Mis Aventuras

...So I'm Home Now...

2007-07-30T17:24:00.000-06:00

So a month has passed.
I've(obviously) made it home safe and sound.
It was weird coming home. I hated it, actually. I was surrounded by Spanish and people who were not Chileans.....which is what I had become utterly used to, so it was kind of a shock being thrown back into an old life I seemed to have forgotten a good amount of. I don't mean to make it sound like I forgot my old life, I didn't at all. It was just strange to be in an old environment with a head full of a foreign language, and doing foreign things that suddenly made no sense at all.
It was wicked weird. On one hand, it felt like I had never left, but on the other hand, it felt like I had been gone forever and a day. I picked right back up with some friends. I got a job, which has been keeping me busy.....5 days a week, hurrah! I've actually kept fairly good communication with my host family. Ignacio's not doing very well at all, which is worrisome....I'm hoping to get a chance to see him again. :(
Oh. I did manage to get everything packed. One suitcase came in weighing 17 kilos, the other was 25. I was wearing my blazer, and wasn't charged anything. My weight limit for both suitcases was 23 kilos each, by the way. haha. I know, I know, I'm fairly amazing.
Saying goodbye was utterly hard and full of tears. Then it was a long bus ride to Santiago. Mauricio and I were picked up by a friend of his and we then got utterly lost looking for the airport. Made it there eventually though. Checked my baggage, then hung around until it came time for me to go. It was hard.....I've never had such a horrible feeling in my entire life like the feeling that I had as I sat on the runway in Santiago. It was horrible, made even worse by the crew on the plane, who flat out refused to speak anything but English.
Buuuut I made it home, and I'm safe. Happy? Well, I haven't quite figured that out. I suppose it's really more a matter of giving myself time to fit back into life here. It's hard because I created an entire life for myself in Chile that I really really really liked, and was then forced to leave all that behind. It's harder because I've come back changed, and most people refuse to see that, and just want me to be the old Kelsey(sorry. NOT happening.). For the time being, I'm okay, I suppose. I just feel....foreign and out of place most of the time. I can tell you that the most uncomfortable feeling I've had my whole life was the feeling I had while waiting to board my plane in Dallas/Fort Worth. I was sitting there, in the United States, my "home", surrounded by Americans and English, but honestly, I have never felt so foreign in my entire life. Even being in Chile, I never felt as foreign as I did then. In my own country. I still have a habit of referring to myself as a Chilean. Often I talk about Chileans and use the word "we". Somehow it just makes more sense to me.
Anyway. I'm OK. Dealing. Working hard to return back to Chile, hopefully for an even longer amount of time. I think almost constantly in Spanish, so please excuse errors I make or have made in this entry.
Hmmm. Not sure what else to say.
I guess *sniffsniff* that this is goodbye. I don't really see a reason to keep this up, since this blog was about me going to Chile, I've gone, I've returned, it's served it's purpose. So I suppose, to all you faithful readers (haha) that this is The End. Thanks for reading....I know I'll see some of you around. Most of you, really, since you had to have met me in some form or other in order to have stumbled upon this page.
Anyway. Thanks. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and all of my outrageous happenings in the best country by far, La República de Chile(why yes, my keyboard IS set to Spanish). Bueno. Gracias. Thank you. Chao. Goodbye. Adiós. Peace.

Just stopping by...

2007-06-25T20:43:00.000-06:00

So it would appear this would be my last entry until I'm in the US unless something utterly exciting happens...which I doubt.
I've started my packing....which is quite a process, which involves making a disaster out of my room. It's okay though, I've already warned mamá not to go in, in order to avoid having her have a heartattack with all the disaster. I would take a picture, but unfortunately, my camera has finally died. When it manages to turn on, it tells me the batteries are depleted(despite them being new batteries) and turns off. Or, if I take a picture, as soon as I press the button, it turns off. So....if anyone wants to get me an AMAZING welcome home present, I'm in need of a new camera. I will def. be calling HP though, because for the past few months, my camera has had my pictures hijacked, and also the fact that one of their products can last only a year and a half is more than concerning. Oh well....atleast it made it this far, although I really would have liked to have pictures from my last week. Damn. Excuse my French, but trust me, that's the most subtle thing that comes to mind right now.
Anyway. Started packing, and just about finished with my shopping. Just need to take out more money and buy a clock that I've been eyeing all year. Because yes, Kelsey manages to spend a good $30.000 pesos in gifts in one day. Go me, basically. But hey...you people at home better not be complaining, because I've bought some pretty sweet gifts, if I do say so myself.
My last Rotary meeting was quite nice, though. I thought it would be held at the club like all the others, but no, this was at a restaurant. A girl just came back from Denmark, so I figure it's both a goodbye-our-favorite-exchange-student and welcome home thing. I got a wicked nice plaque from them, with my picture and such on it. Too bad it's heavy. Blegh. Oh well. I love my club either way, and my counselor is wicked sweet. Told me I've set the bar very high for others...that it's rare to have a student as nice, responsible, and respectful as me, and they're all proud to call me "theirs" :D But, considering my competition, it's really no surprise to me. Oops. What can I say? I'm amazing.
Anyway...my head's killing me...I do believe I'm getting sick...atleast that's what my head, stomach and throat have been telling me. For the first time this year, I've resorted to painkillers(kind of?) Aspirina....I'm not sure if it's Aspirin persay, and I know that's bad for under 18, mom. But honestly, I need SOMETHING and all my ibuprofen's gone....and that's all there is here. Didn't work anyway. I'm just hoping it's gone by Friday....I really don't want to travel a good 20 hours or more feeling like this. Blegh.
Anyhoo. See (some of) you soon!

Kelsey's Wanderings....Revealed!!!

2007-06-23T17:44:00.000-06:00

So I just got back from an adventure....
to SANTIAGOoooo!
It was quite exciting, and horribly adventurous.
'Twas a good time, and really nice to see such a different place...from La Serena(with Coquimbo) at about 175.000 people, to Santiago, with just about 6 million. Yeah....different. Although, by the third day I was kind of longing for the familiarity and comfort of La Serena, to be honest. And coming home was really nice....it smelled like home! jaja...well, Chile home, that is....
I went with Mauricio...we left Monday morning at 9:30. Six hours later we got to Santiago. At first I was horribly overwhelmed, and my body did that stupid overwhelmed thing it does, headache and stomachache, but thank God no puking this time. Hurrah! We had something to eat in a mall and took the metro(subway!) to my "aunt"'s apartment. We bought a Bip! card too....you use it when you use micros and the metro, it's this whole thing with trans-Santiago(which is actually a disaster). anyhoo. During the week I saw Santa Lucia, a biiig hill with pretty things on it, San Cristobal, a giant hill with a big Virgin Mary statue, a mall, the Andes, random places in the city like the centro, La Moneda(which is the Chilean version of the White House, but a lot more open). La Moneda was pretty cool...made me realize how different the cultures are....their white house is in the middle of the city and you can walk into the courtyard of it(granted, there are cops everywhere telling you not to cross invisible lines...which I did, but whatev.). Very cool. There's lots of cool old architecture and such too. I wish I could say more in detail about it, but not now with my current English, and it's also kind of a lot to put. Oh! And I got to see a protest! Granted, it was small and pathetic, but still. Chileans looove to protest...they'll do it over anything. Last year there was a huuuge protest like, all over the country in high schools and such, and it would appear it could happen again, not long ago a high school like, took it? Cops were involved and everything...and the U. de Chile(I believe) had signs all over it. They never stop complaining about their education, honestly.
Trans-Santiago. Oh my. The transportation of the city was like, re-done, but it's kind of a disaster. They have those Bip! cards, which are kind of annoying, but cute and make a funny sound, so it's okay. The metro is very reliable and clean and organized, and i like it, but the micros are horrible! They hardly ever pass, and when they do, they're filled up and together, so you end up waiting a good 40 minutes for a micro. There used to be a whooole bunch that would go all over the city, but with trans-Santiago, it's redone so that there's less, and they only go in certain parts, aka, in order to get to the centro, you might need to take TWO micros, whereas before you could just catch one. AND, they only stop in bus stops, no more sticking your finger out for them, like in La Serena. So why not take a colectivo, right? Well, they're always full too, and it costs MIL PESOS to go ANYWHERE. MIL! that's 1,000!!! in La Serena, and most places, it costs 350! I used to think people were being stupid about all this Trans-Santiago nonsense, but now that I've experienced it myself, I completely understand. It was ridiculous....one day we ended up walking home because every micro that passed was too full...and by too full I mean, faces squished up against the glass, and doors not even closed full. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, now on to some eye candy.....

Santa Lucia:
Museum:
University and signs.
Micro:
and now....I'm off to my last Rotary meeting! chao chao!

'ello!

2007-06-17T15:35:00.000-06:00

So.
Freja left Friday night for Santiago, and it was horribly sad and slightly dramastic.
We went to school on Thursday to say one last goodbye to everyone. Freja's classmates were really nice and talked with us. Mine....did not. One of them waved to me.....and that's about it. I got well wishes when I stuck my head in the classroom and said Hey! I'm leaving.....butttt....my classmates were....well, my classmates. I was a bit disappointed....I guess I stupidly believed they would be different. Oh well. The music teacher was sad to see us go, along with all the teachers and people who work there, so I guess that kind of made up for it.
After we said goodbye, Freja and I went to the centro to get some gifts and have lunch. By this time, it was pouring. It had sprinkled a little earlier while we were in school, but we didn't expect anything else.....I've seen "rain" here in Serena three times, and never for more than 5 minutes. This rain.....was quite the downpour at times, and lasted all day. It was a Christmas miracle! either way, we enjoyed it, despite getting quite wet....we even bought an umbrella so that we could manage our way through the centro....yeah....lots of rain.
Today, being Father's Day, I cooked lunch! Hurrah! It was quite exciting. Or rather....slightly annoying. I made chicken parmesan. But I also went out last night, and so I was NOT happy about waking up early to make lunch(after going out, I require lots of sleep since the night ends so late....I usually sleep up until just before lunch is served) Let me tell you, despite what you may believe, cooking while feeling half dead, is not very exciting at all. Either way, I did it, and my host family liked it. I learned a few things along the way as well....the most important being that I need to marry a man who will cook for me, because me and this cooking thing? Yeah, not so much a good match. I dont' particularly like the raw chicken thing, and I'm very surprised I'm not burned from the oil I had to...er, fry? it in. I'm also surprised that the house is still standing. haha....I did however, learn that you should NOT leave the lid on top of a pot while you're making pasta because it tends to overflow. and, among other things, I made a big mess. hehe, oops. I'm quite glad my family found it entertaining and like me so much. :D I also cooked in my PJs....my host mom at first was all !&@¬º about it, but I told her I like to cook in PJs, and she was fine. hehe. Host moms.....
I'm about to embark on an adventure. Unfortunately, I can't say what it is quite yet. I will, however, have an update about this time next week where I will reveal Kelsey's Wanderings to the world. Hurrah! Until then....enjoy this feast for the eyes.
Ornela. My only nice classmate. She's the one I usually go out with. She's going to South Africa on exchange July 8th.
Rain!
I was really happy for this. See that box? That would be RAW chicken. yummy.
The aftermath.
More for the parents: RAW chicken. And my hands. touching it. EW.

Fotos from end of school, and a countdown.

2007-06-13T22:55:00.000-06:00

Music teacher! This man is our best friend..we are in the music room whenever possible...playing the piano, stealing his computer, drinking his coffee and tea, watching his movies, making noises on trumpets, playing the drums, or dancing to really loud music. and he puts up with it all! And actually doesn't want us to leave! Really nice guy. :D
The kiosko! It's where you can buy snacks and such. We were usually there during English or Italian classes and such....buying tea to keep warm. This woman's reallyyy nice, and when she found out it was our last day, gave us each a free candy bar!
An Italian. Also really nice....wicked blue eyes. The cool thing is, we have to communicate through Spanish!
With the principal of the school, and our diplomas! Hurrah!
The inspector general.
Giovanni, Ornela, and Nicole, from my class.
My filosofía teacher. Apparently getting a picture with him is rare.....He also thinks he's John Lennon....

Fotos(as promised last post...read if you haven't!)

2007-06-07T17:58:00.000-06:00

Yeah, that's right. I've got spirit for a school I strongly dislike.....or maybe just Denmark?
Just before the whole thing started. That's a volcano! The opening is so the fire breather could get in....it looks better from the other side.

The inspector general. He's not allowed to show favoritism for either alianza...but he agreed to wear this sticker in a place where you can't really see it. He's a nice guy, actually....def. loves us :D
Oh babyyy...
Human Tables.....this is what sent a kid to the hospitalOur art teacher. There was a competition for who could make their teacher change the most. Obviously, roja won this one.
Opening dance....just after the flame breathing action. The girl in the corner is holding the fire still
This little boy is super adorable and not so strange looking in real life. We gave him a Danish flag sticker...and he drew a picture with "Asul=mala! Roja=buena!". It was über lindo :D

Alessandro and Giovanni...two of my classmates. I told you they really got into this....

Aniversario de Scuola Italiana...Vamos Alianza ROJA!

2007-06-07T17:39:00.000-06:00

Okay.
so surprise surprise
I'm not dead.
I have, however been EXTREMELY busy. At the end of exchange, everyone wants to suddenly do things with you, and i've been trying my best to cram as much as possible into the little time I have left.
Had orientation en mayo. El 18 hasta el 20. 'Twas a good time....nice to see everyone, but sucked to say goodbye. we rated Rotary and such and just hung out the rest of the time. It was also REALLY nice to get out of Serena.
Jenny left the 27th from Serena and de Chile el 28 de mayo. Tears were shed. Maureen's the next to leave, the 9th from Serena. So you can only imagine how busy I am now.
My time has been spent doing final shopping, going out in the weekends(gotta get the partying in....can't go to discos in the US....) and spending as much time with the remainding La Serena Girls(LSG woot woot!)
anyhoo.
This is my last week of school. My last day is Monday, when I will get a diploma of some sort from Scuola Italiana. Hurrah! Anyway, it is also the 16th anniversary of the school. Which, in Chile, as is with most things here, is a HUGE celebration. The school is divided into two alliances(alianzas), blue(azul) and red(roja). It's based on courses and such(1º and 4º are roja, 2º and 3º are azul, and younger grades, I don't know how they divide them). Anyway, I'm in the alianza roja. Yesterday was the big opening kind of thing for the aniversario events....we had a big dance competition type thing, little games, and a final dance. For each thing, the teams get points, and whoever has the most points on Sat. wins. There's a huge thing at the school with a king and queen and such. I'm sorry, it's hard to explain to people who haven't experienced it, esp. with my current English(I forgot the word "silverware" yesterday. oops). Anyway, this whole thing is HUGE in the school, VERY competitive. One kid, after doing a human table(which is when four people kind of lay on each other, but with legs bent, again, hard to explain), a kid went to the hospital. He was sick earlier, and shouldn't have done it at all, but did for his alianza.
So yesterday, it was huge. Red had one side, blue had another. Banners, drums, everyone dressed and painted in their colors, really cool. The school had even hired a DJ, and found judges to judge each team. Red started off first with their dance. It was ridiculoussss. We had cage like things, with people dancing in them, painted people, and a volcano. Out of the volcano came a boy in Freja's class who then breathed fire. It was CRAZY. Really cool. blue...well blue sucked :D
Red lost a lot in the beginning(like an eating competition that included eating and ONION...our kid puked), but we won a few afterwards. It was a good time....Freja and I got decked out in black and red(our colors) with Danish flag stickers on us, and wrapped ourselves in a giant Danish flag(there was another one and a Polish one...because they're red and such...). We handed out Danish flag stickers to people. It was a real good time. I'd type more about it, but my hands are FREEZING, and it makes it hard to type, and also I need to get ready for a top secret surprise going away party for someone special(aka Maureen.)
Posting again after this entry for some fotossss so this one isn't too long
chao chao

Fotos de Mi Cumpleaños

2007-05-13T15:16:00.000-06:00

As promised in the other post:
The cake
Todos:
Yo y mi mamá
With the jewelry.
Just being really hot. Obviously.
Mamá tries to steal my presents.
The La Serena Girlssss in my room before going out:And...last but not least! A video:

Día del Alumno y Mi Cumpleaños!

2007-05-13T14:42:00.000-06:00

Now that I actually have time to do so(this weekend's been wicked busy), I can actually update about what went downnn when Kelsey turned 17.
It was a pretty awesome day, I'd def say. It was Día del Alumno, so instead of uniforms, we got to wear regular clothes to school and do absolutely nothing. Hurrah! Everyone had a breakfast, but my class was über special, and we got to eat in the cafeteria. There were flowers and everyone got a bar of white chocolate. We had tea, a cake with manjar, and little sandwiches. It was so niceee. My class sang happy birthday to me too...and I actually felt noticed and it was way nice. Plus! I got an amazinggg suprise...two of my classmates that I've been going out with recently(a former and future exchanger, sisters) gave me a birthday present! It was so unexpected, considering that most of my class barely notices that I exist, and it def. helped make my day.
After doing nothing, Freja and I left school and met up with Maureen and her friend(who I've met once), Chewy on Balmaceda. He bought me a cake! It was waaaay sweet. We went to a place called On The Run, it's like a cafe thing at a gas station. We bought some juice and sat down and ate our cake. We didn't have plates, so we just ate it, haha. But we didn't eat a whole lot, so we cut some pieces and gave it to people who worked there, an Argentinian woman, and my colectivo driver friend! It was sooo nice. They were all so surprised and happy :D
Then Freja and I went to my house, had lunch, and hung out. I got a call from the US hehe :D
Then Freja went home to change clothes and check to make sure she could leave. Jenny and Maureen came, then my counselor(with cake!) and a woman, Lucía from the club. My host parents made pizza and when Freja came back, we all had tea and pizza, and they sang happy birthday, and it was looovely. After tea I opened presents. I got PJs from my abuelos(they've noticed I like PJs....), a jacket from mis papás, a white cardigan from Ignacio, reallyyy nice lapiz azul earrings from my counselor, a scarf from Lucía, and a waaaaaaay nice lapiz azul from my Rotary club! They're so nice!
Lucía and my counselor stayed for a bit to talk, and left at about 11. Then the Serena girls all went to my room, turned on some reggaeton and danced and got ready until two classmates(who gave me the presents) came and picked us up at about 12. And then....we danced the night away in a disco. It was a looot of fun. I saw a lot of people I knew, and got many birthday hugs, AND I got in free since it was my birthday. All in all...it was probably the greatest day this whole year. Absolutely NOTHING bad happened all day...and I was surrounded by people I love and care about and who love and care about me, and it was just....amazing. I can't believe how incredibly lucky I've been here, to have such an incredible host family, amazing exchange friends, wicked nice and reliable counselor, and not to mention how awesome my club is. I'm going to miss them all SO much when I leave. Bah. I can't think about it.
Here are some fotos from Día del Alumno, and I'm going to make another entry for my birthday pics:
The breakfast:
Freja:

In other news....

2007-05-08T18:35:00.000-06:00

So. It's been a bit, and yet, nothing of much interest has happened. I did my presentation for my Rotary club, and must say, I was amazing. haha
The La Serena girls have just celebrated nine months together! We're going out for pizza probably this Thursday to celebrate celebrate. It's our last anniversary together....Jenny from Finland goes home the 28th, and then the rest of us leave....it's actually really sad.
School...nothing special. This Friday is Día del Alumno....or something of the sort. Basically a day of nothing. But, no gym, so that's special. ALSO. In case somehow you've forgotten or simply didn't know...Friday is also MY BIRTHDAY. :D It's quite exciting....and I can't wait to celebrate. With my host family, with the exchangers, and then at night with the exchangers again and two girls from my class, and possibly an Argentinian I met in January...who's coming back this weekend just for my birthday(what can I say? I'm easy to fall in love with...).
Then...the next weekend is Maureen's birthday....but also THE ORIENTATION. Yes, that's right, orientation is back on! I'm wicked excited...esp. to get out of Serena. I love it here, but when you've been here for awhile....gah, it gets quite fome.
anyhoo....I'm off for tea time!
chao chao

Nothing extremely special

2007-04-26T18:53:00.000-06:00

Not much has been going on. ATM card stopped working for who knows why. Counselor will be helping me out until I can get a new card. Blegh. Atleast I have him though....I love my Rotary club.
Coming up on two months exactly left in Chile. This next anniversary, nine months, is the last one the La Serena Girls will have together...Jenny from Finland leaves at the end of May.
My birthday is coming up...two weeks till I'm 17.
It's crazy and slightly scary how fast this year is coming to an end; how fast it's flown by. I always knew it would, I suppose, and yet somehow part of me didn't think it would. I can still look back at the beginning of my exchange and I feel like somehow those were the longest days of my life.
It's crazy to look back on myself then.....I was a whole other person. Slightly crazy, all over the place, always talking and moving around, trying to see and experience everything I could.....I've grown up a lot and calmed down and shut up. I see more now than I ever did before, I think. I've learned to be quiet and observe. I'm really introverted. Mauricio told me once that I remind him of a gazelle. Big eyes, just sitting and watching everything around me in complete silence.
That's right parents. Silence. Kelsey's learned how to be silent this year.
It'll be interesting to see how things end up when I get back....how the new Kelsey will mesh with the environment of Old Kelsey. We'll see.
Some photos, in the meantime.
My host family(Mauricio, me, Ignacio, mamá, y papá):
A scan...me with Ele on her birthday:

And finally....a sky shot. I took this Monday morning as I was getting ready for school.

A week.

2007-04-20T17:31:00.000-06:00

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!

Rotary.

2007-04-15T21:03:00.000-06:00

So last night. I was just chilling, checking mail and such, when the phone rings and oh guess what, I have a Rotary meeting in like, an hour.
But I'm wicked skilled now and managed to get ready with time left over. Anyhoo.....a new guy was being....erm I'veforgottentheword into the club, so that's why.
Here are some fotosss:
My entire club:

Me and Alyssa(we're the only two with Coquimbo, she's Canadian):
Me and my counselor(who doesn't noramlly look like that, but was talking, jaja):

And last but not least, me with the club president:
That's all for now!

Hurrah!

2007-04-12T18:49:00.000-06:00

Thank you parents!!!!
<3
Mamá(and everyone else, but mostly her) likes the peanut butter cups, and Ignacio LOVES the Peeps. I hid them in my closet so he wouldn't eat them all, hahaha. And I'm def. enjoying the magazines, although at first it was somehow actually hard to read them...? Hurrah for thinking in Spanish! I actually had to read some sentences twice(which is happening A LOT now lately in English) because I just didn't....get it the first time. go figure.

¡Feliz Ocho meses!

2007-04-04T21:17:00.000-06:00

So today.....is my eight month anniversary of being in Chile! Hurrah!
And honestly, I had gotten to the point where life was kind of....blah. And I really didn't feel like I was accomplishing much here anymore.
BUT. All of that changed yesterday. In a matter of hours!
My counselor came by my house and told me that he had gotten an informe from main Rotary in Villa Alemana about how we did on the Spanish test during the orientation....and apparently....I'm one of the best speakers of the exchangers! He said my Spanish is farther ahead than the others....? (I think that's how you'd translate it....)
and then later...I was talking with Mauricio and he told me that I don't have a gringo accent. I don't have a Chilean accent, but I'm somewhere in the middle, which is better! Also, I said the word "puta" without even realizing it. The word actually means something along the lines of whore or bitch, buuuut is often put at the beginning of sentences(or you could use a nicer version of pucha). And somehow, I added it to the beginning of my sentence, and didn't realize it. Mauricio just said: "That was really Chilean!" and I didn't even know why until he repeated what I said. Caraaaziness!
So what else is new? I get out of school tomorrow at 12:30 and don't have school Friday, annnnd that's about it. Easter's coming up, but apparently my host family doesn't do ANYTHING, so it's a bit depressing, but I can handle it.
annnnnd that's about it.
que fome,¿eh?

Fotos

2007-04-01T15:28:00.000-06:00

Here are some fotos of last night's 10 pm asado:
Ignacio blowing bubbles:

Mamá y Ele making pebre.
Papá cooking.
My host family dancing:
Churi pan con pebre: bread with churrasco(chouriço?), tomatoes, onions, a bit of pepper, cilantro(?),and some lemon juice, I LOVE this stuff:

Photos and Such!

2007-03-31T22:45:00.000-06:00

Ah, life.
School has been sucky. This whole week has been sucky, actually.
Went out with Maureen and Alyssa last night...and that was better.
Talked with my real family. That also cheered me up.
And. At quarter to ten, my host family decided Hey! let's have an asado!
and so we did.
hurrah!
I'm too lazy, and it's far too late for me to put up pics, so I will return to do so later.
But.
I've been uploading my south tour pics onto snapfish...since yahoo's been sucking. Now I just have to figure out how to share this with THE ENTIRE WORLD. We'll see. But snapfish is better since it doesn't take forever and a day to load. Which is always a plus.
I'm tired, and still sick, so I need me some sleep.
i'm sorry this update was so fome.

Kelsey has a stalker! and other exciting things.

2007-03-24T17:45:00.000-06:00

What has Kelsey been up to lately? you may ask yourself. Well, I'll tell you.
Not much, really. School is utterly boring. Some ex exchanger who went to NY saw me on the news, and somehow figured out what school I go to, and hunted me down. Kind of stranger.
Yesterday was Jenny's birthday, so we went out to celebrate. Freja and I gave her a Bob Marley drawing she really wanted from a guy in centro. Got ready and went to Freja's house, dropped off my things(since I was sleeping there) and we went to Jenny's house to finish getting ready, have some tea, and eat some cake. We went to a friend of a friend's house, the owner of the disco we were going to, first. It was a good time. He took out his guitar and sang(he has an AMAZING voice) and he had CDs with just the music of famous songs, so it was kind of like karaoke...? Apparenly he's fairly well known here...? He works on the radio now, but used to be a singer on some show or something. He was really nice too. It's things like that I'm going to miss. Every get together is like that. Everyone sings and it's just...fun.
Then we went to the disco. It was cool....we entered through the back since we were with the DJ. He brought us to the VIP area. It was higher up, but not a real lot higher (maybe like, 4 or 5 ft off the ground, but with a fence type thing around it), and was guarded by a security guard, and only us and our friends were allowed up. It was WAY cool. The owner came up and hung out with us, and it was really nice to be able to dance with my friends and NOT be bothered by guys the whole time. We did go to the other area though, we met two guys from Romania, but they were waaay older than us, and really boring. But they spoke really good English. So pretty much the whole night was in the VIP. Maureen's friends from school came, so I got to meet some nice Chileans. And if anyone bothered us(like some guys who somehow got up there and said they knew us....?), we could just ask the guards to make them leave. hehehe.
All in all, it was a good time. And now Jenny is nineteen! Hurrah!
But the question shouldn't be what am I doing, it should be what the eff is going on in Tiverton? Come on now people....what is this about?

Un Partido!

2007-03-18T17:44:00.000-06:00

So today I went to a futbol game with Mauricio, Cristian, and Freja. Well, it was an experience...haha
It was Coquimbo(feoooo, the city next to La Serena, I'm in the Rotary Coquimbo club), vs. La Serena(woooo!) But, since the game was in Coquimbo, we sat on the Coquimbo side and cheered for them, because it's actually dangerous to be for the other team. So we were for Coquimbo.
It started off insane....when the team came out there was yellow smoke(Coquimbo's yellow and black, La Serena's red and white), firework type things, it's insane.

The game itself was pretty boring. We were sitting in a relatively calm area, but the lunatic fans were not too far away from us. They cheered the whole time(saying lovely things like "Serena chupalooo" which means suck it, and other lovely words). It was a good time.
Coquimbo ended up losing in the end, but it was really boring....they lost 1-0. The Coquimbo fans were CRAZY. Chanting the whole time, jumping up and down, throwing paper, and at one point there was a fire(the cops just left though). It was INSANE. The cops were every 10 feet or so, and they had other ones that were dressed like SWAT team members. There was even an attack dog!!! And barbed wire separating the fans from the field. The La Serena fans were in a small part, on the other side of the stadium, with lots of cops there to protect them.
What was craziest, was at the end of the game. Everyone was kept in the stadium, so that the La Serena fans could leave, so that the Coquimbo fans wouldn't attack them. We went to the top of our bleacher area and stuck our heads over the side to see what was going on. There was a huuuge group of people there, and the cops with shields and such(but regularly dressed police behind them, hiding), and the people were throwing things at them. Shoes, rocks, anything and everything they could get their hands on. It was insane. But then a woman cop(who was dressed regularly) was hit in the head by a rock. The regular cops were brought out of there, off to the side, and then the SWAT like cops ran after the people, with their shields and bats out. Everyone started running in different directions, and they cornered a group of people and started hitting them. Don't worry though, I took video:

However, you can't see as clearly as Freja and I did what they were doing. It was horrible, and while I can see where they were coming from, it was still unexpected.
All in all....it was crazy. Crazy to see and experience, but I'm glad I did. How could I be here for one year and NOT go to a game,right?
Hopefully Freja and I will be going to a game for La Serena IN La Serena(where apparently it's not as violent), so we don't have to be undercover fans again, jaja

St. Patrick's Day and a Natural Po!

2007-03-17T17:39:00.000-06:00

So...life.
Went to Coquimbo via micro(which I love, by the way) with Mauricio to wander around, kill time, and take some fotos. 'Twas lovely. Andddd we got to eat Mexican food! Which was utterly exciting! When we got back to the house though, I heard Mauricio funny, and thought he said we ate pacos....which is cops. jajaja...ohhh ears....
last night. Went out with Maureen, Freja, and Alyssa. 'Twas a good time. Maureen and I(she's IRISH!) rang in St. Patrick's Day at midnight by shaking our tailfeathers. It was a good time. Probably the best ever. And just what I needed. I met like, four German guys, who were really boring. And no matter how hard I told myself to speak English with them, since they don't know Spanish, I still only spoke Spanish. But hurrah for that!
And THE MOST EXCITING THING EVER happened yesterday.
We were driving. Trying to find Alyssa's house. And speaking Spanish(obvio). Actually, first, here's a little background for you. The word "po" in Chile is a nothing word. It has no meaning, but they add it on to the end of sentences. I have never really said this word(seriously anyway. Joking, yes, but not seriously). BUT. Yesterday. I SAID PO NATURALLY! Yes, that's right. Kelsey Edwards had a NATURAL PO! It was quite exciting.

and a video. A slideshow of my CHILEAN SUMMER! hurrah!
The other picture is me, obviously displaying my Irish pride!

2007-03-14T20:35:00.000-06:00

Nothing of much interest is happening...taking salsa classes, which I'm really liking, and the teacher said I have good rhythym!
Got some old pictures from Freja though, so here they are:
Eating pizza with the La Serena girls.
Trying on a skirt during my first week
Lina(Freja's host sister in the US), Gabi, my host sister, and me.

Kelsey Is Still Quite Angered

2007-03-11T14:34:00.000-06:00

Oh, this weekend.
Friday night I went to a birthday party with Jenny, Freja, and Maureen, which was gooood. I met kids from Jenny's school, who are a lot nicer and willing to talk than the kids at my school. And towards the end, some Scuola kids showed up. The two new girls in Freja's class, who I talked to, and a boy in my class and his younger brother. It was nice. Now atleast SOMEONE realizes that I can actually have a conversation in their language....
The next day I went to a birthday asado for a friend of Mauricio(who I know too!) It was nice...because I love asados, and I realized that all the people around me were kind of(?) my friends too. Granted, they're all older than me, but I've been around them so often, that I really know them. Hurrah!
I was, however, starting to get sick. I noticed the night before(friday night) that I was getting kind of stuffy, and during gym that day it was hard for me to breathe(that gym class was torture, by the way. Freja and I are still sore, and one girl in Freja's class almost passed out). During the asado, I was so tired that I actually went and slept for about an hour and half or two hours or so. I've been using my inhaler and such though....so hopefully I'll just magically heal on my own. Bah! i've never been sick as often as I have in Chile......
My family's in the valle today, but I'm home with Mauricio and abuelo since I don't feel good.
I thinkthinkthink I'm starting salsa lessons today. Freja and I have decided to stop belly dancing because it's too expensive to do both. I can take belly dancing in the US, but not necessarily salsa, so I want to learn that now.
Oh! March 8th was International Women's Day, which was cool. I'd never heard of it before....but my fisica/homeroom teacher came into the classroom in the morning and gave all the girls a chocolate bar. Gotta love that....
Not much else is going on here. Hung out with the New Zealander....he's really nice. Kind of quiet, but I can understand that...I've been in that position before. He's one out of FOUR AFS exchangers in La Serena. FOUR MORE! That brings the total to NINE exchangers in this city. Wow, huh?
anyhoo. gotta run...but here a picture that DID end up working from when Ignacio was reading with me(STILL can't get that last picture....parents, anyway you could contact HP and ask what's up??) It's Ignacio reading a magazine. I was sitting on my bed, reading, and he came in to talk with me. Then, he left and got some magazines, and sat next to me, with his legs crossed like me, and "read"(he actually can't read, but he looked at pictures, and told me what different letters and numbers were). It was one of the cutest things he's ever done!

Kelsey Is Pissed.

2007-03-09T14:43:00.000-05:00

Just stopping by to let you all know that I DID have the cutest picture ever of Ignacio and I reading on my bed together, but because my camera has somehow broken, I can't get it off my camera. It just keeps uploading the last picture taken, even when I didn't select to upload that at all. ARGH.
this week has sucked.
I'm off to cry now.
chao.

*EDIT*
because my camera sucks....this is the best I can do.
What the eff? Def. going to see if there's someone at HP I can yell at, because this is bull crap. Camera's should NOT be deleting pictures, or making them smaller. Yeah, can't get bigger than this.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
is how I feel.
just so you can all get some kind of idea.

Siete meses!

2007-03-06T20:14:00.000-05:00

Oh hey look....Kelsey's still alive!
Life here has been.....well, it's just been. Okay, I suppose. And by okay, I mean not really, but I'm dealing.
Went and ate pizza and ice cream with Jenny, Maureen, and Freja today to celebrate our seven months in La Serena. ¿Hurrah?
New boy in school....finally got here. From New Zealand. Horribly shy and slightly uncomfortable looking, but I'm going to do something new and try and be a nice person. I think Thursday we're going to try and hang out with him after school. Poor guy doesn't know anyone...and he ended up in my school.
Nothing of interest is happening. I have self-declared my cartilage piercing to be healed, so I'm going to try and head over to Monkys soon to see if they can help me get the ring out. Second holes angry at me...but it's nothing sea salt won't heal, I think. We'll see.
Still working on my blazer....adding three new things today.
Just how much have I added? you might ask. Well I'll tell you.
Here's a picture of me....I believe two nights before I left:
And here's one of me tonight(hence the uniform underneath) that Maureen took of me....after adding three new things.
hurrah:

Colegio.

2007-03-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

So. For those of you who have been paying attention, you'll remember quite clearly that yesterday I started school!
Hurrah!
er, sort of.
It's fairly boring, really. A little inauguration thing(I've never been to so many useless ceremonies, Chileans love them). And then classes. For the first time, I've actually enjoyed my history class! And, well....went to it! I've always liked history, so I was kind of bummed to get here and not follow anything, but now I can understand EVERY WORD my teacher says. Still can't read his writing...(although no body can...), but I'm happy anyway. We were learning about the Cold War, something I've never learned about, and only heard snippets and such about. Well, because I'm the token American here, I got to answer questions like which president was once an actor, which president was president during the Cuban Missile Crisis, who came into ..power? in Cuba in 1959, and why the Cold War is called the Cold War.
All of which I answered correctly, by the way.
hurrah me!
Today.....fairly boring. Slightly kind of fell asleep in math class. But I really think my teacher still thinks my Spanish sucks(it doesn't, I just don't understand him or his crazy math...things.). I still utterly SUCK at Chilean math. I vaguely remember learning what we're doing during freshman year, but he has such a roundabout way of explaining it, filled with crazy symbols I can't really read....and so I'm utterly lost and confused. STILL.
Had gym today. Was weighed and measured(I'm sure you can all imagine how excited Freja and I were....although I'm happy now that it turns out I really AM taller than Freja! jeje). According to the somewhat...erm, screwed up? way of thinking about what weight is "normal" here, I am now overweight. Hurrah. Also. Culture difference. Freja and I were SHOCKED as one by one girls came out of the nurses office, and actually said what they weighed! In the US(and Denmark too, apparently) you wouldn't say that unless asked at knife point.
And sometimes not even then.....
Anyhoo. I was also overjoyed to find out that this year we will be doing a swimming unit. ñalsdkfjñasdfásdfaçdsfas Basically....I need to find some kind of medical excuse or otherwise sneaky way of keeping myself out of the water. Although I did tell the teacher that I'd rather not(aka YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SWIMMMMM!), and she's fairly understanding, so we'll see. But there's NO way I'm going in that pool. nope. Absolutely not. I despise water....and okay....so I'm slightly afraid of it(which is what makes her say that I don't HAVE to go in....). Stupid Rhode Island laws, making four years of gym necessary.
Parents, sign me up for some sort of summer school gym class....I'm not going in that pool, even if I fail.

anyway.
enough of my bratty exhaustion driven rambling. Freja and I are meeting up at Blockbuster to rent some movies and eat away our miseries tonight.
and hopefully she'll also be introduced to my(real) family. Hurrah!

Hair Cut! De nuevo!

2007-02-27T21:15:00.000-05:00

So. Today I decided that:
Changing countries I live in, speaking a different language every day, dying my hair, cutting it once already, adding two new holes to my ears, and generally changing as a whole
wasn't enough change for me.
and I cut my hair again.
Just kind of....cut it. Up to my shoulders. It looks cute, I suppose. I like it, anyway. And it's just enough change to keep me happy for the time being.
Pictures will be added once they're taken.
Until then...I thought I'd do this as pure entertainment.
Taken from a thread on the culture's shocked board....You Know You've Gone Native When....
Chile style. Enjoy!

-Your speech is filled with words like: cachai, weon, carrete, filo, po, fome, güata, and bakan.
-You know what flaite is and how to spot and imitate them.
-You're ALWAYS late. I was 10 minutes late once, and actually proud of myself because yes, here, 10 minutes late is actually fairly early.
-Argentinos are pesados. That's just how it is.
-You also don't fall well to Bolivians or peruanos.
-You understand what "falling well" is.
-You'd probably die without bread. For serious.
-You've seen the large group of people fighting for the fresh bread as it comes out of the ovens in the supermarket.
-You've been part of that group of people.
-You find yourself walking out into the street, even if there's a car coming, because you know they will always stop for you.
-Catcalls are a normal, daily thing.
-You can recognize gringos a mile away....but no longer include yourself as one of them.
-You demand things, don't ask. Such as food. You will take food from someone while "asking" them to borrow you it.
-Every desert you eat includes manjar.
-You drink pap or kapo
-You drink tea. Every day. For onces, of course.
-People going out a lot is normal. People who don't go out a lot is kind of....strange.
-You are overly honest/blunt with people.
-Most things you eat come with mayonaise. ick. Or palta.
-It's strange for anyone over the age of 11 to not have a cell phone.
-You know that colo-colo is a fútbol team.
-You root for either colo-colo, cobrelua(just butchered that, I know), o la U.
-You know the chants for all the futbol teams.
-Flushing toilet paper just seems.....weird.
-Seeing a house without a fence around it is utterly shocking. Even more so if it has two stories.
-Everything you eat either has salt or lemon on it. Everything.
-You eat ice cream very often, even when it's cold, and know that you can find somewhere that sells ice cream every corner or so.
-You have a favorite brand of pisco.
-You can dance the cueca. Or be cool like Simon, and just clap when cueca music is played(even if it's in a store jaja)
-Not seeing mountains is a cause for concern.
-You can tell that someone's NOT from Chile because they speak slower and clearly(aka, they're easier to understand)
-To be vegetarian is just....odd.

and that's pretty much it.
¡Welcome to my life! haha

*EDIT*
So...pictures are delayed, as it would appear my camera is slowly dying. And therefore refusing to upload the first picture, instead duplicating the last picture taken, but at a smaller size. Not to mention that it seems to enjoy turning off at random points, therefore deleting whatever picture I had just taken. Thanks a lot, HP.
Going back to school tomorrow.

Kelsey....la estrella!

2007-02-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

So today was my interview! Hurrah! I wasn't really nervous until they got there....and I realized how so very unprepared I really was. I had given some thought to the answers...but with me...no matter how well I have the answer in my head(and I have lots of Spanish down pretty well in my head), it always comes out wrong when i speak. Happens in English too.
Anyhoo. The camera guy(I think) was the same guy from the Rotary event who filmed me reading a book. The ...woman(I can't think of how to call her in English) was really nice. They interviewed me in the living room, asking why I chose Chile(which sucks! Because I NEVER know how to answer that), if I'm accustomed to things here, what have been some of my difficulties, what modismos I've learned, etc. They filmed me and mamá in the kitchen, pretending to get ready for onces(setting the table and talking, etc.). Then they interviewed mamá, who said really nice things about me! jeje
Then...the whole family stood together and they filmed us, and walking around the yard talking, and then they had me go into my room and pretend to play the guitar and read, and he filmed me doing that, and my wall(with the Chilean flag and pictures of back home, which he filmed too!). It was pretty bakan, I'd say. They told us it will probably...erm, come out?(salir) in the news Mon, Tues, or Wed night...so I'm going to work on filming that. Hurrah!
And Maggie took photos! Hurrah!

ALSO.
I made this slideshow today....THESE are my friends. ENJOY!

No autographs, por fa.

2007-02-21T19:02:00.000-05:00

So....what has dearest Kelsey been up to lately?
Went to the Valle with my host family for a wonderous day of swimming and such. I actually didn't take any sun because I had gotten burned slightly while riding horses on the beach with Nicole two days before, so whatevvv.
A group of teachers from NY came lately, and it's been really cool. Kind of weird to hear Spanish.
I've realized just how much I actually think in Spanish without realizng it, and it's kind of really exciting. As far as speaking is concerned, I think I've "clicked". Hurrah!
My picture was in the paper yesterday. I was on the news too for like, 2 seconds because I was a t a workshop for the teachers. They came to help English teachers here in Coquimbo area, and they donated a looot of money and such. There's a new computer lab and library in Coquimbo, which I must say is fairly bakan.
The news people called me today(the news station). Turns out they're working on a story about exchangers, chileans who have gone to other countries, and people from other countries here in Chile. And they want to interview me! They're going to come to the house to interview me and my host family, and film me in my room and with them and stuff like that.
Psh. I know...I'm getting pretty famous, haha
anyhoo. There was a dinner the other night for the rotarians from NY, and I filmed this, for all the people who have yet to see the wonder of cueca(which I can dance, btw!)
Here you are....
chao chao!

Torres del Paine! Y Glaciers!

2007-02-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

So...I'm totally putting two days as one, because I have new things and such going on that would be pretty bakan to update about, ¿cachai? anyhoo....
On Thursday of the trip, we went to Torres del Paine....which absolutely freaking amazing. I swear. It was like, 2 hours on bus....and we were just driving, and driving, and driving, and then some mountains started to appear and then BAM! There's the Torres. Gorgeous...I couldn't close my mouth, and I don't think many others could either. It's just....beyond words. Something you really HAVE to see in real life, because pictures and descriptions by silly people such as myself just don't do it justice.
We walked a bit and got a good view of the torres, next to this gorgeous waterfall. The water in this place was crazy....a green like you'd see in the Caribbean, but so cold that if you fall in, you're given two minutes before you're a goner. Anyhoo. We ate lunch at this waaaay fancy restaurant that had a gorgeous view of the mountains, and afterwards, I ran outside and stuck my hand in the water(it was COLD!) and had a sip of it too....yes, that's right, Kelsey's drank glacier water. Hurrah!
We went walking on a windy beach after lunch and could see a far off glacier, and iceburgs that were closer by. Everyone went crazy to eat a piece of iceburg that one of the chaperones went and found for us. Fun was had by all. On the bus, the chaperones decided that we were not allowed to sleep(despite leaving the hotel at like, 7 that morning) because of the view, and anyone who did was promptly woken up by water being dropped on their head. It was quite fun. I got to know the tour guide, John, pretty well too. He's a cool guy, and we had fun writing on each other's arms and bothering the chaperones along with some other exchangers.
The next day we woke up ridiculously early again to get on a boat in Puerto Natales to go on a tour to see glaciers. Being the idiot I am, this was, of course, the day that I forgot my camera. BUT Maureen's such a good friend that she took pictures for me, which I copied on my pen drive later. It was a pretty cool tour...freezing in the morning, with crazy waves and the like. The first glacier was insane....it looked like there was barely anything left of it....and to think that 20 years ago, it was at sea level. Way to be, global warming. We landed on some island, and went hiking for a bit, farther inland to where a giant glacier was. This was the coolest one, I think. Picture taking ensued.
For lunch, we stopped on some island ranch thing, where Luke and I discussed our plans to own a ranch just like it under a mountain in the Patagonia, with Jules, a Canadian, as our horse.
The ride back was the best because it had warmed up and was no longer windy, so everyone was out on the erm, deck? of the boat. I got to talk with Simon and see the sights from the...bow? of the boat, and it was all around cool.
The last day, Saturday was...eh. We left the hotel at SIX AM! Who does that? Drove 3 hours to Punta Arenas(EVERYONE slept the way there), then flew back to Santiago. It was way sad....I had everyone sign my flag, and it sucked royally saying goodbye to people that I had ended up growing so close to. Took a bus back to La Serena that night with Freja and Clara, and here I am. Fotos! Aca con un glacier....the one that used to reach the water. And then...the other glacier.

Día....I've lost track already.

2007-02-17T17:43:00.000-05:00

Hokay. So the day after the penguin adventure we drove THREE HOURS north to Puerto Natales. It was quite an exciting ride consisting of mostly....nothing. Listening to music and watching the incredibly flat landscape go by. Oh, we also played an exciting game which resulted in Lee from Georgia licking the ear of one of the chaperones. Fun was had by all. Anyhoo.
In Puerto Natales, we had a bit of time to wander around and see how crazy beautiful this area is. Mira:
I thinkthinkthink that it was after lunch we set off for a CAVE! The Cave of the Milodón, I believe, which is an extinct bear(however, Jules the Canadian, with the help of Simon, the Denmarkian, led me to believe that the bear still existed. Psh.) . And yes, there was a plastic look-alike which terrified both me and Maureen:
The cave was pretty cool, but the hike that we took afterwards was better, in my opinion. Utterly tiring, but incredibly gorgeous and worth it. For serious, it involved CLIMBING UP A MOUNTAIN, which is fine by me because that was on my Chile! List of things to do. Anyhoo...we climbed up the mountain and got to see an amaaaazing view. Fo rizzle.
Howeverrrr during the hike, some kids ran off ahead, and didn't hear the chaperones screaming for them to come back, so we all got a call that night from Jobanni(dundundunnn). It was then we all learned that pobrecita Niki from Canada was being sent home. She left Valentine's Day, actually. So that was sad.
I don't know where I'm going with this post really....so here are some pictures to keep you all happy. Also....a video I took at the entrance of the cave with Maureen. You can see the fear in our eyes!
Tomorrow.....Torres del Paine!

aaaand....just for fun...here's a picture of my FIRST NIGHT in Chile, at the orientation; me and Allison(from VT), and one of me, Allison again, Francesca and Sarah(all US kids) recien, en the cave:

Día dos. bueno, tres.

2007-02-16T20:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I've been busy cutting my hair and riding horses on the beach, and apparently, coming down with a cold, so shhh.
anyhoo. A continuación....
our second(er, third?) day was spent....going to the museum, church, and general cool places in Punta Arenas. It was pretty bakan, I must say. We went to a mall and got some food and such in preparation for the next day's 3 hour drive to Puerto Natales. Back to the hotel for lunch, and then....it was off to see the penguins! this day was quite exciting because just before we left for the penguins(about an hour and a half en bus), I was able to assist in a self-done nose piercing! it was quite exciting, I must say.
Anyhoo. Drove to the penguins, playing Never Have I Ever on the way to amuse ourselves. Finally got to the...erm. penguin place(I can remember the word in spanish, but not english, sorry). I bundled up, my alpaca sweater, fleece, and helly hansen coat along with a scarf, gloves, and hat. Of course, I unfortunately made the mistake of waddling over to a group of boys who then proceeded to bundle me up así:
Anyhoo. We walked something like a kilometer towards a beach, nearly being blown away the whole time. No lie, this was the windiest place ever. Patagonia as a whole, i think, is ultra windy, which is probably why it's so cold. For serious, you're walking straight, and the wind comes and pushes you sideways. It was pretty crazy. Anyhoo. The penguins were actually quite a let down. Too far away. But cute still, and I got video of one waddling. But alas. Demasiado lejos y a mi no me gustó.
Anyhoo. Back to the hotel for exciting things such as dinner. Afterwards, I, the resident piercing expert, accompanied someone to get something done in town. However, they blatently ignored my expert opinion on the place(sketchy!) and got something done anyway. Ahhh well.
Here are some fotos!
I'll hopefully get the rest of the trip down here soon...because things are happening and such, jaja and I'm just re floja lately. ahhh well. No sé sobre mañana...going to the valle with my host family to take sun and swim, and then sunday I'm celebrating the Chinese New Year with Mauricio(to honor his Chinese ancestors), but I'll try and update this soon.
chao chao

*EDIT*
Okay...yahoo's decided to not work AT ALL, and unless this is somehow fixed tomorrow, I'll be putting all my pictures on snapfish instead. For serious, I can't do ANYTHING on yahoo right now. boo you.

Día Uno

2007-02-13T12:22:00.000-05:00

Okay....starting off with the early day(s?). Orientation was...well, orientation just was. Not really exciting, not really fun(until the end of it anyway). Just....was. It actually made me not look forward to the trip. Anyhoo.
On Monday we left Villa Alemana and drove an hour to Santiago. We got to the airport, checked in, and went all American and ran to the Dunkin Donuts(it's ONLY in the airport in Chile, no lie). Simon from Denmark had his first donut ever, it was quite exciting.
Flew an hour and a half to Puerto Montt, and then from there another 2 hours to Punta Arenas. We were all slightly disappointed at first considering it was FLAT(from the airplane) and only about 62ºF. We drove into town to our hotel, and quickly discovered that it was much colder. We had free time before dinner, so went around the centro and bought things like hats and scarves and gloves and such. It rained! It was so exciting....my first rain in six months! Anyhoo. Dinner was amazinggg....and afterwards we just hung out and did nothing.
The next day was amazing. We went to Isla de Riesco to a ranch. It was sooo cool. And freezing. We saw a puma! And sheep get sheered, herded, and washed. Alpacas too! I rode a horse which was amazing....the whole day was just....gah. Really awesome. The ranch was SO cool....it had it's own church since the island is so isolated.
I know this description kind of sucks...but oh well. Here are some pictures:

also...here's a slideshow of the entire trip, using only some of my photos though:

I've returned!

2007-02-12T01:15:00.000-05:00

Just got back a bit after 1 am today from the south tour. It was a crazy amount of fun, and I have a wicked lot of pictures....that will (hopefully) be all uploaded to yahoo by the end of the week, but it's well over 400 pictures...so I can't make any promises. It was crazy fun though....I got closer to a lot of people, and did some amazing things including: eating Arabic kitkat bars, eating part of an iceburg, drinking glacier water, riding a horse in the Patagonia, seeing a real life glacier, watching a penguin waddle, realizing that Canadians really are crazy, switched from summer to winter in a matter of hours, heard English spoken by people other than intercambios, belly danced for a group of people, drank whiskey with glacier ice in it, nearly been blown away by wind, saw sheep get herded washed and sheered, assisted in a nose piercing, dyed my hair in Punta Arenas, and a lot more. But it's late, so nothing comes to mind, hahaha

The way I'll go about informing you all of what exactly went down on the south will be this:
I'll go day by day. Each day I'll do an entry documenting what happened and such.
so there.
Here's a few pictures to keep you happy until then:
This is Pablo:(and yes, I did take this picture, I'm an artistic genious, for real)Chilling by iceburgs is, obviously, a chill, everyday activity.

Probably the greatest group of people ever. Even Paolo and Pablo, who like to make bunny ears.
well that's it for now.
chao chao

From the end of the world....

2007-02-08T06:40:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I'm typing now at 8:41 am from a hotel in Punta Arenas(they have free internet...but the computer's slow like woah). I'm having a great time on the south tour, and have taken only just over 200 pics(including orientation), I'm saving most of them for the days coming up, when we head to Torres del Paine.
It's been great so far....we've seen penguins here in Punta Arenas. Went to an Island called Isla de Riesco or something along those lines. I got to ride a horse! It's wicked cold though....32º when we landed(after a 5 hour flight from Santiago. Stopped in Puerto Montt, then came to Punta Arenas), but I think it's colder now. Buuuut...I've been missing winter like woah, so it's all good. I love being bundled up in scarves and hats and such. Way nice.
It's absolutely beautiful. Really. At first it caught me off guard, to see it from the plane, since it's pretty much just....flat. But it's so gorgeous! And...it's rained! First time I've seen real rain in six months;I was excited.
Anyhoo. We're leaving the hotel today, at 9 to drive 3 hours north to Puerto Natales, which is like a, erm....doorway? to Torres del Paine. I'm not sure what the internet access will be like, but I def. won't be able to update(I only can now because I'm the only one here, haha...I got everything done early), but parents, I'll be hoping to send out an email or two. We'll see.
Love you all...and I'll have a better update and some pictures(and video!) soon!

So....basically.

2007-01-31T20:27:00.000-05:00

So.....life has pretty much sped up around here....and I haven't been able to update as often(don't know if you've noticed)
I have an entry about when I dyed my hair....buuuut I'm lazy.
Basically....this week has consisted of...
getting some last minute stuff before I leave for THE SOUTH TOUR!!!111!!exclamationpoint!!1one!!
I leave this Friday...at 6 am!!!gaaaaaaaah. But. whatev. I have orientation(with a Spanish test, presentation and talent show) until Sunday, and then I leave for the South. Where, in the south....we don't know. Because we haven't been informed(hurrah!)
anyhoo. The other day....I had the greatest gringo experience of my life. Maureen and I were out in centro, and stopped for some ice cream, where we then pounced! on two gringos. A girl from Australia, and a guy from Japan. We wandered around with them for a bit....and then went to the Japanese Park in La Serena. Best experience ever. Most def. We got him to stand on a rock and scream in Japanese....he bowed to people....tried to karate attack a boy on a bridge...omg. hilarious. Guess you had to be there...but still. He wrote my name in Japanese...and we all exchanged emails and were off.
Got my bellydancing....er, bra? today for the talent show. Hurrah!
Also. Uploading videos onto my youtube tonight. I'll put one up here...with some pictures...with the furby Brittany sent me for x-mas! hurrah!
This is me and Ignacio...in my belly dancing outift. Hurrah!
and now....a video! hurrah!

annnd...I moved my room around today. Here's a foto!But it's messy because I started packing. oops.

So who thinks Kelsey hasn't changed?

2007-01-14T00:06:00.000-05:00

Maureen sent me some pictures today...from the waaaaay beginning of the exchange, so instead of updating you on how my Chilean summer's going(we went to the Valle today and swam and I took sun and will be tan! Hurrah!), I figured I'd post some pictures....just for fun. It's also pretty interesting to see how much I've changed in as little as 5 months. Craziness.
In other news....I'll be contacting Bokof Kaplan extremely soon....so I'll have a going home date(noooooooo) soon. Gahhhhhh.
So. Back in August.....
With Maureen at the carazy carrete en cabaña 7:Freja, me, and Sierra...in the Santiago airport. Sierra went to Antofogasta....Freja, Maureen, and I went to La Serena.

Going to Guanaqueros to go camping....my first weekend.

Me at Maureen's sleepover.
En Ovalle with Maureen.
Huh. Not a huge difference. I'll post some more recent ones a bit later....but not now. Because....well I'm lazy. But soon.
Just some food for thought. Obviously I've changed in more ways than the physical....but still.
chao.

This is post numero 77! Hoowah!

2007-01-06T16:54:00.000-05:00

Hey...just stopping by to tell you I'm still alive, I suppose. Nothing too exciting has been happening lately....belly dancing yesterday, frantic-ness over paying for the south tour. Hanging out with Mauricio and his friends. Hanging out with Freja. She slept over last night, it was a good time.
Today is five months in La Serena though! Hurrah! All the exchangers here are going out tomorrow for a celebratory pizza. hehe!
I redecorated my blazer last night....adding my trenza, which tragically fell out one night while I was sleeping, so.....being the creepy exchange student I am, I put it on my blazer, haha. I'm currently looking for a small-ish Chilean flag to sew on the back....a Chilean flag patch for the other shoulder, and a Chilean license plate. I'm determined to have a bakan Rotary blazer....it's a New Year's Resolution of mine....and Freja and I will most certainly do it. Hurrah! anyhoo. A pic of my blazer, and of Freja and my 2 am tea party this morning.
chaooo

My New Year's Eve.

2007-01-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

Oh, New Year's Eve.
Had a dinner with the family.....then changed into jeans and off we went to Coquimbo to watch fireworks on the beach. Didn't bring my camera though because I was going right out afterwards with Mauricio, so I figured it'd be easier without it. I'll scan the pictures Ele took once she develops them.
Anyhoo. 'Twas fun.....at midnight we all hugged and said "¡Feliz Año Nuevo!" and such. Mamá and Ele went crazy with the hats and masks and noise makers....they were jumping up and down, waving to the cars driving by(which all honked and such). It was a good time.....fireworks were everywhere....and over the water, it was way nice.
Mauricio and I walked to the Casino, where we were supposed to meet a friend of his to go to a party, but that didn't happen. Instead, we met up with some of his other friends and hung out on the beach....then went to walk somewhere, but by the time we got close we were hungry and it was late(we walked for a few hours). It was crazy.....there were drunk people everywhere, stopping and wishing us a happy new year....there were bottles and trash EVERYWHERE on the beach...and the police were everywhere, but weren't doing anything about it at all, just watching. I think it's illegal to be drinking like that in public, but Mauricio said they weren't going to do anything because it was New Years. Craziness.
One of Mauricio's friends called....but he didn't want to talk to him, so I got to answer the phone and pretend I didn't understand anything....it was entertaining, and got the friend to stop calling, haha. Gringas are so useful.
And that is essentially my new years eve. It wasn't the best ever. But it was fun. I enjoyed it for the most part, especially seeing mamá so crazy-like, haha.
anyhoo.
Happy 2007 everyone!
And here are some pictures of Ignacio....I love this boy. No lie. The thing he's doing with his hands is mimicking me....whenever I don't understand what he's asking me, I shrug like that, and he's started doing it too! jeje que lindo

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

2006-12-31T17:09:00.000-05:00

Hola todos!
Just stopping by to wish you all a Happy New Year.....¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

I'm not sure what's up with my host family esta noche. Balloons are being blown in the kitchen, and I heard Ignacio with a noise maker....and knowing my family, it'll be fun and interesting. Apparently the tradition is.....a big dinner, going to see fireworks, and then me, Mauricio, and his friends going out to dance or something of the sort.
I'm hoping Freja will be able to tag along too....but an old exchange student from Vermont is visiting her family, so I'm not sure.
Nothing of much interest going on around here. Went out the other night with Freja, Nata, and Frank....met a guy from the Bronx in the disco. That was fun and unexpected....I love meeting gringos, haha!
anyhoo.
chao!
Happy New Year!!!!

¡Hola!

2006-12-27T19:06:00.000-05:00

Aiiight. I've returned.
Christmas was good. It didn't feel at all like Christmas, because obviously, the weather was nice enough to go to the beach(didn't do that though). On the 24th, I went to Jumbo, huge erm...store? supermarket? with Mauricio to buy things to make cinamon buns for my host family. Then we walked to a Japanese Park...it was gooorgeous. We just walked around....but there was a bridge, and fish and waterfalls...gah. Def. my fave spot in La Serena now.
Went back home and wrapped my remaining two presents and put them under the tree, then made the cinnamon buns. Parents, I had to make the dough and such all on my own! It was crazy, but fun.
We had dinner at around 10:30ish(yes, at night)...my host mom made a waaaay nice toast that kind of made me cry. But not because I was sad....I just was happy I guesss. I would say why, but I can't without sounding corny, so there. After dinner(Grammy....they used your napkins! They LOVE them!) we cleaned up and at midnight everyone hugged and drank colo de mono(it means Monkey's Tail...it's milk, coffee, and Pisco) and then my host dad handed out the presents to everyone. It was great. I got a waaaay sweet card from my host parents and some shirts from them and such, but the presents really don't even matter to me. After we opened presents, we stayed up until about 4 am just talking. And I took part in the conversation....it was great. We laughed about what I thought was way weird in the beginning and language misunderstandings and such, it was a good time.
My host family loved their presents too, which I'm glad for.
Basically...I had a great Christmas. It wasn't a huuuge deal, it just kind of....happened. But it was good. And now.
Pictures hurrah!Ignacio and his box of presents.

Papá wearing his Red Sox hat and shirt.
I'd put more. But...i'm lazy, and don't want to stretch out the page....?
chaooo

Just Stopping By.

2006-12-24T17:56:00.000-05:00

Just stopping by to say: ¡Feliz Navidad!
or here it's ¡Feliz Pascua! which actually means Happy Easter. Mauricio told me something about Chileans getting confused and saying that.
I'm not actually sure.
Pictures soon!
I promise.
But...I actually have a life here now.
soooo...it's kind of hectic and busy.
and such.
chao chao.

So This Is What I've Been Up To:

2006-12-22T22:33:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been away quite awhile.
Last week...I don't recall which day. Wednesday, maybe? Went to Ovalle con Freja y Maureen....twas fun. We got the urge to get pierced during the day, but were to lazy to see if there was a good place in Ovalle, so when we got back to La Serena, we went to El Centro, where we knew there were two tattoo/piercing places. We checked them both out and asked about prices. One place was $10.000 each ear, the other was $8.000. We were leaning towards the cheaper place, but I didn't like it. I checked them both out thouroughly, parents, saw the autoclave and such, asked questions. The paco were in the cheap place, one of them offered to pierce my ear with his gun, holding out a bullet to my ear, haha. But...I declined. He showed me the tattoo on his arm though. They were nice. Both places had someone who spoke English, but we ended up going to the more expensive place. It just was nicer. The guy continually asked if we had questions, and made sure we knew what was going on and such, and it just looked cleaner. Plus, the name is Monkys. How could we not? haha....I went first since Freja and Maureen dubbed me "the brave one" because I was way excited to get a hole poked in me again, haha.
This place was awesome. Better than where I got my cartilage done in the US....cleaner and more professional, and a lot friendlier. The girl who pierced me is named Natalia...way nice with loads of tattoos and piercings herself. She understood most English, but couldn't speak it, but the other guy was right there if we needed him, so it was all good. I saw her clean down the place and disinfect everything(plus, we watched two tongue piercings and one bellybutton beforehand so we saw how they worked). She opened the needle in front of me, so I could see it was new....told me what was going on and what to do(the place in the US didn't at all...I really had no idea what was going on). It was a prick, and that was all. I talked with the guy afterwards and asked(out of curiousity about my freakish slightly tied tongue) if it was physically possible to pierce it, and turns out it is! Hurrah! He suggested I get that and not my ears, since all piercings there cost the same($10.000 pesos, about $20 US) but I didn't. Oh well. haha And now I have my second holes! Hurrah!
We went back the other day with Maureen to get her ears pierced too(the first hole) for the third time. I def. love this place....so much for that stereotype that South America's way dirty, right?
Mauricio came home. I went out with him two nights ago..him and two of his guy friends. It wasn't awkward at all though....I can actually take part in their conversations and I feel more at their level maturity wise. Chilean boys my age just like to light things on fire. haha
Freja slept over last night and hung out in Mauricio's room(Gabi's room) and watched TV, played cards, and listened to him play guitar. The cable in my room is mysteriously not working, so we had to watch TV in there. Except DVDs....we watched Hide And Seek in my room...gahhh scary! haha Freja and I finished up some Christmas shopping today...but I've run out of paper so I have two presents left and I'm set for Christmas!
No new pictures(Maureen has a pic of me getting my ears pierced though) yet, but Christmas is coming, so there should be some then! Hurrah!

Cookie Day!

2006-12-12T20:54:00.000-05:00

So yesterday.
Freja and I met up at the mall and wandered a bit, before heading over to Jumbo to buy materials for our Christmas Cookie Making Extravaganza! We didn't know the words for cookie cutter or sprinkles, so we had to ask for help by pointing to pictures on the cookie mix box we were buying. BUT. During our cookie cutter confusion crisis, an American woman stepped in and helped! She was from Las Vegas originally, but had been living in Chile for six years! Craziness! anyhoo, she helped us find some cookie cutters, and we were off. Came home, took tea....and played cards.
We played a lot of cards. We weren't tired at all, so we continued to play cards. We had a bit of an outside dance party when the sun started coming up, and sat and played solitaire in the kitchen until my host dad came in to get his lunch box and head off to work. We said hello, and then wandered zombie-like to my bed room where we promptly collapsed.
Slept till 3 today....had some food and went online to read our palms. My life line says I have a lot of health problems. Hurrah! Then....the cookie making began.
It was quite fun, and only took about an hour and a half-two hours. It was exciting. We ate some while we were decorating, but the ones that survived totalled 98. Not bad.
And tomorrow is...Gringa Meetup! Aka all the La Serena girls are getting together. Hurrah!
Piccccs
besitosss

"Estamos libre"

2006-12-10T21:02:00.000-05:00

So....for those of you who don't tune into the news, or incase this didn't even make the news.....former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet died today. I got an email from...someone who's email address is at the state.gov site(leading me to believe I got an email from the government itself....p.s. how do they know I'm here again?) warning me about demonstrations in the Santiago area. People have been drinking wine and champagne and dancing to celebrate saying things like "Estamos libre!" which means "We're free!". My host parents are kind of eh about it. I mean, they talked about what happened when he was president and how crazy people were getting over his death(and the Colo-Colo fútbol game) but said no matter how horrible he was, his death shouldn't be celebrated.
I knew I liked them for a reason.
So...otherwise, nothing new. I only regret that I wasn't placed closer to Santiago or in the city itself so I could see it first hand(now there's an experience!) and bring you some exciting pictures. Oh well. For now, I rely on news reports, because I can actually understand them(hurrah!)
An exchanger from Los Andes came up to La Serena for the weekend. We saw a movie together. It was really nice...just the two of us though, but I got to know her better than I did at the orientation. My host parents tonight suggested contacting an exchange student in another town...they could come here for a week, I could go there for a week, together. I didn't know that was possible, but now that they've suggested it, I guess I'll look into it. I guess they can see I'm getting slightly bored here. But I'm so tired lately it's all I can do to wander zombie-like around the house. I don't really have the motivation to go out lately, even though I'm sleeping something like 12 hours a night. Ah, well.
Was reading my Exchange Student Handbook today, and realized that I've barely had any of the....things(don't know the word any more haha) they say all exchange students should have. No culture shock, no real homesickness, I'm actually really excited for the holidays, not depressed. Huh. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. i suppose good, seeing as it means I've settled here really well, but still. The only thing that's bothered me since day one is the fact that I'm now introverted and have a hard time initiating or keeping up a conversation. Gar.
Anyhoo. besitossss

I Hate Water.

2006-12-07T19:15:00.000-05:00

So today. Was fun.
Minus getting up ridiculously early, aka about 9 am.
Anyhoo. Counselor picked me up, we went to Happy Land, which is this arcade type place where Alyssa and I were given cards(instead of coins) by the Rotarians and told to go off and play with the kids from the poor school Rotary was hanging out with all day. It was quite fun and I learned that I absolutely suck at driving and should never be given the license to anything. Atleast.....I suck at video game driving(those poor, poor onlookers....)
Then, Alyssa and I went with the club president to Coquimbo to go on a boat tour(the kids were on the bus). It was cool....and he talked to me. But only me, and I felt kind of bad for Alyssa....but at the same time, I think maybe she has a hard time understanding people....? I don't know. Anyhoo. Boat tour. 'Twas fun, even though a kid behind us threw up and the guy giving the tour decided he would speak to us ONLY in English(us being me and Alyssa)....which made me want to die. Because I'm not here to speak English. Thank you for assuming that I don't even understand your language while I was clearly listening to you talk about Coquimbo's first prison or that new school on the rocks or those stinky sea lions.
We saw sea lions, by the way.
Then....lunch at the club. Alyssa and I rode on the bus with the kids and spoke English since they laughed at us in a cruel-ish way when we spoke Spanish, and seem oddly intrigued by our English, and all leaned in closely to listen. They seemed amazed by my hair too(one girl later caught me off guard by randomly touching it. Yes....this color hair really does exist outside of Hollywood....)
After lunch we went to HomeCenter....which is this big store. We went to the pet part and got to see some pretty cool critters....and I held a tarantula! Yes, I, Kelsey Edwards, the girl who will not sleep in the room if there's a spider present and runs screaming at the sight of a Daddy Long Legs, held a tarantula. In my hand. Crazy. Sure, I was kind of shaky, but it wasn't all that scary. And I'm quite proud of myself for doing it too! I think my subconscious was telling me I was ready to....I had a weird dream last night involving giant bugs taking over the yard, haha.
Anyhoo. A good time was had by all and I got some great pics, some new friends and some awesome videos. Hurrah! Now, on to the goodies:
Fotos: Alyssa holding the spider(LOVE her face in this one) and me holding the spider. Then video of my counselor...doing something....(I think he was trying to say "How was the boat tour?" without words) and some random fun on the boat tour(during some rocky waves. And also, a message in French for dad from Alyssa). Chaoito! besitos a todos!

Oh Rotaryyy, Oh Rotaryyyyy

2006-12-05T12:45:00.000-05:00

....that title should be sung to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree", by the way.
So last night I went to my first Rotary meeting in my entire life.
Hurrah!
My counselor and his wife came and picked me up and we drove to the club in Coquimbo. It's a real nice place...they rent it out for weddings and baptisms and such and use the money they get to fix it up(I heard the kitchen was a disaster at one time). I was complimented on my Spanish....when the president of the club asked if I spoke Spanish and I said, "Más o menos" which is pretty much a little bit, my counselor's wife(can't remember her name) said "No, arto!" Which is, "No, a lot!" yaaaaay! She said my Spanish is a lot better than before and I speak a lot more now. Hurrah!
Alyssa, from Canada came too. She's the other exchanger with the club. It was her 18th birthday yesterday too. We sat down at these three tables, that are connected in a U shape, for dinner. I sat on the side of the president of the club, and Alyssa sat on the other side of me. They had a cake and a present(some chocolates) for Alyssa, and we sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish.
I'm really really happy with this club, actually. I've heard stories of kids in different countries whose clubs don't really notice that they exist, but I highly doubt that will happen here. There's a total of 18 members in the Rotary Coquimbo Club, only 11 showed up last night(and that's typical, apparently). They invited us to a thing on Thursday....we're going on a boat tour and a few other places with a poor school in Coquimbo. And I think I'm going to go on a four day retreat type thing for Interact(they invited us to that too! Even though we're not members) in January. And I like the size of the club too, because I'll actually get to know the members, and they'll get to know me. So yeah....I'm excited.
Gave them my banner too. Hurrah! But I didn't get to wear my blazer. Oh well. Maybe later in the year.
Pictures! The first one is of Alyssa and her cake. The second is of me and Alyssa with the club president.

¡Deck the Halls!

2006-12-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

So...today. I am real exhausted lately...I'm not sure why. But...I slept until just after 2, which is slightly late for me(usually it's one. woohoo!) Anyhoo. Woke up, and went to take a shower, and see that my host family is getting the Christmas tree out and ready. Hurrah! So I hurried up and got ready, and was fairly excited, despite the fact that "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" was stuck in my head, which reminded me of Christmas back home. *le sigh*
Anyhoo.
Decorated the tree......it was quite fun. And I took pictures! Hurrah! They'll be up on my Yahoo site today(http://photos.yahoo.com/ksitter9). And some video!
It's different here....real different. A fake tree for one thing, but I'm excited nonetheless. I have a stocking hanging on my door, and I'm going to put up the Christmas lights you sent me, madre, later. I'm pumped. And I was able to share what it's like back at home(aka, we all fight. And one year John filled his room with multi-colored lights and played surf music. hahaha). Anyhoo, onto the goodies:

This is short. Eff why eye.

2006-12-02T20:40:00.000-05:00

Just stopping by to show you my new fave piece of clothing(next to that hawt Rotary blazer, of course). Bought it with Freja the other day. Nothing new here....chilling at home...still no Christmas decorating as of yet(holy chipmunks it's December now, isn't it??!!). Saw a movie, The Guardian, in English....not bad. I recommend it, if it's still showing at a theater near you, that is. Anyhoo, onto the scandyy pic.
Found this shirt in Ripley, and it was pretty much the only non-sexual one there. Oh, Chileans. They have this weird thing about buying shirts in English even though none of them know what it means. I saw one that said this(and yes, the spelling mistake is on purpose) "The world is pretty ammazing ago." yeah, I don't get it either.
Chao!
<3
p.s. Parents! Can we arrange a chat soon? It's been awhile.
and others! Yes, that means you! Wanna leave me some lovin' in the form of a comment? ¿por fa? I feel like I'm talking(er, posting) to a brick wall...

Are these better, padre?

2006-11-28T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today, Freja, yo, y el papá de Freja we went to a town called Ovalle...about an hour away. It was quite exciting. Freja and I wandered around while her dad worked....I bought a tank top and a skirt and took pictures and videos. We went to a giant lake thing. It was windy. We were semi-attacked by a man with a red eye who kept telling us we were princesses and pretty and asking if we had money, and he was really close, and then I said we had to go, and we ran away. jaja....Oh, Chile. Anyhoo. Pictures and videos. Woohoo!

We saw GRINGAS!!! REAL LIVE GRINGAS! But they were pesada and didn't say hi. They were probably Germans, we decided....haha.
This is on the bridge/damn/somethingorother. As you can see, we are very educated(I think I ask where we are in all of these videos...)

And....at the end of the day(there are more videos...on my youtube page....estoyenchile)

(that last video might not work because youtube is being an idiot, sorry)
Have a nice day, todos!
besitos!
(oh, and this is me and Freja...shortly before we were attacked by the red eye man), and on the bridge. I don't know what I'm doing with my arm.

Que fome.

2006-11-27T08:41:00.000-05:00

So. I'm in school. ha. big surprise, eh? Why on Earth would I have nothing to do? haha
Turns out that end of the year testing starts today, so I'm done with school. But there's these presentacions in the 5th grade class I teach....they're doing recipes in English....with FOOD. and what kind of exchange student would I be to turn down food, right? So Freja and I came for that...and then we'll try and get out of here. I'll update a bit later...I'm taking pictures todayyy haha It's been awhile since I've done that.
Also, from now on, please excuse any nonsensical spellings I may...spell? Or ridiculous things I say that make no sense. My English is disappearing before my eyes, which is slightly terrifying and utterly hilarious at once. ¿How can someone forget their mother tongue?
Ah, well.
chao pescado
*Edit*
so. We escaped from school. I'm not entirely sure if we were supposed to, but what little of our class was leaving...so we left too. Haha, oops.
anyhoo.
Piccasss....me and Freja....the fifth grade class we teach...and us again, showing love to Alcide de Gasperi. Also: VIDEO!!!

A Continuación: weirdness.

2006-11-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

Last night followed the trend of weirdness. Got to Freja's house at around 10:30. The plan was to spend the night. We went to Barrio Ingles. Went to one disco called Mr.X....there was some thing there for the university and a lot of people were dressed up for whoknowswhy. Freja and I made friends with the people at the table next to ours and hung out with them all night. Turns out one of the girls is my neighbor of sorts.
Hung out today, before leaving to go back to my house. It's my host dad's birthday, but by the time I got home, I had missed lunch. oops. I meant to take a colectivo home, but I there weren't any of my number, so I just started....walking. I really had no idea where I was and only a general idea of where I was going(which was straight haha), but I ended up safely at home about 45 minutes later. I'm guessing Freja lives the same distance from my house as the distance from school to my house, 2.5 miles. Good exercise, I say.
I think Freja and I pretty much decided not to go out tonight. we were going to, but we're tired. So we're chilling at home instead.. And that. Was my Chilean weekend.
besitos!

A Nature Attack!

2006-11-24T15:01:00.000-05:00

So...it turns out that today is actually the last day of classes....? No estoy segura. Bueno. Nothing happened for the first four classes or so. Then.....Freja and I were standing outside talking during one of the breaks, when I see a group of people coming, wearing trashbags....and I think, Dub tee eff....is this a fisica experiment? And then....this red....smoke starts coming at us....so apparently I grabbed Freja's arm and we both went screaming and running into the nearest classroom with a few other people, thinking we'd be safe. I ran in, all the way to the back, and thought. Damn. There's a wall here with nothing to protect me. Well, there was a cabinet, but I didn't have the key, or the time, so I figured if I could just....stand there? I looked to the door and saw more people running, and then....people in the doorway with the red smoke and then two girls appeared on either side of me, one had a jacket that we hid under until we figured it was safe to reappear. It was horrible....I felt like sneezing, was afraid to have my eyes open, and was having not such an easy time breathing. So I kind of booked it out of that classroom, which was now pretty much completely red. EVERYTHING was red. Got outside....everyone was reemerging and crowded looking at the wall that leads to the farm next door, where cuarto, the grade above us, who are graduating tonight, was gathered, jumping over the wall, making their escape. I found Freja, who wasn't all that red, just in some spots. We checked our stuff, which was thankfully in the back of my classroom, which wasn't sprayed too badly, and none of it was red(minus a bit at the bottom). Went back outside....cuarto was coming back at us with water balloons, but were thankfully stopped by the head honchos of Scuola Italiana. Then they disappeared over the wall, warning us that this was only the beginning.
Well. Some beginning. They ruined people's things. Clothes, backpacks, anything cloth is ruined. I think it was a fire extinguisher, but with red dye in it....but it doesn't come out of clothes. And is really bad to breathe in. They punched a girl in the other class too, just because they don't like her. They don't like us. I don't know why. I thinkthinkthink the police came today and just....stood guard, but I don't know. Rumor has it they'll be there next week too. No one really feels safe anymore(in tercero anyway). I've lost all respect for everyone involved. How stupid can you be? The stuff was toxic(? toxico...?). They're just.....stupid. And pardon my French, but utter assholes. And absolutely crazy. Ah well. I am slightly pissed off though. Even though I somehow survived the attack with nothing but (most likely) slightly red lungs. My clothes ended up fine.
Watched Poseidon instead of going to art class.....and drank some tea with Freja. And then Freja broke the tea glass(it was the music teachers), but school was over so we just picked up the pieces and left, haha.
Now.....I'm home. Going out in a teensy bit to buy my host dad a present(his birthday is tomorrow) and then to bellydancing. I think I'm mailing my package mañana. Por fin. i haven't had any time lately. Anyhoo. So that was my day, being attacked by the pyschotic cuarto medios. Stupidheads.
Chao

This entry contains three languages.

2006-11-22T18:50:00.000-05:00

Hoy día yo aprendi como se dice "Hola, me llamo Kelsey, soy de Estados Unidos" en Italiano. Mira. "Ciao. Io sono Kelsey. Io sono di Estados Unidos." Que bueno, ¿no? Bueno. Hoy día yo no hago nada....que fome. Yo desperti muy tarde otra vez...que malo. Pero no importa...tenia biologia primero, y fue una prueba que yo no tenia que hacer. Freja y yo hablabamos sobre español...tenemos miedo sobre la orientación y nuestra español. Entonces....mañana vamos a hablar solamente en español y todos los días despues. Pero, si tú puedes entender eso, entonces sabes como está mi español...¡mal! jaja No importa. Es solo que yo no hablo tanto. Hablo demasiado ingles. Bueno....desde hoy no más. Al menos de estamos hablando sobre una persona que está circa de nosotras....jaja por supuesto. Nada importante paso hoy día menos la clase de italiano con el director, por fin! También él me dió dos libros de aleman. Yo quiero aprender un otro idioma, menos español y poquito italiano. jaja, pienso que la Freja piensa que estoy loca, pero no me importa. Yo quiero conocer todo el mundo y hablar cinco idiomas. Tengo que comenzar ahora, ¿cachai? Bueno, la Freja me dijo que ella quiere tener clases de danés. Eso es muy bueno porque quiero aprender danés también. Bueno, danés o aleman. Pero no los dos. No sé.
anyhoo. In English....my day was not exciting either. Went to Jumbo, a giant grocery store. Was stared at creepily by a couple of men. Had a good laugh with Freja about having to lock up our bags(because we're really going to steal by using our lunchboxes. Por fa). Decided today that we're going to make Christmas cookies and tacos. I'm not gonna lie. I'm excited. School is almost almost ALMOST over, and I'm so freaking excited. SUMMMERRRRR. Lots of pictures to come, methinks. I think tomorrow voy a caminar y sacar fotos. um...walk and take pictures? jaja Español came into my head first. Which is a good sign because lately I've felt like I've lost my Espanich a bit. Jaja. Anyhoo. chao
besitosss

Gringo Meetup

2006-11-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

Okay. So....Sunday. Freja and I went to the movies, to see El Gran Truco...the Great Trick maybe? It was good. Anyway...we were going to walk through the mall when it got out, to go catch colectivos when I saw Maureen, the other American, standing by a stall outside. So we go over to say hi and discover that Alyssa, the Canadian, is there too. We're talking, and all of a sudden, this group of light haired people, who i had seen out of the corner of my eye but chosen to ignore, comes over and this girl says, "Are you guys with Rotary?" They were from Talca, four Americans and a German, on the North Tour with tons of exchangers in the Santiago district....all of whom were inside the mall. Maureen and Alyssa had to go since their ride was there, but Freja and I went inside the mall to say hi to the other gringos. It was crazy...there were so many of them....and there were so many countries! Germany, US, Canada, Holland, Brazil, Bolivia, Hungary, and more! We only have US, Finland, Canada, Denmark, and Belgium. Que fome. So anyhoo....got some cards, exchanged some numbers...it was a good time. Crazy random. Like, what are the chances? If I hadn't seen Maureen, who hadn't been standing by the stall of those five random gringos, it never would have happened. Crazy how things work like that.
We left at a little bit past 10....saw a guy being arrested in the parking lot, some kid was being dragged off by security while the guy was being pinned down by three guys yelling "Suelteme! ¡Conchatumadre!" Slightly amusing, but still kind of blegh. Welcome to La Serena, huh? Actually....I think Chile as a whole is really safe. I really don't think there's a whole lot of crime as far as rapes and murders. Lots of robbings though, which is why everyone has these giant walls and fences around their houses. It'll be weird to go back to the US and not see that, since when I see a house without it now I always think something along the lines of "What? Are they stupid?"
Gave a presentation in Spanish yesterday. It went...okay. I kept tripping over my own words though. Even though I'm dreaming more in Spanish, these past couple of days my thoughts have been hardcore English and it's harder to speak than normal.
Overslept today, so I didn't go to school. Mamá overslept too though, haha oops. Went back to the clinic to get the insurance thing filled out. In otherwords, I had an exciting day.
Oh. But I found out yesterday about the end of the year exams. Starting next Wednesday, every day is just testing, but Freja and I don't have to do it....which means that I'm officially DONE with school next Wednesday! Yessss I'm pumped like you would not believe. I can't wait for summer!!!!!
anyhoo.
besitos

I'm fairly hardcore.

2006-11-19T15:07:00.000-05:00

So yesterday.
Went to get my haircut at the mall with Freja. Just over $6.000.....that's around $12/$13 US!!!! Craziness! I was utterly terrified....but I managed to explain what I wanted pretty much....and I really like my new hair! Yay! Afterwards Freja came to my house where we showed off our new hair....mamá was slightly upset(maybe?) that we went to the mall....she said it's expensive and that next time, we should go to her hairdresser....which costs $4.000. Yup, that's right....$8.00 US.
Went and picked up my allowance with Freja y mamá, so I am no longer slightly poor. Afterwards, Maggie, mamá, Freja y yo went to el centro to buy fabric and such for the belly dancing outfit. WELL. That was interesting. Freja and I were both in skirts....which may have been a slight mistake. We def. got a lot of stares and comments from pretty every man who walked by. I think mamá was slightly surprised at how bad it can actually be. One guy walked by and said, "Hola cositas." which she said meant something along the lines of "Hola bonitas" but it must have been rude because she stopped walking and just stared at him. Evilly. The guy with him asked if she wanted to buy something from him and she just....stared and said NO and kept walking. It was pretty funny. Some street vendor said that we were princesses and then he said "mira, mira mira!" which means look. Psh. Stupid men.
La Maggie is leaving today :( She's going to have her friend help her with the bellydancing outfit in Calama, since she bellydances and makes outfits too. It's fairly exciting.
Went to Sundance last night at about 12. Met up with some friends and hung outside for a bit. They didn't want to enter, but Freja and I had bought entradas already, so we went by ourselves and danced until about 3:25, when we went outside and mamá picked us up. It was fun....we danced on the stage and such. And all my classmates really liked my hair. yay!
Today Freja and I were going to take sun, but we didn't have time since we slept till 3. Oops. Oh well. We will soon. SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!!!11!exclamationpoint!!1one!!1!!
anyhoo.
today....movies maybe? No sé.
besitos!
P.S This is me....giving besitos.....in my $12 hair cut. Hurrah!

Bailandooo

2006-11-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Oh, hoy día.
Woke up ridiculously early(10 of 9) and got ready in about 30 minutes(padres, can you believe that???!!!) then went to school to dance. It was pretty cool....but there was a big gap in front of Freja and I so everyone could see us. Woohoo.
Afterwards I found out that I have to go the photo studio to buy my school picture. The last time he came to sell them at school, I was sick, so he didn't have any more copies. Oh well. Walked home. In normal clothes. Oh boy. Some guy decided to yell to us, proclaiming his love for blondes and me. I swore at him in English, but he kept saying how he liked me so I finally said, "Callate huevon!" which is Spanish for shut up...asshole? maybe. Oh well. Sometimes the men here just get to me. oops. I would say that today was the worst it has been. I was waved at, kissed at, yelled at, stared at, and clapped at. All in the 2.5 miles from my school to my house. Urgh. I was also followed home by a German Shepard. He was cute. Oh well. It's actually gotten worse for me as time has gone by, as far as having attention drawn to me. I hate being a blonde. Gar.
Yesterday Freja and I went to el centro and el mall. When we were getting out of the colectivo at the Recova, we saw GRINGOS! With giant backpacks...could they be more obvious? We saw another couple later on that must have been gringos....you can just tell. It's amazing. We just have a look to us, I suppose. Met two German girls in the mall, from Munich, studying at the U. of La Serena for 6 months. Our Gringo-Hunting game isn't going so well. It's kind of awkward approaching people. We usually see them, then follow close behind, listening to see what language they speak. Haha, we're so creepy. But...it keeps us occupied.
In school the cuarto kids graduated and it was sad. Everyone was crying, and Freja and I got sad because it made us think of home and they were also our first friends, so it's sad to see them leave. But....we couldn't be sad for long. We had a prueba en lenguaje. I think I did pretty welll...maybe? We had to write a fable. Mine was about a beaver named Alfonso, haha.
I bought a belly dancing scarf thing. yay! And when I came home and showed it to mamá(who tried it on and shook her hips, haha), Maggie said she'd make Freja and I the rest of an outfit for orientation. Yay! It'll be amazzzzing. I'm excited.
Belly dancing was fun like woah. I understand more, and last night all the girls were just...nicer. I think it's better now that we all know each other, so we're friendlier. It's a great class. I like it.
And today. I'm meeting Freja at the mall at 2:30 to get our haircut at 3. I'm excited! But terrified....I hope I can say how I want it....*gulp* Afterwards, we're going to el centro to pick up material for Maggie to make the outfit, and then to our school's event at Sundance(a disco). We'll take sun tomorrow I think. yay! I'm excited. Summer is almostalmost here....it's sunny almost every day!
andddd that's all I spose. Oh! I had a dream in another language last night....I had absolutely no idea what happened....I think it was spanish, but with a little bit of Portuguese thrown in? Dont' ask...the only Portuguese I hear is in songs and a movie my class watched the other day(and I knew what was going on! By reading subtitles!). Weird. Extraño.
Anyhoo.
besitos!

Filo.

2006-11-16T20:50:00.000-05:00

Oh, today.
Got my grades for lenguaje thus far. 6.1, 6.0, and 5.0. Out of 7. Not bad! Did lots of nothing in school. Slept in the shade with Freja. That was nice.
Solved a crisis of massive proportions last night at about 1:30 am here. But....everything's settled now, so it's all good.
FINALLY heard from Rotary about the south tour. Supposedly..there's a problem with the travel agency, so orientation and south tour are postponed until January-ish. I'm kind of wicked bummed...but trying to look on the brightside. I have more time to tan, practice Spanish, buy things I need for meeting penguins, and work on my talent and presentation.
Today in gym Freja and I learned how to dance the cueca. Again, I direct you to youtube.com if you haven't yet seen this amazingly cool traditional Chilean dance. Freja was the man because she wants to wear a hat if we use it as our talent. It was fun....we used toilet paper as peñuelas, the napkin things they use. I love the music....I'm def. making myself a Cueca playlist on my iPod. Oh, Chile. I heart you oh so much.
Tomorrow....school(lenguaje prueba!!!I'm scared), mall/el centro, bellydancing, sleep. Saturday there's some school thing and my class is dancing hip hop for the whole school. That'll be...interesting. Afterwards I'm getting my haircut at last! And then Freja and I are going to take sun in the patio of my house. I'm quite excited. We're very determined to be nice and tan by the time orientation rolls around. Seeing as we'll be representing La Serena, the city with nice beaches, we feel we should be tan. And so...we will. If only I wasn't nearly transparent in my paleness.
I apologize if this post didn't make sense. Today was a bad language day. Every time I opened my mouth, it was a mixture of Spanish and English. I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating this is. Anyhoo. I'm off to update my iPod and then sleeeep! Por fin!
besitos a todos!

It's the little things.....

2006-11-15T21:21:00.000-05:00

Today. I did nothing productive. But, yesterday I took a test en lenguaje, and I think I did okay on it! yaaay! And it was my classes class, so it was a higher level. Today....nada en biologia. Italiano, didn't happen. The tutoring Freja and I have was the best I think. We had té and pan and talked about a bunch of stuff....like health and education here, en EEUU, and dinamarca. Then Freja and I didn't go to filosofia electivo, so we stayed and had some more tea and talked about random thoughts. We managed to escape early today too! woot!
Came home and worked on the lenguaje proyecto....que fome. But...I think we're done, so that's good. Had té and got to talk a lot with mamá and la Maggie, mamá's friend from Calama.
I realized today that while big things like travelling and the south tour are going to be great memories, it's the little things I think I'll remember and miss the most. Like planning to escape out the window in our skirts with Freja, or learning to dance merengue and salsa in Gabi's room after té. Or just the little jokes that are starting to form with my host family. I was afraid it would never happen, but since I'm able to express myself better, I'm finally starting to get my sense of humor back. Not the sarcasm since they don't understand that, but I'm not so dull anymore. I would say I now understand somewhere near 90% or more of what's said. It's actually like people are speaking English to me at times, I forget that it's Spanish because I just...understand. I don't have to translate, I just know.
But...the price of learning a new language is that I'm losing my own. My spelling is horrible and I'm forgetting more and more words each day. Also, I use Spanish grammar now(house white, I have hunger, etc.). I can't wait to speak more Spanish this summer though. Freja and I speak too much English, and we know that. But at the same time, it's so hard to speak Spanish in front of our classmates. We didn't get placed in the best school to make friends, they kind of don't care, and a lot of times giggle at us when we speak or mimic us.
Oh well. Because I got a 4 on a test, while a boy in my class got a 2. So there. I don't even speak Spanish. Stupidheads.
We'll see. When we're not around our classmates, Freja and I speak more Spanish, so it's all good.
16 days till orientation/south tour!!!! I'm excited! I bought a sweater and hat yesterday at Recova made from alpaca wool(maybe? is that what it's called) for when I meet the penguins. I'm pumped!
besitos a todos!
y familia en EEUU....buena suerte mañana! Cuidense en irlanda!!! Les quiero mucho!

Southieee!!!

2006-11-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

So.
Saturday....went out with Freja, Natalia(her host sister), and Nata's friends Moreno, Niko, y Richard. We went to some party first, where Freja and I had a good time being stared at and speaking Spanish. and then to Barrio Ingles. Went to a disco. Was stared at some more. Always a good time.
Nothing of much interest...just....disco-ness. Some guy was bleeding pretty badly when we left.
Nata ended up in her ex boyfriend's car, so Freja, me , and Richard were waiting on some deserted road for her and Freja and I got out and walked around. Well....i thought where I was walking was just dirt. But no.
It was a mud puddle.
A deep one.
My sneakers are ruined and my pants have mud up their knees. Thankfully I was sleeping over Freja's, so my stuff was in the back and I was able to change my pants. Ha. I felt like such a dork.
Sunday.....Freja and I went on a walk. Ate lunch. Went to the movie theater. We saw The Jacket with Adrian Brody. GOOD movie, for serious, watch it. Took a colectivo home. Most awkward colectivo ride of my life. The guy in the passenger seat, I think he was in cahoots with the driver...they both looked at me creepily when I got in, but the passenger guy would turn around and STARE at me for minutes at a time, while I would just...awkwardly look out the window and pretend it wasn't happening. GRR Chilean men.
Today...school. Nothing. Took sun with Freja. Slightly burned my face because I fell asleep. Oh well. I WILL BE SO TAN. Just you wait. Found out that in March a boy from New Zealand's coming, to La Serena and Scuola Italiana! Woohooo! That's exciting.
And....nothing more. Sorry for my lack of enthusiasm, but I'm highly. Tengo sueño. Lo siento.
besitos!

Just stopping by.

2006-11-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

To show you a pretty picture of me and my braid thing.
Well kind of.
No mucho hoy día...fue fome. No sé que voy a hacer este noche, tal vez voy a salir con la Freja, pero no estoy segura. Espero que sí.
that was nothing important, btw.
besitos a todos.

El Fin de Semana

2006-11-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

Hoy día. Que...fome. But...not so much. didn't really do much. I got my grade back on my language test from a while ago....a 6.1!!! Out of a scale of 7, that's reallyyy good. Especially for me!! yay!
There was a bit of a water balloon fight in school. Freja and I tried to take part, but kind of missed our chance. At the end of the day though, she threw the water balloon at someone's back....but it didn't break, and everyone went, "FREJA!" and then....the principal was there, so we just left. haha, oops.
We were walking on the street, and this....bulldozer? somethingorother for construction pulls up with this guy in it, handing us a yellow rose. I just rolled my eyes and kept walking, because that's how I treat men now, but Freja took it. So we walked away, discussing what we would do with it.
We took a colectivo to el centro, and decided that our colectivo driver needed some company and that he was very nice(he really was!) so we gave him the rose. He was very nice....especially when we were stopped at a red light and some piggish men started clapping and whistling at us. Ew. The rose incident has inspired me to be nice to others. One day I'm going to buy flowers and walk around, giving them to random people. Chileans don't smile enough.
We met some gringos at el centro! We saw them getting a drawing of them done(the ones where everything's exaggerated, can't remember the name) and....they just looked like gringos. So Freja and I played our newest game, Gringo Hunting. They were from...Texas and South or North Carolina. They said 'yall. good times were had.
Found a ....somethingorother for belly dancing at the mall....I'll be going back to buy one. Yay! Por fin! Went to belly dancing...I need a massage. My shoulders are killing me.
Took a colectivo home. We were just driving along, when the driver turned to me and asked if I was German. "No." Australian? "No". Oh. Estados Unidos. People tend to ask me if I'm German first, actually. At least lately anyway. Huh.
Anyway. I missed té and I'm starrrrving, so I'm off to eat some food. Nothing tonight because I'm pooped, but mañana.....partyyy. Just me and Freja I think, out to dance, because Jenny seems to have what I had last weekend. Ouch.
besitos!

I'm cured!

2006-11-07T17:51:00.000-05:00

Just stopping by to let you all know that I have been magically healed through the modern day magic known as prescribed antibiotics.
Woot!
Also that I am slightly bored out of my mind. How bored are you, Kelsey? you might ask. Well, I'll tell you.
As of yesterday, I had 440 words written on my NaNo which I am slightly attempting this year. Right now I have....10.451 words.
Yes. That, my friends, is boredom.
One more day! woot!
Also...I woke up today to discover that mamá's friend, Maggie has magically appeared at our house for an unknown(to me anyway) amount of time. I love that I'm told these things. I wish they would tell me when people show up, because it's slightly disorienting to wake up and find a woman you haven't seen since you first arrived standing in your kitchen talking really fast and asking if you understand.
Ah well. I'm listening to reggaeton, so it's all good now. Also, teaching myself the guitar. I figured I'd do something useful while I'm home. Yay learning!
Also, here's an absolutely horrible picture of Freja and I being vampires in my kitchen with candy corn sent from home. And no, I'm not drugged, despite how I may appear. haha. Sorry it's so bad, but it's the most recent picture I have, actually. I don't take my camera to parties.
chao.

My Chilean Doctor Experience

2006-11-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

So....change of plans. I was listening to music, attempting to make myself fall asleep when my host mom came into my room, said she was worried about me, and was taking me to a clinic because waiting until tomorrow was not a good idea(and since it's Sunday, the doctor's isn't opened). Okay, then.
I pulled out my insurance stuff and the packet you gave me, mom. But everything was in English, and it was hard to explain. Mamá tried calling my counselor, who didn't answer(which pissed her off) and Freja's host dad since he knows a lot of doctors, but he didn't answer either. So we just went to the clinic. I wasn't allowed to shower though, because if I did, then I would catch pneumonia, apparently.
Mamá y Elle, my host grandmother went with me. They made me wear a winter coat, even though I was already really hot(apparently fevers do that to you...?). I told them I was hot, but they said that was because I was sick, had a fever, and if I took the coat off, I would catch pneumonia. So I just sat in the car, in my coat, wicked hot, to the clinic.
You have to take a number, like a deli or something. Taking numbers is very popular here in Chile. At the doctors, at the pharmacy, at the deli, etc. Everywhere you go, you have to take a number. Anyway. I was finally called and the nurse somewhat butchered my name, but that's okay because everyone does. Mamá was really helpful in telling her what was going on because my Spanish isn't too good to begin with, but with my throat swollen to the size of Texas, I'm even harder to understand. It's also kind of hard to breathe. Oh well.
The doctor came in, felt my neck(I have a weird lump on the back of my neck that appeared Friday or yesterday, I'm not sure). Looked at my throat and diagnosed me as being infected by bacteria! dun dun dunnn! I was kind of let down actually, like, that's it? You're not going to do anything more? Just look at my throat? How can you be sure that's what it is? You didn't even do a strep test when I have all the symptoms of strep! And my throat's the size of Texas!!!!! Oh well.....
He wrote a prescription and we went to the pharmacy to pick it up. I have to take some pill thing once a day for like, 6 days, and 400 mgs of Ibuprofen every 8 hours for my fever...? I don't know. I'm not contagious though, so that's good. But in lots of pain. It kind of feels like I'm swallowing daggers every time I swallow. And also....I can't go back to school until Thursday. Do you realize how boring that's going to be?? I have nothing to do here. I'm going to die of boredom. URGH. I can only sleep for so long, and it's not like I can eat anything. I'm on a liquid diet of water and apple juice, and if I drink any more apple juice...asdflkañsdf. Just the smell makes me want to puke right now. It's all I've had for the past three days. Well, I had some mashed potatoes, but even that hurt, so no food for me. Wahoo.
So there's my story. I'm a bit disappointed that the doctor only noticed my throat, and not my head, stomach, or vomitting. But...I guess we'll see if these antibiotics cure me first. Which they better, because I can't afford to be sick right now. I have a talent to work on for the orientation in December, not to mention a presentation I have yet to start. GAR.
and that's all for today.
Chao!

Ay, me duele tanto!

2006-11-02T19:28:00.000-05:00

Today....school. Fome, of course. I did absolutely nada. Nada. NADA. Well, I took a nap in gym. That was productive. What can I say? My head was pounding and I was exhausted, and that mat looked oh-so-comfortable. Oh well.
After school Freja and I took a colectivo to el centro and went Christmas shopping. Yes! I got everything, I think. Minus one thing, which I don't know what it is yet, but I know I need one more thing for someone. How sketchy....
It was a good time. I got my hair braided....kind of. It's not really a braid, well, it starts off as a braid, but there's lke, string around it, and some beads. It's very Chilean. And very cool. Me gusta.
Also got a purse. Yay purses!
I left with almost all of my Rotary allowance, and came back with just over $8.000 of it. Not bad, I suppose.
Tomorrow....belly dancing!!! and then Saturday morning, I think Freja and I are going to take a bus to Guanaqueros for our class paseo. Yay! It starts Friday, but we already paid for the belly dancing class.....unless there's a bus that leaves at like, 10 to Guanaqueros. Oh well.
Not sure if I'm going to school tomorrow. I hope...no. But that I'll still be able to go to class. My throat is all red and ultra sore, and my head won't stop pounding. And I'm tired. And....my shoulders hurt! ¡Me duele el cuerpo! Urgh. I swear, I have never been as sick as often as I have been in Chile. And annoyed too! Freja's the same way...sometimes we just get randomly angry at people, over stupid things. Most often it's, "Stop speaking Spanish!!!!!!" but, alas, they can't. Oh well.
anyhoo. gotta go sleep and such.
chao pescado

Too much candy corn hurts my stomach.

2006-10-31T16:32:00.001-05:00

Oh, today.
Is Halloween.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
School fue fome. Freja's still sick, so it looks like she won't be going out tonight, and our movie fest has been postponed until....no sé cuando. We'll find a day though.
We taught the fifth grade again today...I got to talk about Halloween in the US, which, surprisingly made me really happy, not sad like I expected it would. It sounds stupid but I felt really cool and kind of proud of my country for once. I honestly really didn't realize that I had a culture until I came here and saw all the differences. For me, it had always seemed like the US was just a blend of cultures(which it is) but that I didn't really have one. But...I do.
There was a dog in school today, the cutest little puppy I have ever seen. I named him Snoop Dogg, but by the end of the day his name was Chipi. He followed Freja and I up to the store where we stopped and bought ice cream(we were celebrating Halloween, obviously). We gave him the left over food from lunch, and he came when we called him. He's a good dog. I wish I could have brought him home. :(
Came home and was chilling on the computer, checking email and such when my mamá was just like, "I'm going to get Ignacio, by the way there's a package for you."(but in Spanish, of course).
Oh. Em. Gee. I was so excited!!!! I was afraid the package wouldn't come for today...but it did!! And now I'm eating candy corn....I think I went over the top....candy corn is only good in moderation, haha, oops. Oh well. I'm still extremely excited to have gotten my package and plan on reading the magazines while listening to the CDs and eating candy after hanging the pictures on my wall.
Hurrah!
Día de Solamente Español kind of crashed and burned, but we did speak a lot more Spanish(well, I did anyway). And I am speaking a lot faster...I don't have to think as much, I can just speak and actually say the right things. It's exciting! Plus, Freja and I realize how close December/orientation/South Tour is, so we're really working hard on our Spanish now. ¡Por fin!
Anyhoo. I'm off to enjoy my presents....I don't know what the plan is tonight. NOT going to Sundance because....well, it's fome. I might ask Jenny if we can go out to Barrio Ingles, or I might go to a classmates party. No sé.
Vamos a ver.
¡HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
besitos!

Día de Solamente Español

2006-10-30T18:32:00.000-05:00

Hoy día debe ser "Día de Solamente Español" con yo y la Freja, pero ella no estaba en colegio. ¡Que fome!
Today....was supposed to be Only Spanish Day, but Freja wasn't in school. So..it wasn't. Tomorrow is! yay!
School was ultra fome today.
Got an assignment I absolutely DO NOT understand one eensy teensy weensy little bit in linguaje. Oh boy! Something about a story I've never read. And I have to write a science fiction short story. Which, you know, wouldn't be a problem if only I knew how to write science fiction and a short story. I can't write short stories. It's just not my thing. My story plots are far too complex for short stories. Blegh. haha, I love how I'm not at all concerned about the Spanish part(for serious, it's way easy to write in Spanish), but the short story part. Oh, Kelsey.....
I got my money today!!!!!! Finally...because I was down to $650 pesos....and just for reference, one US dollar is worth roughly $536 Chilean pesos. ¡Que malo! Ya po, yo sé..... But now I have my $35.000 and I'm ready to party mañana. And send some letters. ¡Por fin!
Apparently...my host mom called up my counselor last night and fought with him about how I didn't have my money. Which would explain why he came today as opposed to tomorrow or Wednesday or whenever he said he'd come. Oh well. No importa. As long as I'm not poor anymore.
Tomorrow is Halloween!! I'm not sure how I feel about this....my first holiday away from home....ayyy. Mamá bought some candy. Woot! Paula from bellydancing called today about tomorrow night...and we talked...IN SPANISH! I'm so excited. I have real Chilean friends now. My classmates are cool....but they're really hard to make friends with. And Paula and Paloma, I've known for two bellydancing classes, and talked to for maybe 20 minutes total, and we're already doing stuff together. I love them. hehe. Mamá's excited too. I think she was worried that I had the social plague or something. Sorry mamá.....
anyhoo. All is well here. I've decided to teach myself the guitar because it will give me something productive to do, besides practice the piano and belly dance in my room. Which, while they're fun activities, just aren't doing it for me.
Oh, had music today. ALONE. I was scared, but it turned out fine. He kept like, leaning over me though, when I was trying to play, telling me to play Fur Elise. I told him I don't like to play for people, but he just stood there. I played once he moved away though. And Gymnopedie #1 too, he likes that song. I don't think he got it though....even though when he'd come back and tower over me, I'd stop, but start once he moved away. I don't play the piano for people, I play the piano for ME. Thankyouverymuch creepy music teacher.
Ah, well.
P.S. Rhode Islanders: You are now two hours behind me. Just thought I'd let you know.
Chao for now, pescado!

Anoche

2006-10-29T12:56:00.000-05:00

So. Last night. We made plans at about....10. Yay Chilean lifestyle!
The plan was....go to Brooke's house for the night, the 6 of us, after going to Barrio Ingles. And...something about a German. I don't really know.
Got to Jenny's house to wait for Brooke. Turns out, her boyfriend was in a car accident awhile back...something about 1% chance of living, bones from his head in his leg...? well, his leg started bleeding badly, so they were bringing him to the hospital, and she wouldn't be able to make it. So we changed the plans to....crash at Freja's house instead.
Two guys showed up to take us out. I'm not sure how any of us knew them, I asked who they were, but no one could answer me. I think Jenny knew them though, because her parents were fine with them and such. Anyway. The Chilean guy's name was Roberto, and the German guy's name was Philipe. O algo así. Anyway. We went out to Barrio Ingles to attempt to get into a disco. There were seven of us all together, 4 of us were under the age of 18. Oops. We were followed by a homeless man for a bit, who saw that we were foreigners and used the only English he knew: "Give me money" and "Where from?", which he would use while pointing at us. We ignored him, and kept our hands in our pockets to avoid getting robbed. Yay Barrio Ingles!
We went to a place called Camelot, and got in without showing our I.D. Score! Made plans to meet up again at 3:30 and off we went. It was a good time. Jenny danced on the stage with the DJ(he spotted her, she's hardcore blonde, and pulled her up. Apparently it happens a lot). I had a good time, and we got back to Freja's house exactly at four. Yay making curfew!
We hung out and ate cereal, and yogurt with cereal, and talked and such before we all passed out in the beds. Woke up at like...10 ish? And now...I'm here.
And oh. so. tired. Oh well. I'll sleep after lunch.
Still don't have my allowance, but talked to my counselor and will get it Wed. afternoon. I just have to get to an ATM sometime tomorrow....because right nowI have somewhere around $750 pesos to my name. oops.
Tomorrow...school. Tuesday....school then party at a disco. I might be going to the event that's 16+, or I might be trying to get in another disco in Barrio Ingles with Jenny. We'll see. Then...Wednesday, no school. Freja and I will be eating Halloween candy and watching scary movies. yes! And then school, and then, I don't know.Apparently....class trip this weekend? I don't really know. We'll see.
Also. I thinkthinkthink I'm going to build up the courage to try and get my hair cut soon. Ahhh! Scary!
Vamos a ver....
chao!

My Hips Don't Lie.

2006-10-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

So....it's the weekend. Rejoice!
Yesterday, Jenny, the girl from Finland, came to school with Freja because, well, she felt like it. It was exciting. Kind of weird with the three of us, and at times I felt kind of awkward, but at times so did Jenny, because Freja and I have our own jokes. And also, she didn't really understand why we were so excited about the song "I'm Too Sexy"(it's like, our theme song. We have our own version. It's exciting!). Anyhoo. School was okay. Band practice afterwards, I have a ridiculously easy part on the keyboard, it's a bit disappointing. For anyone who's interested, we're playing "Sálvame" by RBD, it's a good song.
After school, came home, ate a sandwich(cheese and ketchup. YUM), changed and was off to belly dancing. Took a colectivo, and attempted to find Freja, but apparently, the colectivos drop us off in different places, so our plan to meet up "where the colectivos drop you off" was foiled a bit. But we found each other and got to class about 30 minutes late. Oops. They were still stretching though, so it was all good.
Class was fun, better than last time. We learned a little routine thing, it was exciting. And after class, we exchanged numbers with two girls in the class, Paula and Paloma. Yay friends! Paloma walked with us to where we were taking a colectivo afterwards too. She went to Ireland for a semester, so she speaks pretty good English. And has a Claddagh ring, yes! No one here understands what mine means, jaja. And Paula is selling tickets to a party at Sundance(a disco) this Tuesday....so that means Freja and I are def. going. yay party!
Took a colectivo home with Freja. Her entire host family was gone, so she was spending the night at my house. It was a good time. And, turns out my family made pesto!!! yaaaay pesto!
We started watching Stomp but passed out. Somehow my lights and TV got turned off, and I ended up in my bed, but I'm not sure how. Ohhh well.
And now....I'm sitting here. Doing nada. Hopefullyhopefully going out later with Freja, Jenny, Alyssa(Canada), Maureen(US), and Brooke(US, with AFS) later tonight. wooohoo!
and....that's all.
chao pescado!

Picture Day!

2006-10-25T19:01:00.000-05:00

Oh, today. Woke up about an hour late, that's always fun. Buttt...I managed to make it to school only slightly late. And because I'm me and ultra special, instead of having some book signed to tell my parents that I was late, the inspector general just told me to be on time tomorrow. Score!
Today was picture day! Oh joy! I don't have the weird blazer, shirt, or tie I needed...but I borrowed the blazer and tie, and you couldn't tell I didn't have the right shirt on. It was a good time. I was watching Freja's class have their picture taken, anddd while they were getting ready for their goofy picture, the photographer, of course, was drawn to me and came over to talk.
I hate. Chilean men. Well, the creepy ones. Which are far too....I can't remember the word. But....they're everywhere. This one decided that he would practice his English on me. Oh well.
I had my class picture taken too....I got to sit in front, woot! (and I totally popped my collar on the goofy pic. Represent.)Afterwards.....well, my class kind of drifted off to the volleyball tournament that seems to be taking place in my school(teams from like,Curico and what not! it's pretty hardcore), so Freja and I asked the photographer if he could take a picture of us, because, we're exchange students, and best friends, and he did it for some other girls in cuarto.
Yeah, uh, big mistake.
This guy was creepy. He wanted us to like, smile at the sky? jaja, and it was just....weird. And he asked us if we had Chilean lovers???!! He meant boyfriends, but his english was horrible and Freja and I just kind of "........" and awkwardly tried to escape. But we survived. And realized that we need to stop getting ourselves into ridiculous situations. Like getting into strangers cars(okay, so it was a teacher, but I didn't know that and Freja didn't tell me. oops) or answering a guy who was trying to sell us his puppy on the street.
But. We're good. We're okay. We're making memories!
The rest of the school day was a complete waste of time. My entire class decided to try and skip Linguaje, so I tagged along. We ran away from the classroom and into the gym. And it worked for about 15 minutes or so until one of the school's head honcho guys came and told us to go back. Oops. Didn't go to Italian(she said I could leave). So Freja and I sat around and came up with 50 reasons why Ecuador sucks. We're a bit bummed about her exchange friends who have summer weather and three houses and cell phones. so to make ourselves feel better, we came up with 50 reasons why our country choice is better than there's, our number one reason being that they eat hamsters or guinea pigs, or whatever. And also we have manjar.
Couldn't leave school early because apparently we're not *that* special anymore, which sucks a lot, but we'll figure out a way to escape somehow. We have Italian lessons with the principal, but he's somewhat unreliable in actually showing up, which leaves us wandering around the school aimlessly for the last hour and a half. Que fome.
And now. I'm watching Dane Cook. Woot!
This weekend....it would appear that I am going out with 5 other exchangers in the La Serena/Coquimbo area(including one girl with AFS who's been here for a looong time) to party. yay partying! Then....for Halloween....there's a carrete that night since there's no school the next day, so Freja and I will go to that, then chill the next day, eating candy and watching scary movies. Yes!
And....that's my update for today.
¿Wasn't that exciting?

Don't worry, I'm still alive

2006-10-23T18:18:00.000-05:00

So....I've been gone for a bit. BUT! I'm still alive! woot!
So...update?
Well....Friday was Día del Profesor, which is basically teachers' day. Thursday there was some ceremony thing for it....i think Chilean's will find any excuse to eat cake(but I'm not complaining!). Everyone brought in food, and my class and the head teacher and the inspector general ate it all. yummm. Freja and I felt it was useless to stay in school, but of course, it was the one day that they were cracking down on skipping school, so we stayed and taught an English class. I wasn't hit on this time, jaja(oh, did I mention that last time I was hit on by a ten year old? Um, awkward). So we taught and then left when we had gym, because a group of younger kids were leaving so we blend in, jaja. Ohhh well. I don't think anyone at all stayed for gym anyway. Thursday night I went out with Mauricio and some of his friends, we went to Barrio Ingles, but didn't stay for too long, so we went to some person's house for a party. 'Twas fun. I didn't even feel awkward being wicked young, and talked to some girl.
Friday...slept in. Did...pretty much nothing. Went to my first belly dancing class...which was somewhat frustrating, with all these crazy hippy Latin girls who had taken a class before. But...whatevvvv..I'll be the next Shakira in no time. Stayed home and watched TV with Mauricio and Ignacio Friday night while my host parents went out.
Saturday.....I don't think I did anything during the day....slept maybe? Went out that night with Mauricio and his friends again. We went to el centro, to a pub. I thought they wouldn't let me in at first, but they only glanced at my ID, and I look older, so I was fine. It was a good time. Everyone thought I was 20, haha. I spotted a group of gringos(I have a gringo radar) and talked to two of them. All but one were from Minnesota(the other was from Wisconsin), and the girl from Wisconsin went to Bolivia with Rotary, so we talked about that, and Chilean slang...it was a good time, minus being slightly hit on by waiters, but....that happens. It got the guys at my table another beer after they stopped selling them, so whatever.
Sunday....fome. Stayed home...slept. I didn't get to bed until 7 am, so I guess that's why.
Monday....hoy día! Was pretty fome, I'd say. Had my first real test...not too sure how it went. Found out that I've been recruited as the keyboard player for a band type thing and will be playing in front of the entire school in late November. Freja's on drums, which is funny because she didn't start playing until today. jaja, exchange students....we just do what we want. Oh well.
and now..I'm here. Mauricio's leaving tonight, which kind of sucks cuz he's nice and what not, and I like having someone to talk to(not that I can't talk to my host parents, but..you know what I mean). And tomorrow...my host grandparents will arrive from Calama! Rejoice! I'm not sure for how long though.
and...that's all.
I'm sorry this was a slightly boring update...but...it's been awhile...so I just kind of said what I did. oops.
Oh! and on Wednesday...I went on a trip to the university of La Serena and Freja and I talked to an Australian! It was amazing! And his accent....gahhh jaja
and that.
is all.
besitos!

GIANT Temblooooorrrr!!!

2006-10-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

Oh, today.
Went to lunch with my counselor at his house. His wife is part Arabic, so we had Arabian food. I'm fairly certain that one of the meat things was NOT cooked....that's what I was getting from the description and how it looked, but I figured if they could eat it and not get sick, then so could I. So i did. It was quite good. I also tried some weird plant thing....not so good. Oh well.
Talked with his son. It was slightly awkward due to language gaps and me being generally shy when I speak Spanish. Def. have to work on that....
Then we went to the mall to get a card for someone who just gave birth to a baby. While in the mall though....I don't know. I didn't feel quite so foreign. And I don't think i got so many stares, although, maybe I just didn't notice as much.
Then, we went to the woman's house, which is a street down from me, and the same exact layout as my house....which was kind of weird for me, seeing everything the same, minus the things in the house. The baby was adorable, and way tiny! Afterwards, they asked if I wanted to go to a funeral with them, which I said no to. They were dressed in jeans, which I guess is the norm here....don't think I'll ever get used to that....
Came home to find it was only Ignacio, Janet(she comes every Friday, and I guess babysits too...?) and me. So...I was on the computer, just chilling. And like, 10 minutes ago, I hear this GIANT rumbling sound, and all of a sudden, everything's shaking....I was talking with Freja on MSN, so I just said, TEMBLOR!!! And ran out of the room to where Janet and Ignacio were....omg, so freaky to feel the entire house moving as you run...I get to the room, and can see the walls moving, and a picture on the wall shaking back and forth, omgggg it was hardcore weird, and slightly scary but only for a minute. Whatevvvv I still love it here, crazy frequent earthquakes and all. Every time I feel like something might be shaking, I stop what I'm doing and think, "Temblor?"...jaja. Someone said there's an earthquake(or three?) every day, but you can't usually feel them. I wonder how long it'll be before Chile becomes an island.....?
Anyhoo. My weekend's been good. Went out Friday with Freja, Diego, and Alejandro. We went out to a disco, which was a good time. Took a radio taxi home at like, 3 am. Def. some good times, haha. And then Saturday....I SLEPT. Mucho. But....the clocks have been moved forward an hour...so that kind of sucks. Also...not sure my phone will change, so I should have an interesting time mañana, trying to get up. Anyhoo.
besitos!
kelsey

Temblor!!

2006-10-12T16:37:00.000-06:00

So today.....was a somewhat useful day. Actually, I dont' think that's the word, butttt I can't remember the word, so that will have to do. First class was the class that Freja and I switched to, Spanish with 7th grade. Oh boy! We felt kind of really awkward at first, but...for the first time, I actually learned something in school here. Which was exciting.
Then....we went to help teach English with the kindergarteners. We just ended up drawing with them(some computer thing wouldn't work) but that was fun. I got gifts from them....a frost flake and purple Fruit Loop, plus a drawing that a girl named Consuelo made. It was a good time. They were all so cute! And one girl hugged me. awww que lindo! There was one girl I especially like, Augustina. She seemed to understand that Freja and I didn't understand(they talk really fast!!), and would slow down and rephrase things for us. She seemed really smart.
Then we went and taught the 6th graders. Except, we mostly just sat and observed. The English teacher....eh. Her English isn't all that good. But the kids spoke and wrote pretty well for being in 5th grade. While we were sitting there, I felt my chair start moving, and I looked over at the wall and actually saw the room moving!! It was crazy! A crazy long temblor...the longest and strongest I've felt here so far. We all left the room and stood outside for a couple minutes before we were sure it was over, and then went back inside. It was crazy cool though, not scary at all. Bakan.
In gym we're practicing for a performance somewhere around November 18th, a dance. There's a salsa group and a hip hop group. I wanted to do salsa, but didn't have a partner, so I'm doing hip hop. And....my iPod saved the day when we needed a song, and guess who has some good hip hop dance music on her iPod(yeah that's right, gringa saves the day!).
And then....I walked home. I walked to school this morning too....which is amazingly good, because that means I walked atleast, most likely more than, two miles. I'm not sure how far away my school is, but it takes me a good 30-40 minutes to walk there...I'm guesstimating atleast a mile, but I'm not sure. And I think I walk pretty fast. Oh well. Tomorrow I think I'm going for a run in the morning, and walking to school since I think Ignacio's still sick(which is why mamá can't drive me), and then walking home. And then going outtt...yessss. There's an event at a disco, so it's 16 plus again. And I think I'm going out Saturday too. I'm doing something with a boy in cuarto, Alejandro, but I don't know what. People here are real last minute. Oh well.
besitos!

Oh, emo emus...

2006-10-07T21:44:00.000-06:00

Oh hoy. I had to be at Freja's house at 10am, which I think is ridiculously early, but.....filo. Got there anyhoo. Jenny came over at about 10:30, and Alyssa, the new girl from Canada, came a little bit after her. She's only been in Chile for 3 days...I felt kind of bad. She looked so overwhelmed, and I could remember how I felt only 3 days in. Overwhelmed like woah. But she's really nice. Really tall, but she has dark hair and eyes, so she doesn't stick out as much, minus the height. She lives in Coquimbo and goes to school there, so I don't know how often I'll see her other than Rotary meetings. Oh well. We'll figure something out.
We went to the creepy guy's house again, the giant one with the pool and emus. 'Twas fun. The four of us had a really great time. We swam for a little bit, but the pool was freezing, so we didn't stay in for long. We saw the emus....they must have been hungry because they tried to eat us. First one pecked Freja in the back, and then I was standing there, minding my own business, taking a picture, when I see an EMU HEAD in the corner of my eye. Def. not something you want to see....they kept coming up behind us and trying to peck us in the back and feet....def. did not do that last time.....
Then we went on an adventure. We walked down the highway type thing(but it wasn't busy since it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere), some people whistled at us. That's always real polite. I called them pigs, but then remembered I said it in English. Oops.
We walked under some fence thing, kind of like barbed wire, but not really, and went exploring on a giant sand..hill thing. It was wicked hard to climb up. We saw bones on the way there, some leg bones and pelvic(?) bones, but they looked to big to be human. Eh...kind of really creepy. We hung out on the dunes for awhile and took pictures and such....we saw what looked like lizard prints, and decided that no matter how cool it was, we did not want to see the lizard(they were big footprints!) We were gone atleast an hour....but I don't think anyone noticed.
More hanging out was had. We played "Never Have I Ever" and talked with some boy. Well, mostly I talked to him since it was me and Alyssa, and she doesn't know much Spanish. So we were allowed to speak English today! yay! haha
It was a lot more exciting than I just made it sound, I swear. I have pictures too....but can't promise they'll be on my Yahoo! site soon....it takes forever to load pictures on this computer....don't know why, so I'm lazy a lot. Oh well.
Besitos!!!
*EDIT*
Photos are up from this weekend! For those of you who don't know/forgot/whatever, it's
http://photos.yahoo.com/ksitter9

2006-10-05T17:04:00.000-06:00

Oh, today.
A nothing day. Much like every other day. In gym, I was practicing rolling my r's(my tongue's slightly physically challenged) and it worked! I'm getting better and can almostalmostalmost do it right! yessss! It was exciting.
Talked to my gym teacher too. Freja and I are going to play futbol. Er, soccer. yesss! Neither of us have played on a team, so we figured it'd be perfect. We both wanted to do something different. My school used to have a field hockey team(I was SO pumped to join!) but not anymore due to lack of interest. Grrr.
I learned some Danish today with Freja, which is exciting, just minus the pronunciations. Danish...is a pretty really hard language. But now I can say this:
Hej! Jeg hedder Kelsey. Jeg er 16 aar. Og kommer fra USA, eller naermere staten Rhode Island. For tiden er jeg her i Chile, some udvekslingsstudent. Which is essentially, hi, my name's Kelsey, I'm 16. I'm from the US, more specifically, RI. Right now I'm in Chile as an exchange student. Yes! And I can do the whole, How are you? thing too. Exciting. I'm pretty sure I'll be fluent soon, hahahaha
Oh well.
Other than that...nothing exciting. My crazy school principal again avoided the meeting with Freja and I. yay. That's the one thing I hate about Chile. If you say you're going to do something, do it, and when you said you would! ARGH. I also almost finished some linguaje work, which is fairly amazing considering it's wicked dificil. Freja and I were exhausted and collapsed on the table in the library by the time we finished. But...it happens.
Pictures. Of the emus. Are coming. Also, this weekend, I'm going back to the creepy guys house for asado part deux, but with Freja, Jenny, and Maureen. Yay!
Oh. And tomorrow is my two month anniversary of being in La Serena and with my host family. Rejoice!
besitossss
Kelsey

I don't know, It's a mystery

2006-10-02T20:49:00.000-06:00

So....this morning, my cell phone was mysteriously unplugged from the charger and turned off(and a picture on my wall was moved, um....dub tee eff), so mamá had to wake me up since I overslept a bit. Oops.
School. Grr. I was all pumped to take an English test, knowing I'd finally have a grade, and a good one at that, so I sat in my desk, pen all ready, and my teacher comes up to me and says, "The students are taking a test, so you should go to the library." Yay boredom....?
Math, I actually understood. It was the Pythagorean(m?) theorem, hooray for geometry last year! Had a meeting with Freja and the principal, entirely in Spanish. We're having our schedules rearranged. We'll be going to a lower level for Spanish and Italian, having one hour Spanish tutoring every week, and teaching English to younger kids(8/9 years old). woohoo!
After school, Freja and I walked down the scary highway(which still scares me when it comes time to cross it), and took a colectivo to el centro. We did some shopping. 'Twas fun. I bought a pair of jeans and a new wallet. I was soooo tempted to buy a shirt that said, "Are you looking at me?" because, well, it just seemed right, but it was kind of....gaudy? looking, so I didn't. We went to the place(forgot the name. Again) with traditionaly Chilean stuff. I got some more postcards for my wall. It's my newest collection/obsession. Postcards of everyplace I've been.
Tonight was a lot better as far as feeling like a foreigner. Wearing our uniform out helps, because Freja and I look more like we belong here, although we still got some stares. This one guy turned around and looked at us, then walked into someone. Haha
I tried a Chilean...thing. Cuchufly(fli?). It was really good...I'm not entirely sure what it was, but it included chocolate and manjar, and I liked it.
When I called mamá to pick us up, she was at the peluqueria(I forgot the English word) with Ignacio getting his hair cut, so she told me to take a colectivo home. Which shocked me, considering she's always said it's dangerous at night and doesn't really want me taking them. But....filo. I like taking colectivos....it makes me feel independent.
Freja's number came first(the colectivos are numbered according to where they drive) so I was alone for a few minutes, while I figured out which number I was. Some driver told me, even though I kind of already knew. Oh well. Never hurts to be positive. So I took a colectivo home all by myself!!! yaaaaay! It was exciting, I felt quite independent, which I liked!
And now.....nada. There's an aerobics thing tomorrow after school that Freja and I are gonig to do, yay? We'll see.....I'm not much of an aerobics person. I like running better, but I'm a bit scared to ask mamá if I can. I will soon though, because I miss being able to run, and I'm sure if I could, I'd actually wake up on Saturday mornings(as opposed to 3 pm....oops) Anyhoo.
Besitos!
Kelsey

Why yes, I do kiss emus

2006-10-01T20:01:00.000-06:00

Oh, fin de semana....
Friday night I did nothing at all, only slept. Woohoo! Saturday....went to el centro con Freja. We did some shopping. I bought some little things like toothpaste, and Seventeen magazine....in Spanish! Go me! It was quite fun. We were with Freja's cousin, María Lucía, so we had to speak Spanish the whole time. Oh well. It's pretty much necessary, and my Spanish is somehow magically not horrible?
Freja slept over. We had tea and such con mi familia. Papá went out, and Freja, yo y mamá sat at the table and talked. Until midnight, apparently. It was really really nice. All in Spanish, of course, about a variety of things. It's strange how it's suddenly possible. I remember not too long ago, mamá, papá, y mis abuelos would sit and talk after dinner, and I could only sit and listen, and try to understand. And now I'm the one talking after dinner too. It's weird because I don't know when or how it happened. But...me gusta. It's weird to be able to think that I can actually understand and make myself understood in this language.
We had some helado and watched most of Seven, but passed out sometime early this morning. Freja said I talked in my sleep the whole night, mostly in English, but a little in Spanish too. Woohoo!!!
We woke up at around 10:30, when Freja's mamá called and said they were coming at 11. They were going to lunch at a friends house outside of La Serena, and I was invited. So we quickly got ready, and left to her house to get all the food and such ready. Lots of meat, vegetables, wine, and soda. Not to mention towels and such since there was a pool at the house. The house was giant. I mean....giant! I counted 5 bedrooms. There was a waterfountain inside too!! It'll be a bit of a shock for me to go back to the US, when now, big houses just seem so....unnecessary to me. I see them now and think, "Why on Earth would you need that much space?" It's like people in the US are trying to distance themselves from their families almost, by making more space between them, and filling their houses with unnecessary junk. A small house is just fine, there's def. enough space for everyone. Anyhoo. Enough blabbering.
The guy who owned the house was a classmate of Freja's papá back in high school. They owned 20 full grown emus, and a lot more baby ones(which we got to see....que lindo!) Freja and I played cards for a bit, had a giant lunch, and then we got to go and see the emus. Up close. We got to actually go into the corral where they were. Lots of pictures were taken(I, of course, forgot my camera, but Freja's going to send them to me, don't worry). We got to pet emus!!! We also attempted to ride them, but they were kind of scared and would duck away, make a funny sound, and run off. Oh well.
Freja and I went on a walk for a bit and sat in a bus stop. Played more cards. Were oddly, hit on(maybe?) by her dad's friend. This guy was creepy. He kept telling us how beautiful we are, and how much he cared about us, that we're always welcome to go swimming there come summer, and he kept touching me. Putting his hands on my shoulders or back, and he grabbed my arm a couple of times. After he had a few drinks, when we left, he gave us hugs and kisses on the cheek. It was both oddly entertaining(porque él estaba curado) and creepy at the same time. We both agreed we'd rather not go back this summer, unless we were together and with an adult. At all times, haha.
And now....I'm home. Home sweet home, haha. P.S. Padres en Estados Unidos.....I have a webcam...por fa, email me so we can set up a time to talk? That goes for anyone, actualmente.
Anyhoo. Colegio mañana, and then Freja and I are taking a colectivo to the centro to shop and walk and such. We're also going to check out the gym this week, and we're checking another dance school about belly dancing lessons since one of the school's classes was full. We. Will. Dance. Like Shakira.
besitossss
Kelsey

2006-09-28T20:46:00.000-06:00

Oh, today.
School.....eh. You know how school is. I took a math test(although, I'm not sure if the teacher is counting it....hopefully...no?). I'm starting to almost grasp what he's talking about. One day, all his symbols just made sense. If only I understood his reasoning. Everything I've learned about math means nothing here, the order of solving problems that's been forever engraved in my brain is wrong here. It's utterly confusing. But! I'm starting to figure out his messed up way of solving problems that make little to no sense, so....I suppose that's a very good thing!
The gym teacher wasn't here today, so it was proclaimed that we had no gym class. Entonces....we got to leave school early. 90 minutes early. Mamá was out shopping, and had given me the key anyway, so I walked home, partially with Freja. We didn't get as many looks. That's why I like wearing my uniform in public. It's like saying Look at me! I belong here! Anyhoo. I crossed the street all by myself, which always terrifies me. It's four lanes of traffic, haha. Buttt...I waited for the red light, and made it safely across. Go me! Was home alone for about two hours. Answered the phone for the first time!!! yesss! Although....it still terrifies me. Thankfully today it was just Freja asking if I wanted to go to the movies. Phew.
We did go to the movies. We saw La Dama en El Agua...I forgot the translation....Lady of the Water? Something of the sort. It was okay....kind of....strange. But still good. We took a collectivo. Note to self, always sit in the front seat. Freja talked to the driver the whole time, while I was crammed against the window next to a strange bearded man. The driver was quite interested in the exchange student thing....which was pretty cool. I did get to talk to him a little, but not much.
In the line for popcorn(which has carmel type stuff on it, not butter. ¡Que extraño!), there were two blonde people in front of us. And my gringo radar went off. They spoke slow Spanish, that didn't sound like gringo Spanish. I leaned over to Freja and whispered "Foreignors!" as they always slightly amaze me, and the man turned around and smiled. I asked where they were from, in English. Germany. They were very nice. We talked about La Serena a bit, and what movies we were seeing(they were seeing Click). They came from Peru and Bolivia and are travelling down Chile. I told them to make sure to check out Valparaiso. All in all, it was slightly exciting. They even had blue eyes!!!!
The movie was subtitled. Thankfully. Freja and I both decided we would cry if it wasn't, haha. Afterwards we talked about what we would keep with us when we go back home. Saying "Chao!" instead of goodbye, eating french fries with a fork, saying "ya po!" "sí po" y "Que onda?". Eating ketchup with most things. Forgetting to wear seatbelts(they're not even in most cars!), using slang. That kind of thing. It's funny to think about how accustomed to things here we've gotten. Even speaking Chilean English. I've started directly translating things into English with Freja now("We have 16 years" "I have tired") It's funny.
The language has started seeping into my brain, and it's both confusing and entertaining. When i think, it's a mixture of English and Spanish. I can read and understand Spanish now. I sat down to write an email to a Rotarian here earlier, and at first I was slightly panicked at the idea of doing it in Spanish, but the words just came. I was actually able to do it with little difficulty. When I speak English, Spanish words just slip out. It happened with the Germans today(and afterwards, when they left, Freja and I just kept speaking Spanish to each other). And there are things that just make more sense in Spanish. Which Freja agreed with too....I'm sooo glad to have someone else understand! When I write home to people, I just can't help but use Spanish words and phrases because it just seems right. It just fits better than English. It's crazy.
Anyhoo. I think I've pretty much written a novel. So.....the end? El fin. Sí. Pero.....some comments would be nice! It's kind of a strange feeling to know that people read this, but have no idea who those people are(and yes, okay padres, you are exempt from the comments, if you email me, haha). Anyhoo. Un besito, chao.
Kelsey

2006-09-24T21:11:00.000-06:00

P.S. I am almost officially not illegal anymore! yesss....went and applied for(maybe?) my carnet, my Chilean ID card the other day. I get to actually get it October 10th. woohooo legalness!
Didn't do much this week. Slept, mostly. I really enjoying sleeping until 3 am....oh, Chile. And vacation. Def. needed that.
Yesterday I was supposed to cook lunch for my family....we were going to go out and buy what I needed, but, I slept until 3 pm, and no one bothered to try and wake me, so we went out to lunch instead. I'm getting a better idea of what I'm ordering now, which is good. We went to the mall afterwards and got a webcam! So, family and friends, you can now see me via MSN. yaaaay
Freja called and told me about a birthday party for two girls, one in my class, and her cousin in cuarto. She said they'd be by at around 10 to pick me up. But, of course, 10 in Chilean time means just before 11. We went to one of the girls houses, which was giant. The party was a lot bigger than Freja and I expected too. There was a DJ there, and lots of people we didn't even know. But....we had a good time still. My host mom picked us up at 3:30, and Freja came back to my house to sleep over. We ate left over panqueques(they're thinner than US pancakes, and you put jam(?) on it, and roll it up. Sooooo good) and talked for a long while. Then....passed out.
Today, after lunch, we went to the Valle. We drove through the mountains and saw some giant lake thing....pretty neat. Some guy there came over and asked Freja and I where we were from, then commented on how white I am, which is always fun for me. Then.....we drove farther into the Valle and saw little towns and such. We stopped in Vicuña for some helado, like always. People here eat sooo much helado. Ice cream should not be eatent this much, I swear. We were sitting in the plaze chilling and such, when some procession came out of the church across the street. A band was kind of playing, and they were carrying a giant Virgin Mary. I tried to get a picture, but only got one of the back of the procession. I'm not sure what was going on, and my host parents didn't know either. But I think it's pretty cool all the religious stuff that goes on here. My host dad said there's a huuuuuge religious festival(?) in Andacollo coming up with tons of people and dancing, and they're going to try and bring me and Freja.
Anyhoo. We left Vicuña and kept driving through little towns. We stopped in the town where Gabriel Mistral was born. It was......empty. Apparently it's full of young people during the summer, but today it was dead. I think I would go insane in a town that small. It was ridiculous.
The drive back was about an hour. We drove by mountains(como siempre) and vineyards(they're everywhere). We stopped at the airport in La Serena to go to the bathroom, and Freja and I had a good time remembering how utterly terrified we were when we first arrived here. We both just wanted to turn around and go home, haha. Oh well....
That's pretty much it. Trust me, it was a lot more exciting than it sounds though. My host parents today decided to play a trick on me and told me I had to change houses in January, some Rotary Club Coquimbo rule. Haha, real funny.
I've taken over 300 pictures here so far....haha, oops. I'm trying to upload them all onto my Yahoo site....but it takes forever to load. Hopefully they'll all be up there by the end of this week though.....so make sure to check it!
Kelsey

Big update time! woot!

2006-09-19T22:10:00.000-06:00

So....I just got back from Viña, about...maybe an hour ago? five hour car ride, woohoo! We left a little bit around 10 am, all six of us crammed into a truck, driving. With nothing interesting to look at(woohoo desert?) but I did get to sleep a bit, so that was nice. Had lunch at some little place, which is always fun because I don't know what I'm ordering. It's like hitting the "I feel lucky" button on Google. But....it turned out okay, so that's good. Then we got to the little condo where we were staying with like, two other people. That was terrifying. I was pretty much really overwhelmed, which, as I'm sure you can imagine, is always a fun emotion to feel. Met my host brother, Mauricio, who kind of refused to speak English or translate questions I didn't understand, despite the fact that he went to California on exchange and speaks English fluently. Oh well. Lots of conversing took place, my host mom told everyone funny things that I've said, we all laughed, I understood what was going on, it was a good time. We had an asado that night, which is basically a barbaque, but much better because it's Chilean. Mauri played the guitarra and sang, and everyone drunkenly danced the Cueca using table napkins. If you don't know what the Cueca is(it could be spelled Cuecca, I'm not sure), I highly suggest you YouTube it, as it's quite cool. anyhoo. Dancing took place, and then around....10ish? Mauri turned to me and just said, "Vamos" so, like always, I smiled, nodded, and left with no idea where we were going. We left with a 19 year old girl, Maca, and her brother and his girlfriend, Pollo, y....actually I don't know her name. I was the youngest. As always. Oh well. Filo. We went to some girls house for awhile and then to the beach. We got home at 5:30. woohoo!
Sunday...much of the same. Aka nothing. Asado, empanadas, walking around and whatnot. We went out that night...we tried to go to a Fonda, but couldn't, so we ended up at the beach again.
Monday....we went to Valparaiso, which was about an hour drive away. This was really exciting....I fell in love with the city, and decided that I'm going to move there one day and live in a colored house. I actually got to talk with Mauri a lot more, and it was really really nice. We saw Pablo Neruda's house and some museum of cartoons by a Chilean guy, and I actually understood them, so that was exciting too. Oh! And we went on an ascensor. They're like these cable car type things(?) that go pretty much straight up on this track, but not really...it's hard to explain. But I have pictures!(look to the right...) Anyhoo...it was really cool, and I guess I've changed, because I never would have gone on something like that in the US. We went to another ascensor, but this was just a regular elavator that went straight up, and we got to see all of the city....it was amazing. I loved it oh so much. Monday was the independence day of Chile...but you couldn't really tell all that much. Minus Chilean flags everywhere, obviously. I saw lots of gringos, which was exciting. At Neruda's house, we were leaving when a group of English people walked by...I giggled and couldn't stop smiling...I'm not entirely sure why, haha, but it was cool. I got a lot of stares throughout the day, more than in La Serena, which is considering that we were in the South more, where there's a lot of German people, and I saw a lot of blondes(and always excitedly exclaimed "Rubio!!!"). Anyhoo. We went back to Maitencillo, the town we were staying in, at around 6. I had an empanada, and passed out somewhere around 9 while everyone else(minus Maca, who was with me) danced the Cueca outside. We woke up at 11ish...wandered downstairs, and chilled until 1 when we went out. We actually went to a Fonda, and it was a lot of fun. I saw some more gringos. And more blondes. And we got to dance. As far as I can tell, a fonda is this, dance type thing? with lots of more traditional music, but some reggaeton too. There was this typically dressed cowboy type guy(there's a word, I just can't remember it) on a horse at the entrance with some stick thing, and he hit some guy who was chucking stuff at the horse. Then, he moved away and yelled for everyone to just go in, which was good becuase I wasn't sure if I would be able to get in anyway. There was soooo many people, it was crazy. I think we kind of lost Maca, Pollo, y the girlfriend, but I was with Mauri the whole time so it was okay. I'm not sure what time we left, but when Mauri and I got home, we went to the beach for a little bit and ended up going back to the house at 6ish. wooohoo!
Slept till 1 today, cleaned up, hung around the house with Mauri, we went back to the beach for awhile and talked about my life in the states, and what I want to do in the future. He told me a little bit about his exchange and time in California, it was really nice. We're both very similar, we don't talk much, but the silence is never awkward. I promised him that I'll teach him some piano when he comes home in December, and he promised to teach me some guitar. We went back to the house, ate lunch(spaghetti, which was a nice break from all the meat and empanadas). And then.....many many pictures were taken by my host grandmother(Grammy, she reminds me of you!! hehe), and then....we left. It was kind of sad, because I don't know if I'll ever see some of those people again...but ....hopefully I will. If I ever make it down to Santiago, Maca said we'll party together. And, obviously, Mauri will be here this December. And we're going to go camping and out to discos and whatnot. 'Twill be fun.
and....that's an abbreviated version of this weekend. It was amazingly fun....and I loved it. I kind of learned to dance the Cueca too!
love you all
kelsey
(oh ps, the last picture's just some grafitti that I kind of had to document.)

2006-09-15T19:06:00.000-06:00

Today....was horrible. Well, for the most part.
Math nearly brought me to tears. We were taking a test, and the teacher somehow thinks that I know what's going on....? I told him I didn't understand, so he pretty much did one problem for me, while blabbering on in Spanish, looked at me, said "Ya?" and walked away. And I still had no idea what I was doing. There were four problems. Each was worth two points. When I handed in my paper, I had the one question he did, and one I attempted which I'm positive is wrong, because there weren't any crazy symbols like he uses. So...there goes my math grade. That class is going to drive me insane. I honestly have never been so confused in my life, and it's like he doesn't notice or care that I'm completely lost. Stupid teacher.
I think the boys here like to be especially immature on the days when I'm not so happy. So you can imagine how the rest of my day was. urgh.
School ended at lunch time, I'm not sure why, and I was never informed beforehand. Thank you, classmates. So I walked home with Freja. She came to my house and we goofed off for awhile, had lunch and played the piano, while joking about our talents. For the next inbound orientation we have to have a talent show, but we don't know what we're doing yet. I'd play the piano, but we have to bring whatever we need, and there's no way I'm bringing the keyboard. So...I have to find something else...but I don't really have anything else. So...I don't know.
Not going out tonight. I have a really annoying cough. Again. (stupid lungs). And I'm packing tonight anyway I think.
Tomorrow at 8 am we're leaving for Viña del Mar for the weekend. I'll be back Monday I think. Five-ish hours in the car. woot! When we go to the North later this year though, it's 15 hours. 15!!! Who does that??!! I tried telling my host parents about the Rhode Island mindset with travelling and whatnot...but it's hard to explain in limited Spanish. Although....my Spanish is getting better, and I usually get things on the first time, if I pay attention(which is the hard part). Anyhoo.
love and miss you all!

2006-09-14T17:07:00.000-06:00

Hoy día, nada mucho. School. Fue fome. Got out early due to some phys ed. test. Walked almost all the way home with Freja, but my host mom and grandma stopped by and picked me up. Oh well. We're going to make it a weekly thing, but only weekly, when we have our gym uniforms on(pants) because really, what foreign girl wants to wander the streets of La Serena in a skirt? Got home, was alone for the first time ever for about....half an hour to an hour or so. It was quite nice...I miss being home alone.
Decided to go on a walk. Wandered around, down past my neighborhood. Let's just say, I noticed the differences. Loud reggaeton music, people blatently staring at me. These two guys were outside like, painting their fence or something, one was watching me walk by, then nudged his friend so he could stare too. And I turned and looked at them, which I've discovered usually makes people stop staring, but not these guys. It was....weird. But...I kept walking and was fine. I feel perfectly safe here. I got a couple of honks from trucks driving by. That was....polite. I noticed a cute little sheep farm not too far from my house(and thought of you, dad). It was nice. It was only like a half hour or so, but it's nice to just get out of the house and get some fresh air and think. But...I do like walking in my neighborhood better. I feel like I stand out really badly in the other neighborhood, but mine, I feel right at home, like I belong there. It's so different. All the houses perfectly clean, gardens all nice, people all inside their little fenced in Chilean fortresses. And the other neighborhood? Grafitti and reggaeton, lower fences, flaite. I def. live in a really nice neighborhood here. Really nice. But quiet.
My host mom and grandma were going somewhere else and drove by me on the street, so i got in the car and went with them (to Hans house, an autistic boy, a friend of Ignacio's from school). They told me that I need to be careful walking alone, which I knew, and that I shouldn't go near the construction site by my house(which I knew, and didn't do). I don't think mamá likes the idea of my walking by myself, but honestly, I don't see why. I mean, I know I stand out, but I feel comfortable and safe, and know where to stop and can listen to my gut. I do have common sense other than not eating snipers and not going to places that end in Land(Sam). I can fend for myself fairly well. And I feel super independent here. I mean, I know she's pretty much my mom, and is just looking out for me, but still. I came here to live like a Chilean teen in La Serena...and they can go for walks by themselves! Granted, my walking privaleges haven't been taken away, but I do feel a bit sheltered here. I'm used to walking almost anywhere I want(granted, I don't do that too often back home, but I'm trusted enough to), and coming home after school with my own key, and being home alone. And I know it's different, and that's cool, but still. I'm 16, not 6. It's just...urgh. I don't know....but I want to be able to take a collectivo. I don't want to have to rely on mamá for rides all the time, and I feel bad, even though she says it's okay. And I want to be able to walk places! I don't know...I guess I just wish I could blend in better. And the stares? Yeah, not too fun. I wish my Spanish was just a little bit better so I could tell those stupidheads to stop staring. I'm not some kind of freak. I'm blonde, fair skinned and blue eyed. It's not all that strange. I mean, I knew coming into this that I'd be different, but I guess I was just naive and didn't realize I'd be looked at all the time. Maybe I'm just too aware of it. Maybe I should stop paying attention to people paying attention to me. But I have to wonder, will it be like this all year? Because if it is, well then I don't care what the Rotary rules say, I'll dye my hair, because I can't take feeling like a freak all year.
phew.
anyway. That was enough of a rant. I'm sorry.
*a bit later*
had a talk with my host mom. About boys. Well, Chilean boys. And that Rotary rule that I hate the most, no dating. She actually made it seem like she was okay with me dating....like, really okay with it. I mean, maybe I misunderstood, but I don't think I did, and well. Let's just say my day got better. I mean, I'll stay inside and take rides from her if I can have un pololo chileno. oolala!
I love and miss you all!
kelsey

2006-09-13T15:10:00.000-06:00

Ugh.
Stayed home from school today. No sé qué onda. My head, throat and ears hurt, and my mamá said it'd be better if I stayed home, I guess so I wouldn't get worse, since we're going away this weekend. Oh well. Slept till like, 11:30ish, watched a movie on HBO, showered, had lunch, and now I'm here. Exciting, eh?
Yesterday I went to this giant supermarket called Jumbo. For serious, it was huge. It had clothes, everything. And metal detectors by the door. Craziness. I got to talk to mamá some more, which is really nice. We talked about Gabi and how she's doing. She said she doesn't miss anyone really, except for Ignacio because they were really close. She did say it's really different, and there aren't any parties(then again, it is Wisconsin...). But she's good, and not lonely, which I thought was odd since it's only her and her host parents, and I know I'd be kind of lonely. Oh well. I feel a lot better about my host family lately. At first they seemed kind of....distant? but I think it was just the language thing. And my host mom seems really excited to talk to me, and to bring me places like Jumbo, as lame as it is, haha. Gabi always liked to stay in the car. Oh well.
I got my passport back yesterday too! I think I'm going to go get my ID on Friday. The people in Santiago just gave me a new visa. Nothing extremely special. But....whatever. I want my ID soon....I feel weird being the only person without it, and more than a month into the exchange. Oh well.
And...that's all.
un besito!
kelsey

2006-09-11T18:25:00.000-06:00

Oh today...
Today was probably one of the most boring days in the history of Scuola Italiana. Or, the history of my high school career. It was pretty fome. English class kind of pissed me off. I mean, I speak English, so what do I expect...but she doesn't expect me to do *anything*, even the first grade level worksheets she hands out, and doesn't offer me anything...so I just sit there, and listen to music and space out. I think I'm going to see if I can do something more fun, like go to the music room and practice piano, because checking my mail in the library, is getting pretty old.
I think I skipped chem. class. But I was with a bunch of other kids in my class, so I didn't stress. And no one came looking for us, so I figure it's okay. Plus, I'd rather be away from that creep...
In philosophy, the teacher had us answer a question about whether social conscience is a product of culture. I answered in English(which he found amusing and tried to translate), and then I translated it into Spanish. And I only needed the dictionary for maybe 5 words. The rest I did on my own, in my head, and when it was proofread by Rodrigo, was all right except for one phrase(está bien, instead of OK). The teacher found this slightly amazing....and wanted to hear my answer. So Felipe read it for me(since I read slow and kind of butcher the language). I mean, granted, it was simple Spanish, but most of it was the same as my English version(just a tad simpler, and slightly stupid sounding), and I'm not gonna lie...I was fairly proud of myself. I hadn't realized that my spanish had improved that much....I never would have been able to do that back in the States....
After school mamá picked me up and we went to the supermarcado for bread. We got to talk, a lot, which was really nice, considering I haven't had a real conversation with her lately. We talked about jobs, babysitting, my dad speaking French, Chilean slang, a lot of stuff. It was nice. And at dinner, I actually had a conversation with my whole family. We talked about how my language skills are improving, how complicated Spanish is(for serious, it's hard like woah), and I told them about how confusing it is sometimes(I keep thinking they're speaking English, and I never know what language I'm supposed to use with people). It was really really really nice..and I'm actually a little bit excited. It's so nice to finally be able to talk to people! And like I told them tonight, I don't have to translate everything anymore. Some things I just..know. Only recently learned or complicated phrases I have to translate, everything else just makes sense. It's crazy!
So all in all, quite a good Spanish day. Most def. makes up for my lack of Spanish-ness lately.
Love and miss you all!!!!
kelsey

2006-09-09T14:36:00.000-06:00

Last night. Fue....divertido. I was told 10:30 pm, but that was Chilean speak for 11:25. Oh well. Freja's cousin, María Lucia drove us to the Movistar party. Movistar is a phone company here, like Verizon. We got there...a little bit before midnight, but there wasn't a whole lot of people there. The party started at 10...and we were early, jaja. Chileans are always late....
We wandered around for a bit, until we met up with some classmates. I got to talk to some girls in my class that I didn't really talk to before, it was nice. I spoke Spanish the entire night, even to Freja. I'm not entirely sure why...but I figured once you start, why stop? We danced too. I danced with...four or five guys. I don't remember. All but one we ran away from. The party was 16 and up, but there was a lot of older people there. Freja and I look older than we are, apparently(so say our classmates), and some older guys tried to dance with us. So I said we didn't speak Spanish, permiso, and we ran off to our friends. Some other guys danced with us, but it was kind of weird and they were poquito drunk, so we once again said permiso, and ran off. We talked with some 23 year olds, one of whom spoke English(but we spoke Spanish to him) outside for a little. But mostly we were with our classmates. I was supposed to go home with Freja, but no one was coming until 4, and my curfew is 3:30, so I had to go home with another girl, Fran. This boy helped me figure out how to give directions, he used to live in Maryland, so he spoke English, but I still spoke spanish to him.
I woke up this morning....thinking in Spanish. Thinking words that I don't even know the meaning of. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that close to 90% of my dream last night was in Spanish. yay! I've started dreaming in Spanish!
Today I went with a woman, Lucia, around Coquimbo. I got to see a fort, and, among other things, the cross, por fin! I've been somewhat fascinated by it, so it was exciting to finally get to see it. It was huuuuge, and you can see *everything* from it. And it was beautiful....there were clouds near the mountains and over the ocean....beautiful. I had my picture taken with Lucia in front of the cross, and the people there made it into little keychains for us. Yay souveniers! It was a good time. I met her son, and her granddaughter, who was adorable. She reminded me of Sylvia *so much*. We had lunch at her apartment, right on the beach in Coquimbo. Empanadas, and afterwards, a dessert called Mil Ojos or something like that. It was pretty good, with manjar, which is like Nutella. Quite good indeed.
Oh! and yesterday, I got my monthly allowance from Rotary and finally actually met my counselor. It was cool....he said something about me being on the radio to talk about my experience in Chile....which....is slightly nervewracking...!!! Oh well.
anyhoo.
Love and miss you all!
kelsey

2006-09-08T14:05:00.000-06:00

Oh, hoy. Fue fome. Muy fome. Friday's always a bit of a nothing day. English class....I got to check mail while everyone else did some computerized English practice thing which I didn't have to do(not so sure I need to learn English...). Chemistry...gah. Fell asleep a bit. Got my test back(the one the jerkface made me take). Yay for 0's!. I tried to understand the questions....but couldn't. Also..most of it was from before I got there....so I didn't know it anyway. He smiled all creepy like and put "A" at the top and said, "¿Cierto?" (right?). I nodded and walked away. That man gives me the creeps.
Freja joined me in art. We listened to music. Como siempre.
I'm going out tonight though! To a disco I can legally enter because it's a special event for people 16 and up. I'm fairly excited. And tomorrow....someone's coming by at 10:30 to bring me around La Serena. She was in the airport when I first got here, but I'm not entirely sure who she is. Oh well.
The Independence Day for Chile is coming up....September 18th, and my host family is going down somewhere around Villa Aleman/Valparaiso/Viña del Mar. I'm not entirely sure, actually. But we're going there. My host parents don't seem to like tourists...and La Pampa(maybe that's what it's called) in Coquimbo is the biggest thing in the country during the Sept. 18th weekend. Thousands of people. So we're leaving, haha. Oh well, Filo.
Also! Last night...I was sleeping, and realized I was sleeping(a lucid dream, maybe?). Anyhoo. I was sleep talking at the time....in Spanish! Still no dreams in Spanish, but I'm talking in Spanish in my sleep now.....craziness. I'm hoping the dreams aren't too far behind. I think parts of them, sentences here and there are in spanish, but I'm not sure. Oh well.
I should have pictures tomorrow after the little tour of La Serena!
Love and miss you all!
kelsey

Field Trip! ¡Y más!

2006-09-06T18:44:00.000-06:00

So today.
First off..
Happy one month anniversary ME!!! yaaaay!
School. Oh, school. Absolutely nada day. Today..was not a good Spanish day. I couldn't quite roll my Rs like I have been learning(finally. Stupid fat tongue), and I couldn't quite grasp everything that was being said. Which is not too helpful during class. Oh well. Filo.
Went to the Catholic University del Norte en Coquimbo. It was okay. Freja and I talked most of the time....I couldn't hear, nevermind understand, the guide. Oh well. We went to some medical student wing or something. Oh dios mio. They had those metal tables....for dead people....with real bones in a box on top of one.....pretty much all of my nightmares combined into one actual place. Mom, dad, I actually stood next to a table that had...*shudder* dead people on them. añsldfkjañsdflkj
Then, in the hallway....they had these like, tank things, with real body parts and stuff in them. I saw a brain, part of a leg(way disgusting), some other things I didn't recognize and think it's better off that way, and then the creepiest one. Babies. Real human babies, like, fetus babies(I know there's a better word, unfortunately I can't think of it), like five of them, all different sizes. It was like a pro-life ad gone to far. Creepy.
After school I went to the supermarcado with mi mamá y abuela(se llama Elle, not abuela). And then we went to the pastelería(I think that's how you spell it) to buy empanadas..mmm empanadas....and some creepy guy with blue eyes stared at me like I was on display(I don't think I'll ever quite get used to it). At first I was like, "Oh! Blue eyes! I'm not alone!" and then he just flat out stared. The whole time. And when we pulled out of the parking lot, he watched us go. It was way creepy.
Dinner was interesting...my host mom knows very little English, but likes saying what she does know, along with my host dad. He tried to ask me if I liked pig(to eat), but I didn't know what he was saying....and this started a conversation full of farm animal noises and funny hand gestures. I love it though...they're so entertaining...and it's so much better that I understand. Mamá was telling stories, and I understood all of them!(about when they went to Canada and didn't understand anything). I felt quite proud.
Also....the documents I was never sent have arrived..and been forwarded off to Little Rhody, so all I have to worry about right now is being an illegal alien for a little bit longer while my passport is being magically repaired in Santiago. Also! My host mom's checking....but they were told that all the students this year are going to switch families at the six month mark in February. But I don't think it'll happen...hopefully not, because I like this family and don't want to start anew with another group of strangers. Oh well.
Love and miss you all!
Kelsey

2006-09-05T20:15:00.000-06:00

Today....was nothing extremely exciting. A fairly boring day during school, actually. But tomorrow we're going to Coquimbo to see the Catholic University campus or something like that....exciting!
Today....I got in a bit of an argument though with a boy named Felipe who's quite rude, and in my opinion, somewhat narrow minded. He enjoys pissing me off, I think, and will flat out call me a bitch or an idiot to get a reaction, but moments later be chatting with me like nothing ever happened. Not to mention his making fun of mentally retarded people("Oh look at me! I am so Downs Syndrome!") which reallyreallyreally bothers me, and he can't seem to understand why. Well anyway. Today he proclaimed that he hates America. Then said that he doesn't hate the people, just the government, so I asked why and he said, "Because of the inequality between the US and third world countries". Um, okay...but how can you blame the US for that? I know of plenty other countries who are just as well off as the United States, but I don't see them being blamed for the existence of poverty. It was just ridiculous, and ended in us both pissed off at each other, but in the end apologizing and being fine.
I was wondering when I would be faced with something like that....I mean, I want to know people's opinions, but I don't want to feel like I'm under attack(like I did today). To be honest, there are times here when I can't stand the fact that I'm from the US. A lot, actually. People just...don't seem to care about taking the time to educate themselves on anything but the crap they hear on the news. And Felipe today said that I'm "a typical American girl". Oh yay, stereotypes. It just....agh. Pissed me off. First off, you've never even been to the States, and the only "American girls" you've ever seen are on TV. I'm willing to bet that he's met maybe maybe maybe less than 3 people from the US his whole life. So how can he possibly know if I'm "typical"?
Anyway. After school I went to the mall with Freja. Which was quite fun. We always have trouble ordering things or paying or something because of the stupid language thing, jaja. And the stares, ohhh the stares. People just...walk with their heads turned, looking at you. It's like they've never seen blonde before. It's not that amazing, honestly. Then....we were in a pharmacy, and I was buying shampoo and conditioner. And of course, it's in Spanish. I had seen the same thing in the US, but I couldn't remember what type of hair it was for, so we went to see if someone who worked there could like, mime it or something for us. Well, Freja asked "¿Habla ingles?" and before we could explain, they went off to another guy there who did. And we were brought to him, and let's just say it was quite embarrassing...everyone knew that the two gringas had no idea what they were doing. But we figured out what the bottle said, and managed to find everything else we needed on our own.
And I was able to talk with Mamá on the way home more...about stupid stuff, like how I wish I could speak better Spanish, and how I took the bus to school in the US(Gabi is now too and hates it haha). Nothing of much interest, but better than awkward silence, and I feel like I'm improving. Yay!
And mañana is my one month anniversary of being in La Serena!
Love and miss you all!
kelsey

2006-09-04T15:43:00.000-06:00

So....today, I wake up, and it's sunny. Which, it shouldn't be.
And then, I look at my cell, and...oops, it's 7:47, aka, the time I usually leave for school.
Oops.
I managed to get ready in about ten minutes though. Which was fairly amazing to me. And I got to school slightly late, but before class started, so it was all good.
School....fome. As usual. Boring. Both linguaggio and filosofia had tests, so I was left wandering the school aimlessly. Linguaggio, I wandered around and listened to music. I bought some cookies from the store since I didn't have time for breakfast, or to pack anything to eat during the day. The woman was really nice and asked where Freja was. The last time I went there with Freja, she gasped and pointed and said, "Sus ojos!"(your eyes") since Freja has greenish eyes, and I have blue. Both of which aren't too common here. And she didn't even mind when we weren't sure what everything was called, and told us that it was okay, it was the only way to learn or something of the sort, haha.
Filosofia, I spent on the computer, reading about fashion trends in Europe on the C/S board. Because yes, I was that bored.
And then.....I got home and found....a package!!!!! A package from home sitting on my desk, and it was pretty much amazing to recieve. Just so you guys know, I absolutely love getting mail and such,mmmkay hinthint jaja. But for serious, it was amazing, even if opening it involved me pretty much breaking some razor thing. Oh well. I think it was worth it. Thank you, padres!!!!!!!! And it came earlier than I expected! I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow at the earliest....Freja's family sent her a package and it took two weeks to get here, but then again, it was coming from Denmark.
anyhoo. I do believe that's all for today.
Love and miss you all!!!
kelsey

Andacollo

2006-09-03T18:28:00.000-06:00

Today we went to Andacollo, the town where my host dad works. We drove for about an hour or so, through and up the mountains. It was really really pretty! Then we finally reached the small town, which probably has the population of Tiverton or so. It was really really quiet....kind of strange. My host parents had to go to a funeral in one of the churches in the center of town. There's a really famous cathedral there called the Batista. I took pictures of it and whatnot. It was huuuge inside, and really pretty. I went to a little museum with my abuelos, which was fairly interesting. It was mostly stuff that had nothing to do with the Batista. I think it was all stuff that people had kind of given to the Virgen de Andacollo for doing miracles or something, but I couldn't really understand....that's just what I assumed.
I walked around a little bit with my abuela and took some pictures. And then the funeral ended and everyone came outside. They were all dressed really casually, in jeans and whatnot. For a funeral! Which was kind of weird to me. And the coffin came out.... which was slightly creepy(I've never seen a coffin before), but I did pretty well, aka I didn't freak out, haha. They put the coffin on the ground and said some prayers or something over it, then picked it up and put it in the hearse, which was just like a station wagon, but with flowers on the roof. And then, the hearse started driving away, really really slowly, and everyone walked behind it off to the cementary. It was so different, but so cool.
Then we drove to my host dad's office, and up a little further to a mina, which I assume means mine. It was pretty much a construction site. More pictures were taken, and then, we drove back home to La Serena.
It was really cool to get to see another town, and it made me so happy to be in La Serena. Andacollo was cute and all, but it seemed really poor, and really....boring. At least in La Serena there's always something to do, and if there isn't, then there's something to do in Coquimbo. Andacollo struck me as a boring nothing town, up in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. You have to drive like a half an hour up winding roads just to get there, and there's nothing except small houses and restaurants. And churches. And lots and lots of Virgin Mary stuff being sold everywhere. I'm thinking there's a story about her appearing or something, because I saw a few pictures that had her like, floating over the city. And her statue was everywhere. Everywhere. It's a good place to live if you're hard core Catholic.
And. I saw ostriches there!!! Someone had ostriches like, fenced in in their backyard! Crazy!!
Anyhoo. More pictures should be uploaded to my Yahoo tonight. Woohoo!
Love and miss you all!
Kelsey

2006-09-02T12:28:00.000-06:00

So.....last night, I finally went out at a little past 11 pm. Freja's host sister and her friend picked me up, and we drove around meeting people and finding out where the party was. Then we went to someone's house for a carrete. All of the people there were older than us, but it's okay because Freja and I look older than we are, apparently(everyone's always surprised to find out how old we really are), and we felt comfortable there. Except that all the guys kept looking at us, and then whispering to each other, it was kind of strange. Oh well. Filo.
We left that party at about 1:15 and went to a disco, Sundance(where I went a few weeks ago). But....we couldn't get in because we're only 16, and apparently, unlike a few weeks ago, that wasn't okay. Some woman that I think Nata(Freja's sister) knew tried really hard to get us in, by telling the security guard that I was allowed to enter in the US and had permission to and he should make an exception for the two gringas. Of course, she was lying, because I'm not allowed to enter in the US, but the guy didn't know that. He didn't let us in though. The other guy would have, because he looked at us funny, and I've found that having blonde hair, or just being different, can get you very far. haha, but not last night. While we were selling our tickets in to someone else, this group of boys tried to talk to me, telling me that they knew me. I said "No", but they continued, so I ignored them. It was kind of annoying. When Freja and I were walking back to the car, alone, people whistled and yelled things at us. But we ignored it. I said something in Chilean English to Freja too, "We have sixteen years, Freja!" haha, it was a good time.
We tried driving to another disco, but it was 2 am(and I had to be home for 3:30), so we ended up going back to the parking lot of Sundance and hanging out with Nata's friends(there were a bunch of people there anyway). It was fun....I got to speak Spanish, and people actually understood me, and I understood them!
I got home a little early....but my parent's weren't home anyway.
This morning I felt sick. yay. I think I ate something funny, because my stomach's been kind of weird lately. I should probably figure out what it was....
Tonight I think Freja and I are going to try again, at another disco. And even if we aren't allowed to enter, maybe we'll have more luck. I've heard that a lot of places here don't really care about the age thing, but sometimes it's harder for us because we can't just blend in, ya know? Oh well. Filo.
I love and miss you all!!!!!
kelsey

¡Friday!

2006-09-01T14:00:00.000-06:00

Oh, today.
I got to wear my uniform for the first time. As in, my actual uniform...the skirt, shirt, sweater, socks, and shoes. oh boy! People were oddly fascinated with how freakishly pale my legs are....which was strange, but understandable. I am kind of freakishly pale.
Nothing of much interest happened today. My art teacher was out, so Freja and I walked around and took a few pictures. My chemistry teacher was a giant jerkface and made me take the test, even though I didn't know what it was asking, and hadn't been there for most of what was on there. I don't think he's counting it though. He's so creepy....I'm glad I sit in the back of the room. The girl in front of me, Fran, the teacher came over and like, stroaked her cheek, then leaned in and whispered something in her ear. He came over to me and wrote down an answer, and stood over me, waiting for me to finish the equation or whatever it was. I did, and didn't look at him. I try not to draw attention to myself....but it kind of doesn't work considering it's me and all, and I stick out a real lot.
A boy, Adriano, set off the fire alarm, and everyone around him was dancing to it. Dancing! The inspector guy came over, looked at them, and walked away, and the alarm kept sounding for about 10-15 minutes. Nothing happened. It's crazy. And a boy, Felipe, stole alcohol from somewhere and set paper on fire. Again, no one cared.
Art was the best class. I sat with Christian and we listened to my iPod and wrote notes about what kind of music we like on a piece of paper. We like the same types of music, and since he studied in Boston for awhile, he knows a lot of the same bands as I do, which is nice. I kind of hate the blank stare I get when people ask what group I like and I answer "Dropkick Murphys". Oh well.
Rumor has it that tonight I'm going out dancing with Freja, Jenny, and a girl in my class. And a few other people I think. But I don't know. People here are last minute...so I probably won't know until at least 7ish. Dios mio!
Anyhoo. I'm off to finish uploading pictures to my yahoo page...so you can check them out if you want.
Love and miss you all!
kelsey

More pictures have been uploaded!

2006-08-31T18:39:00.000-06:00

So. As you can see, I took my camera to school today(that´s me with Christian, by the way). Today....was a wasted day. I got to school, only to find out from Freja(who found out from someone else) that we really didn´t even have to be there. The rest of the 3º medio kids were taking tests. All day. And....we weren´t. So we wandered into the library, stayed there for a little over an hour, and wandered back outside. I took some pictures. Freja layed in the grass. A janitor took a picture of me with Freja in the little courtyard thing. Absolutely nothing of interest. We talked, a lot. It was a good(but painfully boring) time. We talked with Christian and Rodrigo when they finished with their tests. And then. We discovered. A door. On the basketball court. We were looking at the mountains, when I mentioned how incredibly easy it would be to escape. All of a sudden I hear a tumbling sound, look, and there´s Freja, sitting in the grass on the other side of the wall. I, of course, documented this. She made friends with a horse, feeding it grass and petting it. And I watched. Okay, so I escaped from the school too, but only momentarily. I figured it would be safer if someone stood watch for the inspector general guy. But no one came. This school is so laid back...haha, I love it. So Freja was outside for a bit, while I stood watch and took in the scenery(I believe the exact quote from Freja is "It´s like escaping from a prison!"). She came back in, safe and sound, and we talked with two cuarto boys, Nicholas and Alejandro about whether we should run away legally or illegally. We decided on legally, figuring that we´d probably stand out in our uniforms and be caught before we could hit the main road. Oh well.
We hung around some more. Took more pictures. Went to biology class with the cuarto kids(where we did some more nothing), and then called my host mom to have her pick us up after lunch. We left school at about 2.
When we got to my house we went on a walk around the neighborhood, the first I´ve been on since I´ve been here. It was really nice....really pretty, really cool. But I didn´t take any pictures. Now that I know that I even can go on walks, I´ll go on some more, and make sure to have my camera with me.
We came back home and watched some TV. We watched the Motorcyle Diaries, and danced to Atrevete-te on the radio(def. one of the best reggaeton songs ever). Ignacio came in the room and played magnetic darts with me. It was a good time.
Today was actually a pretty good day, even though I didn´t do much of anything. Freja and I got to talk, a lot, and we got to know each other better. We talked about wanting to see all the countries in South America, our country choices other than Chile(we have pretty much the same ones), and how we could manage to see the desert. (we´ll find a way). Not bad.
And plus. I have pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. They should be all loaded onto Yahoo tonight, but I can´t promise anything since when it comes to loading picturse online, this computer is pretty slow.I'll finish it mañana!
I did however, get a poquito sunburned on my face. Oops. I really wasn´t outside for too long, either. I guess they were right at the orientation....the sun seems to be stronger here. Oh, and I found out that my host mom has been asking people who work at the school if I´ve been eating all my lunch(slightly creepy, but explains the looks I´ve been getting from the lunch staff, and why it feels like they´re watching me....because they are).
anyhoo.
Love and miss you all!!!!!!
kelsey

2006-08-30T18:42:00.001-06:00

Today....not quite as interesting as yesterday. I did a whole lot of nothing, mostly. I did get a paper back in Language class, the first assignment I did there...a vocabulary worksheet, the same as everyone elses. I got a 5 out of 7, which is pretty good considering I don´t know the language...and most kids in my class got 4.4s! My teacher seemed pretty impressed that I did it on my own(well, with a dictionary and whatnot). So that def. made me feel better about grades this year!!
Freja and I didn´t go to our elective philosophy class, since they were talking about a Pablo Neruda poem we didn´t understand. The teacher said we could go to the computer lab, but it was filled, so we went to a little courtyard and talked instead. It was really nice....we relate on so many things....I´m so glad she´s at my school. And I don´t talk to her all too often, since she´s in the other class. Only during our elective classes, and usually during our breaks, but not always.
Italian class there was a test, and the teacher pretty much made me leave. I checked my mail, and then wandered around aimlessly, which seems to be happening more often lately. I talked to a boy named Benjamin, who´s English is amazing....barely an accent at all. He´s been to the US a whole lot, and he used to go to an International School, hence the good English. And, he´s tall and blonde. He makes me feel not so alone as a gringa, even if he´s Chilean, and not a gringo at all. Then I talked with another boy, Christian, who finished the test early and came outside. He speaks really good English too, which is good since my Spanish isn´t good enough to fully hold a conversation yet. He´s been to the US and Australia, and a handful of other countries. We talked about what we like to do on the weekends and where we want to travel. He´s actually really nice, and we have a lot in common....and I´m hoping he´ll end up being my friend(as corny as I´m sure that sounds). The girls in my class don´t really talk to me, they kind of sit in groups and speak only Spanish. The boys are more understanding and more willing to slow down and repeat things for me. Not to mention, nice to look at, and very entertaining(aka paperball wars). When I came home, I practiced piano a bit. There´s a keyboard here in my closet, and every once in awhile I take it out and play. I´m trying to figure out how I can print of some sheet music, but I have books too. I´m pretty determined not to fall too far behind....and I´m pretty sure I promised Mrs. Henderson I wouldn´t.
My host mom went to Coquimbo to try and fix my visa/Chilean ID fiasco. But....they can´t fix it here....so now we have to send my passport to Santiago, and have people there resolve it. Harumph. So much for not being an illegal immigrant for pretty much forever.
My host family and I talked for a loooong time tonight. I told them about my lack of pretty much all paperwork. They´re going to talk to Rotary about it(my host mom´s on the phone with my counselor right now). I love being screwed over. Yay for no travel permission, packet with rules, or several other quite necessary things. Oh well. As long as I don´t get sent home, I´m fine.
They also told me that I can go out and have friends over and whatnot. I´m sure there are rules in this house....but I can´t seem to uncover them. And my host parents told me tonight, they have questions they were supposed to ask(much like the ones I had to ask them, but didn´t), but figured it would be useless if I didn´t understand. I love the laid backness here...it´s really nice to be away from the stress that´s in the States that I didn´t realize existed until I came here. Deadlines....are flexible. 10 minutes usually means 20, and people are just so....laid back. Relaxed. Understanding. Friendly. Take the whole kissing cheek thing. In the US, you just kind of wave. Or shake their hand if you´re really formal. I like the warmth here. It´s really nice.
anyhoo. I´m off.
Love you all!!
kelsey
Tomorrow....pictures! Hopefully!

¡Terrimoto! ¡Earthquake!

2006-08-29T18:42:00.000-06:00

Today.....was a good day. I woke up about 20 minutes late....which kind of sucked, and I was convinced that it would be a bad day....but decided to change my mind. It rained today! But only for a total of about 10 minutes. Nothing of much interest happened until religion class. We had a paper ball fight which moved outside, and partially into another classroom. Oops. The teacher didn´t even attempt to stop us....and I took part in it somewhat. But it was fun. And, when in Rome.....
Then we had C. Classe, which is bascially when the class just talks about what needs to be done, like student council. One boy tried to stand on a piece of soap, and fell....that was funny. And then Rodrigo started making little movies on his cell phone. So I helped out...I was a dead person in a pile of people in one part, and a blonde version of the girl from The Ring in another. Then at the end of the class, they actually started doing something. I guess my class needs or wants a new president, so a boy, Raul, was writing four names of candidates on the board. And my name was written first. The whole class started clapping and chanting "Kelsey! Kelsey!"...it was quite entertaining, especially since I had no idea what was going on. And then....I had to get up in front of the class and make a speech. Raul was wicked nice and told me what to say. All I said was, "I would like to be the president of this class." But in Spanish. We ran out of time, so no one got to vote....but I´ll let you know how it turns out, haha.
Then in language class, we went to the library. I had my own version of the assignment, which was looking up and writing the definitions of 16 words. But at least I had something to do. And then, in the middle....there was an earthquake!! A small one....I heard a rumble sound(I was listening to my iPod), but my feet weren´t really on the floor...so I didn´t feel it. But everyone just kind of went "Oh!" and continued what they were doing. It was a little earthquake....but pretty cool. They´re so common here that no one really pays attention unless it´s a big earthquake.
After school I went and bought the rest of my uniform. A sweater, three polos, 3 pairs of socks, a skirt, and shoes. Of course the shoes took forever...figuring out my size(39) and then getting a pair that fits comfortably with my freakishly awkward feet. Try explaining wicked wide and high instep in Spanish. Without a dictionary. I got money out of an ATM, but only on the third try....the first two machines said my card was invalid for that service. Go figure. Dropped off my skirt to be cut and hemmed because it went waaaay past my knees. So I think I´ll be able to wear it on Friday. yay!
....and that´s all. I talked more, I understood more, and I actually had a lot of fun in school. A good day. yay!
Love and miss you all!
kelsey
P.S. If you´re reading this...please comment. I do like to know who´s reading...and comments make me smile!

Slightly Interesting Day

2006-08-28T16:26:00.000-06:00

Oh, today. Not much happened today. I did, however, buy a lollipop and some candy thing ON MY OWN! In Spanish! Go me!
This morning I was attacked by stomach cramps or something of the sort. I usually don´t sleep right through the night anymore....I usually wake up anywhere from 2-5 in the morning, check the time on my cell, and go back to sleep, and I´m a wicked light sleeper now. Well today I woke up at about 4.30 am feeling sick, was up for maybe 15 minutes and went back to sleep. I thought I hear the door open, and I turned and saw the door opened and someone standing there, so I turned back on my stomach and tried going back to sleep, thinking it was my host mom who had heard me or something. Then I thought "eh, whatever" and turned back over....but the door was closed. And I never heard it close. I don´t know if I was hallucinating or not....and I think I dreamt that I woke up on the bathroom floor and told my host mom I was sick. But I don´t know. All in all, it was a very confusing morning. But I felt fine by the time I went to school.
Math is still utterly confusing....I have no idea what´s going on in that class. I take notes in every class, but don´t understand what the teacher is saying. Well, sometimes I do, depending on the teacher and how fast they speak, but math....sometimes I think this guy is just making it up as he goes along....the signs he uses!!! Craziness!!!
We watched Pink Floyd the Wall in Filosofia. How it relates to philosophy....I don´t know. The teacher´s kind of a loony. He likes saying things like "Peace and love"(in English). And he looks like one of the Beatles. Quite strange. But nice. So he´s okay.
Today....I proved that I am in fact a doof. I was walking with Freja on one of the steps after lunch, and, okay, a little bit a lot distracted by the boys playing hacky sack with a soccer ball in the middle of the....courtyard area. And I stepped sideways, and then the next thing I know....
I´m falling down.
I mean, it was one tiny little step, but I fell completely to the ground.
In front of all the cuarto kids....which are all Gabi´s friends, and they know who I am.
But I was okay. I laughed with Freja, stood up, and couldn´t stop laughing for about ten minutes...and Freja and I exchanged stories about walking into things(I told her about my going away party incident). She once walked into a glass door too!!!
I think I had an allergic reaction to something or other yesterday....I had little bumps on the back of my hand, around my knuckle. I noticed them on my left hand and didn´t think anything of it, until my right hand started itching a few hours later, and there were the bumps. But when I woke up this morning, they were gone. And they stopped itching after about an hour. So I have no idea what happened. Maybe I ate something funny....
Pretty much....today has been confusing and slightly embarrassing. But okay. It´s back to being cloudy and cold though. Ho hum. What can ya do?
Love and miss you all!
kelsey

I have pictures! ....kind of

2006-08-27T17:30:00.000-06:00

So....I went around the house today and took some pictures. I have a yahoo account, so you can see the pics if you want....the address is:
http://photos.yahoo.com/ksitter9
Not much happened today. Went to the supermarcado with my family to get bread. Had lunch. I could understand most of the conversation...they were talking about Gabi and the differences she´s seen so far in the US. I think I´m going to write to her soon to see how she´s doing.
Oh, and I´ve discovered what everyone does during the day....they really do take siestas!! They all sleep! That´s why they´re up so late at night, I guess. So during the day, that´s why I´m utterly bored....everyone else is sleeping.
Craziness.
Anyhoo. That´s all for today.
I love and miss you all!!!!
kelsey
P.S. Padres.....I just heard that there´s an Ecuadorian exchange student in Tiverton....why were we never told of this????

2006-08-26T15:32:00.000-06:00

So....I think it finally hit me today. I know I´ve been here for 3 weeks and all, but it still hadn´t hit me that I´m actually in Chile.
Today...I´ve been alone with my host grandparents. And after lunch, they were going to the supermarcado to buy bread, so I tagged along. And I got some school stuff, three notebooks, pens, pencils, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener for a little over $3.000, which isn´t bad at all, I don´t think.
Then, we went to Coquimbo. The only words that I can think of to describe it is Oh my God. Just....seeing La Serena across the water....and Coquimbo, with the giant cross, and the houses all up the hill, and the mountains, and the boats. It was just....wow. We went to a place called Barrio Ingles. It was the coolest thing ever...these old buildings that for some reason made me think of Europe, and palm trees. That´s when it hit me that I´m actually here. I wish I had brought my camera.....but I didn´t know that we would be going to Coquimbo. I do plan on going back with Freja and maybe Jenny though, and I´ll most definatly take my camera. I had heard from a Chilean that Coquimbo was kind of dumpy, but the place we went today wasn´t at all...not even close. It was sooo cool.
Then I got to see where my host mom used to live. I love just driving around here and seeing everything...it´s so different. The little farms, and the graffiti. Ahh I love the graffiti here. It´s not like the US....I see a lot of Swastikas crossed out, and political stuff about war. President names, and stuff about music. I mean, there are some useless tags here and there, but a lot of it is more meaningful. It´s really cool.
Anyhoo.
I love and miss you all!!!!!!!
kelsey
Barrio Ingles....I did not take these pictures!!!
COQUIMBO:
The Cross:

2006-08-25T14:11:00.000-06:00

I have been in Chile for exactly three weeks today. It doesn´t seem like it´s been that long at all. I realized that dad, you´re right. While Gabi being gone is sad....it´s only going to help my Spanish. My host parents and Ignacio are still gone, supposed to be coming home tonight I think. So last night, I had cena with just my abuelos. Neither of whom speak English. It was quite confusing...but we agreed on one thing. We can´t wait until I speak better Spanish so that we can actually talk.
Today in school, no Freja again, so I was kind of lonely, but it was okay. I didn´t do anything major in any of my classes....which is getting to be a common thing here. In chemistry, there was a big scandel. A boy, Salvador, was told to leave the room by the teacher, and on his way out he said something along the lines of, "Atleast I don´t look up the skirts of the girls.". He left the classroom and booked it, while the teacher ran out after him. But no one could find him(he did appear later on, in the lunch room). Everyone in the class couldn´t believe that he actually said it, but everyone knows that it´s pretty much true about that teacher.
And then later on, two boys in my class grabbed a hose that was water one of the (palm!)trees, and brought along the back of the building, and stuck it through the window of a class room. It sat there for awhile, since it was only my grade that was left in school. And then they burned some leaves or something that they had found. They´re pretty out of control here....but it´s entertaining.
During art I did nothing, as usual. I talked with Rodrigo and showed him the pictures on my iPod, which he was actually really interested in. He said the pictures made me seem more wild, and that in Chile I was shy. Which I guess is true. I´m a lot quieter here, but I don´t know if it´s just because I don´t know the language...which is a good possibility.
My abuelo picked me up from school and we went home and had almuerzo with my abuela and Janet,who I think is the maid. She comes every Friday and does laundry and the dishes and vacuums and whatnot. And she has lunch with us too, which I think is really nice. I´ve never heard of that happening anywhere before. I had lunch here too because I didn´t like the one at school...it was some giant hotdog thing(over a foot long at least, portions here are giant) with tomatoes(maybe) and some Chilean...food thing, that´s green and not too good. Everyone eats it here on bread...but it kind of creeps me out....so I don´t, jaja.
And tonight...there´s a party at this boy, Martín´s house, but I don´t know if I can go. It´s for another boy, Christian´s birthday, but I don´t know where Martíns´s house is, or how I´d get there and back. Things here are so last minute...and I never get any information. I might also be going to a Rotary meeting...but I don´t know. If not...I´m fine with just staying home and chilling tonight. Although I would like to spend more time with my class, even if most of them don´t speak English. That´s the really surprising thing about school here, everyone´s friends. There´s about 40 people total in 3ºmedio, about 20 in each class. And they all hang out, and talk during and after school. It´s different from the US, but I like it.
anyhoo. ¡Un besito!
I love and miss you all!
kelsey

2006-08-24T15:32:00.000-06:00

Another fairly useless day at school. No Freja, so it was kind of lonely too. Gabi left this morning...it was sad to say goodbye. But surprisingly, no one in the family seemed sad. My abuela took pictures of it all, lol. And then Ignacio, my host parents, and Gabi left for Santiago.
So I wasn´t exactly in the best mood during school. Gabi leaving made me think about when I left, which made me a little homesick. And then...I was saved by art. My art teacher just lets us wander around the school, sit where we feel like, and draw what we want. So I pulled out my iPod and drew. I drew my hand, the sculpture of the Italian guy that my school´s named for, and the view in front of me. And then I wrote a little bit too. And I felt so much better.....I was fine the rest of the day. So I´ve decided to bring my sketchbook everywhere now, jaja. And my art teacher seemed to like my drawings too!
My math class took a test, so I sat and read some book my teacher told me to read. It was about some guy who solves math problems I think. I could pretty much understand it, and I only had to read about three pages. So I was kind of bored. History, we did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Language elective we watched part of the Devil´s Advocate. And gym...the teacher was on a trip with all the athletes to Argentina, so we got to do whatever we wanted. I went to the store and got a lollipop and some chocolatey candy thing. Freja and I are slowly trying all the snack food here, in search of something good. So far I really like these weird cookie things, and the lollipops, which cost $50. The lable says they´re yogurt flavored....but it´s not as weird or gross as it sounds.
Then all the boys played fútbol and all the girls watched. I really like watching the boys in my class play soccer....they´re so good at it. It´s not like boys in the U.S...like, these boys are really good. And it´s better than sitting with all the girls, because I can´t understand much of what they´re saying, although lately it´s been getting better.
Still no break in the weather here.....it´s SO COLD. And it looks like it´s going to rain. Not cool.
I think I´m going to try and upload my pictures today! But it´s only pictures from the orientation and of the house...I haven´t brought my camera to school yet, because it hasn´t been good weather...and I want to take pictures of the view.
Love and miss you all!!!!
kelsey
This is me with Simon, the boy from Denmark:

Me with the Canadian boy, Jules. Um....it was late, jaja

Me, Maureen(she´s in La Serena too!), and half of Sierra in the Santiago Airport

As you can see, Santiago´s a busy place.

My wall!!!

...My bed. Being really messy.

I have some more pictures(obviously)...but I don´t think I should just post all of them on here.....because that would be a lot. So....I´m going to be making a site to post my pictures on. Like, a photobucket or something....and I´ll post the link in here when it´s all set!

2006-08-22T19:07:00.000-06:00

Today....was absolutely useless at school. Fisica was spent shooting soda bottles filled with water through the air. it was an experiment of some sort. You fill the bottle a little bit up with water, attach it to some hose that´s attached to a canister filled with air, and the air fills up the bottle, and bam! it goes flying. It was pretty cool. and the boys in my class liked it so much, that later on they stole a tire from somewhere and used the air in that to shoot off the bottles.
Religion class....my teacher didn´t show up until we had 10 minutes left of class, and then she didn´t even know which classroom it was. So we went to lunch early. But she said that next time we´re watching The DaVinci Code! And Rodrigo told me that it´s in subtitles....so I´ll be able to understand it! yessss!
After school, Gabi, my host mom, and I went out to get some last minute things for her. We went to Coquimbo too, which was pretty cool, but it was definatley not as nice as La Serena. And some creepy person was standing behind me in a store, and it was creepy. haha. I hate being blonde here sometimes, people just stare at you, in the rudest, creepiest ways. And it´s not very nice. I wish I knew how to tell them to just cut it out. But, alas....I don´t.
Gabi´s all packed. It´s going to be SO weird without her...and a lot harder. She always explains things for me. And if I really need it, she´ll tell me in English, although she hasn´t done that in a loooong time. No one else in my house here speaks English. And my host brother´s my age, but not really in a way. He´s actually a month older than me, but you´d never know it. But I already started making some friends, so I guess I´ll be okay. And Freja´s in the same position...her host sister leaves Thursday too. But she´s going to Santiago with them...I think they´re staying with family there.
Today....was really really cold. It´s been cloudy lately...it looks like it´s going to rain, and I always think that it´s going to, but I have yet to see any rain in Chile. And I´m pretty much in the desert here, so I don´t think it´ll happen any time soon. Oh well.
and....that´s all.
Pictures soon I think. I´m going to bring my camera to school and try and take some pictures. i don´t really have many right now. My house here has this fence type thing around it, totally blocking it in, and it´s all locked and whatnot, so it´s like once you´re in, you´re in. It´s so different...but I guess you have to be careful since it´s pretty much a city, right? Oh well.
un besito!
love and miss you all!
kelsey