Ramblings

hey everyone,



So this week has been actually pretty great. I´ve been going to school which well.... is school although now my name is actually on the student list! i get to say "¡presente!" in the beginning of class when they call my name! I also have started to actually do things. Today I took my first quiz in Lenguaje, it was awful. Tomorrow i have a big test in filosofía about sexuality which should be interesting in spanish. I got my Ensaye (thesis essay) back today and I got 6.2!!! Grades here are out of seven so i got the equivalent of a A! And i wrote the essay in spanish! I´m very proud of myself.



My whole school is getting ready for Fiestas Patrias which is their equivalent of fourth of July. It´s HUGE here. Its next weekend and we get a few extra days off to celebrate. I am learning the Cueca and i´ve almost mastered it! The girls spent the entire gymnasio making a Cueca dance to perform for the rest of my class. I have another lesson tonight. The best part is that we get to wear these huge dresses to dance in. All my classmates are bringing their extra dresses for me to try on tomorrow since i have to borrow one. Everyone here has them for Fiestas Patrias. The boys wear guaso outfits which are like the cowboy outfits in the movies. The little boys are so cute!



On saturday night we went out as a family to the Peña until about three in the morning. Its a big party kind of? I dont remember the word in english but everyone goes in the middle with a live band and dances Cueca! along with other dances. I wasnt feeling too well so i didnt dance. but, I will during Fiestas Patrias, that´s unavoidable.



Im feeling almost normal today! now im just a lot more tired than I usually would be. We figured out that a lot of my stomach pain was coming from my Acid Reflux because I hadn´t taken my medicine for in quite some time since i hadnt had any problems for a while. So, that´s mostly taken care of.



I did notice today that I have a ton of little red bumps on my hands and some one my legs. I know it must be an alergic reaction to something I ate, we are trying to figure that out. Ive heard of other exchangers getting them so im not worried. Now my host mom is convinced it is from alfahores which are these amazing cake things I ate yesterday. I hope not! I love them so much! Sometimes people here get this kind of allergic reaction from chocolate so yep... i hope thats not me though ( i LOVE chocolate). It seems that I just cant be completely healthy, ever.

Im not going to school on friday because i have my first AFS weekend orientation! I am so pumped! All of us exchangers are going to Conception on friday until sunday. It should be a ton of fun. I get to see the ocean for the first time in Chile and hopefully see a bit of the city! I´ll try to take some pictures but my camera broke! (only two months old!) And so it´s difficult sometimes to take pictures which is a bummer for fiestas patrias. Ill write more later, Simón needs the computer. Sorry for all the grammar mistakes and spelling! My writing skills are going downhill VERY rapidly and i dont have time to read over this. Love you all!