Hello again

Hello again :)

I had a very good day today, actually. I got an email from Elaine (emails rock, guys. Email me and I'll love you forever) and Taylor wrote me a hilarious letter and delivered via my bewildered grandpa, which made it even more special and funny. And my Spanish is actually getting better I think. Everyone speaks so fast that it's sooo hard to understand, but when I write notes with my friends I can understand most things, and I can talk a little more. Everyday it gets a little better I think, but I still have those days where I feel like I speak no Spanish and am the stupidest person on earth... Quite often I feel like that, actually.

Let's see, today I got another history lesson about Pinochet and Allende from my school friends. It was intense, as usual. I thought everybody hated Pinochet before I got here, but it turns out Chileans are actually very split. You either hate him or love him (and love Allende or hate Allende) depending on who your family is. And it makes everyone quite crazy, apparently. "He's lying!! Let me tell you the real story!!". And here I am thinking "you guys both told me theexact same thing"

Mmm... On Monday we had no school for Columbus Day, I believe, and I went shopping with Robin and Taylor (and Kelly and Johanna, but they weren't there for this particular event). Anyway, Taylor accidentally bought eyeshadow that she thought was 3.000 pesos but really was 30.000 pesos (which is like $6 v. $60, AKA, BIG difference) and because she bought it with a credit card, she didn't realize until too late. Long story short, things got complicated, and it would've been useful if we knew more Spanish. So, the three of us spent like 45 minutes doing everything wrong and going to the wrong places to fix things, and this adorable clerk who spoke a teeny bit of English kept having to correct us over and over again. And I found this whole thing hilarious, because Robin and Taylor kept making things worse and I was an innocent bystander. So of course I had to tease them mercilessly the whole time. So the last time that we went to the wrong register I said "Ahh, we're just stupid Americans!" and the clerk turns around and says "No, of course not! Don't think that!" and I didn't even know that he could understand me, but it really made my day. It was cute.

And yesterday was the huge Peru v. Chile soccer game, and I watched it with my family and am discovering that I really like watching soccer. And I'm sure I will like it even more when I can actually understand what the announcers are saying. And Chile won, by the way, in case you were wondering.

Thats all for now!
Grace