What I've been up to!

On the 1st, Vick and her parents came over to say good bye. My parents gave them a few bottles of wine and some preserved cherries from the cherry trees we have out in the country. And then it was time to give them a last hug and send them off. I cried, but I know I'll see them soon. Especially with Vick's determined plan to go to college in North Dakota. And so after a super fun visit from them, they were off.

For the lunch, we went out to eat "pastel de choclo". A traditional hot dish made mainly out of ground corn (choclo!). Along with the sweet corn, there is ground beef, chicken, black olives, onions, slices of hard boiled eggs, and sometimes more. It's usually served in earthenware bowls. It was so good! But it was pretty hot that day and the restaurant didn't have fans. 

On the 2nd, I met up with Natalia and Rodrigo. Natalia, Carolina, and Alejandra are going to Santiago to study at a university there for a month. So we wanted to meet up before that. We went out to lunch at the mall and then walked to the plaza.

We sat there for a long time talking and it was so nice to catch up.

Then we bought some pigeon food and fed the birds. hahaha.

Eventually, we walked to go home. But ended up stopping at Falabella's to shop. We looked around there for a long time. After that, we all went home.

In the last week or so, I've been around the house a lot. Relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep from the Bariloche trip, Christmas, Vick's visit, New Year's, etc.. 

One day we went out to the country for an asado with Moncho and his family. My mom stayed home to do some ironing and so I was in charge of preparing the salads. Woah. Big responsibility. haha. We went swimming too and it was so refreshing. A couple days before I cut my nails. And one of them I cut too short and it got infected. And so it swelled up. It hadn't hurt too much before that day. But by the afternoon it was pretty unbearable. And by 9 it had doubled the normal size and it was throbbing and I was holding back tears. My mom came out at about that time. And I showed it to her. I don't like making a big deal out of things. We stayed out there talking until 11 or so. None of the clinics were open and plus I didn't want to go to the hospital. I didn't want to deal with all the insurance stuff just for my finger. And so when we got home at 11:30, my mom poked it with a needle and squeezed all the stuff out. (sorry...) Oooohhh it hurt so bad. Not fun. But after that it was all good.

And doing things that usually don't make it on the blog. Running some mornings. Going to my grandma's house for lunch. Just my mom and I going to the mall. We go fairly often and buy shoes or other clothes. Finding shoes is impossible, by the way. My feet are too big! My mom has gotten me 3 pairs of sandals here though. All size 40 and all the same style. White, black, and brown. hahaha. Usually when we go shopping we get ice cream afterwards. I really love my mom. We talk a lot and she keeps me sane. I'm really grateful to have her. I help her with getting dinner ready and straightening the house. And when everyone leaves the dinner table, I stay and we talk and then clean up.

Last Saturday we left Curicó for a little day trip. We ate lunch at a super good place in Romeral (future home town!). From there, we drove for another hour to Los Queñes. We stopped at some point to take pictures and eat watermelon. It was so nice. 

 My beautiful mom and I. :)

 Watermelon!

 There were some gross giant bugs there. ack.

 Close up for your viewing pleasure.

This waterfall was really tiny and far away but my camera has a nice,good zoom.

We drove back to the nearest town. And it was little and so calm. My mom and I went to a restaurant to get some juice. We were the only ones in there. While my mom was in the bathroom one of the waiters was talking to me. He asked where we were from. I said Curicó. And he said oh. And then a minute later. But where are YOU from. hahahaha. And then I explained that I am an exchange student blah blah blah. Then another waiter came and we were talking. They said that they were from Curicó and I asked which part. They said in "El Boldo" and I said no way, which one? And they said Boldo 4. Which is the one I live in. hahaha. So we live in the same sector.

After that, we started driving home and stopped at these big sculptures.

We got into Curicó at 11 but we still hadn't eaten yet. We stopped at a sandwich place a couple blocks from the house. Perro Sandwich. Their specialty is the Perro sandwich. There are so many dogs in the street.... noooo just kidding. It's a sandwich for 4 people. It's the size of a dinner plate and has meat, avocados, scrambled eggs, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. It was good! After that we went home and I finally got some sleep.

It's been a while since I blogged and it seems like I'm forgetting a lot of things. But I'm just going to go ahead and post it.

Yesterday I met up with Charlotte (the German exchange student in my city). We met up in front of a store and then walked around the streets looking for swimming shorts for her. We found them and then started looking for where we could take a colectivo. We talked in english. A guy asked us if we were lost. We said ummm a little. Turns out he speaks english. The best english I've heard from a Chilean. So he walked with us a few blocks and showed us which one to take. I'm not sure what we would've done without him. haha.

We took that colectivo to the pool! The place where our Rotary club meets for their monthly dinners has fútbol fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, and two swimming pools. And our club gets passes for the exchange students. So we finally made it there to take advantage of that. I'm so glad we did! The pool was pretty big and the water was so nice on such a hot day. Charlotte and I stayed there talking for 2 or 3 hours. It was great. We talked about everything. Host families, friends, what we missed about home, gaining weight, and what we've learned on our exchanges. It's nice to have someone who understands!

Today is... what day is it? I never know these days. haha. It's Thursday the 16th. I'm writing this as I'm waiting for lunchtime. My parents have been super busy lately with work. They leave in the morning at 8 and sometimes for lunch my brothers and I take a colectivo to my grandma's house if they don't have time. I just talked to Dad for a bit. :) I call him just about every week and it's nice to talk about everything.

Tonight I'm going out for sushi! I'll get to that in another post.

I have a few other things to ramble on about.

Host family change. I can't remember if I wrote about this... But I'll switch sometime around the 20th of February. I'm feeling bittersweet about it. I like my host family now and I'm great with my mom. But I'm anxious to move and form good relationships with my next family. I'll have about a week in my new house before school starts. The first day is on March 3rd and my birthday is on the 4th! We'ĺl see how that goes... From what I've heard, South American birthdays include throwing the person in the air and throwing eggs. haha. But I'm excited.

Ummmm what else? My family has got a few vacations planned. The big one from the 1st of February to the 15th. We're going somewhere in the south of Chile. That'll be fun! And we have a few other weekend trips planned.

Okkk. Well that's it for this post.... Life is good. It's hot here. It's summer. I'm glad to be here. :)