Badada, badada, baaadat

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Hola

Life is good. I think I did really well on each of the 4 tests we had. 4 more coming up this next week. Yeah. Crazy last two weeks. And I am counting down the days until the Rotary Orientation.

And I just realized I've been here for almost 4 months now. Kind of scary

The video game craze here in Vallenar is DotA. It's a variation of Warcraft III online, stands for Defense of the Ancients. As I understand, you choose a heroe, you defend a base, and then the game consumes your life. People here have "tareo." Everyone brings their computer to somebody's house, and they play Warcraft III all night. All night. Like, last night my host brother had a tareo here, and they started at about 9, and finished at about 9 today. That would be too much for me, I think. I was at a party, got home really tired, and then I went to bed. Otherwise I would have joined them for a while. I've just started learning, but I can stop anytime I want...

Last night and all through today is the Teleton. Pronounced teh-leh-TONE, for all you in Gringolandia. It's big. Every Chilean tv channel broadcasts it. They have all kinds of different entertainment that they bring in, but their goal is to gather a whole lot of money for aid to the disabled. This year's goal is 11,000,000,000,000 pesos. That's about 22,000,000 dollars. And they raise it each year. People around the country go to the bank and deposit in the Teleton account, companies donate, the bank was full of people when I went there today.

I'm told the guy who started the Teleton got the idea from Jerry Louis's telethon. The difference is that I wasn't really familiar with Jerry Louis's telethon, but EVERYONE knows about the Teleton. Pretty much the whole country takes part.

The Teleton has it's own jingle, with a lot of Badada, badada, baaadat, and something at the end that I never quite catch.

My school, Colegio Ambrosio O'Higgins (CAO'H) had their own CAO'Hton to help. Students prepared songs to sing, dances, a fashion show, etc.

Having a great time, but missing you people

Ian

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Photos

El Centro
downtown Vallenar. If you're looking for a store, chances are it's here

Asado by Spotlight
we had a barbecue for the senior class. It was one of those really sad/happy moments. Most of this class has been together since kindergarten.

Orquesta
This is the orchestra I play in. We don't have much for facilities, as you can see, but we have a good time

Glenn y Ricardo
from the orchestra, after our Gala

what breed?
this is the most strangely colored dog I have ever seen. Checkitout

This is the class size in my school
that's all of the senior class. And they all know each other. It's cool

Incendio
there are a lot of fires here. Usually brushfires, I think. You can hear the sirens. Whether it's the result of somebody being careless, or some spontaneous fire caused by a discarded magnifying glass, it happens. Fire department has their work cut out for them.

Makes me miss Ruby
This dog just walked into the room one day and fell asleep in class. That teacher isn't one who gets overly worked up about discipline

flowers
I don't know what any of these are called, but oh well

My Neighborhood
my city is in a valley, hence, the name Vallenar