2 weeks notice

wow. november absolutely flewwwww by. sorry it's been a month. anyway, obviously a ton has happened since october...let's see:

• i went to Horcon with Jen...a small coastal city about an hour and a half north of vina... (the place where jen and i originally planned to bike to previously...we took a bus this time...) and got to have a nice relaxing friday on the beach. We had to go down some really treacherous 'stair's to get to the beach, which we ended up having to ourselves, until about 30 minutes later we decided we were hungry and got up and went searching for empanadas...only making us go back up the same stairs...it was an experience. So anyway, we finallllly found a place that actually had empanadas that day, and had a nice lunch of cheese empanadas and beer along the beach. oh i love chile. later we found another beach, laid out there for a bit, while getting constant piropos from the surfers and bodyboarders out in the water....
• we had our last COPA group trip up to La Serena...yet another beach city, similar to Vina, like 5-6 hrs north. We stayed in some cabanas by el mar, which was cool so we got to do some cooking instead of gastar-ing todo our plata en restaurantes. Anyway, so the first night there all of us decided to do a big pot-luck feast, where each cabana brought a dish or two of their choosing for everyone, and it turned out really nice! There was tons of food, the guys did some barbequing, and it was really fun. The next day, Katie and Jess and I decide to hit up downtown La Serena, so we walk to the highway to get a micro, we get there ok and walk around...hit up the huge mercado, see the old colonial-style buildings and walkways, and then decide to head home. its 4.30 in the afternoon. only thing is, we didnt know the name of the cabanas, nor where exactly they were located, cuz they were sort of out of the city...so we get on a micro that we thought was the right one...turns out it starts driving teh completely wrong way on the highway, so we get off immediately, cross the highway and realize we have no idea which micro we need to subir. sooo i call Vivi, our lifesaver, and she told us to get on one that says '4 esquinas'...right after i hang up with her, one drives by us that says 4 esquinas, so we chase it down and get on! phew, we think we're on our way...hahha...well, we're going the right way, but then the micro starts going up into the cerros, and getting further and further away from the ocean, which is where we need to go....so i was voted to go and accost teh driver and ask what is going on...where do we get off...so i go up to him and say, "ehhh...vivimos en unas cabanas cerca del mar..." (we live in some cabanas by the sea...) and he cuts me off and says, "bajen, bajen al tiro" (get off right now!) soooooooooo he stops, there are people on the micro definitely getting a kick out of us by now, and we're like, hmmm...what to do now? luckily, we were right next to a line of colectivos (pseudo-taxis...) and i go up to a window and say the exact same thing "vivimos en unas cabanas cerca del mar, nos puede ayudar?" and he's like, you dont know where, or the name, or anything? and im like, ughhhhhhh no!! sooooo he tells us to get on in, we'll find it, and im just like, holy cow it shouldnt be this hard...after all, to get into town that morning it took maybe 10 minutes...so anyway, we're driving, and explaining our situation, how we'd recognize the place if we saw it but other than that we're clueless...and he just probably thought we were ridiculous...which was true, but whatev. soooooooo a while later we finally arrive...but by this time its 6:30...wow. 2 hrs getting back. we're gringas, what else can we say? Ok, moving on. that night we went to an observatory…it was absolutely incredible. The stars actually glistened and twinkled…like they do in cartoons where it looks all fake…well that’s how it really was, and there were sooooooo many stars, you could see tons and tons of constellations just filling the black sky and it was so clear…and the stars actually TWINKLED! The next day we went to a restaurant that uses only solar energy to cook the food. And while that fact alone is cool, it was even cooler to see the little town that had formed up on the mountain where this and several other solar restaurants had formed; actually, a group of about 25 women somehow got involved in the solar energy ‘world’ and ended up just starting a business of it up on this side of a mountain where the heat of the sun is just absolutely blazingly hot, and they really turned the town around for the better. This place is now a big tourist spot, the restaurants cater to tons of tourists groups, and it’s just really helped the poor community out…and these women did this, a lot of them at least, without any education, which is really cool! After that we went briefly to a pisco factory, where we got a less than brief description on the process of making pisco, and a ‘gustacion’ period where we got to taste test a few of the flavors. Pretty cool. Our last little excursion of the trip was on our way back to Vina the following day, when we stopped at Parque Nacional Fray Jorge to go on a little hike with a guide. So basically, we’re in the desert region (or where the desert region begins) in Chile, so all around it’s dry and pretty arid, not many trees, etc. Well, at Fray Jorge, we were taken into a sort of cloud forest type thing. Basically what happens, is there’s this cordillera (mt. range…) just lining a portion of the desert, and at the top of each mountain, all of the clouds and moisture that gets blown that way from the coast just gets caught in the cordillera by the plants and trees that are up in the micro-ecosystem at the top of the mountains. So when you’re at the bottom of the mountains or far away, you see this mountain range that just has clouds hovering over the top of them all. What’s really weird is that all of the plants/trees/etc that are found in the cloud forest are originally found in the southern part of Chile…Patagonia, where the weather is just completely distinct from northern chile. This cloud forest literally has an ecosystem so far removed from what’s surrounding it that its just crazy…it was a sight.
• I know there are other things that happened, but this just happened yesterday so it’s fresh on my mind. It was the last day of class for my Brasil class, and the professor (who’s a native Brasilera), brought the class some typical brasilena comida. So anyway, this experience just sticks out in my mind because it’s just so ‘chilean’…meaning, I don’t think/well, I know it would most likely never happen in the states, or at my school at least…so anyway, first we wait 30 minutes for everyone to show up, to then go on to the girls’ house who had volunteered her house for us to eat at/heat up food/etc. This girl doesn’t show up, so we start making our way downstairs to wait for her, and then she shows up finally…so we all head out as a class walking to go catch a micro to her place up in the cerros. Along the way, we stop at the huge fruit/veggie market for our professor to quickly shop for some stuff…she buys some huge lemons, onions, and tomatoes while we all wait on a busy street corner. When she’s done, we continue walking, get to the street, wait for the right micro, and finally all get on and we’re on our way. It’s a pretty long micro ride because she lives up pretty far in a cerro (don’t remember the name), but apparently it’s a pretty shady place to live…So we arrive, our professor starts heating up/preparing the food, and some students go out to buy some potatoe chips and drinks at the store at the corner so we can munch while we wait…finally at almost 5 pm our lunch is ready (let’s keep in mind that this class originally starts at 2) so we sit down and indulge. The meal, which according to my great professor is sin prejuicio because it has both black and white, consists of black beans, white rice, cooked spinach or other green stuff, and a salad. Once it’s all served on your plate, what the slaves do and what most typical brasilians will do, apparently, is just mix it all together…it was tasty…simple yet tasty. So anyway, we sit and talk and talk and talk, until we decide it’s time to clean up, so then we sit and talk some more while the dishes are being done, and then wayyy later we all finally leave the girls’ house…to go get ice cream. Our professor seemed to really want it, so we were all like, uh, sure. So we walk a lot, and finally get to this ice cream place, we all get our ice cream, sit and eat it and talk a lot, and then get on our way to head home….but we had to walk like 20 blocks SLOWLY to get to where one girl could catch her micro, and to where our professor could catch her bus to Santiago, and hten to where I could catch my micro…it was all very slow….slow and relaxed. Anyway, luckily I had nothing else to do that day because I get home, look at my clock, and it’s 8:45 at night. Holy cow. Chile.
• Ok not going to lie, I’m writing this entry really late tonight and can’t remember what else I was planning on writing about…but I just really felt obligated to post something because I’m leaving tomorrow morning for 10 days until a day or two before I leave chile, and I wanted to have a last little post so people didn’t think I completely abandoned this blog. My apologies, once again. Anyway, tomorrow I’m going down to Reserva Nacional Siete Tazas, which is in the 7^th region, farther south, and in the cordillera, further away from the coast. This reserve nacional is famous for its beautiful waterfalls, who’s water each go into 7 ‘tazas,’ or little cups…in the earth…use your imagination, or just wait for pictures…my description won’t do it justice. Anyway, my friend Jen and I are going camping there till Sunday, when we’ll then head a bit more north to a town called Pichilemu, that’s located on the coast, and is known for its crazy big waves and surfing…big surf competitions are held there every year. We’ll surf and relax and soak up being gringas for our last few days in Chile before heading back to the states where we’re expected to know how everything works.
• Classes ended well…despite the terrible last 2 weeks of school when seriously everything and their mom was due…professors realize they have few or no grades for us so they decide to assign anything and everything—absolute craziness. But it’s over.
• Soooo….sorry I really bombed the blog thing….hope for those of you who read it that you enjoyed the little that I put out there, and if not, sorry. There’s always next semester, right?!
• See you kids on the flip side…in the U S of A.

sunscreen costs an arm and a leg down here

for realssss...i just spent a good $10 on a bottle of sunscreen. blah.

but on the upside, the fact that i even have to buy suscreen is great news. the weather is finally hot and sunny (most of the time), which means that the beaches are ridiculously full of people on the weekends, and even after classes. but i dont care about full beaches...i'm just happy to be able to go outside and not freeze my a$$ off...we waited long enough for this, i'm going to enjoy it as much as i can before i have to go back to the wonderfulness (rrrright) that is winter.

just for Aunt Sloan...!

ok, from here on out I'm going to try to update once a week...try!
Anyway, so oh! i forgot to mention on the last post that i also went to a national soccer game in Santiago last week with a group of friends! It was Chile vs. Peru, and for those of you who aren't (too) familiar with the relationship between chile and peru, well, it's a tense relationship. As of late, lots and lots of Peruvians have moved into Chile looking for work, and thus stealing the jobs from chileans, making chileans suuuper bitter towards them, which only adds to the discrimination that they receive from the majority of the chilean population. Chileans, generally-speaking, think they are far superior to Peruvians in nearly every aspect, and I think this superiority complex definitely adds to the bitterness chileans have when peruvians come and take their jobs...so anyway! At the stadium, Estadio Nacional, there were more carabineros (police) than i have ever seen in one place at the same time...they were all lined up inside the track, lots of them with shields, some lining inside the seating area, and then the small, small part of the stadium wehre the peru fans were seated was surrounded by tons of cops and security people. The stadium atmosphere was markedly different than a football game in the states, or at least I think so...well, at each 'end zone' or where the goals were, (in the curved part of the track in the stands...) the seating area is called 'la galeria' and it's known to be/ characterized by its rowdy-ness (?) and chaos and noise and fun and people setting off smoke bombs, and screaming and cursing and crazy stuff (it looks like sooo much fun to be there!) and then in the rest of the seating, called 'la tribuna' is where there are normal stadium seats, and well, it's sooo much more calm there, so much so that everyone sits down the whole time, except when we're about to score or something reallllly good or bad is about to go down. I'm not kidding at all wehn i say people sit down; everyone yells at everyone else to toma asiento! (take your seat!), and everyone follows this model! it's rude to stand up! weird. maybe? also, i thought it was incredibly quiet during the game (in la tribuna where we were, not in la galeria)...i once turned around to look behind me, and everyone's eyes were just glued to the field, watching every single movement and play, afraid to miss anyting...i felt really gringa to turn around, i was clearly probably missing something on the field...but at the same time, when people did yell, man, they cursed the refs, the peru team, everything...they let their cursing fly to the wind...there was this kid two rows behind us, couldn't have been older than 10 or 11, and man, he was there yelling right along with his dad the same foul phrases and everything! To say the least, it was a pretty comical situation just putting everything together...oh, and of course, chile won. 2-0. the cheer they would not stop yelling the whole game was: "CHI CHI CHI! LE LE LE! VIVA CHILE!" (in case you wanted to know...it's pretty catchy, no?)

ok...this weekend my friend Kam and I took a quick day trip up to a little city (town?) called La Ligua, about 2 hrs. north of vina. My host family had mentioned it severallll times to me, telling me that the city is famous for its fabrics/sweaters, and its dulces...which are really just pastries. So I figured i had to go and see this place before i leave...The city itself is really small, and when we arrived at the bus terminal, when we got off we, along with everyone else, was immediately bombarded by los vendedores de los dulces (people who sell the dulces...they just line the streets!)...we resisted on the sweets, and just took a stroll around the town to see if it had anything else to offer us before we indulge...well, turns out this town is just like nearly every other small town and has its many kiosks in the plaza selling the typical artesania, though this town was much less tourist-oriented than the other cities ive been to...which was a relief...though it didn't help with the many stares along the way...oh well. So anyway, we asked someone for a suggestion for where to eat lunch, and we ended up in a pretty neat, typical restaurant, nothing special...but then i got this drink. this is clearly an exaggeration but i dont care, it was so refreshing. it was called 'leche y frutilla'...milk and strawberries...um sounds simple, and it is, but this one was delish! it had this foamy top, and it was freezing cold and just delicious and its soo easy to make! I think ive just been missing smoothies that having a drink similar to one just stands out so much. Annyway! After lunch, we headed over to the neighboring town called Valle Hermoso to check out 'los chalecos' (sweaters), because apparently that's where they were moved to, and well, it was pretty disappointing. There was this one main street, and it was just lined up and down on both sides by stores selling sweaters...and the sweaters had nothing special to them either! I was expecting alpaca wool, or something along those lines, but noooo. In the end, we walked through most of the stores, i think just wishful thinking, but by the end we ended up chillin with this vendedor de dulces de la ligua, whose name is Mauricio, and it was so much fun! At first we just asked him where to catch a micro back to La Ligua, but he was pretty helpful, and his dulces looked tempting, so we each bought one and ended up sitting there with him at this bus stop and talking to him and a few other chileans that were just sitting there for a good while! A few micros went by and each time he'd look at us questioningly, and we were just like, nahhh, let's talk. I hate to be so presumptuous, but after we sat down with him and started talking to him, he got a lotttt more business from everyone! He kept calling us 'los prometedores de los estados unidos, directamente a los dulces de la ligua' (as if to say we came from the US just to la ligua for the dulces...hah)....he even used me as a pseudo bag-woman to help him bag the dulces...haha...So we had a pretty good conversation, he kept cracking jokes with us and everyone else on the street and it was a ton of fun...then we returned to la ligua to go to this cafe artesenal that makes dulces de la ligua, and of course they were twice as expensive, but oh.my.gosh. they were like 10000 times better, so it was sooo worht those extra 25 cents of difference! haha no seriously, we tried the BEST alfajor i've ever tried. ever. and just everything was suuuuper rico there! So anywya, after that, i went to a street seller and bought some for my family (my mom had given me was is equivalent to $5 and told me to buy what i can...i walked away with 25 dulces...not bad...though i looked suuuper touristy...what's new?) That was pretty much it...a calm day, but out of vina and with a new atmosphere, and we spoke spanish like the whooole day...which we definitely didnt have to, so that was reallly good and beneficial i think.

WEll, that's it for now. Off to tomar once con la familia...hasta pronto!

2 meses mas?

wow. i apologize for being absolutely terrible at updating this thing. a quick recap on my last few weeks here in chile:

• a couple of weeks ago, Jen and I decided to rent bikes and ride up to a city called Horcon, north of vina...well, first we had to get out of vina, but it was a bit complicated because on the north end of vina there was some construction, so riding the sidewalk wasnt really an option for a portion of the way...luckily, there was an older guy riding a bike in front of us right before the construction part, so we just decided, what the heck? let's follow this guy, he seems like he knows what he's doing! hahaha. welll, that decision, which i probably never would have done in the states, led us to riding our bikes through vina traffic, right along side teh cars, dodging oncoming traffic, and eventually leading us to safety...omg it was crazy...jen and i were yelling at eachother in the traffic, trying ot contain our...surprise/shock/amazement about what were doing...it was crazy. ok, but anyway, the ride turned out to be wayyy more north than we originally thought, but we only decided to turn around after riding a good 3 hours north, and still not reaching the town...hahah...Jen is a triathlete, aka, she can bike/go up hills/not die...I, on the other hand, was...struggling. There were a few pretty good hills, but i guess to make up for those hills, i had some great views: the view up and down the coast, some hills/mts. in the distance, etc. So anyway, after deciding to turn around, we biked back to Con Con, got some empanadas really fast, and took our time coming back to vina/valpo to return the bikes...we rented the bikes out at 10 that morning, and returned them at 4 that afternoon...needless to say, my legs were dead! oh! and how could i forget? I got in a head-on collision! on my bike, of course....we were on a sidewalk (a pretty narrow one..) along the highway in between vina and valpo, i was in front, and coming toward us were two guys on bikes...so i get over to the right side of the sidewalk, which i thought was normal...but the guy coming our way decided to go the same way as me...sooooo we ended up just crashing head-on...it was pretty hysterical...jen and i just could not stop laughing...i think the guy was just soo embarrassed, he said nothing and biked off...hahah...no injuries, but soo soo funny!
• the next day we ran in a "5k" in vina...adidas is doing a running tour through all of Chile, and they had a 5k here in vina, it was free, near our houses, so we were like, why not? well anyway, this "5k" turned out to be maybe 2 miles...i really don't know what it is here in Chile with races, but everyone ive done so far (ok, only 3, but still!) is either so blatantly short, or too long. But after the race, one guy was saying that they just call it a 5k for marketing purposes...ok, that kind of makes sense, but whats so hard about naming it for the distance it really is, or just making it a real 5k race?! Nonetheless, it was fun. It's really funny here: there are lots of free races (maybe thats why i shouldnt count on them being the real distance...?) but before everyrace when everyone gathers together near the start, there's a stage with people leading aerobic exercises (like jazzercize, i suppose), yoga/stretching sessions, and just major 'pump up' stuff going on. it's really funny to watch/be a spectator at that sort of thing, especially because i think if something like that were to happen in the states before a race, not a whole lot of people would take part in it, or be embarrassed to be jumping around doing crazy things like that...! but here, everyone does it!
• i read a whole novel (300 pages, in spanish por supuesto) in 24 hrs for a test the next day. i really really thought i would either a)never finish it on time, or b) just not start it in the first place, and see what happens...oh but no, i did it. in retrospect, it's just so funny...i just had this inclination that the chileans in my class wouldnt do it, and figured it wouldnt be a problem if i didnt do it either, but man, i did it...and it was actually a good book! but, when i got to class the next day, only me and the two other gringos in my class, and two chileans had actually read the novel. and what did the other studnets do when she passed out teh test to us? oh, they left. yep, that's right. they said they had 'other stuff' to do, and that's why they couldnt finish it, but um, hello? and i dont? gee, getting some sleep that night would've been nice...oh well, we took the test, and we most definitely got some major brownie points from our prof. yesss!
• i traveled to Santiago to the Spanish consulate to get my passport notarized for my spanish visa...I really had no idea where the consulate was, aside from teh address, but i asked Pam y Vivi (the most amazing program coordinators) if i should call to ask for directions, or if they knew where it was, but they jsut took over for me. Pam called the consulate right away, asked them what metro station to get off at, and then printed out some maps for me to see how to get there! I didn't even ask for that much, muchless expect that! Anyway, it was reallllly easy. the consulate turned out to be just a few blocks away from the metro station, and i just had to drop off my papers and passport, and that's it! Jess came with me (she insisted i not travel alone), so when i was done with what i had to do after a quick 15 minutes, we were like, ughhh what do we do now? So we ended up walking around for about an hour, before deciding that santiago is just so big, and you'd have to have an idea of what you wanted to do there/know where to go, in order to do something worth your while, so we went to a restaurant real quick before heading back to vina...Then, the next week i went back to pick up my paperwork from the consulate, and mail it off...it felt great to be able to navigate my way through these transactions alone in chile! yes!
• last weekend, Christan, Jen and I went hiking/camping in El Parque Nacional La Campana, between vina and santiago, because we had monday off school for some religious holiday...we left friday afternoon, stayed in a hostel in Olmue on friday night after going grocery shopping for the next couple of days....So early Saturday we arrived at the park, talked to the guy at the entrance who told us about some waterfalls at the other side of the park, so we decided that was our goal for the weekend--to hike over to them before we leave monday morning...So Saturday was really just a day full of uphill climbing with our heavy backpacks on, full of food and water...mann...its almost a week later and i still feel it in my legs/butt! turns out the trail wasn't clearly marked, so we ended up taking a wrong turn at the top of the mountain, making us go in the wrong direction for the waterfalls, so we ended up somewhere totally different, thus making it impossible for us to be able tos ee the waterfalls, but oh well. So we got to the campsite that night, and well, i think i just attract boy scouts. even in foreign countries. there were TONS of boys running around, well into the night, all around the campsite...the boyscouts here have chants that they kept shouting nonstop all weekend, and it was pretty interesting because, well, as far as i know, when the boyscouts/really when anyone goes camping in the staes, you get up with teh sun, or relatively early, right? or am i mistaken? well, we were heading out for our hike the second day around 12 after having an easy morning, and the boys were just then getting up and ready...and then at night they were up till like 12-1ish...is that weird or is it just me? ok whatever. the weekend was fun. the three of us ended up camping in a 2-PERSON TENT. biggest. mistake. ever. the first night, i was lucky enough to be in the middle, which basically means, lay on the hard ground (we didnt have sleeping pads), and dont move. dont move at all. even if youre uncomf, cold, hot, in pain, or need to go the bathroom. it was super painful. i slept a good 1.5 hrs that night. the next night i was on the outside, whihc is equally painful, but with more space to move my head...that was good. :) all in all, it was a good weekend. really relaxing and fun!

ok, i know there's more, but those stand out in my memory right now...and oh my gosh! less than two months left here! how crazy...time has just absolutely flown by down here...maybe because i'm in the other hemisphere?! JUST KIDDING.

cuidense!
-amor-

here's a funny story...

...4 of my 8 classes this week were cancelled, and 2 of them were 3-hr. long classes...mannnnn chile. I don't even know what I do with my time...it feels like my days are full of stuff, but then at night i'm like, "what have i done today?" But it's okay; I spend a lot of time with my family, well, mom and sister, just talking about random things, so at least I'm using my spanish...my friend Kam and I were talking yesterday and she pretty much summed up how I feel down here...pseudo what she said: there is just a constant sense of tranquility and relaxation, without feeling the need to go out and DO a bijillion different things...the lifestyle down here just promotes that kind of perspective, i think, and it's a nice feeling to have...for the most part.
I started volunteering at a public school about a week or so ago; I'm volunteering through the program Ingles Abre Puertas, or "English opens doors." Basically what I do is work with an English teacher once a week during english class and essentially lead the lesson; the goal is for the kids to just get used to talking in English more, feel more confident about it, and obviously having a 'native' english speaker helps them out...the teacher i work with speaks good English, but she still has her moments where what she says is just...weird. The 'kids' are 16-17 yrs. old, and they're all suuuuper nice, funny, friendly, and speak surprisingly good English! At the beginning they were shy and didn't want to open up or ask questions, but as each class progresses it gets better and we have a fun time doing silly speaking activities...it's even helping my spanish because they ask what a word is, like last time they had to choose fruits and veggies for the activity, and i learned alot of vocab words then, and sometimes before and after class i'll talk with the kids...(i love it b/c each time they compliment my spanish! yesssss! i think that's my favorite thing to hear down here!) So anyway, I really like it, but it's too bad I just recently started it (the company who organizes it took like a month to get it together...arghh), because i only have 2 months left! omg!!!
Here's another funny story: some friends and I--Maddie, Jeff, and Jen--ran in a 10k last weekend in Valparaiso, really just doing it for fun, and mainly to get a t-shirt that says 'valparaiso medio-maraton' on it (ballllller)...so anyway, the weather that morning was kinda nasty (cold and pseudo-misty and cloudy and cold!), so we show up, try and warm up inside the building they were using, and then went out to the start line...Earlier when we showed up some men were unloading a big cannon (yes, you read that correctly...a CANNON) from a truck and we were just joking around that they were going to use that to start the race...well, as it turns out, we were right, but we didnt realize we were right until the ground shook and my ears started ringing after they shot it off...OMG i freaked out! We were all expecting a simple gun to go off, but nooooo! So anyway, we run the race, finish, and wait around afterward (during which time we met a crazy cool girl who's studying abroad in Santiago and had come down with some friends to run the race...funny how meeting another gringo wherever you go immediately turns into an instant friendship, if only for 2 hrs)... There was the half marathon still going on so we had to wait for the awards ceremony until that race finished, so we went over to a store nearby in attempts to warm up...when we get back, we're approaching the stage where they had apparently already started the awards ceremony, and we hear Maddie's name being called, and being told repeatedly to come up to the stage! We were all kind of surprised, but anyway, Maddie runs up there because she got first place in our division, and she got a medal and a trophy! it was crazy! Then they call my name, and i'm like, whattt? (jen finished in front of me, so i thought there was a mistake...) and they give me 2nd place and a medal! and then in the following division they call Jen up to get her 3rd-place medal! (older division) This was sooo crazy! Apparently, we found out that running as a sport is really only what adults do down here! I think we were among the only people in our divisions running the race, and to add on to that we were all gringos, stealing the medals! It was great! And also, at runs in the states, as far as i'm concerned, you don't get trophies for winning...do you? well, i wouldnt know--there's no way i'd place in the States, which makes my medal seem so much cooler! hahahaha...my new prized possession... :)

Aside from that, life continues on...Jen and I are running regularly nearly everyday together, and I've noticed that I'm in such a better mood now! Man, I guess I just can't ever stop running...darn :) Today Jen and I went to Club Sporting, which is basically a huge horse track and place for horse races, with tons of soccer fields inside the track, and an old dirt track, which we went to...we started doing an 4x800 workout, but after our second 800 this stupid dog started bothering us and wouldn't leave us alone. When i say 'bothering us,' i mean, he was biting our shoes, wouldn't let go, was biting our shoe laces, undoing them, and 'nibbling' at our ankles, without actually biting us, but he would NOT leave us alone...it was really scary...we were pseudo-laughing about it, but at the same time on the verge of tears because we just didn't know what to do...and to make it worse, there was a runnign class from some school at the track, and they were just watching us and chuckling to themselves, as we're there, flipping out about nearly getting bitten by a stray dog...so we gave up with the workout and were on our way out, when the woman with the group came up to us and told us to run with rocks in our hands, and if the dog continues to pursue us, to throw rocks at it...we laughed but totally took her seriously and grabbed a few rocks...so then we decided to just try again at the workout, and actually even just pretending to throw a rock at the dog scared him, and he left us alone! Long story short, lesson of the day, i'm not running without rocks anymore. no rabies for me.

autorretrato

ever had to describe yourself to someone else? have you ever really thought about how'd you describe yourself to others? hmmm...well, we did this for my spanish class and i ended up really liking it...it's based off Neruda's autorretrato...en estilo nerudiano:

Con respeto a mi persona, soy o creo ser pálida de tez, adversaria de perros, amiga de mis amigos, guarda de secretos, pésima de correspondencia, peligrosa de manejar, competidora a perpetuidad, odiosa de teléfonos, fanática del correr, sensible de las emociones, admiradora de la tierra, las estrellas y el mar, mujer de los caballeros, amante de los rubios, entusiasta del sol y el verano, atemorizada por la aviación, mañosa de la boca, aficionada a libros, líder por casualidad, pensativa en la naturaleza, observadora sin defecto, golosa todo el año, inútil en el frío, llena de energía bajo el sol, incansable consumidora de agua, intelectual apasionada, estudiosa, leal en relaciones, partidaria de libertad, gato en investigación, tímida en confrontaciones, feliz en amor, individuo obstinada, independiente, espontánea con amantes, coleccionista de recuerdos, rápida de amar, y nada sin mi familia.

Three Cups of Tea...

...is about how much tea i drink in a typical day...maybe that's why my teeth are slowly changing their color. Ok, but actually, that's the title of a book i just finished reading, and i just wanted to recommend it to everyone. The authors are Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and it's the story of "one man's mission to promote peace, one school at a time..." (off the cover). Basically, it narrates how Mortenson's failed attempt at climbing K2 in the Himalayan mountains led to his discovering this small town that inspired him to build them a school...eventually leading to the founding of a whole institution for the purpose of building schools and promoting education all throughout Pakistan/Afghanistan/other 'stans', etc....highly recommend it!