Holy Crap

Well its been a while since I wrote anything, and I'll begin my update with a comment that not only does MacDonalds have the best actual coffee in this country, it also has free wi-fi, which I find especially appealing.

This weekend I did a pseudo-spur-of-the-moment trip into the mountains in an attempt to find some of the natural and unadulterated hot springs that Chile has to offer. I say pseudo spur of the moment because I had known about the trip for a while but was totally unprepared nonetheless. I made a poor decision to stay awake entirely too late the night before and when 8:00 rolled around (the time I was supposed to be at the metro) I was just getting out of bed. In the end I made it to the meeting place almost two hours late. This was actually fortunate because the people I was meeting had gone to two or three other locations in the mean time trying to find the right bus to take them to the mountains and ended up arriving at almost the same time as I did.

They had found – through some spin of chance – an English speaking Greek who was going with his friends to a nearby locale and offered us a ride. After waiting and trying (in vain) to find a public restroom with a toilet seat we hopped into the back of a large windowless white van with six other people. Sitting scrunched up on a mattress amongst hiking gear and Chileans we made the two hour trip to the mountains being spared very little excitement. I won't go into the details of the trip because it would conjure up images of 1960s road trips and I'm trying to spare my mom an anxiety attack, but suffice it to say we were safe and got to a nearby town without mishap.

Me and the two others on the trip walked a few kilos to another town where we were told we had missed all the busses to the hot springs... which was depressing. But we found a cab and for only $5.000 pesos (about $10 US) we arrived there as well.

When I said earlier that I was unprepared, I wasn't just speaking of waking up late... I figured that the hot springs would cost around $2.500 pesos, and then there would be a bus ride of a few hundred, so I brought along $5000... which was already spent by the cab ride. In addition, I wore my tennis shoes because I thought the 10k ride was going to be used up by a cab instead of trekking through snow-and-mud covered trails. Along with that I didn't bring more than one pair of clothes, and no sleeping pad for under my sleeping bag... so I guess it was fortunate that I wasnt actually able to make it in the end.

We go to he last town before the springs (10k away) and I realized that I couldn't make it back to Santiago the next day by 1 pm for a get together with some Chilean friends and I took a bus back. The trip was fun, and I slept the whole way home.

When I got home I realized I had lost my house key and the entire family was in the country at their campo. Damn. Not knowing what to do I called Cristian, a friend I've made here, and he said I could chill with him and his friends for the night if I wanted; I had a place to sleep, which was a good thing as I gave my sleeping bag to Naveen who didn't have one for the hot springs.

The night passed without trouble, I spoke broken Spanish to rapidly conversing Chilenos, and was complemented on my comprehension, and then I woke up and continued the day.



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This is where I come to my troubles right now...

I've been relatively good at most things I've tried, and school is included in that statement. The fact that I've always struggled in language classes is something I've always attributed to my not caring, or just not applying myself... I never actually considered that language grammar might be difficult for me.

That said, I need to get a tutor. I'm floundering right now in my language class... My comprehension is good and my speaking is quick and accurate enough to be able to sustain conversation on most levels, but my technical skills with this language are terrible and my test scores are showing it. The three tenses of the subjunctive are especially tricky.

If I had a guaranteed year here I wouldn't have a worry as my understanding and speaking are greatly improving, but when my second semester is dependent upon success of my first, anxiety kicks in... and I don't do well with anxiety.

Ao I'm afraid of the future as I'm almost half way through this semester. I have a test tomorrow on subject matter I dont understand and the sympathy and understanding of my teacher goes about as far as eating a hot dog for helping me out. I just hope Universidad de Andres Bello has tutors available.

Will keep you updated.

Peace