i fail as a blogger

I´m sorry I´m so horrible with updating. I realize now that I´m not much of a blogger, but oh well. I´ll do what I can.

So it´s already the month of September, and it was actually sunny and relatively warm today! Chillán winters are friggin cold! It´s not anything like the further south where it snows, but it nonetheless gets cold as hell, and I can´t leave the house without at least 3 layers of clothing on, and siempre with pantis (stockings) underneath my pants. It also strangely gets colder in the house than outside sometimes, which still boggles my mind, even with the estufa (stove ovens that heat up the home) burning.

September is also the month of fiestas patrias, a weeklong (usually) celebration of their independence from the Spanish. They all go out for their independence day, which is actually on September 18. They´ve already started decorating for it, in stores, classrooms, even cars. I hear musica folklórica blasting in supermarkets and from stereos in department stores. I mean, people were talking about fiestas patrias when I first got to Chile, telling me how awesome it was. I´m still trying to decide whether I want to just stay at home during the weeklong feriado (holiday) or if I should travel somewhere solita. I´ve never travelled alone somewhere, like in a way in which I´d be staying in a hostel by myself, exploring by myself, that kind of thing. I´m honestly scared to because yeah I can be pretty chicken and get dependent on others, but I´m also really attracted to the new experience of it. Because I´ve never done it before, I want to do it. I´m a very reflective, introverted person anyway, so I think I could really enjoy the time to myself. Not to mention, if I survived and had fun, it would totally boost my ego, showing myself I can travel and be on my own.

aah I regret for not having updated sooner because there´s so much to Chile that anyone outside this country really knows about, idiosyncrasies that I could have written whole entries about, but ah well, I can still do that. What have I done since my last entry months ago? Well, memorable moments include: a visit from my dad and Edgar; my students meeting Mr. Edgar; a lovely birthday celebration that included a piñata and a birthday tiara; a trip to Las Termas de Chillàn (hell yeah, I skiied on the Andes!); pride in the realization that my students are actually learning English from me (about 98% of my 400 something students, grades 5th-8th, are pros at answering introduction questions like, "How are you?" "Where are you from?" "What do you like to do?"); the rebirth of my love for Reggaetoon; a trip to Buenos Aires during winter break; experiencing a mass demonstration in Buenos Aires--oh yeah which reminds me of a weeklong break I had from school due to a teachers´ strike, which coincided with a students´ strike; visiting a school in the campo that only had about 50 students total--4th-6th grade students were all the same class and they taught Edgar and I how to dance the cueca, the national dance; noticing that cherry blossom trees grow here in Chillán--the sight of them always makes me feel better if I´m particularly feeling down.....
....too many moments to name that I can´t remember. I´ll just have to update more.

Tomorrow is the Provincial Public Speaking competition that I´ve been preparing 2 of my students for. They had to write and practice a speech on either an English-speaking personality or an English-speaking country. My students ended up deciding to do it on New Zealand. It´s pretty hard to make a speech interesting when it has to be given in under 2 minutes, but I think the student who will be giving it is amazing. She is surprisingly good in English, which astounds me because there´s no way her English education at school contributed to her abilities.

Anywho, I want to go and watch El Baile right now, which is the Chilean version of Dancing With the Stars. But get this, the current season is El Baile, on ice! The dancers have to ice skate! haha. Speaking of TV, they also just came out with their version of The Office, appropriate called La Ofis. It´s frighteningly similar to the American version, Jim and Pam love story included. It makes me miss The Office, American style.