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. 

Rehearsals

This week I spent almost everyday after school rehearsing dances for hours and hours for the schools anniversary that starts tomorrow. My legs have been super tired and I am sore on really funny places but I have discovered that I actually really like dancing a lot! I mean I think I always have, but Chile has taught me how to dance without being so shy and I am really happy about that! 

I am participating in about a million activities (by that I mean 9 but it's usual to participate in 4 or 5 so it's still a lot) for the schools annoversary. It starts tomorrow and I am just so excited and nervous! I like the anniversary celebration because i feel like it really bonds the school in a special way. I have met so many great people this past week and they are all so awesome and smiley! :) 

This weekend we had the district conference of Rotary. I remember the district conference in the US and how tearful  and hard it was, but this one wasn't liked that. We are all going to eachothers goodbye parties and a lot of us are going to Easter Island together in a week so we are going to be fine! It was nice to see all the exchangers though! 

Before I go to sleep I also want to say that my mom told me we would be receiving a girl from Italy next year named Anna! I am so excited about this and I don't even know her yet but she is amazing and I love her and am going to try to be a Fran for her because Fran was the best sister ever. :)

Argentina

This weekend I was supposed to go to Argentina with my new host family to celebrate Easter. Unfortunately, my papers that would have legalized my travels to Argentina did not arrive in time of me to accompany my family on their vacation. That sounds really sucky and depressing and terrible, but guess what?! I had an incredible weekend anyways! I decided to not be upset because I will eventually make it to Argentina, and I actually made some great memories while being left behind in Rancagua! :)

When my family left to go to Argentina, they dropped me off at Paula's house to help out with a completada she was hosting for the schools Anniversary. If you guys remember from many months ago, the schools anniversary is like home coming and it's super fun and I'm lucky I get to participate in another one! We held a completada at Paula's house, which is pretty much a hot dog sale except with Chilean hot dogs (bigger and better and served with avocado and tomato) to raise money for expenses of the schools aniversario. It was fun hanging out with my classmates and working and talking to everyone! After the completada, Paula and the friends and I all got cleaned up to go to our friend Pedro's birthday party. We walked together in a large group (because we are safe like that) to Pedro's house and I have to say that when I arrived I was completely blown away. His house looked like a full on disco (night club? I don't know what the US word is.. hahaha). There were lights everywhere and loud dancing music and soooo many people in his house! It was honestly one of the most fun parties I have ever been to! I danced with all my new friends and spent at least 90% of the night laughing! It felt so good to be there with them and having such a good time. Earlier this week I was having some doubts about my new school and feeling a little lonely while missing my friends from Coya, but this night really helped me with that. Going out with friends outside of school and just dancing the night away is a really good way to feel closer to people I guess! 

The next morning Paula and I slept in super late but were awoken with her big sister tapping lightly on the door and bringing us breakfast pie and tea in bed. It was such a sweet way to wake up and I felt so taken care of and happy! I spent the rest of that day making empanadas with Paula's beautiful family in their lovely little home. They made me laugh and feel very comfortable and I am just so glad I have a friend like Paula who would invite me in to meet her family!

That night Paula's family dropped me off at Katie Ward's house to spend the rest of the weekend with my hilarious Arizonian friend. We hung out with her friend Jose who is super Copland then went bed really early (at like 11 which is super early in Chile hahahah) 

In the morning we went to a rodeo with Katie's family to help sell unhealthy food to the huasos (Chilean cowboys). It was kind of boring and kind of really fun at the same time hahahha. 

(We are so CHILE)

Today we woke up to the most un-eastery Easter ever. There was no chocolate of family time or anything. I mean, everyone on our instagrams got all sorts of treats but Katie's family wasn't that into celebrating I guess. We honestly did nothing all day except for eat toast and watch old movies hahaha. It was a good day, though. I had a good time doing nothing! Katie is a fun person to do nothing with. 

Later my old host parents (Manuel and Lilian) came and picked me up from Katie's house to spend the night in my old host house. It was super weird getting home to my room and seeing all Alex's stuff all over it! I ate Once with my old family and it was a delicious as I had remembered it, and then I came upstairs to get ready for bed and realized I don't have my uniform for tomorrow! But my mom and I found a bunch of Fran's old clothing that kind of works and a mixture of that and Alex's uniform is what I will be wearing tomorrow I guess hahahah. 

Right before writing this, my mom surprised me with a little Easter treat! 

So I guess my Easter bunny found me after all! :)

A New Family and Valpairiso

So two major things happened since the last time I blogged and I am going to take a couple of minutes to tell you about them. First of all, I changed host families and I am absolutely in love with these people! Like the US and Chile, there is no way I can compare my old host family and my new host family because they are both so different and I love them both so much, but I can say that I continue to be incredibly happy here! I forgot what it feels like to be in a house that has kids living in it, and it is so different having Chilean siblings than siblings from the US. Now I can't speak for Chilean children in general, for I have not lived with any except the ones I live with now, but I can tell you that the experience I have been having for the past week has been amazing! My little sister Monse is 9 and she is seriously just a little sun that runs around the house shining all the time. When I arrived, she helped me organize my room and she is always hanging out with me and we have made so many plans together for my last three months in Chile! My host brother, Maxi, is 15 and he is seriously the perfect brother. He is so respectful and helpful and also quite intelligent and hardworking. He is pacient with me and always answers my questions with smiles and I just think he is so amazing. My host mom, Nancy, is very kind to me and is honestly the most incredible baker in the world so I can pretty much just forget about being skinny hahah. I haven't spent much time with my host dad, but what time I have spent with him I have had a good time so I am happy about that too!

 In my new house, I have a nana named Señora Adela and she is soooo great! I love her hahaha. Not only does she make my bed and wash my clothes and make me yummy food, but because she drinks chai tea with me and tells me stories and makes me feel like I have a third host mother. I am so grateful to have a family that accepted me so well into their home and makes me feel loved and cared for. :)

This weekend I went to visit Viña and Valpairiso for the first time with all the exchange students. I have been waiting  to visit those cities since I arrived in Chile and it was so perfect to see them with for the first time with my lovely exchange student family! We spent a lovely day walking along the beach in viña and up through the extravagantly graffitied walls of Valpo! I absolutely fell in love with Valpo. It would have been a perfect day of it hadn't been for the little fire we saw. Up on the hill above is, brown and black smoke began to rise above the city and ash began falling like little burnt snowflakes. We were told it happens all the time in that city and that it was probably nothing, so we continued taking oictures and having a great day. 

But as the afternoon dragged on, the flames did as well. By the time we got back to the hotel we got the report that 11 people had already died, 2,000 homes had been destroyed and that 8,000 people had been left homeless. We were all devastated to hear such news and are planning out as many ways as we can to help out by orgazing fundraisers and collecting food and clothes to send to all the people affected by this tragedy. All I really want to do is get on a bus and go help build them new houses, but the fire stopped very recently and I doubt I would be allowed to go there alone with all the chaos and Rotary rules. It really gets me down thinking about all the people over there, not even that far away from me, scared and cold and not having any idea what to do without any of their belongings. 

But the thing is, Chile is a calloused country filled with people sweet as cabritos but tough as nails. In this country, earthquake after earthquake can knock down every creation made by these people but together they always find a way back up. What is going on right now is traumatic and tragic but if there is one thing I am sure about, it's that despite the pain, the hurt, and the loss, is that these people are going to be okay and that we are all going to see it through. Chileans know how to lend a helping hand and have learned the meaning of what it means to have someone's back because literally everything that hasn't killed them has just made them stronger. 

Fuerza Chile <3