Sabado!!

This morning I got to sleep in then I woke up and had breakfast.  I got dressed and did some photo editing then we had lunch at about 3 with the whole fam + Angelica.  It was fun & the food was amazing!  We had baked pumpkin, colliflower, rice, onion salsa, melon, and tomatoes!  After lunch I headed to Valpo with Anna Grace, Gardner, Elizabeth, Sarah Grace, Laura Kate, Chris, Brody, and Brooks. Everyone else had lunch at a little cafe then SG, LK, Elizabeth, and I used the asinado (sky lift up the mountain) to go to a little flea market.  We got some ice cream, went down the mountain, and took a bus home.  Elizabeth came home with me and hung out for a little while.  When she left I cleaned my room and then had dinner with Mama.  Then I got ready for Fran's party and I'm about to leave to meet everyone at Cafe Journal so we can head to the party together!

Viernes

This morning I got to take a test in Veronica's class...not too fun.  After that we watched part of some weird movie with Penelope Cruz.  In Marisol's class we did our presentations/had our dabate.  After class we went to a casa de cambio so some people could change money.  Then all the freshman girls walked to 5 Norte to check our a sushi place and see if we wanted to eat there later.  SG, Elizabeth, and I went to the beach for a little while then I went home and did some work before getting ready for dinner.  Anna Grace, Gardner, Elizabeth, Sarah Grace, and I ended up going to the sushi place and it was really fun....minus the fact that I'm not a big sushi fan though haha We all enjoyed being able to dress up and just hang out together :)

Jueves

Today was a little different.  I had classes then I came home for lunch and Pastor Henry was here.  We had lunch with him and one of Mama's friends.  They asked about my travels and were very interested in my mission trip to Ecuador so it was a blessing to tell them about how God worked in and through us on that trip.  At 4 I went to Nino de Amor to volunteer.  It was our last day so we stayed there until 530.  U hurried home and put on a dress for my skype interview.  I did a little work before but I couldn't focus so I skyped Dad for a while.  After my interview I did homework then ate dinner.  Then I did more homework and Mama spell checked my presentation.  Then I did more homework and went to bed....obviously we had a lot of work today!

Miercoles

Okay so obv I've been slack with the blog but I've been updating my journal so I'm just going to copy from it....

Today we had classes for FOREVER because Veronica decided that we love grammar and like to have it 24/7.  After class everyone went to the artisan fair and walked around.  We found this cute booth with all new stuff so that was cool.  Then all the freshman girls went to a Mediterranean restaurant on the way home.  We had these little wraps and it was really good, especially with hummus and salsa.  After that I went home and did work until 630 when I went to church with Mama and LK.  It lasted for 3 hours and it was really fun.  There was a meditation thing first and it was interseting--people talked about places where they feel close to God so it was neat to hear that.  During the sermon Pastor Henry asked me to read a verse so that was cool...it was actually one of my favs Phil. 4:8.  Back at home I did work after I had tea with Mama.  Then I sat on the porch with Rodrigo & his friends for a little while.  At this point it was 1 am so I went to sleep soon after.

Typical Tuesday

Today was a typical day...long, simple, & fun!  I had class this morning and it was sooo long...Veronica keeps adding extra classes because she was sick/we had to miss a day for a required field trip...annoying.  Anyway we had that then I went home and did my homework because I had a ton.  Then Gardner called to say that we didn't have to volunteer at the orphanage today because they weren't going to be back until later tonight because they had all gone somewhere.  Rodrigo proofread my paper so that was really helpful then I went to the artisan fair for a little while with Laura Kate.  Then, tonight I went to a restaurant called Morena's with Anna Grace, Sarah Grace, and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth's host brother works there so he was our waiter and he kept getting in trouble for talking to us too much haha  It was so much fun & we enjoyed just sitting there talking for a few hours!  Next we went to Mo's (aka the best helado in all of Chile) and got some ice cream then went home.  Everyone else was at some event down by the ocean but we were too tired to go/Anna Grace had to get back home to her sister's birthday party.  When I got home Mama started showing me something on tv and before I knew it it's 1 am and we're looking at family pictures.  It was neat to see their family though and to show her mine.  I'm so tired though so I definitely need to sleep now.

Volcano Villarrica!!

This past weekend was so much fun!  On Friday night, at 7:00, I met Sarah Grace, Elizabeth, and Laura Kate to walk to the bus station together.  I was loaded down with my bookbag full of clothes & some books.  We met everyone else at Lider (Chilean Wal-Mart) to get a few snacks for the bus ride.  Then we went to the bus station to wait for our 8:30 bus.  We were extremely early because we did not want a repeat of our Santiago experience, especially since this ticket was much more expensive and since the next bus left in another 24 hours.  Our bus left late so we made the bus on time...obviously.  The bus ride was pretty interesting...one time I woke up to the attendant putting a blanket on me so that was a little creepy but overall it was okay because I got some sleep.  We arrived in Pucon 12 hours later at 9:20 am.  We literally walked a few steps to the building beside the bus station which just so happened to be our hostil.  It was actually nice compared to other ones I've heard about.  Our rooms weren't ready yet so we went a few blocks into town and ate breakfast at a cafe.  Then I met Elizabeth's family friends that live an hour away in Tumocu...they haven't seen her since she was a baby so they came to visit.  We went back to the hostil and changed into bathing suits to go on our tour of the city/visit to the hot springs.  Our tour left at 2:30 and we went to a Mapuchi reservation first.  To get there we had to get out of the van and walk across a not-so-sturdy bridge...once we were walking and a car drove across it and we had to squeeze up against the sides so it didn't hit us...not so fun but it all worked out.  This Ruca Mapuchi was much more interesting than the other one we went to.  There were little shops and lots to do but we were there for just a little while.  We left there and went to a waterfall, then a lake, then two more waterfalls.  To get to the last one, we climbed this hill through the forest and were able to stand at the top of one waterfall & look at another one behind it.  It was really cool!  After the waterfalls we went to the hot springs!  It was extremely hot but we found one pool that wasn't too hot & nobody was in there because it was kind of shallow so it became the "gringo pool."  We were there for 2 hours then we left and went back to the hostil.

Back at the hostil a barbecue was going on.  Tara, Elizabeth, LK, SG, & I went to the grocery store to get lunch for the next day then joined everyone out back for the festivities.  We now have some good British friends...they were also staying at the hostil, they're probs in their 30s & they're hilarious.  We left at 11 or so to go to bed because we had to be up at 4 the next morning.

On Sunday we woke up at 4 because we had to be ready by 4:30.  It was a little bit of a disaster for a little while during the getting ready time because everyone was running around in a hurry but we all made it on the bus and drove for a while to the base of the mountain in full gear.  Once we got there, the guides attached picks & sleds to our special backpacks and with only an introduction of names, we began our hike.  No safety briefing.  No signing of release forms. Welome to a country other than America.  The first hill was so steep and after a while I was breathing heavily trying to catch my breath thinking...oh great, I forgot my inhaler back in Vina...awesome.  Needless to say, I quickly fell to the back of the group.  All was well though because one of the very kind guide assistants, Nicolas, walked a little slower with me.  After the second stop Anna Grace & Gardner joined us at our slower pace.  Nicolas got mad at us sometimes for being slow and yelled at us to hurry up so we could catch up to everyone else but that never really happened.  The main guide was literally running up thr mountain and we just wanted to enjoy the scenery at a calmer pace.  Once we hiked up this giant mountain of snow it was time for another break & Nicolas said we were only half way.  It had been hours and we hadn't just hiked up a little hill.  We had hiked up a mountain and we were about to have to hike up basically another mountain on top of this one to get to the mouth of the volcano.  We started to go for it but decided to turn around when the British people came back down.  They said it wasn't very safe because of the wind and ice as well as on-coming storm so we started making the treck back down the mountain with Nicolas while all the brave people went up.  I was a little disappointed in myself but we made it very far so I didn't feel too bad.  We actually had a good time going down the mountain.  No pressure to hurry...we just relaxed and joked the whole time.  Nicolas was constantly laughing at us and he only got mad when we "accidently" slid down the snow when we weren't supposed to.  We made it down to some rocks and we stayed there for over an hour waiting for everyone else then we started walking again.  Finally they all caught up because they got to slide down the snow on their boards since the ice had melted my the time they came down.  We kept going while they took a break and everyone met up at the bottom.  It was so much fun & challenging! I'm glad we did it!

After that we went back to the hostil, showered, and went to dinner.  Then at 8:30 we boarded our bus and drove through the night back to Vina.  This morning, we got here and I rested for a while then had lunch with the fam.  Next Elixabeth, SG, LK, & I went to the beach.  Overall it was a great weekend!! Such a neat experience :)