Monday, September 10, 2007 2 months down, 3 months left

Monday, September 10, 2007 2 months down, 3 months left

I woke up this morning around 9:30 after hitting my snooze 3 times. (Yes, I got 9 hours of sleep. I don’t know the last time I got 9 hours of sleep.) Around 10:30 I headed out to campus. I had my Doctrina Social class, then met up with my group to work on our Education presentation. We had class at 1:30 and I found out I got a 4.1 out of 7 on my test. That is actually a really bad grade (something like a C- in the US) but the class average was a 3.9, so I guess I didn’t do that bad!! I even beat the two Chilean girls in my group, one of which, Silvia, basically taught us all the material the night before! For the presentation, I had to speak about Gramsci, the Italian Communist and his views on Education in front of the entire class. It was not as nerve racking as I thought it’d be. I definitely stumbled a bit and I think I saw a few, “What the crap are you saying?” faces, but people told me they understood me and that I did a good job.

After class I had lunch with Christian, then headed to my Biblia class. I again had read the readings for the class, so I was definitely able to follow along much easier. After class I took the metro close to the Nuestra Casa house to help out with their Fiestas Patrias party. Before I went I stopped in a pharmacy and bought deodorant and toothpaste. It went smoother than last time (when I bought tampons), but when the woman checked me out, she offered the usual, “Would you like a points rewards card?” then looked at me again, chuckled, and replied “No” for me! I guess she knew I wouldn’t be around long enough to make it worth it.

So I’m not going to post this on my blog to avoid a mini panic attack amongst my mom, grandmother, and other female family members, but on my way to the Nuestra Casa house, I saw a woman nearly get her purse stolen. I had just walked around the corner and I suddenly hear a woman scream and saw her fall violently to the ground in the street. She screamed again and clutched her purse and I saw man stand over her, hesitating. There were many people around an a bigger guy from across the street started heading towards them, yelling at the guy. The man looked down at the woman, then over at the man approaching, and took off running. The woman picked herself up and dazedly but quickly walked towards Alameda. Everyone around had kind of froze, not knowing what to do. I was only about 10 yards away and probably the closest person to the woman, and I just thank God it was still light outside and there were lots of other people around. I of course had to keep walking in the direction the want-to-be robber ran, so I grabbed my rosary and made sure I was always near other people. What amazes me was that it happened in plane daylight, on a busy street. Arrrggggghhh… why does Chile have to be so full of stupid robbers? I just pray nothing like that happens to me. My family would freak.

Anyway, I made it to the residencia safe and sound. I asked what I could do to help and they put me to work in the kitchen. First I folded napkins with Harrison, the staff sociologist, then I cut bread for the choripans with Raul, a resident. Then I helped stuff the chorizo sausages into the bread and when it was finally all ready, I helped serve. Throughout the night I saw lots of people I’d met at the Taller, including Alejandro, and Alberto from Jueves Solidario. Daniel, Renaldo, and Javiera were of course there, so it was great to see them again.

After all the food was served they had a “show”, including singing and dancing by the volunteers, then a folk music performance, then cueca. After a real cueca couple danced, they had a cueca competition. We (2 other volunteers and I) were about to leave since it was getting late when suddenly Renaldo grabbed me and handed me to a guy and said, “Here’s your partner!” I had no idea what was going on until Renaldo grabbed the mike and announced that we now had our 3 couples and they would begin the cueca competition! So the next thing I know I’m “dancing” the cueca in front of 35+ complete strangers. I really had no idea what I was doing, but luckily it was really laid back and everyone had a good laugh. It wasn’t that embarrassing because I knew I would suck, so I just went with it. After the 2 dance, we were thankfully “eliminated”. After the winner was picked, they gave out prizes and I got a little red, white, and blue ribbon, perfect for Fiestas Patrias! Renaldo was sure to tell everyone that I was North America and had never before danced the cueca and everyone cheered. My partner made many jokes about taking the beautiful blonde North American home but was actually very respectful and really helped me out.

When they finally decided to stop torturing me, we headed out to walk to the metro. I went with Lorin, another volunteer in my program, Ursula, a Peruvian who studies at University of San Francisco, in CA but is studying abroad in Chile for a year (crazy right?) and an employee of Nuestra Casa. While we were walking to the metro, we stumbled upon a fire! The street was filled with people and firemen were running around pulling hoses, climbing up and down ladders, yelling orders at each other, everything. The building was still in flames and there was tons of smoke. Again, how I run into such exciting, random things, I have no idea! After enough rubber necking, we made it to the metro. I came home and told Olga that I didn’t need to eat because I’d had empanadas and choripan and the party. She giggled and told me that after Fiestas Patrias, we are going to eat only fruits and vegetables. No more pan, rice, spaghetti, nothing! So hopefully we’ll stick to it, but I’m sure Olga will enjoy the new culinary challenge! And since Chilean summer is coming, I need it!

I have nothing to do tomorrow since it is September 11th. It’s the anniversary of Pinochet’s coup d'état and apparently everything shuts down early and the streets can be dangerous. Olga said I shouldn’t leave the house after 3ish. So I have no idea what I’m going to do all day! But I’ll just enjoy it and get ready for my trip on Thursday. Alright, good night!