September 1, 2009

I am so sorry again that I haven't updated this blog in almost three weeks. I have been pretty busy here in Chile between school and my host family. Looking back over the past 2 1/2 weeks I don't even know where to begin. School in general has been fairly uneventful: the school days are long and usually I don't understand anything. My spanish has really improved over the last few weeks; although, I still wouldn't call it great. I guess I should start with my birthday - August 25. On my birthday my class went on a field trip to Santiago. We took this awesome tour bus for the hour long ride - much better than the buses in the US. First my class went to a theater to watch a play. I didn't understand anything of course but the acting was great. Next, we went to a mall to eat in the food court. Until then, I didn't realize how much I had actually missed fast food. The portions are so much smaller here and there is only one drink size which is about the size of something that would come with a small child's meal in the US. We ate outside about 20 stories up which was nice because of the fact that I could see the Andes on all sides. When I got home my host family gave me a new wallet, a new shirt, and a carolina blue birthday cake (this definitely made my day). The following Saturday I received two packages. One was from my dad and Cindy and the other was from Big John and Nancy. The one from my dad and Cindy contained a couple of movies and candy that can't be found here. It was nice to watch a movie in English without Spanish subtitles haha. The package from Big John and Nancy contained Zucchini bread. I had Zucchini bread for breakfast that morning and will probably have it for days if not weeks to come. Thanks so much for that Nancy and Big John! It felt very strange to be eating something that was made in Morganton only a few days before. Anyway, I have been working diligently on my college applications and essays - the stress from these gave me a migraine which kept me out of school yesterday. After a little rest my headache was gone, but my family suggested that id would be best if I didn't go to school today either. I started to  tell them that it was only a migraine, but then I realized that school lasted until 5:30 pm on Tuesdays so I quickly stopped myself and agreed. Last Saturday was my host uncle's birthday and he had a huge party. I would guess that at least 75 people attended. The food at the party was great - a five course meal. My family didn't return home from the party until around 4:30 am the next morning. My plan for today is to begin finishing up my essays for Carolina - I should have plenty of time to finish at least one. I will try to update every Sunday from now until January.