Flying

1. I am alive
2. In Rio
3. It is HOT and humid... (10 last night it was 28 degrees C)
4. My hostel has mango juice for breakfast...this is possibly the only redeeming quality about it so far
5. Lauren and I have not killed each other yet...yay!
6. more to come...

"There's no time...there's never any time!"

My family comes tomorrow morning...so excited.

Freaking out a bit...time is whipping by, stuff I need to get done is not whipping by. I feel like I'm going to forget something, something really important. Ok...time to do something more productive

Standin’ on the edge of something much too deep

The Family comes Saturday morning. I'm preparing. Right now I'm sitting in the middle of piles of "gifts" "things I won't be taking with me" "paperwork I need" etc.. I have to print out all my tickets...I have realized that between now and my landing in Milwaukee I will have gone on 9 different flights. Nine...that's an average of 3 a week. Kind of insanity. I have accumulated a lot of stuff here. I definitely have too many books...and scarves...and purses...and shoes... wow I'm a stereotype. How did that happen? I am also hating the 3L alcohol policy the US has. Stuuuupid. Where can I get pisco in the states? Cachaca? The wines I got in Mendoza? oh man... this is difficult.

So I went to Valpo (Valparaiso) last Sunday. It wasn't a great day at first, which always makes a place look a drearier than it actually it is. When the weather got better it was very pretty. All these different colored buildings and different styles of buildings. The funiculars were fun too. Highlights included eating Locos for the first time (Chilean abalone) and somehow getting mixed in with a tour group so I didn't have to pay for my last funicular ride. $.25 in my pocket! Yes! Overall, it's a cute town (depending where you are) and I'm sure there's even more to do and see if you stay longer than I did.

Back to the piles...

It's called randomness for a reason

When Annie started volunteering at a Chilean school in a poor part of Santiago, her 6 and 7 year old students asked her old she was. When she replied that she was 20, many of them said, "That's how old my mom is!" She tried to tell them they were mistaken, but they stood firm. She has also been asked how many kids she has by various people she works with.

We were waiting for our bus back from Algarrobo and a family sat down near us. Young looking parents, three daughters ranging from what seemed 8-13, as a high guess. The oldest girl left saying something that sounded to me like, "I'm going to buy cigarettes" but I was sure I was mistaken. As the middle one talks more, I notice a glint coming from her mouth. I lean over to Annie and whisper, "Does she have a tongue ring!?" "yeah, I was going to say the same thing..." was her answer. When the oldest came back, the girls sat a bit more, laughing at the VERY drunk elderly man speaking unintelligibly who came and petted first their hair, then mine. Did I mention he was in a military uniform? Wow. Then the oldest pulled out her newly bought cigs, showing them to the sisters. Two packs...nice little habit she's got there.

My friend Christina had been talking to someone from where she volunteers, who told her that mothers give their infants Coca-Cola in their bottles...and since babies won't drink just plain milk (?) they add sugar to it.

Fine you're so smart you rig up the lights!

There are Christmas decorations and music all over the place here...very wrong in this heat. So...a time to vent...very off topic, but hey, the blog's about my life.

I've had my mp3 player since last Christmas...a Creative Zen Micro. At first, I loved it, although the software was a bit crap. Good sound, lots of memory, two batteries, small, FM radio and tons of other little details were great additions. Then its software started taking a really long time to recognize the player was plugged in. I downloaded some of about 15 different software updates (always a bad sign) available from the website and it worked a bit better. Then the screen developed a dark spot in the center. I could still see fine so I didn't really bother about it. So now I'm in Chile, the battery life started to dwindle, which I blamed on only charging it through my computer. Then the headphone jack started getting tweaky. If the headphones were in a certain position or I tapped it in anyway, my sound went all tinny and horrible. But I still continued to foolishly hope it was just my headphones or something and listened to my music...just really carefully. Now, I plug it in to charge and it doesn't. It flashes the charging symbol and showing that the player is at zero power...for like 4 hours. I can't turn it on at all, even when it is plugged in. The software doesn't recognize that it's attached to the computer...arg! And because it was a gift (and one that I loved!) there is no receipt to prove it was bought less than 12 months ago. Of course, the player has only been out since October 2004...but apparently all these problems (which TONS of other people have had if you check their forums) are ok to the company. Ridiculous.

So there's my vent and now I'm off to Valparaiso!

So it's been awhile...My weekend was great. Finally made it up Cerro San Cristobal which was awesome. We decided to go again Sunday, because they have free yoga and a free concert and a pool. That plan was slightly foiled when we realized the telefericos (like a ski lift only you are encapsulated in a little pod) don't start running until a half hour after yoga begins. We still headed upwards though and discovered the "concert" was really this strange play about cupid and young people in love which included both a Titanic and Greece Sequence. So, our last plan: the pool. Looked beautiful and ready for a dive but was closed. It apparently costs about $10 anyway so it didn't really matter. Still a good day though. Monday, we decided to go to the beach so we grabbed our sunscreen and swimsuits and headed to Algarrobo. Once we got there and walked around a bit, we realized this was the beach we had come to for our Isla Negra paseo with the program. Woops. Still, it was a perfect day, not too hot but still sunny and yummy seafood (Paila Marina for me, a soup/stew with piles of shellfish and fish and onions...yummm). And when we got home we went out for Peruvian.

Time is flying right now. The great thing about being in art classes is that they are so casual. Yesterday I asked my TA when our painting class would be over, since they don't tell you anything about this, and she told me she had no idea but maybe towards the end...like mid-december, when everyone is having exams and I will be sitting pretty in Manitowoc end...I got this shocked and worried look on my face and told her I would be leaving early...she told me not to worry about, just finish this painting and hand it in. No worries. Awesome.

Tons of things to talk about but no real time since I have to go pick up my brazilian visa...yay!

drop in the ocean

I could have sworn I posted another blog since the Argentinian one...but apprently not. Strange. What am I up to...the whole "leaving" thing is something that is thought about or talked about more than it probably should be. But it's a big thing, and I have tons to do so...oh well. Had a great day yesterday. Turned in my Brazil visa stuff finally, had a picnic with my spanish class, decidedly ruined another pair of jeans in painting, had a great dinner and conversation with Annie and and then went out. Although yesterday was such fun that I couldn't get myself out of bed quite early enough for a day trip to Valpo to be worth it today.

I love it here. I thought I would just say that. Part of my conversation with Annie last night had to do with thinking about how people perceive you. I think a lot of times I keep myself from writing the great, awesome, amazing stuff in my life because it just sounds so fake and corny. There are those people who go abroad and all you hear is how it was wonderful and fantastic and how they are in love with the country and it is their new home and blah blah blah. And before I went abroad, it just sounded so forced to me. And sometimes, I think it really was forced. There are girls in my program who hate it here. They would go home right now. They would have gone home the day after they came. But I am sure they are going to go home and say they loved it and act like it was amazing. Because it's supposed to be amazing. But that fact is that sometimes it's not. And even if it is amazing and the overall experience is worth all the hard parts even if they're multiplied by 10 million, the hard parts still happen. And I wanted people to know that they happened. That my experience here is real. It is HARD and I LOVE it. I have sat in the middle of campus and cried out of frustration with the people, the language and the culture, and then ended the day thinking it was the best day of my life because I figured out what they always ask me when I use a credit card at the grocery store. That's just how it is. So I guess I have become that girl that will go home and when people ask, "how was chile?" I will say "wonderful, fantastic, I loved it
...and it was the hardest, most challenging thing I have ever done...and I loved it more because of that."

I am not sure if any of this post makes sense, but I need to get out in that gorgeous sun, so...no time to revise.

Don't cry for me Argentina

I have a headache that is raging against the skull right now so my recap of Buenos Aires will be short and ever so sweet. Bus rides bordered my trip, the first one horrible, taking 26 hours without food, without movie and with stops every 30 minutes for random people. The last one a fantasy, making the trip in 21 hours, a large dinner, free wine, two breakfasts, attentive stewards and three movies (is Stealth out of the theatres even? whatever, we watched it...but I wouldn't if I were you). Annie and I found a fantastic hostel, made friends with our roomies, went to a ballet where we ran into a girl from our program and her cousin who is studying in Buenos Aires. We hooked up with them for the next few gloriously relaxing days, filled with visits to cemetaries (Evita's gravesite), markets (where some presents were bought...oh the excitement), other shopping, the oceanside. For my family: the food was amazing and cheap. We would get receipts and think, "I would pay that in US dollars" and then get to divide it by three. Example: Sunday night 5 girls had 9 drinks (we're talking Bellini's, mojitos and martinis), three appetizers, 5 entrees, and two desserts (like Waterfront calibur food) for $300...no no no, $300 Argentinian. That's right...about $100 USD. We nearly cried at some points with happiness. Other yummies included Thai food and Argentinian specialties: Milanesa (like breaded veal) and parillas (barbecues) where I had my first taste of intestines. Very rich. Overall, we made some new friends and had a great experience. Pictures will come when I find the time. The trouble with Argentina is everything is so cheap it is hard to pass it by...and then you end up spending more money than you would otherwise...but you also get great deals on things you would get anyway. Lovely. And now I'm in the mood to watch Evita...