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You'll have to excuse my english for my mind is becoming a bit boggled between spanish and english, my spelling and thoughts are getting confused between the two languages!
Wednesday night of September 17th I returned from Bariloche basically to switch bags for another trip.
My host family and I left early Thursday morning. We packed food and stopped periodically to eat and stretch. We walked around "Saltas del Laja" where we saw a spectacular waterfall. At the top of the stairs we got soaked from the waterfall & were graced with a rainbow. We admired some hand made jewelry the continued on. When we arrived to the end of the five hour drive to Concepcion we waited for visiting hours at the hospital (my host dad's brother was sick) at a park at the local university. After visiting hours we went for dinner at a family member's house then continued to another family member's house an hour away where we stayed for 3 nights.
Friday was my favorite day of the weekend.. I felt I truly got to experience the most distinct independence day of my whole life. We went to a house close to the coast and basically ate ALL day. That is the first theme of chilean independence day weekend, the actual day is the 18th but the festivities really go on each day from Thursday-Sunday. There were several puppies running around the house, we played cards, ping-pong, enjoyed sangria and every type of meat imagineable. We walked to the nearby park and watched a few kids fly kites, play musical chairs, egg in the mouth/egg on a spoon games, and kids climbing a tall pole.. all aspects of the independence day celebrations. People were dressed in ruffled dresses and such. After a nap in the early evening, I was still exhausted from Argentina- my host family woke me up to go to the "Fonda" which is kind of like a huge fair. It consisted of several typical dances, distinct music in seperate dance rooms, anticuchos-similar to "cabobs", beer, games, and decorations. I had a song dedicated to me during one of the dances, my family knew the announcer. Later that night I went out with my host cousin and his friends to a bonfire then back dancing at the Fonda. Many of the chileans wanted to practice their english with me and it was hard to enforce that I really needed to practice my spanish so I ended up speaking spanglish most of the night and had a few good laughs.
Saturday the 20th we went to La Playa (the beach) ! I couldn't help but nap a couple hours there, it ended up becoming the joke of the trip how easily I kept falling asleep. The family threw a sunhat on me before we left and we got popsicles.. I couldn't have looked more touristy with my aviator sunglasses but as I told you; i've learned to embrace it. I missed the memo that the water would be warm enough to swim in and didn't bring my suit. We saw a beautiful sunset when we left the beach and had tons of rich meat once again for dinner and my host Dad's face got pushed into his birthday cake.
We stopped by the hospital on Sunday the 21st before our trip back to Valdivia. We then split up into different cars to go to a family member's house for lunch. Smushed in the back of a pick up truck we began playing the game "Me gusta mirar pero no me gusta ver" "I like to watch but I don't like to see" which are actually taught to be used interchangeably. I got utterly confused and was happy when we arrived to the house for lunch. CRAB! The kids were all playing Wii Tenis which was crazy to see here, such a different experience then Honduras! I slept the majority of the way back to Valdivia after another gorgeous sunset and noticing several huge volcanoes. We arrived home for "once" - cookies, bread, and tea. Couldn't believe it was back to school and "settling down" for the school week.
The next two weeks flew quickly once again.. that next weekend I got to go to Pucon with my host family for the day. Volunteering was interesting, we chose to analyze a song that had many sayings we use in the states like "never look back" & "break a leg" etc and this was very hard to explain but made for some great conversations. I had a couple presentations and noticed school had started to pick up but I'm still not becoming stressed because of the four day weekends! Began feeling more comfortable in Valdivia but still important to remember just because I feel comfortable doesn't mean I'm more safe or going to be looked at as less of a foreigner. I streamed the debates online and it has really made me feel far away not living in the states for all of the hype. I'm doing my best to stay connected when it's important but also enjoying being a bit disconnected as well.
Casey and I have been doing the 45 minute walk to class much more often and getting some good pictures of graffiti. Also just finding the little things that make me feel at home here; reading my book by the river, soccer at the local field, meeting friends for coffee or icecream at local cafes and restaurants. Some funny memories.. bad luck night: spilled three drinks at the same table-after the third our waiter was standing staring at our table waiting for one of the five of us to spill again and we excused ourselves. My work out class became super informal for a week and I was working out next to the cheerleading squad my exercise teacher was instructing.. agendas here are certainly not comparable to the states.Trying to take control over an english class that is 5 years over my age and up.. then receiving help from my host siblings that are 4 years under my age and below- oh, language barriers! Translating the conversation via video chat between my host dad and Bill Higgins, good times-glad I can still share funny moments with you Dad :)
This past weekend I spent one night and two days in Aguas Calientes/Antillanca. More about this +pictures soon!
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