Last Saturday we had a group tour of Valparaiso, a neighboring town which used to be (and maybe still is??) the most important port in South America. All in all, the city looks pretty much like Vina del Mar with the multicolored houses covering the hills, uneven sidewalks, and wonderful ocean views. A professor from Universidad Adolfo Ibanez (the university I am attending) was our tour guide but she was a pretty soft spoken so only a few people could here what she was saying. Anyway, it was fun to see a bit of the town and walk around with the group. One fun thing we did in Valparaiso was ride the acensores (lift/elevator things that take you up the hill.

Friday-Sunday my cell phone was not working. Whenever I tried to make a call or send a text message, I was told that the chip in my phone didn't belong to my phone, which it really didn't but the strange thing is the phone had worked just fine earlier. Eventually my parents helped me get it figured out, I think they called the 800 number or something. Now I have the phone my mom had been using but apparently my chip belonged to that phone...anyway, I now can have a fully functional phone.

On Sunday, Marcia (the older daughter) and Glen (her Gringo husband) came over/down (they live in the same apartment building) for lunch. I guess they come over every Sunday. It was nice to finally meet them. I had seen them in passing before but hadn't officially met them. They are both very nice and are the directors of an international studies program. For dessert, Marcia and Glen brought a walnut coffee cake like thing and vanilla ice cream. They called it a Gringo dessert because there was both ice cream and cake. I found that very interesting. Another interesting tidbit is that cake here does not have frosting or icing unless it is a birthday cake. My mom has made lemon bundt cake twice and simply puts a little powdered sugar on top.

Today Serina, Ana and I went to check out rowing. After changing in a sketchy bathroom we all got in separate boats and were shown how to paddle correctly. We practiced the strokes for awhile with the tail end of our boats on the beach so we wouldn't go anywhere. At the end we got to go for a quick spin on the lagoon. It was fun but I certainly have a long ways to go.

Here are a few more pictures of my house.

This has to be the smallest kitchen I have ever seen!

Yesterday it rained all day, just like the day I arrived. There were rivers and lakes in some of the streets so needless to say, after walking 10 blocks to a cafe to discuss senior seminar homework and then back home, I felt like I had wadded through a foot deep stream. Today on the other hand was beautiful, hardly a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, it just started to rain again so hopefully it doesn't stick around for too long.