!!!CUMBIA!!!

Wednesday night, Chile played Uruguay in a World Cup Qualifier. I watched the first half with my grandmother, and the second half with my friends at a restaurant. The game ended in a 0-0 time, which isn't bad for Chile because apparently Uruguay is supposed to be really good. At the restaurant, I met Richie and Juan Pablo. Juan Pablo was a really nice guy and is studying medicine in Santiage. Richie...umm...was a bit different. He's in the Chilean navy and is a boxer, but he is on medical leave because he has problems with his man parts...he told me this before he told me his name. Yesterday's classes went pretty well. I was able to completely understand my state class...woohoo! After lunch, guess who called? Richie! He wanted me to meet up with him at mall that's pretty far away, so that didn't happen. He invited me to a party was having, but he needed my last name and the full names of my friends that I would bring...I'm not giving out people's names...so that didn't happen. After my 3pm class, I worked on a play that we have to perform for poetry class with a few friends. After dinner I tried mate (maatay) for the first time. It's like opening a teabag, putting it in a cup, pouring hot water in the cup and using a straw to drink the liquid. It's kind of between a coffee and a tea. I think it's really good. It does give you energy, so it's probably more like coffee. At night, I met up with Stefani, Rob, and Eli at Plaza Brasil and we went to a cumbia concert. There, we met up with almost 10 other people from my class. I've never heard music like cumbia before. I can't describe...look it up online. It's fun and crazy...I can't think of any other words for it. I'm still a little confused by it. On the way home, I took a taxi and had a really good conversation with the driver about Chile, Obama, Argentina, cumbia, mate, Chilean food, etc.