I flipped them. Yes, I flipped them like pancakes.

They turned out pretty well! And everyone loved them. Final product:

I stayed at Fernanda's house until 10:30. And then I went home and talked with my mom and dad until late.

On Wednesday after lunch, I set out to get my package! I took a colectivo to the post office. And the package I have been waiting for finally came!! A package from my favorite Germans! But before I went home to open it, I went to Falabella's. I looked around for a bit and bought a cute headband.

And then I walked to take a colectivo home. As I walked by a pharmacy I went in. And I finally did it. I weighed myself... eeek. I was pretty scared. I put money into the machine and it started talking at me really loudly in spanish. "step on the scale. Now you are being weighed." I was scared that it'd say the weight out loud. hahaha. But luckily it only displayed it on the screen and printed out a receipt with it on it. So here it is... When I came, I weighed 145 pounds or 66 kilos. And now, after five months of eating delicious Chilean bread every day, I weigh 71.2 kilos or 157 pounds. So that's a 5.2 kilo difference. 11.5 pounds. eeeeeek. Well that's enough talk about that...

I love packages from Carolin and her family. (As I love packages from everyone :) ) She puts so much work into them! And the wrapping is always fancy.

German candy!

 She made me this ADORABLE book.

A story connecting our adventures.

"Once upon a time.... there were two sister that hadn't seen eachother for a loooooong time."

And a "c" charm for my Pandora bracelet!

So thank you so much Carolin! I absolutely LOVE everything.

Today is Thursday and in the afternoon sometime we're headed off to the termas! Termas means HOT SPRINGS! whoooo! We'll stay there until Sunday. So that'll be the next blog post! Thanks for reading!