Descartes in Spanish

Thursday, I spent the whole day in the library reading political theory and philosophy...worst day ever. At night, I went and bought theatre tickets for Jesus Christ Superstar in spanish. It's on Easter at 8:30pm. Yesterday, I went to the fish market with Eli, Mama Ana, Martina, and Brittney. We ate at a really good restaurant and I had a seafood stew...a little too fishy for me, but it was still good. Last night, I walked in a procession of the Way of the Cross. In the streets, teenagers acted out the stations of the cross.

Where Have All the Years Gone?

To start off my birthday, Corinne and her roommates called me and sung happy birthday. I couldn't stop smiling. Then at breakfast, my host mom told me how great of a person I was...I almost started to cry. Then, I opened my box of goodies from my parents...peanut butter, sour skittles, butterfingers, tootsie pops, OLD BAY, gum, confetti, and a happy birthday sign. I never realized how much I love candy. At class, my good friend Natacha gave me a cool book about Indigenous groups for my birthday. For dinner, Rob and Laura came over, and we had mussels and clams with OLD BAY....I was in heaven. Then, I went over to Eli's house for some more sweets. I brought Mama Ana some Old Bay. She loved the smell. The pastry she made was kind of like pancakes with melted caramel. It was really good.

Schedule

Monday
4:30-5:50pm Philosophy
8:00-10:00pm Water Polo
Tuesday
8:30-9:50am State
10:00-11:20am Poetry
4:00-9:30pm Service
Wednesday
3:00-4:20pm Estado
4:30-5:50pm Philosophy
8:00-10:00pm Water Polo
Thursday
8:30-9:50am State
10:00-11:20am Poetry
3:00-5:50pm Poverty and Development
Friday
8:00-10:00pm Water Polo

Surprise in the Japanese Garden

Palm Sunday was the day of the Santiago Marathon. A few of my friends ran in it, but I didn't. Starting in May, I'm going to train for the Buenos Aires Marathon on October 11th. Before church, I walked in a Palm Sunday procession with a few friends. It was really nice. PS Chileans use full palm branches...so cool. After church, we planned to have a small picnic...nothing special. However, when we arrived at the Japanese Garden, 20 or so of my friends popped out and surprised me. It was a surprise birthday party for me. I had no clue. It was great. We stayed at the park for a few hours just eating and playing football. After the park, I went over Esteban's house and watched the Phillies-Braves game. Braves won by hitting four homers in the first two innings. Monday at wopo practice, we had "evaluations." This consisted of swimming one thousand meters for time. My time was 16:19. After practice, I came home and rehearsed with my group for the play we had to act out for today. Then, I went to Esteban's to watch the NCAA Championship Basketball Game. Today, our teacher was really impressed with our play. We received a perfect score of 7. At service this afternoon, I talked with Carlos for about a half hour...one on one. It was really great. I was able to practice my spanish and we actually had a pretty decent conversation.

Wine Festival

Friday night, we threw a party for Fernando. Fernando is from Uruguay and the host cousin of Hanna. He has lived with Hanna's host family in Santiago for one and a half years, but is now moving back to Uruguay to be with his girlfriend and because he got a really good job. The party was very nice and calm. Afterwards people wanted to go to a bar, but Fernando is not the bar type. I was going to go home until Fernando said he was going to go, so I went so he could have someone to talk to. We talked for about an hour about stereotypes, South America, and the US. Fernando is a really nice guy, and is very easy to talk to. He's...I would say...28. Today, I went to a wine festival in Pirque, Chile. It was very nice. They even gave us glass wine glasses to keep. They also had a rodeo there, but I couldn't watch because the cowboys were cruel to the calfs. All in all, it was a nice relaxing day.

!!!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.

That's Just the Way It Is

Monday was just a normal day of class. At water polo practice, we practiced with the Chilean selection again. They left for the South American Cup in Argentina Tuesday. Yesterday for my state class, my teacher came late, so he sped through his notes. I didn't get much of what he said. In poetry, we had a paper due on racism in Chile. I interviewed my family here to get an understanding of the topic. The indigenous people in Chile, the Mapuche, are not liked because some Chileans are just ignorant of their culture and also because some Chileans feel that they are just different and shouldn't be in Chile. Most Chileans don't like Peruvians or Bolivians because there is a history of border conflicts, which Chile has won. Currently, there are disagreements of Pacific Ocean ownership. At night, I went to Cerro Navia for service. When I got there, I found out that one of the boys of the population I work with had died. I never met the boy, Christopher, but the social worker I work with, Ximena, had known him for two years. Apparently, everyone knows who killed him, but nothing will be said because it was a close friend of all the boys, even Christopher. I was told this all occurred at a party, where everyone was really drunk. The social workers told me that that's how life is there. It's just a really complicated situation. When I got back to the foundation after walking around with Ximena, I taught an english class to some of the neighborhood kids. They were extremely obnoxious, but fun. Today, I went to the Argentinean Consulate and Embassy. Both places told me that I can't get a student visa, unless I study there for at least two years. They told me to go as a tourist.