A week in Summary

So, it´s been a while since I´ve blogged. I´m bad. Anyway, it´s been a very exciting and full week. I´ve gone to a salsa class, hiked up hills, been to the beach, met new family (that´s actually related to me!), been rafting down the Mapocho River and been sick all in one intense week. While all this was happening I found time to pass my first Spanish exam and move on to the next level. Whew!



Wednesday: Salsa class. This was interesting, there was a trip organized by my school where we went to a dance club called Ilé Havana. There was about 30 people that went from the school to learn salsa. They had an instructor that was a great dancer, but had no idea how to teach. She got up in the front of the tiny dance floor and kept yelling ¨shake your ass¨and ¨if you can´t do it, just do it.¨ Thanks, really helpful. She didn´t slow down at all, or take things step by step. It turned out that we were all stepping on each other and looking like fools but it was still a lot of fun.

Thursday: Hiking up the Cerro (hill) Santa Lucía. This is a really interesting place. It was an old fort from 400 years ago where the Europeans hid out and killed indigenous people from atop this tower. It was later made into a palace. Anyway, it has an amazing view of Santiago and you can hike up many stairs to get to the top. It´s a beautiful yellow color.

Friday: Exam! I had my first Spanish exam at school. I was worried about it since I haven´t taken a real exam in years. So I brushed up on my grammar and tried to memorize as much vocab as possible. I think that vocab is the hardest thing for me. I have such a horrible memory that trying to think up words on the spot is so difficult. That is my limiting reaction in learning spanish, I understand all the grammar, but the words are so hard. Anyway, to make a long story short, I passed and now I´m on to Intermediate Level 1-B. Whoot-whoot! This is a picture of my class. My teacher is the tiny (and feisty) girl in the front row.


Saturday: Rafting down the Río Mapocho. This was a hell of a good time. I have only been rafting once before in Colorado, but this was a lot more exciting. There were no regulations and nothing to sign so if I died or got hurt that´s too bad. Luckily no one did either of these things. It was around level 3-4 rapids and in a beautiful valley only 1.5 hours outside of Santiago.


Sunday: Went to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso (the beach) and met my Cousin´s-Husband´s-Brother´s Wife and Paulina. Complicated I know, but still family. Her family was so great! They took me around to all the interesting places in their city and we did a lot of walking and talking. I´m going to see them again on Wednesday for dinner. I hope that someday I can show them the hospitality that they showed me. It´s so nice to have them here, at least I know there is someone in South America I can go to in case of an emergency. Thanks Paulina!


Monday: First day of my new class. The instructor is nice, but I don´t like her quite as much as my first one. The material is a harder and she is more likely to give definitions for words in English rather than Spanish. This way, they are less likely to stick in my head. Anyway, I did a lot of sleeping because it seems that I caught some sort of bug. I was nauseous most of the day. Today is better, but it´s still not totally gone. No worrying about me! I´m still doing everything I want to do.

Love to all. Leave me comments if you make it all the way through this posting!