The Days Fly By

Wow, the past two days have gone by very fast. I don't know if I like it either. I think this is the true definition of feeling bittersweet about something. It's bitter because I'm leaving all of the great people I've become friends with over the past six weeks, the majority of whom I'll probably never see again since only four of us live west of Wyoming (three of us all coming from Whitworth). It's bitter because I'm leaving Chile and all of the wonderful and unique opportunities that have been available for me. And it's bitter because I have to leave my kind and loving family who have done so much to make me feel welcome. But at the same time, I don't think I have ever been so excited to see someone in my life. I'm heading to the LA area to stay with Alyssa until Thursday, and it definitely is sweet that I'll get to see her for the first time in over two months. It also is sweet that I'll get to eat something other than pan (bread) and that asking for water at a meal will be completely normal. Finally, it's sweet that I get to spend a month with my family, friends from work, and a week at camp before I head back to school for the fall. Ay caramba, the emotional roller coaster is definitely going to be an intense ride till next weekend. I'm having a great time my last week, then I have to leave everyone, but only to be with the most amazing girl in the world, who I have to leave after a few days, to arrive home to my family and friends, until I start working for hours everyday. Bah, I don't like goodbyes, I'm either not nearly as emotional as the other person or way too emotional which always makes for wonderfully awkward times. Perfect.

I'm up very late right now so I'm going to explain the past two days fairly quickly if possible.

Yesterday, made it to class on time. Watched some presentations and then a few friends asked if I wanted to go get Churillanos afterwards (french fries covered in cooked eggs, onions, and meat). I figured I might as well live a little, and so I tagged along as we walked to the place. They were amazing once again, and after I hopped on a micro and came home. I didn't do much other than relax and watch a movie. It was nice. I ended up staying up later than I should've, but whatevs I only have one more day.

Today, I woke up and Carolina the housekeeper told me to wait for her as she went out to do an errand. She came back and then came into my room and just stood there for a while attempting to make small talk. I think she was a little sad and asked if I knew when I was going to come back because she's going to miss me. I'll definitely miss having someone make my bed for me every day as well, ha. But honestly, she's super sweet and I was sad to leave for class in the morning.

In Claudio's class, all we did was go over how we felt about the trip and then he gave us our grades. He told us all our participation grades and then gave us our final grades. I ended up pulling a 5.7 or about a B+ in the class, which isn't horrible, except for the fact that everyone else in the class got above a 6. Even one of the girls who wasn't quite the greatest student got a 6, which actually really bothered me. I don't know what he had against me but whatevs, I'm done with his class for good.

After, we had a going away party with all of the staff and students from the program. I ate some good empanadas and my class also gathered the courage to ask Claudio if he'd take a picture with us. I'm definitely going to have to steal my friend David's photo to post on facebook, it's a keeper.

For Carlos' class, we walked to a local cafe to sit and talk about the end of our time. I had some great mango juice, and we just spent a good time conversing with each other. After, I hopped on a micro and went home.

I relaxed for a bit, then my mom's two brothers showed up so I went and talked with them for a while. They are fairly young, around the age of my brothers, and I really like them. I wish I could spend more time with them, they were really nice and welcoming to me both here and in Papudo.

At 8:30, a group of us were meeting at a cafe so we could all take a micro to a Blockbuster in Valparaíso. Carlos set up a final meeting time for both of his classes and any other gringos that wanted to come, and we headed to a vegitarian restaurant called EPIF. I got a BBQ tofu burrito that was actually surpringly good. I also treated myself to an eskimono, or fried bananas with ice cream. I figured it was my last night out and that I deserved it. We spent around 2 1/2 hours in this small restaurant and just enjoyed the company of each other. It was a wonderful last night and I'm really glad I went. Afterwards, we walked through the streets a little to a bar, but it was completely full of people. After awkwardly standing in the entrance for a few minutes, a group of us decided we'd rather not go to a bar and just go home instead. Unfortunately, I had to say some of my first goodbyes at this time. Since not everyone is flying out at the same time as me tomorrow, I said goodbye to a few of my greatest friends here as well as Carlos. He told me I was a great guy and that he was happy to have me in class. I definitely wont forget him, and if I'm ever on the east coast, I think I have enough contacts to find somewhere to stay, ha.

I hopped in a collectivo with two other friends, and then I walked the quiet walk to my house for the last time from the bus stop. It was sad and strange thinking that this was the last time. It really isn't going to hit me until I'm actually home in my parent's house that this chapter of my life is over. Sure I'm leaving tomorrow night, but my first week back is going to be so great since I'll be in one of my favorite places I've ever been, Southern California with my lovely Alyssa.

Luckily, my parents were still awake when I got home so I decided I'd give them my gifts now before the new exchange student comes tomorrow. I figured it'd be a little awkward for me having to say my goodbyes in front of her so I was glad I had the chance. I gave them some smoked Alaskan salmon, a deck of cards with a picture of the Columbia River on it, and then a book full of pictures from Spokane. They loved looking through the book and then told me how thankful they were that they had me and how much they hope I can come back and visit, especially with Alyssa. They said that as soon as I save up money, I need to make a trip to come back. Oh if only they knew how much I want to, yet how difficult that will be...oh well. One day I will return, no doubt in my mind.

Tomorrow is going to be sad/happy. Sad to leave, happy to arrive. It's late now though so I really should go. This is probably my last entry from Chile. I hope you all have enjoyed reading and I'll keep you updated until I'm home home. Chao chao mis amigos.

My Lungs Hate Me Right Now

Chile smokes, a lot. You really don't realize the effect of a "No smoking within 25 feet of any public building entrance (which includes windows and doors" law until you've been to another state or country where this doesn't apply. Last night, I went to a small underground dance club/bar to celebrate, and boy am I not used to that much smoke (not all of it was cigarette smoke either). But first I feel I should explain why I was celebrating.

Yesterday morning, I got up and went to school early to finish up my powerpoint with my partner Grant. I had to leave early to go take my quiz for Claudio's class which had half of my grade riding on it. Luckily, I saw one of my classmates beforehand and she stopped me to tell me a little about it. She then asked if I was nervous and I said of course. So then she told me a little secret that Claudio had told her. Apparently her and one other person had done really well on their essays, and that other person was me! It helped remove some of the pressure since I was afraid the start of my time with him would just consist of him ripping me apart.

Feeling a little better, I went to his class and sat down with him. He told me that my paper was short, but that it was very concise. He then proceeded to read my thesis and my conclusion, and then commented how he really liked that I had both of those. Even though it wasn't very long, I answered everything that needed to be answered and it was very well formated, so he gave me a 6.3 out of 7 on it. 6.3 out of 7! That's about a B+ in our grading system, I was so happy! He also commented that it was very well written, and I just thought to myself, well no duh man, just because I can't speak very well doesn't mean I'm an idiot. Oh well, I don't think I could ever be happy with him.

As far as the quiz went, I chose a random number and of course he begins with "Ok, now this is probably the hardest question, but lets just see how you can do." Great. The question was, "Describe the importance of Alessandri to the people of Chile". We did not cover him nearly enough in class, so all I could remember was a short reading we had from him and how we talked about him writing a new Constitution in 1925 that prohibitted re-election for Presidents, it ended the union of church and state, and it also restarted Chile as a Presidential system instead of Parliamentary. He asked me a few other questions and I was able to answer parts of them, but overall I didn't do too well, well at least according to him. At this point, I didn't even care though. I feel it's so ridiculous to base half my grade off of this one question. So hearing him tell me I did bad and that part of my problem was the language made me want to jump up, ring a bell and yell "We have a winner!!!!" Maybe if he would've realized that I'm not a fluent native speaker at the start of class, he wouldn't seem so surprised that I'm such an idiot when it comes time to the oral quiz. Thankfully, he gave me a 5.1 since I did answer the main points which means that I officially passed the class!! All I need to pass is a 4, and if you take the essay which is worth 30% and the quiz which is worth 50%, I currently have a 4.5 if I were to get a 1 on my participation grade (yay math major). I got out of that class as soon as possible and went to tell Grant about how things went.

For the presentation in Carlos' class, Grant and I decided to just go first and get it over with. We were supposed to take up about 30 minutes, but Carlos always likes to butt in and talk so ours ended up going for just about an hour. We definitely have nothing to worry about in that class gradewise. After listening to another speech, we were free to go and I was officially free with my work in Chile!!! I was so excited and went home to just relax and enjoy myself. I heard that a group of my friends were going to go out at night to La Sala because Charquipunk DJ's on Wednesdays. I figured I haven't really gone out yet and that it'd be a great way to celebrate being done with classes, plus I don't have class today until 2. So I talked to my parents and reassured them I'd be safe (they worry when I show up past 7...) and my dad drove me to the cafe where all of us were meeting up at.

The club was literally underground, and the set up was really cool. The club was split into two sides, each with their own DJ. Charquipunk played a lot of Chilean raggaeton/funk and salsa music, while the other DJ played more techno/dance music. We all hung out with Charquipunk for most of the night, but after a while the smoke got to be too much for me so I decided to check out the other side with a couple friends. Luckily, it was more ventilated and not quite as warm, so we spent the rest of the night on this side. Plus, I definitely am a fan of the techno/dance music, and I literally danced the stress and frustration of Claudio's class away all night. I went crazy and danced however I pleased (getting a few funny looks from the locals a lot of the time), but I didn't care. I was free, and I was going to dance how I pleased. I really had a great time and I'm glad I decided to go. We left the place at 2:30, but unfortunately our micro driver wouldn't go until he had a full bus load, so I didn't actually get home until around 3:30. It was so erie walking through my neighborhood once I got off the micro, it was quiet. I never realized how constant noise is during the day until this moment. There was not a sound to be heard anywhere. I almost just sat along the curb for a bit to take in the moment while watching the lights of Viña and Valparaíso, but then I realized it probably wouldn't be to safe. I made it to bed by 4 and was able to sleep until 12.

Now, I'm off to eat and then to class. Only two more nights here, crazy. Chao amigos.

My Essay

Las Haciendas del Siglo XIX y XX

Desde la guerra de 1879 hasta la crisis mundial de 1929, Chile era un país “hacendal republicana”, o un país cuya economía y relaciones sociales dependieron de haciendas. Aunque había haciendas en todas las regiones del país, cada región era diferente de cada otra. Era posible que hubiera una hacienda muy exitosa al lado de una hacienda muy pobre y mala, solo dependía de los dueños y los productos. También, las condiciones para los inquilinos eran muy diferentes en regiones diferentes. En mi opinión, pienso que las haciendas en la zona central de las tierras de Colchagua tenían condiciones mejores para los inquilinos de las haciendas en la zona del sur del país.

En la zona central, los inquilinos tenían vidas muchos mejores que los en la zona del sur porque ganaban salarios más altos, tenían casas más grandes y acomodas, y las relaciones entre ellos y los peones eran más mejor. Por ejemplo, había una hacienda en Colchagua se llamada Calleuque donde habían muchos edificios y tiendas, casas elegantes, parques bonitas, y casas grandes para los inquilinos. El propietario también fomentó un conjunto de organizaciones para los inquilinos porque “sin duda expresaba un legítimo interés…por dar al inquilinaje mejores condiciones de vida…y así mantener las relaciones tradicionales de lealtad entre [ambos]” (Bengoa 91). Otra hacienda donde los inquilinos no ganaban tanto dinero pero todavía tenían condiciones mejores era San Vicente. Acá, los inquilinos ganaban salarios diarios muy bajo del salario mínimo rural y urbano, pero recibieron muchas regalías que eran la parte más importante del ingreso. Un estudio descubrió que el salario “correspondía solamente a un 13,2 % del total sus ingresos”, con “la venta de sus productos cultivados en las tierras [correspondía] a 20 %...y las regalías, raciones, etc. equivalentes al 50% de sus ingresos” (99). Aunque ellos ganaban salarios muy pequeños, recibieron muchas otras cosas para mantener una vida más mejor. En el sur, no había una “ración de tierra en el potrero como se acostumbre en Chile central” (197). También, no existía una relación paternalista entre los inquilinos y los peones como en la zona central. Porque de eso, no tenían condiciones buenas porque los peones solo quisieron más dinero para sus mismos en vez de relaciones con sus trabajadores.

Las condiciones eran mejor en la zona central porque las haciendas en esta región eran las más prosperas del país y por lo tanto, tenían más dinero para dar a los inquilinos. Había haciendas muy grandes que exportaron sus productos a todo Latinoamérica y a Europa. Pero en Valdivia, una hacienda en el sur, había una falta de mercados directos y locales que “llevó a los colonos a instalar un complejo agroindustrial en la región” (189). Había un sistema exitoso, pero solo en la misma región. Porque de eso, los propietarios no tenían tantas oportunidades para exportar productos a otros lugares y no eran tan exitoso como las en la zona central. En la zona central, las haciendas tenían maquinas muy modernas que ayudaban muchos a los trabajadores. Por ejemplo, había una turbina eléctrica, una maquina como una luja, en Calleuque. Pero en el sur, todo había dependido en obra de mano de los inquilinos. Las lecherías de Santiago fueron muy exitosas, y los inquilinos ganaban salarios de 1,3 hasta 2 pesos diarios (3,5 en la hacienda de La Granja) mientras trabajando por once horas. En el sur, ganaban 0,6 hasta 1,2 pesos diarios mientras trabajando por trece o catorce horas cada día. Las haciendas también eran “más modernas de la agricultura Chilena…en los sectores de Cousiño-Macul” (53).

Eran condiciones mejores para los inquilinos en la zona central porque existía un tipo de difundido se llamada “alta estabilidad”, o con una estabilidad mejor que otros lugares (en esta zona, había una estabilidad de los inquilinos por más de cincuenta años). Por ejemplo, las haciendas viñateras en esta región eran “las más desarrolladas de época y ejemplo del ‘capitalismo’ en la agricultura” (24) para el resto del país. Estaba la región más relacionado con todo el país porque obviamente, era en la central del país, pero también había un ferrocarril a través de la ciudad por muchos años. En el sur, era más difícil para enviar y recibir productos a las regiones en el norte porque hasta diciembre del 1985, no existía un ferrocarril. El sur tenía tanto contacto con el resto del Chile como con Europa por más de cuarenta años. También, después de la llegara del tren, todavía no era tan fácil para tener contacto con las regiones más del norte como en la zona central. Otro problema era que en el sur, vivían muchas indígenas. En la hacienda de Osorno, había muchos conflictos entre los colonos y las indígenas. Al primer, no había mucho conflicto y ambos grupos estaban viviendo en sus propias tierras. Pero después de una generación de los propietarios (ambos extranjeros y Chilenos), ellos quisieron más tierra, y comenzaron a agarrar la tierra de las indígenas. En la zona central, no necesitaban preocuparse sobre relaciones con indígenas porque no había nadie. Esto causó haciendas más estables de las en el sur, y eran “modelos del mundo por una hacienda” (30).

Desde el siglo XIX hasta la primera mitad del siglo XX, la agricultura y economía del Chile dependió en las haciendas. Cada región era diferente de cada otra, con muchos diferentes entre haciendas en cada región también. La zona central tenía condiciones mejores para los inquilinos que en el sur por varias razones. Las haciendas en la zona central tenían productos más exitosos de los en el sur, y eran más conectado al resto del país y mundo. También, las en la zona central eran las más estables de esta época y no habían problemas con las indígenas como en el sur. Porque de eso, los inquilinos ganaban salarios y regalías más altos, y existía relaciones mejores entre ellos y los peones. Si necesitara trabajar como un inquilino durante esta época y tuviera una opción entre las dos regiones, querría vivir en la zona central.

Bengoa, José. Haciendas y campesinos: Historia Social de la Agricultura Chilena Tomo II. Santiago: Ediciones SUR, 1990.

One More Day

Well I found out some great news today. Claudio asked about who was going to take the quiz tomorrow and luckily he remembered me saying I wanted to, so we discussed it in class real quickly and David gave up his spot for me so now I get to take the quiz tomorrow to get it over with. Also, Grant and I volunteered to present tomorrow in Carlos' class as well. So what's so good about that? Well, as of 3:30 tomorrow afternoon (possibly sooner if we present first), I will officially be done with all of my work here in Chile, and my summer will finally begin. It'll be so nice to have Thursday and Friday to just relax and hang out. I'm definitely going to go out now Wednesday night, I'm gonna go crazy dancing and I dont even care what anyone else thinks cause I'll be done with Claudio's class forever! Oh man I'm excited!

Today I got up and headed to class early so I could print out my semi-decent essay. I re-read it and it's really not that bad. I'll probably post it on here later for all you Spanish speaking friends (or anyone who knows how to use a translating site). Right as Claudio was about to begin class, one of the coordinators came in with some form for us to fill out. Immediately, my face lit up and I could see my day getting better already. Could it be? Is that really what I think it is?
"Please fill out this evaluation for both classes, and then hand it in when you're done."
Boy, I thought the day would never come. It really was like Christmas in July for me. I made sure to voice my opinions about Claudio in a very professional manner (basically, I refrained from calling him a *&#$^%#$^% who needs to shove his head up his @$$ and cut the $*#&#$*%). In all honesty though, I just let them know how intimidating he has been for us, and how I feel he is not the right fit for study abroad students since he never realized that we weren't here solely to learn but rather improve our Spanish and experience a different culture. I just hope other students don't end up with him for an entire semester, (God bless those poor souls who do...).

Carlos' class was once again a little slow. I think my body has a five week learning span that once I hit week five and a half or so, it just shut down. I'm ready for a break from learning. My mind needs time to regather itself (though keeping up with my Spanish during the summer has been so awesome and definitely will make things way easy once I get back to school in the fall).

After class, I met with Grant to work on our presentation. Luckily, I knocked off almost all of my work last night so all I had to do was format my slides a bit and come up with some questions to ask the class about the story. We worked for an a hour or half or so, and all I had to do once I got back to my house was spruce it up, add some pictures, and then make sure the grammar was all correct. Grant asked Carlos about how much it's worth and he said it'll be worth just as much as everything else has been. Wow, now that's what a professor should be like for this type of program. He realizes that we really don't want 50% of our grade to be based off of one oral quiz question, so he just makes everything worth the same and grades based off of our participation. I'll miss Carlos.

Once it was time to leave, the rain really had started to come down, and by the time I hopped on a micro I was already fairly soaked (since it was a beautiful day when I left in the morning, it didn't even cross my mind to bring an umbrella with me). Oh Chile, how I hate tacos (traffic jams). I left the university at around 6 and didnt get home until 7...it didnt help that as soon as I hopped off the micro, the rain suddenly started coming down about twice as hard. The streets were full of mini rivers rushing towards my vulnerable Converse shoes and unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in wading through them all without getting my socks wet. In fact, I somehow managed to get my jeans wet up until about my mid-calf. After walking for about three blocks, I noticed my shoulders starting to get cold. By the time I got home and took off my jacket, both my shirt and undershirt were thouroughly soaked. I quickly learned that my black jacket is not water proof nor should it ever be worn in wet conditions again, unless I want to wear a sponge. Luckily, I think the rest of the week should be dry.

After eating my once, I sat with my parents and just talked about random stuff for the next hour or so. It was really nice and relaxing, and a lot more entertaining than just watching TV. I guess there's another foreign exchange student coming on Saturday morning before I leave, so they talked with me about what I think they should do or shouldn't do with her. She's staying for the entire semester, crazy. They also talked to me about their New Year's celebration and how it's essentially like our 4th of July, complete with barbecues, fireworks, and parties until way late in the night. They told me I need to experience a Chilean New Year sometime so I can ring in the new year during the summer rather than our uneventful winter celebrations in the U.S. My mom then said she'd like to celebrate the 4th in the U.S. because it looks like fun.

I've learned so many interesting things about the Chilean culture (the majority of it from my family), and I'll make sure to write about it all once I get home such as how they are an extremely conservative country (abortion is illegal, divorce was illegal up until 2004, the government used to be connected with the Catholic church), but at the same time there are some extreme opposites (PDA is completely acceptable [and disgusting], scantly clad/mostly naked ads are everywhere, the past four presidents have all been from the left). I also know a whole lot of other random info and facts that I'll share so be stoked, because I know I am.

I just finished making my powerpoint pretty, and I've gone over my notes for Claudio's class once already. I really need to look over those another time before going to bed, so I should get going now. I hope you all have a lovely day and prays would be great for my quiz and presentation tomorrow. I can see the finish line!!! Much love, chao.

The End Is Near

I finally have some free time to update. Since about the time I woke up on Saturday morning until the time when I went to bed last night, I had been working on homework for both of my classes. I'm so close to being done with all of my work, it's pretty exciting.

Saturday, I literally did not leave my room for longer than it took me to eat my meals and talk with my family for a bit. I worked on my essay and ended up writing the introduction, the first paragraph describing the living conditions for hacienda workers in the central region and southern region of Chile in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and then one of the paragraphs describing how the south wasn't as stable as the central region and that is why the workers had worse conditions. I was really hoping to get the essay completed, but I turned on a live Daft Punk recording and decided that once the concert was over, I would be done for the night.

Sunday, I woke up and immediately picked up where I left off. I finished writing another paragraph describing how the central region's products were more successful than the south, and how this also affected workers conditions. Finally, I finished off with a very rushed and crappy conclusion to finish the paper. I really should go back and make some corrections to it, but at this point all I care about is that I got my 3-4 pages done (about three sentences onto the 4th page), and that it's done. I realized the book I had to read had too much specific information about the sizes of various haciendas and how many cows or people they had, rather than useful information such as the harsh conditions the inquilinos were forced to work under or how the females were basically at the hands of the land owner whenever he pleased, which in turn created numerous "fatherless" children. But seriously, Claudio actually giving me something that wasn't a waste of my time? I crack myself up...

I also had to answer some questions for Carlos' class about the movie we watched two weeks ago, Machuca. I really do recommend it for anyone who would like to learn more about the social issues in the early 1970's in Chile, I think it's a fairly accurate story (with dramatized actors of course).

Other than working on homework, I found time to upload pictures from Cajón del Maipo and got to chat with my pelola for a bit. I'm super stoked to see her, less than a week!!!

Today, I got up early so I could meet up with mis amigos in Claudio's class to study for the oral quiz I'll be having. It didnt really help much since the stuff we went over I already felt I knew well enough (reason number 1 why I don't like studying in groups) or I got completely confused with because I had completely contrasting notes on some topics (reason number 2 why I don't like studying in groups). I initially signed up to have my quiz on Wednesday rather than Thursday so I could get it over with, but unfortunately the girl writing down the names got confused and put me down for the next day so now I have to wait until Thursday. I know I should be happy since I get more time to study, but I was wanting to go to a club that our graffiti friend Charquipunk DJ's at on Wednesday, and it would've been really nice to be able to sleep in on Thursday. Oh well, maybe I'll still go anyways and just be tired. I think it'd be sweet to hear him drop them beats. Another bummer, I was under the impression that the quiz would consist of us answering five or six different questions about any topic we've covered in the course. But instead, 50% of our grade is now riding on one question that will be asked to us. I like 5-6 way more since if I don't know one, I am not totally screwed. But 50% of our grade on one question? ¡Dios mio, qué ridículo!

On a happier note, today's class was actually a lot of fun. We met up with another group of gringos (they were not nearly as cool as our group, sadly), and then we all headed to the national Congress building of Chile which is located literally three blocks from the University. We got a tour of the main rooms in the building, and learned about how some of the various things work. It's really interesting because their Congress building holds the meeting room for the 38 senators, the meeting room for the 140 representatives, and the room where everyone comes together for what would be like our State of the Union address, all in one huge building (well more like one main building with two buildings attached to it on either side).

After class, I ate my crappy lunch consisting of sandwiches and juice. I don't even attempt to eat the bread anymore, it's too hard to. It's basically like eating an entire loaf of french bread with a slab of meat and butter inside, nothing more. Sometimes I have cheese instead of meat, those days are my favorite...not. I keep telling myself I've only got four more days of these lunches though until I can have real food. I would speak up and ask for something different but I feel I've made it long enough that it would just be embarrassing for them to find out I've only been eating it not to be rude. Plus, I don't think I'd be able to understand my housekeeper if I tried telling her, ha.

Carlos' class was a little boring, and I didn't get much from it. After, we had to go watch a documentary with him because we didn't have class a while back one day when he was sick. It actually ended up being a pretty intense video about photographers during Pinochet's dictatorship and how they got away with photographing the images of the times. It was very interesting and I really wish I could learn more about these times. It's crazy how Americans just go on with their lives completely oblivious to the horrors that were occuring as recent as the 1980's all thanks to the help of a U.S. backed coup to overthrow a socialist president in 1973. It's just interesting, that's all I'll say about that.

After class, I met with Grant to discuss our powerpoint presentation we have for Carlos' class. I'm doing the biography and summary of El Chiflón del Diablo, and I should probably get started on that real soon. I think we may be presenting on Wednesday, which gives us tomorrow to finish it up, bah! The end of homework is near though, I'm ready for summer finally. Ha, a month after I get back though I'll just be starting up fall semester again. Boy, I realllllllly can't wait until next summer, ha.

I'll let you know how things go the next couple of days. Keep me in your prayers regarding the test, presentation, and the dreaded essay I have to turn in tomorrow. I miss you all and I shall be home shortly!

Con mucho amor, chao.

The Ensayo From Hell

I had an awesome last excursion to Cajón del Maipo the past two days. A lot of stuff happened and I really need to start working on my essay soon, so I'll try to update you all on everything that happened fairly quickly.

Thursday morning, got up and went to the Teatro to find our amazingly huge and comfortable bus waiting for us. It was big enough that all 22 of us or so got our own row, so no scrunching was necessary (thankfully). We drove to Santiago and stopped at this market called Los Dominicos which was essentially hundreds of small shops and stores of handicrafts all enclosed within this really big area that resembled a jungle. There was even a few small streams that ran all the way through it. Unfortunately, we only had an hour to shop in an area that we could have spent a day in. I was happy to board the bus again though because I was growing very hungry and couldn't wait to arrive at Cajón del Maipo to eat lunch.

Once arriving, we immediately headed to the fairly nice restaurant to eat our lunch which consisted of platters of food being brought to us gringos to pass around the table, and then the waitresses bringing large dishes of chicken and meat for us to grab out of. Shows what they think of Americans...bucket-o-meat for us pigs to eat out of like a trough. Though the meals were very good, I wasn't too fond of them because we never ordered anything, they just brought it out and we never knew how much to eat or how much more was coming out. (The only time I actually got full was lunch our second day...)

After lunch, we took our bags to the super sweet cabins. My cabin had a loft above one of the bedrooms that had another two beds hidden in it. I luckily got a really sweet group of people and we enjoyed our time together during the trip.

Next on our agenda was one of the greatest parts, zip-lining across the river that ran through the valley some 70 feet or so above it. It was so amazing and I had a blast, though I wish we could have done it more than once across and once back. I took video on the shorter run back and I'll upload it on facebook later along with all of my photos from the trip.

Free time consisting of exploring around the camp area and the river, followed by a slightly more classy dinner came next (we all got individual plates with meat and rice on it). After dinner, we hung around and talked until a few of us decided to go and sit along the river to star gaze. Since we were pretty far from any real civilization, we had an absolutely amazing view of the stars and the milky way galaxy. One of my friends mentioned how cool it is that we've never seen these stars in our lives before since we're in the Southern Hemisphere, it was a crazy thought. Later, we headed back to the restaurant for a dance party that they had. It was fun to be able to just dance by myself without caring what anyone else thought, though they did play a lot of salsa music which I'm not too fond of since I'm not good at pretending to salsa (I'm taking lessons with Alyssa next semester though, I'm super stoked).

They closed the restaurant at midnight, so I headed back to my cabin and we talked for a bit then decided to get some sleep so we wouldnt be too tired the next day. David and I were awoken by our friend jumping on our bed and yelling, so I got up and showered and read part of my novel for my Social and Political Themes class. Breakfast was a let down since it only consisted of more bread. It really threw us off when they offered special fruit bowls to the vegitarians, which caused us to think we'd be having some nice meaty meal coming (we didn't, by the way).

Next, we all signed our lives away for the third time (first was on the bus on Thursday, second was before zip-lining) before we headed out on our hike to two different waterfalls. We got to cross three different bridges, the first being a really big suspension bridge over the main river, and the second being a small and rickety suspension bridge that only five people could be on at a time. The third was the smallest and consisted of a few logs hooked together with railings along it. The hike itself was fairly easy, though our guide booked it so the few of us who managed to stay with him got pretty tired out. One of the coolest parts of the day, there is a natural spring that runs through the area that they have made pipes for and such, so we were able to all stop at one point and drink water directly from the spring. The waterfalls were pretty cool, though the bigger of the two was still less than half the size of Multnomah Falls. It did feel really good though to hike and just sweat (as weird as that sounds), since I haven't had time to actually work out here. A lot of us agreed though that the opening of our pours just felt cleansing somehow and very relaxing.

After getting back, we ate our lunch which was chicken pasta, so amazingly good. I've been wanting pasta for so long, and it actually filled me up. We still had a while before we were to live so some of us headed down to explore along the river again and I found a very comfortable rock that I just rested on for a bit.

Next, we hopped on the bus and headed back to Santiago to go to a winery. Literally every single person on the bus fell asleep and slept for the duration of the trip.

Fun fact: the bus had TV screens and they played these random hour long music video mixes with 30 seconds or so of tons of different songs, and after our trip to Cajón, we all realized why Chileans think Americans are all sluts. I cannot believe how dirty and scandilous some of the videos are. But anyways, as we were riding I woke up for a bit and opened my eyes and looked and thought to myself, "It looks like that girl doesn't have a shirt on, weird. Must just be a very scandilous bikini because I just woke up and can't see it very well...whoa, she's bending over now, and she just pulled down her bottoms?!?! OH MY GOSH, SHE REALLY IS NAKED!!!" Yeah, I picked the wrong fifteen seconds to look at the screen, and by the time I realized what was happening, it was too late for me to close my eyes again because the video changed. I definitely was shocked, to say the least.

The winery we went to was called Concha y Toro, and it's one of the ten biggest or most important in the world. It was so big, I couldn't believe the size of it. It definitely was much more touristy then the last winery we went to though, which I wasn't too fond of. We watched a video, walked around a bit, and then got to go to the rooms where they keep the thousands of wooden barrels of wine as they ferment. They also took us down some stairs into a really old cellar where they make a special kind of wine called Casillero del Diablo "Cellar of the Devil", which is based off of some old 19th century myth that the devil actually lived there himself. It was weird, and then they shut the doors and turned off all the lights as they told us the story. They even had a little room where you could "see" the devil (a light down the end of a hall with something in front of it making it look like its his silhouette). It was an interesting place, and I now have two different wine glasses from two different wineries that I have to try to take on the plane without them breaking, what fun that will be.

Afterwards, we all hopped on the bus for the last leg of the trip. I ended up reading 20 or so more pages of my book, and was so ready to go to bed as soon as I got home. Today, I woke up and sent some emails and such to get ready for the camp I'll be working at later in August. I was supposed to go to Santiago with my family but they never said anything about it so I guess that idea got shelved for now.

I only have like four more pages left in my book, then I have to start writing the actual essay. I was a little worried about it because I haven't been able to understand all of the book and a lot of it seems irrelevant to my topic, but I decided I'm just going to write the essay with whatever I think the book is saying and not waste hours looking up word after word in a dictionary, only to discover it really is saying what I thought it was saying. If he doesn't like the quality of my essay, I don't really care at this point. As long as he doesn't fail me I'll be happy with the class.

Rodrigo is using some electrical saw right now to cut stuff, it's going to be hard to want to read and write right now...poo. I better go though, I really want to get it done by tonight if possible. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Chao amigos.

I Should Be Reading

I was told yesterday by Alyssa that even she doesn't read my blog. It makes it difficult for me to want to write when my own girlfriend wont even read it. I guess I'm just that boring.

So, my boring news for yesterday:
-Claudio finally gave me my book, which was supposed to be given on Monday
-I am sick of sandwiches for lunch
-Actually, I'm sick of bread in general. It's all we ever have for dinner, bread. Breadbreadbreadbreadbread. I want dinner
-Carlos talked about the coup that took down Allende and then showed some clips from a documentary of the dictatorship of Pinochet. It was some really crazy stuff, I'd share the youtube link with you but it's a little intense so if you're interested I'll let you search on your own
-I came home and had some soup for lunch, which I think later gave me a really upset stomach that didn't go away until I woke up this morning
-I got to Skype with Alyssa for a while, very nice
-I also got to watch one of my favorite movies in Spanish, Matchstick Men (best Nicholas Cage movie ever, or maybe only good Nicholas Cage movie?)
-I had to read about 50 pages of a Spanish novel, not fun
-I went to sleep

Today, I had another day full of boring news, even less productive then yesterday though.
I'm lettering these ones:
A. Woke up
B. Showered
C. Had to go to the University early to meet with Claudio
D. Had an awkward meeting that I didnt really know what I was supposed to do, but I now know what my topic will be for my essay
E. Only one more real class day for his class, I'm stoked
F. Had a meeting about our excursion tomorrow and Friday
G. We're headed to the mountains, it's going to be snowy and cold, we'll eat, go ziplining I think?, go to another winery (I'm not looking forward to hearing about wines again, definitely not my thing), hike a couple hours to a waterfall, come home
H. Carlos had us talk about Machuca, you should watch it if you like funny/serious movies about Chile during the early 1970's
I. Came home on the micro, it was probably one of the best rides yet. The bus even had arm rests, and we only made a few stops the entire time. Made it home within twenty minutes or so, definitely a new record
J. My record for most number of cats before ever seeing a dog is 5, this happened a few weeks ago
K. Dogs may rule the streets by day, but cats reign supreme at night and early morning, I found this out last Saturday
L. I thought I would get home in time to Skype with Alyssa, but she didnt have time to
M. I then wasted the next 6 hours watching movies and resting in my room
N. Rodrigo bought him and I empanadas (Gabriela is in Papudo for a while, and the other two were at some meditation class or something)
O. I wont forget to take a picture of them mom, it's just awkward to say at dinner, "Hey, all of you stand up right now and get really close together so I can take a picture"
P. After eating, I went back to my room and wasted more time
Q. I should've been reading the past couple hours
R. I should read now
S. I should actually sleep now since I need to leave here at 8:30 tomorrow morning
T. Another foreign exchange student is going to be staying here for the next semester and she's arriving the morning I leave here
U. I don't know what she's going to do when my family takes me to the airport though since their car only has five seats and she wont want to go back to the airport after just getting here
V. I probably wont update this again until Saturday or Sunday
W. I dont want to write my essay this weekend
X. I dont want to do any more work, I'm too lazy
Y. I'm not going to do z, so chao