ROHAM

I started this week off a little scared that it would be boring after having such an exciting week in the South, but it actually ended up being a really nice and relaxing week. It took a few days to recover from the South because I was so exhausted from traveling so much and I had gotten so used to speaking English all the time so Spanish was a bit harder than usual. The hardest thing to recover from, though, was not being around exchange students all the time. Being around exchange students, for other exchange students, brings this inexplicable feeling of belonging that I myself don't even really understand. We are from all over the world and a lot of us probably wouldn't even like eachother if we weren't on exchange, but going through such a dramatic and extreme experience together forces us to be so close. When I hug the exchange students from my district, I feel so warm and so happy and just so right, and I was thinking about this for a long time trying to figure out why it affects me so much. It eventually occurred to me that when we exchange students hug eachother, we aren't just hugging normal friends or other people. When exchange students hug eachother, they are hugging eachother for the families back home that they no longer get to hug every day. We hug eachother with all the pain, happiness, support, nostalgia, and understanding we have without even realizing it. We are all so blindly blessed to have each other. 

Anyways, on Monday my mom taught me how to use the public transportation in our city. We rode in collectivos to the Center where she bought me two bikinis for my birthday! They are very pretty and I love them a lot! This public transportation lesson that she gave me ended up saving my week and probably my entire exchange, because I can now leave the house and meet up with friends whenever I want to! I am so happy because I always want to go out and be with other people but I hate asking for rides all the time. 

On Tuesday I went swimming at my friend Miri's house with some other friends who couldn't go to Brazil. My entire Junior class went to Brazil all week long for a class trip, except a few who had reasons they couldn't go, and me, who couldn't afford it after the South Trip. We swam and talked and I played ukulele out in the grass and we just had a splendid time. 

On Wednesday some of the Germans from Santiago and other cities came to Rancagua to visit Nigel, Katie, and I. We hung out in the park and in the Jumbo and then I spent the night at Katie's house. The next morning we went to the movies with the Germans and are pizza with them for lunch. It was cool because they are great people, but they always wanted to speak German so Katie and I felt left out and bored hahah.

I feel like I did something fun on Thursday but I honestly cannot remember...

On Friday, Katie, Katie, and Alex spent the night at my house! It was super fun because I love spending time with them all soooo much! They all really are like big sisters to me. We hung out and ate chocolate and cherries and I played ukulele while they sang really easy songs because I'm still learning. They wanted to meet my little sister so we face timed her for a little bit. They asked her to tell embarrassing stories about me and she didn't hold back at all! I was angry for about two seconds until I remembered that being embarrassed about things is a waste of time and laughed with them as my sister described my awkward years in detail. 

On Saturday morning, we all woke up super early to drive to the Rotary meeting in Santiago. We got to see all the exchange students again and it was so nice! I sat at a table with Evan, Aidan, and Alexis for lunch. They make me laugh a lot so I like hanging out with them. Since the room was very loud and the microphone wasn't very clear, we didn't really try to listen to what people were announcing before lunch, so we were really surprised when a magician ran up in front of the tables and started doing magic tricks! It was entertaining for a few minutes but then our table just went back to talking. We were all laughing about something when I all of a sudden heard my name on the microphone. I looked up to see a bunch of people gesturing for me to go up to where the magician was. I walked up feeling very confused and the magician smiled at me and gave me a letter and a present! I thanked him and sat back down as a Rotarian took the microphone from the magician and started calling up groups of other exchange students up to get their letters and presents. I understood rotary was giving us gifts, but I didn't understand why they made mine a big deal! I opened the letter and it was a sweet little email from my mom. It was nice to read! I then opened the present from rotary to discover they had made shirts for us! 

There was only one little problem with my shirt...

Hahahahahahahaha! I found this hilarious and so did all of my friends! 

After opening the presents, rotary showed us a gigantic wall covered in photos that families had sent for the other exchange students. It was a really emotional time for everyone because it was such a great surprise! Rotary lost my pictures, which was sad, but I went around and hugged people and comforted them because I could tell it was hard. A lot of the other exchangers are very depressed right now because it's Christmas time and they are all thinking of their families. I love my family more than anything, but I am not having a hard time because it feels like summer! I can't be sad knowing I have three months off of school, amazing Chilean family and friends, and only 7 months left in this beautiful country! 

Evan, my pretty rad friend from Chicago, saw that I didn't have any pictures from my family and, instead of saying he felt bad for me, gave me a hug and gave me one of his family picture posters! It made me laugh so much, and it's now hanging up on my wall in my room because seeing it makes me smile. 

There is probably a lot more to blog about from this week but I am tired and I'm just going to go to sleep instead. Los quiero!