Jam and Cookies

I am so excited because tomorrow I am going to make marmalade with my grandmother. It was so cute, today we got our wicker baskets and went to pick lots of apricots for the jam.

Also today we got in the christmas spirit a little bit by making some christmas cookies! They are tasty!

Playa la Virgen

This weekend we went to Playa la Virgen for a little camping trip. It was the paseo de Fabiana. Or her class trip. All of her classmates and their families went to the beach to camp for one night. It was really fun. The beach has really nice fine sand. And the waves were really strong and the undercurrent too...so it was really fun to go and play in the ocean; even though it was extemely cold - the Pacific is never warm. I touched a jellyfish, because a few little ones washed up on shore. They feel really cool. This is kind of gross, but a dead sea lion also washed up, it was really sad but cool to see one really close. Luckily no one had to move it because it got swept away about five minutes later. I really like living this close to the beach. It is a perfect distance - about 40 minutes.

Teleton

Friday was the annual Teleton. It is a charity event all throughout Chile. It last 24 hours from Friday in the afternoon until Saturday afternoon, and for these 24 hours there are famous Chilean singers and bands who play a few numbers, like a giant concert. And in between the acts there are stories about kids who recieved help from the money raised the year before. It is broadcast on all of the local and national stations, so about 7. People call and pledge money or go to the bank and deposit money into an account to help reach the goal, which is usually an absurd amount. All of the money goes to kids who need operations because they were in an accident or born deformed. I thought that it was really good idea, and so does all of Chile.

Rabbits

We have about 5 adult rabbits and 7 baby rabbits living in our yard. (Well now there is only 3 babies, because our cat hunts them.) On Saturday, there was an eagle that picked up one of the babies. Luckily, Bruno saw it and ran after it and the eagle dropped the bunny. So it lived in a box in the house all day Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday, Fabiana saw the eagle swoop low over where the bunnies live and decided that she would catch all of the babies and bring them in for the night. Of course, she recruited me. So I spent my night last night chasing baby bunnies around the yard. Never a dull moment here. Although they are extremely cute (see pic). There are some bad things about them too, gross moment coming up...it is amazing how much pee those little guys have in them. They soaked through the box and a towel and paper towels that were underneath it in only a night, and there was only three.

Birthday

My birthday, as all of you should know (haha) was last week (October 24). My sister, Fabi actually threw me a surprise party. My friends and I walked to my house after school and the patio was all decorated with balloons and streamers. We just hung out, and it was really fun. They sang Happy Birthday, and after told me that I had to take a bit out of the cake for good luck, that it is a Chilean tradition...and I fell for it. I got my face smashed into the cake, luckily it was a little bit more dense than normal cakes, so only the bottom half went in. Although I have never felt my nose so full.

School

So it has almost been three months, and I have yet to tell you about my school. So, I am going to do that right now. First of all, uniforms...I like them and I don't. It is great not having to think in the morning. I like the tracksuit-type one. But the other is a little uncomforable. But at least I have the polo choice so I don't have to wear the button-down and tie everyday. There are 29 students in my classroom including me, and there are two junior classes for a total of approxamately 60 kids. (Although, this is because Copiapó has tons and tons and tons of schools! And most of them are from pre-K all the way to senior year. But my school is separated into two buildings so my school is seventh grade to senior year). The students stay in the room and the teachers change class, this I don't like. I like have the change in atmosphere every class, but for the purpose of foreign exchange I think it is better because I have gotten a really good chance to get to know the students in my class really well. We also have block scheduling here. An hour and a half for every class. I definately don't like this, it is way too long, and we never use all of the time. Hmm, oh, apparently there are no such things as substitutes here. If the teacher is busy or sick, we don't have that class, we just sit and fool around and chat for and hour and a half. (Usually, this happens at least two or three times a week if not more). I have five classes every day, with a fifteen minute break in between. Three classes in the morning from 8:10-1:10. Then I go home for lunch and usually during this time I shower and check my emails. Two classes in the afternoon from 3:00-6:15. I have gym, biology, English, Math, History, Physics, Biology (but a different class), Art, Math (but different), Philosophy, Homeroom, Chemistry, Religion, Literature, Biology (again, but different), Math (again, but different). And that is all, with no classes on Friday in the afternoon.

Celery

Say hello to the biggest celery I have ever seen in my entire life! We bought it at the open air market, where all of the farmers come to sell their products.

And More

And finally my sister's room, the fish pond and the patio area.

More house pics.

The kitchen and my room.

My House

Well, it only took me two months, but I finally have pictures of my house. The view of the front of my house. When, you walk in the door, there is the open common area with the dining room table, and living room area. And a picture of the bathroom that my sister and I share.

Mountain Continued.

So it would only let me load five pictures at a time, so here are the rest of the pictures of my mountain trek. But, you should read Mountain first (below). The pictures are first, everyone waiting for the last few people before we start the slide down. Second, slinding. Third my friend Fernanda. And the last are more of us on the sand hill

Beach

I haven't told you about when I went to the beach. I went last weekend on Saturday and Sunday. My family owns a house in Caldera, so we went for a little vacation. Caldera is about a 45 minute drive northwest of Copiapó. Well, Copiapó is built in the Copiapó River Valley, so it is surrounded by "mountains" and as soon as you leave the valley, going noth it is total desert. Because one of the characteristics of Copiapó is that it is the gateway to the Atacama Desert. So the drive was a really wierd experience for me. On Saturday we went to Bahía Inglesa, supposedly one of the top destined and most beautiful beaches in the world. It has really cool black rocks on the beach to climb on. (Which we did because the water was way to cold to swim this time of year. We are in spring, and swimming is only good in the summer, because the Pacific is alway cold.) Bahía Inglesa was cool, but the white sand was terrible, because it is made out of seashells, not rock. It sticks to you really badly, and it hurts more. Then after lunch we went to Playa Ramada. That was your classic beach, white-ish sand as far as you could see. And wavy waters perfect for swiming. Pauline, Fabi and I built a sand castle. The greatest part of staying on the coast, is that there are hundreds of beaches with in 15 minutes. Because basically all of the coast in this area is a beach because the desert comes right up to the water. And on Saturday we ate empanadas. I don´t like the traditional kind, but these were just cheese, and deep fried...basically like GIANT cream cheese wontons. Then on Sunday morning we went to this really cool beach called Corrillos. You dirve there and then park the car and walk, because the car can´t get to the beach. You climb over some rocks and then you get to a little bay, and you have to time the waves with your sprint to the other side, climb over so more rocks and you are there. It is pretty secluded, we were the only ones there and there was one family coming as we left. The waves are really strong there, so it isn´t a very good beach for swimming, but there are a lot of little outlets and coupled with the strong waves, there are a lot of rocks and shells to look for, and all of them are partially polished. There are also rock formations here, and the waves crash over them in a Little Mermaid fashioned. It was really cool. I had a good time. The pictures are: First, A view of Bahía Inglesa. Then, Fa and I at Bahía Inglesa. The third is Pauline building the sand castle at Ramada. Next is Fabi and Bruno walking to the Chorrillos beach. And the last is just a picture of Chorrillos where we parked the car.

Mountain

Today I climbed a mountain! Well technically in Spanish it isn't a mountain, they call it a Cerro. I guess with the Andes so close by, all of the mountains around Copiapó aren't really mountains. But anyway, it was really cool. Although extremely difficult, climbing isn't easy when then rocks are set in sand. I was really suprised when we drove up and they said that this is the mountain that we are going to climb, when they said mountain the really meant it...it was huge. There are two rocky parts with a sand chute down the middle. We climbed to the top, and to get down we slid down the sandy part. The really cool thing is is that this is a reverberating mountain. So we all lined up, and ran 4 or 5 steps down, then listened. It is this really cool low humming sound. Apparently it sounds like an earthquake, but with out the tremor. There are hollow chambers beneath the surface and when the sand is dislodged, it echoes. My teacher (I went with my biology and physics class) said that there are only two reverberating mountains in the world this one and one in Africa. The pictures are: starting our climb we are going to climb up the rocks in the middle and then slide down the sand to the left. Second, taking a break about a fourth of the way up. third, a view as we are climbing, there we like three humps. And last, we almost made it, you can see the first people waiting off to the left.

Tongue

A few days ago, September 25, was my host dad's birthday. And as one of his presents from my greatgrandmother, he recieved lengua de torro (bull's tongue). It looked so gross, just like a tongue, but huge. You could even see the taste buds. It didn't taste so bad, like a cross between roast beef and lamb, but just the thought that i was eating a tongue complete with taste buds grossed me out so much that I could only stomach one bite.

Spanish

Everyone is asking me how my spanish is coming, so I will explain. I am much better at understanding what people are saying. If, they are talking to me. Classes are more of a problem because it is more lecture talking than conversation talking. I am not thinking in spaninsh yet, but once that happens, I will be able to understand everything and be able to talk faster, becasue I won't have to translate like I am now. Although I am getting faster at that. Before I had to wrack my brain for the word, not they kind of just jump out.

Rotary Asado

On Saturday 15, I had an asado with Rotary. An asado is basically a Chilean Barbeque. It was a celebration of the Chilean Independence (On the 18). Fabiana, and Pauline (an exchange student from Belgium) and I flew kites. I lack vital skills in that department. There was one tree in the entire area, and I got my kite stuck in it. When I was pulling on the string to get it out of the tree, the string snapped and the kite flew across the road and landed in the brush. I had to climb over the fence to get it, but there was so much brush that I sunk up to my knees. When I passed the kite to Fabi, the string got stuck around my glasses (See attached photo). It was basically a disaster, but flying kites is a tradition around this thime of year, because September is extremely windy.

I also learned how to dance the cueca, Chile's national dance. It is really strange, and you swing a handkerchief around your head, basically the whole time. Here is a picture of me dancing the cueca.

Milk and Pop

Here's a little interesting tidbit. The milk here is really gross. It is UHT (Ultra-high Temp) milk, which basically means that when they are pasturizing it, they heat it up really hot (hotter than normal) for just a second and then bring it back down again. This allows the milk to be shipped and sit on the shelf for weeks without refridgeration. Great idea on the chalkboard. So, I drink chocolate milk, because it covers up the taste, actually I like it better than in the US. They make really good chocolate milk here, and I think it is because so many people like it better than white milk.

Oh, and here no one drinks milk with lunch. They all think that I am crazy for liking milk with lunch, it is a very American thing. Instead they drink pop or juice. Usually soda, they drink tons and tons of pop. And here it comes in about 10 different sizes, whereas in the US it only comes in about 3. It is really cool to buy a tiny little one or a HUGE one. Oh, and they have a lot more fruit flavors like papaya, pineapple, strawberry, etc. I really don't like the fruity ones. I really miss Pepsi (the caffeine free, diet one), because if you aren't drinking a fruit soda it is coke.

Website

If you visit my school's website, you can see a picture of me and the other foreigners in the school. There is Sebastian the other Rotary exchange student from Germany, Sue (I don't know how to spell her name, but it sounds like Sue) from Thailand, and Jeff from Texas. He is here with some program to help the English teacher. My school website is http://www.colegiosanagustindeatacama.cl/ or the direct link to the photo and story is http://www.colegiosanagustindeatacama.cl/csa/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=161&Itemid=120

Chemistry

Today we had a lab in Chemistry. We attempted to make soap. Well, the lab has these porable bunsen burners that run off of a small gas tank. We were melting the lard, and something caught fire. When the teacher reached to turn it off, she actually turned it the wrong way and the fire got even bigger. It was really funny when some guys started to help her put it out, and they were fanning it, but since it was running on gas, it wouldn´t go out. In the end, the teacher put it out by dumping a bucket of water on it. That was the interesting story of the day.

Weekend

This weekend, Fabi and I cleaned the pool. On Saturday, Erika and my cousin Javier came over and we swept it. Then we started sanding...we finished on Sunday. My arms hurt so much. I have some funny photos, coming soon.

Desfile

This morning I went to Fabi´s desfile. For those of you who don´t know what that is, it is totally bizarre. The students come the the plaza in their uniforms. Then the line up in front of the government building, and the principal gives a speech. Then they march around the corner and it is over. Oh, and there is a band that plays old fahioned march music.

I finally can send pictures now, so I included a few from my parade last weekend.

Day Off

YAY! No school today. It was so wierd, yesterday in the morning they said that there wasn´t going to be classes in the afternoon. But, then later they decided that there wasn´t going to be any classes. It was a day for the teachers to celebrate the anniversary amongst themselves. I really love just having random days off! I slept in and then just hung out all day. I watched the movie Memento. It was really hard to follow, but really good. I liked it. Then I got together with Sebastian, the other exchange student in my school. He gave m,e some German rap music, it is absolutely hilarious! I tried to attach it to the blog, but it didn´t work. I may have to email it. Then, after dinner, Fabi and I figured out how to hook up a microphone to the radio and we sang Karaoke. It was really fun.