The post about the pre-post

So I finally have time to sit down and write about the things going on here in chile, or should I say not going on. I am just going to go down the list from my little post before so I make sure I don't forget anything.

1. The creepy neigbors - So a couple days after the cortina/ventana (curtain/window) incident, I saw the old man doing another crazy thing. This time he was outside in his little patio area at their front gate. each house here is closed in by an outside gate, just for security reasons. So the old man's gate, the bottom half is all metal and the top half is metal rods. And when the old man is at the gate, he is at perfect eye level to see over the gate. So he was right up against the gate (puerta) with both of his hands out touching the gate. And when I first saw him he was just standing there, not moving. So of course I found this incredibly interesting, so I continued to watch. And soon after I saw that he was crying because he would turn away from the gate and wipe away his tears with a tissue. But after wiping them away he would just go right back to the gate, and by this time he had started to rub the gate. One hand at a time. He would rub it once, move a little farther downand then rub it with his other hand. Like a wax on/wax off action. He did this for hours, I mean I came and went and he was still doing this for at least 2 hours. It was very odd to me. I have seen him since this outside sitting in his patio/garden area, just sitting there. One day he was wearing one of those fisherman floppy hats

(like the one to the right), and he he had his hands on the sides of his faced all hunched over in a chair for like the whole day. It seemed like he was saying something, so of course I quietly opened up my window to hear him but no he was too quiet. Erin told me she had a little run in with him though, and she said he stared her down with his creepy

eyes. She was pretty creeped out. I luckily haven't had to encounter his outside, but I'm sure the day will come. I talked with my mum (U.S. momma) the other day and

she had to bring up the idea of not only could I see him but most likely he could see me too. So nice of her right? Yeah every time I come up to my room I look for the old man in his windows or outside just to make sure. I don't see too much of his wife, but at least I know she is still alive and the old man hasn't gone too far off the deep end and off'd her.

2. Day of reading and lunching in Casablanca: So last sunday (August 16, 2009),

the grandparents invited the family to Casablanca for lunch. At least this weekend we didn't have car troubles, but once we got there we immediately found out that they were out of gas, so the stove wouldn't work to finish almuerzo (lunch). But after a little bit of a wait, we had an amazing lunch. Abuelo and Abuela (grandma and grandpa) always have pebre with their meals, and I LOVE pebre. I seriously need to learn how to make it. It seems so simple, but so good.And its the only thing really spicy here, so of course I am in love with is. But I want to come home and share its goodness with all of you. Here is a picture of what it looks like, and I know you all will think its just pico de gallo, but it is way better than that. They eat this stuff on

everything. But its the best on rice and bread. So I obviously got a little side tracked, but the lunch in Casablanca was great like always. And then afterwards since it was such a lovely sunny day Erin, Marcello and I sat outside and read. Erin finishing a piece of literature for one our classes that I finished, I worked on reading the next piece of literature for that class, and Marcelo read Twilight (Breaking Dawn). Haha yeah I love how the older brother was the one reading Twilight while we actually read serious literature. That house is so cozy, I could spent all my time there and just be perfectly content. It's really nice and peaceful.

3. Night of scary movies, rain and illegally parked cars: So last friday night (August 14, 2009), we were invited to watch movies at Constanza's house. The group was as usual: Sergio, Constanza, Marcelo, Erin and I. It was pouring rain this night, so pretty good to just stay inside and enjoy a movie. As a group we went to the market to get snacks (fixings for an amazing pizza, bebidas, mango sour, and chocolate - only thenecessities right) and then we went to rent some movies. Of course the group had to pick a scary horror film, because we all know

I love them (sarcasm!). They chose a movie called, "Cuarentena" (Quarantined in english). I knew from just the title I was going to have a rough night and be watching the majority of the film with my eyes closed due to jumpy moments and blood and guts. And I was right, thats what I did do for the whole film along with nearly squishing Marcelo's arm with my death grip from being scared. We watched another movie this night too, but it was boring and I was already falling asleep by then. We didn't get back home until 4:30 in the morning! Yeah I was exhausted...I seriously am never going to get the hang of being a true chilena and the crazy schedules they keep. Oh I almost forgot to add the best part! So after getting back from picking up the snacks and movies, we came back and tried to park in Constanza's parking spot, which is in a gated area right next to her apartment building. But we weren't able to get in because somone had illegally parked in front of the gate so no one could get in or out of the gate. The crummy part was that Constanza's street was flooded and pretty much a river. We ended up figuring out we could drive up on the sidewalk and with a skillfull driver (which everyone here is) we could squeeze into the gate. But all the neighbors were so mad about that car

. Marcelo and Sergio called the police and a towtruck, and sat outside and vented with the neighbors in the rain about how much of a danger that car was and what if there was an emergency. So they did the smartest thing anyone would do to let out some rage, they deflated on of the car's tires. And I was the only one that thought this was mean! Everyone else said the car deserved it. Maybe because I have always had bad luck with cars I never want to wish bad things on others with cars. Thank goodness I don't have to have a car here, its so nice to not have to worry about breakdowns and my poor dad doesn't have to get those god awful calls from me freaking out when I am stuck in a bind with my car. Thanks dad for putting up with me. ;)

4. So the next day (Saturday August 15, 2009) Erin, Marcelo and I were put to work to help Pilly prepare canopé's for a couple events. We were pretty much at it all day, but th

e food looked all amazing. But the best part was that we found out once we were finished we were all invited to one of the events, so we got to eat all the yummy food we made! The event was for Sergio's younger sister, Alejandra. She is going to school to be a fashion designer, and she just opened up her own store. So it was a little grand opening event at the store with drinks and yummy food. Her store was so cute and she is a very talented person. I couldn't pull off any of her clothes because they are just a little too crazy for me, but I loved everything in there. And the food was delicious, Pilly is an amazing cook! The best part was getting to eat the desserts that we all drooled over all day long knowing we were making them for others to enjoy. It was the best reward, and this event was a nice chance to dress all chilean in my boots and pretty sweaters. A nice change from my daily t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jeans look. :)

5. So I have been very busy with school lately. I haven't had assignments to get done per say, but I have had a whole bunch of reading. And reading in Spanish takes me FOREVER! Because I have to read the story once, just to get the main idea and then go back and look up all

the words I don't know..which at times can be like everyother word, especially in my spanish literature class wheere all the literature is from the 1500's! But we just read a cute story called "El Abencerraje" that was about love and chivalry and gentlemen. I enjoyed it, mostly because I love to read and can enjoy just about anything. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy for Erin, and she had to pretty much force herself to read. She doesn't like to read or sit still for that long. The whole family gives her a hard time about studying...we are kind of different in that sense. Now I am reading a story called "Lazarillo de Tormes," its the saddest thing I have read in a long time. Its very realistic, all about a boy and his sad sad life, well from what I have understood so far. :) I found out I have to read Don Quijote de la Mancha completely this semester, and we only have 11 weeks to do it! It truly can't be done, especially because usually Don Quijote takes a whole semester to read and understand. This is going to be impossible, but I am going to try my best!

6. The men at the dock dancing - this was so freaking funny. The other day Erin and

I arrived to Valpo for classes early, so we went down to the muelle (dock, harbor type thing) and we down down by the rocks and enjoyed the view of the ocean. And we also got to enjoy these three funny guys dancing. The were all holding hands jumping and doing all this silly stuff. And I even saw them dancing in two's and dipping one another. This doesn't sound too funny without proof, yeah I should have taken a video, but it totally made my day. I just wanted to know why there were doing this, for school or just for fun? It reminded me of being a teenager in middle school when me and friends would all try to learn a dance to our favorite song. We would spent hours trying to do this...and these guys looked exactly the same as we did, which was ridiculous!

7. Maite en Paris and Hungary! So my younger sister here in Chile got to go to Hungary for a volleyball tournament. She is actually still gone and won't be competing until this weekend I think. But before they went to Hungary, they flew in France and got to spend one full day in Paris. She emails the family this picture along with a few others, and she told us she got to the the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomph and Notre Dame. And Im sure she got to see a few other things as well, as well as buy a few things for souvenirs. Before she left the family joked

and told Maite she should tried to find a guy while in Europe, because she will have a better chance to find a guy taller than her there. She is super tall. But I got quite a kick out of this. I haven't heard anything about her time in Hungary yet, so I will tell you all the stories when she comes back, which I think is next weekend!

8. Sopaipillas and chancaca: So we don't eat sopaillas too much in my house here, and I found out people only really tend to eat sopaipillas when it is rainy outside. Its the rainy day treat. Pili makes them amazing and we eat them either with mashed up palta (avocado), a green salsa made from cilantro and other things, or chancaca which is a pure sugar. It comes in a package and it is in the form of a block. It looks like chocolate kind of, but more in a raw form. So they just put some of the block in a pan and heat it up until it turns into a liquid. Then we each take a bowl and put some of the liquid in each and then place the sopaipilla in the bowl a

nd let it get all soft and have the liquid fill the sopaipilla. It is a really warm treat, and I love it. I'm not a huge fan of sopaipillas plain, but they are amazing

with the chancaca, the palta or salsa. We have been eating these more lately though because we have had many rainy days! But this just means that spring is coming, which is evident because the trees and flowers are stating to bloom and everything looks a lot greener now. I noticed how much greener when we went to Casablanca this past sunday, and as we turned the corner and saw the Casablanca valley, the whole thing looked different because it was so much greener. I am so happy to have spring on its way and know that more sun and warm weather it coming as well!

9. So last night apparently there was a temblor, which in spanish means an earthquake but only a small one. Because a terramoto is a huge earthquake. Pili told me that I was in my room talking on skype (to mum, Hunty James, and Nick) when everyone felt the temblor. But I guess it was just a quick little shake. I have no idea why I didn't feel it though, but still pretty rad that I was in an earthquake. ;)

One more thing to add! So today... it was an amazing day with the sunshine and warm weather, so Erin, Marcelo and I went to go get a coffee/tea at a café called Enjoy. And we were having a good time enjoying our drinks when we saw a gitana (gypsy lady) walking down the street with her skirt up in the air! And yes she had nothing on underneath... yep we got quite a show. But then she of course had to life up her shirt too. It was quite the scandal... and something I hope I never have to see again. No more naked gypsies please. When we came home tonight from class to tell the rest of the family, TuTí told us that she might have been on drugs because almost all the gitanos (gypsies) huff gasoline. So I am hoping she wasn't in the right state of mind, because she had to be crazy if she knew what she was doing.