THUMP

That's the sound a horse makes when it's hit by a bus going 80 km/hr.
My weekend has been fairly chaotic...

The night of the seventeenth, the night before the national independence day of Chile, I was riding home by myself in a micro (bus) around eight o'clock. The ride home is fairly long, 45 minutes or so, and the micro-drivers tend to go fast on the two-lane country road that takes me to my house. I was sitting in the very first seat in front (the only one-person seat on the micro... Between Pedro and Mamá I have my own security force - I'm always in the safest position everywhere I go), bored, watching the road. The driver flicked off his high beams for about ten seconds to let pass a car going in the other direction. In this interval, we rapidly approached two men on horseback riding in the road (at times it's impossible to ride abreast on the side), two men invisible to the 60-year-old bus driver (although I saw them!). By the time the driver became aware of the approaching danger, not only was it too late to slow down sufficiently, but we were also unable to swerve around them as the car approaching in the other direction was in the immediate line of escape. Entonces, there was a sickening thump, a crash, and a horse lost its life. The man on the horse was thrown onto the ground, where a slow trickle of blood flowed down the slight slope... The headlights of the micro illuminated all as the occupants rushed to the scene, swarming around, asking for a cellphone, testing the cavallero's pulse, etcetera. In a series of chaotic phonecalls, I managed to communicate the idea to my family, who zoomed to the scene in the car and hurried me away to a quiet cup of tea in my kitchen. THAT was quite a night! From what I've learned, the cavallero is in the hospital in Rancagua, possibly in critical condition... My community is so small that everyone seems to know a little bit about what's going on.


Anyhow, other less fascinatingly morbid things have been happening too...

NUMBER ONE: Cueca!!
We finally danced the Cueca for real at school on the seventeenth; this is the event which I've been anxiously anticipating for the past month and a half. The day before, a Wednesday, Pedro and I had a final class with a friend of his (from whom he borrowed his boots, chaps, and spurs). I can honestly say that I didn't grasp the concept until this lesson.
It's worth mentioning that when asked how I feel about my Cueca I usually say, "the only difference between Pedro and me is that I KNOW I can't dance..."
Anyway, we finally got it down and had a BLAST at school the next day. We watched the other dances native to Chile performed (some from Easter Island, others from the North)... This one involved a costume slightly inappropriate for the frigid, rainy weather:
The whole school was gathered in the central patio, where there was a whole music class playing guitar and singing for the dancers and a performance lasted at least two hours. Afterwards we all ate traditional Chilean food with our classes. Empanadas de piño and queso con carne, choripan, brocheta, various sweets, and tons of carne asado. Pedro's family attended to watch the spectacle, along with many other parents and visitors.

The next day was the 18th, national independance day of Chile! Huge celebrations all over the country, food, Cueca, defiles (parades), and lots and lots of wine and pisco. Pedro came to my house, along with practically the whole family (TONS of people), where we flew kites, played ping-pong, ate, ate, and ate. We went to nearby Chimbarongo to watch a defile. It was fairly uneventful until the part where about a hundred horses squeezed through the crowd, closely followed by souped-up ancient Beetles, vrooom vrooom!

Yesterday I went to Pedro's house, where I ate MORE choripan, played with his little sister, and watched on TV the military parade in Viña del Mar.

And today, after all this, I'm relaxing in the house of the Abuelita, surrounded by the great majority of my family. Still eating. And eating.

So that's about it.
Chao,

Emily

CHI LE Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le Viva Chile!

Woohoo for Saturdays! I fell asleep at 9:00 last night and slept until 8:30... It was a gorgeous morning, with just the right chilliness and lots of sun. I drove into San Fernando central with Papá and Alicia around nine... Alicia had Pre and I wanted to stay at la Abuelita's house so I can go to a fiesta later... I love Saturdays!

First off, a few notes about random things.
1. Pre. Pronounced like Pray but with an almost-rolling R, it's short for Pre-Universitario (I think?)... Anyway, it's a super big deal here for seniors in high school who plan to go to college (side note: If you don't go to college you're eligible for a draft into the military... I know a boy who's on the list this year O.o). The SAT equivalent in Chile is the PSU, which students take immediately after graduation. It's a huge deal... Unlike the SAT, you have to study for it and study hard. It has a history section in addition to the math and language and most seniors have Pre for about 10 hours a week in preparation. (I'm so glad I don't have to take the PSU... So glad...)
2. It's hard for my family to drive into town a lot since we live about 30 minutes out in a "suburb" type deal. This being said, if I want to do anything on weekends I have to seriously pull some strings. I'm not allowed to go alone in collectivos (taxis that work like buses, picking up multiple passengers in each round of the city but will go where you ask them... It's complicated to explain but way cheaper than a private-taxi) or in micros, small buses. So I have to either wake up early and go with Alicia in the car(it's weird saying Alicia because I call her Maka... Macarena is a common second name here and in the house Alicia Macarena is called Maka) or wake up early and go with Poncho in a collectivo.

Anyhow, today at noon I'm going to a Feista de Comida Mexicana! Yet another "fiesta that's not really a fiesta," as Pizarro (it's at his house) is of a religion where you can't celebrate birthdays so I'm not allowed to call this a cumpleaños even though it's on his birthday. If you didn't follow that, don't worry... Haha. I'm invited because I can make tacos... Not to mention the fact that I miss Mexican food A LOT and am really anticipating cramming my mouth with salsa and black beans. Wink.

Cueca!
Thursday of this week there was a celebration of Cueca in the main Plaza of San Fernando called "Mil Pañuelas al Viento," or 1000 Handkerchiefs in the Wind. When you dance Cueca, you have a special handkerchief to swirl if you're the girl or just hold if you're the guy. I went, danced horribly a little bit, got scraped by someone's spurs (the guy's outfits include huge spurs, boots, and chaps), and had a great time. I took some photos with my film camera, which I'll scan when I develop the roll, and there are a few pics on Facebook. As soon as I get my camera adapter I'll be adding more photos, but here's one from a friend: In my dress, holding my pañuelo... With Pedro in his huaso get-up... Minus the spurs and chaps. Note the stray dog... They're absolutely everywhere. This is taken on the edge of the main Plaza, which is huge with a gorgeous fountain.


Anyway, next Thursday is the day before the national independance day here, 18 September. It's a HUGE deal, we have no school, everyone dances Cueca and eats empanadas, and I am very excited. Anyway, since there's no school Friday, the Cueca celebration at school is on the 17th. As an exchange student, I'm automatically dancing... Seriously scared, as my feet don't seem to like the Cueca very much... My head knows what to do, but my feet just don't obey! Yeah, fail.
Anyway, I'm dancing with Pedro, who's going to have enormous, dangerous spurs on his feet, and it's even a little bit scary. I'm excited, though, since my dress is really beautiful and it's super fun to watch the Cueca...
Hay tiempo, hay tiempo.

I finally bought film for daddy's old camera, and I've been enjoying taking photos with it. The film here is fairly cheap -- I bought two rolls for three dollars -- and I'll be developing it soon and scanning the results.

I got your package, Mrs. Hart!! Monday, I think, I'm going to call a few people around five-thirty and you're on the list. Thank you SO much! I was super excited when I heard it had arrived, and to pick up mail here we go to the general store of sorts... We drove in around ten on Thursday. I was freakin' out. :D

Hmm... Not much else to add.
I'm headed off soon, so Chao to everyone!

Thanks for reading :D
Emily

First Phone Call Home (a Big Hi to the BLCers)

Yesterday I called home for the first time! There is a prominent store on the main street where you can make phonecalls and use internet for a set price. The Pipi calls home to Italy from there... I'd known about it but never really considered calling home, as I didn't exactly know how it operated. Yesterday after school I was walking with Pedro (looking for shoes for Cueca) and thought, why not? Turns out it's super super cheap: It was only 750 pesos (the equivalent of a dollar fifty) to talk for a little more than five minutes, which is enough for me. It was really strange to hear such perfect and familiar English! It was hard for me not to speak Spanglish... I kept saying, "como?" or "entonces..." Pedro thought I was going to leave the phonebooth crying (I kept making faces at him as I talked) but on the contrary, it made me really glad that I'm here. The echoing was strange and I was a little dizzy afterward (a strange experience)... But no tears! Haha. It reminded me a lot of Brown Ledge... First phone call home!

Right now I'm in the computer lab at school (this is becoming more and more common). My first two hours of the day on Fridays are Biology, and the teacher isn't here so we don't have class. Apparently everyone knew this but me, so all of my classmates are at home sleeping. I'm lonely! It's too bad, too, because the Biology teacher is one of my favorites. Profe Toledo, I think. He's this really short, super-animated little man who loves talking to me about his lesson plans (which he translates from English plans online) and about AP classes in the States.

Hm... I'm going to be practicing violin after school with other music students on Monday (W00t) and I'm still struggling with Cueca... I have to buy the Cueca attire (a dress and character shoes) and I'm pretty much incapable of purchasing anything without Mamá.

Tuesday I wore a skirt to school for the first time! I was pretty much "that girl who always wears pants" for a while, because I hadn't thought I would need a skirt when I bought my uniform. I was wrong... Everyone wears skirts. Me too, now! It's actually a fairly decent uniform. Right now I'm wearing:
Navy pleated skirt with grey tights,
Black Mary Janes,
White blouse with a grey tie,
Navy V-Neck sweater,
Navy Jacket
Not to mention the various gloves and hats and scarves I've collected here. I bought a fantastic set of gloves and hat at a store called "Casa de Cosas" or House of Things. The gloves are super warm and the hat embarasses my brother to no end... All this awesomeness for under three US dollars.

This week:

Monday: I help out with English classes in the morning when I don't have class; I was helping two students on Monday from a different section of my grade. We were done with the assignments and talking in Spanish while sitting in the patio. When I was asked why I wasn't in class, I responded that I could skip two classes as an exchange student. I chose to skip Quimica and Filosofia, the latter because the teacher is a *zombie imitation.* They both cracked up at my zombie face, which usually has that effect because the teacher is actually a real zombie. But they were laughing a little too hard... After about five minutes of calming down, Jorge whispered in English, "the profe Sandra is his mom..." of the other boy. Yes, I died. This is now the story of the moment, the gringa tonta is a big hit.

Tuesday: I don't have classes all morning Tuesdays, so that was fun. I also had none in the afternoon, as I left at lunchtime to go to the doctor for my back. I have scoliosis! That pretty much explains the horrific death-pain. I love going to Rancagua (the doctor's office is there) because every time we go, without fail, we stop at the best empanada place on the way back. I LOVE EMPANADAS!

Wednesday: I went with the other exchange students to a regional sports competition in the city... The Miss basically told us to walk to another school and we were off... We walked about thirty minutes to the school where the competition was supposedly being held... Then walked all the way across the city again when we were told it wasn't. In a light drizzle, may I add. With my heavy backpack and a crooked spine, may I also add. But it was made up for when we stopped at Rigoletto's for "snacks." That means manjar cake and sodas. There are two kinds of cake here: regular boring cake and cake with manjar. Manjar is the same as Dulce de Leche, and of course it's delicious. The cake is made up of layers of crisp with manjar between. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
After this, I met up with Pedro at one, bought a watch at the Wednesday-street-fair, and walked home with him. I'd already met his mom, but not his dad. Sr. Leiva had been in Chiloe with a tío; when he came back he brought gifts for the family (and for the polola!!)... Pedro brought to school on Monday a traditional Chilean purse (green knitted wool... I like it more with each day I wear it) and a little leather souvenir type box which just fits a few coins and says Chiloe on top. His dad is super sweet. I'd met his mom and sister before, but this time was a lot more interesting. Isadora is two years old and the cutest thing ever. She's very animated, loves my iPod, and dances in front of the television. We had lunch (no lunch at school on Wednesdays) for about two hours. Delicious! someone's mom is a better cook than mine.
After this (yeah, Wednesday was pretty big), I came back to school at five for clases de Cueca and Spanish. Which means looking at Cueca dresses and then walking to Rigoletto's with a few friends and the Pipi for helado and papas fritas (ice cream and french fries).
Thursday (yesterday): Phone call home! Not much else; I fell asleep at nine thirty, which is so nice...

I'm not sure what else. I don't have nightmares about having to go home now that I'm taking pain-meds... W00t for symptoms of drowsiness!
A class just came in to the computer lab, so I gotta forfeit the computer...

Chao! And gracias for reading!
La Emily


PS CHURIPAN = GOD