So. Today....was my first day of Chilean school. Dad, take a lesson from my host mom, and wake me up at 10 of 7 now, not like, 5.30!!(which, when I told my family that´s when I wake up, they all gasped and said "ayy!!"). So yeah. Woke up. Showered and whatnot. Got to wear my spiffy new uniform, which as of right now consists only of sweatpants, t-shirt and sweatshirt. All bright blue. Yay! Gabi´s letting me use her old school bag, thankfully, because mine is WAY too big. Forgot to bring one of those, oops.
Got to school at about 8 ish. Sat in the administrative office for pretty much forever. Then...we went to a few more offices. Spanish was spoken. I was asked simple questions like what my name is and whatnot. I answered. Go me!
Then the headmaster, my host mom, me, and some woman who speaks English went and sat in a conference room type place. They basically told me that I have the same rights and responsibilties as the other students, Bienvenidos a Scuola Italiana, I was being placed in Tercerio(?) Medio A. Which I kind of already knew. Anyhoo. The woman was there to translate for me, even though i was pretty much understanding what he was saying, and she was really unnecessary. Como este:
Headmaster:"Mi nombre es yaddayaddayadda."
Woman:"His name is yaddayaddayadda." But with EVERYTHING. Què aburrido.
Then I got a tour, was introduced to my class, who gawked at me. And then, it was time to be left on my own. I was terrified. They all kind of came over to me, and started speaking really fast, until they saw my confused face, then started speaking really bad English. Asking me my name, my age, where I was from. They have no idea where Rhode Island is, so I just gave up and say Estados Unidos, jaja. And no one can pronounce my name. I got, Kilsy, Kasey, Kelly, and Gringa. By the end of the day though, they pretty much knew my name.
Art was first. We made little sculptures out of soap. Soap. I made a snail.
Then, linguaggio, which is Spanish, like our English. Yeah, not close at all. Apparently all they do is watch movies and answer questions. The movie for today was Good Will Hunting. So I thought, Oh boy! I can do this! Until I got the question paper. And remembered that it´s in Spanish. All of it. It took me the whole hour and a half just to translate it, never mind come up with an answer to all 22 questions in English about a movie I haven´t seen in forever. I don´t know what I´m going to do. I´m just hoping that the profe will accept, I don´t speak your language and don´t know what´s going on, as an acceptable answer.
Lunch was fine. I sat at a table with some people I had met. But didn´t talk. Because, again, I don´t speak their language.
History was a joke. They all sat on desks, and goofed around the whole class. But I got to know them better(especially los chicos, jaja), so it was cool. And they all know who I am too. yay!
Gym. Well, what can I say. Gym sucks no matter what language it´s in, pretty much. Although I hate it even more when the teacher is explaining some complicated thing you have to do with a basketball and I don´t know what she´s saying. Oh well. Atleast I´m entertainment, right?
It´s very relaxed here....kids answer their phones...listen to music. Don´t pay attention, talk back to their teachers. It´s crazy. And the teachers...could care less that I was there. They didn´t even look at me.
After school, my host mom took me to the supermarcado to get food that I like. I keep forgetting that I´m going to be here for a year, and as she says, that I´m her hija now. Cool. But strange. I figured I´d be okay, just look for stuff I know, right? Well....I don´t really know anything. I don´t know what cereal I like, what ice cream I like, what milk I like, what cookies I like. All of them are different. Milk, I decided whatever, I´ll try what you have. Cereal, I recognized Trix. Yogurt I gave up on and found something that looked okay, Cookies, something with chocolate, nothing from the U.S was there. Craziness.
But all in all, a good day. I´m SO TIRED though. And hungry, which should make my host family happy, jaja. But...yeah. So that was my day at a Chilean school. Tomorrow...I go back. And then tomorrow night....I have my first Rotary meeting! Oh boy! In Spanish! Yay!
Anyhoo.
love you all!!!!!!!!!
kelsey