So not last week but the week before I went on my first Rotary trip with 40 ish other students from around the world well mostly Germany!
Instead of being interesting and describing all the cool places we visited could that would take an age, I decided to take what I wrote in my journal each day on the trip. Although each day seemed long, it was over in a blink of an eye. so here goes..
Day 1
Was a little bit late to the bus this morning but we weren't the last ones.( I stayed the night with my second host family and they are hosting a boy from Canada) Started on the road at 7.30, had 2 pit stops on the way so i got to talk with other exchange students. On the bus trip I saw a few unique things which I didn't expect to see- well really i didn't know what to expect at all, like two donkeys walking down a hill by themselves, also saw a farmer on riding a horse doing work n his farm, sort of normal but he was wearing traditional looking poncho and hat, we drove through an orchid area place where all the orchids stopped mid way up a mountain and it looked like the grey mountains were wearing green skirts. Made it to La Serena at 3pm and went straight to restaurant for lunch and then dropped off our bags at the hotel that we would be staying at for 2 nights, and went down to the beach, back at the hotel afterwards I was sitting talking with a group of girls, we were sitting on the ground and the most exciting thing ever happened... there was an earthquake! It was such a cool experience to literally feel the solid earth be as fragile as glass and be moving.
Day 2
This day was the longest but probably my favourite from the whole trip. We left the hotel for the day at 10.30 and went to the mountains. We made stops at a viewing tower that was designed like a castle. Also a gigantic dam, the water gets collected from the melting snow coming down from the mountains, it was really cool looking and had great views of the valley's. There were some cute little stores at the car park area so i spent a fortune.. not really, on little gifts for my family and something for my rotary blazer. The next stop was at a museum which had lots of reading cards which i couldnt understand so i am not too sure who the museum was about, i think it is about the lady who first made Pisco... not even sure if she had anything to do with Pisco. We kept on travelling up into the mountains and stopped in this cute little town that looked like I expected all Chile towns to look like before I came here, we had a really good lunch at a restaurant where I had my first taste of a Chilean drink thing with wheat and a peach and I think tea, it tasted very good but I was uncertain about the texture. There was a church just around the corner that we could look at while waiting for the bus. As it turned we were headed towards an observatory where we watched 2 videos about the exploration of the planets and how far away everything is and then the comparison of some of the planets compared to earth, it made me seem very very small, when i saw what else is actually out there. Then we went outside and were shown where Orion, Leo, Taurus and Gemini were in the sky, we also looked through a mega huge telescope at the moon. Arrived back at the hotel at about 1.30 and got ready to leave the next morning at 6
Day 3
Today was a bus day. I sat next to an American girl on the bus and we talked for ages until the counselor's told us to be quiet and go to sleep but as soon as we woke up again we were talking again like a pair of old ladies. Had lunch on the go. Stopped at the famous hand in the Atacama Desert, the hand was really huge! When we got to Antofagasta we had some relaxing time and then walked to a restaurant for dinner, I was talking the whole way with 2 German girls who were so much fun to talk with, also talked with them through all of dinner and for the whole time we walked on the waterfront and back to the hotel. very quickly went to sleep that night.
Day 4
in the morning we went for a little walk around to see a miniature Big Ben in the middle of a plaza that was gifted to Antofagasta by England, and other historical type buildings like the old train station that had the station dressed up like it was from back in the day. On the bus we carried on to our next city, we stopped at a mall for lunch and to buy a present for a kindergarten aged child. Then we traveled out of the city to San Pedro de Atacama, Talked a lot of the way with a girl from Bermuda, and it was so interesting to hear about her country, before we got to the hotel we made a stop at Valle de la Luna, we walked through a salt and quartz cave and then climbed a dune to watch the sunset, the view from the dune was so amazing I was in love with it! That day happened to be women's day, so our counselor's organised the boys to serve the girls cake and fizzy after dinner, it was a nice time to chat with the other girls.
Day 5
We left the hotel super early to go up the mountains to see the geysers, it was sooooooo freezing. Had breakfast and then went back down the mountain to see some flamingo's . We had lunch at a really cool Brazilian restaurant, it was a bbq style lunch and i ate so much that I was glad to have the rest of the afternoon to walk around the shops in town. This day was a 'bus day' so it feels like we didnt do much but we saw alot.
Day 6
Today was our last bus day from San Pedro to Iquique our last city. We stopped off at a kindergarten and gave our gifts, unfortunately only four kids were there that day, we then walked to a restaurant for lunch and then carried on in the bus to a small place called La Tirena where we visited a fabulous church, the interior was so amazing. The view going down the mountain into the valley bit of Iquique was so breathtaking, when we got to the hotel we had time to relax and go for a swim before dinner. After dinner I talked for hours with two girls, it was so much fun! Went to bed at 2.
Day 7
Had a late morning, went on a tour of a replica ship Esmerelda which sank in the Iquique harbour, I didn't understand anything more than that so I just took loads of pictures. Our tour group got in trouble for taking Titanic pictures and the front of the boat, we then took a tour boat to go to the actual place of the sunken ship, there were so many seals swimming around the boat and laying on the floating island things. Had fun after lunch walking around a super confusing mall bought hippie pants and 2 dresses for only 8 luca which I couldn't believe. Walked round to the beach where I had a lovely afternoon swimming and looking at the stalls and comparing our exchange experiences with the other students. After dinner we got dressed up to go out to a discoteque that Rotary had booked for us and just outside the front door of the hotel were workers protesting, they had alarms and drums and other noise makers, it was very exciting to see. The night at the discoteque was super fun, That day was maybe my fav day of the whole trip.
Day 8 (last day)
We all went to a miners ghost ton called Humberstone, we were able to go into houses and the school and theatre and the 'haunted hospital'. Spent a good hour there and then made our way to the airport to fly back to Santiago, I sat next to a girl from Finland. When we landed we stayed on the runway for 5 minutes, so everyone assumed that the plane was parked and got up and then the pilot growled everyone so everyone sat back down apart from one of the Rotarian counselor's who got in trouble again.
So that is the North Trip, our next trip is to Easter Island in May, and am really looking forward to it.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
First week of school
So the first week of school was only 3 days, because my school started on a Wednesday. Most schools start early March, but mine decided to be a bit different.
The first day I woke up at 6 after a terrible nights sleep. I was unsure what time I would be picked up or when I should leave the house or where precisely I should be picked up because I was not told until the day before that school starts at 8 and that My second host mum would pick me up. So I woke up at 6 to be safe, only to find out at 7 when I told my host mum that I was leaving for school that she was driving me to be picked up at 7.30, so that was annoying to only find out then that I could have had an extra 30 minutes sleep that morning, but at least I finally knew what the morning schedule was going to be.
On the first day my second host mum who is like my organizer/counselor type person, walked me into the school and she introduced me to my form teacher and other teachers. She waited with me till assembly began at 9 and we were arranged into our form classes. During the whole assembly which was only 30 minutes long we had to stand, which killed me because my bag (we had to have our bags on too) had all of my books in it, expecting that I could leave them all in the classroom as I knew that I only had one room the whole year and the different subject teacher came to us. But alas that was not so, we only had one class that day which was History it was so frustrating not knowing what was being taught, so I googled the topic when I got home. School finished at 12 that week, and next week it finishes at 1. But then they are trying to kill us with a 9 hour day the following week which I am not looking forward to. That first day I was walking to our form class from the assembly behind 3 girls who realized that I was new and turned around to say hello and introduce themselves, well I bet they think they made a mistake there because I've stuck to them like limpets, there is no way they are getting rid of me for the rest of the year! They are really nice though and at lunchtimes we go around the school and name things in Spanish for me and I tell them what it is in English. Also found out that I have 4 pairs of the wrong socks for school, but no-one cared so I didn't bother telling my second host mum, personally I think that the socks that I have suit the uniform much better than the proper socks. The first bell I heard went on for so long I actually thought that it was the fire alarm bell, I had to ask if that was normal, they looked at me a bit funny for that. Also No one takes any notice of the bell when it rings and stays outside for ages and only in their own time do they meander over to their class. The most unusual things I have noticed is that the student kiss their teacher on the cheeks and hug them whenever they pass, and that they call teachers and other staff aunty and uncle. The students also like to smoke straight after school right at the front gate, and its not just a few, it is EVERYONE, but smoking is so common for everyone over here that it wasn't much of a surprise.The classes I have done so far are Maths, English, Language -which is like English class in NZ, and Philosophy.
The first day I woke up at 6 after a terrible nights sleep. I was unsure what time I would be picked up or when I should leave the house or where precisely I should be picked up because I was not told until the day before that school starts at 8 and that My second host mum would pick me up. So I woke up at 6 to be safe, only to find out at 7 when I told my host mum that I was leaving for school that she was driving me to be picked up at 7.30, so that was annoying to only find out then that I could have had an extra 30 minutes sleep that morning, but at least I finally knew what the morning schedule was going to be.
On the first day my second host mum who is like my organizer/counselor type person, walked me into the school and she introduced me to my form teacher and other teachers. She waited with me till assembly began at 9 and we were arranged into our form classes. During the whole assembly which was only 30 minutes long we had to stand, which killed me because my bag (we had to have our bags on too) had all of my books in it, expecting that I could leave them all in the classroom as I knew that I only had one room the whole year and the different subject teacher came to us. But alas that was not so, we only had one class that day which was History it was so frustrating not knowing what was being taught, so I googled the topic when I got home. School finished at 12 that week, and next week it finishes at 1. But then they are trying to kill us with a 9 hour day the following week which I am not looking forward to. That first day I was walking to our form class from the assembly behind 3 girls who realized that I was new and turned around to say hello and introduce themselves, well I bet they think they made a mistake there because I've stuck to them like limpets, there is no way they are getting rid of me for the rest of the year! They are really nice though and at lunchtimes we go around the school and name things in Spanish for me and I tell them what it is in English. Also found out that I have 4 pairs of the wrong socks for school, but no-one cared so I didn't bother telling my second host mum, personally I think that the socks that I have suit the uniform much better than the proper socks. The first bell I heard went on for so long I actually thought that it was the fire alarm bell, I had to ask if that was normal, they looked at me a bit funny for that. Also No one takes any notice of the bell when it rings and stays outside for ages and only in their own time do they meander over to their class. The most unusual things I have noticed is that the student kiss their teacher on the cheeks and hug them whenever they pass, and that they call teachers and other staff aunty and uncle. The students also like to smoke straight after school right at the front gate, and its not just a few, it is EVERYONE, but smoking is so common for everyone over here that it wasn't much of a surprise.The classes I have done so far are Maths, English, Language -which is like English class in NZ, and Philosophy.
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| ' Family ' photo of the first day of school. |
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| School Uniform |
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| First day of school! |
Monday, 23 February 2015
First month update
So as of today I have been in Chile for 1 month and 2 days and so far it has just been the same old summer holidays. I have had the odd adventure though. The first I have already talked about in another post, when Reumah and I got stranded in Santiago but still had a great time. I have also gone up San Cristobel hill again on the 5th of Feb With my host sister and her cousin except this time we walked up. I sick of it very fast but it had such great views on the last stretch of the walk and at the very top that it didn't matter. When we were literally 10 meters from being at the very bottom I fell over my shoe and landed in a ditch which I thought was absolutely hilarious! We listened to a popular song at the moment, on the drive home it was probably the best moment I have had since arriving.
Last Thursday I went with my host sister and her cousin to Pichilemu, which is a coastal town about 3 hours south of Santiago it looked like what I expected typical Chile to look like so I really like it there. On the drive there though, I realised how much I miss seeing green everywhere. We stopped off at a empanada place for lunch, we could choose whether to have your empanda fried or oven baked, I chose for mine to be oven baked and the other girls had theirs fried, which was a smart choice because mine was so dry I couldn't finish eating it. When we got to Cony's grandparents place, where we would stay in the second house, we unpacked and then got ready to head down to the beach. the water looked so fun to swim in and as I was getting up to go and jump in Cony told me that this beach also has the 10 meter rule and that the water is also very cold. I thought that she was exaggerating about how cold it might be but she wasn't- infact, she was understating it. That sea was so freezing it felt like I was doing the ice challenge. taught the girls how to play phase 10 which they enjoyed but didn't want to teach me a card game they knew so we only played phase 10.
The next day was chilled, we went to the supermarket to get groceries for the weekend, and after lunch we walked around town through all the market stalls there were. I found some nice things that I bought for presents for mum and my sisters. We got back to the house about 20 min before sunset so we all bundled into the car and drove to a lookout point where you could watch the sunset. When the sun went down we walked onto the beach where we ate chips and oreo's, they talked for ages but I couldn't understand so I just stared back at Pichilemu and watched the lights being turned on. The next 2 days was so layed back we visited the beach loads and played phase 10. Cony had to into work on the Monday so we had to wake up 6 am and leave straight away so we could get back in time for Cony to go to work, I stayed in my pj's so I could just hop back into bed as soon as we got home.
I haven't really been doing anything else that exciting though because its getting close to school starting up. I start in 2 days time and Victoria, (my second host mum) says that my school has never had an English speaking student in there school so I am going to be very special and popular when I start. We went into the school today to sort out something ( I don't actually know what was going on)
but I found out that because I am year 13 at home they have out me in their equivalent of yr 13. But they said if it is too hard I can be changed. Next weekend I will be writing a ' First week in school' post.
(All pictures are on Facebook)
Bye!
Last Thursday I went with my host sister and her cousin to Pichilemu, which is a coastal town about 3 hours south of Santiago it looked like what I expected typical Chile to look like so I really like it there. On the drive there though, I realised how much I miss seeing green everywhere. We stopped off at a empanada place for lunch, we could choose whether to have your empanda fried or oven baked, I chose for mine to be oven baked and the other girls had theirs fried, which was a smart choice because mine was so dry I couldn't finish eating it. When we got to Cony's grandparents place, where we would stay in the second house, we unpacked and then got ready to head down to the beach. the water looked so fun to swim in and as I was getting up to go and jump in Cony told me that this beach also has the 10 meter rule and that the water is also very cold. I thought that she was exaggerating about how cold it might be but she wasn't- infact, she was understating it. That sea was so freezing it felt like I was doing the ice challenge. taught the girls how to play phase 10 which they enjoyed but didn't want to teach me a card game they knew so we only played phase 10.
The next day was chilled, we went to the supermarket to get groceries for the weekend, and after lunch we walked around town through all the market stalls there were. I found some nice things that I bought for presents for mum and my sisters. We got back to the house about 20 min before sunset so we all bundled into the car and drove to a lookout point where you could watch the sunset. When the sun went down we walked onto the beach where we ate chips and oreo's, they talked for ages but I couldn't understand so I just stared back at Pichilemu and watched the lights being turned on. The next 2 days was so layed back we visited the beach loads and played phase 10. Cony had to into work on the Monday so we had to wake up 6 am and leave straight away so we could get back in time for Cony to go to work, I stayed in my pj's so I could just hop back into bed as soon as we got home.
I haven't really been doing anything else that exciting though because its getting close to school starting up. I start in 2 days time and Victoria, (my second host mum) says that my school has never had an English speaking student in there school so I am going to be very special and popular when I start. We went into the school today to sort out something ( I don't actually know what was going on)
but I found out that because I am year 13 at home they have out me in their equivalent of yr 13. But they said if it is too hard I can be changed. Next weekend I will be writing a ' First week in school' post.
(All pictures are on Facebook)
Bye!
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Santiago stop over
DAY 1
I landed in Chile on the 21st of January at 11am. The plane ride was 12 hours long and I couldn't sleep. When we were landing on the runway, I couldn't help but think that it looked so much like Awanui! Once we went through customs and immigration we were met by Patricio and his family who would be our stopover host and tour guide during our stop over. We went straight to the hotel to drop off our bags and change so we could sit down and have lunch. We had a raw mushroom and onion starter, which I didn't like mostly because of the raw mushrooms but also because the sauce was so strange, but I ate as much as I could. Then we had the option of salmon or pasta for main and I chose the pasta which was really good. Through this whole meal we all looked like zombies we were so tired that we would just stare at things for ages unintentionally. We had a really nice brownie for pudding which not many of us finished because we were so full. We all had to go upstairs for a presentation which made me so tired my head was spinning and my eyes were so droopy, after the presentation we went to the mall for three hours. The mall is the tallest in the southern hemisphere and is 60 stories high. I felt much better when we started walking around although trying to buy stuff was quite a mission, the checkout people would try to talk to us and we would say that we don't understand and they would laugh at us and keep on talking to us in Spanish. In the malls or shops in New Zealand each shop plays different music really loud and that is what signifies that you are in a different store but in Chile it is the different smells, every store has sprayed probably 50 bottles of perfume in their store, so that their smell is different to the others, it was so horrible because I started to feel so ill and I felt my head spinning. The most in your face thing about Chile that I noticed was the PDA's everyone is pashing and hugging and touching, it is sooooooo odd to see that every where you look, all us kiwi's couldn't believe it was so normal.
DAY 2
I was so tired from the day before that I slept the whole night through without a sleeping pill, so I was rejuvenated for day 2 . We went out to Valparaiso, which took about an hour and a half. We went to the Parliament place where we saw a live session taking place, the head of Chambers was the daughter of the last president before the dictatorship and was a cousin of some famous writer which we had never heard of. When we were walking through a small market a man came up to Reumah who is also staying in Chile and started reciting a love poem to her and then shouted at her and pleaded for money, it was so strange. We then went down to the wharf and jumped on a boat which took us around the harbour so we could see the whole of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. After lunch the weather cleared up and we bussed down to Vina del Mar, to be honest the intention was for us all to go swimming, which sounded like a great idea, but first of all you had to pay to go into the toilets, yes, PAY to use the bathroom! And then we found out that there was no toilet paper. As well as pay to use the toilet you also had to bring your own toilet paper. We just couldn't believe it. So we got changed and went down to the beach expecting to have a nice swim and sunbath a bit before leaving, what a mistake! Apparently all beaches are like this, the beach water smelled so bad, it looked alright but the smell! I didn't swim but three other kiwi students decided to brave it and went out, they went past all the locals who were swimming so close to the shore. The kiwi's did a normal kiwi thing to go out as far as you like in the sea not realising that they were actually breaking the Chilean law. Woops! What a hullabaloo that turned out to be, if you are ever swimming at a beach in Chile don't swim out further that 10 meters! Later that night at about 8pm we set off for dinner at Los Buenos Muchachos with other Rotarians from the hosting club and a couple of students that were already in Chile and a rot-ex who is from Duniden. She is working back in Chile for a year. So the dinner was also a cultural dance show and karaoke and party, during our starters was the karaoke part, and after we had finished those we were shown the local dances of the northern and southern Chile and Rapanui. When the dancers show you how it is done they come down into the audience and hold out a hankie or a twirly thing and someone of the opposite sex has to accept it and join them in the dance, so I got up and joined in and it was so easy for me because the man just dragged me around the stage and I just had to twirl the pom pom thing, but it was lots of fun. Another girl Shante joined in with the Quica, that is with the hankies. We got Reumah to join in with the Rapanui dances and she was given a flower crown and a lei, and made the star/ princess of the dance, it was so funny! Didn't leave the restaurant till 1am because we were dancing. Our room didn't go to sleep till about 4am and we were supposed to be up at 4am the next morning.
Day 3
All those who were staying in Chile had to pack up all of our stuff and put it in our chaperones room so we could check out of our room, as that night we would be picked up by our Host parents. We set off in the bus to be real touristy and do sight seeing. we watched the changing over of the guards and got a picture with a hot as guard. we went through the Mercado central which is a huge as shed ( but a bit more fancier than that) were they have the markets, it sold mostly fish and veggies although there were a couple of restaurants, to be honest the smell was something you would have to get used to. we walked down the back street to meet the bus which had just stopped in the middle of the road to wait for us, making all the other cars squeeze around it, this is normal the bigger the vehicle you have the more important you are on the road so the busses and trucks can stop wherever and whenever they like. while we waited Patricio went to a bakery to get us cheese empanadas, I shared mine with Reumah, it was very filling. We stopped so many times for a minute or so, so we could get a quick snap of a plaza or a building or church. As we were driving on the motorway which the speed limit was 120 km p/h and driving on the right hand side of the road (it felt like I was going to die), my camera, which was really annoying because we were going to go up this huge mountain to look over the city and see the Andes more clearly and walk to the top were there was a giant Santa Maria/ Mary looking like Jesus from Rio. I couldn't really see the Andes because of the smog, which is understandable when you know that 7 million people live in Santiago alone that like almost double New Zealand in one city. When we had had enough of that we jumped back on the bus and travelled an hour west to have a bbq with the hosting Rotary club at a Rotarians house. It was nice an relaxing we swam and watched the welcoming dancers, which is a custom thing in Chile. And just relaxed for the rest of the day till 7.30 when we packed up said our goodbyes and thank you's to the host club and headed back to the hotel where I would be meet by Monica and Victor, my host mum and her nephew. That night we stayed up till almost midnight talking and laughing.
So that was what we did on the stopover, it was a really good time, and I feel really relaxed with being in Chile.
I have uploaded all the photo's I took during this time to Facebook.
Talk to ya soon.
I landed in Chile on the 21st of January at 11am. The plane ride was 12 hours long and I couldn't sleep. When we were landing on the runway, I couldn't help but think that it looked so much like Awanui! Once we went through customs and immigration we were met by Patricio and his family who would be our stopover host and tour guide during our stop over. We went straight to the hotel to drop off our bags and change so we could sit down and have lunch. We had a raw mushroom and onion starter, which I didn't like mostly because of the raw mushrooms but also because the sauce was so strange, but I ate as much as I could. Then we had the option of salmon or pasta for main and I chose the pasta which was really good. Through this whole meal we all looked like zombies we were so tired that we would just stare at things for ages unintentionally. We had a really nice brownie for pudding which not many of us finished because we were so full. We all had to go upstairs for a presentation which made me so tired my head was spinning and my eyes were so droopy, after the presentation we went to the mall for three hours. The mall is the tallest in the southern hemisphere and is 60 stories high. I felt much better when we started walking around although trying to buy stuff was quite a mission, the checkout people would try to talk to us and we would say that we don't understand and they would laugh at us and keep on talking to us in Spanish. In the malls or shops in New Zealand each shop plays different music really loud and that is what signifies that you are in a different store but in Chile it is the different smells, every store has sprayed probably 50 bottles of perfume in their store, so that their smell is different to the others, it was so horrible because I started to feel so ill and I felt my head spinning. The most in your face thing about Chile that I noticed was the PDA's everyone is pashing and hugging and touching, it is sooooooo odd to see that every where you look, all us kiwi's couldn't believe it was so normal.
DAY 2
I was so tired from the day before that I slept the whole night through without a sleeping pill, so I was rejuvenated for day 2 . We went out to Valparaiso, which took about an hour and a half. We went to the Parliament place where we saw a live session taking place, the head of Chambers was the daughter of the last president before the dictatorship and was a cousin of some famous writer which we had never heard of. When we were walking through a small market a man came up to Reumah who is also staying in Chile and started reciting a love poem to her and then shouted at her and pleaded for money, it was so strange. We then went down to the wharf and jumped on a boat which took us around the harbour so we could see the whole of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. After lunch the weather cleared up and we bussed down to Vina del Mar, to be honest the intention was for us all to go swimming, which sounded like a great idea, but first of all you had to pay to go into the toilets, yes, PAY to use the bathroom! And then we found out that there was no toilet paper. As well as pay to use the toilet you also had to bring your own toilet paper. We just couldn't believe it. So we got changed and went down to the beach expecting to have a nice swim and sunbath a bit before leaving, what a mistake! Apparently all beaches are like this, the beach water smelled so bad, it looked alright but the smell! I didn't swim but three other kiwi students decided to brave it and went out, they went past all the locals who were swimming so close to the shore. The kiwi's did a normal kiwi thing to go out as far as you like in the sea not realising that they were actually breaking the Chilean law. Woops! What a hullabaloo that turned out to be, if you are ever swimming at a beach in Chile don't swim out further that 10 meters! Later that night at about 8pm we set off for dinner at Los Buenos Muchachos with other Rotarians from the hosting club and a couple of students that were already in Chile and a rot-ex who is from Duniden. She is working back in Chile for a year. So the dinner was also a cultural dance show and karaoke and party, during our starters was the karaoke part, and after we had finished those we were shown the local dances of the northern and southern Chile and Rapanui. When the dancers show you how it is done they come down into the audience and hold out a hankie or a twirly thing and someone of the opposite sex has to accept it and join them in the dance, so I got up and joined in and it was so easy for me because the man just dragged me around the stage and I just had to twirl the pom pom thing, but it was lots of fun. Another girl Shante joined in with the Quica, that is with the hankies. We got Reumah to join in with the Rapanui dances and she was given a flower crown and a lei, and made the star/ princess of the dance, it was so funny! Didn't leave the restaurant till 1am because we were dancing. Our room didn't go to sleep till about 4am and we were supposed to be up at 4am the next morning.
Day 3
All those who were staying in Chile had to pack up all of our stuff and put it in our chaperones room so we could check out of our room, as that night we would be picked up by our Host parents. We set off in the bus to be real touristy and do sight seeing. we watched the changing over of the guards and got a picture with a hot as guard. we went through the Mercado central which is a huge as shed ( but a bit more fancier than that) were they have the markets, it sold mostly fish and veggies although there were a couple of restaurants, to be honest the smell was something you would have to get used to. we walked down the back street to meet the bus which had just stopped in the middle of the road to wait for us, making all the other cars squeeze around it, this is normal the bigger the vehicle you have the more important you are on the road so the busses and trucks can stop wherever and whenever they like. while we waited Patricio went to a bakery to get us cheese empanadas, I shared mine with Reumah, it was very filling. We stopped so many times for a minute or so, so we could get a quick snap of a plaza or a building or church. As we were driving on the motorway which the speed limit was 120 km p/h and driving on the right hand side of the road (it felt like I was going to die), my camera, which was really annoying because we were going to go up this huge mountain to look over the city and see the Andes more clearly and walk to the top were there was a giant Santa Maria/ Mary looking like Jesus from Rio. I couldn't really see the Andes because of the smog, which is understandable when you know that 7 million people live in Santiago alone that like almost double New Zealand in one city. When we had had enough of that we jumped back on the bus and travelled an hour west to have a bbq with the hosting Rotary club at a Rotarians house. It was nice an relaxing we swam and watched the welcoming dancers, which is a custom thing in Chile. And just relaxed for the rest of the day till 7.30 when we packed up said our goodbyes and thank you's to the host club and headed back to the hotel where I would be meet by Monica and Victor, my host mum and her nephew. That night we stayed up till almost midnight talking and laughing.
So that was what we did on the stopover, it was a really good time, and I feel really relaxed with being in Chile.
I have uploaded all the photo's I took during this time to Facebook.
Talk to ya soon.
Sunday, 18 January 2015
Packed and ready to go!
This evening I have taken to clearing out all my drawers and sorting out what I definitely want to take with me and what I don't mind not seeing for a year.
I managed to squeeze most of my stuff into my big suitcase and is just underweight, and popped the rest into the other suitcase and have loads of weight allowance for my return. However what takes up one side of my big suitcase is just gifts! so I know that I will have oodles of room that will be begging to be filled with new treasures I am sure to pick up through the year.
Talk to ya soon
I managed to squeeze most of my stuff into my big suitcase and is just underweight, and popped the rest into the other suitcase and have loads of weight allowance for my return. However what takes up one side of my big suitcase is just gifts! so I know that I will have oodles of room that will be begging to be filled with new treasures I am sure to pick up through the year.
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
The Very Begining
This little space on the internet is where I will share with you my year in Chile on a Rotary Youth Exchange.
I leave in 15 days on the 21st of January with three other Kiwi students destined for Chile. When we arrive in Chile all the New Zealand students that are going to be in South America will stay at Hotel Ferdundo for 3 days in Santiago city where we get to play the part of 'tourists', before continuing on their journey to where ever.
I am bound for Colina, about 20 minutes North of Santiago city. I will go to the local high school Colegio Desiree. My host Rotary club is Las Condes Macul and my co-sponsoring clubs are Kerikeri Rotary club and Kaikohe Rotary club.
Well that is all I will write for today and will post when I am in Chile
Hasta luego
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