Being a Happy Camper

     I'm going to try to keep up with blogging generally once a weekish.. maybe. So as a lot of you have seen photos on Facebook, I'm going to put some on here as well with some stories about what I've been doing.

CAMPING

Our tents for 8 people each

     My host sister is in a group called "scout" it's like girl scouts, but for boys too and all together. It's very similar, but they don't sell cookies sadly. Maria wanted to introduce me to her scout group before she left so that if I liked it I could join. So last Friday the 17Th they had a camp and I went with her. We first went and got a bunch of snack food to eat at the camp from the grocery store and at this time it was like 9 o clock pm. Finally around 10 we went to my schools' brother school Don Bosco to meet with the group, there were about 18 kids and 3 adults. Maria's dad took a couple of us to the beach that is south of Iquique, called "Playa Blanca" which is White Beach and we parked. At this point it was pitch black and we were in the middle of the beach which is also let me remind you all part of the Atacama desert. The DRIEST DESERT IN THE WORLD. Aka welcome to my life. We got there and it was only around 50 degrees and I was freezing, we set up 2 tents only and then we made a fire and had snacks. We played a bunch of games and had a little goodbye ceremony for Maria (Chile is really big on parties for all occasions). Then finally we went to bed around 4am with about 8 of us in a tent, which made it super warm.. aaahh. The next morning we woke up had breakfast, and took down the tents and we played more games. Later around 1 we began our "hike" we walked through huge hills of sand all along the beach and it was extremely beautiful. It was only 63 degrees, but they made sure I was covered in sun block. I really like hiking and I loved seeing all the pretty views that you can't see driving through our city 

it was extremely cool. After about an hour and a half my feet were starting to hurt (wearing a 9 year old boys hiking shoes will do that to you) and I had taken a lot of sun. We took a few breaks, but all I could see in front of me was more and more sand. This was the first time I was wishing I wasn't where I stood since I got to Iquique. After a total of 3 hours of hiking you can imagine how much of a "happy camper" I truly was. Once we got back to the city we took a bus to the school and we all got food together. I was a lot more content once I could sit, see civilization, and most of all eat. 

FIESTA EN MI CASA

    So like I said earlier in this post Chileans do a lot of goodbyes and parties in general so here goes to explain my Saturday night. After hiking 3 hours on 4.5 hours of sleep with no nap I was reminded my host sister was having a party at our house to say goodbye to her and her friend Nico whose going to Michigan. She said it was also so I could meet her friends and get to know a bunch more people. She was having in out on the patio and such in our backyard. My bedroom is right there with huge windows let me tell you. So around 11pm some of her closest friends were there and by 1am there was about 90 people in my backyard. Also, we had a DJ outside my window directly.. awesome and there were people everywhere. Around 2am I thought that I was truly going to fall asleep standing up. Two of my friends and I went to my bathroom so I could change and do bedtime stuff but first I was greeted by a crowd of 15 people waiting for the bathroom. After waiting for 3 people I was crabby and told people to move this is my house. SOMEHOW I'm not really sure I went in my bedroom shut the door and lights off and managed to sleep. Apparently people where there until 4am or so and I was only woken up once. The next morning I walked sleepily into my bathroom to find a disaster. There was no floor, only dirt and random things of peoples (hats, earrings, towels?, etc) So as I was going to go to the bathroom, there was no toilet paper and when I brushed my teeth, there was cigarettes plugging the drain. I thought about what my mom would do if I ever had that happen at our house. (Love ya Mom) It was interesting to say the least, and I was glad I was able to sleep through it and luckily I was not on the clean up team. My host mom told me I didn't need to worry and Maria and Nico cleaned for a few hours. 

FIRST MINOR INJURY

     On Monday Maria had to do some last minute shopping for her trip so me, her, and her dad went to the town plaza to go to the bank and do other misc. things. Right when we got there I got out of the car, but my thumb didn't. I slammed it right in the door, I tried to pull it out and then was in a quick shock that it didn't come out. I didn't yell, I just looked at my host dad and said "Mi dedo, mi dedo". Of course just my luck he had already locked the door and apparently doesn't use the automatic unlocker and had to find the key. Then unlock his door and then unlock mine and open mine. It felt like 5 min which was probably only like 45sec. Which is actually a long time to have your thumb in a door. Luckily it wasn't in the hatched part where the door actually slams, it was more on the outer part so it was just pinched in there. It got me right below the nail, and I just had a deep purple indent.Of course I took a photo so that will be below. 

Deeper then it appears

Well after having that lovely beginning to a day, it got a lot better and my thumb ended up being totally fine a few hours later. It's still bruised and sore, but I'm all fine and dandy. Later that night Maria had her LAST goodbye party, which was the 4th that just I attended. She had some family over and some of her closer friends and we had complete hot dogs (her favorite). It's hot dog on a bun add the following: mayo, tomatoes, avocado, ketchup,mustard, whatever you like. Anyways, I ended up staying up late again.. and it was the night before my first day of escuela (mom that means school). 

MY 2nd LAST FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

     The beginning of September last year I remember thinking I couldn't believe that it was my senior year, as much I was ready for college, I had grown up extremely fast. Thinking that I would leave my safe, small, comfortable high school was kind of scary and I mostly enjoyed being in high school. Boy did I really mix around my plans. I went basically the exact opposite of what I was used to when it comes to safe, well known, comfortable place. I was looking at exchange then, but I had never really thought about what it'd be like to be accepted. On the first day of senior year I put my status on Facebook as something like, "My last First day of High School". Little did I know..

     Monday (yesterday) was my first day at a private, catholic, all girls school. ( Charlie loves that last part). Where I have to wear a uniform, no make up, and my hair can't be in my face (or all the way down). Surprisingly I was really excited to wear a uniform, so that I'd blend in and it'd take a lot less time with no choice on what to wear every day. I really like the uniforms at my school, they definitely aren't bad. I am very glad that I visited the school a few times and that Maria introduced me to her friends, because they helped me a lot. Already, I've met some girls that I will never forget, they are so loud and fun. They have WiFi in the classrooms, so everyone's always on an application called "what's app" and we have a group chat on there with the whole class, sending pictures of each other around, it's super fun. YELLING. It really never stops, I like it though, because then I don't look crazy. All the girls are super nice and interested in hearing all about me and the USA and all the celebrities. 

THE REBEL

The Roof 

      My classmates call me "Russia" pronounced Rue-C-Uh it means like really blonde and light eyes and skin, etc. They also call me "monja rebelde" Which means rebel nun. The school is run by nuns and my friend Vale and I tell everyone that's what we want to be. All the girls always ask me to say the lord's prayer in English and it's really funny.  They say that I'm a rebel because I "want" to be a nun, but I have a boyfriend and I use my phone during class (which they all do). Also, a few days before I started school I was visiting the school for some event and some of the girls took me to the secret places of the school. We went in the chapel(a mini one), and up to the second level and then up again and then up again!. Most of this was traveled by sketchy ladders and I had a major fear of falling through the floor. We ended up going up to the bell tower and it was really cool and old and fun. Afterwards, we went over a few gates and up a few flights up stairs and they showed me the roof. My 

Vale and I the monjas :)

school schedule is crazy and I have like 12 different classes some of them being; English, Literature, Language, Math, History, Politics, Religion, Biology, Chemistry, Argumentation, Gym, etc. So Monday is my gym day and I have to wear a sweatshirt and sweatpants to school (yay one comfy day a week). On Mondays and Fridays we also get out of school "early" early to them being 245 with no lunch break. We do get 10min breaks every 2 hours though which is really nice. Tuesday through Thursday though I get to go to school for 9hours 745-445pm. We do however get lunch. The school does not actually serve lunch, but has a small cafeterias. There are small concession stand type things that sell snacks, or you bring your own lunch. OR, my mom pays someone to buy/make me a lunch and drops it off in a room with my name so I can go find it everyday. :) 

MISC.

     There will most likely always be a misc. section on my posts since I am a random talker and I don't always have the best organization as a writer (Even though my sister-in-law and brother are both teachers). So I would say that overall I have really enjoyed myself the last 11 days. My sister Maria left for Wisconsin on Tuesday after I went to school, I was sad to see her go since she was really helpful, but thankful I didn't have to go to the airport. Seeing other families go through what I did would just make me sad and miss home. I am also planning on joining the school volleyball team to fill sometime. Which for Chile is only once a week for 2 hours maximum.. :) I might just join a club team too! why not? Anyways, I'm going to upload a photo of my house :)

Most of my house (my twin bros & sister)