Rain, Pancakes, and Busyness

*I wrote this blog a while ago, and so the keep that in mind. ;) These events happened in... April, in fact. Eeek.

In the summer in Chile it doesn't rain much. Up until this day, it had rained twice and when I got out of school one day I was overjoyed to see the rain! I love storms.

The view of my school in the rain: This is one of the patios.

On to the pancakes! Wednesday is my longest school day when I get out at 5:45 and I get to my house at 6:30-ish. I was pretty exhausted, but decided to attempt to make pancakes. We didn't have syrup in the house (I have seen it here though!--American brands but still) I found a simple recipe but didn't measure anything out (no cups or tablespoons here) and winged it. They looked good but ended up being a little heavy. I ate them with peanut butter that Katie and Diane sent me forever ago. They weren't that fantastic... haha. My mom didn't really want to accept that they weren't crepes. Because they sometimes make crepes here, but never pancakes. But I tried anyways. :)

There was an arts and crafts and carnival thing in Molina and so I went to that with Rodrigo and Lobos. We met up at the terminal and got off to Molina and walked to Toledo's house. They dropped off bags and we walked to town. This time, there were less carnival rides and more food and crafts. I wish I would've been with girls because the guys weren't interested in looking at the crafts much. haha. I bought a nice fuzzy winter hat for 4 dollars. I love cheap stuff!

I got a shish kabob and juice too.

I went home at about 8:30 because I had a Rotary trip the next day (next blog post!).

A little bit about how I'm doing! I'm great. My spanish is good. I don't get head aches every day from translating, I don't need to think of every word in english and then translate it to spanish, I don't really have to focus to understand people, and I dream a lot in Spanish! Lots of ups and downs on an exchange with the language. But I'm on an up.

I love my family. A quick recap. I live in Romeral, a small town 20 minutes from Curicó. I love with my parents José and Carmen, my sister Jessica, and I have a sister in Oklahoma who will come home soon. I've heard a lot of great things about her from her family and I'm excited to meet her. I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous too. I'm nervous that we won't get along. Also, my room is her room... but I'll be staying in it until I leave.

The Chilean life is usually pretty rushed and busy. And that has definietly been the case for my family lately. My mom Carmen nevere had the change to finish high school since she had to work to help out her family when she was little. So now, she is taking night classes. After a long day of working, she comes home at 7 or 7:30 and goes to classes at 8. Then she gets back at 10 or 10:30. My dad is usually around the house but often has to rush to do something with the fútbol stadium next door. Jessica has a long day of teaching 1st grade in my school and then she teaches night classes for adults (like my mom). Also, on Friday and Saturday she drives to Talca (an hour away) to take college classes to get her masters in teaching biology. She wants to be a college professor. Sometimes we eat dinner at 7:30 or so before they leave for classes and sometimes we eat at 10:30 when they get home.

I definitely have a hard working family and I'm proud of that.

Depending on my school schedule, I get out anywhere from 1:15 to 5:45. Since there's never too much going on in the afternoon at my house, I take my time getting home. I walk to the bus terminal with friends, go to the mall, or study in the school with friends.

I seemed to have forgotten to write about basketball. In Bariloche, I met a girl named Camila who goes to San Martin. It is a school just a few blocks from mine. A while ago, she said she played basketball and she invited me to play on their team. So when I have time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday I go to basketball practice with them. The other girls are nice and the practices are tough. They have one of the best girl teams in Curicó.

So that's my life! Busy, busy, busy, but great!

Sushi and Carnivals!

One day after class I went with Sofia and Rodrigo to eat sushi! Rodrigo had never tried it so it was fun seeing his reactions. The sushi is super good at that place. Sofia paid for mine for my birthday present. ;)

Mine and Sofia's sushi:

 Gyozas:

 A few days after the sushi, Kako invited me to go with her to the carnival. So we met up at the terminal. She was a few minutes late and so I sat on a bench and waited. The guy I was sitting next to me started talking to me and we had a nice conversation. He was in his 50's and lived in the country. It was a hot day and he offered to buy me a pop. I said no but thanked him. But he insisted ;) So he bought me a Crush. saweeet. haha. We talked some more, and then Kako came. We found a bus going to Lontué and we were off. We got there and there were carnival rides, food, and arts and crafts. We walked through the tons and tons of people and played "taka-taka" or foosball. I won. ;)

And then we played this game. You had 8 ping pong balls and you threw them into the slots. And then whatever number they added up to, you go the prize that had that number on it.

And I won this bear from a hospital from Mexico. hahaha. I paid a dollar for that game!

 Then we went on a ride called The Roulette. It was fun:

Nico, Fernanda, Pablo, his girlfriend, and Fransisco showed up and Kako had to go home. So I stayed with the rest of them and we went on the Roulette ride again.

 Then we went on the Crazy Loop.

I almost died, I swear. It was a ride where we got strapped in by metal bars and the big cage spun around. When I was little, I got sick on roller coasters and that has not changed! It was fun for the first minute. And then it was hard to hold my head up and I felt like I was in a car accident. I was a little dizzy after that.

While we waited for Fernanda's parents to come, we got empanadas at a little shop. They were super good.

The next night, I went with my family back to the feria. We walked around for a while, until we started being followed by a homeless, shoeless, old guy who was quite vulgar. He followed us and begged my dad for money and asked him if he was a tough guy and wanted to fight. The way he walked freaked me out a bit. He siddled along with jerky movements and made me think he was going to touch me. He tried grabbing Jessica's arm, but she pushed him back. By that time, we were done with the feria anyways and walked to the exit. As we passed a vendor, the guy following us said "take a picture! I need a picture with the gringa! (add in all of your favorite Chilean swear words)" So that was fun! The police took him away...

Hey! I'm back! sort of...

I'll just start this one out with a big PERDÓNAME and LO SIENTO! (Forgive me and I'm sorry!)

I've been wanting to blog, but just plain have not had time! Amazing trips, school, hanging out with friends, family time, and homework (plus seminary since I'd neglected it for a lot of the year).

The good thing is that I have a notebook at school with a lot of posts written out. They just need to magically find their ways onto here, with pictures. I'll get there...

Some news that YOU need to know! I have my return date (and have had it for a while now...). I will be leaving my second home on July 17th at 9:10 p.m. from Santiago. I will then have a grueling ten hour-something flight to Dallas, Texas where I will wait for 4 hours before I fly the last piece of my trip (2 hours and 15 minutes) to the Minneapolis International Airport! There on July 18th, I will be reunited with my family who will be waiting for me! (right??... that would stink to wait wouldn't it Vick? ) And a few days after that, I will find my way home to my motherland! Ironwood!

So that leaves me... (pause as I check my countdown that I have that I neglect most of the time...) 38 days. That is too low of a number.

I am full of so many emotions. I'm excited, ready, not-ready, happy, sad, torn, and so many more. Some days I feel like I've learned everything I should have learned here, I'm satisfied with my español, and I'm ready to see my family. But other days, I feel like I have so much to do still, I have memories to make, bonds to deepen, spanish to learn, and dreams to complete. Most days, July 17th seems like my death date. We tend not to talk about that day... Although I'm excited to see my family as I walk through those airport doors. Seeing them with signs or balloons or how ever it will be. Hugging my Dad and brothers and sisters and my too-big-nephews and nieces. I cry when I think about those last good byes that I'll have to make with my friends and family HERE. I have another life that I'll be walking away from. I know that we'll keep in touch. But it won't be the same.

So when people from home tell me that I have a little time left, I don't know how to feel. Or people say "no te vallas, Christy! (don't go!). My heart hurts! Inside of me, I have this snow globe of emotions. Usually all the glitter is at the bottom and things are calm. But now, life has taken the snow globe and shaken it with all it's might. aghhhh.

But anyywwaysss. That's the big news. I'm great. I love life. I love hugging my friends at school and laughing with them. I love knowing the language and being able to be me. I love my family. I love school. I love Chile.

I'll hopefully be getting more blog posts up more continuously. I have SO much to say and I've missed writing! It's nice to get all my thoughts and stories out. Sorry it's been such a long time!

I've got a couple of posts of random things. And then I'll ramble on and on and share a ton of pictures from Easter Islannnddd! wiiii! (yay!) And then eventually, let's be honest... probably when I get home I'll get completely caught up.

These next weeks, I'll be focusing on loving every minute I have left, hugging everyone a little bit tighter, and appreciating a bit more all the good things I have right now.

Viña del Mar and Valparaíso!

On April 11th, there was a Rotary conference and we went to the 5th region of Chile. I got on the bus that picked up exchange students at 8 and we were off. I slept unto more people got on. The bus went from Talca all the way up to Santiago. Once there, we got off and met up with the kids living in Santiago. And there, I was reunited with Jodie! 

We were assigned buses and headed on our way. We stopped at a church 

and then we were off to Viña del Mar. It's a super well-known city and a beautiful city on the sea.

It is also known for the big clock of flowers. So we got some pictures by that.

All of the Inbound students!

Then we wen to the Stadium where a big musical festival is held. Festival de Viña. It's a big music festival in Viña del Mar which is supposedly

international. Although I've never heard of it.

I watched it this year in February. The stadium looks a lot bigger on the TV.

The area surrounding the stadium there happened to be a fair of anime things. There were so many costumes. I liked this one the best. hahahaha. Get it?? They are Sims!

For lunch, we went to a Chinese buffet! I was excited because I hadn't eaten Chinese food all year, but was slightly disappointed. The food didn't turn out to be that great. And the sushi was NOT sushi. It, in fact, contained hot dog. Gross!

After lunch, we took a bus a little bit further til Valparaiso or Valpo. This building is the Armada of Chile.

It was a pretty hot day and we spent it walking. I didn't mind too much because the streets of Valparaiso are absolutely gorgeous. The city is one of lots of hills and bright graffiti.

We got some yummy alfajores. A Chilean dessert made up of cookie, chocolate, and manjar.

As we were walking there was a guy that wanted to do a show for us with his spring puppets. So we sat on the ground like preschoolers and watched a puppet show. :3

I loved the colorful stairs:

And the colorful everything.

Anabel (Germany) and I:

I would have liked to buy a little painting, but they were pretty pricey.

There were lot of street acts. Like this dancer. A guy with a black morph suit with a second head.

 

While the guide was talking, we saw a fire in the hills. No one thought much of it at first because they are normal because of the dryness. 

We continued on our tour and then it started getting serious. It got bigger and bigger and ashes began to fall like snow. Whole burnt leaves started to fall.

I really like this picture:

We kept on the tour of the city and we went to the harbor. All the while, the cloud of smoke grew. We got some cotton candy and went to see some ships.

Some of these turned out like war pictures.

Bridget and I:

We went to the cabins and I roomed with Jessica, Morgan and 2 other girls. That night, we were gong to have a dance, but people were tired and so we just sat up and talked. I liked it a lot better. It was awesome talking with these girls. 

A morning game of foosball.

After lunch we got on the road home. I sat with Bridget and we reminisced about our exchanges and thought about how hard it would be to leave. We talked about what we'd learned and what problems we'd had. That was the point that going home started to feel real.

The fire which had started as a common hill fire, grew and grew and made worldwide news. Over 2,500 houses were burnt which left 12,000 people homeless and several deaths. The amazing thing about the Chilean people is the way they come together after a natural disaster like that. In a country with so many earthquakes, fires, and tsunamis, they have learned to work together and pick each other up.