Saturday, October 25, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
2 more weeks flew by
Two weeks ago I went back to the city center to pick up my Chilean ID card. I am "official" now :) How exciting. The cards are pretty cool and there is even your fingerprint on the back. I believe it is my right thumb-print.After picking up our IDs (there was 5-6 of us who went to pick them up together) we went to the bus terminal and bought tickets to Mendoza, Argentina. This process usually does not take more than a couple minutes but for some reason it took us about an hour. The lady processing our tickets had to make a bunch of phone calls and do all sorts of stuff and then she accidentally booked the wrong return date so she had to fix that.Later that night I went out with a couple friends for pizza and ice cream. We went to Diego's Pizza (the place that I had the strange pizza at before). Our waiter could tell we were not Chilean and we got menus in English. This turned out to be one of the most amusing things I have seen here. The translations on this menu were absolutely hilarious!!! Since I went two weeks ago I am having a hard time remembering what they were but there were things like buckets of tomatoes and onion wheels. Those are not even the funniest translations but they only ones I can remember at the moment. I ended up getting garlic cheese bread that was super good. After pizza we stopped at Bravisimo which is the favorite ice cream shop here. I was having a really hard time deciding which flavor I wanted and finally decided on alfajor (an alfajor is a popular Chilean treat. the most typical kind is two cookies with dulce de leche in between, all covered in chocolate). Unfortunately it did not taste a thing like what I was imagining- a mix of cookie, manjar and chocolate. YUM. It had a bit of a fruity flavor so my guess is that this was not your typical alfajor flavor but rather an alfajor fruitilla (an alfajor with strawberry jam filling instead of manjar, not very common but they do exist). I was not the only one disappointed with my ice cream that night, in fact nobody really got what they wanted/expected. Oh, well we will be back. As we were finishing up our ice cream a huge pack of dogs wondered by the shop and got into a bit of a fight. Surprisingly, I really like all the street dogs here. I am not a huge dog person but they really don't bother me. I like it when dogs "adopt" our group and follow us around or run with us along the beach. It's comforting to have a dog friend.
A couple weeks ago I noticed my bag/purse that I bring to class was starting to rip. The holes kept getting bigger so I got some thread and a needle from my mom. The inside of the bag is made out of a plastic-y fabric so I wasn't sure if sewing it would really work. Unfortunately my doubts were correct. The holes I sewed up just turned into bigger holes. I really like this bag so that makes me sad. I guess I'll have to see if I can find some sort of adhesive patch or something.
On the 15th I had my first day of service learning. I am teaching English to a class of 15 3rd and 4th graders. I was really nervous because I have never taught a class before and I was on my own for 1.5 hours with a bunch of little Chilean kids. I didn't really know what, if anything, they had learned before so I decided to start from square one. We went over colors, numbers, days of the week, seasons, some simple phrases, classroom objects and body parts. Since they are young kids I knew their attention span would not be super long and decided to incorporate lots of activities into the class. They colored pictures, played a form of concentration, did a word search and learned "head, shoulders, knees and toes." All in all it was a very good class and the kids listened well. The last 15 minutes were a little chaotic but it they had been very good up until then. They were not quite as well behaved this past week. There was a lot of chatter throughout the class but I didn't plan half as many activities so that could have been part of the problem. We didn't cover very much information either but I think for the most part it was new whereas the week before they knew a lot of the info already. Our theme this past week was food. After learning a bunch of the vocab I had them do a crossword puzzle. There were 15 pictures for clues. It took a surprisingly long time for everyone to complete the puzzle. I guess it is not important how much info we cover, if they are learning that is what is important. After my first service learning day, I took a collectivo (like a taxi but with a fixed route) home and quickly changed into my "soccer outfit". I had to leave half an hour later to meet in the center. As a group we were headed to the Chile vs. Argentina game. Our bus ended up being a little late but eventually the "big bad teal" bus (as our director likes to call it) showed up and we all piled on. For some reason this trip to Santiago seemed to take forever. The bus ride was longer than normal and I'm not sure why because we have been to the football stadium before and it didn't take as long. I think we took a different route so that could be to blame. All I know is that after about 3 hours we were all ready to get off the hot, stuffy bus. As we approached the stadium, we could tell we were getting close because there were vendors all over the place selling shirts, flags, hats, food, etc. This time we got dropped off right in front of one of the gates. I was hoping that we would get dropped off in the same place as last time b/c I really wanted to buy a soccer scarf. I had seen them last time but didn't buy one and had decided to buy it this time. Since we got dropped off at the gate we didn't have a chance to buy stuff from the street vendors. We had to go through security to get into the stadium. This time they didn't check my bag, the lady just let a bunch of us pass by. We did have to go through a metal detector. I'm not sure what good that did though. If you had a cell phone or a camera you had to hold it in your hand as you went through, I feel like it beeped for a bunch of people but you just kept going... Since the school organized this trip we got really good seats- the 5th row or so. It was a beautiful night and didn't even get cold. This was a nice change from the rain and cold we had at the last game. Even though the seats were close and you could see the game better, I think I enjoyed sitting in the nose-bleed seats better. The crowd was more energetic and the game overall just seemed more exciting. This could also have to do with the fact that there were a lot more goals in the last game. Chile won 1-0 so it was not the most action packed game. I was disappointed with my sandwich at this game. Last time I had an amazing turkey, tomato and avocado sandwich. This time the bread was different, there wasn't as much turkey and they ran out of tomatoes. Can't always win I guess. Beating Argentina was a really big deal. I have heard a variety of different statistics and some say it was the first time Chile has beaten Argentina in 80 years! Very cool to experience such an important event. When I got home from the game I finished packing for Mendoza because I had to be at the bus terminal in less than 8 hours.
Our morning started out with making a huge bag of trail mix. Everyone brought an item to share- peanuts, chocolate chips, pretzels, mini cookies, cheese puffs, and about 6 different types of cereal. We mixed everything in a big shopping bag and divided it up into plastic baggies. It was fun and delicious. Not long after leaving the bus terminal we were served coffee and alfajores. I was surprised by this b/c I didn't think we would get any food on the bus. After a couple hours in the bus reading, talking and sleeping people started talking about going through the Aduana at the border. You are not allowed to bring fruit, meat or cheese, etc across the border. For most of us that meant we had to eat our sandwiches before getting to the border. Once again my mom had packed me a monster sandwich pretty much the size of a soccer ball. I didn't really want to eat all of it at once but I didn't want to throw it away either, in the end I ate it all before the border, what an accomplishment. At the border we got to get out for a bit and walk around while waiting to turn in our papers and have our passports stamped. The cool, fresh air felt amazing! After going through two different lines we had our luggage checked but let me tell you it was not very intense. They put our big luggage from under the bus through a screener and all our hand luggage was "checked" but they hardly opened it up and peaked in. Some people had "forbidden" food in their bags and didn't get caught. After getting back on the bus we were surprised with lunch- ham sandwich, cookies and pop. Having just eaten the world's largest sandwich, I wasn't hungry at that moment but a couple hours later when I woke up from a nap I found room for the sandwich. We were all very excited to get to Mendoza after spending a good 8 hours on the bus. After taking out money at the bus terminal we walked to our hostel. That night we went out to dinner at a restaurant that someone's host family had recommended. It was like a higher quality Old Country Buffet. They had everything- salad bar, HUGE meat grill, pizza, pasta, sushi, Chinese, empanadas, desserts, etc. It was a delicious meal and I think I tried a bit of everything, no kidding. I can't even tell you how many plates I went through. I had the best pork I have ever eaten! The mini empanadas were also excellent. Pretty much everything was good except the chocolate ice cream was contaminated with fruity flavors. A few hours later we all waddled out of the restaurant and headed back to the hostel where we hung out for awhile. Later some of us went out to a bar and a club, both of which were fun. We even ran into some other students from the US who are studying in Mendoza and one of them was from St. Cloud. Crazy, talk about a small world. The next morning started out with a breakfast of sweet rolls with manjar and tea. Our first activity in Mendoza was a bikes and wines tour. We rented bikes and they gave us a map of some vineyards. It was a ton of fun! We went to 4 different vineyards. The first one was our longest stop. We got a tour of the vineyard and museum and got to sample some vine. The next stop was a little 2 family run business that makes chocolate, preserves and liquor. There we got a short tour and sampled chocolate and liquor. Unlike the last vineyard, we had to pay for the tour and tasting but it was less than $2 so it was totally worth it. They had a little shop and I bought a box of 16 mini alfajores. They were cute and delicious. Then we headed out for a long ride through some towns, along the highway, down a tree lined avenue and through the country. Finally we ended up at the last two vineyards on our tour. We just looked around quickly because we didn't really want another tour (nor did we have time). On the bike ride back my bike started to act up. The seat kept sinking backwards and about every 5-10 minutes the chain would fall off. This made for quite a frustrating return trip. I was very, very happy when we pulled into the plaza and returned the bikes. That afternoon we went to a restaurant for lunch. I had a chef salad that hit the spot perfectly. I have not eaten many salads here so it was just what the doctor ordered. After a relaxing lunch we wondered around town for awhile and then went to Carrefour (grocery store) to buy dinner. The group (well mainly a few people) cooked dinner. We had chicken breasts stuffed with a sauce from the second vineyard, chips and guacamole, and some cooked vegetables. It was all very good. The next morning started out a little earlier. We had to be ready to go by 9:00 to catch the bus for our day long adventure. Our first activity of the day was rafting. The fun and adventures began way before we got into the water. First we go a safety talk where we heard all about how to rescue each other if we fell out etc. Then we had to go get all our gear. We were each given a full wetsuit, a jacket, boots, helmet and lifejacket. We had a lot of fun getting the wetsuits on :) We then piled into a bus a drove down the road for a little while. Once we got to the river we divided into groups and had to carry our rafts to the river. They were heavy the ground was uneven, not a great combo. I was in a raft with 3 others and the guide. It was a great experience and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Since none of us fell out during any of the rapids, there was a certain point in the river that was slow and shallow so our guide had us all jump out of the raft and hold on to the rope on the side. That was kinda interesting but fun. Before we knew it, the rafting was over. We all took hot showers when we got back to the base camp and then had lunch at the little cafe. I got a huge sandwich with roast beef, ham, cheese, lettuce and avocado. It was really good! When it first came out I thought there was no way I could eat it all but I definitely did. When it came time to pay, which we did after eating for some reason, I was a little annoyed. My sandwich cost 20,000 but the people who got the same sandwich but without the roast beef only paid 10,000. It probably wouldn't have changed my order but it's still strange that there would be such a price difference. There wasn't a menu at the restaurant, you just asked the guy at the counter what there was a he told us our options. It was a strange system. After lunch we had some down time before our afternoon activity and I ended up taking a nap in the sun for 30-45 minutes. It was very nice. For canopy we all got harnesses, helmets and gloves. We then climbed to the top of one of the nearby hills. The area was sandy, rocky bluffs with the river. The canopy course consisted of 6 different cables. You got hooked up to the cable, put your dominate hand behind your head on the cable and the other one held the ropes attaching you to the cable. This activity reminded me a lot of the high ropes courses and Wolf Ridge. It was not quite as scenic here but going over the river was really cool. It was certainly a memorable day. Once back at the hostel we all took a short nap. Later I went with a couple girls to the Chocolate factory where we got a short tour. There was a guide but we were at the back of the tour group and couldn't hear and word she was saying. We basically just walked along one side of the factory on a second story walk way and got to watch everything being made. It was neat. On our way out we got a handful of chocolate covered raisins. On the way in we all got a piece of chocolate. Of course, after watching all that chocolate being made, we bought some in the gift shop. For dinner that night we went out to a Mexican restaurant. People got everything from tacos to enchiladas to fajitas. The fajita platters were enormous! They came with 16 condiments, 3 types of meat and tortillas. It was a good restaurant but not really anything special. While we were there the lights went out for a minute so that was interesting. Later that night a bunch of people went out to a huge club but I decided to stay back at the hostel along with a couple others b/c I was exhausted and just really needed to sleep. The next day was more relaxed. We spent the day roaming around the city, visiting different plazas and just enjoying the beautiful Argentina weather. You could wear shorts and a t-shirt all day and all night long. It was just perfect. Instead of going to a restaurant for lunch we all went to the grocery store and had a picnic in one of the plazas. It was fun, delicious and cheap! After we had our fill of plazas we went back to the hostel to meet up with some of the others who had stayed behind. The whole day we were a little confused. At one point someone asked "what time is it" and got two very different answers. All our cell phones said one time and our watches said another. What happened is the time changed in Buenos Aires (which must be connected to the phones somehow) but it hadn't changed in Mendoza. We were quite confused for awhile but the front desk guy at the hostel cleared it all up for us. After dinner at a German style restaurant on the street we headed to the bus terminal. The bus ride back to Vina was not very comfortable. I attempted to sleep for most of the ride but it didn't work too well. Bus seats are not the best place to sleep in the first place but then the bus kept alternating between hot and cold. We had to go through customs once again. No problems once again. Before we got off the bus, we had to fill out some forms and the guy was telling us that some souvenirs (mate cups made out of gords, preserves, etc) and stuff people bought would not pass but luckily no one ended up having their stuff confiscated. We got back to vina around 6:15 in the morning.
Once I got home I slept for about 1 hour before I had to leave for class. That was just the beginning of a very sleep deprived week.Since I had been gone for 4 days in Mendoza, I hadn't touched my homework. The worst part is that we had a senior seminar midterm essay test due on Thursday. I spent the majority of Tuesday and Wednesday working on the essay until the wee hours of the morning.Thursday was another extremely busy day. I woke up early, re-read my essays and packed my bag for the day. After 3 hours of senior seminar I ate my lunch at school and went to sailing. Kari and I sailed together for the first time. We did alright, had our fair share of problems but didn't fall in. We may not be great at sailing yet but it is fun and we are improving. One of the guys at sailing lives in Chorillos just like we do so he brought us back to Kari's house. After changing close and getting a quick snack, we headed out for trapecio. Class was super fun and we did a lot of new things. After trapecio Kari and I met up with a bunch of other people at a bar in Valpo. Our next stop was a club called El Huevo. We had to wait a little while to get in but it was worth it. There was a bunch of different rooms, each playing a different type of music. I've never had so much fun at a club before. 3 hours, or so, later a bunch of us decided it was time to go home, leaving another half of the group at the club. I got home at 4 am, 20 hours after I left the morning before. It was a great day but very long and exhausting.
A couple weeks ago I noticed my bag/purse that I bring to class was starting to rip. The holes kept getting bigger so I got some thread and a needle from my mom. The inside of the bag is made out of a plastic-y fabric so I wasn't sure if sewing it would really work. Unfortunately my doubts were correct. The holes I sewed up just turned into bigger holes. I really like this bag so that makes me sad. I guess I'll have to see if I can find some sort of adhesive patch or something.
On the 15th I had my first day of service learning. I am teaching English to a class of 15 3rd and 4th graders. I was really nervous because I have never taught a class before and I was on my own for 1.5 hours with a bunch of little Chilean kids. I didn't really know what, if anything, they had learned before so I decided to start from square one. We went over colors, numbers, days of the week, seasons, some simple phrases, classroom objects and body parts. Since they are young kids I knew their attention span would not be super long and decided to incorporate lots of activities into the class. They colored pictures, played a form of concentration, did a word search and learned "head, shoulders, knees and toes." All in all it was a very good class and the kids listened well. The last 15 minutes were a little chaotic but it they had been very good up until then. They were not quite as well behaved this past week. There was a lot of chatter throughout the class but I didn't plan half as many activities so that could have been part of the problem. We didn't cover very much information either but I think for the most part it was new whereas the week before they knew a lot of the info already. Our theme this past week was food. After learning a bunch of the vocab I had them do a crossword puzzle. There were 15 pictures for clues. It took a surprisingly long time for everyone to complete the puzzle. I guess it is not important how much info we cover, if they are learning that is what is important. After my first service learning day, I took a collectivo (like a taxi but with a fixed route) home and quickly changed into my "soccer outfit". I had to leave half an hour later to meet in the center. As a group we were headed to the Chile vs. Argentina game. Our bus ended up being a little late but eventually the "big bad teal" bus (as our director likes to call it) showed up and we all piled on. For some reason this trip to Santiago seemed to take forever. The bus ride was longer than normal and I'm not sure why because we have been to the football stadium before and it didn't take as long. I think we took a different route so that could be to blame. All I know is that after about 3 hours we were all ready to get off the hot, stuffy bus. As we approached the stadium, we could tell we were getting close because there were vendors all over the place selling shirts, flags, hats, food, etc. This time we got dropped off right in front of one of the gates. I was hoping that we would get dropped off in the same place as last time b/c I really wanted to buy a soccer scarf. I had seen them last time but didn't buy one and had decided to buy it this time. Since we got dropped off at the gate we didn't have a chance to buy stuff from the street vendors. We had to go through security to get into the stadium. This time they didn't check my bag, the lady just let a bunch of us pass by. We did have to go through a metal detector. I'm not sure what good that did though. If you had a cell phone or a camera you had to hold it in your hand as you went through, I feel like it beeped for a bunch of people but you just kept going... Since the school organized this trip we got really good seats- the 5th row or so. It was a beautiful night and didn't even get cold. This was a nice change from the rain and cold we had at the last game. Even though the seats were close and you could see the game better, I think I enjoyed sitting in the nose-bleed seats better. The crowd was more energetic and the game overall just seemed more exciting. This could also have to do with the fact that there were a lot more goals in the last game. Chile won 1-0 so it was not the most action packed game. I was disappointed with my sandwich at this game. Last time I had an amazing turkey, tomato and avocado sandwich. This time the bread was different, there wasn't as much turkey and they ran out of tomatoes. Can't always win I guess. Beating Argentina was a really big deal. I have heard a variety of different statistics and some say it was the first time Chile has beaten Argentina in 80 years! Very cool to experience such an important event. When I got home from the game I finished packing for Mendoza because I had to be at the bus terminal in less than 8 hours.
Our morning started out with making a huge bag of trail mix. Everyone brought an item to share- peanuts, chocolate chips, pretzels, mini cookies, cheese puffs, and about 6 different types of cereal. We mixed everything in a big shopping bag and divided it up into plastic baggies. It was fun and delicious. Not long after leaving the bus terminal we were served coffee and alfajores. I was surprised by this b/c I didn't think we would get any food on the bus. After a couple hours in the bus reading, talking and sleeping people started talking about going through the Aduana at the border. You are not allowed to bring fruit, meat or cheese, etc across the border. For most of us that meant we had to eat our sandwiches before getting to the border. Once again my mom had packed me a monster sandwich pretty much the size of a soccer ball. I didn't really want to eat all of it at once but I didn't want to throw it away either, in the end I ate it all before the border, what an accomplishment. At the border we got to get out for a bit and walk around while waiting to turn in our papers and have our passports stamped. The cool, fresh air felt amazing! After going through two different lines we had our luggage checked but let me tell you it was not very intense. They put our big luggage from under the bus through a screener and all our hand luggage was "checked" but they hardly opened it up and peaked in. Some people had "forbidden" food in their bags and didn't get caught. After getting back on the bus we were surprised with lunch- ham sandwich, cookies and pop. Having just eaten the world's largest sandwich, I wasn't hungry at that moment but a couple hours later when I woke up from a nap I found room for the sandwich. We were all very excited to get to Mendoza after spending a good 8 hours on the bus. After taking out money at the bus terminal we walked to our hostel. That night we went out to dinner at a restaurant that someone's host family had recommended. It was like a higher quality Old Country Buffet. They had everything- salad bar, HUGE meat grill, pizza, pasta, sushi, Chinese, empanadas, desserts, etc. It was a delicious meal and I think I tried a bit of everything, no kidding. I can't even tell you how many plates I went through. I had the best pork I have ever eaten! The mini empanadas were also excellent. Pretty much everything was good except the chocolate ice cream was contaminated with fruity flavors. A few hours later we all waddled out of the restaurant and headed back to the hostel where we hung out for awhile. Later some of us went out to a bar and a club, both of which were fun. We even ran into some other students from the US who are studying in Mendoza and one of them was from St. Cloud. Crazy, talk about a small world. The next morning started out with a breakfast of sweet rolls with manjar and tea. Our first activity in Mendoza was a bikes and wines tour. We rented bikes and they gave us a map of some vineyards. It was a ton of fun! We went to 4 different vineyards. The first one was our longest stop. We got a tour of the vineyard and museum and got to sample some vine. The next stop was a little 2 family run business that makes chocolate, preserves and liquor. There we got a short tour and sampled chocolate and liquor. Unlike the last vineyard, we had to pay for the tour and tasting but it was less than $2 so it was totally worth it. They had a little shop and I bought a box of 16 mini alfajores. They were cute and delicious. Then we headed out for a long ride through some towns, along the highway, down a tree lined avenue and through the country. Finally we ended up at the last two vineyards on our tour. We just looked around quickly because we didn't really want another tour (nor did we have time). On the bike ride back my bike started to act up. The seat kept sinking backwards and about every 5-10 minutes the chain would fall off. This made for quite a frustrating return trip. I was very, very happy when we pulled into the plaza and returned the bikes. That afternoon we went to a restaurant for lunch. I had a chef salad that hit the spot perfectly. I have not eaten many salads here so it was just what the doctor ordered. After a relaxing lunch we wondered around town for awhile and then went to Carrefour (grocery store) to buy dinner. The group (well mainly a few people) cooked dinner. We had chicken breasts stuffed with a sauce from the second vineyard, chips and guacamole, and some cooked vegetables. It was all very good. The next morning started out a little earlier. We had to be ready to go by 9:00 to catch the bus for our day long adventure. Our first activity of the day was rafting. The fun and adventures began way before we got into the water. First we go a safety talk where we heard all about how to rescue each other if we fell out etc. Then we had to go get all our gear. We were each given a full wetsuit, a jacket, boots, helmet and lifejacket. We had a lot of fun getting the wetsuits on :) We then piled into a bus a drove down the road for a little while. Once we got to the river we divided into groups and had to carry our rafts to the river. They were heavy the ground was uneven, not a great combo. I was in a raft with 3 others and the guide. It was a great experience and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Since none of us fell out during any of the rapids, there was a certain point in the river that was slow and shallow so our guide had us all jump out of the raft and hold on to the rope on the side. That was kinda interesting but fun. Before we knew it, the rafting was over. We all took hot showers when we got back to the base camp and then had lunch at the little cafe. I got a huge sandwich with roast beef, ham, cheese, lettuce and avocado. It was really good! When it first came out I thought there was no way I could eat it all but I definitely did. When it came time to pay, which we did after eating for some reason, I was a little annoyed. My sandwich cost 20,000 but the people who got the same sandwich but without the roast beef only paid 10,000. It probably wouldn't have changed my order but it's still strange that there would be such a price difference. There wasn't a menu at the restaurant, you just asked the guy at the counter what there was a he told us our options. It was a strange system. After lunch we had some down time before our afternoon activity and I ended up taking a nap in the sun for 30-45 minutes. It was very nice. For canopy we all got harnesses, helmets and gloves. We then climbed to the top of one of the nearby hills. The area was sandy, rocky bluffs with the river. The canopy course consisted of 6 different cables. You got hooked up to the cable, put your dominate hand behind your head on the cable and the other one held the ropes attaching you to the cable. This activity reminded me a lot of the high ropes courses and Wolf Ridge. It was not quite as scenic here but going over the river was really cool. It was certainly a memorable day. Once back at the hostel we all took a short nap. Later I went with a couple girls to the Chocolate factory where we got a short tour. There was a guide but we were at the back of the tour group and couldn't hear and word she was saying. We basically just walked along one side of the factory on a second story walk way and got to watch everything being made. It was neat. On our way out we got a handful of chocolate covered raisins. On the way in we all got a piece of chocolate. Of course, after watching all that chocolate being made, we bought some in the gift shop. For dinner that night we went out to a Mexican restaurant. People got everything from tacos to enchiladas to fajitas. The fajita platters were enormous! They came with 16 condiments, 3 types of meat and tortillas. It was a good restaurant but not really anything special. While we were there the lights went out for a minute so that was interesting. Later that night a bunch of people went out to a huge club but I decided to stay back at the hostel along with a couple others b/c I was exhausted and just really needed to sleep. The next day was more relaxed. We spent the day roaming around the city, visiting different plazas and just enjoying the beautiful Argentina weather. You could wear shorts and a t-shirt all day and all night long. It was just perfect. Instead of going to a restaurant for lunch we all went to the grocery store and had a picnic in one of the plazas. It was fun, delicious and cheap! After we had our fill of plazas we went back to the hostel to meet up with some of the others who had stayed behind. The whole day we were a little confused. At one point someone asked "what time is it" and got two very different answers. All our cell phones said one time and our watches said another. What happened is the time changed in Buenos Aires (which must be connected to the phones somehow) but it hadn't changed in Mendoza. We were quite confused for awhile but the front desk guy at the hostel cleared it all up for us. After dinner at a German style restaurant on the street we headed to the bus terminal. The bus ride back to Vina was not very comfortable. I attempted to sleep for most of the ride but it didn't work too well. Bus seats are not the best place to sleep in the first place but then the bus kept alternating between hot and cold. We had to go through customs once again. No problems once again. Before we got off the bus, we had to fill out some forms and the guy was telling us that some souvenirs (mate cups made out of gords, preserves, etc) and stuff people bought would not pass but luckily no one ended up having their stuff confiscated. We got back to vina around 6:15 in the morning.
Once I got home I slept for about 1 hour before I had to leave for class. That was just the beginning of a very sleep deprived week.Since I had been gone for 4 days in Mendoza, I hadn't touched my homework. The worst part is that we had a senior seminar midterm essay test due on Thursday. I spent the majority of Tuesday and Wednesday working on the essay until the wee hours of the morning.Thursday was another extremely busy day. I woke up early, re-read my essays and packed my bag for the day. After 3 hours of senior seminar I ate my lunch at school and went to sailing. Kari and I sailed together for the first time. We did alright, had our fair share of problems but didn't fall in. We may not be great at sailing yet but it is fun and we are improving. One of the guys at sailing lives in Chorillos just like we do so he brought us back to Kari's house. After changing close and getting a quick snack, we headed out for trapecio. Class was super fun and we did a lot of new things. After trapecio Kari and I met up with a bunch of other people at a bar in Valpo. Our next stop was a club called El Huevo. We had to wait a little while to get in but it was worth it. There was a bunch of different rooms, each playing a different type of music. I've never had so much fun at a club before. 3 hours, or so, later a bunch of us decided it was time to go home, leaving another half of the group at the club. I got home at 4 am, 20 hours after I left the morning before. It was a great day but very long and exhausting.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Adventures
** The photo uploading feature is not working at the moment so I will try to upload photos this weekend :)
On Sunday the 28th we had another group excursion. This time we went to the town of Isla Negra to visit another one of Pablo Neruda’s houses. This was by far my favorite of his 3 houses in Chile. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures inside any of the houses but I do have some photos from outside. After touring the house we went to the beach for lunch. A professor from the university came along with us and was going to bring us to a good restaurant for lunch. This ended up being a wild goose chase. I’m not sure if the restaurant had closed or if it was just farther then she remembered but after walking for what seemed like forever the group split up and went to various restaurants. It was probably better that we went in smaller groups rather than try to have a group of 30 in one restaurant. I went to a cool little restaurant with about 6 other people. I really could not decide what to get and finally decided on a sandwich called “campesino.” It was an excellent decision! It was roast beef style meat called churrasco, a fried egg, green beans and tomato. Sounds like an odd combo but it was amazing. The only thing that could have made this sandwich even better is palta (avocado). After lunch we wondered around looking at the artisan stands for awhile and walked on the beach until it was time to leave. While walking on the beach we saw a couple starfish!! They were really neat. Before long it was time to go back to Vina. I had the brilliant idea to keep reading for senior seminar like I had done on the way to Isla Negra, only this time I think I lasted about 3 minutes before I fell sound asleep until we were back in Vina.
Last Tuesday was my 21st birthday, it was probably one of the busiest days I have had so far! My day started out at the crack of dawn- I got up at 6:30 to have breakfast and get ready for my 8:00 AM cine class. As I was eating breakfast my mom and sister came into the kitchen to wish me happy birthday and give me a box of alfajores (popular Chilean pastries- 2 cookies with manjar in the middle, all covered in chocolate). Then they went back to bed, nobody ever gets up with me on Tuesdays because I have class so early. The alfajores were amazing, they were the kind from a bakery, not the packaged kind:). My 11:00 history class sang “feliz cumpleanos” to me. Then I had two meetings. One was a check up with our director and the other was for our service learning assignments. After the meetings I rushed home so I could eat lunch with my parents. After lunch they sang to me and we had cake. I have to say the cake was pretty darn good (I made it myself). It was chocolate with a layer of peanut butter mouse in the middle. The frosting was chocolate peanut butter. My parents said it was very good but I don’t know if I believe them. They may have each had a second piece of cake but the rest I ate and shared with friends on our trip to La Serena. When I got back from La Serena, 4 days later, there was still cake in the fridge. Now that I think about it, and have seen some amazing cakes walking by the bakery, I should have picked out a cake. I missed the only chance to have a Chilean Birthday cake. Oh well, it was fun to make. After lunch I talked with Laura on skype for about 5 minutes before I had to leave once again for a make-up history class. We had to meet to Valparaiso at 4:00. Luckily the make-up class was not your typical history class. We met in at Plaza Victoria, learned a bit about the history, walked around, went to one of Pablo Neruda’s houses (we have now seen all 3 in Chile), walked back down to the plaza and went to a café. Even though it was a 3 hour “class,” it went surprisingly fast. Kari and I left the café a little early to go to trapecio. We had to go back up to where we had been an hour before (near Pablo Neruda’s house). Trapecio was much more fun than normal for some reason. I also got lots of birthday wishes and hugs throughout the class as people found out that it was my birthday. After class we headed back to Vina where we met up with some people at a restaurant called Margaritas. Kari and I had dinner there but since it was 11:00 pm, most people had already eaten. I had an amazing and huge sandwich. It was called the Margarita Sandwich- chicken, fried egg, tomato, avocado and lettuce. And of course, we all had margaritas. In my opinion margaritas are ok, not my favorite. Originally we were going to go to a club after Margaritas but everyone was tired, plus it was a Tuesday, so we all went home around 12:00-1:00. When I got back to my apartment, I found a couple little gifts sitting on my computer. I got a really neat little journal and a funny little cat figurine from my family. All in all it was a great birthday, certainly one I will never forget. Since I wasn’t home for more than an hour and a half on my birthday, my family took me out to eat the next day. We went to a little Chinese restaurant near the center of town. I didn’t really have a clue what I was ordering but it was delicious!! We got some wontons to share as a family. I soon learned that wontons here are not like in the states. Instead of cream cheese in the middle there was a little bit of pork. They also use soy sauce instead of sweet and sour. They were good but not the same.
On Thursday I left for La Serena, the second oldest town in Chile (I believe). After senior seminar I went straight home to finish packing and eat a quick lunch. I had less than two hours from the time class ended until I had to be at the bus terminal. (Luckily I live relatively close to the terminal.) Since I was going to be gone for dinner, my mom left a sandwich in the fridge that I could take with me. I don’t think I have ever seen a larger sandwich in my life- It was probably a foot in diameter! Needless to say, I had plenty to eat for dinner. I also brought a bunch of birthday cake to share with the group since there was a good half of the cake left. The 6-7 hour bus ride to La Serena seemed to take forever. I read during most of the ride but pretty soon got tired of my reading. The problem was, I should have read the first 200 pages in the book for senior sem earlier that day but due to the busy weekend and my birthday, I “only” read the other 200 pages of the book that was assigned and wrote the essay. Attempting to play catch-up is not fun. Finally we arrived in La Serena around 8:30. Finding our hostel turned out to be a little harder than we anticipated. Actually we just need to learn how to read a map. We took a wrong turn out of the bus terminal and went in the opposite direction and therefore ended up walking way out of the way. Once we found our hostel and dumped our bags in the rooms, we headed out to find some food. Everyone else was starving but since I had my gigantic sandwich, I pretty much just went along for the ride. We soon found out that there is not much night life or many restaurants open late in La Serena. That would have to be the one disappointing part of the trip. Every night after dinner we just ended up back at the hostel. Sometimes we planned on going out but it never really happened. On Friday we slept in and then headed to the market since that is suppose to be a highlight of La Serena. To me, it wasn’t really anything special. It was very similar to the other markets we have visited. They did have some good treats I had not seen before but a lot of the stuff was the same as everywhere else. The best treat they had was manjar leche which is pretty much manjar flavored fudge. The candied papaya was also really good. Papaya is one of the things the region is known for. After shopping a bit it was time for lunch. We bought empanadas, veggies and fruit at the market and went back to the hostel to eat. For the first time, we tried a fruit called Chirimoya. It was pretty good but not terribly flavorful. I think the one we tried wasn’t quite ripe. There were a ton of big black seeds that made it hard to eat but it was fun to try something new. As always, the empanadas were great! Once we cleaned up from lunch it was time to head to the beach. It ended up being a lot longer walk than we anticipated but the whole way we walked on a palm tree lined avenue so at least it was a pretty walk. We sat on the beach for about an hour and then had to go back so we could get some dinner before heading to the observatory. For dinner we stopped at a little restaurant on the street and got sandwiches to go. I ordered turkey with tomato and avocado only they forgot the avocado!! I was disappointed. Unfortunately I didn't find this out until we got back to the hostel and had a little time to eat before we left. There are quite a few observatories in this area. The skies are really clear and there is lots of uninhabited land/hills. Four of us decided to go on the observatory tour to Mamalluca which was one of the excursions offered through the hostel. At 8:00 we piled in a van and drove for 1-1.5 hours out into the hills. We had about a 2 hour tour at the observatory. It started out on the observation deck where we got to see the moon (up close and personal), Jupiter, star clusters, and much, much more. Then we had a presentation about stars, their life cycle, etc. Lastly, we went outside to another telescope to see more stars, planets, constellations, etc. It was a very chilly night and by the time the tour ended we were all freezing. I always forget how cold it gets once the sun sets. To our surprise, when we got back into the van we were served coffee/tea and cookies. What a perfect treat!
On Saturday we got up a bit earlier to go on an all day tour of Elqui Valley. It was a beautiful day. Our First stop was the Pulcaro Dam. It was absolutely gorgeous with the lake was surrounded by hills. Then we rode through the vineyard covered valley and stopped at the town of Vicuna. There was a really neat central Plaza and some artesian shops to visit. Vicuna is the birthplace of Gabriela Mistral- nobel prize winning poet. Our next stop was at a Pisco distillery. Pisco is a very typical alcoholic drink here in Chile. It was an interesting tour and of course at the end we got to try some. The first thing we tried was super, super strong. I don’t remember what proof it was but it was higher than you would sell. Pretty much like liquid fire. After that we got to try a mango sour which was actually good. Then it was time for lunch. We headed to this little village and ate at a restaurant where they cook everything in solar ovens. When we arrived, we saw some of our food cooking in the ovens. It was really cool and delicious. We got salad, bread, meat (either goat, pork or chicken) with mashed potatoes or rice and mote con huesillo for dessert. Mote is a very typical Chilean dessert but I am not a fan. Montegrande was the next stop. There we visited a museum about Gabriela Mistral and also visited her tomb. Our final destination was another town called Pisco Elqui. Once again we visited the artesania and spent some time in the park/plaza. By this time we were all worn out and were happy to get on the bus and head back to the hostel. It was a very good day and our tour guide was super nice. She even gave us some recommendations on where to eat once we go back to La Serena. We ended up not going to the restaurant our guide suggested (why, I don’t know) but we should have listened to here. We went to a little restaurant we found wondering around. The challenges started when the waitress brought 2 menus to our table of 6 and said there weren’t any more. This made it a bit tough to decide what to order. Then the first two or three things I tried to order ended up being out. I was pretty annoyed, especially since the waitress kept hovering, waiting for me to make up my mind. In the end I settled on a hamburger (which came with tomato and avocado, of course). It was good but took an eternity to come.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. After breakfast I went back to the market with some friends who hadn’t gone the other day. Unfortunately for them, it was Sunday a lot of the stands were not open. After shopping around a bit we went to the grocery store and got to have a picnic lunch on the beach. I got a ¼ rotisserie chicken, hallulla (bread), fruit and cookies. It was a delicious lunch but we ended up attracting some dog friends during our lunch. They kinda stayed around the whole day. While on the beach, I read some more for senior seminar, chatted, and made 2 friends into sand mermaids. It was a simple, relaxing day. 3 of us ended up staying until the sunset but most people left because it got quite cold as the sun set and most people were not dressed for nighttime. Then we made the trek back to the hostel and found a pizza place on the way to have dinner. We split a pizza with pepperoni, tomato and green pepper and an order of breadsticks. It was good but not my favorite. I have had better (both here and in the states). Once we got back to the hostel, I finished packing up my stuff and then we hung out for a couple hours. Our bus left at 11:30 PM so we had a bit of time to kill. On the way home, we chose the “bed seats” so we got big reclining seats. I was able to sleep most of the ride home, waking up every now and then to resituate myself. We got back to Vina at 6:30 in the morning, went home, showered, had breakfast and headed off to 9:30 cinema class. On Monday I went to rowing again for the first time in about 2 weeks. It was fun to finally get to row again.
Tuesday was a very cloudy day. I think it has been cloudy every Tuesday since we got here, weird. After classes, I went with two other girls to meet with the principal of Escuela Archi where we are going to do our service learning. When we got there we met a couple girls who helped us figure out where to go. They were very helpful, cute and excited that we were there. Apparently they have been waiting for us and cannot wait to start classes. We are all signed up for 2 credits and need to do 40-50 hours of service. This is going to be more challenging than we anticipated. The students are divided into 3 classes for English and each of us was assigned on class. I have the 3rd and 4th graders J We will meet once a week from 1:30-3:00. That is only 1.5 hours a week for the 8 or so weeks we have left. It’s pretty easy to see we will not get 40 hours of service. We talked to our director and he is going to talk to the principal again so we’ll see how that turns out. Since it was Tuesday, Kari and I went to trapecio/gymnastics class. This time Kari’s sister was unable to go with us. We managed to get there by ourselves so we were pretty happy. During class we worked on some different pyramids, tela positions and figures on the trapeze bar. I’m getting a better hang on things but still have a ways to go.
Yesterday I went to a cooking class at the house of one of the other student’s in our group. Once or twice a week (depending on interest) she offers a class, teaching us how to make typical Chilean food. I have not been able to go before. Yesterday’s class was pastel de choclo- one of the dishes we ate in Pomaire. We also made leche asada which is like a flan. The pastel de choclo was good but not as good as in Pomaire. I wasn’t a fan of the leche asada. It didn’t really have much flavor but I did not find it appetizing. All in all it was a pretty fun afternoon. I would like to do it more but I’m not sure if I will. She charges $16 a class and I’m just not sure it’s really worth that much. I think I’ll talk to my mom and see if she’ll teach me a thing or two. After cooking class I had to write my essay for senior seminar. I started it around 8:00 but could not stay awake and kept dozing off every few sentences. I’m not sure why I was so tired at 8:00. The whole process ended up taking way too long and I’m not sure the end result was the greatest. Oh well, I’ll have to make sure I start earlier next week.
Today was another cloudy, gloomy day. It was a pretty ordinary day. After senior seminar I went to sailing. Today was my second time actually sailing. The last time I sailed was a few weeks ago and I went in a boat with another person. All of a sudden today, the instructor was like “your turn, hop in” so I did and nobody got in with me. YIKES! Well, it all started off fine and the instructor stayed near me in the dingy telling me exactly what to do. Then it came time to turn around which involved switching sides of the boat. I went too soon and tipped into the cold, salty ocean. It was quite shocking. After righting the boat, I got back in and started going again, this time I was suppose to follow the instructor in the dingy only I didn’t get too far before I tipped again. I’m not quite sure what happened but once again I plunged into the ocean. I’ve decided that next time I’m going to go with another person so I can get a bit more experience with everything before I have to do it all on my own. Even though today was a bit of a challenging and wet day, it was fun. I will be glad when I can sail on my own and not tip every few minutes!
On Sunday the 28th we had another group excursion. This time we went to the town of Isla Negra to visit another one of Pablo Neruda’s houses. This was by far my favorite of his 3 houses in Chile. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures inside any of the houses but I do have some photos from outside. After touring the house we went to the beach for lunch. A professor from the university came along with us and was going to bring us to a good restaurant for lunch. This ended up being a wild goose chase. I’m not sure if the restaurant had closed or if it was just farther then she remembered but after walking for what seemed like forever the group split up and went to various restaurants. It was probably better that we went in smaller groups rather than try to have a group of 30 in one restaurant. I went to a cool little restaurant with about 6 other people. I really could not decide what to get and finally decided on a sandwich called “campesino.” It was an excellent decision! It was roast beef style meat called churrasco, a fried egg, green beans and tomato. Sounds like an odd combo but it was amazing. The only thing that could have made this sandwich even better is palta (avocado). After lunch we wondered around looking at the artisan stands for awhile and walked on the beach until it was time to leave. While walking on the beach we saw a couple starfish!! They were really neat. Before long it was time to go back to Vina. I had the brilliant idea to keep reading for senior seminar like I had done on the way to Isla Negra, only this time I think I lasted about 3 minutes before I fell sound asleep until we were back in Vina.
Last Tuesday was my 21st birthday, it was probably one of the busiest days I have had so far! My day started out at the crack of dawn- I got up at 6:30 to have breakfast and get ready for my 8:00 AM cine class. As I was eating breakfast my mom and sister came into the kitchen to wish me happy birthday and give me a box of alfajores (popular Chilean pastries- 2 cookies with manjar in the middle, all covered in chocolate). Then they went back to bed, nobody ever gets up with me on Tuesdays because I have class so early. The alfajores were amazing, they were the kind from a bakery, not the packaged kind:). My 11:00 history class sang “feliz cumpleanos” to me. Then I had two meetings. One was a check up with our director and the other was for our service learning assignments. After the meetings I rushed home so I could eat lunch with my parents. After lunch they sang to me and we had cake. I have to say the cake was pretty darn good (I made it myself). It was chocolate with a layer of peanut butter mouse in the middle. The frosting was chocolate peanut butter. My parents said it was very good but I don’t know if I believe them. They may have each had a second piece of cake but the rest I ate and shared with friends on our trip to La Serena. When I got back from La Serena, 4 days later, there was still cake in the fridge. Now that I think about it, and have seen some amazing cakes walking by the bakery, I should have picked out a cake. I missed the only chance to have a Chilean Birthday cake. Oh well, it was fun to make. After lunch I talked with Laura on skype for about 5 minutes before I had to leave once again for a make-up history class. We had to meet to Valparaiso at 4:00. Luckily the make-up class was not your typical history class. We met in at Plaza Victoria, learned a bit about the history, walked around, went to one of Pablo Neruda’s houses (we have now seen all 3 in Chile), walked back down to the plaza and went to a café. Even though it was a 3 hour “class,” it went surprisingly fast. Kari and I left the café a little early to go to trapecio. We had to go back up to where we had been an hour before (near Pablo Neruda’s house). Trapecio was much more fun than normal for some reason. I also got lots of birthday wishes and hugs throughout the class as people found out that it was my birthday. After class we headed back to Vina where we met up with some people at a restaurant called Margaritas. Kari and I had dinner there but since it was 11:00 pm, most people had already eaten. I had an amazing and huge sandwich. It was called the Margarita Sandwich- chicken, fried egg, tomato, avocado and lettuce. And of course, we all had margaritas. In my opinion margaritas are ok, not my favorite. Originally we were going to go to a club after Margaritas but everyone was tired, plus it was a Tuesday, so we all went home around 12:00-1:00. When I got back to my apartment, I found a couple little gifts sitting on my computer. I got a really neat little journal and a funny little cat figurine from my family. All in all it was a great birthday, certainly one I will never forget. Since I wasn’t home for more than an hour and a half on my birthday, my family took me out to eat the next day. We went to a little Chinese restaurant near the center of town. I didn’t really have a clue what I was ordering but it was delicious!! We got some wontons to share as a family. I soon learned that wontons here are not like in the states. Instead of cream cheese in the middle there was a little bit of pork. They also use soy sauce instead of sweet and sour. They were good but not the same.
On Thursday I left for La Serena, the second oldest town in Chile (I believe). After senior seminar I went straight home to finish packing and eat a quick lunch. I had less than two hours from the time class ended until I had to be at the bus terminal. (Luckily I live relatively close to the terminal.) Since I was going to be gone for dinner, my mom left a sandwich in the fridge that I could take with me. I don’t think I have ever seen a larger sandwich in my life- It was probably a foot in diameter! Needless to say, I had plenty to eat for dinner. I also brought a bunch of birthday cake to share with the group since there was a good half of the cake left. The 6-7 hour bus ride to La Serena seemed to take forever. I read during most of the ride but pretty soon got tired of my reading. The problem was, I should have read the first 200 pages in the book for senior sem earlier that day but due to the busy weekend and my birthday, I “only” read the other 200 pages of the book that was assigned and wrote the essay. Attempting to play catch-up is not fun. Finally we arrived in La Serena around 8:30. Finding our hostel turned out to be a little harder than we anticipated. Actually we just need to learn how to read a map. We took a wrong turn out of the bus terminal and went in the opposite direction and therefore ended up walking way out of the way. Once we found our hostel and dumped our bags in the rooms, we headed out to find some food. Everyone else was starving but since I had my gigantic sandwich, I pretty much just went along for the ride. We soon found out that there is not much night life or many restaurants open late in La Serena. That would have to be the one disappointing part of the trip. Every night after dinner we just ended up back at the hostel. Sometimes we planned on going out but it never really happened. On Friday we slept in and then headed to the market since that is suppose to be a highlight of La Serena. To me, it wasn’t really anything special. It was very similar to the other markets we have visited. They did have some good treats I had not seen before but a lot of the stuff was the same as everywhere else. The best treat they had was manjar leche which is pretty much manjar flavored fudge. The candied papaya was also really good. Papaya is one of the things the region is known for. After shopping a bit it was time for lunch. We bought empanadas, veggies and fruit at the market and went back to the hostel to eat. For the first time, we tried a fruit called Chirimoya. It was pretty good but not terribly flavorful. I think the one we tried wasn’t quite ripe. There were a ton of big black seeds that made it hard to eat but it was fun to try something new. As always, the empanadas were great! Once we cleaned up from lunch it was time to head to the beach. It ended up being a lot longer walk than we anticipated but the whole way we walked on a palm tree lined avenue so at least it was a pretty walk. We sat on the beach for about an hour and then had to go back so we could get some dinner before heading to the observatory. For dinner we stopped at a little restaurant on the street and got sandwiches to go. I ordered turkey with tomato and avocado only they forgot the avocado!! I was disappointed. Unfortunately I didn't find this out until we got back to the hostel and had a little time to eat before we left. There are quite a few observatories in this area. The skies are really clear and there is lots of uninhabited land/hills. Four of us decided to go on the observatory tour to Mamalluca which was one of the excursions offered through the hostel. At 8:00 we piled in a van and drove for 1-1.5 hours out into the hills. We had about a 2 hour tour at the observatory. It started out on the observation deck where we got to see the moon (up close and personal), Jupiter, star clusters, and much, much more. Then we had a presentation about stars, their life cycle, etc. Lastly, we went outside to another telescope to see more stars, planets, constellations, etc. It was a very chilly night and by the time the tour ended we were all freezing. I always forget how cold it gets once the sun sets. To our surprise, when we got back into the van we were served coffee/tea and cookies. What a perfect treat!
On Saturday we got up a bit earlier to go on an all day tour of Elqui Valley. It was a beautiful day. Our First stop was the Pulcaro Dam. It was absolutely gorgeous with the lake was surrounded by hills. Then we rode through the vineyard covered valley and stopped at the town of Vicuna. There was a really neat central Plaza and some artesian shops to visit. Vicuna is the birthplace of Gabriela Mistral- nobel prize winning poet. Our next stop was at a Pisco distillery. Pisco is a very typical alcoholic drink here in Chile. It was an interesting tour and of course at the end we got to try some. The first thing we tried was super, super strong. I don’t remember what proof it was but it was higher than you would sell. Pretty much like liquid fire. After that we got to try a mango sour which was actually good. Then it was time for lunch. We headed to this little village and ate at a restaurant where they cook everything in solar ovens. When we arrived, we saw some of our food cooking in the ovens. It was really cool and delicious. We got salad, bread, meat (either goat, pork or chicken) with mashed potatoes or rice and mote con huesillo for dessert. Mote is a very typical Chilean dessert but I am not a fan. Montegrande was the next stop. There we visited a museum about Gabriela Mistral and also visited her tomb. Our final destination was another town called Pisco Elqui. Once again we visited the artesania and spent some time in the park/plaza. By this time we were all worn out and were happy to get on the bus and head back to the hostel. It was a very good day and our tour guide was super nice. She even gave us some recommendations on where to eat once we go back to La Serena. We ended up not going to the restaurant our guide suggested (why, I don’t know) but we should have listened to here. We went to a little restaurant we found wondering around. The challenges started when the waitress brought 2 menus to our table of 6 and said there weren’t any more. This made it a bit tough to decide what to order. Then the first two or three things I tried to order ended up being out. I was pretty annoyed, especially since the waitress kept hovering, waiting for me to make up my mind. In the end I settled on a hamburger (which came with tomato and avocado, of course). It was good but took an eternity to come.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. After breakfast I went back to the market with some friends who hadn’t gone the other day. Unfortunately for them, it was Sunday a lot of the stands were not open. After shopping around a bit we went to the grocery store and got to have a picnic lunch on the beach. I got a ¼ rotisserie chicken, hallulla (bread), fruit and cookies. It was a delicious lunch but we ended up attracting some dog friends during our lunch. They kinda stayed around the whole day. While on the beach, I read some more for senior seminar, chatted, and made 2 friends into sand mermaids. It was a simple, relaxing day. 3 of us ended up staying until the sunset but most people left because it got quite cold as the sun set and most people were not dressed for nighttime. Then we made the trek back to the hostel and found a pizza place on the way to have dinner. We split a pizza with pepperoni, tomato and green pepper and an order of breadsticks. It was good but not my favorite. I have had better (both here and in the states). Once we got back to the hostel, I finished packing up my stuff and then we hung out for a couple hours. Our bus left at 11:30 PM so we had a bit of time to kill. On the way home, we chose the “bed seats” so we got big reclining seats. I was able to sleep most of the ride home, waking up every now and then to resituate myself. We got back to Vina at 6:30 in the morning, went home, showered, had breakfast and headed off to 9:30 cinema class. On Monday I went to rowing again for the first time in about 2 weeks. It was fun to finally get to row again.
Tuesday was a very cloudy day. I think it has been cloudy every Tuesday since we got here, weird. After classes, I went with two other girls to meet with the principal of Escuela Archi where we are going to do our service learning. When we got there we met a couple girls who helped us figure out where to go. They were very helpful, cute and excited that we were there. Apparently they have been waiting for us and cannot wait to start classes. We are all signed up for 2 credits and need to do 40-50 hours of service. This is going to be more challenging than we anticipated. The students are divided into 3 classes for English and each of us was assigned on class. I have the 3rd and 4th graders J We will meet once a week from 1:30-3:00. That is only 1.5 hours a week for the 8 or so weeks we have left. It’s pretty easy to see we will not get 40 hours of service. We talked to our director and he is going to talk to the principal again so we’ll see how that turns out. Since it was Tuesday, Kari and I went to trapecio/gymnastics class. This time Kari’s sister was unable to go with us. We managed to get there by ourselves so we were pretty happy. During class we worked on some different pyramids, tela positions and figures on the trapeze bar. I’m getting a better hang on things but still have a ways to go.
Yesterday I went to a cooking class at the house of one of the other student’s in our group. Once or twice a week (depending on interest) she offers a class, teaching us how to make typical Chilean food. I have not been able to go before. Yesterday’s class was pastel de choclo- one of the dishes we ate in Pomaire. We also made leche asada which is like a flan. The pastel de choclo was good but not as good as in Pomaire. I wasn’t a fan of the leche asada. It didn’t really have much flavor but I did not find it appetizing. All in all it was a pretty fun afternoon. I would like to do it more but I’m not sure if I will. She charges $16 a class and I’m just not sure it’s really worth that much. I think I’ll talk to my mom and see if she’ll teach me a thing or two. After cooking class I had to write my essay for senior seminar. I started it around 8:00 but could not stay awake and kept dozing off every few sentences. I’m not sure why I was so tired at 8:00. The whole process ended up taking way too long and I’m not sure the end result was the greatest. Oh well, I’ll have to make sure I start earlier next week.
Today was another cloudy, gloomy day. It was a pretty ordinary day. After senior seminar I went to sailing. Today was my second time actually sailing. The last time I sailed was a few weeks ago and I went in a boat with another person. All of a sudden today, the instructor was like “your turn, hop in” so I did and nobody got in with me. YIKES! Well, it all started off fine and the instructor stayed near me in the dingy telling me exactly what to do. Then it came time to turn around which involved switching sides of the boat. I went too soon and tipped into the cold, salty ocean. It was quite shocking. After righting the boat, I got back in and started going again, this time I was suppose to follow the instructor in the dingy only I didn’t get too far before I tipped again. I’m not quite sure what happened but once again I plunged into the ocean. I’ve decided that next time I’m going to go with another person so I can get a bit more experience with everything before I have to do it all on my own. Even though today was a bit of a challenging and wet day, it was fun. I will be glad when I can sail on my own and not tip every few minutes!
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