Happy Birthday Pampi

As I write this blog post I am fighting extremely hard to not fall asleep. Last night, my classroom had a party at my friend Miri's house and I honestly am pretty sure I slept for no more than a little more than a half hour. This kid from the class below me came and ended up being one of the most interesting people I have ever met so I accidentally ended up talked to him about life and exchange and the world all night long hahah. For this reason, I am sorry if this blog sounds more like the rambling memories of a sleep-deprived exchangestudent's week; but in reality that is exactly what it is going to be! I find it hilarious that for most teenagers, staying up all night is just a normal thing to get over, but I am so a costumed to living like a grandma that it's harder for me!

This week I wanted to make my senior friends cookies and bring them to school as a surprise. On Tuesday I stayed up late making a whole bunch of cookies and I was super excited because I know how much my Chilean friends like my cookies. But after making them, I tasted one of the cookies and realized that I had completely messed up! I had used light sugar instead of regular sugar because I had no idea there was a difference! The good thing was that people in Chile looooove sweets and my cookies were gobbled down in a matter of minutes at school. 

At another point this week, I had to go with my parents after school to participate in a senior ceremony in Fran's place. All the seniors thought it was funny I was there because I always end up showing up everywhere and getting invited to the most random things. When we arrived at the ceremony, there was a photographer taking pictures of all the different families. I tried to explain that I wasn't a senior, but my parents thought it was funny that the photograph we wanted to take my picture so they encouraged him to take a lot of them while I stood there feeling like a very awkward junior! After the ceremony, all the families walked outside to eat cake and the photographers were selling the pictures. My pictures were being sold with the other seniors pictures! All my senior friends saw them and started laughing so hard hahaha. People in Chile are starting to catch on to how my "awkward Sally luck" is a very real thing. 

On Thursday I went to Francesca's house after school to celebrate her birthday with her family. I thought going was just a normal thing, but it turns out she chose me to come to her birthday party over a ton of people she has known for a lot longer and that made me feel special. I have noticed more and more now how people in Chile just seem to confide in me with everything. They all trust me so much! I love it because I take their trust very seriously and will protect it very well. 

On Friday I went out to get sushi after school with Diego, Diego, and Francesca. While we were sitting down to eat, one of Diego's friends from school came up with another exchange student from the US who is from AFS. Her name is Ella and she will only be here for 6 months.  She is so awesome! We ate sushi and talked and I really want to hang out with her again. She is a very real person who I can relate to and I haven't felt that way with very many of the other exchangers I have met this year from the US. 

That is all I am going to write for now because I really really should sleep. Chao!

Farewells and Fantasilandia

This week went by super fast because we only had three school days. You see, Chileans really like to celebrate anything they can find excuses to celebrate, so "holidays" like Halloween and Valentines Day are free! 

On Monday I had a completely normal day. I went to school, hung out with friends, came home, ran, showered, ate, practiced Ukulele, and went to sleep. I really thought the next two days would be similar and mellow, but boy was I wrong!

On Tuesday I arrived at school to find the rest of my classmates preparing for the war.  In Chile, the seniors get to leave school about a month before everyone else, and the day before their last day, they attack the juniors with a gigantic water war. My classmates told the water wars are always super intense, but I had no idea how seriously they meant that! When the bell sounded and we walked outside for lunch, we were bombed with hundreds of water balloons being thrown down on us from the roves of the school buildings! When we tried to run away, more seniors ran out from different directions with buckets full of water and mud! We spent a half out completely drenching eachother in our uniforms until the hallways of the school were flooded with about a centimeter of water! Because of the giant mess we made, school was let out after lunchtime and we all found rides back to our houses. I thought my parents might be mad that I was coming home dripping wet and four hours early, but when my host dad saw me he just started laughing really hard and told me to take a shower. It was definitely the best water fight I have ever been a part of! 

On Wednesday we had to say goodbye to the seniors. For the seniors it was a very emotional day because they had to say goodbye to all their friends and teachers. There is a tradition in my school where on the seniors last day of school, the entire school lines the grand hallway and waves goodbye to the seniors as they walk down the hallway one last time. They were all crying and hugging goodbye and it made me a little sad because I am going to miss seeing all of Fran's friends around every day. What really made me sad, though, was when I realized that next year I won't be here to participate in these traditions for my class and my friends. I have gotten so close with my class and my friends and I know we will only get closer and I just want to stay here for their entire senior year. I don't want to leave half way through! For this, I will make sure I thoroughly enjoy every second I get with them while I still have the chance. 

On Thursday, Javi Valenzuela and Diego came over to my house during the afternoon to make blackberry cobbler. I had never made it before, but it sounded yummy and I wanted to try! It ended up being delicious and my parents ended up eating all of it because they liked it so much hahahah. 

After making the cobbler, we went up to my room and I got an email from  my mom. I opened it with my friends and this picture popped up:

My friends and I laughed histarically for about 5 minutes straight. I explained to them that I have a very silly relationship with my mom and sister, and they told me that they wanted to meet my family really bad! We called Molly on FaceTime and she answered and made my friends laugh so much! My mom came home from work in the middle of the FaceTime so they got to meet my mom during the call too! 

They absolutely loved my family and can't wait to meet them in person. Seeing two different groups of people I love get along so well made me so happy! Later that night, all three of us went to a party at our other friend'a house and then Javi and I spent the night at Cami's house. 

The next morning, my parents picked me up and we went to Doñihue to visit the family. We ate lunch and hung out all afternoon and into the night.

The next morning my friend, Katy, and her family picked me up to go to Fantasilandia for the day! Fantasilandia is an amusement park in Santiago, and the day was very amusing! Since we went during the week of Halloween, there were people walking around with face paint that made them look very dead and disgusting. I thought it was cool, but it also freaked me out a bit. The people really scared Katie, and the problem was that since we are blonde and very Norht American looking, the people would go out of their way to scare us! We made some great memories and I am so glad she invited me to go and meet here family and have a great time!

This is a picture her dad took of us after one of the rides. We were laughing so hard!

This morning I got up and ran and then spent the morning relaxing. I am so tired from all my adventures of yesterday! We went out to lunch today and ate wayyyy too much food, and when we got back to the house I took a 3 hour long nap! I am going to try to go to bed early tonight, so bye!

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!