Alesia's Birthday with the Family

So fun, as always uncomfortable at the start but then it was great. This one boy talked to me about movies and delt with my Spanish.  Gabi has an adorable blonde haired blue eyed daughter. Nice older woman I think could tell I was feeling awkeard and tried to include me by asking me a question in Spanish I didn't understand.  This resulted in a bright bright red face on my part.  I really like that woman though she always goes out of her way to talk to me and ask me questions. A ton of food and sweets. Alesia liked the ring I gave her, I liked it so I am glad she does.

Little girl kept asking me words to translate to English and got really energetic toward the end of the night.  Both of the boys went to go play legos with the kids, it was kind of adorable.  Her uncle also doted on her it was sweet.

Lots of sipo, Chilean slang

Alesia's pololo is awesome. Him and I talked about religion and traditions in Oklahoma and here. He said it was nice to finally meet me. Such a nice guy to everyone, Alesia picked a good one. It was a great evening and most importantly now I get to sleep.

Tons of cakes, one pineapple,apple, berry and the orange one that Jaime, Alesia's pololo made. The orange was really good!

Estoy explorando Mi Puebla

After class we went to the supermarket to buy reserves. I hate an entire package of cookies that were mango and pina flavored. I love them. Then we walked home from the Vina de Mar plaza. It was quite the walk. I think that has a lot to do with why I am so sleepy now.

When I got home the host mom asked me if I wanted to go with her to calle Valpariso and I said yes. Then I got confused and I thought she left. Then the next think I know she is upstairs to get me. We drove though this place called Sporting that is right next to our house. It looks super ghetto from the outside but inside it is beautiful. Sporting, like it sounds, is a place full of all things sports. There were horses, rugby club, tennis courts, basketball. All sorts of places, it was beautiful.

auto district to talk to someone who works for the municipal government
then do Valpo Street in Viña to talk to someone else who works for the government
then across the street to talk to someone who works for the government
theeeeeeeeeen upstairs to talk to another person
thennnnnnnnnnnnnnn back downstairs to talk to someone who works for the government...all to report that the earthquake in Febuary caused a rift in the road in front of her house. And now every time a big car drives by quickly the house shakes, which it does, like crazy.

But, it was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing places I would never go alone. The last man who helped us was so nice, he looked very European and had such a friendly manner about him.

I also noticed that people talk to each other about every little thing. Like she told all the parking assistants what she was doing, then she told the security guard what she was doing, then when we left she told him how it went. Same with a ton of other strangers. She told the secretary how her day had been. Also, in the auto district there was a egg store, huevos with a woman standing in there behind shelves of eggs. It made me chuckle a little.

I am also pretty sure my host mom thinks I am the worlds most lazy gringa, because I rest a lot, but in my defense I've been up since 7:15 and went on a hefty walk this morning. Still, I do wish I had more energy to enjoy these beautiful days.

Mapuche New Year y Renaca

Mapuche New Year: Katies host parents drove us up the the botanical park to catch some of the new year. They are so nice, the mother is so excited to share everything. While in the car there was a song that came on that sounded almost exactly like an Spanish Elvis, then we learned that he was actually italian, but they didn't know his name. We listened to oldies in the car and I enjoyed being driving around. By the time we got to the grounds where the Mapuche New Year was going on we learned that it was over, but there were still some people up there. So we drove up there and looked around. I am bummed we missed the festivities because it looked like it was a good time. There was a square of tents set up made of wood and leaves with different families cooking in these tents. They were all very square and connected. They were grilling a ton of meat and everyone was working together to prepare the rest of the meal. It was pretty cool to see. The mom asked where we could find someone to talk to about the festivities and we found ourselves talking to this older man who represented the 'tribe' more or less. He told us about how the festival was intended to raise awareness about the injusties done to the Mapuche people and share their culture with the world and maintain it within their families. He was very interesting. When Dana took a picture he said that you must ask before you take a picture because some people get very offended. We were all sitting in his little hut on spare chairs and on peoples jackets. They were so hospitable. Then a woman came around and offered us this oatmeal bread that looked sorta like uncooked hashbrowns and marmalade. They tasted a little strange but very hearty and I enjoyed them quite a bit.

Then the mom asked if we wanted to go to Reñaca, Dana hesitated at first because her host family has big at home dinners on Sunday. Then Katies mom turned into my aunt, I kid you not, this woman channeled my aunt and persuaded her to go. She was like how often do you get to have beautiful days like this you must go to the beach. Dana broke down. So they drove us up the hill and we got to see beautiful views of the town and the mountains in the background. It was a different side of Viña because it wasn't coastal and the views were much different. Then we went to Gardens de Viña, this area was the 'posh' area and many of the homes resembled ones in the states, with front yards and different designs.

Then they drove us to the beach on the way they pointed out their favorite empanadas place. I was starved so we went there first before the beach. As to be assumed, I over ordered and ate all of it. I got one fried shrimp and cheese one and a baked cheese, ham, tomato and olive one. They were heavenly. I prefered the baked one because it had more flavor. The shrimp one was just shrimp and cheese and it was sort of boring. All the goodies sunk down the bottom of the little breaded package so when I got to the end it was a cheesy mess. But I love it all. I was going to save one then I ended up eating it all. I've been so hungry lately I don't know whats wrong with me.

La playa: was under construction but once we walked down to it, it was so beautiful. I had to take my shoes off and put my feet in the water. Little did I know the water moves much quicker here. One second your feet are in the water the next it's up to your knees. I still loved it. It wasn't terribly cold. It was a beautiful time on the beach. I understand why it is so popular. The waves are so powerful and it smells so much like the sea. The rocks also make for beautiful waves. It might be the most beautiful beach I have seen. But at the same time there wasn't a ton of space for people to lay out, the water comes up so far onto the beach.

Walking tour 2

19 Julio
Fuimos a (we went to)
- Pablo Neruda's house La Sebastiana. Neruda was an awesome dude. I officially love every single one of his houses. This one had a great view of the beach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda
- walking tour of the street art
- had a traditional dish AKA huge fat lunch. It consisted of french fries, egg, onion and a huge I MEAN HUGE pile of meat. This was a beast. I ate way too much of it. But hey, it's a cultural experience right? It was in this amazing cool resturant with nick nacks all around the room and people wrote on every possible surface. I am pretty sure they only surved the fry dish too. The place is J Cruz and was in Valpo (cool website below)
http://www.jcruz.cl/

- bought my ticket to Peru after extensive deliberation
- went to class around 6:30 then the sniffles came into play, full force. In class we learned more about the chilean education system. This link talks about it more extensively http://www.mineduc.cl/
-was miserable and had to take a cold shower when I got home. Needless to say, my cold is sticking around :(

Hoy necesito descansar. Today I need to rest. Class this morning was interesting but yesterday was a very long day.

Charquican

Hoy tuvo mi clase de espanol y cultura.  Pero, it wasn't in Spanish like I was hoping for.  I guess the summer programs for the intercambio intl students is quite small so all of our classes are together.  Our spanish levels are also very different, so it will be interesting how this works out. I am pretty bummed because I was hoping for a hard Spanish Class.  Oh well.  After class we went to the central market, it was a fruit/meat/cheese market.  Very basic, there were a ton of cats.  It was a little rustic.  After that we really didn't know what to do so we decided to head back to Vina and get our metro passes. However the metro pass was $8 and that wasnt for unlimited.  I take the bus a lot so I decided against it.  In the long run, I doubt it will save me money. But  riding the metro in the rain was cool because the waves were crashing against the cost and the walls.  It was kind of mystical.  I loved it. Oh I might take the metro in the morning because this morning the buses were FULL.  Like someone had to hold himself up to get out of the way of the door...not fun. I had to let three buses pass me. I was so worried I was going to be late. I guess I should wake up earlier next time. It is so hard to in the cold. Cold and rainy mornings are not fun!

In Vina we did some basic exploring and came across this giant industrial clothes market place where the prices were moderate, but they wouldn't barter.  I bought this adorable green umbrella for $2.  I felt bad using the host families all the time.  And I like umbrellas, paraguas.  I also bought some green tea for once (teatime) and some cookies that taste like coconut, they are amazing. 

When I got home I had some Charquican which is a hearty soup made with this pumpkin looking thing that was ALL over the market from that morning.  I found that amusing that the food I was wondering about at the market became my lunch. Below is a picture of it

Chilean:
Pebre: The basic condiment for any Chilean meal, this is a simple mix of finely chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro and spicy ají, or red pepper paste. Use it with virtually everything. Most restaurants will serve a dish of this on the table.

pito: Avocado

bacán: awesome