Couldn't sleep until I blogged, ugh.

---

The weather here has been great. Tuesday was another beautiful day. I took the micro to school for Professor Triana's class from 10 to 12. We worked on writing about ourselves. After class, I went with Christina, Catie, and Hayley to show them where the registro civil was. Catie and I also wanted to exchange out American money.
While Hayley and I waited for the other two, we walked around and tried to find the money exchange place. We didn't find any and so we went back to the registro civil around 12:40. I was supposed to go home for lunch with my host mom around 1:20 so we didn't have a whole lot of time. Catie was convinced that there is a place on O'Higgins so we walked down there. We got all the way to the Plaza de Independencia and I decided I better call my host mom and tell her she didn't need to wait for me. It was probably 1:30. She came and got me anyways.
I was only like 1 block away from the place to exchange money! All that walking for nothing. Their nephew Felipe who is about the same age as me was also there for lunch and my host brothers as well, since they don't have school for another week.
After lunch I went back with my host mom to the University because I was supposed to do work study with Professor Triana at 4:15. Before we went back my host mom took me back to the plaza and went with me to exchange my American money. I had 250 dollars to get rid of. After that I went to work study. All I ended up doing was organizing her receipts by date and taping them in a notebook. Very difficult. After that I went home with my host mom around 5:30 or 6. We stopped at a grocery store near our house on the way home. I had never been to this store before. I didn't even know it existed. I had my host mom buy me green tea with lemon because I was getting sick of drinking plain old tea all the time. Tea with lemon is my favorite.
When I got home I was so exhausted, I didn't want to do anything. I showered and just did homework the rest of the night. Wednesday I don't have class until 3. I wanted to sleep for as long as I could but of course I woke up around 8 or 9. Brenna texted me to go running with her at 11 at the school, so I went. I took the micro there. It turns out there was going to be another march Wednesday so we hurried to try and get out of there by noon.
I had plenty of time to go home, shower, and eat so I decided to take the micro home. Well.... the micro came quickly. I decided when it got to my neighborhood to wait and see if it would go by my house. Long story short, it didn't. I was very, very far from my house when there was nobody else left on the bus. The driver tried telling me it wasn't very far to walk, but for future reference, it is really far! I will not get off where I know I only have to walk a few blocks, no matter what. I walked around for probably a half an hour. I was starting to get really upset. I was about one minute from calling my host dad to come find me. It was probably 1 o'clock or 1:30 by this time. I walked down a hill and thank goodness there were collectivos. I found one that said mall and got in. I got out at the mall and walked home. So much for trying to save money. I arrived home just in time for lunch. I quick ate and changed my clothes and went to get a collectivo so I wouldn't be late for class.
Of course, I waited and waited for a collectivo to drive by. Finally I got one around 2:45. As we rode to campus the radio was on. They were talking about how a march was going on at the campus and classes were probably going to be canceled. My host mom had mentioned that she thought classes would be canceled Friday because apparently September 11th is just not a good day? I don't really know. Sure enough when we got close to campus, traffic was very backed up. I finally decided to get out and walk when we were a few blocks away.
As I approached, I could see the military vehicles and the street we normally drive down was all blocked off. Lots of people were standing around watching. I figured if it was extremely dangerous there wouldn't be anyone around. I could see the military people spraying tear gas at some students who were protesting. I watched for a while and I better go to class since the rest of campus seemed to be functioning. I had to walk all the way across campus in part because of the protesting and my classroom is just that far away. Of course by the time I got there, I had blisters from all the walking I had done and a very nice headache. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of a computer.
I arrived to class, which I forgot doesn't actually start until 3:20, only 5 minutes late then and I wasn't the last one there. We proceeded to learn basic grammar for the next hour and a half which most the class spent on facebook when there wasn't a teacher behind us. Near the end of class the teacher told us that we wouldn't have that class next week, which meant we only have class Monday and Tuesday. Also, classes for the rest of the week were canceled because of the rioting.
I started to think about taking a long trip somewhere since we had such a long break. We only have one class on Monday and Tuesday and they aren't really exciting or anything we can't make up. Hayley and Catie and I started dreaming about going to Macchu Picchu. After bought some yummy bread from a lady by the library and walked to our micros. We decided to talk about a trip later that night.
Once I got home, I took a much needed nap. Later, I took a shower and then I skyped with Alicia and my parents. The Chile versus Brazil soccer game started at 9 and my family was watching that. When I finally got to watch at around 10 it was 2 to 2. Before I knew it Brazil scored 2 more goals and we lost 4-2. go figure! After the game I chatted with Catie and Hayley for a really long time about taking a trip. We finally decided to go to bed and talk more today.
Thank goodness, I slept until 10:30 today. Well, its yesterday now but i haven't gone to bed yet. I was getting dressed and ready to do something when my host mom came home and asked me if I wanted to be dropped off at the track while she went downtown so I could run. How could I turn that down? I changed my clothes and we left. The university soccer team was practicing. I got some weird looks, but I always do. I ran for 15 laps with a break to do abs because I thought my host mom was coming around 1:15 but she didn't show up until about 1:45.
There were some other kids that came to run and they keep looking at me, but they didn't look like very good runners, lol. One guy asked me how many laps I did. After my host mom came, we hurried home for lunch. The Nana served everyone else salad with mussels on it but mine had eggs. haha. She had served the same thing the day before and I didn't eat all mine so I probably won't be getting that again. I did eat some though! Today she made a casserole. It reminded me a lot of the one my mom makes with mashed potatoes, meat, cheese, and corn. The Nana's casserole thing had meat, onions, corn, cheese, and some other vegetable that wasn't quite sure what it was but my host brother really didn't want to eat it. I liked it. It would have been better with some bread and butter though. The day before the Nana also made french fries which I am the only one who eats them with ketchup. Oh well! Ketchup just isn't really popular here.
After lunch I talked with my host mom about a trip. By this time we had decided that Macchu Picchu is much cheaper if you plan it ahead and now we were trying to see what Buenos Aires would cost. She said she would take me to the travel agent downtown or in the mall because she had to go both places. I took a shower and while I was in the shower, Marcela and Cristobal went to the mall. Marcela asked there but it was really expensive.
When she came back, we went downtown. She had to pay the light bill. That was an interesting and very busy place. Not like in the USA where you just mail it or pay online. Kinda like the DMV but much faster. After that we went to the travel agent. This lady was really helpful. She found us 3 nights, 4 days hotel in Buenos Aires. A round trip flight from Santiago to BA. Also included was a city tour, transportation to and from the airport to the hotel, breakfast, and tickets to a discotheque, all for about $430 dollars.
I figured this was a really good deal but I said I needed to talk with my friends. I had my host mom drop my off at the Vega to meet Catie and Hayley. The Vega is a big market near their neighborhood. We were going to Jess B's house at 6 because it was her 25th birthday and we wanted to get her a present. We looked at lots of things, including a fish and a turtle but we decided on a kite and candy. It was already 6 when we left.
We were the first ones to arrive at Jess's. Her mom had lots of munchies for us to eat. Eventually Amy, Lindsey, and Al came too. We sat and talked with her parents, drank mango sour, wine, beer and pop, and ate food. My host mom was coming to get me around 8 to go to watch some traditional live music that she likes. Before we left, we had to sing happy birthday and eat cake. Jess's mom bakes cakes for her job so it was really good except it was made with peaches which aren't my favorite. Still, it was a really good cake.
My host mom called when she got in the area and waited for us by the stoplight since she didn't know where Jess's house was. Hayley was coming with to the music and Amy came along because she was meeting some friends in the Plaza de Independencia. Marcela's friend Javiera was driving. We dropped Amy off and parked about 4 or 5 blocks from the place.
The place was called Stromboli. Marcela said, it's not a very elegant place but like once a month they have traditional music, otherwise you probably don't want to go there. She was right. The music was in a back area but the front bar part was filled with older men, most of whom you could tell came from work. I guess that's the typical crowd for this bar/restaurant. Stromboli has been open since 1954, which I guess is a really long time for a restaurant in Concepcion. It was 3000 pesos to enter but we got a drink with that also.
The band was supposed to start at 9 I think. I honestly don't know what the name of the group is. Some fancy spanish word. haha. The band finally started. They played lots of instruments from all over latin america. I liked the a lot. I guess this is Javiera's absolute favorite band. She wrote down every song name and she knew all the words. Hayley liked the music too. At the end they played a Cueca which is the national dance to Chile but no one danced. The band finally finished around 11:30. We took Hayley home and then Javiera took Marcela and I home.
So here I am, Blogging when I should probably be sleeping or getting my stuff ready to go to Chillan tomorrow at 7a.m. ugh, i still don't know if I really want to go or not. We'll see how I feel in the morning. My stomach kind of hurts and i'm not sure why. It hurt all day though. Not good. Well until next time! Buenas Noches. Well I really should go to bed now, so Pictures to follow in a day or two! Love you all!

---

Photos

Photo 1
Chilean pesos

Photo 3
the police vehicle that sprays dirty water and tear gas at protesters. there is usually one of these parked by campus at all day everyday

Photo 2
close up of the coins..
there's also a 50 coin but i didn't have one then

Photo 4
paint from the protest

Photo 5
hard to see but the police have their shields are are creeping around the building

Photo 6
got bored walking to the bus

Photo 7
my host dad's moto