Catching up...

Well, its almost the END OF OCTOBER (!) and we have some catching up to do.

Last weekend, my Chilean family and I did move apartments. It's been crazy since then and things are still not settled, but its getting better. Right now, I'm sleeping in the room with my host mom and grandma, which has proven to be somewhat of a challenge. Hopefully I will have my own room soon, the lack of privacy is starting to wear on me. Other than that, I like our new apartment ok. For some reason its colder here, the street is more shady and I guess that has something to do with it. It is consistently colder during the day and at night than it is outside. But, a major plus is that it is a mere 4 block walk from IES, which is proving to be very convenient.

It has taken me a few days to develop this positive attitude. Saturday was an extremely rough day, and its up there on the list of the worst days of my life. I can't explain it any other way than to say EVERYTHING that could went wrong.

In an effort to get out of the way and get a TAN, my friends and I had plans to head to the beach at Vina del Mar (hour and 1/2 from Santiago by bus) Saturday. Unfortunately, it was cold and cloudy from the start and NOT a good day to be wearing shorts. All we really did in Vina was drink hot chocolate and sit on the beach for about 3o minutes. Sad, right? So upon returning to Santiago, we got all the way to Las Condes where Tiffany lives and decided to got to the movies (I have to see a Chilean movie for class). Though we didn't know it at the time, we decided to go to the most difficult mall to get to. After about an hour of walking, waiting, and riding the bus, we finally arrived at the mall that was probably 10 miles away. When we finally arrived at almost 8pm, we discovered that the mall was closing at 8:30 for the municipal elections the next day, and that included the theater. By this time, we were reeeally irritated. So we went outside, found the bus stop, took a bus, stopped and waited another 3o mins in the cold for another bus, and were on our way home. Not 2 minutes into the ride, however, our bus got a little too close to another micro and sideswiped him, taking both mirrors with him. Thus, we had to all get off and find another ride home.

Needless to say, once I finally got to my new home in one piece, I was irritated, hungry, exhausted, and in need of a shower. This is when I find out that our washing machine is currently taking the place of my bed and I must sleep with my mom and grandma. Fun, huh?

So there is my sad sad story, which thankfully I can already laugh at. It taught me a lot about how to hold on my sanity when NOTHING goes my way. And I'm still learning that lesson...