Another two weeks? What?

Okay, so I have decided that two weeks is a reasonable amount of time to account for in one blog post. I just don't have enough time to do it more frequently! Sorry! Anywho (word compliments of itzel), I'll start where I left off, exactly two weeks ago! Okay, so the week following my last post was a big party for my whole school. It was in celebration of the anniversary of my colegio so we had competitions, games, sports, dancing, late starts, and early endings the whole week! On Monday we didn't have school, so nice. Tuesday in the morning we had mass, but the other mass I went to was sooooo boring even more boring than mass in the U.S. because I couldn't understand anything they were saying. So, I didn't go in the morning and just slept. When I got there late we had the presentation of alliances which was sooooo fun! I was a flapper in my Charleston gettup with my husband Al Capone (the guy in the photo above). Super duper fun! After, I went home and showered because my hair was in a tight bun for the presentation and afterwards was a mess. I ate onces, then went to the fogon (sp.?) which was a party at the school that went pretty late and was pretty cold but really cool. There was a lot of music and games and dancing. Wednesday we went to a camping site (like a recreational activity place) and did sports for points and such... I myself participated in a bike race, volleyball and the water war. The bike thing though went really bad for my team because it was me and my Al Capone but I still wasn't adjusted to the high elevation and had a really big problem with my lungs. I couldn't finish. My teammate did, but got really, really sick afterwards. Poor guy has a heart sickness and went to the hospital. I was so worried because he is one of my best guy friends here because he is super sweet and funny. Anyways, afterwards we relaxed a bit and drank lots of water. There was a jump rope competition. We then went to play volleyball. Here, I am actually pretty good haha. My team won against the seniors! wooo! We went back to eat lunch and after lunch was the water war. One of the best times here so far! I loved it! I think that night was the fonomimica where I was the town gossip with rollers in my hair and a robe with slippers and high socks. That was interesting. Thursday I slept in too because I was super exhausted. When I arrived they were all playing games for competitions. One game was there was a line of people from certain grades and they at the beginning one person put on a hat and ate what was in front of them. When they finished, the judge checked to make sure they ate it all and the hat was passed to the next person so on and so forth. We were losing when I got there but we won in the end! In the night we did the choreography. Everybody did so well but Tercero Medio (my team, woot woot!) did the best! ours was sooooo funny and well organized. Friday we had a choice of whether to clean the classroom or go to a church and sell things to raise money. I went to the Civic Operation at the church and it was a blast. At first I was a little confused because people kept asking me questions in Spanish and I was just like " Paine, cuanto cuesta?" and then he would answer bless his heart. But, in the end, I turned to hats which al had a fixed cost and I could model them. Hahaha, "modela americana a la alianza naranja" super funny. That night was the fancy party thing. Kind of like Homecoming. I borrowed my sister's dress and so it fit me fine up top because it was stretchy but otherwise it was a little short! Everyone said not to worry though because I looked really cute and great. So I was lke oki doki! hahah. That was a lot of fun and I actually danced! Regeton was fun and I got a hold of it pretty quick. There they announced the winning alliance whose prize was a week with street wear. WE WONNNN!!! The dance itself ended at 2 am but I wasn't very tired. It wasn't until I got in the car that the sleepiness hit me. In this little 5 seater car was 9 people. I had a really skinny senior kid on my lap and I slept on his back. We went to Maca's house but I slept in her bed while they did whatever. After that, we went to go get food (completos = hot dogs with avocado, tomato, the works) but I was so tired I didn't eat. ooph. We finally got back home at 5:30 in the morning. Dear Lord. I slept till one, bathed, and spent the day in bed resting and drawing and watching movies on a computer. The next day we had an asado as celebration for winning the Aniversario. Yummmm! That was super fun. Last week we had classes like normal but in jeans and t shirts and other regular clothes not uniforms.Woo hoo! Friday after school (we don't have classes in the afternoon) all the girls in my class and I went to the mall to eat lunch and walk around. School let out at one and we all finished eating at around 3. I went home at around 5:30 after buying some much needed chapstick. I cleaned my room and lied down until around 6:30 my liaison came over for a check up and onces. I was so tired from walking around the mall though and went to bed at like 9:30-10. Yesterday I woke up at 11:30 (how nice, 13 hours of uninterrupted sleep) I was still feeling lazy though so I watched The Incredibles in English with Spanish subtitles. I just had a sudden urge to hear Frozone say "honey, WHERE is my super suit?" bahaha I love that movie. After, I painted my toe nails blue and my fingers clear. That night Javi had her friends over (Maca, Gabo, Nico) and we just talked, ate pizza and listened to music. That was good fun. It's pretty warm here during the day and so I like to wear shorts but everyone thinks I'm insane. But really I'm not cold. haha. Today, my mom, Javi, Maca and I went to the center to buy Cueca costumes. I used Chilean public transportation for the first time! Incredible! It's actually not that bad... We got back, ate lunch and now here I am. Yep! Well that's about all folks! until the next two weeks, I bid you CHAO!

las dos semanas primeras (the first two weeks!)

I knew from the very beginning that I was going to be bad at this whole blogging thing. Okay! So, about two weeks before I left, I received the information about my host family. They live in Calama, Chile which is in the desert in the north. I have two sisters, one of which lives in Santiago for college. Her name is Valeria and she goes by Vale. My other sister lives at home and is a senior in high school. Lastly, I have a mom and a dad. So, on Wednesday the 27^th of July, I left Phoenix for Miami, Florida at 7 in the morning and boarded the plane at 7:45. The movie was Rio, which was kind of ironic, hahaha. I arrived at Miami International Airport at 4:00 their time, so the flight was about 4 hours and there was a three hour time difference. In Miami there was a short orientation for all the people in the United States who were going to South America. There were 3 other girls who were going to Chile as well. The next afternoon we went to the airport at around 3:30 even though our flight left at 7. On that flight I didn’t sit next to any of the people I knew but I did get an aisle seat. The in-flight entertainment was AMAZING. There was a touch-screen TV in front of us and it had movies, TV shows, videogames, and music. Lots of everything. They weren’t bad movies either! They had The Hangover, Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer and much, much more. The music was good too. The plane landed at around midnight and we had a one hour layover in Lima, Peru. I didn’t sit next to the girls on that flight either and I was in the middle seat of the middle row. And my entertainment didn’t work. AGH, it kept playing Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I couldn’t turn my screen off. When that flight landed it was 5:30 in the morning and we had to work out the many, many problems with the Visas and customs and so on and so forth. We finally got out at 8:00 am (ay, Dios mio.) and we met the AFS guy who was waiting for us. I was starving so I had scrambled eggs with cheese and hot chocolate (yumm). Then we went in a van to the church-like place we were staying at with around 70 other AFS students from all over the world. I met so many incredible people!  I was, of course, exhausted. Did you notice how I didn’t mention sleep? Yeah. Well we got to the place at around 9:30 but we weren’t allowed to sleep because we were the first there and there were plans when the others arrived. We were allowed until 11 to do whatever we wanted. By the time I finally crawled into my bed it was 10. I had a 45 minute power nap. The rest of the day was spent welcoming the flocks of people coming from Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Mexico, Czech Republic, Russia and much more.  I had been awake for approximately 48 hours when I finally got a good sleep. Saturday.  When I awoke I was still completely worn out, 8 hours was definitely not enough time to sleep! I powered on, however, because there was orientation work to be done. Work, work, work, chat, chat, chat, and make friends the whole day. Unfortunately, in the middle of the day I felt a migraine coming on. I was dizzy, all the time, and was having vision problems. I went to my room to lie down and my stomach was upset. I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch but threw up twice. I slept from 10 to 7, awoke to play some games with AFSers and went back to sleep at ten. The next morning, Sunday, I felt much better! My family picked me up at 8:30 and we drove around Santiago for a while. We went to my sister’s apartment (she lives and studies in Santiago) to drop off luggage, then to the Santa Maria (see photo) on a mountain, then to my grandparents’ house for lunch. The food, OH, the food. It was an asado (barbecue) and there was steak, chicken, sausage, and ribs. Lunch is the main meal of the day and there was so much food! We hung out at the house for a while because more family kept coming to visit. We left around 6:30 for the airport and my family was shocked at how little luggage I had (16kgs compared to my sister’s 22). The flight was okay but I was still tired and it’s impossible for me to sleep on the plane. When we arrived in Calama, we went to the itty-bitty airport and climed our luggage. I was met by my AFS liaison (Cecila) who recently went on a foreign exchange program to the US who gave me a flag of Chile, a mining hat key chain of copper, and a blue scarf to go with my uniform. When we got home we had a late onces at around 11:30 then went to bed. My bed is so big and there are at least 10 blankets. I am basically buried! I slept well and woke up without an alarm at 7 and went to school in regular clothes because I didn’t yet have my uniform. At the colegio as it’s called, I met Sofie de Sena, my best Finnish friend! She is so sweet, speaks English but practically no Spanish (but is catching on super quickly) and is a little more than a year older than me but in the same grade. My class is excellent! I love the people. The schedule, however, is very confusing. It is different every day. That first day was really bad for me because I still hadn’t gained my Spanish ear and I had dance, Curso, Volleyball, Math, Chemistry, English, and Language. Everyone spoke so fast. Now, if a teacher doesn’t know me, my classmates tell him/her that I understand only if he/she speaks slowly. MY favorite classes are Math and English. Math is just numbers and the words are similar. For example, Pythagorean Theorem is “Teorias Pitágoras” and 2^2 is “dos al cuadrato”. So, I understand and am able to exceed! The teachers of math are impressed. Chemistry, however, is entirely different. I haven’t taken Chem before and I jumped into the second semester of Junior Chem in Spanish. My second day of Chemistry I broke down and cried. I cant take it! So, recently my parents went to a back to school sort of thing where the parents talk with the teachers and such. When they came home, they were like “guess what! You don’t have to take chemistry anymore!” So now instead of chemistry on Tuesdays I help the little kids in my school in their English classes. It’s so funny because when I go out for break, they all yell “hola Hannah! ¿como estas?” haha I’m famous.  The weekends, oh, the weekends are incredible! I am perpetually exhausted because I am always so busy! Parties with classmates are called “carretes” and are every weekend. They go from about 8 pm to 2 am and are so much fun. Sometimes, I will just hang out with a couple of friends at the mall (which I think is really big), the cine, or even just a friend’s house to watch a movie like I did Friday night with Diego, Sofie, and Marcelo.  Yeah, so I will really try to keep this blog updated and this post was hard because there is so much catching up to do. If you want to see photos, on my facebook there is an album titled “chi chi chi le le le” and it has all of the photos I have taken so far! CHAO! (: