Segunda semana

So, we have successfully made it through two weeks.  Things seem to have slowed down since the first week, we have all learned a lot of spanish and a lot about the city here!  School is really starting to pick up, and the professors (especially ours from CSBSJU) have started pilling it on....  We're enjoying ourselves though, and have been doing a lot of studying on the beach.  

I have been taking every opportunity to hang out with the Chileans and practice my spanish, which put me in a club on Thursday displaying my disappointing Gringo dancing skills, but for the most part the Chileans are very nice people... Muy amable.  I think the one thing I am enjoying most is the food here, we have fresh juice every day, and the meals are spectacular.  We eat a lot of "Palta" (avocados) and "Porotos" (beans).  There is a food called "Completos" that I think are local to Chile which is basically a giant hot dog smothered in tomatoes, guacamole, and mayonnaise... it is spectacular!  As we were leaving Scratch club yesterday at 4:30 am Manuel was telling us that as much fun as we have had, we still have 4 months left, and it's only winter, so I guess we have a lot of Chile ahead of us!

Pictures

La moneda.  The central government building of Chile.  We went here for the premier of the Ariel Dorfman film.

The graffiti is much better down here.

This is our dog. "El Ewok."

A view from my front porch.  Yes, that is the ocean.  Yes, those are mountains.

Yes, I love Chile.

The flower clock and my chilean mom.  They change the type of flowers every season.

The ocean.

First week

So, I have been here a week now, and it has been incredible!  I now can speak well enough to look back on my first day and laugh about how little I understood (the only word I understood in an hour was "supernintendo") and know my way around well enough to get around.  It is incredible how fast all of us are able to learn!  This past week we have done so much!  When we got here we had a dinner (empanadas) and some awesome chilean wine, and then I spent the next two days touring the city with my new family, we saw the beach, the mountains, some markets; basically everything Viña has to offer for a tourist.  Then we started  school, and I realized that however much I learned, I was definitely a gringo, and will probably be one forever. Picture a group of 25 students, most of us blonde, walking around with open mouths, speaking english, on the first day of school. That was us.  We got through the first week though, so I guess we are not as incapable as we probably look. 

     On Wednesday we went to a premier of a film of Ariel Dorfman at La Moneda, the central government building in Santiago.  Areil was there, there was a wine tasting, there was even a list, and we were on it.  It was surreal.  Who are a group of foreigners to get invited to something like this?  Other that that I guess it was a pretty normal week in a foreign country... if there is such thing.

   I did join a baby fútbol team (6 on 6 soccer on a smaller field), a fútbol massivo team (regular soccer), and started a gringo baby fútbol group, so I guess I will be pretty busy.  

   That has been my week though.  When I figure this thing out I'll try to put up some photos.