Field Trip :)

This morning at 10 am we went on a field trip to Pablo Neruda's house in la Isla Negra.  It's a city about an hour from Vina.  We're learning about Neruda in class right now...he was a great poet of Chile who had received the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1971.  He was the second person to do so in Chile/third in Latin America.  He had 3 houses, 1 in Isla Negra, 1 in Vina, and 1 in Santiago.  Neruda was a little quirky...he loved the sea and he collected tons of random things which he displayed all over his houses...things like statues, boats in bottles, butterflies, vases or certain glass, shells, etc.  He had tables made out of doors and he positioned everything in the house in a certain way.  For example, in his dining room, he had two statues facing each other because he wanted them to fall in love but it never happened because the woman always wanted to look out to the sea (like seriously? the man was strange...).  I really enjoyed touring his house though.  It was extremely interesting.

After the tour we all ate lunch at a local restaurant that served mostly fish.  I had salmon and rice and it was really good.  Next, we went to the beach for an hour.  It was SO gorgeous This beach had huge rocks/boulders on it and the waves were very big.  We basically took tons of pictures the whole hour so that was fun.  At one point I got SG to take a jumping picture on top of this rock which was basically a cliff and then she was taking one of me and I'm scared of heights so I was screaming (what's new) and everyone was laughing so hard.  SG actually fell down on the rock she was laughing so hard and Chileans were staring in our direction.  I kept trying over and over and at one point I was giving myself a pep talk...just reminding myself that I'm a dancer/I have balance/I can do it...then I attempted to jump but still screamed and she got it all on video.  Too funny :)

We got back to Vina and I just came home and did homework until my family got here.  I ate my almuerzo (lunch but it was at dinnertime) while Mama sat and talked to me.  Now I'm finishing homework and Mama y Papa are at a party...after being out so late last night I was too tired to go to this party.  Tomorrow we're going to get helado on the beach, having a large fam almuerzo, and going to the beach!

6 de enero: Primero trip to the beach, visit to the supermarket, & Chilean fiesta con mi familia :)

Today (Jan 6th) was really fun!! Obviously I'm writing later than yesterday...only because I just got back from a Chilean party with my fam.  This morning I had class as usual and it was pretty fun.  We're learning about Chilean culture and that encorporates into our grammar sessions.  After class, we walked to Cafe Journal to meet Rayen, the girl in charge of my group for volunteering.  She walked us to El Hogar de Ninos which is a local orphanage.  We met the owner and she is extremely nice!  We waited for the kids to wake up from their naps so we could feed them milk then play with them outside but they were very tired and were sleeping much longer than normal so the director said we could leave and start next Tuesday. 

Next, we walked back to our homes and Laura Kate and I planned to go to the beach.  I came back home to see if Fernanda wanted to go with us but she was studying at her university so I just watched some good ole Dr. Oz with Mama while I ate ice cream and told her about my day.  Then LK and I decided to go to the beach even though it was freezing and I skyped Mom while I got my things together.  LK and I went to the beach with Sophie, the granddaughter of her host mom.  We stayed for about an hour and we just sat on the beach and talked to Sophie and people watched...it was pretty relaxing.  Once I got back home I ate my dinner that was actually my lunch because Mama packed me a small lunch that I ate while at school but in Chile lunch is the biggest meal of the day and it lassts for 1+ hours...it was zuchini full of meat and cheese, potatoes, and salad & it was soooo good.  After I ate I went with Mama to buy bread at a specific bread store where you get a basket that has a bread tool attached that you use to pick up the bread and when you get to the counter you weigh the bread to pay.  We also went to the supermarket and bought meat, juice, gum (que es chicla en Chile), and cleaning supplies.

I cleaned my room and then Señor Luis got home for the weekend and I got to meet him for the first time!  I sat in Fernanda's room and distracted her from her homework by talking to her while I painted my nails :)  Mama asked us if we wanted to go with them to a gathering at their friend's house so we decided to go.  We drove for a little while to the next city called Reñaca.  In the car ride I talked about how we had such great family spirit and I took pictures of the fam while we stopped to get gas...they probably think I'm really weird haha but Fernanda and I are bffs now...even closer than before.   We arrived at the party at 10:30 and left at 2:45.  It was so fun!  We went to my fam's best friend's house and since they weren't able to be together for New Year's, they had a second New Year's party complete with barbeaue, cheeses, and crackers.  Also, it just happened to be the birthday of Senora Caroline's daughter, Fernanda's, boyfriend, Rodrigo (Jan 7) so at midnight we celebrated his bday and the New New Year's which is what they called it since they were re-celebrating.  We just hung out for a few hours and I was able to talk to lots of different people there, especially Senora Caroline's daughter and her friend who are both in high school.  We all agreed that we like Selena Gomez and I learned from them that there's a Selena Gomez concert in Santiago in January...I will definitely be looking into that haha.  At 2:00 am we ate cake for Robrigo's birthday.  My fam left after cake because Fernanda has class at 8:30 tomorrow morning and I have a tour at 10 am.  Tomorrow Mama's brother and his family are coming over for a barbeque so I'm excited about that!  I'm so glad I was able to go to the party tonight...I was able to see the true heart of Chilean families...they are so close and kind to each other and they love celebrating life. 

First Day of Classes

Today was a long day obviously because it's 1:30 AM here so this is going to be very quick.  Today was our first day of classes.  It was pretty fun...Gardner, Elizabeth, SG, AG, Rakiya, Chris, and I are all in the same class.  First we had culture & speaking with Marisol for 2 hours then we had grammar with Veronica for an hour.  We ate lunch at UVM because at 2 we had a team building class with everyone which was lead by our volunteer leaders, Lister and Rayen.  For one activity, we had to act out a character building work so our group acted out warmth and we made Laura Kate sit on the ground and fling her hair around like fire and we all gathered around her to warm our hands....it was really funny but our leaders definitely didn't understand why we were laughing.  After class most of us rode a bus to the mall so a few people could get cell phones.  We had frozen yogurt & we looked in some stores then went to the beach.  Most people had bathing suits but nobody actually put them on because it was overcast so we looked so weird walking on the beach with backpacks, fully clothed.  Of course people were staring & pointing at us yelling "oh look there's gringos."  It's not really creepy anymore...just funny because we're always being stared at.  Next we just sat at some tables by the beach and did homework then left to go home.  Gardner, LK, Chris, Brody, Tara, and I rode a bus towards town and LK and I got a little lost on the way home but we eventually saw my building and finally made it back.  I had dinner with the fam and then did homework.  It was an interesting first day of class but it was good :) Tomorrow we have class again in the morning then we start our volunteering in the afternoon.

Orientation Day (and a 5 hour tour to go along with it)

Today has been the most fun! This morning we had orientation at UVM where we just talked about typical things like safety and how our classes are going to work.  Then we had a placement exam.  After that we went out on thebalcony and took pictures and we thought we were done so everybody left to go home for lunch except Laura Kate & me because our mamas had said they were going to pick us up.  We were waiting outside & Carlos (the director) came out looking for everybody because we had a volunteer meeting...needless to say we should have read our schedules more closely.  There's nothing like doing something wrong on the first day haha I called 2 people who were with others so most of the group came back and we were able to have our volunteer meeting.

After the meeting Mama & I walked home a different way than usual so she could buy our meat for lunch & so that I could see the main street of the city...Valaprasio...which has tons of shopping.  I had to eat quickly because I had to be back at UVM at 2 for a tour.  When we had all returned, Carlos introduced us to Leo, a native of Valparasio, who was our tour guide through the city of Valparasio.  We rode the metro to get there then we walked through the city to the port.  We took a boat ride through the harbor and got to see some really beautiful boats up close!  We also go very close to lots of sea lions!  They were really cool but they smell terrible.  On the way back to the mainland I got to drive the boat which was fun.  Next we walked around a lot and Leo talked about different building and told us stories about the town.  We rode a lift up the mountain to get to the top then walked around a little shopping area for a few minutes.  Then we walked down the mountain some and then across.  For a long time we walked throughout streets on the mountain and listened to Leo tell us all about the city.  At one point, we were sitting outside a man's house talking for a little while and he invited us to look inside.  Honestly it's the perfect plot for a horror folm but no worries everything was fine and it was neat to get to see inside.  We rode a bus down part of the mountain (which Leo described as a real rollercoaster) and then we walked the rest of the way.  On the metro back to Vina certain individuals noticed how sunburt they were...yes of course I'm one of them haha  Back in Vina we all congregated to talk about our plans for tonight which was to go to Cafe Journal with Elizabeth's host brother but we talked about it some on fb later and decided not to go because we're so tired still and our first day of classes is tomorrow. 

Our tour was supposed to take 3 1/2 hours but instead it took 5 so LK & I hurried back to our homes (which are very close) for dinner because our families expected us back much earlier than we were.  Mama didn't mind at all though...Chileans live at an extremely relaxed pace :)  Rodrigo, Fernanda, and I sat down to eat our fries (which are a treat in the household) for dinner & Mama gave me some chicken too.  Mama finished cooking more fries while I told them about my day.  It was pretty funny because I basically talked nonstop most of dinner...the only time they interrupted was to correct me on my Spanish or to get me to explain something when they didn't understand what I was saying.  It was fun to be able to sit there and talk in Spanish without worrying about being graded or judged on my speaking...I love living with a host family rather than only being in a classroom setting because my family is so helpful in explaining how I can improve my speaking skills.  Rodrigo left dinner after he was done and Mama got up to clean while Fernanda & I talked about the difference between American & Chilean schooling (Did you know that in Chile they don't have college?? Kids go from highschool to a university...it's basically like graduate school.  Rather than just taking more core classes they get straight to their major/specialty.)  Then, Fernanda had to go study for her finals & I talked to Mama about how I was going to be volunteering at Hogar las Ninos which is a local orphanage.  It's been such a fun day!! Again, thanks for all the prayers!  There are definitely hard times in the day when I miss my family or when nobody can understand my spanish and I get frustrated but then I remember what a blessing this trip is or I get an email from someone back home & I'm immediately comforted.  Buenas noches everybody!!  Hablarte mañana :)

Settled In

Well...I'm finally completely settled in.  The past two days has been so hectic and I've probably gotten 3 or 4 hours of sleep so I'm looking forward to going to bed soon!  I can't believe that I was at the Atlanta airport yesterday--it seems like so long ago.  Of course Sarah Grace, Anna Grace, and I had a few funny encounters just minutes after we left our families.  We were standing in the security line and we had this conversation with the lady behind us:
Her: Do yall know all those people staring in our direction?
Us: Yeah...it's our parents.
Her: Oh...that's embarrasing.
I just started laughing and we were all kind of offended at her :)  Then as we were putting our bags on the belt AG got yelled at for holding her passport instead of leaving it in her bag so I just ignored the security officer and kept my passport because that's the number one thing mom & dad told me not to loose...well I had to put it in my bag after the man angrily yelled at me but it's all good because I'm here. Then, SG got trapped in the security box for a random scanning...scary!  We met up with Laura Kate & later Brody & Elizabeth finally arrived after we'd been on the plane for a little while.  She literally had to run because her other plane was late. 

Only a few dramatic things happened to me on the plane like my bag falling on my head when I was putting it in the overhead bin or me almost passing out while going through customs because I was getting heat exhaustion.  Once through customs we met Lizzy & then after about an hour Tara & Chris' plane arrived.  We drove in vans to Vina where we had brunch at a little cafe affiliated with the University.

Our host parents arrived to pick us up & since then we've gotten to spend the whole day with host fams!!  My fam ate lunch (more like an amazing feast for a really long time), then I skyped with Momma (which literally saved the day because I was getting so worried since I hadn't talked to anyone back in the good ole patria aka homeland) and she got to talk to Mama Elizabeth & Fernanda, then I showered, then we went to the mall to exchange my money & buy a Chilean cell phone.  At the mall I saw Gardner & Laura Kate at seperate times which was comforting!  Then, Mama Elizabeth & I went to the beach & ate gelado.  We came back home and ate leftovers for dinner (yes mom...I ate leftovers and liked it :)) and now Fernanda's studying for her final tomorrow, Rodrigo is hittin up the town with some friends, Mama is sleeping, and I'm about to sleep too!!  Such a unique day but I've learned sooo much about Chilean culture already. :)  Thanks for the prayers~they're much appreciated!

Packed & Prepared

Everything is packed & we're almost ready to leave.  I'm meeting Sarah Grace, Gardner, & Anna Grace at the airport so we can walk through security together. :) Pray that we'll have safe travels and that we won't forget all the spanish we've learned!