Winter Vacation This Week!

Wow, I guess it´s been a while since I last blogged and a ton has happened! I went to my first asado with my friends from school which was really cool, it´s still hard for me to believe how incredably welcoming they are. Also another exchange student arrived from Italy and is going to be going to my school. She´s really nice but doesn´t speak more than a few words in spanish which is kind of a bummer and, like all the other exchange students, is a year older than me so we won´t be in the same classes :(. That´s ok though, we both had a meeting with the director of our school and I changed around my schedual a bit to drop quimica and fisica in order to help out with some english classes and take a spanish class ( I made it into the 4rd grade!!) so I´m really looking forward to that. Earlier this week I went with my friend Camilla and her family to Santiago to see everything there and had a great time. There is so much less security here than in the US, I couldn´t believe there weren´t any metal detectors or bag searches anywhere and we took a picture standing at the front door of the president´s house. I´ve also had the chance to try some amazing Chilean food like meat with eggs on top and salmon baked with tomatoes. They also eat a lot of soup here but its more like a meal in a bowl with liquid around it and it´s acceptable to take the elements of the soup out and eat them on a plate. I really hope my spanish has improved but I can´t really tell. The hardest thing is that my dreams are apparently still in english because I wake up and everything is much harder to understand than the night before, but normally within an hour or so my thoughts are more in spanglish and by lunch (2 or 3 pm) my thoughts are for the most part in spanish.
Even More New Things!! : -the parents of friends or friends of Mami Mile are Tio and Tia, not Snr and Snra -there´s papaya flavored ice cream -if you´re with friends its ok to eat french fries with your hands and with ketchup/condiments, but if adults are around you use a fork and no condiments -the radio is a mix of spanish songs and songs in English (I really like the group called Camila because they sing slower and I can understand the lyrics) -at most stores besides supermarkets, you go to one register to give all of your items, leave your items there, go to another register with the recipt to pay, then go back to the first register to pick up your bags