ONE MONTH?!

What?  How have I already been here for over a month?  It seems like I was just nannying and summering by the pool!  Since it has been a good two weeks since I posted on here, this is going to be a LONG post.

Last time I posted I talked about our brief trip to the Botanical Gardens.  The next day, I met up with some friends at the Plaza Viña, which is about a 30 minute walk from my house, to search out a panadería (bakery) for breakfast.  I ended up getting this yummy sweet break with some sort of cream and a piece of bread.  Then we went to the grocery store and bought some spreadable cheese.  We walked to the park in the center of the plaza to eat.  Not a bad breakfast.

Later that day, I decided on a whim to go to frisbee because my friend Charlie had suggested it the previous day.  So I walked there with some friends who actually play on the club frisbee team at CSBSJU.  FYI: We are not talking playing fetch with your dog or lazily tossing a disc back and forth.  This is a real sport with lots of running and athleticism required!  It was a lot of running and I still need to work on my throwing technique, but it was fun.  The best part was a) people from all over Viña played with us and b) the Chileans on the team invited us to an asado (barbecue for those of you who haven't been reading) later that night.  So, once again, I decided to do something random and go to a total stranger's house, of course with several people I knew (I'm not that stupid)!

The inside of the church I go to.

First, I went home, changed quick, and got a micro to Reñaca, the next town over , for mass.  I went with my friend Allison who lives in my building.  The church is dedicated to San Expedito and has an outdoor chapel covered with little engraved plaques thanking the saint for times his intercession has helped them.  I have gone three times now.  Generally, I go with my neighbors, Dan and Allison.  The first time I went, their host brother Pancho also joined us, but apparently he has been at a debate tournament in Santiago the past week so I haven't seen him around.  I really enjoy the church.  I like how it is dark out when we go, which puts me in a quiet, reverent mood.  I also really love the choir, more like a band, that consists of mostly young people, a guitar, and a violin.  Even though I don't really know the responses or songs (except most of the "Our Father" because we had to memorize it in grade school for some odd reason), I like trying to learn.  This past week, I actually understood almost all of the priest's homily, which was really exciting to me!  I like being able to go to church here, it reminds me of home. I'm also glad to go with friends so I can give hugs during the sign of peace.  I love doing that :)

After that, I took a micro straight to meet my friend and walk to meet the rest of the group.  We all introduced ourselves properly again since we didn't really talk much during frisbee.  They were all really nice, but it turns out they lived about a 20 minute walk further from where we were, but no worries, one guy drove us.  Kevin, the guy who lived in the house we went to was extremely nice and very welcoming.  His house was pretty nice too!  We headed to the back patio and just hung out chatting with all of the Chileans and people from all over the world.  My friend Maddy and I met a guy from Iowa!  It took a long time for the chorripans to cook and I was quite hungry, but it was worth it - they were delicious!  Even though we had just met most of the people that day, they were really funny and easy to hang out with.  That night ended up being one of my favorites so far in Chile!  Except when we had to walk 30 minutes and take a micro to get home, so we didn't get there until about 1 am and I had class at 8:30 the next day.  I was tired and almost fell asleep in class, but I think it was worth it.  I know they all went out again last Thursday, but I had to get up early to ski (more on that in a bit!!) so I did not go.  I will be going to frisbee again for sure though!

Stoop kids.

Mistral Ice. And a good friend :)

Definition of an asado.

The week after that was more class, volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday night, and normal stuff like that.  However, Friday was anything but ordinary!  I woke up at 4 am and got went out to meet my taxi (which I called on my own!) and took it to catch a bus near Plaza Viña.  Apparently there were about 75 students going up that day, but something like 15 exchange students from my school went.  Ski Portillo Viña provided transportation, rental, and, if necessary, a lesson for only 45.000 pesos (which is about $95 USD) - all in all, pretty cheap!  I slept most of the way up, except that we had to stop for about an hour in the mountains because the road was really icy.  Apparently there is only one road that passes that way through the mountains and into Argentina (we will take it for our trip to Mendoza in a couple weeks!!) so the road was pretty backed up the rest of the day.  While we waited, we got out and some people hackeysacked.  I was just dumbfounded by how I could have been living in 100º + humidity weather less than a month before, but now I was in a place that had snow on the ground and was about to ski!  Crazy!  After that, we had to snake our way up the mountain on a really windy road. Once at Portillo, we had to wait over an hour in lines and trying on ski gear before we could hit the slopes, but when we finally did, it was completely worth the wait!  Portillo is so different from any ski resort I have been to in Colorado or Montana.  There are no trees, it has very jagged rocks, and there is a beautiful lake at the center of it all.  A few girls and I started on the easiest lift for the first few lifts with a friend of Felipe's named Hernan, who took some pictures and videos of us.  Then we ran into some of the others and decided to test the rest of the runs.  By the end of the day, several people had fallen, we had seen some of the most beautiful views of our lives, and we were sufficiently cold!  After a group photo in front of the lake, it was time to get back on the bus and head to Viña again.  Of course the day had its stresses, cold moments, and uncomfortable moments (it was my first time skiing without the family and I didn't exactly pack all of my ski stuff), but it was completely worth it.  How many times do you get to say you SKIED IN THE ANDES?

Finally ready to ski!!

Beautiful view from the hotel.

Windy road up the mountain.

Katherine and I being awesome.

The whole gang.

Ordering the Big Box special -
"As big and varied as friendship!"

Seeing as it was a Friday night and we got home at 9, I didn't want to go home, even though I was exhausted.  So I walked directly from the bus to my friend Nicole's apartment.  We decided to have a couple other friends (Caitlin and Abby) over, order Pizza Hut (we were craving American pizza!), and watch a movie.  We ended up talking for a long time and only got half way through Role Models (so funny) before we were all about to sleep.  Abby and I are on the volleyball team and we had to get up early the next morning for a tournament.  So I got home at 2 am and woke up again at 9 to meet up with the team.  We ended up having to drive 40 minutes inland to the town of Quillota from which you can see the mountains.  I found out when we got there that we were playing in a tournament for high school teams!  I felt terrible and a little awkward, especially since some of them were tiny.  We beat every team by at least 10, but we didn't play as well as we should have, all things considered.  We played 3 games total, with a lunch break in which we wandered around the town looking for empanadas.  We took a bus home at the end and Abby and I got to chat a little more with two of our teammates, Coni Mödinger and Pilo.  It was nice to talk to Chileans on a smaller scale and also nice to talk to Abby more.  Overall, even though I considered not going earlier in the day, it ended up being pretty fun.

Girls from the team.

Manjar with Doblon cookies!

That tournament was also where I discovered my new love for manjar.  A girl on the team, Coni, sells something called alfajores, which are similar to Reese's, but instead of peanut butter on the inside, there is manjar.  They are SO good (son muy rriiiicooos!)!  Lately, I have gotten into the rather bad habit of adding manjar to most of the things I eat.  What is manjar? you might ask.  Well it is this deliciously sweet, caramel-like (dulce de leche) spread that goes well with fruit, bread, and I would venture to guess it would taste pretty darn delicious when slightly heated and drizzled over ice cream.  Haven't tried it yet, though.  Everyone here is obsessed with it and at first I tried something I didn't like with manjar in it, so I thought I didn't like it.  Wrong.  I love it!  Already finished off that carton and my host mom bought another big one - yay!  Apparently they don't have it in the US, so many of the people in my group are already lamenting our future lost.  I guess I will just have to buy some and bring it home like girls from last year did.

That night a bunch of my friends and I met up with a new friend and classmate of Maki's (my host sister) named Chris at Café Juglar for terremotos.  He also brought a friend along so we could meet more Chileans.  The funny thing is that about 30 minutes after we got there, my brother and his friends walked in.  Of course they were being their loud, 18-year-old selves singing, chanting, and drinking.  We ended up sitting near them and I talked with him and his friends the whole time.  My bro was tired, but one of his friends tried to come with us when went to go dance at Café Journal.  They wouldn't let him in because he isn't 21, but they let us, the Americans, in even though we are only 20.  Hopefully we will hang out with him again soon though, he was super nice and I felt bad they sent him home :(

The next day, I was supposed to go to volleyball again, but I decided to call in "sick" since Abby wasn't going and I was running on dangerously little sleep.  I slept in and then did some homework before church and skyping my family.  Funny story about sickness.  So lately everyone seems to have a cold, but two people on our trip actually have gotten throw-up sick.  One of them, Kelsey, was pretty bad the other day.  Her tía came in the check on her one day and asked if she could ask a very personal question.  Kelsey told her to go ahead.  It was.  Very personal that is.  She asked, "Estás embarasada?"  For all of you non-Spanish speakers out there, that means "Are you pregnant?"  Apparently since Kelsey threw up and was a little bloated, her tía automatically assumed she was pregnant!!  But, of course, being Chilean, this would not have upset her tía, who said that she loves children and they could play with her together.  So dramatic and ridiculous.  Such are Chilean mothers haha.

One other funny story.  A couple of weeks ago we went to apply for our Chilean id cards (called Carnets or RUTs) in Valpo.  A friend of mine, Brian, went up to apply for his.  Right now, he is a little scarf obsessed for some reason so he mentioned to the lady working there that he liked her scarf.  She thanked him and went to get something.  When they were finished and he was about to leave, all of a sudden she offers him his scarf.  "Here. For you."  Brian was completely confused because he had only said he liked it and it was a woman's scarf.  Apparently sometimes if you compliment something in Chile that automatically means you deserve it.  I wish that had been the case when I complimented a friend from volleyball's boots.  Anyway, we went back to pick up our id's today because it said on our receipts to come on August 29th.  We all met at 10 am in Plaza Viña, took a micro to Valpo, and navigated our way to the building just to find out.... the cards weren't ready.  Though this greatly amused my brother when I told him later, I was not laughing.  I want my ID so I can scan into the Naval School when we go to volleyball practice instead of having to talk to the guard each time!  Well one good thing is that we shot a clip of our group dancing in the Plaza Sotomayor in Valpo for our the Chile annual video that each group does.

I forgot to write about one exciting, yet mildly horrifying thing did happened the same day as Bingo.  My friend Katherine and I went to Starbucks to discuss skiing plans with a guy who works for Ski Portillo Viña (Portillo is the name of a ski resort in the Andes near Santiago).  While we were there discussing plans and payment, all of a sudden Katherine freaks out, jumps up, and asks where her backpack is.  We look everywhere, run downstairs to see if someone has it and to talk to the manager/workers.  Yes, even though both the Ski Portillo Viña guy and I were both looking right at her and her bag was leaning against her leg, it still managed to get stolen.  We had even been warned by past groups that you need to guard your things carefully in Starbucks.  However, this really could have happened to anybody because Katherine is normally very careful and the Ski Portillo guy is there everyday with his backpack on the ground and it never happens to him.  I am really mad because I know they saw that we are gringas and they targeted us for it.  It is really unfair that that is how things work, but we cannot change it.  To make things worse, my director Marietta was on the phone and demanded to talk to the manager.  However, the manager said that the security video goes to Santiago, and they would not be able to access it till the next day - some help they are!  Essentially, they couldn't do anything and that was the third bag that had been stolen from that location THAT WEEK.  Obviously, they need a better security system!'  Also, the ski guy (Felipe by the way) told us that that Friday the road might close due to ice and snow, so we decided to postpone until the next week.

An update on my Spanish: It is definitely improving vastly, although I may not realize it.  I now understand over 50% of what my Chilean friends are saying when they talk rapidly, slang and all.  Still, I have daily troubles speaking and all of the English in my group doesn't help me.  Sometimes it feels like I will never be fluent, but I know I get closer every day!

¡Buenas noches from Viña del Mar!

Bingo!

Complex bingo configurations

Last week I went to a Bingo fundraiser with my host mom and host sister.  My host mom's office was putting it on, so the employees were all pitching in to make it run smoothly.  My mom had a special part - she got to sing with a small group while dancers danced the Cueca (Chile's traditional dance)!  It was really cool to see her sing and to experience Chilean culture in personal way.  The Bingo was also really fun.  I was at a table with Maky, her friend from University, and some of their family.  There were 5 rounds of Bingo, each with three winners: one for winner a row, one for winner a letter, and one for winning blackout.  I only got 2 cards free, but ended up buying all 5 because it was fun and it went to a good charity.
The charity was called Dalegría, a school for children with disabilities.  At the beginning, some kids from the school danced a Broadway dance to New York, New York by Frank Sinatra, which was very cute.  Later, after a couple rounds of Bingo, we watched a video about the school.  I go to charity events a lot with my family in the US, and it was really cool to experience such a similar event in Chile.
Although I did not win any of the prizes (I was one number away from a blackout, which would have won the trip to Buenos Aires!!), my table won several.  Between rounds, they tried to pump people up by having the announcer go around and play music.  Our table did a congo line around the table and one girl won a Lean Shake mix.  It was all in English so they kept asking me to explain what it is (even though most of them know some English).  Maky's friend won a camera and her aunt won the moped!  It was a fun night overall and I do not regret the large amount I spent there.

Jardines Botanicos

On Saturday, we did not have anything to do so a few of us decided to check out the Botanical Gardens.  They are more inland and South from me so we all took a micro.  Had a little mishap on the micro - more like a Gringo moment - when we had no idea when we were getting off and got off at the wrong place.  It turns out the bus turns around right after that point and goes directly to the gardens so we did the walk of shame as he pulled over and we all filed back onto the bus.  Live and learn!
When we got there, we didn't actually do much.  We meandered around and saw the asado area where many groups of Chilean family and friends were barbecuing.  I will definitely be putting together a group to go barbecue there sometime in the future!  Then we went looking for trails and climb a little up this hill, but it was too steep and we weren't really prepared for hiking.  After that we just sort of went to a little pond and grassy area near the entrance, played a little frisbee, and laid around.
As we were walking out, not only did we see baby ginger triplets and a little kid zone where creepy cartoon characters were dancing around with balloons, but also the actual map of the park.  Turns out we only explored a tiny corner of it.  Whoops!  That just means we have to go back!  Next time I hope to do canopy (ziplining).
Here's the website: http://www.jardin-botanico.cl/
On the way home, we struggled once again.  We walked across a bridge to wait at a bus stop.  After waiting about 20 minutes, we asked a man nearby if a bus was coming.  He said he thought we had to walk back across the bridge so we began to follow him.  Midway across the bridge there comes a micro steaming through.  We started shouting and waving, but the driver chose to ignore us a barreled past.  That really pissed me off, but I don't think he stopped at the bus stop either.  So then we followed a bunch of other people who were waiting to the nearest metro station... which was 20 more minutes away!  After buying a metro card and waiting a while, we finally got on the train and made it home safe and sound.  Such a struggle, but it was something to do and ended up being really fun.

The sunset was painting pretty colors in the sky.

Chilling in mi casa with Caitlin, Kelsey, and Nicole (Maddy is taking the picture).

After all of that walking, a bunch of us girls were just ready to chill and did not feel like going out.  So I invited some friends over to my house to watch and movie.  We had hot chocolate and some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that I made and did not end up watching the movie because we talked for hours.  So fun!

La Sebastiana

For seminar this week we went to the house of Pablo Neruda (in Valparaíso because he actually had four houses, one in Valpo, one in Isla Negra, one in Santiago, and one in Madrid, Spain).  This one is called La Sebastiana.  It has five floors and an amazing view of the ocean because it is up on one of the hills.  Each floor contains quirky works of art, furniture, and unique colors and decorating.  I actually really enjoyed it.  Even though I haven't really read the poetry of Pablo Neruda, I bought a book of it there and am starting to read it.  It's really beautiful so far and will help me practice my Spanish!

Guide equipment

Original entrance to house.

View from third floor window.

Caitlin and I in front of the house.