New Phone!

Hello today,

Not much has happened this week, but since I haven't been updating too often, here is a treat! I have been swamped with work. I failed my test on Monday, I'm pretty sure, but I won't find out for sure until next week. I also started my volunteer work this week! It's only been one time, but I love it already. I teach an English workshop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at a school next to one of La Catolica's campuses. My students are all boys ages 14-16. They are lots of fun, and super dorky. One of them was all up in my grill because his grandmother is from England so he knows English and is good at it. hahaha. his only interest is music. all my other students like computers, soccer (futbol), and science. perfect. They were all really interested though, in hearing about Thanksgiving and other American holidays. I think it will be a lot of fun. Some of them refuse to speak and are really shy and embarrassed about their English. The point of the workshop is for them to practice their conversational skills. It's nice to be the one who isn't fumbling for words, even if its only twice a week for 45 minutes.

In other news, I managed to lose my little Chilean phone that Lindsay so kindly gave me before I left. So much for saving money, because I needed to buy one after all. I got a really cute blue one for 20 dollars and it included minutes, yay! It was cheap, and not ghetto like the other one (no offense Lindsay) or the one Martin was originally going to give me. I just have to go through the process of getting everyone else's numbers again and handing out my new one. Some how, on my way to the school where i teach, I managed to drop my phone on the micro and not notice until later when i looked for it in my bag and it wasn't there. I'm sure it wasn't robbed, because 1, who would want it, and 2, i had my wallet still. Oh well, it called for an outing with Mama which was really fun. We bought my phone, then went into her favorite store. Then, to shake this cold I have she took me to this little juice bar where they make fresh juice and explain the medical benefits of each fruit. I had orange/mango and she had orange/carrot which sounds nasty but was surprisingly delish.

I had another test Thurs morning that should have been easy but I didn't study the class notes so it was a little tough. Instead I did the reading, which was what I was supposed to do for my other class. I guess I'm still learning the system. On Monday I have a test in my dance class. Although the practical part (where we dance) was moved to another week cuz of my damn group. I woke up this morning to meet my group at 10 and was stood up. as i was leaving they all show and was like sorryyyy we went to eat. then we stood around and there were no empty rooms, so they emailed the prof saying we needed more time. I was so mad, and they kind of got a kick out of it which made me madder. A couple of them are nice, and were nicer about it but I am supposed to grade my group members, so I might just have a field day with that. In case you are wondering, I waited 45 minutes for them.

Last night I wrote a paper for a class that doesn't exist. One of the orientation profs assigned a 6-12 page partner paper on indigenous tribes. It took me forever to do my half, but its done now :) We have another one this week but its only 500-700 words which I believe to be a little more reasonable. For my Psych of Learning class we have a group project for this week. There is one girl who is always really nice to me and let me join her group. we are researching language communication in deaf students. something to that effect. she broke the assignment down for me so i knew exactly what to do and exactly what topics i was in charge of. my goal is to become better friends with her. then ill actually have a chilean friend, yay!

In a few minutes I am going with Martin and CIEE to see the tall ships that are in Valparaiso this week. I saw them all lit up on my way home from class yesterday, and it was so pretty. I think we can go on them this afternoon, so that should be fun. There's tons of sailors and marines in Valpo this weekend. Tomorrow I think I am hiking La Campana with CIEE, which is a mountain nearby. Meanwhile Martin is hustling me along.

Besitos,
Caroline