So....a week has passed(ish) since my last post.
and let me tell you.
absolutely nothing has gone down in that time.
school is....boring.
Today in school, we had a test in gym and we had to run for 25 minutes without stopping, and atleast 8 vueltas(I can't remember the word in English, I'm sorry). I passed with a 7,0(the highest grade) and ran 10....that's 4 km, or 2.5 miles.
Went to la Recova with Freja to buy some things. We met something like 10 gringos! All from the states, mostly California. It was really cool. me gustó. I didn't end up buying anything though(although I desperately need to because the end of my year is rapidly closing in on me...), because today seems to be a day when my ATM card won't work. It's happened before...no matter where I go, I can NOT take out money. Not even mil peso...I don't understand why, but it should be better tomorrow.
still, I hate technology.
Freja's coming over tonight to watch movies.
It's weird. Almost 9 months into my exchange, and I'm still discovering so much about this culture. I really feel like I understand it more. In the beginning, it's easy to see what's different when it comes to appearances and weather and such, but now I feel like I really understand how Chileans think and are(for the most part, erm. kind of). And talking about it with Freja has made me realize just how much this culture has actually affected me.
Like the...classism(?) that exists here. I really didn't see it at the beginning, but I do now. And the way I think about people in other classes is different....I never even noticed it happening. And from an American point of view, how I think is bad and wrong, but from a Chilean point of view, it's fine. I didn't even realize how I thought until it somehow came up in a conversation with Freja. It's just....weird. I don't think there's such a division between classes in the US as there is here. Here I'm obviously in the mid-higher class, and it's just....obvious. I guess that's changed how I think too...but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not yet.
And the other thing. In the US, on the streets, you know how if you make eye contact with someone, you just....smile, or say hi? Well, I was talking with my host family about how Chileans really aren't as warm as they all think, and used that as an example. And I found myself thinking(about what we do in the US) why on EARTH would you do that? When people have said hi to my friends while I'm here with thme, I always think, "Do they know each other?", and it always turns out that they do, because I think you'd be crazy to say hi otherwise. Even people who work at stores, like you just...don't do that. In colectivos, yes, occasionally(like me and my colectivo driver friend! He brought me home today for the 7th-ish time...and when we see each other we smile and wave, and he's very nice! jeje) but for the most part...no. And I've just gotten used to it....I don't make eye contact with people on the street unless they're staring or doing rude things towards me, in which case I stare them down(or sometimes yell. oops).
I don't know....it's just weird. In the beginning of my exchange, it was fairly obvious that I had changed, but now, not so much. I don't
feel any different, and I guess it's because I've gotten so used to the changes....I don't think it'll be obvious until I get home.
Also, it's weird to think about going home and seeing people and not doing the cheek-kissing thing. With the Americans today, they shook my hand, and I just felt uncomfortable. And it comes off as rude when someone doesn't kiss my cheek when we see each other or when someone leaves, even if they're foreign. It's just...strange.
I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes or weird grammar. Now I'm better, towards the end of the entry, but at the beginning, I was thinking in Spanish, and EVERY word came to mind first in Spanish, so it was kind of...difficult. I suppose that's a good sign though!
chao chao!
And finally....a sky shot. I took this Monday morning as I was getting ready for school.
