August 16, 2009

Sorry everybody - it's been an entire week since the last time I posted anything. This week has been great - school is kind of boring though. I still am not understanding much; therefore, most of the time I am just sitting and staring blankly at the board or reading a book. The teachers know that I understand nothing (except for my language teacher) so they usually don't mind if I read or just sit there. For whatever reason, my language teacher seems to think that I understand everything and asks me questions about what she is teaching in spanish constantly - obviously I do not understand a word she says haha. I finished the Catcher and The Rye this week and it is definitely my favorite book now. Not too much happened during the week, but on Saturday my host family took me to Santiago. The one hour drive to Santiago is beautiful: the Andes are on either side of the road (snowcapped as always) and there are a few hills in front of the mountains covered in green grass and cacti. The contrast between the green grass, the cacti, and the snow is really interesting haha. When we arrived in Santiago we went to the coolest restaurant. It was on one of the street corners downtown and my host father explained to me in spanish that it was over 100 years old, but had been restored. And it had been restored very nicely too. I ordered a cuatro queso pizza and it was great - I think that the cheese on it was unpasteurized because it had so much more flavor than a normal cheese pizza would. After we finished eating we went to the centro commercial of Santiago, which once again was basically a mall. It was probably the nicest mall that I have ever been to in my life. The mall had literally every store imaginable in it, some that I didn't even know existed. After I thought my host  family had finished their shopping, we went to another mall. This one was much cooler in my opinion. One level of the mall was outside on top of a building and, of course, the Andes could be seen from almost every store. This was the last mall that we went to, although my host family informed me that there were about four more. Next, we went to my host uncle's house in Santiago. He had a really nice house near downtown Santiago and we ate dinner there for the next two hours. We didn't get back to my host family's house until about one in the morning. Around 2:00 pm today my host dad took me driving to see the Andes. I thought I could see the from the house, but he wanted me to have an unobstructed view of them. I really have never seen anything like the Andes - they are definitely the biggest mountains that I have ever seen. I also had to get my hair cut today for school. I am still mourning over the loss of the majority of my hair - I barely have any left haha. I have already posted the pictures that I took of the Andes on facebook. I am not going to post all of them on my blog because it takes a really long time.

August 9, 2009

So much has happened in the last few days that I don't even know where to begin. On Thursday night I started my application to Carolina. I felt so relieved after looking over the application because it was not half as bad as I had originally expected it to be. The deadline for early applicants is November 2, so I probably won't work much on the application until October. Friday was my first day at Colegio Coya - my school in Chile. I didn't have to wear a uniform because it was colors day - everybody was allowed to wear whatever they liked. The school is very nice, but there is no heat (just like in every other building in pretty much all of Chile) so I nearly froze to death. School is so much different here than in the United States: nobody pays any attention to the teachers and some kids pick up their cellphones in class or walk out of the classroom randomly. The teachers have literally no control over the students whatsoever haha. I am in the fourth grade here which basically means that I am a senior at Coya. I was glad to discover that school for seniors at Coya ends sometime around the first week of November because of the university entry tests that seniors are required to take. The principal, who speaks english, met with me in her office to discuss my time at school here. She was very nice and ensured me that if I needed anything I could go directly to her office. On Friday, Ricardo, the oldest host brother, came home from college for the weekend (he is in med school in Santiago) and it was very nice to meet him. On Saturday morning my host father took me into the "centro commercial de Rancagua" which was exactly like a mall to buy my uniform for school. I was shocked at how nice the mall was and how cheap the clothes here are. I had my first Chilean empanada for lunch on Saturday - the empanadas here are delicious - people choose what they want in their empanada and then pick the empanada up or have it delivered, almost like pizza in the US. On Saturday night I went to my first Chilean party, which began at 11:00 pm. The parties here all start very late and end very early the next morning. I had a great time at the party but because it was held outdoors, I was freezing cold and was exhausted by the time we got back to my host family's house (4:30 am). When I woke up (around noon) I started reading The Catcher and The Rye, which is and awesome book and will probably end up being one of my favorites. Today my Chilean host aunt came to visit and ended up inviting Elisa, my host sister, and I to her house. She is a dentist and lives in el campo, the countryside, in a beautiful house. They have a pool, which will be nice to have access to in the summer, and they had quite a few pets (birds, dogs, and a Chin Chilla). I will try to post something new within the next week, but it will probably be next weekend before I actually sit down and write something. 

August 5, 2009 - Finally Here

Lucas, my host family's dog.

The living room.

My room.

The hotel room where I stayed for four days.

I arrived in Chile yesterday morning and I have had a very interesting 24 hours since my arrival. When I got off the plane, I felt completely lost: nobody spoke English, I had to find baggage claim, go through customs, etc... Once I found the exit a lady who works for the AFS Chile office found me and we took a taxi to her office. She spoke perfect English which was nice because it gave me a chance to calm down. After she spoke to me about what to expect in the next 5 1/2 months, we took another taxi to the bus station where we boarded the bus that was headed to Rancagua, Chile. People drive crazily here - it is truly scary. The taxi driver drove at about 120 km/hr the entire was to the bus station. I am not sure exactly how fast that is in mph but trust me, it's too fast. My host brother and host father picked me up at the bus station and it was great to finally meet them both. My host father is extremely nice and very funny and as soon as he met me he gave me a hug and told me that I was a part of the family (in Spanish of course) to him haha. When I arrived at my host family's house I met everybody else before taking a nap. When I awoke from my nap I attempted to speak to my host family; however, I wasn't very successful in doing so. Everybody is constantly offering me food which is really nice. Also, people here kiss on the cheek as a greeting which in my opinion is awkward. I am not going to go to school until Friday so I will probably spend most of my time unpacking and becoming more comfortable in my room. I have noticed since I arrived that there is a huge problem with stray dogs - it is extremely sad because they are everywhere and most of them have mattes in their fur and are starving. I also could not help but to notice the Andes mountains... I have never seen anything like them. They are enormous, snowcapped, and not at all like the mountains that I am used to seeing. 

August 1, 2009 - Still In Miami...

Unfortunately, the night that I was supposed to fly to Chile, I got sick and could not fly. To make a long story short I had to go to the ER in the Hialeah part of Miami which was quite an experience. Nobody in the hospital (maybe a total 3 employees were fluent... maybe) spoke english and I had to have 2 IVs and several and had to be tested for several other things. My flight was rescheduled for Monday night so now I am scheduled to arrive on Tuesday morning. Until then I will be sitting in a hotel room watching movies haha. After sitting here for three days I left for this first time today. Belkys, an AFS employee, took me to a grocery store to get Campbell's Tomato Soup to go, plain Cheerios, and saltine crackers. At least Belkys has done an awesome job taking care of me and AFS has been great about rescheduling my arrival dates and times. While sitting in my hotel room today I figured out how to use Skype and I actually purchased a calling plan: I will be able to call anywhere from Chile (landlines and mobile phones) for only $12.00 per month. I will try to update my blog sometime within the next week.