Back from Pucón & examenes

I just took a prueba (test) and got back a recent prueba. I am not feeling very smart. I somehow have a difficult time sacando the good notas (grades). Even other gringos in my Conflicto Armado class managed the relatively good grade on that last test, and I studied my butt! off for it. And i did not do so hot. no. granted they took it in English, but still. hmmm. And today we had more problems with our Género y Derecho professor. She just isn't really accommodating with our foreign student-ness. We finally got to take the prueba, after it being rescheduled 3 times, and then apparently we ran out of time, without knowing how much time we had to begin with, apparently! and only the friend/Riley who was in the room with her (with the rest of the class, watching a movie) was 'lucky' enough to figure out that we were out of time- since the rest of us were in the library. The professor left- like, bounced, after forty minutes and we took an hour (the length of the class). SO now I have the test, and professor and Riley got into a tiff, and I don't know what will happen on Tuesday- cause we don't have till then. I hope not another academic failure. I don't know if I could handle it...
Thursday is Chilean Labor day, and I'm going to Mendoza, Argentina. Basically almost all my friends have already gone for a long weekend (it's right over the border- you take a bus), and had an amazing time. We will ride bikes between vineyards! yay.
So our program took us to Pucón, this beautiful town in the south of Chile, near to Puerto Varras (see earlier post, in March?) We didn't get to do everything we wanted because we were told all activities were possible rain or shine, so we planned and it rained, and then they said, nope, oops, sorry. BUT, the cabañas (cabins) were gorgeous and Saturday we did do some really awesome rafting. See pictures. jaja. The air down there is so much more clear and nicer than in Santiago. My snot isn't dirty when I leave Santiago for more than a day. too much info for some maybe, but so so true.
I've been missing you all. you know who you are. besitos.

¡Fútbol!

This weekend Ilana and I went to Valpo/Viña and I saw Jenny Ray!! It was wonderful. Jray invited us to a fútbol game in Viña with her friends. It was loco. and awesome. I attach here a little thing I found online about it. Our team won and the fans were amazing. They had big drums and flares and chants and songs! See below (fyi: Triunfazo = big triumph. We were rooting for O'Higgins!):

sábado 12 de abril de 2008

Triunfazo de O'Higgins en Viña: 3-1 derrotó a Everton

O'Higgins es segundo en el torneo con 26 unidades, tres menos que Universidad Católica que venció a Universida de Concepción po 2-0.-

VIÑA DEL MAR.- Un verdadero golpe a la cátedra provocó esta noche O'Higgins de Rancagua, al vencer a domicilio al ex puntero Everton de Viña del Mar por 3-1.

El cuadro celeste llegó en tre oportunidades al arco rival y con una contundencia del 100 por ciento, dejó con las ganas a los viñamarinos de seguir en la punta del campeonato.

Everton abrió la cuenta a los 4 minutos, con gol de Exequiel Miralles. A los 38 minutos, el pachorra, Cristobal González aprovechó una falla del portero Jhony Herrera, para marcar el 1-1. Comenzando el segundo tiempo a los 56, O'Higgins se queda con uno menos por expulsión de Roberto Cáceres.

Everton sumaba y sumaba ocasiones de gol pero los celestes no se dejaron amedrentar. En los 77 minutos, un contragolpe de O'Higgins, le permitió a Jean Bousejour, anotar la ventaja rancagüina. Tres minutos más tarde, en otra contra, Joan Henríquez dejó la cuenta 1-3 para O'Higgins que ahora disfruta su segundo lugar en la tabla de posiciones de primera división, junto al propio Everton y Universida de Chile con 26 unidades. Casi al finalizar el partido, se fueron expulsados en Everton, Nelson Acosta, Exequiel Miralles y Mauricio Arias, y en O'Higgins, Joan Henríquez.

Incidentes en la tribuna.

Coincidentemente con la expulsión de los evertonianos, la barra de los ruleteros se descontroló. Las emprendió contra la barra de O'Higgins. Hubo más de cinco detenidos en el propio estadio y un carabinero resultó gravemente herido debido a un piedrazo lanzado por la barra de Everton. Posteriormente, la barra rancagüina devolvió los proyectiles en contra del público de Viña del Mar. Al final lo que era una fiesta se transformó en un bochorno.- (TEXTO: Deporteros; FOTO: O'Higgins S.A.D.P.)

For those who can't read the español: the bottom part says: Incidents in the stand. Coinciding with the explusion of a bunch of the home team's fans, they lost control of one of the fences (in the section next to us/the fans broke it). More then 5 people were detained and a police officer was gravely wounded by a rock thrown by the Everton section. Later, the Rancaguin section (right next to us) returned to throwing projectiles against the public of Viña del Mar (us). In the end, what was a fiesta turned into an embarrassment.

¡UPDATE!

pues... what have I been up to? many things.... Last Saturday I went to the Isla de Maipo (which is not an island) for the festival of Vendimia- a wine festival, with my 'chilean amassador,' Tania, and our group from the program. It was really fun. Chile is well-known for its excellent wines- and I got to keep my wine glass. I saw grape stomping and Chile's national dance, cueca. We shared a delicious cheese plate and lots of yummy artisenal chocolates. Especially Alfajores- which are these layerered cookies with Manjar, covered in chocolate. Manjar is the chilean thing- its kind of like dulce de leche/caramel. they put it on everything. I don't really like red wine, which is supposed to be better than the white here- but that's ok. I just drank white anyway:)

I also helped bake cookies for this international student event at La Católica yesterday. Every country with exchange students had a table, and cooked food and stuff. We made a lot of stuff with pnut butter. and cookies with m&ms. and Mary from Alabama (a new friend), made sweet tea. We didn't have any cups so everyone just took swigs from the bottles. it was very nice.

I'm going to Cinehoyt this afternoon to see a chilean movie and then to see jazz with people from my program. so that should be fun. Tomorrow, Tania (ambajadora) organized a bbq (called an 'asado'- very popular here) in this park on a hill, for our little group.

On the downside, I have a scary test coming up in Conflicto Armado this Thursday. We had a study session with our Ayudantes yesterday (they are like our class T.A.s). And I have my first paper for my joke class, Imagen de Chile, due April 29. That's right after our trip to Pucón. I can't decide if I'm going to climb the volcano. I want to ride horses instead.

Also, I decided I'm not going to Israel this summer. The program didn't really work out and I think I'd rather be home for a month. Maybe work? money = useful/I will need after this trip.

Semana Santa is here! Easter! It isn't that exciting really, except I think I get to dye eggs, which I haven't done since kindergarten. woohoo. And I'm going to mass with my mom and little sisters at St.George Colegio where my mom works and my sisters go to school, which should be nice. I really want to visit and see what it looks like. **St.George is the colegio the movie Machuca is based on, fyi. The only other time I've been to mass was when I was abroad in Guadalajara, México last Winter Term. Go figure. I like listening in Spanish.

I need to get more motivating to follow my schedule, especially now that I've picked all my classes. I'm just about positive that my final class is the slightly ridiculous but still enjoyable, 'Imagen de Chile en Pablo Neruda y Gabriela Mistral.' Last tuesday I used Pastels to express myself dissecting Neruda's poetry. That's right- pastels. I had colorful fingers. Today I wrote my own poetry. yeah. I used the obnoxious guys from the Telepizza last night who tried to talk to us as inspiration.

That's another thing. No more Wednesday night carreteando. I have the 10am class, and it just will not work. Carretear is the verb that means to go out, or to party, on any level, here in Chile. Here people don't really go out to clubs until at least, at least 1am and they get back around 5 or 6am. It is a lot later. The sleep- not so much. I'm still working on how the carreteando and the sleep are going to work out together. we'll see!

chau chau!

School's In

So school is slowly but surely beginning, and the process isn't exactly a cakewalk. I've narrowed down three classes that I'm definitely taking: the CIEE class "Pobreza y desarollo en Chile y América Latina," Derecho y Género, and Conflicto Armado y la Política del Trabajo Humanitario. Translation: 1. Poverty and Development in Chile and Latin America, 2. Gender and Law, and 3. Armed Conflict and the Poltics and Humanitarian work/aid. But I need at least one more class- and you have to just go to a whole bunch of classes at the different campuses across the city until you find one you like/that fits with your schedule. La Chile and La Católica are definitely very different schools, partly because La Chile is public, therefore has less money, and is a lot more laid back, has a more pluralist feel, also less organized. La Católica's San Joaquín campus (the only one I've seen), is beautiful. I've been feeling fairly lazy about trying out these classes which isn't a good thing, but its so hard to feel motivated. I'm pretty sure that once classes start and I actually have a schedule with classes I'm registered in, I'll feel more motivated.

Also, I want to volunteer for an organization/community called El Monte. They came to our class yesterday to speak, along with other organizations (6 hours of service is required as part of the class). I'd like to work in a hospital in El Monte; the area is very poor and is about an hour and a half outside Santiago city.

P.s.- I'm going to Viña again- this time with my friend Ilana and her host mom. Gratis/free! We're driving up on Saturday morning and staying with her family. yay!

Exhausted from fun, but still going (al Sur)

So I'm about to pass out in my room, hoping I can avoid a Winnie the Pooh movie night. I have kind of a head ache too. However, this weekend in Valparaíso and Viña was amazing! We spent almost all of Saturday at the beach, and Sunday too. We went to this beautiful beach in Reñaca. I'm really really burnt in some places now, but it should turn into a tan soon if I keep applying aloe. We also went to two discotecas friday and saturday- superbien. First- kareoke, which was ridiculous. Grafton competed for the Piña colada (her 21st bday). we all sang. Saturday = El Huevo, a 4-story club with different types of music on each floor. Valpo is so beautiful and unlike any other city I've ever seen. Jray is going to be soo happy i think.

Today we had an interesting lunch in a Mapuche community, the indigenous people of Chile. I was so tired though. I got up early to do homework that didn't get collected... We also had a spanish test to see our level. I didn't try too hard, so we'll see. But I'm not planning on taking the grammar class since it won't count towards graduation and I've already taken a very similar class at Oberlin two semesters ago.

Also, i do love my family, but it is hard to adjust to the constant screaming tantrums that seem happen every evening. I wonder if I should or could anything. I sort of just go to my room after a while. The screaming and crying is really a lot sometimes and I come home so exhausted sometimes, you know?

AND- some of us made plans to travel south this Wednesday! wahooo! Three of us are flying (cheap tickets) into Puerto Montt, staying in a hostel there but spending the day in Puerto Varras, then the next day going to Chiloé (a gorgeous green naturey archipelago) where we will hike, kayak, and maybe see a penguin colony, and then to the national park to camp on saturday night. I know I'm not the best for 'roughin' it, but I think I should be ok. It only gets down to about 50 degrees now and I'm borrowing some stuff.

So now all I need is lots of sleep and I should be good to go:) I miss you all!

early to bed for Chile Contemporeana

So we're putting ourselves to bed early tonight (with lots of screaming and crying on the part of la Fernandita and la Maria Jose) because la Paulina and I are getting up early to go meet CIEE. I have to register my student visa. Then the week long mini course, 'Contemporary Chile' starts, from 10am to 6pm each day.

We all spent the weekend with our familias. I met la abuela, el abuelo, el ex-marido, amigos, etc. I went on forced runs with la Jose while she rode her bicycle. Paulina showed me the metro and the supermarket (I learned she is wierd and loves pnut butter- yes!). So far I've watched Barney goes to the Circus (in español), Flushed Away (Lo que las aguas se la llevó), and Home Alone (Mi Pobre Angelito). I've also done a lot of coloring. I watched a really excellent film yesterday called Machuca. Te lo recomiendo mucho. I am tired, but still ok and happy I think:)

Here is a link about Machuca:
http://ae.miami.com/entertainment/ui/miami/movie.html?id=284562&reviewId=20877