lots of stuff.

me in the andes!

I'M ALIVE! yesterday i spent the day skiing at el portillo in the andes. and by day i mean a little bit of the morning (for me at least). ha! it was a terrifying experience, both mentally and physically. however, i did it and it was one of the most amazing experiences. i wasn't expecting the slopes to be as big as they were, but i suppose i should have expected more of a challenge because 1) i hadn't been skiing since 6th grade and 2) the only place i had ever gone was powder ridge which, when compared to the andes, is like comparing a pea to a watermelon. terrible analogy but whatever. the sights were gorgeous and the lodge was the coziest place ever. the lodge has the most adorable st. bernard dog as their mascot. i want a dog just like him some day - big and beautiful! after skiing rey and i hung out in the "hotel guests only" lounge upstairs and chilled for a few hours, sipping hot chocolate just as we had planned! i was completely soaked through due to the snow, but shannon was nice enough to lend me an extra layer of pants. we met a super nice guy that teaches snowboarding lessons each year at the lodge. he has a place in viña and a cafe in maitencillo. pretty sweet stuff!  the ride back to viña took a little over three hours, but it felt even longer. we were all completely shot from the day, and i was aching and starting to get sick. however, it was still a pretty fun time. we stopped a little truckstop type place, and i got chocolate and an empanada so that was pretty good. the drivers left the car unlocked and running while we were in there for at least twenty minutes...bizarre. we got back around 9:30, but it felt like 4 in the morning...i slept 11 hours last night and still woke up exhausted!

top of a slope in the ANDES!

yum.

so i am aware that i haven't blogged in a really long time. this time it isn't because i haven't done anything exciting; it's because i have been too busy doing exciting things to blog! the past few weeks/weekends have been a blast. last week a group of us went out to dinner at Margarita (Mexican food) and then the casino (i lost 2 mil/4 dollars). last weekend was a weekend of discotecas. on friday (sept 3rd) night shannon and rey came over for a bit after photo class and then we headed out to a karaoke bar where we were going to meet some people. on the way we ran into lori & her friends at bravissimo, so naturally, we decided we needed to get ice cream. after that, we headed to the karaoke place and ate more...we had this delicious french fry dish just loaded with lots of good food (cheese, eggs, steak, chicken, peppers, onions, etc). it was fantastic. after that we went to hollywood and rocked out for a good 20 minutes to a queen cover band. it was SO fun. at hollywood we got free passes (designed as golden tickets) to ovo in the casino, which was super classy compared to the other discotecas around here. apparently after we left balloons and glow sticks fell from the ceiling! haha. i'm such a sucker for flashy things like that.

golden tickets!

at juana's asado

on saturday night (the 4th), we went to an asado at juana, our grammar professor's, house. it took us forever to finally get there. we made "banana bread pudding," which took ages to finally be done. we ended up walking there from the miramar metro stop and ended up nearly two hours late. it was perfect though, because the food was just being served when we arrived. it was delicious- huge slabs of steak, potatoes, great salad, and the best cherry (?) ice cream ever. i had two bowls of it. :) people danced cueca and did this interesting dance around a bottle that i think is a tradition in chile. so embarrasing, but i totally had no idea there was an exact routine to the cueca. i thought it just involved freestyling with a specific foot pattern and waving of the napkin. guess not. hahaha. there were a few irritating happenings at the asado, but overall it was wonderful.  afterward, gannon and i stopped at his place quickly and then went to journal and later the discoteca stingray. i was so tired by the end of the night. on sunday morning i joined lauren for church, which was extremely long but great. the order was completely reverse of what i'm used to and communion was done all at once. it was very different to me. afterward, we had a huge enjoyable lunch to usher in the month of september. cesar put up streamers and gladys put out the chile napkins she had bought with me at jumbo the week before. it was SO fun. i can tell september is just going to be a blast.

first big weekend lunch of september!

beautiful.

last tuesday (the 7th) was an extremely full 8 hour day. i started my service learning at the sanatorio and volunteering at the hogar de niños. the hogar de niños was adorable. i went with merideth, who will also be there on tuesdays. there were three little ones there (the older kids are at school): pablito, mai, and luis. normally there is a little girl named britania there too. they are all super cute. pablito is quite the talker! he just rambles on and on. he has the cutest little chubby cheeks. merideth thinks mai is a little trouble maker, but i just think he's misunderstood since he's not as outgoing as pablito (and probably doesn't get as much attention). the other little one is super quiet, probably because he's a lot younger. he seemed really serious at first but started to smile and laugh a lot when we picked him up and played with him. he cried when we left. :( i think i'm going to really love being a part of their lives! pablito mentioned how his mom brought him an orange (he says naranza) and an apple that morning, so i think for some of them their parents may still be around but not be able to keep them at home? i'm not exactly sure. they didn't give us an introduction or orientation or anything - we just jumped right in! it's funny because pablito's at the age where he talks SO much, but when we ask him to explain what something means he has no idea how to. he just repeats it over and over again and laughs when you can't get it right. it's so cute. in class we talked about the 33 miners. we are trying to figure out something we can do to show our support, and we are hoping to get people involved back home at csb/sju too. after class i headed out to the sanatorio. it took forever to get there and was pricy because we had to pay for a colectivo, micro, and a micro back. it took like 30 minutes to get out there and 30 to get back. i think the sanatorio is going to be an awesome experience, right up my alley. it's me, shannon, lauren, maggie, and donald working there. we will be working in one specific wing of the sanatorio, where children and adults with mainly developmental and intellectual disabilities live. a lot of them are in wheelchairs too, but the people with severe medical problems are in a different wing we won't be in. i'm excited to get started. we are supposed to go for the first time on monday, but since i'm sick i won't be able to unless i'm better in time.

pretty view by the museum.

wednesday the 8th was a busy day. after lunch, gannon's mom, marlene, took us on a beach tour in reñaca and con con. it was BEAUTIFUL. the day was terribly foggy and cleared up only for the length of our tour. what perfect timing. i love it when things happen like that. afterward, we went to simoné's dance show. it was in valpo. it took forever to get to (we had to use a micro from viña central, walk a ton, then take a colectivo up a hill) but was really worth it. i was expecting more of a traditional dance show with separate acts, but it was actually a dramatic dance interpretation of a story. it was very abstract and fascinating. after, i went to gannon's for a little bit for a "secret operation" and then out with some people. we went to journal (obviously) and then a club called mascara in valpo. i was so shot by this point. i think it was wednesday night that did me in for getting sick due to the lack of sleep.

in castillo wulff

on thursday (the 9th), we went to valpo and got our carnés (chilean id cards). SO cool, but i totally looked drugged in mine. my family is always saying i look drugged, because apparently my eyes are always red and tiny looking in the evenings from exhaustion. hahaha drogas? after getting our cards, we went to a meeting about the ski trip at uai and to get empanadas. after that we met at the reloj de flores for a field trip to castillo wulff for the arte class. i'm not in arte but i decided to stick along since i thought it would be cool. it was neat to see the art, but it was too much for me. i like museums but not enough to spend an hour and a half looking around a really, really small one. afterward we had to prepare for our field trip by getting food and warm gear. we made the long walk to lider (after a pitstop at bravissimo) and then finally home. i got to bed around 11, knowing i had to get up at 4:15 the next day for skiing. iiiick. this week was fun but exhausting. when i look back at this it makes complete sense that i'm sick now. haha.

me & g on our beach tour.

i can't believe i've already been here a month! it's so crazy, but i'm used to it. i love everyone here but i miss everyone at home too. it's like having two completely different lives. cesar sneezed the other night while i was in bed trying to fall asleep, and for a second i totally thought i was in my bed at home and that it was my dad sneezing. it was bizarre. i love lunches here. glady, lori, and i have a running joke going on. whenever i say something well, gladys always says "bien dicho, liiiiiiiz." eventually she started giving me "bien escrito," "bien pensado," "bien hecho," etc etc etc. lori always acts pretend jealous because glady gives me so many and not her. it's pretty hilarious. sometimes i feel like my spanish is improving immensely (like while talking to the ski instructor yesterday on the chair lift), but other times i feel like i know absolutely nothing. it's hard to gauge my true understanding of the language because my understanding depends on so many different factors. i haven't been making enough of an active effort to speak. i need to change that soon, because before i know it the trip will be over!


xoxo