ESTA NOCHE... TENEMOS QUE GANAR!!!

Okay... so I first want to apologize for a couple of reasons. Firstly for not posting anything in a long time, and secondly for the fact that I apparently lied to all of you in my last post. Remember how I told you that I could eat anything I want? Well soon after my last post I found out that there was no way I could eat everything I want if my host mom were to keep cooking for me the way she was. To explain... one Sunday we all sat down to lunch. It consisted of meat, vegetables, salad, and for the first time ever... dessert! All of the food was really pretty good. The vegetables, which I had eaten a few times before, were blended up and thickened with something that I assumed was probably flour. Well... I soon discovered as I brought my dishes to the kitchen after I was done eating that it was definitely NOT flour that had been added into my vegetables. Sitting there on the counter was a green bag of powdered cream. The cream was not just any normal cream. No... it was powdered cream for old people that don't eat enough food... a.k.a. the stuff I would add to the resident's food at Charter House and then feed them. It is packed with calories, and protein, etc., etc., etc. I could not believe it. I freaked out a little bit. If I was gonna be eating all of those extra calories, I would at least like those calories to be in something I could actually taste and enjoy... like an empanada, ice cream, a churro, or a completo... not as some powder added to VEGETABLES of all things that have absolutely no taste! Well... I thought about it for some time and decided to have a conversation with my host mom. I didn't want to offend her in any way, but I wanted to make sure I got my point across. Thankfully, the conversation went really pretty well and I don't think she will ever add it to my food anymore. However... I'm pretty sure my host sister put it in the soup she made for lunch today! Whaddaya do??? =)

Last weekend our entire group went on an excursion to Pomaire. Pomaire is a little town that is known for it's pottery. It was a cute little town completely lined with pottery and other craft shops. After walking around for awhile and doing a little shopping we all ate at San Antonio... one of the most AMAZING restaurants I've ever eaten at! The colors in the restaurant were beautiful, and oh my gosh there was SO much food! The waitresses brought it all out, set it on the table, and then we shared it all. We had salad, bread, empandas del horno (oven-baked empandas. WAY better than the fried ones! Mmm... I wish I had one now!), pastel de choclo, and the biggest pot of meat I've seen in my entire life! No joke... the food was scrumptous. After the meal we were asked if we would like dessert. Are you kidding? Of course we would! When I think of dessert I usually think of ice cream, or cake, or cookies, or something along those lines. That is why I was completely surprised when they brought out mote con huesillo, a traditional Chilean dessert. It consisted of a peach that was previously dried and then re-hydrated in mote (a syrupy liquid) with huesillos which is basically grains of wheat. Although it was definitely not what I was expecting, it was interesting to say the least. As my friend Katelyn said after being asked if she would have it again, "If I had the choice of ice cream or this I would definitely pick the ice cream. However, if there was nothing else and this was my only option for dessert... then yeah, I would eat it again."

As I woke up yesterday morning with the sun shining through my window, I knew it was going to be a great day. I had gotten up early to go on a short run before my one and only class. It is perfect running weather here right now. Towards the end of my run I was running up a steep hill as I crossed paths with an elderly lady walking downwards. She was walking with a cane at a slow pace down the hill. This lady, wearing a long black & yellow coat, had a striking appearance. It is extremely rare here in Chile to have passing conversations with people on the streets, but as I ran past her she looked at me a said something. I stopped and asked her to repeat it. I'm not 100% positive of everything she told me, but it was something along the lines of how happy it made her to see me out running and how great it was that I was doing it. WOW... I thought. She is walking with a cane and I tried not to look at her as to not make her feel bad that I was running up the hill while she walked down with a cane, and she is the one who says something to me! When you run into people like that lady they just make you realize how good life is... how some things in the world just don't matter and the ones that do are the ones that you should focus on. I love Chile!

Yesterday during class I kept checking my clock every few minutes. I felt like I was back in elementary school on the last day of school... waiting for that final bell to sound signaling the start of summer. Why you ask? I knew that after class I would be heading home, eating lunch, and then jumping on a bus to Santiago for my first futbol (soccer) game here. The game was between Chile and Colombia and we all had bought jerseys on the street to support the home team. The game was unreal! We arrived at the stadium 2 hours early in order to get good seats as our tickets were general admission. I was a little bit nervous as we walked up the stairs and tons of guys were whistling, yelling, and singing a song about gringas (Americans) our direction. We had all been warned that soccer games can get pretty crazy as the fans drink a lot beforehand and get extremely into the game. I thought it was interesting, though, that no alcoholic beverages are sold in the stadium and none are allowed in. Probably a really good thing! As we sat there waiting with the Andes mountains in the background and the sun going down, it started to rain. And rain. And rain. We really couldn't do anything about the rain. Instead we just stood up, pulled on our hoods, and sang every cheer with the thousands of Chilean fans around us. The rain finally let up just in time for kick-off. It was a great game! It was a qualifying game for the World Cup and we ended up winning 4-0. Afterwards we had a crazy time getting back to our bus. However, I eventually made it home safe and sound, slept really fast, and then got up early in order to get to my 8:00 class... ugh!

Tomorrow we are meeting at the bus station at 7:00 in the morning to leave for Santiago. We will be staying there through Saturday and will be touring various places throughout the city... I'm really looking forward to it!

Goal for the week: to try a Terremoto in Santiago (it is a popular drink in Santiago which consists of wine and ice cream!)