I'd give a nice title, but I can't remember what I wrote about

I wrote this post a few days ago, when I was feeling sort of unsocialable (we all have those days, right?), but I totally forgot
to actually post it. I honestly don't remember what it says. I hope it makes sense.

It's been awhile since I last wrote anything here... I'm a terrible journalist. I'm lazy and I don't really have an excuse or a reason for not writing. I just haven't felt like it. And there's a part of me feels like nothing's happened, and part of me feels like a lot has happened, so this blog post might be a little.. off.

Okay. Well. New Year's was awesome. Of course. We spent New Year's Eve at a cousin's house with lots of family, and toasted with pisco (haha, typical Chile) at midnight. Then, at around 2, all the kids went off to party. Everybody who's anybody was there, and I didn't get home until 7:30 am, when the party ended. And then I slept until 4 pm. And it was nice.

Last night, I went to the discotheque with Kelly, Taylor, Fran, Fran, and Paola (no, that wasn't a mistake, Chileans really do all have the same names as each other--"Let's call up Claudio" "My Claudio or your Claudio?" "No, the one from Colegio de la Salle" "Ohhh ...wait, the tall one or the short one?" Really.).
Anyway, it was exciting because we hadn't tried to go before--everyone told us we wouldnt get in without fake I.D.s, and of course none of us have them (but EVERY Chilean teenager has one), but yesterday we tried, and guess what? Pulling the "I'm Blonde And Only Speak English" thing really works. So that was fun. 

I'm pretty sure today I convinced my Chilean friends (and Taylor's host mom, too, but on a different occasion) that all Americans are certifiably insane. But, the good thing about that is, is that my craziness translated into Spanish. So apparently I'm getting better at communicating! On a related note, the host parents of Robin(now Mayella) visited my host family the other day, and the dad, Manuel, told a story about when he lived in Canada, he lived in a hotel on the edge of an Indian reservation, and I wont explain the whole story, but the important thing is that I UMDERSTOOD the whole story. And not just that I knew basically what he was talking about, which is usual for me, but I understood everything! And when I laughed at the funny parts, I knew why I was laughing! ....And then my mom replied, and... I understood nothing she said. Moment successfully ruined. But it was still really exciting, and some people are just way easier to understand than others. 

Now that I live in the city (basically) I can ride my mom's bike around. And I've been doing that a lot lately, because then I save two dollars on the micro/collectivo* and I'm a cheap exchange student. And I need the exercise. I can now truthfully boast that I came to Chile and learned how to properly ride a bike. Yes, I rode my cruiser all the time back home, but once you add gears and I am amazingly terrible. I've fallen twice now, and my legs are covered in bruises and cuts (me: "I look terrible!" Taylor: "No, you look badass. Like a roller derby girl." me: "Wow. I'd really really appreciate that comment if it wasn't for the fact that I CAN'T FEEL MY LEFT LEG!!!!"). 

Where was I going with that story..? Oh, yes. The other day Kelly and I rode our bikes down to  the river. Then we ate lunch at one of the divey restaurants down there (I've heard from a reliable source that one restaurant is actually a whorehouse. We were afraid we'd accidentally walk into that one. Didn't happen). We ate chancho y piedre, which is the name of a band, but is also a meal of bread and/or sopaipilla (fried dough) with salsa made out of tomato and chili peppers. It's the best. After lunch, we rented a rowboat, but neither Kelly nor I could successfully row it, so we enlisted the help of a fourteen yr old boy and an eleven yr old boy who had been laughing at us from the shore and made them row our boat for us. They took us out to the island in the middle of the river, and told us that the cables running across the river were from New Years, and that they had firework type things attached that lit up so it looked like the river was on fire. I don't really know how to explain, but the older boy, Ivan, had a video on his phone, and it was the coolest fireworky-type-thing I had ever seen. Afterward, the man who rented us the boat offered to give us rowing lessons whenever we wanted. Then the two of us went to one of the stands on the waterfront and bought mote con huesillo, a drink made of syrup, and water with corn and dried peaches in it. I've had motes I really liked, and ones I didn't. It's one of those things. While we were drinking that, we got asked if we could be interviewed by a man with this huuugggge, legit video camera, and then we discovered that he was from 24 hours, a station that broadcasts to all of Chile, not just a local station. But we turned out
to be terrible interviewees. First he just took video of us drinking our motes, and Kelly and I were trying super hard not to laugh which meant we just made odd faces. Then, he interviewed us:
him: "So, are you enjoying your mote?"
me: "Yes, I like it."
him: "Do you find it refreshing and enjoyable?"
me: "Yes."
him: "Do you like the river?"
me: "Yes."
him: "It's really hot today, no cierto?"
me: "yeah, it is!" 
I was laughing the whole time, and he got nothing usable, because obviously what he wanted was for me to take what e asked and say it in a sentence, like "Yes, my mote con huesillo is really refreshing and enjoyable." But I was wayy to overwhelmed for whole sentences! And, this was after the newscaster interviewed Kelly and she did the same thing, and then screamed "No! Interview her! She has better Spanish; I can't do this!" And then it was my turn, and.... I'm pretty sure we didn't make it onto the nightly news. Oh well.

And.. that's all the news I can think of at the moment.

*I've been asked to explain the transportation here in Chile. Next post, I promise.