September 22, 2009

Hey everybody - once again it's been a while... Every time I begin to blog, something new and interesting comes up and then I always feel like I should wait in order to write about that too haha. Anyway, I guess that I should start with the 18th of September - CHILEAN INDEPENDENCE! The Wednesday (the 16th) before the 18th school ended early at around 12:50 and we didn't have school on Thursday or Friday. It was definitely nice to finally have somewhat of a break... On Friday my host aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, and siblings met at the same place that was host to my host uncle's birthday party a few weeks ago. They served a ton of food - empanadas, crab, etc... Then my host brother and I went to a Davis Cup game that was held here in Rancagua at a stadium called Medialuna (spelling?). Chile played Austria and won which was exciting... The celebrations continued through Sunday and each day we had meals equivalent to those that Americans eat at thanksgiving. Needless to say, I won't be eating again for a while haha. I am still working on signing up for the trip to the south of Chile which begins on October 15th and I will be spending this weekend in Chillan, which is about 4 hours south of Machali. I'll leave for Chillan early on Friday morning and then return on Sunday night. It will be nice to finally meet some of the other AFSers: I didn't get a chance to meet those who weren't American because of my being sick in Miami. Also, I am finally finished with my Carolina essays which is great. Yesterday I met with my AFS volunteer, Ana Luisa, for the monthly "check-up." She was a really nice lady and sometime within the next few weeks she is going to invite me to her house for the day to meet one of the German AFS students here as well as Erika, another AFS volunteer, who is friends with Phillip Moore (my competitor at the Burke County Spelling Bee every year and Market President of Wachovia in Morganton) and his wife. It's a small world! I almost forgot - every Friday I am taking a traditional Chilean dance class at St. John, another school here, with the other American AFS student. I didn't realize that this was a dance class until I arrived at the first class, but oh well it will be a great experience and perhaps I will learn the Cueca haha. Next week is "Anniversario" and Colegio Coya and the entire school will spend three days playing games and celebrating it's anniversary. I'll try to post something on Sunday night or Monday afternoon about Chillan; however, we all know my posting habits by now haha.