Feverish but Happy

This past week wasn't that exciting, but it was a week in Chile and a week of my exchange so of course I loved it anyways! It's so weird that I have so little time left, but I'm not even going to think about that. I'm just going to enjoy every second like it's my last until it actually is. 

This week I spent most of my days in bed with a fever. Well, three days, but still that's kind of a lot. Wednesday was a holiday in Chile because of some naval battle in Iquique a trillion years ago, so Tuesday my friends and I decided to go out dancing! I went with some friends from the grade below me, and I don't know all of them very well so I was kind of nervous. When we got to he club thing, Alex and Louis ended up being there and I was soooo happy! Alex and I danced for a really long time and laughed and sang the songs at the top of our lungs! It was amazing! In the morning, well, this happened:

After that I was home sick until Friday evening, when I went to an exchange students goodbye party in Talca. My family and I had plans to spend the whole weekend in Talca, so it kind of worked out perfectly. I still felt a little sick, so I only stayed until midnight and then my dad came and got me. He took be to my grandparents house which turned out to be one of the favorite houses I have been to. It is small and colorful and there isn't any wifi. There were 7 of us staying there and only two bedrooms and two dogs were running around the house the whole time, but it just really felt like family there. I really like this family and it's just so easy to fit in here. I felt comfortable and relaxed and that is so amazing because I have been loving with them for such little time! 

Saturday night I went to my first Chilean baptism party. My little cousin was getting baptized, and afterwards they through a big party where everyone danced all night long! I had a headache, and my dad was sad that I wouldn't dance with him because I didn't feel well, but they understood and let me go with the promise that I would for sure dance next time. I would totally dance with these people! Instead I sat conversing with my new Chilean cousins. One of them is named Javi and she is 15 and we talked almost all night long hahah. She pretty much knows my life story by now and I know all about her. It was a great weekend but I am glad to be home! :)

Día de Alumno y la Gala de la FACH

I was going to blog on Saturday night, and then I was going to blog on Sunday morning, but then I forgot and decided to blog on Sunday night. Well it's Monday night now, but I still remember the amazing things that happened to me this past week and OF COURSE I have to share them with you! 

Last Friday was Chile's "Dia de Alumno" or "Students' Day." This holiday is celebrated like Mothers Day or Fathers Day, but instead the students are honored by the entire country and all the teacher put on shows at school while about parents make us big classroom brunches. 

The day started with a big classroom brunch where we all sat a put decorated tables in our classroom and ate delicious foods and cake. 

After eating, we played "Amigo Secreto" which is like secret Santa but without Christmas. I had to get a gift for a boy in my class, so I made him Oreo Bon Bons and a card and he loved them!

Paula had to give me a gift and what she gave me was exactly what I would have chosen out of all the gifts in the class: a letter. I know it might sound lame, but I have begun loving letters so much more than actual presents. I like words and I love when people form messages out of words just for me, and especially in Spanish! Paula made me a huge heart shaped card filled with a very long and sweet message and I loved it so much it is hanging on my bedroom wall!

After the brunch we went down to the courtyard to watch the teachers but on a show for us. It was absolutely hilarious! The teachers wore all sorts of wacky costumes and I was almost crying I was laughing so hard hahahaha! 

After the teachers show, one of the most beautiful things ever happened to me! I was told our whole senior generation was going to gather and take a group picture together. We all got in a big circle so that a teacher could take our picture from the balcony. We were waiting to take the picture when a bunch of people shouted for me to go into the center of the circle. I didn't understand what was going on, but I did it anyways. They them told me to start spinning in circles, which was even weirder, but I did that too! I spun about 10 circles giggling while everyone counted aloud my number of circles until they told me to stop. When I regained the focus in my vision, I saw a girl in my class holding up a Chilean flag that every single senior in my school had signed for me! I almost started to cry it was so sweet! They then ran in and gave me a big group hug! I haven't been alive for long, but that was certainly one of the happiest moments of my life so far. I later found out that it had been Lilian's idea and that she had brought the flag to school and told them to make me some sort of special moment. It was such a special moment. Best first host mom ever hahahah :D

That night, Alex and I went with Eduardo and his friend to their Air Force Ball. It was so much fun and we danced a lot and just had a good time together. Anywhere I go with Alex or Eduardo I am sure to have an outstanding time though, so I shouldn't have been so surprised! 

That's all I have really done! Today I went to crossfit for the second time and I am totally loving it. I completely ate dirt doing box jumps and was hunched over thinking I had ruptured every internal organ in my body for a few minutes, but after that I was fine and I finished the workout with nothing more than a bruise the size of Saturn on my left knee. Good night everyone!

Senior Hoodie

 Oh my goodness! Today I experienced one of the most touching things I have gone through on this exchange. 

As some of you might know, I had to change schools during the Chilean summer and it was pretty hard on me. I had an amazing group of friends in my old school who I love a lot and was devastated to have to leave behind. I was afraid of having to be the new girl again (which is a million times harder in Spanish, trust me) and I had doubts about my abilities to connect with my new classmates as well as I did with my old ones. I have only been going to my new school for a little over a month now, but I am glad to announce that in that amount of time I have met some pretty awesome people, experienced some pretty hilarious days, and have found a million reasons to be happy at Colegio Quimahue. Don't get me wrong; all that I have stated above is really nice, but what happened today changed everything for me and I just have to share it with all of you. 

This morning I walked into class and everything felt completely normal. The teacher got to class and began teaching a lesson. In the middle of the lesson, my friend Rocio walked up and whispered something to the teacher, who stepped away to give Rocio the classes attention. I was waiting for her to begin announcing something about school or a project, but instead she looked at me with a big smile and told me to come join her in front of the class. I was completely caught off guard and got super nervous, which apparently showed on my face because everyone around me started laughing and telling me not to worry and that I want in trouble. When I got to the front of the class, Rocio turned to me and began saying the sweetest things. She told me she spoke for the whole class when she said that she was delighted about how in such short time I have become such an important attribute to Cuarto Medio B, and that everyone appreciated having me around. She then told me that since I am one of them now, they wanted to show me how much that means to them, and at that moment my friend Manuel came up to me with a wrapped gift. The class started cheering for me to open it, and when I did, my heart practically melted to the floor. I pulled out the blue class hoodie embroidered with everyone's names on it and put it on immediatly! Everyone cheered and I loved the gift so much but the emotion left me at loss for Spanish vocabulary so I put my hands on my heart and just said "muchas gracias" a lot. This gift made me feel like a true member of my classroom, and the idea that they thought of me as one of them made me want to cry a little bit. :,)

The hoodies in Cuarto Medio are a Chilean tradition in most schools. Each class has it's own hoodie with everyone's names on it with little doodles that someone in the class usually draws. My class had made their hoodies over the summer before anyone knew me, before I even had an idea I would be changing schools. Before today, everyday all of my class except for me would wear their adorable matching hoodies and I would stand out a bit. I had always wanted one of the hoodies, but at first I felt silly asking about them because I didn't want to pry myself into the class or anything, and after a while I just sort of accepted that I wouldn't own one. Little did I know, all my classmates had gotten together my first week of school and decided to get me one in secret. They had all chipped in to raise the money for it, and then set up this elaborate plan of how to keep it a secret between them, the lady who makes the hoodies, and the head teacher of our class. They had a bunch of plans for if I came close to finding out, and even made a chat group for talking about it on Facebook! 

It might seem like I am a bit overexcited about such a little thing that happened, but for me this meant a lot. It meant that my dear classmates cared about making me feel cared about before they even really knew me. It meant that I was a part of the class before I had any idea they wanted me there, and most importantly the words Rocio used told me that they believed they had made the right decision and that they care about me even more now. Tomorrow I will go to school in my hoodie, and other than my height, skin tone, freckles, blonde hair, and blue eyes, I will look exactly like everyone else in my class! 

Today was an amazing day and I am absolutely in love with my class. If any of you are practicing your English by reading this, thank you so much for making me feel this way. I love all of you. 

Isla de Pascua

Yesterday I took an airplane home from one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! Easter Island was so colorful and pure and untouched by the rest of the world. I got the privilege of spending a week on the incredible island with some of the most amazing people I have ever met, my exchange student family, and eating delicious fruit, watching sunsets through the Moais, biking through the palm trees and surfing in the clearest waters with giant sea turtles. This trip could not have easily been more perfect, and I know I sort of say that a lot, but I really mean it! 

Day 1: I spent the night at my German friend Florian's house and woke up early to meet everyone at the airport to catch out plane to the island. Everyone was super tired but incredibly giddy and excited and running on Starbucks frapaccino sugar highs! We all boarded the plane and wished ourselves safe travels. My host mom and some friends sent me sweet little texts wishing me a happy vacation, and with that we were off!

When we arrived at the island everyone was in shock. We had to pass through the clouds before we could see the island from above, but as the coulds dissapeared a bright green island was revealed and everyone fought their breath at the sight of it. We could not wait to get off the plane, but as the first of us stepped out we were totally caught off-guard by the intense humidity of the island. Everything was wet and our clothes and hair stuck to our skin in a kind of really gross way. But we didn't care! We were on isla de freaking pascua and nothing could dim the light in that! We were greeted by the islanders with fresh flowered necklaces and boarded out buses to the hotel. We were suprised to discover that even the hotel was filled with flowers! This island just bursts with colors and life and smells like rain and flowers everywhere! 

We spent the rest of the afternoon climbing rocks and searching for natural swimming pools in the sunset! It was a great day! 

Day 2: We were alowed to sleep in and then had a lovely breakfast of fruit and home made bread. After    that we drove up a hill in a bus to see the Moais! Easter island has a lot of Moais speckling the island, but where we went there were a lot! 

After that we went to a beach where we ate BBQd chicken out of banana leaves! We then swam around in the beautiful bright blue ocean waves for way too long and I didn't even get sunburnt! 

Day 3: We planted trees on a hill on the island for the islands reforestation movement. It felt nice to leave something behind on this island that had already given me such great memories!

Later that day we hiked up to see the tallest volcano on the island. From up there we could see the entire island and it looked so magnificent! 

Later that night we drove out to watch the pascuense dancers with the Rotarians of the island! It was so interesting and I learned a lot about their culture though the dances! 

Day 4: We went on an underground adventure through the ancient caves of the island! They were so long and dark and it was a little scary but really exciting. It took all morning and completely tired us out, but it was completely worth it! 

When we got back to the city, some friends and I found a little cafe that sold the most exquisite juices I had ever tried in my life! We all got smoothies and juices and hung out and talked and had a great afternoon! 

That night, we had a typical island meal that was prepared underground from nothing more than the heat of the earth! It was delicious and amazing and after dinner, we got another performance from the pascuense dancers. 

Day 5: We woke up early because it was our turn to learn how to dance pascuense! It was hilarious and impossible. The pascuense women can move their hips in a way that apparently isn't possible for people who don't have hot Latin blood, but we had a great time trying! 

After lunch we had some free time to choose what we wanted to do on our last day. My friend Michelle and I decided we wanted to rent bikes and ride up to find seven Moais that stand together in the middle of the island. The bike people said the trip would take about three hours, but determined to have time to surf afterwards, Michelle and I sprinted ahead of our group and finished the whole trip in about an hour and a half! 

We got back to town and sprinted over to the surf shop to rent boards. We quickly changed and them ran out to the water to catch some waves. Michelle had never surfed before and wanted me to teach her, but it was pretty rough out there and I was having my own troubles surfing hahah. Either way, it was nice to paddle out and be in the ocean. While we were out there we even saw some sea turtles! 

Day 6: We woke up feeling a little bit bummed that we had to return that afternoon, but still grateful for the week we had spent in paradise. Alex and I wore our Chilean pants for the first time and felt super beachy hahaha. We left for the airport an hour after breakfast and nobody was ready to leave. 

We spent barely any of the five hours on the plane in our seats. Everyone was walking around and hugging eachother and cherishing the last moments we would have together as a group. When we got to Santiago, everyone cried in the airport because even though some of us still have a few months left, we could feel the end beginning. It is hard to say goodbye to your real family when you leave for exchange, but it is a million times harder to say goodbye to your exchange family because there is no way to do it right. How do you say goodbye to people you have no clue when you will see again? Exchange families are special because everyone in them has gone through what you have, but more importantly, they have gone through it with you. They have stood by your side and been through all your best and worst moments. I hugged everyone extra tight in that airport because even though I have a lot of time left, I have about one friend leaving every week before my departure. One of my best friends, Evan, is even leaving this Monday. I know I will be okay and I know they will be okay, it's just I will miss being okay together. 

This trip was one of the best weeks of my life and I cannot say that enough! I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go thanks to my moms extra shifts in the hospital.  Thank you so much, mom. I don't know how to make this up to you, but I will be searching for ways for the rest of my life. 

The only complaint about my trip was that Juliana wasn't there. I thought of her the entire time and how she must have felt in Hawaii! Everyone in my district knows her name now and says she sounds awesome, as if "awesome" could even come close to describing my best friend. Juliana, I miss you and we need to out Easter Island on our list of places. 

IORANA, everyone! 

(Hello and goodbye.)

:)

Aniversario Colegio Quimahue

This last week we had the schools anniversary competition and I have to say, it was honestly one of the greatest weeks of my life. I participated in almost everything and my team cheered me on the entire time! When I wasn't dancing, playing dodgeball, playing volleyball, running the 100m, running in the relay, doing long jump, playing soccer, playing ping pong, organizing the English competition, or modeling my legs in front of the entire school, I was happily cheering on all my friends and all their achievements and everything just felt so perfect! I feel like I really got closer to everyone in my school this week. My friends started saying "I love you" and you have no idea how good that feels after having to change schools and missing my old friends! This week was so busy for me so I am not going to try to describe every detail of it, but I will post some pictures to help you get an idea of what this week was like for me. 

The first competition I participated in was a group dance. I was soooo nervous! I have gotten a lot shyer as I have grown up but it was nice to get out there and dance! I was probably one of the worst dancers because I don't have hot Latin blood like all my classmates, but while I was dancing I realized it didn't matter if I was good at dancing or not. What mattered was that I was showing my class that their competition mattered to me and that I would embarrass myself just to help them. I showed them I was one of them and they would have cheered me on and told me I was amazing even if I had fallen hahah. 

I look like the giant white monster that wants to eat your first born child...but it's okay because they love me anyways hahahah :)

I look better in this picture! This was what we had to wear for the dance. 

After that we played dodgeball. We lost, and I was the first one out! It was fun though and kind of hilarious. In this picture you can see how small my school is hahahah. We take up only half the gym! To be fair, on the other side of the picture where you can't see is the other half of the school. What you can see is my team, Alianza Negra!

After that I played volleyball! I am not very good at volleyball, and the team we played against had girls from the national team on it so nobody wanted to play against them, so of course we lost. But everyone was surprised that we only lost by two points! I made some pretty sweet serves, too! 

The next day we started off the morning with track events at the track I used to run at everyday when I loved with Lilian and Manuel. I have always felt at home there, probably because I have spent many hours running there in Chile, and I got the chance to show my entire school how much I love to run! I ran the 100m, and I won! And then I ran the relay, and we won! I ran the last leg of the relay and apparently won by about 70 feet! Then I did standing long jump, and guess what?! I won! It was a good day for me and my winning made my team very happy! They called me The Machine all day long hahaha. 

Later that day the soccer games began! My team and I were last to play. It was a really great game and we ended up tying 0-0. I played offense which was something new, and almost scored 4 goals which was very annoying hahahh. My team made me so proud. They are so beautiful and talented and amazing! 

During the game, someone snapped a photo of me and it ended up completely matching the Tarma necklace I was wearing! Craaaazy. 

The next day was the final day of the competition. My body was so sore from all the different sports I had played, but I was ready to finish the anniversary the right way with all of my class. During the week, I didn't realize how much I was bonding with my schoolmates, but on the third day I came to school so glad to be a part of everything and I just wanted to win so badly! It felt like we were all fighting a big happy battle, and I was fighting the absolute hardest I could. I ran around organizing the English competition ( I refused to participate because that wouldn't be fair) and even ended up playing ping pong because nobody else would. 

A group gathered around us to watch us play. I honestly don't even really know the rules to ping pong but I just tried to do my best. A lot of people, including me, were laughing at my lame attempts and I remember wishing my mom could be there to impress everyone with her ping pong skills and take my place hahaha. 

After ping pong, I had to rush around and change my clothes for the most scary competition I would have to participate in: Miss Piernas ( Miss Legs). In this contest, girls had to take turns walking alone in front of the entire school and modeling their legs to different themes. My theme was Barbie because I was the first blonde person to ever go to their school and they wanted to use that in their advantage. I was the grand finally for my team, which meant even my entrance was different. While everyone else emerged from behind a black curtain, I was dragged out in a giant Barbie box and then ripped free from the box by a "Ken." I swallowed all my shyness and just gave it my everything. I twirled my hair and blew kisses and just let Sally slip away completely. I am so scared of falling in high heels, but I never let my huge painted smile leave my face!

If you can tell from this picture, my crowd went crazy! They cheered for me so loudly and it gave me so much more confidence! The judges were smiling at me so I blew them a few more kisses and poses before returning to the stand where I met up with the other models. 

That night everyone went back to the school for the talent show and the final announcement of who had won this year. After listening to cute little kids sing songs, we all waited anxiously for the information! When they announced that we had won, I didn't even hear it. But I saw the faces of my classmates, and I heard their shrieks of joy, and I almost got trampled when they began jumping and cheering and even crying! We did it and we did it together! Paula was the coordinator of our team, and when she was given flowers she ripped off half of them and gave them to me and said "these are for Sally, our fallen angel!" I knew I had won us a lot of points, but I am not used to be recognized for these kind of things and didn't know what to do except smile. I hugged everyone and everyone hugged each other and everyone hugged me and it was so nice. We all ran up onto the stage at one point to take pictures. While on the stage, someone started chanting "Sally Sally Sally SALLY SALLY" and then everyone else joined in and made a circle and I didn't know what to do. They then sang what translates to "Sally, our dear Sally, we could never ever forget you" and then gave me a group hug and I felt so at home! Paula then stood up on a chair and announced that we were having a party at her house, so we all went over there and danced the rest of the night away! Like I said, best week EVER. 

This morning I woke up in my new house and it felt like thanksgiving at Uncle Pats. There were a bunch of little cousins in the living room watching movies, and my mom even made me a delicious breakfast in bed. Tomorrow I am going to Easter Island with all my exchange friends and today I am going to my first professional soccer game with my brother! Loving life so much.