My 1st Temblor!!!!

Wow! I can´t even begin to explain to you how excited I was on Thursday afternoon at about 2:05pm when I experienced my first temblor EVER!

I was sitting in the office of CIEE in Viña, just as our class was beginning to start and we were all chatting and getting settled in when some said something about a temblor. Since I was talking to Claire, I didn´t really catch anythinguntil Marcia (the director of CIEE) said the word "temblor." I realized we were moving (we were in the 2nd floor of the building) and I shouted "Wait! It´s a temblor? YES! THIS IS MY FIRST ONE!!!" It was the first for Bethany and Samantha too whom I high-fived out of sheer excitement! Oh man was it cool. It was actually a big one: grade 4 on the Richter scale and it lasted 45 seconds. Usually temblors don´tlast for so long and because of this, Marcia (and my Chilean mom) thought we were going to have an earthquake. But we didn´t. And I´m still super stoked that I experienced my first temblor in Chile (and my life) finally after over 3 months of being here!

What else is new? Ahhh ya, my trip to Mendoza, Argentina. Well to say the least it was so much fun, not because I actually did a whole lot but because I was with awesome people (esp. Christian), but also because I ate amazing food, the weather was wonderful and the trip to Mendoza was beautiful. Crossing the Andes during the day was breathtaking....I took about 70 pictures! When I got back to my house on Tuesday, Oct. 10th around 9am I found 2 packages sitting on my bed. Oh I was soo happy! One of the packages I was expecting, the one from my parents because I had asked for a mountain of things to be sent to me. The other package was from my grandma and included magazines and candy. Super exciting! I love getting mail, esp. packages with things they don´t have here in Chile. Because then I get to share candy (such as Candy Corn or the Caramel Apple suckers or Chile piquie) with my Chilean family and friends. My sister and her friend loved all of the candy I gave them.....uh oh 10 year olds on a sugar high. No really my Chilean sister doesn´t act like she´s 10 years old usually. I imagine 10 year olds to be bratty....but maybe not.

As for my promise of only speaking Spanish other then the small exception of communicating with you all or other who don´t speak Spanish.....I HAVE KEPT IT!!! I´m so proud of myself. They say it only takes 21 days to form a habit, so that means I only have 9 days left to keep up my strength. It actually hasn´t been that hard to do. Even when I´m in the office with all the other gringos (who are lazy and speak English ENTIRELY TOO MUCH), I can respond to them in Spanish. It´s awesome! I´ve noticed also that my Spanish is rapidly improving....while there´s is crawling at a snail´s pace. The thing with languages is that you´ve got to challenge yourself to speak the language when it is hard....not to cop out and speak your native language. I´m really good at switching in between Spanish and English now because I did it for 3 months, but that isn´t good enough to be fluent.....you have learn the other language completely before you can start to speak them both again. And so that is my plan. Only speak Spanish. I try to avoid English as much as I can, but with emails and whatnot, that makes it a bit difficult.

I still want to write a ton about Mendoza, the 18 of September and other random experiences....but for some unexplained reason time flies here and I can´t seem to get a grasp of it. Maybe it´s actually because I have more work in my classes and I need to be studying more, who knows. I´m actually going to start volunteering in a home for little girls who have been taken away from their parents for various reasons, teaching dance. I´m really excited (and a bit nervous) about starting, but I think in the end it´ll be fun. I´ll be teaching 6 to 9 year olds once a week. I´m not sure when I start yet, but sometime soon. I miss dancing A LOT....more than I can explain and more than I like to think I do.....so hopefully this will help me cope. I tried to find ballet and other classes here but it is really expensive and the ballet classes conflict with my schedule. There is no such thing as hip hop classes here which makes me sad because I love hip hop. I miss Rico´s class at Motion Underground.....anytime I was sad or mad or tired, going to that class would change my attitude. I´m always reminded of my favorite quote that is oh-so-true: "I don´t live to dance, I dance to live."

Well I should go for now. I´m going to eat lunch with my Chilean family in our grandparent´s house in El Cerro Castillo. Then I get to come home to work on an argumentative essay that is due Tuesday and finally I get to hang out with my pololo!!! :-)