Bienvenidos Natalie

My Aunt Ellen had a baby on the 26th of August. I'm pretty sure this will be the last of my generation on both sides of my family, she makes 17 grandkids on my mom's side...

This is Natalie with her older sister Sarah. I'm really excited for Sarah as this is her first time having a sister (she has two younger brothers). Come to think of it, before Natalie, Lauren and I were the only pair of girls on either side of the family. On my mom's side, everybody except my Uncle Mike had a girl first and then a boy or two after. Interesting...

I wish I got to be around my cousins more. I feel like I haven't seen them forever. Next year, Monastery, I'm there--as long as the Madison vs. OSU game is away, which I believe it is.

Today I made tempura vegetables and this calamari dish. It was excellent but WAY too much food. It was kind of funny because this is the only time I've ever cooked calamari so I relied on my zoology 102 lab (which included disecting a squid) to lead me through cutting the things up. I only punctured one ink sac and it wasn't that big of a mess! (and I could tell which were males and which were females, woowhoo!) The one chileno who lives here told me that I'm the best cook of the gringos he's known. hahaha....whatever.

I had an interesting conversation (in Spanish) with my housemates about abortion. It was among Tap, Lupe and Vero--but mostly Tap-- (Mexico) and Sara (Belgium). The most interesting part was that they had very different views and weren't really able to have a decent discussion about it...it became really heated. Vero made the statement that there was no way to have a conversation like this without it becoming personal. Sara and I disagreed and then showed it by having a civilized conversation about it, even though we had different opinions. I felt fantastic afterwards. I really miss having conversations..actual deep, thinking conversations. I'm not a fan of small talk and all this "what's up, what going on, are you bored, what did you do today, what are you cooking, blegh blegh blegh" and that's all I ever speak in Spanish? It exhausts me. Not that the deeper conversations don't, but it's more rewarding...

It's raining it's pouring...

I made chocolate chip cookie bars yesterday ...this is all that made it out of the pan after I told the housemates to have some...This what I had to work with. A pot for a mixing bowl, a coffee mug for a "cup" measurement, wooden spoon for beaters, and chocolate that I cut up by hand, the same hand I used to eyeball the salt and baking soda amounts. Let's not even talk about there not being a thermometer on the ovenThis is my kitchen. It's not exactly roomy... that is our gas stove/oven at the end...I am now a master of it.

Today I did some laundry...which worked out better than expected...still no spin cycle but because I now only wash the bare minimum, it dries much better. The dryer is pressed up against the washer to keep the broken door shut, because otherwise the dryer turns off...and the pliers (plyers?) are to turn the stump that apparently had a knob at some point. Tomorrow I try out a laundromat.

In reality, I love my house. Anything it is lacking is made up for by the people that are in it. I watched Motorcyle Diaries with some of them last night, which was really good and they put on English subtitles for me (haha, my Spanish is seriously improving a lot though...but movies are still hard). Today Sara (from Belgium) and I went to a museum that was closed down because of the rain. I think she and I will be hanging out a lot because the other people in the house don't do a whole lot, just watch TV and stuff (gasp! I'm one of the people in the house that actually does stuff and doesn't watch a lot of TV!? Who have I become?!? La Gringita! I'm in a weird mood) Anyway, we ate sopapillas with piebra y mostaza (sopapillas...I don't know how to describe them, like a mix between a tortilla and a doughnut...piebra is kind of like salsa? but fresh salsa that is less chunky, and mostaza is mustard). Then we walked through this makeshift mercado (market) at which point it started to really pour. There was a place with caramel corn that Sara bought and it also had manzanas y platanos banado en chocolate (apples and bananas bathed in chocolate) and candied apples. Really fun and nice people. One guy who seemed to be letting his dog hump his leg for money? Strange. But we had some great conversations too about the house and the people in it. Fun...I think I will go to the central market tomorrow morning and get some squid for dinner...we'll see how that turns out.

$80 tickets=no futbol game...
I have a two hour break in between classes on Friday. The half-hour walk keeps me at campus which I don't mind much, especially when it's nice out. It was not nice out today...it was downright crappy. I have decided that rainy days, while are some of my favorite days in Wisconsin, are pretty much the most depressing thing to wake up to in Santiago. This may have something to do with the fact that they are NEVER thunderstorms (I'm not sure if they have thunderstorms here) or because when it is wet outside, it is cold and wet inside and outside (insert frown here).

Today Ingrid, my friend from my painting class, and I took refuge in the heated classroom before class began. Ingrid says she in Argentinian, but I think that's just because her parents are Argentinian. She was born in Mexico, lived in New Jersey for 1.5 years, Chile for 6, Argentina for 4, and Spain, most recently, for 6. So she seems to have more connection with Spain. Anyway, she and I got to talking about cultural differences and she had pretty interesting perspective, having lived in so many places. She said that it seems like there is so much pressure on people in the United States. That kids have so much expected of them, grades, getting a job, moving out. I am not sure if I agree. I mean, I agree that they are pressured, but I'm not sure if they are pressured more than people in different countries or just pressured differently or about different things.
The conversation lead into talking about the US's work ethic and superficiality. She said that other countries (Spain) say that in the US people live to work but in Spain they work to live and that it seems, from the media and magazines she has read, that Americans are all about things: a big house, lots of cars, beautiful spouse...things. I told her that yes, some people are like that...stereotypes come from somewhere afterall. I don't think I'm like that though...and I don't think my immediate family is like that either. I think my parents work to live. They tend to spend their money on trips and just living well. Although I think there is plenty of this. People work really hard in order to get what society tells them is important. The older I get, the more I want to get away from this. That's not to say I don't want nice things...but I want them for my enjoyment rather than for others' approval.
Then Ingrid said that the people of Madrid were much colder than in Chile, they didn't kiss everyone on the cheek (greet everyone) when they walked into a room, or if they didn't know them. I commented that the US must seem very cold to her then. She said astonished, "YES! You guys shake hands!? I don' understand that!" Class started so we couldn't really finish talking. I'm not sure if I think greeting is a really good indication of whether a culture is cold or not. I mean, yes Chile seems very welcoming, but in reality it's very hard for an outsider to become close friends with Chileans. So the "warmness" is kind of superficial politeness. Which is fine, it's much preferable to rudeness. I'm just not sure if Americans are cold, I don't know how warm and welcoming they are in reality, in the long run. Hmmm, it's hard to look at it from the outside.

I am too tired to think about this more...time to create dinner out of a steak, green peppers, tortilla, and brie...

Scandalous

I went to see Antonia, my program director, in order to sign some papers for classes. Our conversation:
(translated from Spanish)
J: Hi Antonia! Sorry I forgot to come yesterday.
A: Oh that's ok.
She smiles and stares at me as I smile and shift from foot to foot, awkwardly waiting for her to pull my papers out of the stack.
A: You should talk more!
I laugh and sit down, thinking she's making fun of me for being shy or wants to make sure I'm doing ok in Chile but instead she says...
A: You have a very pretty accent, a high voice.
J: Seriously? Thank you! (Although I'm a little puzzled that I have a high voice in Spanish...) A woman told me it was like a French accent.
A: No! No it's like you don't have an accent, very good.
J: No! Really?!

So that made me happy although I don't really buy that I don't have an accent. I'm starting to feel like I'm one of the least American looking or sounding Americans here. Which is kind of weird. My housemates even forget, saying things like "there is no one from the states in the room" or something. It's also interesting because there is another guy from the US living in my house, although he's not here much. My housemates, when talking about him, generally don't call him by his name or gringo, but rather "el chino" (chinese guy, he is asian). I'm pretty sure they call me gringa or Jenna, Jenna more now though. It's interesting that saying things like that don't seem to be offensive here. And they're not, it doesn't bother me being called gringa...because I am. But in the states I feel like there are some people who would think it was offensive. Especially if the housemate from the states is not in fact Chinese, because I am sure my housemates don't know for sure that he's Chinese-American rather than another Asian country. It's just interesting that everything here is "the belgian, the german, the mexicans...
I might be going to my first futbol (soccer) game tonight. It's between University de Chile and La Catolica (my school). So that's exciting. There was a big scandal in my house a few days ago...let's just say that the woman in charge of the house I live in broke up with her boyfriend, who moved out later that day, as did another girl that was living here. The next day the ex-boyfriend moved back in and the girls in the house were outraged that he was able to move back in but the girl was not.

mamma mia, here I go again

A great day...I love Sundays because the city isn't bustling as much as it's strolling, not too many people but little pockets here and there. The one unfortunate aspect is that not as many things are open, restaurants and such.
I went to Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Precolombian Art). It is in Santiago Centro. It had all these sculptures and pottery that, especially when you thought about what kind of tools must have been used, were incredible. Plus on Sundays most museums are free so that's a nice plus. Then I just kind of walked around and landed on a street, Paseo something, more of a large foot path road thing. Anyway, it reminded me a bit of Amsterdam. It was fun, tons of people around, with lots of groups gathering, one interesting one where kids were in the center dancing...I think they were just selling CD's though. There are all these honey roasted nut vendors(which are quite yummy), most of them selling from carts called "Nuts 4 Nuts." When I saw that I started thinking, "hm, I guess there are certain English phrases that Chileans become familiar with." And then I saw a cart that said "Nuts 5 Nuts," and it made me laugh.

Across the lines, who would dare to go

After my tio (uncle) Aldo telling me several times not to go to Egypt and my parents' apparent horror at the thought, I started really thinking about it. I'm not still going because I've spent the money. I would have spent more to go and I would still be going if I had speant much less. So...

Why do I want to go to Egypt?

First of all, I am young and therefore slightly stupid. I am supposed to be, it is what society expects of me and I don't believe I have fulfilled my stupidity quota so far, not by leaps or bounds. But of course, the trip doesn't really seem stupid to me. The thought of something actually happening seems pretty unlikely. Yes, the thought of many other Middle Eastern countries would inspire more fear: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc... Egypt, however, inspires the thought, "ok, I know people living there. I know people who have lived there. I know people with family there and who have visited there...and they are all alive and, despite being told their sole purpose in life was to be married and make their husbands happy, want to return." To me, Egypt is not a place of fear and terror, it is a place of discovery and adventure. And to be serious, I think the actual statistical likelihood of a terroist attack exactly where I am is pretty slim. Lately it seems that it would be more likely my plane would go down (knock on wood).

Secondly, I have been hearing stories and seeing pictures from Egypt for well over a year now...and I'd like to experience it for myself. I believe in taking advantage of opportunities, and an invitation to a country I haven't been to where friends have been living and will be coordinating things, plus cheap tickets and two other countries on the back of the trip...a golden opportunity. I do not expect to blend in, but I will get tips from Mike, Kaitlin, Sara, Trent, Holly or some other Americans I know who are living/have lived/are Egyptian for added blendability. And even then, I know I will still get noticed for being a foreigner. But if I lived life being afraid, I wouldn't go to school in Madison where there was something like 280 sexual assaults last year, or in Wisconsin where the average serial killer is born and raised. I wouldn't travel to any big cities, where the crime rate is much higher and the chances of terrorist attacks are higher. I wouldn't travel to small towns or cities, where it is stereotyped that people are more close-minded and would be recognized as someone who hadn't lived there my whole life. I wouldn't travel to any countries where I didn't speak the language or look like a native. But then if I'm going to live like that, then I might as well live in fear of the people as well as the place, and not be friends with any muslims, or people of any other religions for that matter, plus stay away from people of different ethnicities... Am I pushing this to extremes? Yes, but fear can do that to people. And I refuse to live my life like that. I could be going to much more dangerous a place than Egypt. A fact.

Lastly, and most morbidly, I have never seen my purpose in life to have the longest life I can, but rather to live the life I have. I think that so far, I have lead a pretty amazing and blessed life, and I love it. There are people who work out and don't smoke and do other certain things so they can live longer. I do them so I can enjoy my current life more (and because smoking is disgusting and you should quit if you do it...especially if you are one of my housemates...sick). Yes, of course I take the long term future into consideration. But I am probably not alone when it comes to young people thinking and living more in the here and now than in the someday and sometime. Lo que pasaria, pasaria (whatever will happen, will happen--although I'm not sure if it should be pasaria or pasara? whatever you get my point). I understand people not wanting me to go and appreciate it because I know it is an expression of your concern and love. And I love you too. But I'm still going. And my sheer obstinance is one force that I would not recommend trying to break.
...Now, that is over but if you would like pictures or more blog excerpts about peoples' experiences in Egypt, let me know and I would be more than happy to oblige. Moving on...

Tip to Chile: Put maps and bus numbers on your bus stops...how is that not done already?!

This is my house...it is such a lovely pink color. My windows are to the left of the door. The kitchen's are to the right. I'm pretty sure the "garage" was made into somebody's room. There are some pretty flowers in the front that I will take pictures of...and a sad looking orange tree. About 13 people live here. Yes, seriously.

My parents were not happy with the interest in Egypt. My dad's exact words were, "there is no way in hell we are letting you go to Egypt!" so I explained that I wasn't just going by myself and would be with AIESECers, reminded him that he really didn't have a choice in the matter, and booked my flights this morning. So my plan is to leave Chicago on the 26th, get to Cairo super early on the 28th, have entirely too much fun and leave on the 4th. Now, if I can find a contact in Milan, I will extend my layover to see the Italian sites a bit, then go to Dublin where I will hang out until January 10th. I am giddy just typing this...so Mike, if everyone else falls through, I will definitely be making my Egyptian debut.

There are lots of times when I love Santiago. Today is one of them...even when it's hard I still like it. On my days off of school I generally try out a place in one of the travel guides. Today I went to Cafe Melba, which actually has breakfast food!! A rare find in Chile. The rasberry juice was not good but I got Cositas francesas, which was french toast. French toast with grilled bananas and pineapple and syrup and bacon. It was so incredibly good.

There were two women speaking English near me, one American and one I assume was Chilean. They had empty strollers near them so I began thinking, "where are their children? Maybe the dads have them at the park nearby?"...and then the kids walked in on the hands of their nannies. It always surprises me. I wonder how that works for the kids, having nannies? Because here(Chile), they are generally there a lot. They take care of the kids, clean, make food. I wonder if that affects the relationship with the parents at all? I mean, my parents worked when I was little and I was in day care and everything and I think I have great relationships with my parents...but I feel like nannies might be doing quite a lot more of the parenting than a daycare, for example, does. I don't know, just something I wonder about.

like a rolling stone

So what do you do when you're in Chile, you don't have class, and it's crap outside?

You plan other trips! Or at least think about them so much that you almost have to go because otherwise you would have wasted so much time...on my plate: Trips to Argentina, southern Chile, possibly Brazil (if Lauren's company follows my plan), of course Valpo and Vina and other little day or weekend trips from Santiago.

The big one?

Egypt for New Years and the days surrounding, possibly hanging out to skip around Europe a bit with whichever AIESECers do the same...
Now, there are lots of reasons why I shouldn't go, but they all sound stupid to me...so I'll probably wait a bit for some more info so I can plan the plane dates a bit better...but if you hear about cheap tickets heading out of Milwaukee or Chicago, pass them my way. (The cheapest I've found so far is just under a grand, leaving December 27th and coming back early January. I am thinking about booking a ticket to Cairo and then flying out of somewhere in Europe...Spain, Italy, Greece...Macedonia)
Hopefully hearing that I will be home from Chile earlier than expected will make my parents' frowns recede a bit.

I might be going skiing on Thursday, if everything pans out with the housemates...

Happy Birthday to my Dad today!

put the lime in the coconut

I went to a concert last night: Bebel Gilberto...it was good but very short so I kind of feel ripped off. Whatever. Aimee, Ingrid, Christine and I went to Aimee's before. Aimee lives with a family. Her mama is so nice and cute...it made me jealous. She's very interesting too. She told me I speak Spanish with a French accent, "nasal"...when I looked disappointed (who wants to sound nasal?) she said no, it was a compliment, it was very chic. So I guess that's good? She also told us about a new fad with Columbian girls. Let's just say that it involves a way to get drunk in five minutes using vodka and a feminine product...disgusting. Then we went on a "pub crawl" which really meant going to two different bars and getting lots of greasy food at both. When we were walking back, a truck started fishtailing on the road and slammed into a fence about 20 feet away from us...it then continued on its speedy way. Kind of scary.

I will be attempting to make chocolate chip cookies at some point...maybe for my birthday. I have found brown sugar and what I think is baking soda or powder? Bicarbonato refinado. Tio Aldo, do you have any idea? Now I'm pretty sure that chocolate chips are not sold anywhere here. My plan is to just chop up chocolate myself...and maybe just kind of eye up the ingrediants? This could be disasterous.

My housemate Lupe keeps telling me I need to decorate. So I have wet socks, wet underwear, wet tank tops, and wet sweaters strewn over everything possible. Of course, the lavadora (washing machine) is broken...no spin cycle. SO that was fun wringing out all my clothes and staring into the very dirty water they had been sitting in for a half hour...talk about defeating the purpose. And of course, we have this mini-secadora (dryer) which has a broken door so it doesn't really dry very well...and another one of my housemate's has his clothes in there for...I think maybe 2.5 hours now...because they of course are not fully dry. This is while my other clothes, the ones that are not hung all over my room, are sitting on the counter, waiting to be put in the dryer. Because last time, I decided to just hang all of them up in my room and I'm pretty sure some got moldy...when it is so damp that your towel for showering doesn't dry in two days, you know it's going to take awhile for jeans to airdry. If there are times when I hate it here, these are them. When everything is damp, dirty and smelly, and all I want is clean, dry and warm. I think the laundromat is going to be getting a visit from me.

happy ever after in the market place

Different ways my name is said here: Jayna, Dayna, Yayna, Hayna, Haynita, Jeena, Deena, Henna, Hennita...
I'm pretty sure there's more but I can't remember. I don't mind any of them...but my roomies wanted to get it right so we spent a half an hour last night repeating "Jenna, Jenna, Jenna" No one even attempts the last name...

They have this thing here called "Miercoles Po" (Miercoles - Wednesday, Po is just chilean slang that adds emphasis...) which is at a different bar or disco every Wednesday...there are lots of extranjeros (foreigners) there. I have no idea how everyone figures out where the bar is or who decides but...definitely a good time.

I am not sure my body has ever hurt so much for so long, or that I have ever been so physically and mentally tired for so long. I don't really get how people do it...waking up early, going out late, sleeping in forever on the weekends...seems kind of like a waste to me...

There was an X-ray of a human ribcage outside my house this morning...weird.
I went to this restuarant called Tiramisu today. Pretty good, although I think I freaked the Chilean waitstaff out by eating half a (relatively small) pizza-thin crust with arugala, shrimp, parmesean strips and a small amount of tomato sauce- fantastic rasberry juice, tiramisu that was average at best and an espresso. Yummy! I think I might need an espresso machine when I come home because, obviously, I am not drinking coffee. Well it's obvious if you know that all they have is Nescafe here. And I don't care what you say, it is not better in this country than it is in the states.

Winona Ryder count: 8

"Does somebody have a case of the Mondays?"

Laying in bed at 7:15 on Wednesday morning...I'm wishing for a case of the Mondays...

Monday is one of my class-free days and I have decided to be productive with these days. So, with my handy Lonely Planet travel guide at my side and the sun shining down on me, I walked out for my day of leisure. First I went to La Huerta, a little vegetarian cafe next to El Huerto (which is apparently similar food at slightly higher prices). It was delicious. I had a wheat, 3-cheese, tomato calzone with rasberry juice. Then I saw on the menu that they had a dessert called a Macedonia...so of course I had to try it to pay respect to my roots. So a Macedonia is pretty much a fruit salad I guess? That or they totally screwed me. But it was fantastic all around. I made my way over the river to the Parque de Las Esculturas (Park of Sculptures). It had some pretty interesting contemporary sculptures. Very small park but a great place to sit and read and enjoy the weather.

Tuesday...the morning was certainly not kind to me...or should I say the secretary I talked to trying to get registered was not kind to me. Either way I think this registration process is incredibly inefficient and stupid. Oh well. My ceramics class was fun, except for lugging ten kilos of yeso (plaster) to campus half an hour away and then only needing about one kilo of it.

Now I have Spanish class at 9:30 and it takes me about an hour to get there...ugh...why would they make it so early.

Good day sunshine

Isla Negra, where Pablo Neruda lived and died...beautiful. Great lunch, great ocean air. New pictures up...
I find that I am so much more tolerant of most things here but I think last night was the first time my tolerance and openness was wearing a little thin. Went to my first disco, I have really only gone to bars here. The girls I was with said this one was pretty different than the others they've been to...It was fun but culture shock reared its ugly head pretty hard core at times. I also don't know if there is anything more annoying to me than someone who is trying to entertain me. And I mean someone who is over the top, not being themselves (if they even know who that is) trying to keep me interested in something with no substance. I can only fake smile and laugh for so long. Which is really a horrible thing because when I stop laughing and smiling, the person generally takes this as a cue to be more "entertaining" and thus, more annoying. It's a horrible circle and I have yet to find a nice way to end it.

I came home to find my mirror had fallen and was smashed to itty bitty pieces on my bathroom floor...I'm sure that whole "bad luck" thing isn't true...

...a little mystery to figure out...

My first class this morning was a 3 hour lecture on Latin American Cinema...I think the hardest part was staying focused for that long. My professor talks pretty clearly and slowly so I think it will be ok. My second class today was my second painting class. At my first painting class, an Argentian girl named Ingrid who went to English speaking school her whole life came up to talk to me. When she found out that I'm from the states her eyes widened and she said, "WOW, this must be really hard for you then! I can barely understand what he is saying because his accent is so thick!"

Great...although I had already figured this out.

I am not really sure if I am qualified to take this class to begin with. I was feeling extremely lost and to be honest, watching everyone else scurry around and begin drawing and painting got me a little panicky. But then when I saw everyone else's paintings, mine didn't look as bad as I thought it would, comparatively. I'm not Picasso but I'm no 7 year-old either. Also, Ingrid is very helpful, as is our teacher's assistant, who says that she can speak English, although I haven't heard any of that yet. My professor is, as Ingrid puts it, "a little bit quirky." I am pretty sure he does not speak a word of English except "yes?" which he says to me after asking me questions. He's calls me Gringita (which pretty much means "little white/foreign girl" I don't think it has the slightly offensive connotation we think it does in the states...but who knows?), has made me promise to ask questions when I don't understand (and made me shake on it) and has asked me three times if I am comfortable in the class. In this class, I feel like a little American girl who just laughs all the time. I'm ok with that though because I think my dimwitted laugh and smile are going to get me a passing grade if my family's artistic talent didn't flow my way. Although there were rough patches in the three hour class, I ended up feeling great being to do art again.

I am really excited for the days to get longer though because three times a week I have classes that go until 6...currently past nightfall. Tomorrow I head to Isla Negra with the exchange program.

Chilean Tip #44: Do not follow Chilean hairstyles. The women...well it's pretty much long and slightly wavy, many times dyed unflattering hues. The men? well, the particularly fascinating specimens either have the mullet or, what I like to call, the dreaded rat tail(s)- get it? Which means, take a normal hair cut and add one or more dreads (usually more) to the nape of the neck. Oh yeah, it's hot.

To scare my family into thinking I have changed completely: the streets are empty-ish here as I walk to school and, because I don't want my mp3 player stolen, I leave it at home. So, I sing. That's right, I sing. Out loud. In public. And I'm not talking humming. I'm talking full-blown karoke style. It's very enjoyable (the act of singing, not the sound from it)...

walking on sunshine, whoa-oa

Yes, lots of posts...Today I attended my first class. After getting slightly lost on the way to Campus Oriente, I found myself in front of the gates that encircle the campus...which is pretty much comprised of one huge building and a few security shacks. The huge building is beautiful and very very old, and I will take pictures when it is nicer out and it doesn't look as much like a haunted dreary castle. However, those from Madison, imagine putting Humanities building and Vilas building together, making it about 100 years older, and taking almost all numbers off of the doors. THAT is what this building is like. So, after asking three different people for directions (which I understood about half the answer to--I really should brush up on those direction vocab words) I found my classroom. I understood the entire note on the door that said my class started a half hour earlier than the course booklet said it did. Awesome. I had come this far, so I trudged right on in and sat with the other 5 students trying to focus on understanding my teacher. I got about 60%, although I blame at least 10% of that to not knowing specialized ceramic vocab, and who can really blame me for that? So I stayed after and had my extremely nice and patient teacher, who lived in New Mexico for an unknown amount of time--long enough to know the word for Exacto knife but not long enough for tagboard?--explain to me what I needed to buy for next class, where I should buy it from and other little tidbits that made me smile.

I smiled the whole way home. I smiled more when I saw a stray dog peeing on a potted bush at a stand selling plants. Chilean Tip #43: Only buy plants from the high shelves...and you may want to consider that for other items too.

zzZZZzzzZz

someone once told me that you know you are learning a language when you dream in it...does it still count if it was probably just your housemates' voices mixing into your dream and you have no idea what was said?

I'm having the weirdest dreams ever here.

My classes area all very late in the day here...I have nothing to do and the weather is crap. I will make myself a nice breakfast. Pancetta, eggs, toast...maybe some chocolate musli for breakfast dessert...that's right, breakfast dessert. You know you think it's a good idea. And breakfast here usually is dessert anyway. Manjar? That's not good for you. (Manjar is carmalized sugar in milk...so you pretty much cook sweetened condensed milk, manjar is what you get. Also known as dulce de leche or the gooey stuff in dulce de leche bars...they eat it all the time here)

I also got a cooking book to 1, help me learn Spanish words for food 2, help me use foreign ingrediants 3, inspire me to not buy the box of mac and cheese that I found at my supermercado...

success

The gas oven has been used...body and kitchen remain intact.

tell me lies tell me sweet little lies...

My mom told me that a few people think I'm really homesick. And the truth is, I am homesick. When you know you are going to be gone for so many months, home is always in the back of your mind. At least so far it is. I decided before I came here, I wasn't going to sugar coat the experience...well not much anyway. That my blog was going to be a place that if someone was going abroad, especially coming to Santiago, they could come to my blog and get a pretty good idea of what they were in for.

When I was little, Lauren once told me that she hated going to sleep because she felt like she was missing something. Now, I am sure that she actually liked sleeping and enjoyed her dreams like everyone else. I am also sure that an eight year-old Lauren wasn't missing too much at 3 in the morning in Manitowoc. It is the same here...I am having fun, it is interesting and different and challenging, but you think about what you could be missing. I know that I am probably not missing too much, just the things I did last year...but I liked last year. I have fun in Wisconsin. I didn't come to Chile to get away from a life that I love. What I mean is...of course I miss home because I like home. It's like, I miss Ian's Pizza because I haven't had it in awhile and know that I won't have it in awhile and I have not found a sufficient substitute yet. It's like that except with almost all aspects of my life Cachay? (Get it?) It's not like I'm crying over it.

So enough of that, I have classes today for the first time. I need to go to our advisor's office so that I can check out reviews old students had of the teachers and such. It's this two week registration process where only some classes actually happen...and nobody knows which ones those are. Oh well...My plan right now is to take a Spanish class, two art classes and a latinamerican cinema class....we'll see.