A Visit to the South

I went to Pucon, Chile for three days last week with my host mom. She had to go to a conference there, so she invited me along so i was able to see some of the south of Chile!

My mom left really early Tuesday morning, and I went with four other people that work with my mom in a tiny little truck for the five hour car ride...we left around 11am, stopped for a lunch break, and got to the hotel at like 4:30 in the afternoon. It was misting a little bit, and pretty cold. Pucon is in the lake region of Chile, and our hotel was conveniently placed right at the end of one. My hotel room looked out onto the beautiful lake and mountains. It is the most beautiful place i've ever been. My mom was in conferences the whole time, so I walked around and explored the little town. Most shops were closed because it's winter here, and it's a summer attraction with the lake and whatnot, but I still loved it. I also occupied myself by watching TV shows in Spanish :D

We returned home at midnight Thursday night, and I had to go to school the next day gahh.

Everything is just really normal, but i'm realizing that I only have 7 weeks left here, so I want to make it as not normal as possible. Like doing things i've never done before! Experiencing life! This adventure has been so amazing, and i'm so thankful that I have this opportunity.

Muuchas gracias for reading everyone

xoxo
Stephanie

P.S.-As my Spanish continues to improve, my English seems to be getting worse...:/

I'm Blonde??

This is the class Gira. I am about in the middle with the blue dress, American flag, and blonde hair! I am also a lot taller than most people…

If you know me, you know that I am not even close to having blonde hair-I am a fairly dark brunette. When i came to Chile, knowing that the majority of Chileans have dark hair, I thought, “Hey , this will be kind of nice-I’ll initially be able to blend in as a Chilean easier because I already have the right hair color.” Well it turns out I’m not the brunette I thought I was…

The other day in my Language class, the Profe was talking about unfair generalizations. As as example she said, “An unfair generalization is something like, ‘Blondes are dumb.’” Then she said, “No offense Stephanie.” Huh? Why was she directing that at me? Did I just misunderstand what she said? Or did she just suggest that I was blonde? Then later that day, a couple of my classmates and I were in the bathroom brushing our teeth after lunch, and one girl said, “Stephanie your hair is so beautiful! I wish I had blonde hair.” My hair? Are you

talking to me? Still completely confused, the next morning at breakfast, my little brother was wearing a bright blonde Hannah Montana wig he borrowed from his friend-who knows why? My sister asked him why he was wearing a blonde wig, and he replied, “Because I want to have hair like Stephanie’s!” ALRIGHT THAT’S IT. Why does everyone keep saying I have blonde hair?! “Uh, because you ARE blonde,” said my sister. “You’re not as blonde as the wig, but compared to the average Chilean hair color, your hair is really blonde.”

Three days ago, my friend Rocio made the class “Gira,” which is a cartoon of everyone in the class. She drew everyone with brown hair—except me! I have blonde hair, and am proudly holding my American flag.

Fun Fact: I was talking about coffee with some friends the other day at lunch and I said I didn’t like coffee, but I liked the occasional frappuccino at Starbucks. And they didn’t know what Starbucks was! I thought Starbucks was a universal thing, but I guess it isn’t! I was very surprised, just because there are sosososossooooo many in the US. There is also no Jamba Juice:(

Thanks for reading!!

xoxo

Stephanie

Everything is So...Amazingly Normal

I've been in school for three weeks now, and although the novelty certainly hasn't worn off, I think that I am very close to being "completely adapted" to this Chilean life.

The past few weeks of school have been so great. I have 13 subjects that are covered throughout the week, most of which are repeated. For example, I have math almost everyday, but I only have P.E. once a week. The classes that I have to take and that every student in my grade takes are: Math, Language and Communication, Philosophy, Physical Education, English, History, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Art or Music (Art for me), Biology or Language Elective (Biology), Physics or Chemistry Elective (Chemistry), and Math or History Elective (Math). I have a schedule that I keep with me at all times because every day is a different schedule, and it's impossible to remember what classes I have what days. As you can imagine, my favorite class is English. Mainly because I can understand EVERYTHING that is going on in that class, but also because I am able to help teach people my language. The English teacher often asks me to explain what words mean, or give synonyms so that my classmates can better understand. One day I read a paragraph aloud out of our text book, and when I finished, everyone burst out laughing! They didn't understand any of what I had said, even though I was just reading at a normal speed for me, but I'm sure it sounded to them like their Spanish did to me at first! To put it simply, English class is entertaining. As far as friends goes, I think I would consider pretty much everyone in my class my friend. The class that I am in consists of 32 students, including me, and makes up the entire 3rd medio, which is 11th grade. Even though these kids have been going to school together since they were in preschool, and are like a family, they have been so welcoming towards me, and have made me feel so happy and apart of their big family. I will be forever grateful to the students in my class for helping me to have such a great school experience.

Like I said before, the novelty still hasn't worn off, so here are some of the things about myself that I have found to be the most different from the norm here: My height. Chileans are generally a short people. There are of course exceptions, but I happen to be a very tall exception. I usually have to bend down to see myself in mirrors. Next, my eyes. It's like they crave eyes any other color than brown! They say my eyes are "preciosos!" and scarcely find a moment when someone isn't starting at them. Usually kind of awkward... I have had a few offers from people wanting to buy my eyes. Also my hair. Even though it is brunette, it's not the SAME dark Chilean color, so I've gotten a few offers for that too. Lastly, MY NAME!! Stephanie doesn't come out too bad for most people, as Estefany is a name that is used here. However, they completely slaughter Hedger. I haven't found a single person yet who can correctly pronounce my last name. But that's ok.

The other day, my friend Javiera told me that her cousin is in her last year of college studying to become and English teacher, and wanted to know if I would come over to her house to just speak English with her so she could practice. I of course said I would, so I went with Javiera after school this past Tuesday to her cousin's house. It was just a few blocks from school, so we walked. On the way, I saw a friend I had met in the plaza when I had first got to Parral, and he doesn't go to our school, so Javiera didn't know him. I felt so cool to have known someone and been able to talk to him as we strolled down the street. It made me feel Chilean. Once I met Carla, Javiera's cousin, we sat and talked about school, exchange students, public school versus private school, public and private in the US versus public and private in Chile, parties, friends, etc. Her English was very good-she made very few mistakes. She told me that she has a couple of friends that are in her class that are studying English in the US right now. I asked what state and she said California. Oh wow! That's cool I live in California. Then I asked if she knew what university they were studying at. Maybe I would know it? Oh yes, she said it was something Davis. Oh my gosh!! UC Davis! That's like two hours from where I live and happens to be the exact college that I want to go to! Small world.

School pictures are a lot different here. Instead of having a photographer come to school, we go to the photographer. But it's not really even a photographer...My siblings and I went to the Kodak Center after school the other day to get our pictures taken, which the school needs for the "yearbook" and we also have to put one in our agenda book. Well the Kodak Center is a gift shop, and there's a lady in a little back room that takes pictures with a Kodak camera and prints them out for you right there. So we all had a little picture taken with our adorable uniforms on, and then the lady added our name so it represented a mug shot, printed them out to about 1.5 inches by 2 inches, and handed us each our little packet. It was two dollars for 8 little pictures.

My family here goes on vacation to another country every winter, and this year I get to go with them! My parents haven't decided where we are going yet, but it's between Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. They've already been to Mexico and Brazil in past years, but I think it will be awesome wherever we end up going! We have the two weeks before I leave Chile as winter vacation off from school, but my family takes off the week before that as well to go on vacation. I believe we're going for two weeks. That means when we get back, I'll have one week before I leave for the US! Also, my host sister, who is in the US on exchange right now, will be back for our winter vacation, so I'm excited to meet her and spend time with her, since were the same age.

I only have 13 weeks of Chile left!! I feel that I have acclimated pretty fast considering the disruptive earthquake there at the beginning, and I know that I am going to get everything and more out of what I hoped to get from being on exchange. I've learned to never turn away an opportunity, even if it's just going to the grocery store with my host mom, or watch Disney Channel with my little brother. All of it leads to something huge, and It's going to be something I remember forever, and that is currently changing me as a person.

Well tomorrow is my 17th birthday, and I will be celebrating it Chilean style! It's my host family's tradition to wake up at 6am and sing the birthday person Happy Birthday (the Spanish version of course) to wake them up, and then lay all their gifts on top of them. Then gifts are opened, we eat breakfast, and the rest of the day I'm not sure about! So I'm planning on going to bed quite early tonight as I will be waken up before the sun comes up...I'm having a birthday party next weekend with all the people in my grade, so I'm excited for that. I'm not really sure how birthday parties are with friends here in Chile, but we'll see how it goes!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Steph

First Day of School!

Two important events since my last update!!

First important thing: I had an AFS orientation in Santiago this past Wednesday, April 7-Friday, April 9. It was just a check up for most people, to see how everyone is with their families, how the language is coming, how school is, etc. It was really great to see all the people I had met from the camp in Rancagua. We all have sort of a special bond I guess since we endured the earthquake together. It was awesome to see how everyone is doing with their host families, schools, and how the language is coming. One other girl and I were the only ones who hadn't started school yet, which leads me into my next topic...

I had my first day of school today! I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be, but I think that's because I already knew a lot of people in my grade. There are exactly 31 people in my grade. There are around 300 in my school, which is Pre-School through High School. Super chico! Everyone is very friendly. Everyone also slaughters my name. It's quite comical. As I walk through the school yard, I hear little kids tell their moms, "Look Mom! It's Stephanie! The girl from the United States!" I don't even know who any of these kids are...People say hi to me that i've never seen before! Something I don't get in the US. I like it! When I say i'm from California, they think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread.

I have classed until 6pm everyday except Monday, on which I have classes until 4pm. Ridiculously late, I know. When I got home today, I watched Flight Plan in Spanish. I was completely whooped. Too bad today was the short day...

I'll try to be more frequent with my updates. Thanks for reading!!

Steph

Finally a Part of a Chilean Family

Santiago turned out to be a really great time. Valentina, Nina, and I spent many days shopping downtown-can't exactly complain. I fell in love with Chilean bread.

The picture on the left is the group of kids who were the last to go to their host families due to damage from the earthquake. Two AFS volunteers took us on a tour of Santiago on the last day I was there. You can see more pictures of that on my Facebook. The picture posted here is of the view of Santiago from the top of this big hill. We took an escalator type thing up to the top, where there was a giant statue of the Virgin Mary, and I could ALL of Santiago and the Andes Mountains. It was an amazing sight.

I was able to go to my host family in Parral on Wednesday the 10th. Two students from Thailand and I took a bus North, along with two AFS volunteers. We were all dropped off in different places. I happened to be dropped off on the side of the road where my host parents were waiting for me...? We first went to my mother's work-she owns a company that exports blueberries. Then I got to go to my new home! I met my 4 siblings-Kippy (14), Paula (11), and the twins Magdalena and Raul (10). I was really homesick the first night because I was finally in a family, and it wasn't the family I'm used to. It's gotten better each day, and i'm starting to feel like a part of a Chilean family now. My mother, Kippy, and I have gone out a couple times to do some shopping, and otherwise we hang out at home with the housekeepers/nanny while both my parents work.

School was supposed to start on March 3rd, but because of the damage, it's not starting until April 5th. Kinda good, kinda bad. I'll have more time to get better at Spanish before school starts, but going to school will keep me occupied and that's where I'm going to meet friends. I'm excited but nervous too! My Spanish is much worse than I thought...I've accepted the fact that I'm not going to know what's going on most of the time. It gets better everyday though, and my family is very helpful and supportive.

I'll try to keep everyone posted. Thanks for reading!

Chao

Steph

Camp/Santiago pics

USA group

TERREMOTO

Ok soo much to say about this...

There were 70 kids from all over the world in Rancagua, Chile. About an hour and a half south of Santiago. The earthquake hit at about 3:30 Saturday morning. I woke up because the whole cabin was shaking really hard back and forth, and the beds were creaking and i though the walls were going to cave in or the bunk bed on top of me was going to fall and kill me. Brutal i know, but its the truth. the shaking lasted for about 30 seconds and it kept getting worse and worse. after it stopped, some AFS volunteers came into the cabin and made sure that we were ok and told us that we had just gone through a really severe earthquake, which happened to be the worst earthquake Chile has seen in almost 100 years. How convienient that it happens the first night that im in Chile. So we slept outside for the rest of the night on the grass, with each othger and some blankets to keep us warm. We couldnt have the orientation that we were supposed to have the next day, which was the whole point of being there, because some structures that covered the main area had fallen down and it wasnt safe to walk under them. So we just hung out under the hot sun all day, and were able to go to the pool as well. it wasnt that bad though because we had each other and we got to know one another pretty well. i made a lot of friends that i wouldnt have made otherwise.

We were quickly running out of food, and we didnt have electricity or running water. sooo we left sunday morning by bus, which took us to santiago, to the national AFS office. all 70 of us crowded into the tiny office until some of us were taken to temporary host families in santiago, or in the other case, some were taken to their real host families if they lived nearby. i am living with a temporary host family because it was not safe to travel to parral, because many of the roads and bridges had been destroyed from the earthquake. i am with another girl from austria, named nina, in an apartment in a suburb of santiago, with a 22 year old girl named valentina, who is going to law school here, and her mother. We are having a great time! we shopped in santiago yesterday, and its great because everything is so cheap.

AFS called earlier today to update us on our families and it turns out the school im supposed to go to isnt working because of damage from the earthquake. my family and house are fine though, and the roads are even good enough now to get me there. so im just waiting for the school to be working so i can go to my family, which i guess could take up to a couple of weeks, but hopefully not. thanks for thinking of me and i love you all

chao

steph