Update Number four from August-September

As I alluded to in the last email, I moved out of my host family’s house and moved into a new apartment. I am staring right at the Santa Lucia Castle right now, in my living room, which is right next to the park. I pretty much live in the best of best locations in Santiago. There are countless bohemian cafes right below me, and I am across the street from the “Casa Central” campus of La Católica and the metro stop. My new apartment is basically an older, slightly dirtier version of Urban Outfitters, as the furniture and décor is very eclectic. My landlady, Lola, who actually lives here with us, is an Art-therapist for little children. She’s very artistic herself, and in result we have a wall full of mirrors, one full of tribal masks, paintings and gaudy chandeliers all over the place. (Oh yeah, I have a foosball table here too!). My room is kind of small, but I have tall ceilings and a view of the park. I have 4 housemates. Lola, who I mentioned before is a Chilena and in her thirties I would guess. Enrico is an Italian 24-year old who studies Law at La Católica (he smokes, so that’s kind of something I have to deal with). He is the only one that gets phone calls from the house line. At first I thought he was in the Mafia or something because he talks really quiet on the phone, but it just turned out to be his girlfriend back in Italy. Ciclaly is a 24-year old French girl who has an internship at a Biomass company. She likes to make jewelry in her spare time and she always wears her magenta pea coat. She is very energetic and talks super rapido. Luke is 20 years old and he is from Oxford, England. His major is philosophy and he likes to snowboard and keep up with English soccer. As you can see, our apartment is very international. But it works well. I speak Spanish with everyone, except for Luke, except when Lola yells at us and tells us to speak Spanish. We all have our own shelf in the two refrigerators we have in the kitchen. I have the bottom drawer, which is super nice.

I got a chance to go to Pomaire and Mellipia, two towns about an hour out of Santiago, with our exchange program. In Mellipia we visited a farm, with lots of cows (don’t’ worry Leilani, I will get pictures up soon), some cheese factories and a sweet factory. In Pomaire we got about half an hour to shop. Pomaire is famous for its pottery. I couldn’t really buy anything to cool, because I won’t be able to bring it home to the US, however, I spent 1 mil (which is about 2 dollars) on this set of 3 orange vases to fill up my very boring room. (Megan and Leilani, please send me picture to fill up the walls!).
Cows!
EAP Kiddos:



Last weekend, me and my friends were missing Asian food, so we had an Asian food night. We made dumplings and fried rice, and I made pancit. I ended up making a lot of it. But it was definitely a hit. (Thanks for teaching me Auntie Jo!). That was fun. I decided I definitely get a lot of joy out of feeding people. So cooking for people is turning into a theme in my life.

Skiing in the Andes!:


This weekend I went snowboarding in Valle Nevado (2 hour drive up a mountain right outside of Santiago) with 8 other girls from my program. I was a little hesitant, since I really didn’t have a fun time last time I went snowboarding in Massachusetts. Halfway through the first run I vowed never to go snowboarding again, but by the third time, I decided that snowboarding is a sport I probably really would enjoy if I ever got good at it. I was having fun after I wasn’t falling so much. The ski lift wasn’t as scary as it was last time. On my second lift, I met an old man that had a business in Texas, but he had been to Singapore, and told me it’s a great city, and that I should visit the Singapore Zoo at night, but that the Singapore Zoo was nothing compared to our zoo in San Diego.

That leads me to my next point. I got into the Education Abroad Program in Singapore for the Spring! So, at the end of December (3 to 5 days after I get back from Santiago), I’m going to be heading to Singapore for about 5 months. I’m really excited about that! Some of you that I have known for quite a while know I was planning on studying abroad in Singapore since high school, so I was kind of disappointed not to get to go to Asia by choosing Chile instead. Well it looks like I’m going to get to go, so if anyone wants to visit me in Asia or wants me to buy a fake Gucci purse, let me know. Anyways, I’m kind of stressing about all the paperwork for the Singapore program, and it getting from Santiago to Santa Barbara in time, so pray for me about that if you want.

It’s starting to get a lot warmer here in Santiago, and I’m hoping all of you back in the US are starting to feel the weather cool down. Yesterday I went to a farmer’s market and bought way too many vegetables. I bought some eggplant because I was sort of craving it. That was the first time I made eggplant. Next time I will salt them longer, because it was still a little bit bitter. I’m starting to eat healthier now that I moved out of my host families house, so hopefully the extra winter mass will begin to reduce. Chileans are definitely not the healthiest eaters in the world. It’s practically impossible to find not sugary cereal in the store.

Alrighty. That’s about all the major things for now. I miss you all very much and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I will get some new pictures up really soon. Probably tomorrow, so look forward to the shutterfly email. God Bless!


Besitos!

Pictures of my Apartment:

The Kitchen:
The View from the living:
Living room: