Even though my Christmas this year was spent away from my family, and friends I still enjoyed it. This video was taken on Christmas at about 12:30 am right before Santa Clause came to our house :) My host mom did this a couple times while the kids sang the song and right after when they went inside to check under the tree all of the presents were there. We opened all of our gifts during the very beginning hours of Christmas. I miss the cold a little, but it was really nice to go swimming on Christmas day!! During the night on Christmas I went to a disco with some friends in Santiago.

Today is New Years Eve and I'm excited to celebrate tonight because here they have a lot of traditions. I'm not sure what all of them are, but for example they eat 12 grapes with the chimes of the New Year and walk in the street with a suit case to bring travel. Its definitely going to be a new experience :)

Happy New Year everyone!!

A little of my trip to the south

Cuevea (Cave) del Milodon

Glaciers!

Fuerte Bulnes

The horse I got to run wild with named Mexicano

Torres del Paine

Puerto Natales

This is the main beach at Pichilemu. There weren't too many people because it was still a little chilly. The boats you see have black flags because a couple days before a fisherman died when his boat tipped over.

(Pichilemu) These are pools of salt water. They wait for the water to evaporate all the way and then they scrape out the salt to sell.

My host dad and me at Punta de Lobos (Sea Lion Point) at Pichilemu Beach. This point is a really popular spot in Pichilemu for surfing and has the best waves. When we went the only people in the water here were the surfers. The rocks were covered with seagulls and I actually saw some sea lions passing by.

I was not missing Thanksgiving dinner...Even though here they don't celebrate Thanksgiving a group of exchange students got some food together and even a turkey :) For most of us it was the first time cooking a major meal. Luckily one of the girls mom is a chef so she knew all the ins and outs of cooking. We had some minor things, but we fixed them all easily and made our dinner work. In the end we had kind of an international Thanksgiving. We didn't exclude anyone from different countries. We had some normals like a stuffed turkey, deviled eggs, and pies. We also had Australian roasted vegetables, Canadian tarts (proudly made by a boy), cheese cake (also made by a proud boy) and New Zealand kiwi pie. In the end no one knew how to cut the turkey properly, but we got it all off the bone one way or another. It was a really good thanksgiving and it was nice to spend it with a group of the exchange students

The other day my host sister, Coni, and I went shopping at this place called Patronato. Its the cheapest place you can buy clothes and there are a whole bunch of stores. They all have similar things so you have to search for the cheapest. I saw this sweatshirt and I almost had a heart attack because it says South Range on it and I had to get a picture with it!

Beautiful Chile!!! I took this picture while I was eating hamburgers with some friends at a shopping plaza about 20 minutes from my house :)

Since I'm living below the equator the seasons are reversed and right now we are going into summer. My last day of school is Dec. 11th and the seniors last day was on Friday. There was a ceremony where all of the juniors got their ties and we had a breakfast for all of the seniors. With our regular uniform everyone wears polos with the school logo and colors on it, however, the senior class has the honor of wearing a white shirt with the school ties and on Friday my class received their ties :) The whole day was for the seniors who were leaving. That day when they left school the rest of the kids formed a path for them to walk out of and held streamers and balloons. A lot of them were sad and cried and it reminded me of my graduation.

This weekend was Halloween and I went into the city for a costume party with a lot of other exchange students. I dressed up as a gypsy and my friend Abbey was a cat. We had a lot of fun and danced the whole night, but I missed going over Polly's house for the annual Chili dinner with the rest of the family.

I really like the family I'm staying with now. They are all super nice and always help me out with everything I need. Its a requirement that all of the exchange students switch families. This will happen between Christmas and the New Year. Its going to be really different again because I'm going to have to get used to another family, but I'm really curious to see whats the same and whats different between households. Since I'm living in a really small town right now thats in the country I've requested to be placed in a house in the city for my second home. I want to be able to rely on myself and not always have to ask my host parents to do things for me. Also, I think that by moving to the city I'll be able to learn a lot more Spanish. Hopefully they allow me to go :)

My puppies :) In total: the 2 fully grown dogs in the photo + the 6 puppies also in the photo + 3 more fully grown dogs not in the photo

This past weekend I hung out with my friend Abbey who is living in Santiago. We went to a mall that was close to her house and I got to ride the bus for the first time! It was actually kind of scary. Her host brother went with us so we didn't get lost or anything. Instead of shopping we went to the food court and ate pizza. It was my first meal that I ordered in Spanish and the lady was laughing at us the whole time :( but we got what we wanted. During the night we went to a party with her host brother, girlfriend and 2 of their friends. It was a lot of fun. Here the nights start really late and end at around 4 in the morning. It was a really fun weekend!! My school has a day off this weekend so my family and I are going to Pichilemu beach again. I'm really excited to just relax :)

This is the view from my house. Basically everywhere you go you can see the mountains, but a lot of the time its too foggy.

My house. And on the right there is a pavilion type thing where we have BBQs almost every weekend.

Explanation of the photos:

The last 4 pictures are from Pichilemu which is a beach about 4 hours away from Santiago. My family and I went here to celebrate the 18th (Independence day).

The first picture is inside of Chile's first ever casino. My host mom took me here to look around and then we did some shopping :) at places that sold all handmade things.

The second picture is the view of the beach from the house we stayed at. Pichilemu is a very famous beach for surfing and there are a lot of Americans that go there for the waves.

On the way to Pichilemu. You can always see the mountains while your in Chile.

This is raw beef with lemon and some other things. It's a German dish that my host mom fixed. You eat it with crackers or bread with onions, lemon and sauce. It was alright, but I didn't like fact that I was eating raw beef. Also while I was at Pichilemu I ate some kid of fish tounge. I didn't know it until after I ate it, but it was pretty good.

Some friends :)

At school on my birthday

One of my five dogs...soon to be more since the one is pregnant.

Chile's independence day is in September so my school had a celebration last saturday and had many different performances by all of the grades. This is the Chilean dance Cueca. Its their national dance thats always danced in September to celebrate their independence. The boy on the right is my host sister's boyfriend and my host mom says he dances Cueca very very well :)

My host dad and little brother :D

Some friends after school practicing their dance for an "Alianza" dance competition

This week is my first week of "real" school since last week was the anniversary or "Alianza" of the school. Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the whole school participated in games and activities. Everybody here can dance really well, so there were a lot of dance competitions and every chance they had they would practice. My class was on the pirate's team and we competed agains the circus team. Every class was assigned a side and wore their side's color every day. The school days don't go until the same time every day. Every day we start at 8:30 and on some days we go until 4:30, like today. I get pretty tired during school since I'm always trying to figure out what the teachers are talking about.

This picture is of my school. Its really hard to get a good picture of it because there are a lot of trees. From my school you can see the mountains if it isn't too foggy. Everyone at the school is really friendly :) It's a catholic school so once I get a uniform I'll upload a picture of it.

I arrived in Chile with no problems. It was pretty easy getting through the airport and everything since I was traveling with a group of exchange students. In the picture from the left is my sister, Macarena, my mom, me and my other sister, Constanza. They are all really helpful and super nice :) I almost went skiing today with my sister and some of her friends, but I decided to rest instead. The flight here was very long and I didn't sleep on the plane. I think I am going to start school tomorrow or Wednesday. They are having a week of "fun" this week where they have games and stuff instead of classes. So far so good. I like it a lot :)

feel free to comment or email me!! mariedownie@hotmail.com

July 14, 2009

This is the beginning of my blog. Mom tells me to express myself. Tell 'em how you feel.

My family:
Monica Avila Dorner- Mother
Alberto- Father
Constansa- Sister (16 years old)
Alberto- Brother (12 years old)
Macarena- Sister (17 years old, but will be on exchange)

Ximena- Aunt
Isadora- Cousin (10 years old)

Blankita- Nanny

My School: Colegio San Nicolas Diacono