mkay SO today wasn't a complete bore. YAY! :D
however it didn't get REALLY fun until after school haha
So after Sociales, I had Religion class and we went over this packet thing about the story of Jacob when he tricks his blind dad by wearing sheepskin. Like, I've personally never met someone as hairy as a sheep; that just seems unnatural. Anyways, mkay so there's a Chilean slang word called 'weon' that you call like your friends and stuff but it's also a bad word. So you're not supposed to say it around adults. So during religion my friend was reading out loud and all the guys were talking so I was like CALLENSE (or SHUT UP), and they all quieted down except for one guy. Then I said CALLATE WEON and the second I said it I was like OMW I'M SO SORRY to the teacher haha. But she was like 'ohhhhh well you're not from Chile and you didn't know, so it's okay.' ...yeah that's why the second i said it i was like ohhh perdoneme lo siento muuucho. Mkay so after that was Philosophy and Feña and I sat in the back and just listened to music and whole time haha. After it was lunch and we just chilled outside. Next, I had English class and we continued watching 'Tangled'. Man, the humor in that just really cracks me up. Then it was language class and Ipek and I played games. Good job. Productive day like usual.
Mkay so after classes, Ipek and I went downtown and bought ice cream and went shopping at the local market. i bought some nose piercings and earrings and idk what she bought haha. i also bought awesome glasses(: after, we went to the place where i got my lip pierced and asked if i could do it again. they said i could buuuuut the inspectors in my school told me i can't. que hago? no se po.
after we met up with randy and leo (two guys we met at the AFS bbq) and walked around town selling raffle tickets for AFS. oh mannnnn it was fun. first we walked around downtown trying to sell raffle tickets for $1. mannnn was it difficult haha. apparently raffle tickets are usually about 20 cents so everyone was like nopeeee don't have money. it was awful. afterwards, we walked around, talked, went to the mall, went to the hospital to see leo's new baby sister, joked around, took pics, back to the mall, ate, explored this german school, etc. ahhhhh i had sooo much fun with them! and we're all gonna hang out again soon :D i can't wait.
anywayssss i'm super exhausted from all the excitement, so i'm off to bed. i'll try to put the second video up tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
bored in sociales.
mkay so i'm in the computer lab right now. bored. i think we're supposed to be doing something right now but the teacher hasn't said anything to me. so i'll just continue blogging and facebooking.
that's the bad (but sometimes good) thing about be an exchange student: no one expects anything from you. like if i tried i could probably do what everyone else is doing. i mean, it'd result in a headache from all the translating and thinking in like three different languages, but i could do it.
but no one thinks i can. like when i talk to people they're all surprised by how well i can speak, but they all think that i'm not capable to do schoolwork. now sometimes, i don't mind. however, one time it was this really simple task that i could do in like an hour by myself maybe. but the teacher was like 'oh you need someone to help you with this' and then i ended up with this girl who basically said 'oh you still don't understand spanish so you can't do any of this'. and then it took her like twice the time it would've taken me. and i colored. that was somewhat insulting haha.
and most teachers don't make me take the tests so i get to go chill outside and listen to music or something. luckily i finished all my credits in the U.S. haha.
so after school today i'm meeting up with some people i met from the AFS BBQ and Ipek, and we're going to try to sell raffle stuff for AFS. it's like a dollar and i asked my teacher and he said he'd think about it. like, really? it's a dollar haha. oh well. anyways so we're gonna meet up and then get something to eat afterwards.
let's see, what else can i rant about?
oh so i'm so close to uploading my videos. i made a youtube account to upload them to, and when i left this morning the first one had 5 minutes left. so ima go check that out when i get home. then i have to upload the second one. this is becoming such a pain. but oh well. it was the quickest way to get caught up.
mkay well not much has happened since i last posted so there's not much else to talk about. i'll post again when i get back from selling raffle tickets.
that's the bad (but sometimes good) thing about be an exchange student: no one expects anything from you. like if i tried i could probably do what everyone else is doing. i mean, it'd result in a headache from all the translating and thinking in like three different languages, but i could do it.
but no one thinks i can. like when i talk to people they're all surprised by how well i can speak, but they all think that i'm not capable to do schoolwork. now sometimes, i don't mind. however, one time it was this really simple task that i could do in like an hour by myself maybe. but the teacher was like 'oh you need someone to help you with this' and then i ended up with this girl who basically said 'oh you still don't understand spanish so you can't do any of this'. and then it took her like twice the time it would've taken me. and i colored. that was somewhat insulting haha.
and most teachers don't make me take the tests so i get to go chill outside and listen to music or something. luckily i finished all my credits in the U.S. haha.
so after school today i'm meeting up with some people i met from the AFS BBQ and Ipek, and we're going to try to sell raffle stuff for AFS. it's like a dollar and i asked my teacher and he said he'd think about it. like, really? it's a dollar haha. oh well. anyways so we're gonna meet up and then get something to eat afterwards.
let's see, what else can i rant about?
oh so i'm so close to uploading my videos. i made a youtube account to upload them to, and when i left this morning the first one had 5 minutes left. so ima go check that out when i get home. then i have to upload the second one. this is becoming such a pain. but oh well. it was the quickest way to get caught up.
mkay well not much has happened since i last posted so there's not much else to talk about. i'll post again when i get back from selling raffle tickets.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Trucking Along..
So while my two ridiculously long videos are uploading, I'll write about what's happened the past two days.
Sunday, March 20, 2011: Mkay so on Sunday I woke up randomly at like 6:30, and the power was out. However it came back on like an hour later, so I was like mkay maybe it was just a fault power line or something. Then when I woke up later, there was no power again. Apparently, Chile is running low on energy or something, so they cut all the power in the city for about two or three hours. It was also my host parents' wedding anniversary so we went into town for lunch. We went to this Italian place and it was DELICIOUS. I was so stuff by the time we left. And then, I just relaxed the rest of the day. Good ol' Sundays.
Monday, March 21, 2011: like always on Monday, I slept through my alarm and woke up SO late. I had about 7 minutes to get ready. Then host dad and I booked it to school, and luckily I got there on time(: Let's see, first I had math class. Feña and I sat in the back and did nothing haha. Next I had two hours of Language class (kind of like English class in the states). Ipek and I were supposed to take a test together, but I get the teacher forgot, so we ended up playing games like SOS, tic tac toe, and battleship haha. We're so creative. Then I had two more hours of Language with my homeroom and for the first hour was a test that I didn't have to take so I sat outside listening to music. For the second hour I didn't understand anything. And I ended up getting a headache. After we had two hours of English and we watched part of a movie called 'Tangled'. OH MY WORD it cracks me up. I felt like such a loser though because I'm like the only one that gets the humor and I'm the only one laughing out loud.
Also, today's my dad's birthday and I wanted to surprise him by calling him. So I went to a (idk how to say it) like calling center? And it took me a bit to figure out the country code but eventually I got it. So I got to talk to my mom and then dad for a bit, but I ended up rambling a lot so it cost me about $8. But it's only like 50 cents a minute so it's not that bad(: Then I came home and just about passed out.
Also it's SUCH a nice night out so I went outside with Javi and Toby (the dog) for a bit.
And now I'm updating.
gahhhhh i can't believe i'm leaving in a little less than 2 months. it's crazy. at first it felt like this year would never end. and now i don't want it to. like at first everything was really exciting and new. then there were some problems at home and in my school and i wanted to go home. and now i love it here and the culture and everything and don't want to go backkkkk.
mkay well i'll try and get at least one of my videos posted tonight and i'll make sure to post tomorrow(:
Sunday, March 20, 2011: Mkay so on Sunday I woke up randomly at like 6:30, and the power was out. However it came back on like an hour later, so I was like mkay maybe it was just a fault power line or something. Then when I woke up later, there was no power again. Apparently, Chile is running low on energy or something, so they cut all the power in the city for about two or three hours. It was also my host parents' wedding anniversary so we went into town for lunch. We went to this Italian place and it was DELICIOUS. I was so stuff by the time we left. And then, I just relaxed the rest of the day. Good ol' Sundays.
Monday, March 21, 2011: like always on Monday, I slept through my alarm and woke up SO late. I had about 7 minutes to get ready. Then host dad and I booked it to school, and luckily I got there on time(: Let's see, first I had math class. Feña and I sat in the back and did nothing haha. Next I had two hours of Language class (kind of like English class in the states). Ipek and I were supposed to take a test together, but I get the teacher forgot, so we ended up playing games like SOS, tic tac toe, and battleship haha. We're so creative. Then I had two more hours of Language with my homeroom and for the first hour was a test that I didn't have to take so I sat outside listening to music. For the second hour I didn't understand anything. And I ended up getting a headache. After we had two hours of English and we watched part of a movie called 'Tangled'. OH MY WORD it cracks me up. I felt like such a loser though because I'm like the only one that gets the humor and I'm the only one laughing out loud.
Also, today's my dad's birthday and I wanted to surprise him by calling him. So I went to a (idk how to say it) like calling center? And it took me a bit to figure out the country code but eventually I got it. So I got to talk to my mom and then dad for a bit, but I ended up rambling a lot so it cost me about $8. But it's only like 50 cents a minute so it's not that bad(: Then I came home and just about passed out.
Also it's SUCH a nice night out so I went outside with Javi and Toby (the dog) for a bit.
And now I'm updating.
gahhhhh i can't believe i'm leaving in a little less than 2 months. it's crazy. at first it felt like this year would never end. and now i don't want it to. like at first everything was really exciting and new. then there were some problems at home and in my school and i wanted to go home. and now i love it here and the culture and everything and don't want to go backkkkk.
mkay well i'll try and get at least one of my videos posted tonight and i'll make sure to post tomorrow(:
Sunday, March 20, 2011
video fail.
alright sooooo to get all caught up i made two videos talking about the past six months on exchange. unfortunately, they won't upload to the blog. so i'm trying to upload them to my facebook right now and i'll put the link up after it downloads.
VIDEO ONE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyddI_VnWP8
VIDEO ONE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyddI_VnWP8
stuff i wrote on january 23, 2011:
Alright so how do I go about updating everything i’ve done in the past 4 months without writing a novel? I’m sorry, but I’m going to half to summarize most of it. I’ll do my best to include as many details as I can without boring you all to death. If anyone ever reads this, that it. Also, if you have facebook and want to see my pics from chile, search for Mimi Catalàn Burmeister and add me.
Mkay, let’s do this:
Friday, September 10: this was kind of a waste of my school day haha. To celebrate September 18 (which is like 4th of july), the entire school had all of these BBQs with all of these Chilean foods. It was so delicious(: however one of my friends decided that she wanted to go home and put normal clothes on (instead of her uniform) cuz a lot of other people had normal clothes on. And she wanted me and Karen (my best friend) to go with her. However, she lives an hour away by bus. So I spent two hours traveling (and I had to pay like 12 bucks) so her to change her pants. That was a waste of my day. But when we got back to the BBQ thing there was empanadas, French fries, candy apples, churripan, sopaipilla, cotton candy, etc. gahh it was soooo good! So after eating like everything haha, my friend Karen and I left early and hung out at the portal (which is the mall).
Saturday, September 11: let’s see I started out the day going to my three hour dance class. That was fun. Haha I enjoyed the jazz part of it, but I didn’t particularly like the ballet part. Oh well I only went to it like three or four times. After class I packed a bag and my family and I went to Pucon for the weekend. We didn’t leave until like 8 at night though so we got there around 9:30 or 10. Then we went to a restaurant for dinner and we all had French fries(: After I shared a room with Javi and her friend Anto for the night.
Sunday, September 12: We drove around Pucon and looked at the beach and the little market for a bit first. I also saw two of my classmates in the street and talked to them for a bit. After we drove to the ‘termas’ which are like nature’s hot tubs(: so the whole family swam (is that the right word?) around for a bit and it was rather relaxing. Afterwards we had lunch and drove home.
Monday, September 13: Seeing as it was my first official day of vacation (yeah we got the whole week of for Independence Day) it was rather necessary to sleep in late. Then I spent the night at my best friend Karen’s house.
Tuesday, September 14: I stayed at Karen’s for the day, then we walked to the mall and hung out there for a bit. After we caught up with her mom and aunt and went to the centro to do some more shopping. Then Karen’s mom dropped me off at the university for my theater class. After class, at like 10 at night, I took the bus home by myself and got home safely. Go gringa!!
Wednesday, September 15: ooh fun day(: this day I went back to Pucon but this time with Karen and my other best friend Silvi. So first we took a taxi to the bus station and then an 1 ½ bus ride to Pucon. When we got there we had lunch and shared this typical Chilean dish called Churrillana. That’s probably spelled wrong. Anyways, it’s delicious and has French fries, onion, chicken, beef, eggs, and bread. IT’S SO DELICIOUS and I’m going to have to make it when I go back to the states. So then I also got my ears pierced again(: and for like 6 bucks too haha. It was all legit though. Afterwards we walked around Pucon and looked at all the shops and markets and bought ice cream and rented this little bike thing. It was so funny. Then we finally had to go back and I got home around like 9 or 10.
Thursday, September 16: pointless day. I literally did NOTHING all day haha. Buu gringa. However at night my cousins came over and I played cards with my sister and cousins haha.
Friday, September 17: this might’ve been another pointless day. What I’ve noticed is that when there are vacations and holidays, ALL of my classmates go to other cities. Or just like disappear haha. However we did hang the Chilean flag outside and I listened to the Chilean national anthem.
Saturday, September 18: INDEPENDENCE DAYYYY! Unfortunately I didn’t get to do much on this day. We went to Loncoche and had lunch with my family there. That’s it haha.
Mkay, let’s do this:
Friday, September 10: this was kind of a waste of my school day haha. To celebrate September 18 (which is like 4th of july), the entire school had all of these BBQs with all of these Chilean foods. It was so delicious(: however one of my friends decided that she wanted to go home and put normal clothes on (instead of her uniform) cuz a lot of other people had normal clothes on. And she wanted me and Karen (my best friend) to go with her. However, she lives an hour away by bus. So I spent two hours traveling (and I had to pay like 12 bucks) so her to change her pants. That was a waste of my day. But when we got back to the BBQ thing there was empanadas, French fries, candy apples, churripan, sopaipilla, cotton candy, etc. gahh it was soooo good! So after eating like everything haha, my friend Karen and I left early and hung out at the portal (which is the mall).
Saturday, September 11: let’s see I started out the day going to my three hour dance class. That was fun. Haha I enjoyed the jazz part of it, but I didn’t particularly like the ballet part. Oh well I only went to it like three or four times. After class I packed a bag and my family and I went to Pucon for the weekend. We didn’t leave until like 8 at night though so we got there around 9:30 or 10. Then we went to a restaurant for dinner and we all had French fries(: After I shared a room with Javi and her friend Anto for the night.
Sunday, September 12: We drove around Pucon and looked at the beach and the little market for a bit first. I also saw two of my classmates in the street and talked to them for a bit. After we drove to the ‘termas’ which are like nature’s hot tubs(: so the whole family swam (is that the right word?) around for a bit and it was rather relaxing. Afterwards we had lunch and drove home.
Monday, September 13: Seeing as it was my first official day of vacation (yeah we got the whole week of for Independence Day) it was rather necessary to sleep in late. Then I spent the night at my best friend Karen’s house.
Tuesday, September 14: I stayed at Karen’s for the day, then we walked to the mall and hung out there for a bit. After we caught up with her mom and aunt and went to the centro to do some more shopping. Then Karen’s mom dropped me off at the university for my theater class. After class, at like 10 at night, I took the bus home by myself and got home safely. Go gringa!!
Wednesday, September 15: ooh fun day(: this day I went back to Pucon but this time with Karen and my other best friend Silvi. So first we took a taxi to the bus station and then an 1 ½ bus ride to Pucon. When we got there we had lunch and shared this typical Chilean dish called Churrillana. That’s probably spelled wrong. Anyways, it’s delicious and has French fries, onion, chicken, beef, eggs, and bread. IT’S SO DELICIOUS and I’m going to have to make it when I go back to the states. So then I also got my ears pierced again(: and for like 6 bucks too haha. It was all legit though. Afterwards we walked around Pucon and looked at all the shops and markets and bought ice cream and rented this little bike thing. It was so funny. Then we finally had to go back and I got home around like 9 or 10.
Thursday, September 16: pointless day. I literally did NOTHING all day haha. Buu gringa. However at night my cousins came over and I played cards with my sister and cousins haha.
Friday, September 17: this might’ve been another pointless day. What I’ve noticed is that when there are vacations and holidays, ALL of my classmates go to other cities. Or just like disappear haha. However we did hang the Chilean flag outside and I listened to the Chilean national anthem.
Saturday, September 18: INDEPENDENCE DAYYYY! Unfortunately I didn’t get to do much on this day. We went to Loncoche and had lunch with my family there. That’s it haha.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
EPIC FAIL MIMI
oh golly it's been almost exactly 5 months since i posted! I'M SO SORRYYYYYY. okay so i started to update this in like september and then idk i guess i just got distracted. but i'll post what i wrote then and then i SWEAR i'll try to update you all on all of my shenanigans in the past 5 months.
September 26, 2010:
'So I have officially not posted in over a month and have officially become one of those bloggers that I hate. I’ve also officially been here for two months :D And I think that’s all for official news right now. Mkay, so we have a month’s worth of Chile awesomeness to cover, so let’s get started.
I believe the last time I posted was on Tuesday, August 24. Hah, it’s now Sunday, September 26. Anyways, let’s start with Wednesday, August 25. So remember how it was Jesus Week in my school? Haha, okay so it wasn’t Jesus Week, but it was like Spiritual Week or something (just a lot of Jesus glorification). So on top of that, we also got to do community service. Since Colegio Bautista is a private school and whatnot we have to give back to the community. So on Wednesday we had like the first two periods of the day, which was Lengauje y Educacion Christiana (I’m not sure how to say Christian class in Spanish, but it’s something like that). After we all went back to homeroom and got ready to leave. We finally left the school and walked to another school that was a couple blocks away. The school we walked to was for kids with mental disabilities. We made them lunch, sang a few songs, played some games, etc. While setting up lunch, I left with Fernanda for a bit so she could buy some cigarettes. There was a place like a block away but the guy wouldn’t sell to her. Then she asked someone to buy them for her, but the guy knew that they were buying for Fernanda, so he still wouldn’t sell them. Next, some other people from our class came to the store to buy extra bread and stuff for the lunch. While we were waiting to buy stuff, the guy explained to Fernanda that he could get in a lot of trouble and Fernanda was like ‘yeah whatever’ and all that. Afterwards, we returned to the school and they had already started the lunch thing. So since I didn’t really understand Spanish still, I just assumed I’d stand there and do nothing until it was over. However, there was this one girl who like wanted me to sit next to her and kept holding my hand and telling me she loved me. So I chilled with her for the rest of the event. Oh and one of the guys there tried to kiss Yisley. Poor girl was really upset over it. So after all that excitement, we were able to go home. Like REALLY early. Instead, we all walked to the Portal (which is like the mall) and got lunch. Next I got a ride home from one of my classmates’ mom and I probably just chilled the rest of the day.
I believe Thursday during the day was normal. Wait, we had another Jesus assembly. Dude, those assemblies were so weird. Like the one of Thursday was first about Jesus and then was about emos and horrible they were. I seriously felt like the presenter guy was the next Hitler and emos were the Jews. Not even kidding you, it had a next-Holocaust feel to it. It was creepy. Other than that, I believe the rest of the school day was normal. After school, however, was terrifying. So I was standing outside after school and my mom had gone inside to go talk to the tennis instructor. All of a sudden this strange smell came around and, in an instant, my lungs, throat, eyes, and nose started burning and watering like crazy. With the rest of the kids standing outside, I ran into the school to get away from it. Finally, I was able to breathe and calm down when I got inside. Apparently it was a tear gas bomb and apparently they’re extremely common. Oh boy. There was a protest at a college like right next to the school and I guess the police set off the bomb to break it up. Ughhh it was SO terrifying and whatnot. Haha all the other students like brushed it off though. And for the rest of the day my mom couldn’t figure out why I was upset haha.
Also, just as a side note, I might be making Chile sound like this horrible, scary place but I swear I LOVE it here c: legit, it’s amazing and anyone would be a fool not to at least visit once.
And now it’s been another three weeks and I still haven’t updated. Mkay, since I still have a little over 8 months left in Chile, I’m sure you’ll still be able to get a feel for my exchange if I half-ass the past two months. I promise things will get better after this. It’s just been a rough few weeks hah.
Let’s see, now we’re at Friday, August 27. Haha to be honest, I don’t really remember what I do in class. My memory has been really weird lately. So I just remember what I quickly jotted down a few weeks ago. Anyways, Friday we had another assembly about G-d and all of that. It was pretty interesting. I mean, except for all of the propaganda and whatnot. Then I learned how to dance the national dance, the cueca. One of my friends Lucy taught it to me. It seems pretty simple. I mean, getting the basics of it. I’m sure I look like a fool when I do it though haha. But that’s not important. At least I learned it. Then that night I ended up getting really homesick so I made another facebook for my Chilean friends and contacts only.
Saturday, August 28, was a tiring day. It was my first day of ballet class. Three hours of tap, jazz, and ballet. That was fun. Haha actually the jazz part was enjoyable. The rest of it I disliked immensely. Like, the last time I did tap and ballet was when I was about 4. And all of these girls have been dancing for years and they’re all like sticks. So I definitely stuck out. A lot. The girls were all really nice though. And there are two girls from the U.S. there. Their parents are missionaries so they stay here for four years at a time and then go back to the U.S. for a year. I find that to be rather unfortunate; I mean, having to move around so much. They’re from Alabama and their family is really nice. Anyways, so after three hours of dance I was frustrated and exhausted. Then it was only Javi and I at home for most of the day, so I just slept and relaxed.
Sunday, August 29, we traveled to another city for the day. First we went to Villarrica and had lunch to celebrate my first official month in Chile c: Oh yeah so in restaurants here you seat yourself, don’t get ice in your drinks, and have to pay for every drink (instead of the free refills I’m used to). And it usually comes in a glass bottle. Then we went to look at the snow covered mountain (it was a fair distance away though), climbed some trees, took pictures, etc. Next, a few minutes away, we drove to Pucon and went to the beach for a bit. However, since it was still winter, we didn’t go in the water haha. We just looked around, took some pictures, etc. Apparently my dad designed/built one of the buildings there. It’s really cool looking. After that, we drove home. I really like Villarrica and Pucon though.
Monday, August 30, we had another assembly (and I was convinced that Jesus week was going to turn into Jesus month or Jesus year. But it stopped that day) during our grade meeting period. We watched a movie and whatnot. It was in English, so I had no choice but to understand it. Later in Language class we had a test, but since I don’t even understand Spanish let alone the intricacies of it, I didn’t have to take it. So instead I went to hang out with another class in psychology. And I guess that was the end of my day.
Tuesday, August 31, something happened in English class, but I have no idea what haha. I like English class though :p it’s kind of confusing though with all of the conjugations and reported speech. Sometimes kids have me do their homework or help them on tests haha. I don’t mind though, since they all help me with Spanish. After school I went to play tennis. That was interesting. My tennis teacher was hot and young, but we had such difficulties communicating. Also, all the other kids were in like middle school or younger. That was a bit embarrassing. However, I think the teacher understood that I was a bit better than my mom told him. Then after tennis, I went to my theater group. Yeah, it’s still really awesome being in theater and not being able to speak the damn language. But whatevs, the people are really nice and whatnot.
Apparently Wednesday was a really boring day in school, because I have nothing written down about it. However, after school Ipek, Yisley, Karen, and I walked around town. First we went to the Portal for a bit and looked around, and then we went to the centro and got ice cream. Next Karen, Ipek, and I took the micro home since we all live really close to each other.
Once again, nothing special happened on Thursday, September 2, at least not in school. Apparently I was sick though. But that seems to happen a lot here. However I usually didn’t feel good a lot in the states either. But oh well, I’m used to it. Anyways, I met with my contact again. Incase I didn’t tell you about his before, his name is Eduardo and he lives really close. He went to the Czech Republic on his exchange, so his English isn’t perfect, but we’re able to communicate haha. So I talked to him about a few things that were on my mind, and we eventually fixed everything. So that was nice.
Friday was a long, interesting day. Really bad at first, but it eventually got better. So in the morning, I was sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast and watching TV as always. And it was on the news, like always. Then all of a sudden it showed this car accident and was talking about it. Next, it showed the people that had died. Like they had these tarps over them, but you could see their feet and it kept showing them, and it completely took me by surprise. Especially since one of them was a little girl who had lost her shoe and was wearing rainbow socks. It was heartbreaking for me. Then things got worse at school. During one of the breaks the seniors took over the cafeteria and posted these ‘Black Lists’ which contained people they hated in every grade and why. And it was completely normal and the inspectors did nothing about it. It was horrifying. Like they call one guy fat, ugly, and gay and called this other girl like a pornstar or something. And no one seemed to mind. It was ridiculous and a complete culture shock. And I just wanted to go home after that, but I stayed. We also danced some more cueca. So after school, I went to Yisley’s house, who lives in a city like an hour away. We made dinner, watched TV, watched scary movies, etc. I love her family so much. And that was like the only good part of my day haha.
Saturday I was still at Yisley’s house, and didn’t want to leave. We took pictures, celebrated her dad’s birthday, watched a movie, went four-wheeling, and more. It was so great. And I met like ALL of her family haha. They’re all so great and I miss them so much. But eventually I had to go back home. When I got home, they were having a BBQ for Javi since she switched schools. There were SO many kids and they were all like screaming and whatnot. Oh and then Paulina called me and invited me to a birthday party, so I had to get ready for that. Oh yeah, and after I had showered and was getting dressed, some guy like tried to walk into my room. So I yelled at him in English. Anyways, so after I was ready I went to Paulina’s house first and met her family and hung out with her for a bit. Then Fernanda came over and we went to Jota’s house, which turns out to be like a block from my house. So my mom was convinced that in that block from my house I could be killed, so I couldn’t walk home and had to leave at 2. Which is reaaaaaaaally lame because most parties don’t start til like 12. The party was really fun though c:
Sunday was a nice relaxing day. Which was good, because I wasn’t feeling too good. So my parents don’t really know how to cook (or they just don’t like to) and our maid lady doesn’t come on weekends, so my dad, Javi, and I went out to eat lunch. After that I went to go play tennis with my dad. And it was like the most ridiculous game of tennis in my life. All the courts we went to were taken, so we ended up going to like this parking lot and playing there. However, he made us stand like two tennis courts away from each other so we had to hit the ball as hard as we friggin could. Sometimes it was frustrating and sometimes it was fun haha.
Monday, September 6, not too much happened in school. However I ended up drinking too much coffee before psychology so I was really hyper and all of my classmates thought it was funny. Well idk about all of them but I know that some of them did. And it was good I guess because then they could see that I like to like joke around and stuff. So after school I went to the Portal with Karen to try to find a little purse. Everyone has these little purses so I used to stick out a lot with my gigantic, giraffe-print bag. Anyway, I ended up buying a lovely, little purple bag.
Mkay what happened the next few days gets a little confusing, but I think I figured it out. So on Tuesday, the weirdest thing happened during school. Instead of going to history class, our class just left school and walked to a funeral. I’m still not sure who’s funeral it was. A teacher’s mother, I think. It was SO weird for me. Like without any permission we just up and left class and went to a church for a funeral. Also, the lady’s grandson kept staring at me during the whole thing. Also uncomfortable. There was a casket and Jesus and everything. Alright now after school I’m pretty sure I went to the portal with Karen and Silvi and then went to centro with Karen and her mom and aunt. Then I got dropped off at the university for my theater group. After I’m pretty sure I took the micro home at like 10-something at night. Which didn’t seem dangerous, although according to my mom, it is.
Wednesday, I have absolutely no idea what happened. At all. So I’m just going to assume it was an average, uneventful day.
Hmm Thursday, September 9, was an eventful day. More or less. First of all, a lot of kids didn’t show because it wasn’t an official day of school. We had an assembly and people danced cueca, and some band played some songs including the school song and probably the national anthem. I also wrote down parade, but I don’t remember that particularly. So I’m going to assume there was a parade of sorts. After that my friends and I left early to go to the portal to go see a movie. However, nothing was playing soon so we went back to my friend’s house to watch a movie. But then we ended up not watching anything, so I tried to go back to the portal to buy something for my sisters birthday. However, I ended up missing my stop and for some reason just didn’t get off the bus. So I ended up going to some deserted town and the bus driver helped me get on the right bus back to the portal. So it took me an hour and a half to get back to where I wanted to go. So then I bought a doll for my sister and finally went home.'
Mkay so that's what i had a few months ago, and i promise to post every day to get all of you caught up! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY
September 26, 2010:
'So I have officially not posted in over a month and have officially become one of those bloggers that I hate. I’ve also officially been here for two months :D And I think that’s all for official news right now. Mkay, so we have a month’s worth of Chile awesomeness to cover, so let’s get started.
I believe the last time I posted was on Tuesday, August 24. Hah, it’s now Sunday, September 26. Anyways, let’s start with Wednesday, August 25. So remember how it was Jesus Week in my school? Haha, okay so it wasn’t Jesus Week, but it was like Spiritual Week or something (just a lot of Jesus glorification). So on top of that, we also got to do community service. Since Colegio Bautista is a private school and whatnot we have to give back to the community. So on Wednesday we had like the first two periods of the day, which was Lengauje y Educacion Christiana (I’m not sure how to say Christian class in Spanish, but it’s something like that). After we all went back to homeroom and got ready to leave. We finally left the school and walked to another school that was a couple blocks away. The school we walked to was for kids with mental disabilities. We made them lunch, sang a few songs, played some games, etc. While setting up lunch, I left with Fernanda for a bit so she could buy some cigarettes. There was a place like a block away but the guy wouldn’t sell to her. Then she asked someone to buy them for her, but the guy knew that they were buying for Fernanda, so he still wouldn’t sell them. Next, some other people from our class came to the store to buy extra bread and stuff for the lunch. While we were waiting to buy stuff, the guy explained to Fernanda that he could get in a lot of trouble and Fernanda was like ‘yeah whatever’ and all that. Afterwards, we returned to the school and they had already started the lunch thing. So since I didn’t really understand Spanish still, I just assumed I’d stand there and do nothing until it was over. However, there was this one girl who like wanted me to sit next to her and kept holding my hand and telling me she loved me. So I chilled with her for the rest of the event. Oh and one of the guys there tried to kiss Yisley. Poor girl was really upset over it. So after all that excitement, we were able to go home. Like REALLY early. Instead, we all walked to the Portal (which is like the mall) and got lunch. Next I got a ride home from one of my classmates’ mom and I probably just chilled the rest of the day.
I believe Thursday during the day was normal. Wait, we had another Jesus assembly. Dude, those assemblies were so weird. Like the one of Thursday was first about Jesus and then was about emos and horrible they were. I seriously felt like the presenter guy was the next Hitler and emos were the Jews. Not even kidding you, it had a next-Holocaust feel to it. It was creepy. Other than that, I believe the rest of the school day was normal. After school, however, was terrifying. So I was standing outside after school and my mom had gone inside to go talk to the tennis instructor. All of a sudden this strange smell came around and, in an instant, my lungs, throat, eyes, and nose started burning and watering like crazy. With the rest of the kids standing outside, I ran into the school to get away from it. Finally, I was able to breathe and calm down when I got inside. Apparently it was a tear gas bomb and apparently they’re extremely common. Oh boy. There was a protest at a college like right next to the school and I guess the police set off the bomb to break it up. Ughhh it was SO terrifying and whatnot. Haha all the other students like brushed it off though. And for the rest of the day my mom couldn’t figure out why I was upset haha.
Also, just as a side note, I might be making Chile sound like this horrible, scary place but I swear I LOVE it here c: legit, it’s amazing and anyone would be a fool not to at least visit once.
And now it’s been another three weeks and I still haven’t updated. Mkay, since I still have a little over 8 months left in Chile, I’m sure you’ll still be able to get a feel for my exchange if I half-ass the past two months. I promise things will get better after this. It’s just been a rough few weeks hah.
Let’s see, now we’re at Friday, August 27. Haha to be honest, I don’t really remember what I do in class. My memory has been really weird lately. So I just remember what I quickly jotted down a few weeks ago. Anyways, Friday we had another assembly about G-d and all of that. It was pretty interesting. I mean, except for all of the propaganda and whatnot. Then I learned how to dance the national dance, the cueca. One of my friends Lucy taught it to me. It seems pretty simple. I mean, getting the basics of it. I’m sure I look like a fool when I do it though haha. But that’s not important. At least I learned it. Then that night I ended up getting really homesick so I made another facebook for my Chilean friends and contacts only.
Saturday, August 28, was a tiring day. It was my first day of ballet class. Three hours of tap, jazz, and ballet. That was fun. Haha actually the jazz part was enjoyable. The rest of it I disliked immensely. Like, the last time I did tap and ballet was when I was about 4. And all of these girls have been dancing for years and they’re all like sticks. So I definitely stuck out. A lot. The girls were all really nice though. And there are two girls from the U.S. there. Their parents are missionaries so they stay here for four years at a time and then go back to the U.S. for a year. I find that to be rather unfortunate; I mean, having to move around so much. They’re from Alabama and their family is really nice. Anyways, so after three hours of dance I was frustrated and exhausted. Then it was only Javi and I at home for most of the day, so I just slept and relaxed.
Sunday, August 29, we traveled to another city for the day. First we went to Villarrica and had lunch to celebrate my first official month in Chile c: Oh yeah so in restaurants here you seat yourself, don’t get ice in your drinks, and have to pay for every drink (instead of the free refills I’m used to). And it usually comes in a glass bottle. Then we went to look at the snow covered mountain (it was a fair distance away though), climbed some trees, took pictures, etc. Next, a few minutes away, we drove to Pucon and went to the beach for a bit. However, since it was still winter, we didn’t go in the water haha. We just looked around, took some pictures, etc. Apparently my dad designed/built one of the buildings there. It’s really cool looking. After that, we drove home. I really like Villarrica and Pucon though.
Monday, August 30, we had another assembly (and I was convinced that Jesus week was going to turn into Jesus month or Jesus year. But it stopped that day) during our grade meeting period. We watched a movie and whatnot. It was in English, so I had no choice but to understand it. Later in Language class we had a test, but since I don’t even understand Spanish let alone the intricacies of it, I didn’t have to take it. So instead I went to hang out with another class in psychology. And I guess that was the end of my day.
Tuesday, August 31, something happened in English class, but I have no idea what haha. I like English class though :p it’s kind of confusing though with all of the conjugations and reported speech. Sometimes kids have me do their homework or help them on tests haha. I don’t mind though, since they all help me with Spanish. After school I went to play tennis. That was interesting. My tennis teacher was hot and young, but we had such difficulties communicating. Also, all the other kids were in like middle school or younger. That was a bit embarrassing. However, I think the teacher understood that I was a bit better than my mom told him. Then after tennis, I went to my theater group. Yeah, it’s still really awesome being in theater and not being able to speak the damn language. But whatevs, the people are really nice and whatnot.
Apparently Wednesday was a really boring day in school, because I have nothing written down about it. However, after school Ipek, Yisley, Karen, and I walked around town. First we went to the Portal for a bit and looked around, and then we went to the centro and got ice cream. Next Karen, Ipek, and I took the micro home since we all live really close to each other.
Once again, nothing special happened on Thursday, September 2, at least not in school. Apparently I was sick though. But that seems to happen a lot here. However I usually didn’t feel good a lot in the states either. But oh well, I’m used to it. Anyways, I met with my contact again. Incase I didn’t tell you about his before, his name is Eduardo and he lives really close. He went to the Czech Republic on his exchange, so his English isn’t perfect, but we’re able to communicate haha. So I talked to him about a few things that were on my mind, and we eventually fixed everything. So that was nice.
Friday was a long, interesting day. Really bad at first, but it eventually got better. So in the morning, I was sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast and watching TV as always. And it was on the news, like always. Then all of a sudden it showed this car accident and was talking about it. Next, it showed the people that had died. Like they had these tarps over them, but you could see their feet and it kept showing them, and it completely took me by surprise. Especially since one of them was a little girl who had lost her shoe and was wearing rainbow socks. It was heartbreaking for me. Then things got worse at school. During one of the breaks the seniors took over the cafeteria and posted these ‘Black Lists’ which contained people they hated in every grade and why. And it was completely normal and the inspectors did nothing about it. It was horrifying. Like they call one guy fat, ugly, and gay and called this other girl like a pornstar or something. And no one seemed to mind. It was ridiculous and a complete culture shock. And I just wanted to go home after that, but I stayed. We also danced some more cueca. So after school, I went to Yisley’s house, who lives in a city like an hour away. We made dinner, watched TV, watched scary movies, etc. I love her family so much. And that was like the only good part of my day haha.
Saturday I was still at Yisley’s house, and didn’t want to leave. We took pictures, celebrated her dad’s birthday, watched a movie, went four-wheeling, and more. It was so great. And I met like ALL of her family haha. They’re all so great and I miss them so much. But eventually I had to go back home. When I got home, they were having a BBQ for Javi since she switched schools. There were SO many kids and they were all like screaming and whatnot. Oh and then Paulina called me and invited me to a birthday party, so I had to get ready for that. Oh yeah, and after I had showered and was getting dressed, some guy like tried to walk into my room. So I yelled at him in English. Anyways, so after I was ready I went to Paulina’s house first and met her family and hung out with her for a bit. Then Fernanda came over and we went to Jota’s house, which turns out to be like a block from my house. So my mom was convinced that in that block from my house I could be killed, so I couldn’t walk home and had to leave at 2. Which is reaaaaaaaally lame because most parties don’t start til like 12. The party was really fun though c:
Sunday was a nice relaxing day. Which was good, because I wasn’t feeling too good. So my parents don’t really know how to cook (or they just don’t like to) and our maid lady doesn’t come on weekends, so my dad, Javi, and I went out to eat lunch. After that I went to go play tennis with my dad. And it was like the most ridiculous game of tennis in my life. All the courts we went to were taken, so we ended up going to like this parking lot and playing there. However, he made us stand like two tennis courts away from each other so we had to hit the ball as hard as we friggin could. Sometimes it was frustrating and sometimes it was fun haha.
Monday, September 6, not too much happened in school. However I ended up drinking too much coffee before psychology so I was really hyper and all of my classmates thought it was funny. Well idk about all of them but I know that some of them did. And it was good I guess because then they could see that I like to like joke around and stuff. So after school I went to the Portal with Karen to try to find a little purse. Everyone has these little purses so I used to stick out a lot with my gigantic, giraffe-print bag. Anyway, I ended up buying a lovely, little purple bag.
Mkay what happened the next few days gets a little confusing, but I think I figured it out. So on Tuesday, the weirdest thing happened during school. Instead of going to history class, our class just left school and walked to a funeral. I’m still not sure who’s funeral it was. A teacher’s mother, I think. It was SO weird for me. Like without any permission we just up and left class and went to a church for a funeral. Also, the lady’s grandson kept staring at me during the whole thing. Also uncomfortable. There was a casket and Jesus and everything. Alright now after school I’m pretty sure I went to the portal with Karen and Silvi and then went to centro with Karen and her mom and aunt. Then I got dropped off at the university for my theater group. After I’m pretty sure I took the micro home at like 10-something at night. Which didn’t seem dangerous, although according to my mom, it is.
Wednesday, I have absolutely no idea what happened. At all. So I’m just going to assume it was an average, uneventful day.
Hmm Thursday, September 9, was an eventful day. More or less. First of all, a lot of kids didn’t show because it wasn’t an official day of school. We had an assembly and people danced cueca, and some band played some songs including the school song and probably the national anthem. I also wrote down parade, but I don’t remember that particularly. So I’m going to assume there was a parade of sorts. After that my friends and I left early to go to the portal to go see a movie. However, nothing was playing soon so we went back to my friend’s house to watch a movie. But then we ended up not watching anything, so I tried to go back to the portal to buy something for my sisters birthday. However, I ended up missing my stop and for some reason just didn’t get off the bus. So I ended up going to some deserted town and the bus driver helped me get on the right bus back to the portal. So it took me an hour and a half to get back to where I wanted to go. So then I bought a doll for my sister and finally went home.'
Mkay so that's what i had a few months ago, and i promise to post every day to get all of you caught up! SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
(insert chile-related title here)
hahah so i've had a somewhat eventful past two days. first of all:
dear Temuco/Chile,
I AM JEWISH. i plan on staying this way for a while. entonces, please stop trying to convert me.
mkay, anyways. so the school part of monday was rather uneventful. we had a test in chemistry, so the teacher let me go to the library for two hours. sooo i worked on my spanish and whatnot c:
i don't think i did much that day. at least during school. oh the kids went kind of crazy during psychology. how kids act in the classroom here is soooo different compared to the U.S. they talk when the teacher's talking, scream, do crazy things, etc. haha it's interesting though. and i don't understand what the teacher's saying, anyways.
soooooo after school on monday, me, luci, and pau walked to the portal in town to go shopping! haha i had pau and luci pick everything out for me though :p and i ended up buying jeans, leggings, a skirt, shirt, and jacket. i love themmm.
Oh and while shopping, the sketchiest thing happened. We were in this store looking at stuff, trying clothes on, etc. and this guy that worked there was staring at me. However, being a gringa, this wasn’t anything new. Also, being the awkward person I am, I tried to make it as awkward as possible and obvious that I thought he was a creeper. Haha if I’ve ever hung out with you, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re curious, feel free to ask me at some other time and I’ll explain it better. So after I finished buying my clothes we were walking out and the creeper and I were having a staredown and I walked out and…HE WINKED AT ME. IT WAS SO CREEPY. Not that it should’ve surprised me. But bleck. Hahah so I freaked out after we left and then I looked back and the guy was standing outside of the store starting after us.
Hahah so yeah, guys here a little different than the ones in the U.S. it’s rather entertaining at times, though. But yeah, they stare. A lot. Luckily, no one has said anything directly to my face. Otherwise I’d have a slew of swears for them c: nobody messes with the gringa :P
Next comes today, Tuesday. Looking back on it, today was rather eventful. First, we had language which was the same: I didn’t understand anything. Then we had math, and I was actually able to do it, which made me super super happy. Next, something weird happened. We all filed into this…big room I guess? It had a stage and everything. And then we had a sort of assembly. About Jesus. Yep, that’s right. And then it struck me: I’m going a Baptist school. They did a few skits (which I’m sorry kind of upset me. But I think it’s because I’m used to the whole separation of church and state stuff) and had a sermon thing (I think) and we prayed a couple times. Haha a lot of people slept through it though. But yeahhhh that was a new experience. Then, at lunch i hung out with pau and fernanda. However, we forgot to go back to class after lunch, so we made up some gringa story about why we were late haha. That’s about all that happened at school.
After school, my mom and I went to this store to buy school supplies. I believe tomorrow my classmates and I are visiting a school for kids with special needs who are poor and we were told to bring school supplies for them. So we bought a few things. I also bought some lotion for my poor skin :c it’s been going crazy because it’s winter here. Anyways, so then we went home for a few hours. Then, around 7:15 my mother and I left.
In the absence of the Ellsworth High School theater program, I have joined a theater group. That’s right. A Spanish theater group. Even though I don’t know the damn language. Whatever, it gives me something to do on Tuesday nights. And I naturally relate to theater people, even if I don’t speak their language. Haha they were all really nice and we did some theater stuff so it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.
Something I’ve noticed: you need to have a strong stomach to withstand the driving here. Every time we have to drive somewhere, no matter how short a distance, I get carsick. Everyone gets so friggin intense on the roads. But surprisingly, I haven’t seen any car crashes yet.
Also, everyone here is really nice and loving and open and helpful. I like it here. <3
dear Temuco/Chile,
I AM JEWISH. i plan on staying this way for a while. entonces, please stop trying to convert me.
mkay, anyways. so the school part of monday was rather uneventful. we had a test in chemistry, so the teacher let me go to the library for two hours. sooo i worked on my spanish and whatnot c:
i don't think i did much that day. at least during school. oh the kids went kind of crazy during psychology. how kids act in the classroom here is soooo different compared to the U.S. they talk when the teacher's talking, scream, do crazy things, etc. haha it's interesting though. and i don't understand what the teacher's saying, anyways.
soooooo after school on monday, me, luci, and pau walked to the portal in town to go shopping! haha i had pau and luci pick everything out for me though :p and i ended up buying jeans, leggings, a skirt, shirt, and jacket. i love themmm.
Oh and while shopping, the sketchiest thing happened. We were in this store looking at stuff, trying clothes on, etc. and this guy that worked there was staring at me. However, being a gringa, this wasn’t anything new. Also, being the awkward person I am, I tried to make it as awkward as possible and obvious that I thought he was a creeper. Haha if I’ve ever hung out with you, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re curious, feel free to ask me at some other time and I’ll explain it better. So after I finished buying my clothes we were walking out and the creeper and I were having a staredown and I walked out and…HE WINKED AT ME. IT WAS SO CREEPY. Not that it should’ve surprised me. But bleck. Hahah so I freaked out after we left and then I looked back and the guy was standing outside of the store starting after us.
Hahah so yeah, guys here a little different than the ones in the U.S. it’s rather entertaining at times, though. But yeah, they stare. A lot. Luckily, no one has said anything directly to my face. Otherwise I’d have a slew of swears for them c: nobody messes with the gringa :P
Next comes today, Tuesday. Looking back on it, today was rather eventful. First, we had language which was the same: I didn’t understand anything. Then we had math, and I was actually able to do it, which made me super super happy. Next, something weird happened. We all filed into this…big room I guess? It had a stage and everything. And then we had a sort of assembly. About Jesus. Yep, that’s right. And then it struck me: I’m going a Baptist school. They did a few skits (which I’m sorry kind of upset me. But I think it’s because I’m used to the whole separation of church and state stuff) and had a sermon thing (I think) and we prayed a couple times. Haha a lot of people slept through it though. But yeahhhh that was a new experience. Then, at lunch i hung out with pau and fernanda. However, we forgot to go back to class after lunch, so we made up some gringa story about why we were late haha. That’s about all that happened at school.
After school, my mom and I went to this store to buy school supplies. I believe tomorrow my classmates and I are visiting a school for kids with special needs who are poor and we were told to bring school supplies for them. So we bought a few things. I also bought some lotion for my poor skin :c it’s been going crazy because it’s winter here. Anyways, so then we went home for a few hours. Then, around 7:15 my mother and I left.
In the absence of the Ellsworth High School theater program, I have joined a theater group. That’s right. A Spanish theater group. Even though I don’t know the damn language. Whatever, it gives me something to do on Tuesday nights. And I naturally relate to theater people, even if I don’t speak their language. Haha they were all really nice and we did some theater stuff so it wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be.
Something I’ve noticed: you need to have a strong stomach to withstand the driving here. Every time we have to drive somewhere, no matter how short a distance, I get carsick. Everyone gets so friggin intense on the roads. But surprisingly, I haven’t seen any car crashes yet.
Also, everyone here is really nice and loving and open and helpful. I like it here. <3
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