Hi! Sorry It's been a little bit since I've written and I apologize now for a potentially uneventful blog-post. These last two weeks have consisted of a lot of homework doing, dancing and a couple of other random activities. I suppose I left off after the Independence weekend.
That following week on Wednesday I went to a weekly couchsurfing meeting at a the Apunto Rojo bar in Bellavista area with Kailie Kai and Matt. This meeting is just a meeting for travelers and Chileans to meet and mingle and practice speaking different languages. It was a blast. I met a few people including David who I hung out with for the rest of the event. He convinced us to go to this weekly dance thing called Miercoles po that was nearby and that was free up until a certain point at night. A lot of people in my group have gone there ,but none of us had. It's interesting because it's kinda like a dance event for exchange students,but has a new location each week. The next day I went salsa dancing with David . A lot of people from couch surfing were there . I'm sure I was slightly painful to dance with that night with my mediocre dance moves, but I've been improving. I think I've gone salsa dancing 4 times in the last 2 weeks plus 2 latin dance classes I have for school.So I guess I've gone every other day for the past two weeks. That night I also learned the Bachata which is fun, but I think I like salsa more. On Wednesday we went to another salsateca where they have a free Kizamba dance lesson and then open dance.
Then came Friday. I went on a field trip to Ocoa Valley which is in La Campana National Park. It was pretty and involved a somewhat tiresome hike. There were cacti everywhere and nearly every non-cactus plant had thorns. At the end of the trail was a waterfall. Of course we had to climb down to the waterfall area which was awesome. Some people decided to climb the rocks of the waterfall though which was pretty waterfall-sketchy. I knew someone was gonna fall. Matt was the highest ,but managed to get down okay. Oscar was up maybe a good10-15 ft. and slipped to the bottom. LUCKILY he barely had a scratch on him. It was pretty scary though. After finishing our hike, we stopped at a restuarant where maybe like 70 pre-ordered empanadas were waiting for us. It was amazing. Thennnn that weekend, probably on Saturday I went salsa dancing again with David and some of his friends. Yay Salsa and dancing and music and having David to dance with. It's a lot of fun. Also, David said that I've improved a lot...so that's reassuring and makes me feel like I might actual get good ish at some point. We went to the couch surfing thing yesterday and went salsa dancing afterwards to a club that had salsa music as well as a gypsy band with belly dancers! I've always wanted to see live belly dancers. They were great and so was the music ,but mostly the dancing. I got asked to dance by 2 other guys,but kinda sucked at it cuz I didn't know their style of salsa and/or they weren't great leads.
Home life is pretty good. I wish I saw and got to interact with my host parents more often.
It's transition into spring...or maybe it's spring now? It's a little frustrating when dressing for the weather because people dress so warmly here. I think there was a day when the high was 80 degrees. I wore shorts to my 11am class... walked to the metro and went to school and notice that there aren't any other ladies wearing shorts. If they are, they're wearing tights under them. So it's a little bizarre. It's been in the 70's ,but people still are in their pants and jackets. I can't do that. The metros are super warm usually and they leave all of their layers on. This is because they don't want their body to go into shock from the temperature change...my body will go into shock if I dress the way they do though. Well that's all. Not. But I can tell you more over video chat and shinanigans. I love you guys and I hope you all are well.
That following week on Wednesday I went to a weekly couchsurfing meeting at a the Apunto Rojo bar in Bellavista area with Kailie Kai and Matt. This meeting is just a meeting for travelers and Chileans to meet and mingle and practice speaking different languages. It was a blast. I met a few people including David who I hung out with for the rest of the event. He convinced us to go to this weekly dance thing called Miercoles po that was nearby and that was free up until a certain point at night. A lot of people in my group have gone there ,but none of us had. It's interesting because it's kinda like a dance event for exchange students,but has a new location each week. The next day I went salsa dancing with David . A lot of people from couch surfing were there . I'm sure I was slightly painful to dance with that night with my mediocre dance moves, but I've been improving. I think I've gone salsa dancing 4 times in the last 2 weeks plus 2 latin dance classes I have for school.So I guess I've gone every other day for the past two weeks. That night I also learned the Bachata which is fun, but I think I like salsa more. On Wednesday we went to another salsateca where they have a free Kizamba dance lesson and then open dance.
Then came Friday. I went on a field trip to Ocoa Valley which is in La Campana National Park. It was pretty and involved a somewhat tiresome hike. There were cacti everywhere and nearly every non-cactus plant had thorns. At the end of the trail was a waterfall. Of course we had to climb down to the waterfall area which was awesome. Some people decided to climb the rocks of the waterfall though which was pretty waterfall-sketchy. I knew someone was gonna fall. Matt was the highest ,but managed to get down okay. Oscar was up maybe a good10-15 ft. and slipped to the bottom. LUCKILY he barely had a scratch on him. It was pretty scary though. After finishing our hike, we stopped at a restuarant where maybe like 70 pre-ordered empanadas were waiting for us. It was amazing. Thennnn that weekend, probably on Saturday I went salsa dancing again with David and some of his friends. Yay Salsa and dancing and music and having David to dance with. It's a lot of fun. Also, David said that I've improved a lot...so that's reassuring and makes me feel like I might actual get good ish at some point. We went to the couch surfing thing yesterday and went salsa dancing afterwards to a club that had salsa music as well as a gypsy band with belly dancers! I've always wanted to see live belly dancers. They were great and so was the music ,but mostly the dancing. I got asked to dance by 2 other guys,but kinda sucked at it cuz I didn't know their style of salsa and/or they weren't great leads.
Home life is pretty good. I wish I saw and got to interact with my host parents more often.
It's transition into spring...or maybe it's spring now? It's a little frustrating when dressing for the weather because people dress so warmly here. I think there was a day when the high was 80 degrees. I wore shorts to my 11am class... walked to the metro and went to school and notice that there aren't any other ladies wearing shorts. If they are, they're wearing tights under them. So it's a little bizarre. It's been in the 70's ,but people still are in their pants and jackets. I can't do that. The metros are super warm usually and they leave all of their layers on. This is because they don't want their body to go into shock from the temperature change...my body will go into shock if I dress the way they do though. Well that's all. Not. But I can tell you more over video chat and shinanigans. I love you guys and I hope you all are well.