Long time, no see...

Hey all!
Sorry it's been SUPER long since I've written!!! AHHHHH. Let's see, it'll be hard to sum everything up in a nutshell but let's see.. what's happened since I talked on here last?
--I went to Valparaiso one Sunday... saw Pablo Neruda's house. Very pretty. It's a port town... reminds me of San Francisco.
-- CIEE took it's trip to San Pedro de Atacama... the desert in northern Chile. Really neat! Only problem: I got food poisoning the first night from some the porkchop I ate. Monica and I just so happened to be sharing the "matrimonial bed" and she got food poisoning from something in Santiago so we were sick together. It was a party. Hahaha. But we did get to see an open copper mine the first day and the last day there I took pix of everyone sandboarding. I tried it out once on the bunny hill and it was fun : ).
-- Went to Mendoza for the second time.. with Allie and Monica. The first day was funny.. me and Allie worked on our poetry project and the hostel ppl tried to help us. "My soul is filled with a giant marine conch." (literal translation... long story.. hahaha) We also went out to a discoteca one night. Guys only age 25 and older could get in... girls 18 and older hahaha. Our grp knew the owners so everyone got in. There were a couple characters in the grp-- "18-yr-old" and "old man" and "white shirt".. then Matias and Tino. It was fun. I think Monica had the best time ; ). And lastly we went to an amazing hot springs there. Got to try out the whole mud bath ordeal. It was great. It was chilly outside, so after we put mud on us we ran outside and had to lay down really quickly on the warm wood... the breeze was freezing if u stood up. Good time though.
OHHH in the airport.. Alexis Sanchez was standing right behind me. One of the lead soccer players in Chile. I held him up a lil cuz I kept leaving change and crap in my pockets and had to walk thru the security thing 50 times. HAHAHA.
--Fiestas Patrias. Chilean Independence Day.. was Sept 18th. The week leading up to it sucked cuz I had so much homework and had to write my first important sociology essay. But on Thursday our group went to a Chilean rodeo which was cool. They don't kill the bulls, so I was happy. Lots of dance and eating good meat and drinking chicha. On Friday/Saturday I went to Rancagua and Cachagua (or something like that) to celebrate with Chilean family. It was fun. Lot o good food, a dog fight, lotsa kids, really nice relatives, blooming peach trees. Saturday night we went to a discoteca called Club Miel... turns out its a gay club hahaha. We got VIP somehow and had a great time. I convinced the one straight guy that started dancing with me that Allie and I were lesbian lovers that were travelling together from the U.S. He scooted away within minutes haha. Sunday, I went to a "fonda" which is like a big artisan craft sale.. lots of tents and then huge areas for dancing the cueca and the chilote (traditional dances of Chile) and food. Saw the CUTEST kids perform. It was fun.

Those are the big events. Other than that, just getting along in classes. I think I'm finally basically over my culture shock... took me long enough!!! I think part of it is adjusting to not living with Keith and Ian... or being an RA... where we were around eachother literally ALL the time. But the other part I think was culture shock. Not that I havent had fun but I'm more close to my normal wanting-to-get-active self. It's good.

Oh the other big thing that's begun is me teaching English in an after school program of a high school in Quilicura. It's really cool... the kids are fun. It is definitely difficult to plan. Miriam is helping me out though : ). More on that later. Gotta go shopping with Allie now! Chao chao!