La Jac Goes to South America.: November 2010

Howdy, howdy, howdy.

I stopped at a new bakery today (big surprise, right?) and bought some unknown sweet bread thing called a “nido” (nest). Yummy. Armed with my nest and box of peach juice, I crossed the bridge. What a pretty day it was today!! My good friends the lobos* were out, just lounging on their little dock, running their flippers through the water.

On the other side I found a secondhand clothes store. The thing is, all my clothes are disintegrating, and all at the same time. But, I don’t want to buy brand new everything at brand new prices. (Just think how many little bread nests I could buy?) Anyway, after lots of sorting I found some things that weren’t made in this decade and came away happy, although still no luck on the pants. Of my current jeans supply, one pair has a hole, another pair was eaten by the dryer, and the button fell off the other pair. (Things are getting desperate.)

But anyway, enough about my clothes. What has happened here? Ooooh! I went to my sister Valentina’s school! I went to her English class and oh my goodness, their English is good. Honestly impressive and humbling, haha. Anyway, that was fun. Pipe left! Yes, it’s the sad truth. The ol’ host brother has moved himself to Calgary. The weekend leading up to his departure involved going away parties (lots of people in a small space speaking Spanish is still an adventure) and late nights (you can sleep when you’re dead?). I’m going to miss him lots, but I feel like allowing him to go will at least turn out to be positive for my Spanish-speaking career. (Having a readily accessible English-speaker can be bad news for an aspiring Spanish-speaker.)

There was a cute springtime garden show/sale in that big park near my house! Anna and I went, and after looking around at all the flower booths Anna took me on a mini-tour of the park. How have I lived here for this long without realizing how cool this park is? It’s got ponds and lily pads and zipline and a thousand frogs and is ENORMOUS. I’m going back.

Tomorrow I’m going to Niebla with the ladies (Luz and Cami). I’m having lots of fun with them. They let me watch movies with them, take me around the town, teach me slang and also how to use micros (buses). I’ve been going to that English club on campus every week. Last week was Pet’s Week, this week we talked about Veteran’s Day. The kids are, of course, adorable. Today afterwards we went to the mall and they gave me my first chorrillana experience… it was a huge plate of French fries topped with eggs, onions and meat. Yummy.

Oh! I took a colectivo (successfully) after this dance/exercise class. It was like an aerobics class, and you just copy the instructor as she salsas and who-knows-what-else her way through the songs. I don't know if I would have been able to understand her instructions or not, because all I could hear was the super loud music and an occasional, "Vamos." A gringa friend invited me and it was super entertaining... I want to go back. Anyway, afterwards I just stuck my arm out there like a big girl, got a colectivo and made it home with minimal confusion.

I’m starting to stress out a little bit, I have 3 ½ weeks and then I’m done in Valdivia until March. Yikes. I don’t want to go, I really don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see my family and I'm excited to travel the world. And I’m excited to study in Buenos Aires for a month. I think seeing and doing everything that I’m going to get a chance to do is going to be incredible and worthwhile. I just also see that it also would have been valuable to stay here and just keep living and learning, uninterrupted. (Just some food for thought for future study abroad-ers. ) It's kind of a win-win.

Anyway, the pencil broke and that’s all she wrote…
PollyJacLyn

*lobos, as is "lobos marinos," as in "sea lions." The Lobos are not, in fact, a scuba-diving couple, as has been hypothesized.