Costumes and Artsy Stuff

This week the juniors in my school spent all week putting together a party for the seniors. In Chile, the school year ends earlier for seniors, so we have to say goodbye to them next Wednesday. Because of this, we threw a costume party for the seniors on Friday and it was amazing! All week before the party I was stressed about finding a costume because I had such little time and not very many ideas. I decided to rent a costume, but when I went looking with my friends I couldn't find anything. I wanted to be Alice in Wonderland at first because I wasn't interested in trying to look sexy at age 16, but as the party got closer, I gave up being picky about costumes because I needed to find something to wear to the party if I wanted to go. I told my host parents about how worried I was about finding a costume so they took me out to find one the night before the party. We went to a store in a nearby town, Machali, because that's where everyone else had found good costumes. Only when I arrived at the store did it occur to me that because everyone had found costumes there, there might not be any left. Sure enough, there were only four costumes for girls left and three of them were enormous. The other was a little black and red dress that fit me perfectly. My parents encouraged me to use it, and I was tired and so don't with trying on costumes that I agreed, grateful to be done with my search. In the car ride home, a friend texted me asking me what I was and I realized I had no idea what my costume was called. I asked my parents and they told me I was a "cortesana."  I had no clue what that was, so I looked it up on my phone and discovered it was a refined escort/prostitute for kings and nobles! I was so shocked! I started laughing so hard and explained it to my parents who laughed too. Throughout the night, we made a lot of jokes about how terrible it was going to be to explain my costume to people. The thing about my costume was that it wasn't showy or very short or inappropriate; just the idea of it was pretty far out of my comfort zone. I decided that I would wear it with confidence and accessories that made it look nicer. On Friday, when I arrived at the party, everyone loved it! They thought it was beautiful and some even thought I was Little Red Ridinghood hahaha. At one point, some of my classmates even lined up to take pictures with me! The party was awesome and I had such a great time! We danced and laughed and ate Chilean pasties and had a 

splendid time!

The next morning, I woke up early to go to Santiago with Alex and her family. Alex, for those of you who are confused by the many people I blog about, is the other girl from California who is living in Ramcagua. We went to an arts and crafts fair because Alex's host mom really likes to make things. When we arrived, Alex and I were a little bit worried because the fair looked really boring and we knew we had to stay there all day long. It was just a giant tent with way too many people inside and it was a really hot day. But Alex and I found every way we could to make it fun! We spent a lot of the day walking around outside the fair and discovered new places and took lots of pictures!

Arriving at the fair.

We sat out in the grass and ate a ton of delicious chilled fresh fruit.

We decided to try and make some artwork for ourselves..

This is how mine turned out hahahah

(Alex's is WAY cooler!)

At one point Alex told me to try to climb up the side of a building. I really thought I could do it but I guess I was wrong. I got stuck like this and we were both laughing really hard but at the same time I was flipping out because beneath me there was a moat that ran around the building which you can't see in the picture. Alex, being a great friend, skipped helping me out and decided to take pictures of me suffering instead. THANKS ALEX. 

We were walking through this little restaurant village thing when we stumbled across this really awesome door! It was so pretty that u just wanted a picture with it. While I was trying to take a picture, a man tried to open the door and it hit me! I was so embarrassed hahahah. Then Alex went to take a picture with the door and it worked out perfectly so I told her to try again with my picture. Of course when I tried to take another picture another waiter opened the door into me again! I don't know why these things always happen to me, but Alex and I just ran away cracking up and feeling like such idiot tourists!

Alex and I found Popsicles called tongue Popsicles that flop around when you try to eat them. They were really gross and really good at the same time but we sure had an interesting time eating them!

I don't know if this picture even needs a caption, but I saw this beautiful flag on this beautiful day and had to take a picture with it for my tremendously beautiful Brazilian. I had the kind of day Saturday that I used to have with Juliana; full of random adventures and pictures that are really confusing to the people who aren't in them. 

I had an amazing week. :)

Ukuleleleleeeeeee

One of the things I am starting to notice about my life in Chile is that it doesn't involve going to school very much. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love school, I just often have reasons not to go. This passed week, I went to school and had regular old school days on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday there was a practice test thing for the people in my grade so I opted not to sit in my classroom and read all day. Instead, I slept in, ran a few miles, had coffee with my dad, and spent the day relaxing. It was pretty nice! On Thursday there was a history debate that was hosted by our school that went on all throughout the day, so my classmates and I spent most of the day watching that. During the end of the day, Dani and I left so that I could sign her shirt. In Chile, there is this tradition where the the seniors take one of their uniform shirts and pass it around for everyone to write little goodbye messages and draw pictures on it. I really want to do this too before I leave Chile, even though that will be half way through my Chilean senior year. On Friday we celebrated Teachers Day by watching the seniors put on shows for the teachers and then going to our separate classrooms to eat food and cake and give presents to our favorite teachers. After school on Friday, I went to my friend Miranda's house with a bunch of other girls from my class to swim. It ended up being to cold to get in the water, so we just hung out by the pool in our swimsuits and talked and played guitar. They thought it was funny that I insisted on wearing a hat and tons of sunscreen hahaha. Saturday, I slept in and took a break from running. I spent the first half of my day with my parents at home doing chores, and then went to my friend Vicho's house to help plan a party the Juniors are throwing for the Seniors this Friday. It is going to be a costume party with the theme of Las Vegas! There was a lot of work to do, but we got through it while talking and laughing and complaining about how tedious all the little details were. I am excited for the party, but I have no clue what I will dress as! I told my friends that I was nervous about finding a costume, so they said we could all go look and try on costumes together next Wednesday. I am so lucky to have such sweet and supportive friends! This morning I got up to run with my dad and then returned to the house trying to decide what I should do with my day. My mom came upstairs while I was texting my friends to see what I should to and told me we were going to Santiago! I was very content with this idea and grateful to have something to do! So we went to Santiago and went clothes shopping for my dad and visited my Aunts and Uncles. While we were in the mall, I found the music store that Nigel had told me about and found my little dream Ukulele! I was sooo stoked because I have been wanting to learn to play very badly. I made the decision to purchase it and then found out that it was $20 less than it said it was! So I pretty much got a great deal and am feeling super happy and musical this evening. :)

Debates, Bikes, and Birthdays

Last week I went on and on about how I had been expecting a normal week and ended up with a completely different one. Well, my dear blog readers, I am proud to report that this week was filled with all sorts of new adventures as well! This week, some students in my school were selected to take place in an English debating competition in Santiago on Thursday. Because of this competition, I was pulled out of class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to help out. Initially I imagined that they wanted me to help them look up information and think and actually do difficult things, but it turned out the professors just wanted me to speak in English to the other kids to get them more accustomed to speaking in English naturally. At first I was a little worried that speaking in English would damage my progress in Spanish, but it turned out that speaking so much English made me want to say more things in Spanish, so it helped me too! The night before the debate, the professors invited me to go to Santiago and watch the debate with them instead of going to school and of course I accepted! I spent all day in Santiago watching debates, eating sushi, and having a nice time with very nice people. 

On Friday, all the juniors from my school and I went on a field trip to a zoo in Santiago. Everyone told me it was going to be really boring, but it ended up being quite entertaining! We walked around and looked at animals and even got to watch a seal and penguin show! A lot of the animals in this zoo had been rescued, but seeing them in such small spaces still made me sad. I really do think zoos are very useful for education, but at the same time it just seems so wrong to me to see two absolutely beautiful cheetahs kept in a space smaller than my house. Since the other animals made me sad, I decided to focus on the monkeys because they were super swingy and playful and silly. I couldn't look at them without breaking into a huge goofy smile! After the zoo, we went to a natural history museum for about an hour and then took the bus home to Rancagua. It was a good day!

On Saturday my dad and I got up early to run before it got too warm outside. It's finally getting warmer here and reaches the 80s before 2:00pm most days! After working out my family took off to Doñihue for the day to have lunch with my moms side of the family. I recently discovered that a friend of mine from school, Pancho, lives like two houses away from my grandma, so after lunch I headed over to his house to hang out with him. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to go on a bike ride instead of hanging out inside. He lives out in the country and sometimes I feel like I am in Ukiah when I visit because of all the fresh air and vegetation. We rode on this little bike trail that led us two towns away because he insisted that there was a really cool bridge that we needed to visit. We arrived at the bridge and it was just a normal bridge, but there is something about the combination of laughter and sunshine that gives even the most ordinary things a little sparkle. I don't know how far we ended up riding, but we returned to my grandmas house three hours later, sunburnt, hungry, and very ready for tea time!

Pancho ate dinner with my family and then took off to celebrate some other thing at another dinner party. 

After tea, my family drove back to Rancagua and dropped me off at another friends house to celebrate her birthday party. I arrived at her house at around 10:00pm and had a pretty great time! Everyone still wanted to talk to me and introduced me to their friends as "Sally, la gringa..." My dad came and picked me up a little after 2:00am (early for the typical Chilean teenager). 

This morning my dad and I ran again and now we are back in Doñihue to celebrate my moms birthday. Entonces, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GREATEST HOST MOM IN THE WORLD! That is all I am going to write for now because I would like to go interact with my family. Chao!

Ps: sorry this blog is a little bit brief because I spent an hour writing it in full detail and then accidentally deleted it. It took so much effort to let go of my annoyance and rewrite all of this hahahah. I am soooo glad to be done. 

PPS: I'm learning how to play Ukelele.

For Javi

I have a gorgeous friend named Javi who wanted me to use a picture of us in my blog. Unfortunately, I forgot to post it earlier, but that's okay because I am doing it now! Since its kind of boring to just post the picture alone, I shall write a little about Javi and my other friends to go along with the picture. 

This picture was taken right before a dance show that she took part in (that's why she has in such heavy makeup). Javi does folklore in our school and she is a really great dancer! She also enjoys making fun of how I speak Spanish and giving me nicknames like "Salhola." She, and the other girls in my class are very special to me because I have recently begun to realize how hard it is to be friends with an early exchange student. They had to completely reach out to me and try twice as hard as usual to make me feel accepted and they did this without knowing the least bit about me! When they did find out things about me, they wanted to learn more about them and find other things we had in common. And even though they don't all speak very much English, they try very hard to read and understand my blog because they want to know how I feel in the depth that I can't express in Spanish yet. Maybe this is a Chilean thing or maybe I am insanely lucky; I have no clue. What matters is that I love my friends so much and can't wait to spend the next 10 months with them!

Parading and Volleyballing

I began this week expecting a normal week of school after all the crazy festivities that have taken place recently. After celebrating the 18th for a week, fighting off the worst cold ever, and the Anniversary competitions, I think I had the appropriate reasons to assume that this week would be somewhat average. How dare I forget the wise words of Juliana Gonçalves Rosa, "You are an exchange student, Sally. Why would you ever expect anything?" This week was anything but normal and I would absolutely love to tell you why!

Monday morning I got up, took my shower, ate breakfast, and rode the bus to school as usual. I talked to friends and smiled at teachers and had a jolly good normal time. During second period I was helping my friend work on an art project when a teacher came into the classroom and said something that I didn't catch. A few people got up and filed out of the class, and my friend stood up and started packing up his things. He told me that I should go with him and but I was so confused! Half the class was leaving and the other half was just staring at me. I didn't know what to do, so I decided to trust the advice of every single rebound I have ever met and just say "yes" to the opportunity. The whole class started laughing and my friend led me out of the classroom and over to the auditorium. Inside the auditorium there were a bunch of other teenagers from out school waiting. When they saw me they started laughing and asked my friend what I was doing there. He explained to them that I had no clue what was going on, and they just laughed harder. I smiled because even though I had no clue what I had signed up for, I trusted these people and I knew I would have fun. 

We headed outside and one of the professors told me to stand in a certain spot on the concrete the center of a line with 4 other kids. The rest of the kids then got in line behind all of our lines. I looked up at the boy next to me and asked him to PLEASE explain what was going on. He had to repeat himself several times, but after a while I understood that we were supposed to march to the beat of a drum. I figured we were in some sort of parade, but I didn't know what it was for or when or where it was! At the time, I had no idea that to be in this parade was an honor for selected students to represent the school in a parade through Rancagua. But that's the thing about being an exchange student; you never actually know what's going on but you learn to take something away from each little experience anyway. I am telling you this story in this manner because I want to get across how incredibly clueless I was. I like being in control and knowing what is going on, but these passed two months I have learned to let go because I don't really have another choice. After lunch on Monday, I was told that I didn't need to go to class and should get on a bus with the other students in the parade because we were going to practice in the actual location of the parade. During that bus ride, some friends explained to me that for the next few days I wouldn't have to wear a uniform or go to class because we were going to practice walking in the parade most of the day, and I was completely okay with that! Tuesday we practiced most of the day and Wednesday was the actual day of the parade. We left school early Wednesday and hung out downtown until it was time for us to march! We talked and laughed and ate candy and I had a very pleasant time. Hours later, it was time to march, and the actual march only lasted about 10 minutes! 

As you can tell, a large part of my week revolved around this parade that the school seemed to take pretty seriously. However it doesn't end there! Yesterday I was informed that my school wants me to travel to the Capital tomorrow to participate in a volleyball tournament with a bunch of other schools! This means that tomorrow at 10:00am and play volleyball all day instead of going to class! I am super excited and very nervous but loving the idea of all these new experiences and opportunities!

It is impossible to document every great thing that has happened to me here, but I feel like I have done a sufficient job for the night. Wish me luck tomorrow and goodnight!