Now last week was quite the time. This week was back to reality. This post is important to me because although last week was fun, this week I started to hit my rhythm in terms of my consistency in Coyhaique. It hit me while I was walking to school on Monday, five minutes late while drinking out of my maté thermos, that I was starting to feel like I had a routine. That this new world in Patagonia was not foreign to me. I was just going to school like a regular kid. That moment for me was HUGE. Following that moment I had the best day of my exchange so far. Nothing special happened, I just finally felt comfortable. I understood my classes, understood my friends, got to know the other exchange students, and had a nice peaceful choir rehearsal in the night. My comprehension has definitely risen and with that I am becoming happier here in Chile.
Wednesday, with my project group, I went to a day care and played games with kids. They couldn't pronounce Weston so Gringo had to do. I had face paint like a cat and the whole afternoon was really cute. It was about a 20 minute walk from the school so on the way back I had a very nice conversation with one of my classmates about my exchange and some do's and do not's in Coyhaique.
Thursday night I had my first performance with the choir. We were featured in a celebration of El Aniversario (for adults, my shirt was on). It was a great experience. We wore these things that were very, I don't know how to describe it other than interesting.
There I am!
Friday afternoon I finally got to lift at a Chilean gym. My friend Oscar and I went and got memberships at Gimnasio PowerFitness. It is a bit tinier than gym's in Manchester but I'm excited to get my weekly swell on again. On Friday night I had my first event for the local Rotary. It was a reunion for the three students that have returned from their exchanges. There were about 20 people there including older rotarians, the three rebounds and the two inbounds (me and Max from Germany). It was the first time I got to see Max since the orientation. It was great to talk to him and his dad. He has definitely started to learn some Spanish! It's a long road when you come with nothing and I commend him for the work he has put in. It was really fun. We had a big dinner and I got to talk to Rotarians in my community for the first time. After the dinner the three rebounds each gave a presentation about their exchange. What made this really special for me was I was understanding everything the entire night. Unlike the US where an event like this would start at 6 and end at about 9. This started at 9 and ended at about 12. The people in Chile like to get down really late, no matter the age!
THE GYM ROTARIANS/FRIENDS
Saturday I woke up at 1, classic Chile, and went to my grandma's for lunch. I followed that with a sandwich at a local restaurant with another exchange student to practice our Spanish and the another trip to the gym with Oscar. After the gym I came home, showered and changed, and piled into a car full of friends for a dinner gathering at my friends house (all the way to the right in the Rotary picture. It was all of my sister's best friends and they were kind enough to invitre me. It was really awesome. It was the second time I had been to Michelle's house. The first time was the day after my birthday and it was fun but I did not understand anything that was going on. Last night I felt really comfortable with everything that was going on around me and I understood everything and could make conversation with people.
Tonight is my first basketball game! Its only a scrimmage but it's still some competition, very pumped. I am really looking forward to what next week has in store. Keep in touch!
Photos from this week:
Photos from the Rotary Reunion:
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