El Colegio: Dos Días

There is so much to talk about, it´s very difficult. I´ll start with ahora, or now. At this moment I am sitting in the office of la escuela (school por chiquititos, little kids, in comparison to colegio por jovenes) de mi mamá. The keyboard is very different, so I aplogize for any mistakes. Also, I´m typing with gloves on. Si, hace mucho frío :(
Yesterday was my first day of school. Monday I went with mi mamá y tía y Monica de Italia to buy my uniform. I got a ton of clothes and a new pair of shoes for about $160 US... Muy bien! Here we wear a white blouse with a grey tie, a navy-blue V-neck sweater, blue pants or a skirt with grey tights, grey socks, black shoes, and a blue jacket. When we bought all this, we went to a medium sized store... Here everything is super different. Everything is sold in a way that makes it look cheap: I keep telling mi mamá that I love the colors here. Everything is very colorful. In the store, you´re waited on. The pants come without a hem so you can alter them at home (we took them to a lady in a shack/house around the corner) and everyone is very friendly. The cashier, who had helped to wait on us, gave me gloves for free (muchas gracias, Señora!) My jacket is huge and warm with fur around the hood. Yesterday it rained and when the hood got wet, it shed fur. :( Bienvenida a Chile! Haha.
At the school, there are three or four classes in each of the four grades. I´m in 3ºC. I have about 25 other jovenes in my class, all of whom wanted a kiss and introduction. I love the kissing here! So many boys to kiss the cheeks of! It´s very different and very wonderful. (although yesterday I missed and one boy got a peck on the lips AHH!!)
The English teacher at mi colegio is called Miss by all of the students, which is cute. She´s very nice and loves to speak English to me, which is SUPERBIEN. I´ve been helping her out with a debate in English in which her students participated today (we won!). There are two other estudiantes intercambios in the school from EE.UU. Erika Rabura, from Seattle, and Alex from New Orleans. Both are super nice and helpful. After schoool yesterday I went to a café with Alex and ate a Chilean sandwich. Everyone eats with forks and knives here, even things like >French Fries and sandwiches. They´re also extremely worried about me catching cold. I´m constantly being rebundled in scarves and jackets or force-fed food... Ehhhhhh
So everything´s been very eventful so far. I´m to learn the international dance of Chile, the Cueca, to dance on the 18 September, which is a day of much celebration. (already I´m forgetting my English; pardon...)
School ended yesterday at 5 and today at one. After, I can do what I want until 7 when the fuguron, or bus, comes; go out with Poncho o mis amigos or take clases like Cueca... Today I bought a cellular, a cellphone, then took the bus to the school where my mamá teaches. It´s an escuala rural, which I think is public, and obviously poor. But all of the children were very excited. I watched the Cueca competition with some little girls who fell in love with my blonde hair and accent... They showed me the whole school and made me kiss all the boys (who all wanted photos), and spoke slowly in short sentences (perfecto!)...
We take a private bus called a fuguron (sp?) to and from school. It´s small and it only takes kids whose parents pay for it, from what I gather. It´s operated by a man everyone calls tío, who always gets out to open the door for the chiquititas.
It´s hard to think of much more... Everyone loves the profesor de matematicas, who they all find very handsome. The clases are impossible to understand, but everyone is so so helpful and I understand far more than I did when I first arrived. I love it here. Sorry, Mom, but I´m not homesick at all. That may come later, but right now I´m just in love with everything and everyone. The Andes are incredible, the houses are colorful, the foliage is completely different and charming... Me gusta todos, todos, todos.

When I`m asked if I like Chile, I respond, ¨Sí, po! Me gusta mucho mucho mucho...¨

Anyway, chaoito!
Emilia (porque aqui no one can pronounce or spell Emily... Or Brown...)

Tambíen,
A few things about the language here:
when you´re talking to someone you´re friends with, you stick ¨ito¨ on the ends of words. Like Chaoito! Also, when you say a word like sí, no, or ya, if you REALLY mean it, you stick ¨po¨on the end. (Sí po!) Weon means stupid, don´t say punta... Etc etc etc.
Tambíeníen,
I absolutely cannot send post cards like I had hoped. It´s impossible to relay the idea of a postcard in the first place, and I just don´t ever have the opportunity. Lo siento!!