Fiesta

Last night was my first Chilean party! Don´t worry- I´m not hungover. Lucky for me that I think alcohol tastes like cleaning fluid, because here it seems like at least the people that I hang out with obey the drinking laws, not like what Tessa experienced in Argentina. The party was a fiesta de quince (15th birthday) of Nadia, a girl in the grade below me. I hadn´t actually ever met her until the party, but my friends in my curso said I had to come and gave me an invite, so apparently it was acceptable to show up! Fiestas de quince are a really big deal here, but my mom told me that not all families put on a big fiesta. The beginning of the party was pretty much the same as American parties- people standing around awkwardly talking in clumps and not dancing. Then Nadia arrived in her big white dress and everyone clapped. I soon saw for myself that no one is shy about dancing here...except me. I would really like to be able to dance, and I would really like to like to dance, but...I can´t dance (or at least I am not confident that I can dance) and I don´t like to dance either. Despite this I somehow found myself dancing the whole night, because that´s what Chileans do! Everyone was dressed up- it was kind of like a bat mitzah. There was a big cake (multiple big cakes actually) and a DJ and lights and food and a bunch of people sang songs for the birthday girl. I will say that it will be nice when my friends here don´t have to take care of me like they do now because I have no idea what is going on and I don't know most of the people.
One thing that is different here is that no one is shy about their relationships. I know there must be a lot of couples in the U.S., but it seems like there are so many more here because nobody hides it! It´s like there are couples all over the place! I was a little taken aback my first day at school when the girl and guy in the row in front of me were kissing for the whole lesson. Another thing is that the guys are not afraid to dance, and are actually good dancers! The party was from 9 until 2:30 in the morning, so today I slept until 1 in the afternoon, then went to my choir rehearsal at the University of Talca at 3. Phew. I´m exhausted. But it was so nice to sing again, and I love both the songs we are doing. It was a little nerve wracking because after I woke up...uhem, this afternoon, I realized that the songs probably had to be memorized, and since I had only practiced the songs in one reahersal, they were nowhere close to being memorized. Luckily Columbus Children´s Choir saved my butt, and I memorized one in the car on the way to the rehearsal, and the other (since it was in Latin and I´ve sung so much Latin) I could fake the first few times and after that I had it memorized. Another difference- it seems like here no one drinks just water. I brought my water bottle to school and everyone asked me what was in it, and seemed surprised that I drink plain water- the same during the rehearsal today. It seems like I´m just thirstier than everyone here! Also the soccer team that my dad plays on won their game today.
Some of the amazing food I have had here: (yes I know how typical it is of me to devote this much blog space to talking about food)
-these pastry things that are like a cross between a cream puff and a donut
-alfahores (my amigas were quick to tell me that Chilean alfahores are much better than Argentine ones)
-ribs that my mom made that seemed to only be flavoured with salt, but were soooo delicious
-a Chilean dish called parrilladas that has all different types of meat
-palta, ham, and cheese sandwiches
-corn flakes with peach yoghurt
-white tea with sugar, I drink it all the time
-Milo, a drink that is like fortified chocolate milk
-fried cauliflower (seems weird, but it was really good)
-strawberry juice, it is so yummy!
-manjar cake
-much more that I can´t remember at the moment!

I am going to try and start running soon, because getting all these emails from Coach Guy about how the cross country season is going makes me feel lazy. One strange thing is that there seems to be no normal athletic tracks here, at least not normal in the American sense- none of the tracks that I have seen, either at mi colegio or at any of the big universities here, are the synthetic rubber that we have in the U.S. They are all dirt or gravelish material. However I have no excuse for not running where my house is, because it is in the country and would be a beautiful place for a cross country meet. My reason for not having started running already is that my first week has been so filled with activities- starting school was a big time consumer, and also all these processes for getting my Chilean ID, getting registered with the police, etc. It is crazy that I have been here a week. In some ways it feels like I haven´t been here long, but in others it seems like I have been here forever because I have done so many things and learned so much already, and also because my life is so different now that the U.S. seems very faroff and distant, and not in the sense of physical distance.
What the future holds...Monday is the first choir competition, Tuesday is almuerzo/movie with my friends, then another choir competition in Concepcion on Wednesday, then the first official Rotary meeting on Thursday. Tomorrow I´m going to do errands with my parents like getting an adaptor. Oh yes and sleep! I am so tired all the time! I got back so late last night (actually it was early this morning) that I was too tired to write in my journal, so I need to make up for two days. I´ve been writing every day, and I always fill up at least two or three pages, more often 5 or 6 because everything is new and there is so much I want to remember. I hope everyone is doing well and the CSGers are enjoying being back in school! Lots of hugs! Also I would love if you commented...I won´t promise to write back because I´m supposed to be on a communication blackout right now, but I would love to hear from everyone!

Chao! Que estes bien!