demasio disfrutar... too much fun!

Well helooo,
I was so busy in my last weeks in chile, that I have not gotten time to sit down and right a blog. So, before lunch, which has now changed to 12 o clock, and will contain rice and beans, I am sitting at our lovely leos computer writing to all of you! And let me tell you, it was so hard to leave chile. But first, I am going to tell you about my trip to the south.
We started with a 12 hour bus ride to Chiloe, an island in the south of Chile. The island is known for houses on stilts, witchcraft and myths. However, I know the island as being green, relaxed and beautiful. Definitly a place i could imagine living, it is just too beautiful. To get to this island, you arrive in a main port city and take a fiary in your bus to the other side. Every once in a while, you will see dolphins jumping alongside the ferry, but I only saw seals and penguins. Haha, penguins, thats a different story. Anyways, we stayed in this beautiful hostel called nuevo mundo, and in the mornings for breakfast they made fresh jam and fresh bread. A different attraction of the city (we stayed in ancud) is the market place. Here, you can get fresh fish at good prices but more importantly there were so many stores filled with wool, and it was all handmade. You saw hats, slippers, socks, penguins, dolls, scarves, sweaters, purses, bags, dresses, anything you can think of! The best part is in all of these whops (there is probably forty) the women are sitting in the back just knitting and waiting. It is too beautiful.
Well, the main attraction of Chiloe was the tour we took. All the girls (natael, katelynn, alysha and hanna) set off with our guide Brit (thats my name, not what I am), into the distance. WE drove to this pasture without a trail and began our hike along the coast. We walked through all the green, saw horses sheep and a lonely farm. However, before we knew it we arrived upon the breathtaking ocean scene. The waves were crashing, the water was dark blue, you could see the white of the ocean and the rocks were standing tall. It was so beautiful. We continued our walk along the coast, so we were basically walking on little rocks. We found treasures such as large sea shells and sea weed so long you could jump roap with it. After leaving the ocean, we followd the way of the sheep to try to get to our final destination, lunch. To do this, we walked through trees and more pasture. There was one part where we could not find a way out, so brit told us to follow the way of the sheep. We found an opening through a barbed wire fence that had wool covering the barbed wire so many sheep have crawled through it. After this, we climbed up a small stream, and if you were not careful you feet would get stick in the thick mud, and you might lose a shoe. So, the hike was pure scenery and we wound up eating a smoke salmon quiche for lunch and continued our journey. We drove to a boat where we got on to go look at penguins! And oh, they were so cute. black and white and living the life in chile. They walk cute, and sometimes blend into the rock. Also on penguin island we saw two sea otters putting on a show, birds with red feet, seagulls, and other species of animals. It was too much fun, and I love penguins. Our guide was ridiculously smart and he told us about the giant earthquack in chile, which actually brought more damage with a gigantic tsunami. And after about three days in chiloe, we went to Pucon.
Pucon is a very touristy spots town. In this town, you can climb valcones, go rafting, go fishing, hydrospeed, canopý adventure, hot springs, horse back riding to Mapuche reserves and I am sure much more. The town was absolutely beautiful because over the city lumes a huge valcano. One that I climbed. Haha, in pucon i chose to go hydrospeeding and climb the volcano. Hydrospeed is a lot like rafting however, you are solo, and in the water with an oversized kick bored. So, your body serves as the raft, and you get very personal with the rapids. It was so much fun hoever, the other girls chose to go rafting and I went without them with a guide. It was not too bad to have a break. When we came home from our activities, we were all a little bit soar and looking forward to getting up at 5 in the morning to go to the valcono. So, they next day after getting up, three of us (me, hana and alysha) embarked on our valcano adventure. we woar waterproof suits, helmets big boots, warm clothes and sunscreen. The valcano of 5000 meters did not look to difficult however, it was so trying! Our friend alysha did not make it to the top. and she stopped with a few other people after lunch. The rest of the group kept climbing, slowly but surely. It took us about 7 hours to get to the top of valcano villarica. To make it to the top, you walk in a zig zag pattern. During one part, we put on our crampons to stop slipping in the snow. Well, the journey up the valcano was so hard, but the entire time you were above the clouds. You looked down and saw the clouds looming over pucon. I could see the incan empire amidst all the clouds, having fun in their green hills. So we killed ourselves to make it to the top of the valcano, however going down was so much better. We strapped these duck tape things to our butts, and slid down. It was like the alpine slide, but with ducktape snow and butt shoots. Haha, it was so fast and so much easier. I was overjoyed to have accomplished making it to the top of the valc, and only too happe to get in the van to go home after making it down.
A funny thing about chile is that you never have to sign a waiver or a consent form.
Anyways, the final day in pucon we went to the beach. The beach is very special because it is made of entirely black valconic rock, and it is the beach of a lake. So the water is warm, and the sand is black. Haha, it was also wonderful to catch some rays on the valcano beach.

So, that was my trip to south of chile, a place I definitly want to take all of my family and friends to. When I came home, I had 4 more days untill I left chile. It was filled with family, friends and food. I could not have asked for anything more other than a little bit of sun, because it was also cloudy.
On friday night I went to zapallar to have a going away barbeque with my friends. Here, we ate chorripan, meat and drank wine. Haha, I am positive between about 10 people we drank 12 liters of boxed red wine. WAY TOO MUCH! however, it was a loving wonderful very fun party anyways.
On Saturday, I made empanadas with my what chile would say, mother in law. She taught me the old way to make them which involves boiling salt water and putting it in the pot of flow before you put in the melted butter. It made for a wonderful dough, and we filled it with pino meat. Everyone loved the empanadas made by gringa hands with gringa love. They told me all people from abroad love empanandas, and pizza is ordinary and I should go home and start and empanada business with chilean wine with fruit in it instead of pizza. I promptly disagreed. haha. well I must tell you it was so difficult to tell everyone good bye, but my pain was filled with love and excitement to be in brasil. And leo and his family is as wonderful as you can imagine. I am off to go eat lunch and try to communicate portugues to spanish.

I hope this message makes sense, I know it is long, and I rushed through it. Love you!
Un abrazo,
xoxo... kati

Living the life

Hi!
So, the teleton started, and I believe it is like a television drive, however there is shows and concerts all over the country. But, I wouldn't say I have seen a change in anybody, or the feeling. However, I did get handed 2 mil on the micro last night for no reason. So I tried not to take it, but figured I would donate it to the teleton. Anyways, we have had two big dinner in the past two days. It was yummy!
Seeing as they do not celebrate thanksgiving here, I did miss it! But I miss the leftovers even more. However, I do not miss seeing the leftovers for two weeks after thanksgiving, so I hope you eat them all, very quickly. Here, it didn't feel like we were missing much, because the country went on like normal, with no knowledge of thanksgiving. But, we did have or going away dinner for our program. It was a nice dinner, with three courses of drinks (non-alcoholic), appetizers, salad, a main course and as many desserts as you could eat. I am sure we didn't' get drunk on alcohol, but we did get a food high! And everyone was there with there mom's. And the mom's love to gossip, so we had a great time. After the dinner, a lot of the students went out in Valpo, where we all had finished off a great night, however, just like COPA told us, two girl got robbed three different times that night. Chile won't hurt you, but it will rob you blind!
And last night, we decided we would have a rap up dinner for our spanish class. So, the five students went to renaca where our Spanish teacher prepared some food. We ate chips, crackers, peanuts and cheese to start, and for dinner we ate this cheesy, tasty ham lasagna, and for dinner we had a manjar and cream mousse, and a fruit tart! During all this time (8-12:30) we drank pisco sour and red wine! Haha, and we talked and laughed outside on her Patio. It was a wonderful experience. It seems here parties are nice because the host makes her home that of her friends, and neither party feels uptight. It makes for a very relaxed time. And the food was wonderful! My spanish teacher did a lot of traveling, they lived in Russia for an amount of time, and also one day decided to pack up and move to England.
So, as I have preached before, world relationships are such a valuable thing to have. And I know I have family in Chile, as they also have family in the US.
Un abrazo, eat all those leftovers.
xoxo... Kati

Oh Chile...

Hello,

I know it has been a while since I have written so hello, I hope everything is going good. I am using the school computer, so even though I am excited, you can not see the exlamation mark because i can not find it. Anyways, everything in Chile is going well, however I am running into some frustrations with school but only for my two classes purely chilean. First, in my biotechonology course, we have to give group presentations. So, earlier this month during the presentations, the professor missed two weeks of classes. This week, my group thought they had to present, so we met this morning to get together all of the information. Do not ask me why the procrastinated so long, I can not tell you. Anyways, this morning we also discovered we do not present until the 9th of december, when I have travel plans. Well, that means because the class was delayed two weeks, so was our project. The thing is, we have our project done and the girls are not willing to accomodate my needs. At the end of class when I was asking the professor if we could change the date, some girl came up and said well, I am in here group and we picked this because we knew it was one of the last presentations and we can not change the date. So, what will happen with that I will tell you later.

In my business class, which in business communication is very important, I had earlier attempted to contact my group multiple times. My plan was to do the busienss presentation this week, so I could leave for vacations next week. Well recently I talked to a kid from my group who told me that we were not going to be ready. Another grand frustration considering I tried to communicate my needs earlier. 

Other than that, my grades will be turning out fine, and it is not really a problem. 

Chile right at the beginning of the Teleton. This is a money drive for kids, and has been promoted for 2 months now. Some people do not see why they drive so hard, and guilt you into giving money, but in general the opinion is that the Teleton is a beautiful thing. It unites Chile, which is still a country of two sides (Allende vs. Pinochet), into a common goal. They have parties and shows, and the feeling in the country is positive. 

Well, this weekend when I was in Zapallar, we went to the beach, and they were charging 200 pesos to get on the list to play volleyball, and it was a drive for the teleton. So, I played volleyball and soaked up the sun. I have earned the ever so popular name of gringa, but sometimes they do call me Kati. I had a great time, and got to practice my skills in beach volley ball.

I am getting very tan, I wish you all could be here to leave your house to lay on the beach everyday with me.

Love you very much

Un abrazo

xoxo... kati

Chile has a mind of its own

Hello,

So, as I was traveling to the Botanical Gardens yesterday with my friend, it was a Sunday, so not that many Micro's were running. Well, we asked a micro driver if he went there and he replied he would drop us off close, but we would have to do a little walking. No problem there. Well, when we got off, we were then informed it was about a 30 minute walk. We then ran into some other people walking the opposite direction and asked where to go. They said, keep going straight, its gonna be about 1 hour. Haha. So, we continue to walk, and end up getting a ride with some friendly people, who then informed us it would've been about 2 hours! Well, I don't think it would've been 2 hours, I feel it would've been 45 minutes. But as we were talking in the car, the my friend said the Micro driver will lie sometimes just so to get your money, and the driver of the car said, ya, you have to be careful about Chile. Well my friend was obviously Chilean, and so was the driver, but Chile will get the Chileans if he can. O Chile. Other than that, my friend and I ate subway sandwiches (I was so happy to discover regular mustard instead of sweetened mustard, and you can add avocado!), chips, and drank wine from a melon. Its entertaining, you open any type of fruit or melon (we had honeydew), get all the seeds out, poke the fruit so it mixes with the wine, then add sugar and white wine! You can drink it out of the side, or from a straw. Not to mention, the botanical gardens were beautiful. I am living in the garden city, where they are many flowers, trees, plants...
Well, Sat and Sunday this weekend were beautiful and great for going to the beach! Today, in my paper class, we have been preparing paper pulp from dried plan for about 4 weeks. We finally got to use the pulp to make paper. So what I have is a few sheets of paper made from palm tree! How cool... Other than that, I need a hair cut and am having a wonderful time. O yes, and right now there is a strike of government workers going on. One day, they woke me up with their whistels and magaphone while walking in the street. Today, I saw they had traffic all backed up, and in a huge parade, they were at the center plaza in Vina. They had whistels, drums, people, flags, horns, loud speakers and energy. Good to them for being activists, but it impeded me from getting a card I wanted, so I will have to wait till Wendsday.
I wish everyone at home the best.
Looove you all!
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

La Serena

So, I learned an interesting thing about Chile yesterday. In Chile, there is no ozone layer! This means, someone who receives 14 years of sun exposure in one state, would receive 50 years of sun exposure here! What a difference. So. when in Chile, don´t forget your sun screen, nobody wants premature wrinkles. With this said, I had a wonderful vacation this weekend. With my COPA exchange program, I traveled about 6 hours in bus to the north, in a place called La Serena. Considering Chile is the longest and skinniest country on earth, the drive was all coast line and was very beautiful. But, I slept. Anyways, let me tell you what I did in La Serena, other than have an amazing time. The location we stayed at would be like a resort kindof. It had a pool, a ping pong table, pool table and foosbal. The condos were connected but had two floors, seven places to sleep, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a living room and a balcony. Absotlutely beautiful. We could see the ocean from our back door, and were located next to Iguana Empanadas. 

All the activities were pre-paid, so all I was responsible for was food. Upon arriving, we went to the grocery store and my friends and I bought stuff for burritos (white beans from a box, they were already cooked, cheese, tortillas, salsa, which were actually spicy, and rice), stuff for sandwiches, cereal, fruit and chocolate. We ate like queens. Night one we made our burritos, and they turned out grand! The next day, the day was cloudy untill about 3, however we laid on the beach for 2 hours in the clouds! Don´t let this confuse you, your white skin will get burnt in the clouds. However, once the sun came out it was sooo nice and warm. We laid on our towels and soaked up the sun. Around 4 I went inside with my friend but stopped to have a fried cheese and shrimp empanada before going in. It was good. That night, we went on the bus and traveled to an observatorium with our group. It was very beautiful however the light from the moon made it impossible to see all of the stars. But, we did get a real close look at the moon, and that was awesome. 

Day two, we left at twelve and drove two hours to go to a solar restruant. They use the sun power too cook. This meant, they have solar ovens. It takes two hours to cook little rolls, and they even boil water for tea using the sun. The food was awesome considering how slow cooked it was. We had rice and chicken, followed by flan for dessert. I had an herb tea, which had a mint leaf and hot water in it. Very natural. After this, we visited the Gabriela Minstral musuem, who was a Chilean poem writer and won the Nobel Piece Prize. My friends and I ate this popsicle, bright green and pink, tasting exactly like a watermelon. It costs us 30 cents. After we got home, we went to play in the ocean. Despite my terror of waves, the water was warm enough to play in, and we worked up an appetite for dinner. We went to a seafood restruant, and I had lobster pinchers and salad. Very tasty. I didn´t tell you yet, but me and two of my friends were the color of the lobsters. But, I didnt´get my face burnt!!!

Well, the last day came, and we went to a national park. It was in a dessert climate, very mountanious, a lot like Colorado. However, we drove an and hour and a half through the park to get to the main attraction. It is a rain forest, from the second region (we were in the 4th region) that was adapted to absorb the mist from the ocean to survive. The forest was wet, mossy and magical. Absolutely beautiful.

After this, we went home to tell our families about our vacation. Yesterday, I went to school as well as tuesday, and today I´m writing to say hello.

So, I hope everybody is doing great! I love you all

Un abrazo,

xoxo... Kati 

The pelican bath dance

If you want to see-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi-YWVpAKB0

Un abrazo,
xoxo... Kati

Pelicans are big

Ok guys,
So I just wanted to let you know I saw pelicans bathing today. As I believe I have said before, there is a river ditch behind my house. You know, the one that takes the water from the city to the ocean. Anyways, a bunch of huge pelicans were taking a bath! And these birds are huge! So, the sit in the water like a duck, but flap their wings frantically up and down in the water like they are trying to take off from the water. Haha, and they splash, and smack that water. It would be like me flapping my underarms against water for pure fun. After they get all wet and clean, they like bend their heads on top of their body and shake their tail feathers.

I have also seen these silly birds sit on top of a rock, and hold out their wings as if they are trying to dry them.

Haha,
have a good day.
Un abrazo,
xoxo... Kati

oh yea, check out my pictures they are updated!

Chile in November, the insanity continues

Hi,
this is my first post of november! Sorry it has been such a long time since I have written! But a lot of things have happened since then. First off, today I mixed up the word professor, to a word that had a spanish and an english tone! haha. Second, halloween is not as entertaining in Chile as it is in the US. So, I went to a costume party (I was a greek) a week before the 31st, but did not dress up on the actual date. My friend and I went to Valpo to walk around a take pictures of the wonderful graffiti there (it is everywhere, and very artistic!) Despite the turistic ancsesors (elevators the take you up hills) being very beautiful, we were looking more into communities. Going up one hill, called Cerro (hill) Cordiera (mountain range) which also had an ancensor (but we took the stairs, 160 of them) we found amazing artwork and took a few pictures of the view. Everyone kept telling us to put the camara away because it would get stolen. So we continue walking up, and I stopped my friend Natael saying I didn't think there was anything where we were going, when ladies called us into their shop. They asked us if we wanted to walk up any more, and we said we didn't know. They told us not to because thats where the mafia lives. So, thanked them and quickly made our escape. We then went to a hill that was more turistic and had a good time. After that, we went to one of the many restruants there. I had fish with lemon juice, a cheese empanada, and a shell fish/sea food soup. It was delicious! All through this time, the restaruants baby kitty sat with us. I imagine they buy the fish on the streets where they have markets. You can buy fruit, oil, olives, veggies, freshly gutted fish, and anything else you want! So, the food was very tasty. On our way home, we walked Valpo to Vina, we found a halloween treat. It was a dog, decomposed to the point of bone. Haha, spooky. After visiting our friend Katelynn, we saw a few Chilean trick-o-treaters doin their thing. However here, you go out asking for dulces (sweets). However, some kids did stop me on the street and ask me for monedas (money) or dulces. I was not impressed.
Other than that, elections passed, and the mayor of Vina stayed the same. I'm not sure if I told you this, but you are not required to register to Vote, but if you are registered and don't vote, you get punished! It is kind of mixed up.
Lately my school has been having a lot of expositions. One week, I saw a biology exposition where different booths showed butterflies, beatles, plants, birds and bodies. Then this week, they have tables selling clothes, shoes, bags, toys, jewelery and other stuff. I can't remember Chile doing anything esle to me this week! Because life is so different here, we think "Chile" has a personal vendetta against us. But in my paper class, we are stipping wood to make groundwood pulp and are actually going to make paper from the start.
I love eating bread and avacado, empanadas and drinking fresh coke (they have a factory here!)
I hope everything is absolutely wonderful in the US and I miss you all!!!
Love love love you,
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

Send me some love

Hi,

If you would like to send me a love letter, this is my address.

La Kati
Avenida Marina 330 dept. 114 Edificio Marina
CentroVina del Mar, Chile

Un abrazo,
xoxo... Kati

PS, make sure it has a return address!

Chile vs. Argentina

Hello Again!
So a funny thing happened today while I was waiting for my friend in the bathroom. As I waited I first saw two people leave the bathroom, wash down their hands and slick down their hair with water. haha. I have seen many people in the clubs do the same thing to their hair. After that, I must make a declaimer. Many bathrooms in Chile do not have toilet paper. You have two options, you can bring it with you in your pocket, or sometimes ask the counter if they have any you can take. Haha. So, as these two ladies exited the bathroom, they washed their hands and reached in the pocket to dry their hands with toilet paper. hahaha. Also, very entertaining.
Other than that, I would like to inform you, Chile has a big problem with complaining, depression, denial and thieving. Yes, it all is a big problem. Many people take depression pills however the pharmacists will only sell them the brand that gives the pharmacist the highest percentage of the sale. Other than that, I watched a program those who fill up your gas tank will fill out the numbers wrong and steal money from you. And I must I say, Chileans wish they were all blond, white and skinny. So they deny that they are kind chubby (well... they eat cheese, bread, avocado and ice cream all the time!), darker people are treated worse in society, and they can not stop staring at gringos! Its wild.
So, now that you know that, I had a good week. I went to the Argentina vs. Chile soccer game. It was epic!!! Chile won 1-0. So, Argentina is the best team in the world (they won the olympics) and, Chile has never won a qualifier against them before. It is a historical game, and I was in the Estadio Nacional to see it. Being beautiful gringos, we were shown up on the big screen in the stadium, for almost a minute. The stadium is very old, and needs to be updated. They only have one screen, and it doesn't even show the time. More than that, the Estadio Nacional is where many people were held, tortured and killed during the Coup de Etat. It sill holds and special place in the Chileans heart. And... Pinochet and Allende are still heavily debated topics, and it makes really funny jokes.
Haha, my friend Nateals friend Zac was visiting us in Chile this weekend. So, we went to Zapallar and sunbathed the whole day. Annd, I went swimming in the ocean. It was cold, but sooooo wonderful. I still hold a little fear of the ocean but I am getting better at diving under the waves. It was very very fun!!!
I wish you guys all the best!
Un Abrazo,
xoxo... La Kati

Here in Chile...

Hey,

A funny thing happeend to me while I was waiting to meet my friend. A man with a suitcase came up and started to talk to me. He asked me if I knew who he was. Obviously, I said no. So, it took no time for him to say, ¨Well, here in CHile we sell things on the street! ¨He opened his box and wamted to sell me perfume. Haha. his excited tone and him his words just made me laugh. 

This weekend I went to visit a beautiful beach in Zapallar. This is an exclusive community with a lot of money. I know the owned of a big supermarket chain has a house there, and so do some rich Puertoricans who own a hotel chain. The houses are summer mansions and obviously the owners only come around on long weekends or summer time. 

The beach was really clean, and the people very nice. Its a lot like Colorado in how people say Hi to eachother on the streets. Very friendly. On Sunday when returning from Zapallar, I got to take a free bus. The students return to their home on the weekend, so on SUndays, when the students go back to school, the bus is free! I walked home around 7 on a sunday. Vina was like a ghost town. Not only are the businesses all closed on Sunday but the Chile Ecuador game was on too. No body was on the streets, it was sort of odd. Chile lost to Ecuador with a score of 1-0. :(

Okay! I´ll talk to you later.

Un abrazo

xoxo... Kati

Papapletos

Hello out there!
I only had one class this morning, but, it was a good class. I have picked a group for our group project, and I will be presenting in front of many Chileans about biotechnology and bioethics regarding expirementation on human beings. Yesterday, art class was relaxing like it always in. I have a project due in there where I'm supposed to turn in 60 sheets of paper that I made. Other than that, I turned in two essays to two different classes, and have a huge spanish packet to do! Well, I know you don't want to know about school, so this week was good.
On friday my friend from a little beach town called Zapallar came to visit me. We went around and explored Valparaiso. We walked to some great views, and I saw all the colorful houses in the nice part of town, and the not so nice part of town. There are many poor people in Chile, and they all dry their clothes outside. Walking up hills, you will look to one side and see a group of four buildings with a courtyard. Sometimes, the people have their close drying in the courtyard. The majority of people air dry their clothes. So, when packing for Chile, it doesn't do you any good to buy big and think drying them will shrink it to the right side. Haha.
This week in Valparaiso, there was a festival called Mil Tambores (One million tambourines). I stumbled upon the body painting part. In this plaza, there were artists, homeless people, regular peopl, crazy people, rasta people, music people, and alll people! The artists were painting people's body. The designs were interesting and all reflected what the artist wanted to do. Sompe people got totally naked while some people didn't. I saw a poor person, who seemed a little crazy. She was probably 50 and smoking cigarettes and dancing. This little thing would just open up her jacket and show her bra to everyone, while still dancing and saying random things. One time when she pulled her pants down, she revealed what seemed to be like she was pregnant. However, it had blue bumps and was off to the side. I'm sure she muttered something about being free and liberated and not being able to get medical care.
I asked my friend what it was and he told me it was probably a hernia. So... I wondered why she couldn't get medical help. He explained to me that in Chile, unlike the rest of South America, the medical care is not really free. However, she could go into a clinic and take a number. Not only would the medical care in the clinic be mediocre but its possible you would take number 3,000,000 and they could be serving patient one. I'm not sure if the medical attention would cost money either, however there is little justice and programs for the poor people in Chile.
Well, back to the festival. After seeing the body painting, I returned back to Valparaiso that night with my friends. In the street, there were many people playing drums, drinking, having fun and celebrating. When my friend Natael asked a girl what they were celebrating she replied... umm, yes! haha, because they can. It was a good experience to see, and reminded me of music festivals.
This night, I ate whats called a papapleto. A typical food of Chile is all these big sandwiches. There are Churascos (meet, tomato, avocado and bread) and Completos (hotdog, tomato, avovado and mayonase). Of course, they have variations on these sandwiches. So, I went to the only restaruant that serves these, it was a completo but instead of a hotdog, it had frenchfries! Haha, it was mushy and salty but yummy. A necessary experience.
You know how I told you there were many homeless dogs here, well its really sad. This week I saw two dogs very very sick. One little thing had snot (just like we would) just dripping from his nose. Its not like these dogs can do anything for themselves. And it is just heartbreaking. The other dog seemed to have goop coming from his mouth. And they look just pitiful, and appear as if they are crying!
Well, every different micro is crazy and the ocean stays beautiful. The days are nice, and I'm gonna get tan!
Miss you guys tons!
Un abrazo,
xoxo... Kati

Hey dad- You would love the frenchfries here!

More Chile

Hello, I imagine you all can't wait to hear from me again. Things are still going good in Chile. Even better, the days are getting warm, and its the perfect time for sunbathing. Too bad I have to sit in a class room during the nicest times of the day! Anyways, it was a relaxed and beautiful week.
Today when I got to school, a suprise awaited all students. At 10, I saw two fire trucks in front of the Casa Central. Surveying the scene a little more, there was caution tape and broken, exploded wood and glass on the ground. I looked up to the third level, and a fire occured in our school! I couldn't believe it. I've heard a few hypothesis. First, an insomniac was popping popcorn when things went wrong. Haha. Second, that at five this morning a chemistry lab exploded and started this fire. At least 1/4 of the third floor was torched. I was very suprised!
Other than that, I was a good charity girl this week. My maid, who comes once a week for a deep cleaning, was talking to me during lunch. I asked her how her 18th festivities were, and she said good.... but we don't have much money, so we didn't go very many places. So, continuing to talk she revealed her daughters 15th birthday was this weekend. But... the problem is she doesn't have any money, and couldn't buy a cake. Well in short, I ended up giving her daughter a birthday present, and contributed a little but to her cake. Second, I was eating a chocolate bar on the street when three homeless men asked me for money. Well, I never go digging through my purse to find them money, so I shared some chocolate. Haha. At least I did something...
The poor people who sell socks, tweezers, sunglasses, and basically nothing on the street make me feel slightly uncomfortable.
Another thing about school today, they were handing out papers in front of the casa central, me thinking it was about fire took it. The headline was, Gay marriages, threatening our society and our faith. Building hate for the gays, very nice Chile.
On Saturday I had a nice lunch with my family. My mom made seafood soup, a tasty salad, and fish sticks... in the shape of fishies. Its a good thing I mysteriosly started liking fish before I came to chile.
On Monday I wanted to go get a pedicure, so my mom sent me to her friends shop. This friend had is now living in New York. He was dating a "gringa", and she got pregnant. So, he moved to New York to meet the girls family, and they are going to get married before they have the baby. His mom could care less, and is excited to have a little gringa grandchild but... she told me her mom almost died! I can imagine.
Well, I'll try to remember more quality things to say next time!
I'm looking forward to a homework week. I have a paper due tomorrow, monday, and an art portfolio due in two mondays. Fancy that, I actually have school! HAHAHAHAH
Miss you!
Un abrazo,
xoxo... Kati

The entire country was on vacation for 4 days

Hi!
I got an entire week of vacation from school so it was hard to go back this week. Yesterday was the first day of spring however today was cloudy and cool. My day was relaxed and my Spanish teacher didn't show up the the third class so it was an extended vacation! I came home, ate lunch at took a nap. If your interested, lunch consisted of chicken, potatoes, and a yummy rice, red pepper, egg and chicken soup. It was a good soup for a cold day.
If you remember me talking about Sept. 18th being a festival day, Sept. 19th was too. The 19th celebrated the military. They had a very long parade in Santiago which I didn't go to, but I saw on TV. The days this weekend were beautiful and perfect for laying out on the beach. Which, the beaches are definitly filling up with people! Many families go out to the beach and jave a wonderful time. They enjoy being there together and everyone enjoys the simplist pleasures. The pacific ocean is always cold so only a few go into the water. However, I watched on group dig a giant hole and make a sand castle right on the water line. Other people were getting buried in the sand. Many people were sundbathing and taking naps. As I already told you, Chile is obeseseed with their children. I saw one dad drying off his 8 yr. old chubby son. It looked like he was wiping off his butt after changing his diaper, my friend and I laughed! I saw some younger girls playing in the water but walk by me in their wet little panties. Its very enjoyable, simple, relaxing and makes me laugh. Its lightening to see people enjoy the beach and the simplicity so much!
So this week was a lot of family, a lot of beach, a lot of eating, some walking and pure enjoying.
I miss you guys!
Un abrazo,
xoxo... Katie

Oh and PS. I hope Molly's nose is okay!

Sept. 18th

Hi!
As I have been telling you, it is Chilean independence week. On Sept. 18th they celebrate their complete independence (as in keeping all revenue from minerals in Chile). So, I will write to you tonight as to not forget anything because I've had some great couple of days.
Beginning with yesterday when my friend Katelynn and Natael went for a walk. We saw this crazy stray dog try to catch a bird, and run into a square metal thing like a glass door. Sad, but true. When we went out at night, we went to a place called Playa Ancha, which was transformed into a "fonda". The fonda is a HUGE festival on dirt. There are so many places to eat empanadas, chorri pan, kabobs, drink chicha, and other chilean stuff that it was wild. Also, you pay to enter the dancing place, and there is a live band and everybody is dancing the cueca, or typical chilean dance. The cueca is a dance of the farm people where the guy pursues the girl the entire time, and gets her in the end, they spin handkerchiefs over their heads, and go around un circles. It is reflective of roosters. Anyways, people also dance the salsa and any type of the cueca (it is different for north and south). So, after we left this dancing part, there was another dance party outside where people were still dancing the cueca, yelling and having a great time. That was only the pre-fonda night.
So, today I woke up at 9ish and got ready to leave with my family. We drove for about an hour to a mountainous farm. Absolutely beautiful. Here, it was basically all family, about 19 of us, and we had a barbecue. Right upon getting there we drank wine with peach in it, and ate boiled eggs and bread. We then ate empanadas warmed on a fire. After this we played many many games. In the family, there were two babies, and one 7 year old little boy who would be called "the adored one". He played hte part very well. Everyone wanted him to win the games and was very excited over the prizes he won. So you ask me, what games did we play. Well, we started off with tug-of-war, boys against girls. That is pointless knowing the boys will always win. Well after that, we used the same rope to mark "100 meters" and did the dash. One for women the other for boys. After this, my father Ricardo got out eggs and said we would play a game to put the eggs on the ground, be blindfolded, and listen to others direct you as to not step on the eggs. Who went first? I did. They tied my scarf around my head and sent me off. Funny thing was, they picked up all the eggs, and played with me/laughed at me, the entire time. Funny. After getting through this, we did an egg toss. Then, we put eggs on spoons, spoons in our mouths, and raced to a certain point. The winner of all these games of course got the prize.
I believe this was the end of the games for we were about to have lunch. The men through Chicken and stake on the fire pit grill. All the women had prepared salad, potatoes and rice so that we could eat it with the meat. Thing was, it was one family for themselves. In general, you ate what you brought. However, the food was tasty. Rosy made tomato and onion salad, bean salad and brought red meat for the grill. We shared a celery salad with one of the three families, but there was a runnin joke the entire time, trading food for food. haha. During this time, everyone continues to drink the peach wine, wine, beer and a chirmoya drink. WE made many salutes to Chile, to children, and to families during lunch. After lunch, I took a stroll with the younger kids, and it was beautiful! When we came back, they were playing soccer and jumping rope. Everyone joined in on the long rope jump and this too was a great time. After that, Rosy and Ricardo had been blowing up balloons. Everyone got a partner and we raced to see which partners could run to the car, grab a balloon and pop five the fastest. We also played musical chairs. Sadly, first round up, I battle out for a chair, "won" but the chair leg broke. It was plastic and it twisted up and snapped. haha. So, I called out for the rest of the chairs. Right before round two was played, one of the old men cut his finger pretty bad. So, we all relaxed and let that situation be figured out until we had tea time, or once. For once we had tea, soup, empanadas, boiled egg and smashed up boiled egg on bread. We sat around and talked until we started up a camp fire. We continued to sit around and talk until we left.
The scenery was beautiful, the food great, the people are fun, and when you see pics hopefully this will make better sense!
So with a quick update, I'm out.
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

San Pedro, the Atacam Desert

Hi!!
So, beginning on Thursday and returning on Tuesday, I traveled to the driest desert in the world. There are some parts of the desert that have never seen rain. Incredible. It was such a nice change to go to some really warm days where I could get a little tan, and warm my soul. The most economic way to travel in Chile is taking the bus, so three of my friends and I traveled 24 hours each way on a "half-bed" bus. This meant you could stretch your legs out really far, on a little platform and lean the back of your chair back so it was like laying down, half way. The bus ride was an adventure, very long, but worth it!!
In the desert, my friends and I took two tours. On was to the "Valley of the Moon", where we made many scenic stops on our way, and the other began at 4 in the morning, and was to the "Geysers of Tatio". Each tour was spectacular. At the Valley tour, we climbed up a big hill to watch the sunset. In the desert you can see the moon before the sun sets. However, we got to watch the sunset. The colors in the sky of the ocean sunset was actually reflected on the sand. The mountains were pink, the ground was orange and it was beautiful. It then turns to a white/purple sky, with black mountains and shining stars. The white purple and black was my favorite part of the sunset. Also on this tour, we got to see many volcanoes, however didn't hike up any.
At the Geyser tour, I learned how these Geysers function. There is magma underneath the earth as well as cold water. When the pressure is high, the pressure is highest when the days are coldest, the geysers go off. They spout boiling water and it looks like the entire ground is steaming. Really cool however, FREEZING! I promise you it was -10 degrees. After we got our fill of taking pictures in front of the smoke, the tour guide fed us breakfast, bread and cheese, coffee and tea, and cookies. He then took us to the natural warm swimming pool where my friends and I hopped in. The pool was pretty warm, and quite a few people were swimming. It was horrible getting out considering it was freezing. However, our guide did inform us we were the most beautiful girls swimming in the pool. Haha. We left the geyser park and on our way home saw, a decedent of the llama as well as green rabbits that blend in with their surrounding. We stopped at a little town, population 15, and ate llama, cheese empenadas and sopapilla. I'm not sure if it was the sauce, but, llama is tasty!! After our little stop, we continued our 2 hour drive home and saw flamingos, birds, cactus, volcano, and more desert scenery. We got back to the small desert town at 11, and were impressed with all we had done since the time we got up.
My friends and I rented a bike and rode around for 2 hours. This was also very very fun! We stumbled upon Incan ruins, but didn't want to pay to visit them so we observed from afar.
During my stay, we first stayed in a room, making 7 friends, in hostel Florida. The hostel was fairly dirty, had dusty floors and a dirty bathroom. But it was worth it for the adventure! Two girls split off to go to Machu Pichu, but my friends and I stayed in San Pedro.
Later, three girls from our program stayed in the same hostel. They went to visit a salt lake where you have no choice but to float. The lake is composed of 80% salt. They informed us, the top of the lake is freezing, but your feet are almost burning.
Okay, so we ate some good food (pizza, pasta, huge sandwiches, steak with eggs, 1/4 of a chicken with french fries, ice cream, fresh fruit juice) and met a crazy crazy guy named Claudio. He informed us Nocturnal dancing was illegal (dancing illegal?!) but also told us they Atacamans have secret parties where they can dance in peace. The Atacaman kids spread the word where the party will be held, and all show up at different times. We ventured to one of these parties the night before we left.
Before we knew it, we hopped on to the 24 hour bus ride, and all were extremely dirty when we got home. Don't worry, I worked on speaking Spanish, and watched four Spanish movies on the bus ride so i worked on listening too.
I don't have school Wed, Thur or Fri because it is the Fiestas Patrias, or the Chilean, fourth of July.
Un Abrazo
xoxo... Kati

Chile vs. Colombia

Soccer is the loved sport of Chile. With this said, I would like to advise you Chile lost on Saturday against Brasil however, yesterday, I was invited to a sports bar with some of my friends. I went there to watch the Chile vs. Colombia game. Before the game was on, there was play station 2 on the television, showing two people battling in soccer. When the game started, the bar was stuffed with people, all cheering for Chile. I learned the famous chant... Chi Chi Chi, le le le, viva chile! It was very fun to be there with so many chilean soccer enthusiasts.
Anyways, I am traveling to San Pedro in the Atacama dessert in 20 minutes, and on the 18th and 19, it it the indepdence celebration of Chile. I'll take lots of pictures and tell you how it goes.
Un Abrazo,
xoxo Kati

PS, happy birthday to Grandma Hone!

The Chocolate Factory and Isla Negra

Hi!
Today was a wonderful day. I went on a tour with my program COPA. Despite it being a lot of driving around in Chile, all destinations were wonderful. In the morning, we left around 9:45 and drove to a natural chocolate factory. The factory doesn't use any sugar or preservatives in their chocolate. This means it expires within a month of purchase. The factory has 106 different flavors. We got to try celery, oregano, mole, lemon, raspberry, raisin and cheese flavored chocolate. It was extremely unique and very delicious, I definitely bought some chocolate. After this, we got back on the bus and drove to a town specializing in artisan work and 1 kg. empanadas. We got to go shopping for 2 hours. In this town I saw a lot of pottery bowls and pots, chairs, earrings, headbands, scarves, purses. The only thing I bought was empanadas and natural juice. Extremely tasty. So, we get back on the bus again, and drive to the Isla Negra. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an actual island, however it is the house of Pablo Neruda and it was beautiful! Pablo surrounded his life in the ocean, writing, women, friends, alcohol, art, ships, collections and love. It was quite the life he lived! The view from his House to the ocean was also breathtaking. His bedroom faces this BEAUTIFUL scenery. So, after a day of traveling and sightseeing we returned to our wonderful Vina del Mar.
A couple nights ago, I experienced something that would upset Ray Krock. I went to McDonalds and wanted a fresh hamburger with no onions. The employees declined my request saying the kitchen was turned off, and gave me a five minute old hamburger.
A different night I left the club to find the Micro's bumping Regatone music. It's like the after club!
Annnd, when I was on the Micro to the club, all the young Chileans were singing songs. It was extremely entertaining.
Anyways, school is going well. I wrote a five page paper in Spanish, talked about Bioethics and made my first piece of recycled paper.
Hope the weather is nice!
Un abrazo
xoxo, Kati

6:00- 22:00

Hola!

I left this morning at 6 am, and just got back from a wonderful day skiing in the Andes. Talk about beautiful. The day was beautiful, the scenery was beautiful and the skiing was fantastic. It has been six years since I've been on ski's, so finally when I really started to go... I had a greeaaaat time! A couple things, these mountains do not have any pine trees, so its straight down the mountain. There are a lot more pully lifts than chair lifts, there are less signs saying "caution" "raise the bar now" or "keep ski tips up". Who needs to spend money on signs, when you are already paying your employees. On one of the first runs I took, a man yelled from below "deja la barra!! deja la barra!" which means, lower the bar. A few friends of mine learned to ski in the Andes, and they loved it! I wish you would've seen this scenery, I will put pictures up, but justice will not be served.
We were at the very tip top of a mountain, and looking over, were other mountain tops. The fog that engulfed these mountains amidst the gray clouds, complimented by a glowing blue sky was absolutely amazing. On our way down the mountain, we experienced the sunset, pink clouds, white mountain, Chilean mountain side, textured clouds and alpenglow. Spectacular.
Other than my amazing day today, I've been going to school. I'm taking a "paper making" class... should be, fun. And a biotechnology and bioethics class, it will discuss cloning, human experiments, morality... and things such as this. Should also be fun.
If you have seen all the exchange students at our house, you will know upon arrival to the USA, they do not have a good opinion of it. Its quite interesting the amount of bad information these people are receiving, and absolutely believing. The media leaves a beautiful blond cheerleaders and football players type on the people, one class I was in said, the US did a human experiment on healthy children who were incompetent as humans (genetic disease) then asked why a country that stands for human liberties would do this. I watched a spoof movie today that was ridiculous, and Latin America thinks US is the owner of them. Its quite interesting.
Spanish is hard to learn in a society where I'm surrounded by so much English. But don't worry, my skills in both speaking and listening are getting better. Many people continue to go out of their way to be nice, however, many people don't. Every day is getting warmer, but I still went skiing in August.
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

Cultural Activities

Well the weekend is over, and tomorrow I have school at nine in the morning. I hope classes actually start. My friend Natael and I went to the concert the next night. It was nice because there were actual Chilean youngsters, not just gringos, or Chileans who only go to the clubs. Not to mention, the music was very enjoyable. After the concert, a Chilean girl started talking to me on the Micro, she speaks English very well, and I think we will hang out later.
I returned home extremely early in the morning, and got a very limited time of sleep before I took a tour of Valparaiso with my COPA group. We were all stuffed onto a tour bus winding through super tiny streets. I don't know if I told you, but these house are built on hills. Its all up and down. The Chileans either have to walk up the hills every day (which a few of my friends live up hills, I've walked a few myself) or, take ancesores (elevators, almost). A lot of hills are not accessible with cars either. The tour was very entertaining. Despite discovering the streets, we went to a house of Pablo Neruda, took a boat tour (we saw sea lions), took a ride on the ancesors, and walked around in the city. I will definitely be returning to some spots we saw!
My friend Alysha noticed this is like a Doctor Seuss city. The houses are many many colors, and wind up and down ths city in no apparent manner.
Last night I went ot my first "asado" which is a barbecue. A young German girl, enamored with a Chilean man invited us over to her house. Five years ago, this girl studies abroad in Chile and had a crush on her brothers best friend. Despite not speaking German, the friend did a study abroad in Germany. This is where they fell in love. The German girl returned ro Chile with the boyfriend and they live together in his parents house. So, the girl is so kind and friendly. We ate chicken, sausage, and chorripan; a little bread sandwich with sausage in the middle. Like everything in Chile, it was suuuuuper rico ;).

We were going to go to a concert...

Well, last night my good friend Natael convinced me to go to a concert in Valparaiso with her. The plan was to go to the concert and meet up with our other amigas at a club in Valpo. So, it was first and adventure finding the place. We took the wrong bus, and had to ask directions a couple of times. But low and behold, we made it to the venue. We walked up the stairs expecting to be the only white girls in the bar, however, we were surprised to see nobody in the bar. Natael read the information wrong and only the workers and owners were there. We decided to stay for a couple of minutes, and Natael accidentally ordered us a tuna salad. we mixed up aceitunas (olives) for atun (tuna). So, our salad came out with tuna, corn, lettuce, tomatoes and get this, potatoes from a can. The potatoes were not so tasty. Because the employees went out of their way to prepare it, we ate and enjoyed our salad. not too long after we sat down, the bar owner sat down in the room with his friend, and two more people came to join them. Being the outgoing child of my father, we struck up a conversation with them and got invited to sit with them. It was one mans birthday however we just sat at the table and talked about Chileans, economy, government, Obama and McCain... pretty interesting.
Underneath this bar is a pizza restaurant. Despite the Chileans smoking like chimneys, a smell came from the pizza restaurant and everybody was coughing uncontrollably. Natael and I found this the perfect chance to escape.
After this, Natael wanted to go home so I hopped on the bus. Immediately, our other friends called, and after making Australian friends on the bus and paying $1, I exited the micro to meet my other friends and go to a club called "Huevo" (Egg). There was a sea of people, we had fun dancing but it was not what we expected. We exited the club when the club closed. Outside of the club, three food stations were setup. A popular food here is hot dogs with guacamole, mayo, cheese, mustard and ketchup on it. Two stations served these up, and another station fried sopapillas and sold them for 20 cents. My friend Katelynn and I ate a sopapilla and got on the Micro to go home.
I have learned that the micro's are privately owned. So I feel the bus driver owns his micro, and despite paying little tolls while he drives, retains all the money. Sometimes, there is another guy who will well at you to get on the bus, ask where your going and shove you onto his bus. I have no idea what interest he has on getting people onto the bus, but I'm positive its economic. Well the Micro didn't leave until it was stuffed with people. It was about 10 minutes of waiting. But nevertheless, I made it home safe and sound, and I'd call it an enjoyable taste of Chile.
As far as the three classes I'm taking with actual Chilean students, only one started the week school starts. I am the only blonde amongst all the black hair. However, this doesn't bother me.
Next week I will have more to say about school (hopefully) and tonight, I believe I will conquer the concert scene again; I'm positive the band plays tonight!
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

By popular demand

Hi,
I finally uploaded some pictures. Click here to view them! http://picasaweb.google.com/ktcrouse2
It is an album page, so check back periodically.
It was a beautiful day but all I did was go to school!
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

The weather is out of check everywhere!

I heard about the rain and the snow in Colorado, so I hope you all had another happy Soggy Grass. How about that?! Snow in August, I think Grandpa read a book called that. Haha, you guys get to experience winter in August just like me! On Friday, we experience honestly a typhoon! It rained, and rained, and rained, the entire day long. There is a ditch in the middle of the city which sometimes serves as a parking lot, farmer market grounds and a play place for the birds, but on Friday, it did its job. It took all the rain water to the ocean, and was filled up with rain like a raging river. My parents stared out the window amazed and informed me, if it continued to rain like that soon the water would overflow and this happened one time last year. Lucky for us, the water stayed in the ditch, however, reports came up and all around Vina, Valpo and Renaca houses were flooded in. Our maid didn't come to the House today because the first floor of her building collapsed. Our family friends were telling us about the rain penetrating into their house and I saw in Santiago the rain created a hole in the road. I believe there was a construction project being done but the many vehicles were washed away, and a ditch that they were digging is no longer there. The huge rain storm turned out to be quite the problem!
Despite this problem, my weekend was very nice. I've now met the entire family because both daughters stayed at the house this weekend. Saturday night we had a nice once with a fair amount of people. I thought they were going to stay awake until 4:00 in the morning to see Gonzalez play for the gold. This didn't happen and people dispersed around 1:00 Am. Also, I give applaud Chile for winning the Silver metal in Tennis. Unfortunately, our tennis player was mentally beaten and he lost twice in a row.
On Sunday I went out to see a movie with my friend. It was a Chilean movie called la Buena Vida, and I enjoyed what I understood.
Classes for school started today. I got up and went to class at 9 Am, however to my dismay, i got together with only exchange students and art classes do not start until next week. I don't see where we missed that memo, but the Chileans know something we don't! Haha, welcome to Chile!
Love you!
Un Abrazo
xoxo, Kati

Dia del Nino but more importantly, my birthday!

The past few days have been very entertaining. In short, it was two days dedicated to me! Day of kid and my birthday. I can't understand this day of the kid. All Chilean families walk around the street, giving their kid anything they want. The spoiled little kids get to go to movies on the street, sing on stages, get their face painted and do anything they want to. This is one day where they do no hear no... and its disgusting! hahahha. I even saw a child marking his territory on a tree while waiting for a micro. The streets were so crowded and so was the mall. I can't imagine how many cheese pizza's we would've sold at this festival.
Moving on to Aug. 11, 2008, 20 years since I was born, I fell of sugar mountain. However, the fall wasn't so bad when the beaches caught me. My birthday in Chile was very entertaining. I got up in the morning, at a tasty bowl of fruit, went back to bed and had a very leisurely morning getting ready to go to class at 2. After returning from my Spanish class, my friend Alisha and I went shopping.
We went into this tiny little shop where the shop owner began speaking with us. She was very enthusiastic. Moments later, a lady who lived in New York came in and announced she didn't like black people... and after that, the shop owners daughter came in with a 10 day old baby. Sooo little. The mom and daughter had a fight because the mom drank a beer before the baby came in, and the daughter was afraid that breathing on the baby might intoxicate the little thing. I just laughed. Shortly after this, Alisha told the shop owner it was my birthday, she was very exited, gave me a warm hug and then preceded to give me jewels for my cell phone as a gift.
Other than that, my friend got me chocolate, my mom gave me earrings, my sister some jewelery, I received a little leather box with Chile written on it, and a coin purse from my dad, with a beautiful picture, my name and the date written on it. It is very special. At 7, my friends came over for an "once" or tea time. This was very special, we had cheese, chicken with avocado and tuna sandwiches, sopapilla covered in syrup, fresh tasty hot chocolate, chocolate nut bread, and a delicious strawberry torte. We were stuffed! They sang happy birthday to me, and tried to stick my face in the cake. Thank goodness to my experience in Mexico, they weren't tricky enough. After filling ourselves, my papa brought out green olives and champagne.
It was wonderful to have my friends meet my family, and we enjoyed ourselves all night. As many of my birthdays, it was spent traveling, and will be on I will never forget.
I have to get ready for school now, but I wish you all a spectacular day.
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

Fun times at the beach

The past couple of days have been exciting and fun. Beginning with Friday, in the morning I got up early (9:00...) and went to buy some tennis shoes. After this, I took a jog/walk along the beach. Its very entertaining because there are little exercise machines on the beach so, when you are tightening your abs, you can dream about the ocean because you can actually see it. Exercising is kind of like going to the park. After my productive morning, my friends and I walked to a beautiful beach called Reñaca. Here, we ate ice cream, empanadas, and watched the sunset (like always). A man selling Chile towels on the beach chased us, and a few stray dogs came to say hello.
Today, saturaday, I went to the grocery store with my dad. These stores are huge! At one time, child music came on, and mascots 10 feet tall roamed the store. I was scared to death, and my papa and I ran to the wine section, where these scary mascots were not present (haha). After having lunch, I went with my madre and padre to the farmers market. You can get all fruit and vegetables for a very low price; iceberg lettuce is 20 cents! This, was also an experience. They let all the fruit and veggies sit in the open and as you walk through, they yell prices and vegetables at you. Seeing as I'm always up to run e rrends, this was entertaining. I also got to ride in a vehicle, and see where I live from inside the car.
Tonight I went to the mall to do a little shopping. My friend Alisha and I ordered ice cream. You know how I told you the ordering process was interesting? Well... here's what happened. We paid for our food, and got numbers. Alisha and I thought they would call our number when the food was ready. We sat and watched the sign to see when our turn was. Before we knew it our number was skipped. At this point, we had no idea what to do. We stood in front of the icecream case and looked at each other fairly confused. It finally occurred to me what happened. Our number would've been called, we would've told them what we ordered and then we would've finally gotten our food. However, we had to interupt someone, explain what we did, and they had to make a special trip for us. At least we know what to do and next time we will do it better!
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

It always makes me laugh

One of the best parts about the experience, is hearing all the embarassing things that happened to all the "gringos". For example, a couple of days ago, in my favorite Micro's, the driver took a sharp turn and I slid right out of the seat! It was really odd at the time, but is fun to laugh at now. My friend Alisha fell asleep on the beach, before she knew it the waves crashed on her and got her all wet. The families are also fun to hear about. Everyone is living a different life, however I find the people to be so much the same. The people always want you to be happy, are worried about your safety, want you to eat more and dress warmer. I have found them to be loving people. The two classes the began in my school (Ponticific Catholic University of Valparaiso, if you didn't know) both have precios teachers. However, they are not perfect. The Chilean people think all gringas can not speak spanish, therefore, in many little stores, I find them speaking english to me. Of course, I correct them but they always seem suprised I can actually speak spanish.
In bakeries, the buying process is disorganized. First, you order what you want, and they give you a slip of paper. The little paper says how much you owe, and you pay your pesos in a differet spot. Just to tell you, the exchange rate is 1 dollar to 500 pesos, however, due to inflation, I don't find things to be much cheaper than the US. Okay, so you pay 1000 pesos for you bread and get a pay receipt. You finally take this receipt and can pick up your order. I just figured this process out tonight!
Tomorrow I believe I am going to walk to a beautiful beach, at least thats what they tell me. Oh and one more thing, if you have any questions please feel free to ask!
Miss you guys
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

The Rain Boots

So, on Friday it rained in the city. I was so excited because it gave me a chance to wear out my rain boots. The rain made it difficult to walk on the streets because everyone had an umbrella. It is not uncommon to have the umbrellas bump into each other, I needed to learn how to walk again; but this isn't a bad way to meet someone! Saturday and Sunday my mom and dad went to Santiago to buy little things for "Dia del nino". This stands for day of the kid and is Aug. 10. If I hadn't mentioned before, my mom owns a little Disney store called Dis Planet, her business should do better this month. I always stop by the shop to say hello to her after school.
Speaking of school, this Monday was my first day of class. I went to the Spanish class that the COPA exchange program requires. My teacher is precious and labels herself as "politically incorrect". I expect a lot of debate and an exciting class. My classes with actual Chilean students will begin on Aug. 18th. I still have a lot of time to spend in the city.
The sunset is beautiful right now, wish you all were here!
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

Learning about the city

Well, I have become a professional Micro rider. The Micros are a form of public transportation, like buses that go jetting around the city like busy bees. To get to my school In Valpo, I get on the bus called Errasudiz. I will ride it for about five minutes and will have a one minute walk to my school.
This past few days has been time to explore the school, they have taken us on many tours. Each building has its seperate library and some buildings such as history are very far away for the casa central whereas the music building is extremely high in the city. There is artistic and revolutionary grafitti all around the city. On wed, after a few days of boring tours, we went on some very nice tours. For lunch my friend Alysha and I walked to lunch with a Canadian student, and ate at a Cuban restaruant. I had a warm sandwich on white bread, with ham, cheese, tomato and fresh pineapple...tasteeee. After that, I returned to the Casa Central to register for my classes. I am registered for a spanish class, a marketing class, Social and Political problems in Chile, Chilean theater in the second century, Biotechnology and biotheoretics (religious sciences) and working with papers(art). It is a total of 18 hours and I'm extremely excited. Clases begin the 18th of august and I will be with Chilean students in some of them.
Tonight I'm going to drink coffee and enjoy icecream on the beach while a group of "gringos" watch the sunset. Que buuueno!
Un abrazo
xoxo... Kati

And so it began

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog. I arrived safe and sound to Chile. After three days of a turbulent orientation in Olmue, (we talked, rode horses, went hiking, and had dance lessons) the group of 19 students rode the bus the Vina del Mar to meet the host families. I am living with Papa Ricardo and Mama Rosy in an apartment on Nueva Marina. They are absolutely precious. From the apartment on the 11th floor, I can see the amazing ocean. Tonight, I saw the sky, ocean and our apartment turn pink from the sunset. For those of you who don't know, the sound of a crashing wavea is a beautiful sound.

I'm extremely excited for my time here. It will be over before it began. I'm excited to learn from their culture, as well as perfect my spanish listening and speaking skills. I truly am living in Valley Paradise.

XOXO... Katie