Finally time to update!

Well I finally have a little time to sit down and write some more about what I have been doing.

My classes are great! My grammar professor teaches is such a great way, its not just lecture but he gets us talking and teaches me a kinds of little things that I never knew. In my culture class, we have learned lots of relevant materials and words to chile. We went to "une fería" the other day in class. It was like a little field trip around the corner and down the street to a little street market, kind of like a flea market. It has mainly fruits and vegetables, but if you walk a little further it has clothes and older odds and ends people are trying to sell and get money for. These places can be found on wednesdays on saturdays, and its like a farmer's market because they say these are the best places to buy fresh produce. While we were there for class, our professora bought fresh olives. Kind of interesting, but you can't pick out what you want if you are going to buy something. Say for example I wanted to buy some manzanas (apples) at la fería, i would tell the seller how many i want and he would pick them out for me, i am not allowed to. It's a little different, but kinda cool. And the word in chile for cool is "bakan." Last night our host parents were out and us kids had dinner together, and they taught erin and i all the bad words, it was such a funny conversation! so if anyone wants to know some bad words in chilean spanish i can share! haha. :)

So after we went to la fería and after my classes were done. The international programs office in our universidad (university) put on a little tour of valparaiso for us. We went to a place called "cerro alegre y la concepción." cerro in spanish means hill, and valpo and vina are all on hills and they distinguish them with different names. Like I live in viña in cerro recreo. But anyways, we split up into groups of about 5 or 6. My group decided to take the trolley "el trolley) to cerro alegre (happy hill). The trolley is the oldest form of transportation here, its been around since like the early 1900's. It was pretty fun, i took all kinds of pictures on the ride to the cerro, so i will add them here so you guys can see the city of valpo. Once we got to the stop and at the bottom of the cerro, we took "un ascensor" (a little outdoors elevator) to the top. Valpo is know for these ascensores, and also outside stairways that lead to nowhere. Its pretty dang cool or bakan. :) This area of valpo is like the touristy area, and it has a lot of english and german influence. ALso this area is really expensive to live and not a lot of people live there. It has more art galleries, hostels, cafes and restaurants. Our culture professor told us that the process that occurred there is gentrification, well at least if i remember correctly thats what it was. It was a beautiful area though, and very artsy to me. There was all kinds of artwork/murals on the walls there. I wanted to live there. lol. 

Yesterday (thursday) I had more classes, and then something called "intercambio" which means exchange. The international students get into groups with chilean students and we spend half the time talking and doing activities in spanish so we can practice and the the other half in english so they can practice as well. But in my group, the two chilean girls had family emergencies and couldn't show up, so we have to wait until next week. And i think i will have at least one of those once a week. 

Today (friday june 26th) has been a GREAT day! We had to get up SUPER early this morning and go some place in the central area of vina so we could get a chilean ID. It was quite the interesting experience. We waited forever, and then once it was each of our turns, we had to give them a ton of information, they took our photo and our fingerprints (and black ink that stayed on my hands ALL day long). And then I was a little bummed because we were going to be late to our classes, but then the ISA lady we were with told us that classes were canceled today because there was no water in valpo. The water had been cut off, I can't remember why though. Oh and it was cool because Erin and I had to go to this place for our ID all by ourselves and we did it with no problems...its been fun figuring out the city. I am starting to know my way around. 

So instead of classes, we went and had hot chocolate with some other ISA girls in the center part of the city of vina, and then went home and took a wonderful nap, hand lunch with the family and then went to the mall with our brothers Marcello and Ignacio. The mall was huge, and we told them this, and they just said this one is way small. There are more big ones close to here, but the one in santiago is massive. We are planning to go there sometime too. :)

We bough cell phones today! So if any of you have a calling card or an international plan you can call me. I am not exactly sure the process on your end but here is my cell phone number here in chile: 97102380  ....I would love to hear from you all!

After checking out the mall, our brothers took us to this little cafe/restaurant called "Enjoy" (yeah its the same in english) and we had some warm drinks. This place was right on the ocean and absolutely gorgeous! We got there right when the sun was setting and the sky was all pink and blue, it was amazing! Erin and I already want to go back. Right across the street from this place was a casino, its the only one in the area, and it was beautiful inside! And it was the only place i have been in where i could feel it had central heating, and it made me realize how much i took for granted having heat in the whole house in the U.S. I am actually realizing there are many things that I take for granted in the US. I definitely can tell I am going to go back home a different person, with an entirely different outlook on life. :)

Oh and our brothers showed us this outdoor clock they have in vina and i guess they are common for the area. They are made of flowers! Well the hands are made of some kind of metal, but the numbers and the circle of the clock is all in flowers. Its really hard to explain, I will have to go back and get a photo, but it was really cool. Something I have never seen before. 

We have a long weekend this weekend, especially since we had today off from school. Monday is a holiday here, so I don't have to go back to school until tuesday. I am so excited! (Estoy muy emocionada!). Marcello said we might be able to go to a small town, its like a beach town where the family has a beach house, for sunday and monday. We are crossing our fingers we can! But tomorrow we are going to go to another basketball game of Ignacio, and I will make sure I bring my camera this time! :) Its going to be a very relaxing weekend, but I am excited just to hang out with the family and get to know the area more. :) 

Love you all!

Chao chao,

Britt