Arrival in Temuco

Rain and greenery!!!

Straight out of the airport

The only salt lake in Chile, Lago Budi!

Me with my "compañera de cuarto," or roommate, Maria

Traditional Mapuche dwelling

En el Aeropuerto Santiago

In the Santiago Airport

First things first: I just had a granola and yogurt parfait from Starbucks!! After leaving Arica at 5:00am this morning to catch an early flight to Santiago (Remember, I can't sleep on planes. No exceptions.) I can't express the joy I felt upon seeing that towering symbol of American consumerist culture. :)

Right now I am in the Santiago airport with the rest of my group. We have a five hour layover here, and then another short flight to Temuco. I am actually super excited for this excursion to Temuco, but not for the reasons you might think. The purpose of this trip is to learn about Mapuche culture and medicine. That's all well and good, but what I am really excited for is the RAINNNN. It is raining in Temuco right now! After living for about two months now in one of the driest places on earth, I have realized how much I really miss rain. It's so bad that sometimes I wake up in the morning and hear someone watering plants and think that the water hitting the ground is rain. And sometimes, I hear a loud truck in the distance and think that it is thunder. I am actually hallucinating for lack of rainfall! So you see, this excursion is much-needed. If only they also had Kraft macaroni and cheese in Temuco I would be all set....

Cena de Despedida

Goodbye Dinner

Last night was our "goodbye" dinner with the host families. Some of the people in my group will be traveling to other cities for the ISPs, where they will be living in hostels or in apartments. Of course, I will be staying right here in Arica with the family during the ISP period, so  it wasn't actually a "goodbye" dinner for me. Still, it was a nice photo opp...

Abuelo, Abuelita, Cote, Felipe, and me

Los Abuelos, Ivan, Cote, me, and Jessica

Trionfo Sobre la Enfermedad

Triumph Over Illness


I am allowed to go out into the world and be with people! But I have an oral exam today. Blech.  


On an unrelated note, Mary Poppins speaks Spanish. So does Burt:
CLICK HERE for Supercalifragilisticexpialodocious en Español

Estoy Enferma :(

I am sick :(

There is a nasty stomach bug tearing through my group and I think I contracted some kind of mutated verison of it yesterday. My stomach was only bothering me for a short time, but then I was left with a cough/sore throat. And last night, when I had a fever and felt dizzy, my host mom Jessica insisted on taking me to the clinic. Personally, I would've been content to wait it out, but apparently the whole "Mom knows best" thing is not just an American phenomenon. So we went to the clinic and 46 mill pesos later I have amoxicilina, ibuprofeno, and a promise from Dr. Álvarez that I will, indeed, survive. Well that is good news. 

I feel a lot better this morning but still super tired and obviously not in classes today. My host mom is a great nurse and brought me tea and toast in bed this morning, and I also found the WB on t.v. so I've already watched Friends and Two and a Half Men. I might just have to bust out Mary Poppins this afternoon.

Galletas!

COOKIES!

I have been starved for normal desserts here. Chileans know how to eat but that don't have a clue how to do dessert. And their "cookies" are such sorry excuses for the real thing (with the one exception of RigoChoco) that it makes me want to cry. Today I finally broke down and brought home a Betty Crocker mix from Hiper Lider, the local Target equivalent. I really want to do more baking projects but the ovens are different here, so I am kind of scared...

Abuelo pronounces the cookies "rico"

Oh, you've been out of my life for too long <3

Corte de Pelo

Haircut

I was worried before I got here that I wouldn't meet Chileans my own age since we don't actually have classes with university students. (To clarify, our classes are in Spanish and with Chilean lecturers, but they are classes for our program specifically.) That is so not the case. Between the "jovenes" from our orientation and all of the host siblings, we are never lacking in Chilean company. But my BEST Chilean friend is Rebeca. As is fitting for a BEST Chilean friend, we met my first day of dance class at the gym, and we have been bosom buddies ever since.

Me with Rebeca (right) and her sister Stefhanni (left)

 Our most recent adventure has been going to get haircuts together. I was super nervous to get a haircut in a country where I was not sure if I could clearly express the sentiment "just a trim," but Rebeca brought me to this teeny, tiny hole in the wall place in the Centro, and I got the exact same haircut I get in the U.S. for 3 mill pesos, or 6 American dollars. Can you believe it?? A fraction of what I pay in the U.S.! I think I am feeling brave enough to wax my eyebrows here...