Week 5 - Independence week

Tuesday, Sept 15
Today, I went to a city called Lota with Profesora Luz and the other students. To sum it up, we went to a museum, walked around a massive park, had lunch, and went through a mine! I wasn't ecstatic about waking up at 7 in the morning, but it also meant a long day :). The bus ride wasn't bad - about an hour - and there were things to look at along the way. We got there and met our tour guides right away. They were there waiting for us, pretty convenienent huh? We then walked to where we were greeted by some of the more important people in Lota. They gave a speech of how they were happy to have us here and all that jazz. It was funny - they had someone talking in english.. we all felt really embarrased because the guy butchered the language like no other in terms of his accent. We would have been able to understand better in spanish, haha. They then showed a picture slideshow of the main attractions in the town. There wasn't that many, but at the same time those attractions were of one town only, with little advertisement too. Like, it was a really old-school tourist town. There was a social afterwards, and then we were off to the museum. It was basically a museum with antiques. The rooms were my favorite part, because it felt like we were in part of the white house, or something. The tour guide had an interesting red dress, too! Afterwards, we walked to Parque Lota. It was this huge park with amazing views when you would get close to the top. But besides the views of the ocean there was a lot to see - unique statues, flowers, a lighthouse, and much more.. It was a lot of walking but worth it. Afterwards, we had lunch at some restaurant near the park. The service was actually really good for us 20 people that came. Before we ate they had a Chilean singer sing us some opera music. She had some talent, that's for sure! After lunch, we walked towards the mine. It took about half hour total to walk to the entrance, but a lot of it was downhill. So, we got there and got suited up with a hat with a light and a super heavy battery strap. The mine was okay, it was cool and all but the tourist guy was spent too much time talking. I was just super ancy the whole time because we would walk to one place and he would talk for 20 min before moving on. I guess the portion of the mine that we walked through wasn't that long, but still! Besides that, it was interesting. Just the fact that I had been down there underneath the ocean was good enough for me; I didn't need a history lesson on it. We walked a lot that day, considering we had to walk back from the mine exit which was mainly uphill! We then returned home - the ride back seemed much shorter - and i had dinner at my house.

Wednesday, Sept 16
No class today because they held a ramada at the university. I had not planned anything that day because I didn't realize that there was a huge fest going on! Lindsay called me at around 3, wondering if I was going to the "ramada." I had no idea what she was talking about, but I decided to take a micro to the university anyways because i needed something to do xD. I noticed a pretty big crowd around plaza peru, and there was even more people as a walked on campus. It took me a while to figure it out but then it hit me - a huge party fest on campus!! There were tons of small vendors selling cheap chicha, cerveza (beer), and ponche (wine with fruit), empanadas, sopapillas (bread with sauce), and others like bread with frosting. It didn't even look like campus! I met Lindsay, her Chillean friend, Haley, Catie, Jessica, and Cheryl and we walked around/hung out. As it got later it got more and more packed - up to the point where it was difficult to walk around without hitting someone. In terms of size, it seemed like the whole student body of saint cloud was there, and EVERYONE was partying. I guess it was a sense of how Woodstock was like. I thought it was really cool. They also had a concert by the water fountain, and if weren't close to them, you could still get a nice view from the top of the stairs. After chilling there for a while, we went to Pub Quebec and hung out with 2 Chileans. I ordered a Sandwich Chilleno because those things are amazing. The bar was practically empty at 9pm when we entered, and it was packed by the time we left at midnight. I was tired, but still had fun.

Thursday, Sept 17
Today was another day of Ramadas! I didn't go till later, though. After lunch, I played some cards with my family, and then we set up ballons for Dia de La Independencia. This will be held tomorrow, the 18th. I hung out for a while, and then met up with Al and Allison in the Plaza Peru at 7. The ramadas today were at Parque Ecuador, so we walked there and met up with Jessica, her Chilean brother Rodrigo, and Amy. We went inside the big tent where the festivities were held. On one side, they had games similar to what you would see at county fair, and on the other side there were barbeques of anticuchas (shish kabobs). You could see your food being cooked right in front of you. We ate some of the anticuchas.. they were amazing! It makes a difference when you are getting them right off the grill! There were also many places to sit down and order empanadas and drinks. After looking around for a while, we sat down and got some empanadas and socialized for a while. And then we decided to play a few games. One where a toy plane would go around in a circle and land on one of 3 colors randomly (blue, red, white). If you pick the right color you double the money you put in. It is tradition to play, even though you are probably going to lose, haha. It was fun trying, anyways. There was also a game where you throw a ring and try to land it around a bottle, and you win the bottle if you are able to do so. It was practically impossible, though. We were going to dance there, but it was 4 dollars to enter, and we had no idea how good it would be. So, we decided to go to Brad's party instead. We said bye to Rodrigo and then took a bus to Chiguayante. We attracted a couple chilenos in the bus to talk to, and they were pretty cool. When we got to Brad's, the barbeque had already started. They were grilling steak and pork... good stuff! Some people were outside socializing and eating, while others were inside dancing it up. I stayed outside for a while, meeting a couple chilenos while being warmed by the fiery barbeque. But then after a while I went into the house, and already could see some people dancing the salsa. I was anxious to dance, but didn't know how to salsa well. So, I just started dancing while everyone else did; dancing more of a hip hop rhythm and being creative with my moves. I made the night short from dancing and eating a lot, haha. I could have probably socialized a little more, though! I left at around 4pm while mostly everyone else that DIDN'T live in Chiguayante/didn't want to pay for a taxi stay till 9am.

Friday, Sept 18
Today was Indepedence day! A day of barbeques, live bands, kite-flying, and discoteques! I got up at 11 and already the family was preparing for the big barbeque! I helped put together the shish kabobs - we were going to make about 25 of them! I also helped make some of the empanadas. I then watched my padre grill the shish kabobs. He was able to to grill all 25 at once! The empanadas were done first, so I ate 3 of them before almuerzo. And then, my host parents danced the Cueca! This is Chile's national dance. Then, my host mom wanted me to dance! I did alrite for the first time trying! It was actually a lot harder than it looked. I guess it is because it is a very specific dance and you kind of have to know the steps to dance well! Oliver recorded me dancing without me knowing, haha. That was fun, and then Oliver and my host mom danced afterwards. They were good. It was then time for almuerzo, which was shish kabobs and salad - I only had one skewer because I was full from the empanadas before. It was really good though! Chilean barbeques are awesome! After a while, Luis came over and we headed out to a ramada in Hualqui (a nearby community). I had 2 interesting foods - bread with frosting, and an apple with jolly rancher coating. Both were super good! Except for the apple being incredibly hard to eat! See, I like the food here because it is simple - I was never one for adding so much flavor into your food where you can't even taste the food itself! For example dumping a gallon of syrup on top of pancakes! No gracias! They also had a live band there. They were decent. After a while, Pau, Oliver, Luis, and I decided to head out to a park in San Pedro next to the ocean. The park was packed with people flying kites all over. We flew a kite for a while and had fun hanging out. It was really funny listening to Luis' jokes. It was really nice to go out and hang with friends! Oh it was funny when we lost our kite.. We ran to Luis' car and tried to find it.. We got close but it just wouldn't fall. But, it was fun trying to catch it because it was like an adventure. Afterwards, we got Luis' girlfriend in Talcahuano and headed to Luis' house to hang for a while. We then went to a dance club in Chiguyante called 'Camicasa.' It was fun. I always have fun when I go to that dance club. I was so tired by the end of the night, though. Like, exhausted. It was so fun though.

Saturday, Sept 19
I slept in a lot today.. I actually missed almuerzo so I had to eat alone! I was kind of embarrassed, but at the same time, it's good that I got some rest. I had a huge lunch - bread, 2 empanadas, a shish kabob, and salad! Well, it seemed huge, anyways. Today was Dia de las Glorias del Ejercito. All of the military marched for like 4 hours straight. I watched some of it on tv while eating. Then I went on my computer, but it decided to not work. It was a problem with the Microsoft update, and my computer wouldn't start-up. Luckily, my padre allowed me to use his computer to fix the problem. After a couple of hours of testing out different ways of fixing it, I finally found a way. I was happy, and felt that all of that work was worth it! :). Afterwards, I hung out for a while, and later my family celebrated 1 month of me being here with some Chicha. I had some empanadas with the chicha too, haha. They were delicious. I also watched some news with the family. It was a short, yet overall good turnout of a day.

Sunday, Sept 20
Sunday was a day of relaxation. However, my idea of relaxing is NOT being a couch potato, but I did anyways. I felt kind of down, not sure why. I didn't feel like doing homework, not sure why either. I figured that I would just put it off till tomorrow when I am in a better mood. Today I just stayed in the house, but there wasn't much to do on a Sunday anyways. But still, I should try avoiding those days from now on, haha! Tonight, though, we had a barbeque with chicken, steak, and pork. The family made a lot of food and it was all good. We ate outside and my whole host family was there, including my sister and her pololo (boyfriend).

Monday, Sept 21
Monday morning came fast, and it was somewhat hard to get back into the swing of things! Class consisted of another long lecture on Latin American Literature. It isn't the most interesting subject, but I still was able to keep myself occupied by writing notes. It seems to be getting easier to understand spanish as it is taught. I suppose long lectures tend to do that, haha. After class, I went home for lunch. I showed my host mom a list of books that I needed to read for my literature class, and they had 1 in the house. I should be set for a while. I hung out for a while, and then I went with my host dad to pick up Oliver from the University. Apparently, he had tests all day long! On the way there, he pointed out the Bio-Tren that was moving at about the same speed as the cars, so we could watch it. I also watched the lights reflect Bio Bio River. That reminded me of the lakes in Minnesota at night, except there were a lot more lights! We stopped by the supermarket to pick up some things, and then went to pick him up. When Oliver got into the car, he practically fell asleep right away! About 10 minutes into the car ride back, we could already hear him snoozing.. he must have been tired huh. My padre and I didn't talk much the rest of the way back; to let Oliver sleep and to enjoy watching the night river that passed us by. It was like one of those lakes in northern Minnesota, except it seperates cities instead of lodges and campsites...but it was just as calming to look at at night. We then returned for dinner and watched Donde Esta Eliza; our usual soap opera.

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