San Pedro part 1

At last! The story from the weekend!

So...

Friday, I woke up and went food shopping for my trip to San Pedro. At 11:00, I took a metro to the bus station, and then the bus to the airport. I was super early, so I was really excited to see some other people from my trip in the lobby-thingy waiting. So we all waited together. Finally, it was time to check in. I thought I had been really good by bringing two carry-ons so I wouldn't have to check any luggage. What I failed to realize is that domestic flights in Chile don't allow a carry-on of more than 5 kg (roughly 11lbs). Yeah, well, my back pack was like 9 (roughly 20lbs). So, had to check that. Anyway, the flight was great. 3 hours, and we were there! It felt like a completely different world from Santiago.



After we all landed and got our luggage (no lost luggage!!), we took a bus for about an hour to the town of San Pedro. The scenery was gorgeous, and our guide, Claudio, was very knowledgeable about the history of the area, the geography, etc. which was awesome for me! Calama (where the airport was) used to be two towns: Calama and a town with an indigenous name I can't remember. Well, this other town was a mining town. Recently, with the big push towards environmentalism in Chile (and yes, it's bigger here than in the US...way bigger), they decided to close the mine (too much pollution). Well, this caused a problem for the town. The government determined that it would be more expensive to make the town environmentally friendly than to just build a whole new town farther away from the mine. So they moved the whole town farther away from the mine.



Anyway, upon arriving in San Pedro, we took a walking tour through the town. It was nighttime, and the stars were the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I really wish I had pictures to show you, but cameras don't work too well in the dark (not even with flash). Anyway, everything was gorgeous at night. From there, we ate dinner (at 10 o'clock, which will be important to note for the continuation of this story) and went to bed.

Here are a few more pictures of the scenery we saw. The full album will be on Facebook and Snapfish (link coming soon). The story will also have to continue tomorrow, as it's already 11:30 and somebody has a test tomorrow (yikes!! not already!!)



Anyway, until next time!

Photos!! - Bellas Artes

So, I know there's TONS to catch up on, but we'll start with some photos. Since I didn't hear any complaints, I'm going to continue to post photos on Snapfish (link below). They are from my trip to Bellas Artes, Santiago's famous art museum, before I left for the weekend. In my next post, you'll get all the details of my trip, along with LOTS of photos.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=242873141/a=30405193/t_=30405193

So much news, so little time

Wow, so it's been like a whole week since I last wrote. Really sorry about that. Things here have been crazy busy!!

Let's start from the beginning:

So, Friday, I was unable to go to church for Dormition because all the parishes decided to go to Vina del Mar to celebrate the parish's patronal feast day there. Bummer. So instead, my friends Jessica and Suguna decided to join up and go visit a bunch of museums all around Santiago. And, since it's torentially raining, we figure it's a good idea to stay indoors. Well, since the 15 is a national holiday (Assumption), of course all the museums are closed - which we don't realize until we drag ourselves around to two of them (on opposite ends of town...in the rain). So after we managed to soak ourselves, we spent a very leisurely tea time eating empanadas at the Plaza de Armas (the very center of Santiago) and talking about travel plans for the rest of the semester (lots of fun opportunities!!). After this, we decide to head to the mall - which thankfully is still open. We hunt for hiking boots for Suguna and just kinda browse other things. Have a nice onces at the food court, and head home.

Saturday, I sleep in (yessss) and then work on homework. All day. It turns out that when I switched poetry sections, the professors use different readings (go figure) so now I have to catch up on the reading for my new section. Fun fun. That's pretty much the extent of Saturday.

Sunday, I go to Matins, where I got to read a lot (I'm getting better)!! Liturgy was beautiful, and I got to talk with different people at coffee hour (which, by the way, consists of just that...coffee). Afterwards, I call Jessica to see if she's up for seeing the Museo de Bellas Artes (the biggest art museum in Santiago), but it turns out she caught a cold running around in the rain. Bummer. When I get home and share my failed attempt to be sociable, my host sister Sandy decides that it's been years since she's seen Bellas Artes and that we should go together that afternoon. Yes!!! So we go. Bellas Artes has a lot of modern art, we discovered (which she really likes, but which doesn't really do anything for me). Thankfully, there was enough classical art to salvage the museum for me (pictures coming soon!). I love marble statues and I love paintings...and there were both! Afterwards, we stopped by the Modern Art Museum, which we both agreed was a complete bust (nothing there). So, we left and went and got ice cream at this really famous ice cream store behind the museum. It must have been really famous, because we had to wait in line for 40 minutes before we got served! Crazy!! But it was really good ice cream, so I guess it was worth it :)

Monday - photocopies, class, more photocopies, and now printing! The story here is that it's free to print, but you have to bring your own paper. The printers are empty. Haha.

Tuesday, classes, which included a visit to a history of Chile class that I decided to take. My schedule is now complete!!!! It is as follows:

Monday/Wednesday: 1:30-2:50 - Education, Culture, and Society
Tuesday/Thursday: 11:30-12:50 - Anthropology of Chile
1:30-2:50 - Chilean Poetry
3:00-4:20 - History of America and Chile, 20th century (meaning Latin America, but trust me, the US comes up a lot)

Wednesday was really busy: I started out going to the Registro Civil and standing in line for an hour to get my Chilean ID (which I now, thankfully, have). I then went across town to the Central office of La Catolica and turned in my request for a student bus pass, which charges like 1/3 of what I've been paying (can't wait to get that!). I turned in my schedule to the CIEE office, and then tried on some shoes (my black ones have decided to break on me). I happily found out I can wear a size 40 (not a 43, like I originally thought), which really opens up the market for me. Then class, followed by training for English Opens Doors, a program I'm volunteering with to teach English to public school students here in Santiago. I have my school assignment, and it's like down the street. I will be spending 4 hours on Monday mornings in the high school. Totally pumped and can't wait to start! I then went to choir rehearsal, and Liturgy. I really like weekday liturgies here, because Fr. Francisco does things a little bit differently than Sunday Liturgy in regards to music and liturgics, because the crowd is very different. He has catechism class following Liturgy, so all of the catechumens are there, while on Sunday, the majority of the crowd is the Arab contingent, so things are more standard Antiochian practice. Oooo and I got to read the Epistle! Which was really cool!!

Today, I went to class all day. I then went shopping (for 3 hours!!! Christina where are you???) for black boots. Talk about torture. First of all, if I actually found a pair I liked, they either didn't come in my size, or cost like $80.00+. Since the pair I tried on yesterday cost me like $20, I wasn't really planning to spend too much more than that. So, I looked through every shoe store in the mall (2 hours), before giving up and heading back home. On my way, I stopped at Macul, which is this plaza about 8 blocks from home. Along the street, there are like 5 shoe stores right next to each other, so I decided to give them a try. After three failed attempts, I FINALLY found a pair of black boots, waterproof, semi-fashionable, that fit fairly well if I'm wearing tights. That's about as good as I could do, and since they only cost about $28 (probably a little less with the current exchange rate), I figured they will get me through the rest of my stay here, and probably through most of the northern hemisphere's upcoming winter. After I tried them on with the different outfits I was planning on wearing them with, I have to say that overall, I'm satisfied.

Tomorrow I head out to San Pedro Atacama, the driest desert on earth. I will take plenty of pictures, and hopefully have info up late on Monday or Tuesday with all the details.

Hope all is well with everyone. Until next time!!

Entering the world of "fotocopias"

Well, for those of us who have ever complained about the rip-off involved in buying textbooks, there is something to be said for the peace of mind that comes with knowing you are able to complete your reading for the next class at your own leisure. And that it's legible. And usually in color. Here in Chile, to avoid the extreme import tax involved with buying books, universities have discovered a unique way to combat the attack on students' wallets - make photocopies! Of everything. To be honest, it sounds like a great idea. Buy one book, have students make all the photocopies they want - it's a heck of a lot cheaper for both sides. The problem is, of course, that there is now only one book...and 40 students. So, we fill out a request form, stand in line for 10-40 minutes (depending on time of day), turn in our request, come back in 1-3 hours, stand in line again for 10-40 minutes, pay for our copies, and pick up our papers. To make this process even better, you have to fill out a separate request for each reading selection. For example:

The professor says, "Read Chapters 1 and 4 of book X, and article Y". So, you have to fill out a request for Chapter 1, Chapter 4, and article Y (yes, three requests). That's day 1. Day 2, he says, "Now read article Z and Chapter 2 of book A". Now you get to do the process all over again with article Z and Chapter 2.

Let's just say I'm learning to do homework in line.

Anyway, enough venting. In all fairness, things have been going pretty well. I decided to drop my class at the University of Chile (see story below) and take an additional class at La Catolica (still to be decided). Hopefully, by Friday, I will have a finalized schedule.

Ok, so long story about Tuesday. So, theoretically, I had a class at 8:30am on Tuesday morning at the University of Chile in room 32. While the campus is like 15 blocks from my house, there is no micro (bus) that takes me straight there. You have to do this funny U-thing. So, I leave the house at 7:30 and start the process: take the micro West, get off, supposed to take the micro South, realize it's a one-way street and the micro doesn't go South, walk four blocks West to the next micro stop on a street that does go South, take the micro South, start walking East, realize it's too far to walk, watch micro pass by because I didn't get to the stop fast enough, wait for the next micro traveling East, start walking toward campus and - FINALLY, arrive at campus. It is now 8:35am. I'm late. So, I walk around kinda disoriented because it's been like 2 weeks since we toured this campus, ask someone for directions to the Social Science building, finally find the building, finally find the room...and it's empty. I check the schedule on the door, and sure enough, the class is not even listed. What I found out later is that UChile is notorious for changing classrooms, times, and even days of their classes at the last minute without informing anybody. At this point (8:45), I'm tired, I'm sore from walking, and I'm completely at my whits end. So, I decide that this is totally not worth the effort, get back on the micro (North), take it to the metro, and head to the campus that I actually know how to get to. While the class I was theoretically going to take at UChile seemed kinda interesting (Cultures of Tierra del Fuego), it was not interesting enough to make that trip twice a week at rush hour. In addition, the Che Guevarra-Communist Flag-anarchist symbol ridden walls started getting to me after a while, as well as the rumors of protests later this semester. So I think this was probably for the best. It looks like I will be taking a history of Chile and South America class instead at 3:00 in the afternoon (a lot better for me, considering my family doesn't go to sleep till like 1:00am, and I don't run well on 6 or fewer hours of sleep).

Anyway, that was Tuesday. I managed to make it through the rest of my day ok, and spent the evening working on my final paper for Contemporary Chile.

Wednesday, I got to have lunch with Marjorie, a catechumin at St. Mary's (the Orthodox Church here). She's a history major looking into pedagogy following her graduation (teaching). We had a good time eating and comparing professors (got some good tips on which classes not to take), and will hopefully get to spend more time together throughout the semester. My Mon-Wed Education class is AWESOME! as it's all about Chilean education from a sociological perspective. We actually get to visit different schools around Santiago for our final project - a little nerve-wracking, as it involves a lot of group work, but I got together with some fellow international students (including one from Tahiti - cool!) and I think we're going to help each other get through this stuff. Later that evening, I went to choir rehearsal at church, met a girl from Brasil, and stayed for their weekly Liturgy. It was beautiful, and I got to meet a lot more young people. I really enjoy going, and everyone is very nice. The choir director is working to replace some of the less-desirable Liturgy music with St. Vlad's stuff, and Wednesday night Liturgy is like the springboard for using these melodies in Sunday Liturgy. I must say it's really cool how everyone works together to keep the parish growing.

Today, I turned in my final paper (yeah, printing is a whole other story...I'll save that for a different post), had my anthro class and poetry class, both of which are going well, and met a girl from Chicago. We spent an hour or so talking and comparing experiences here in Chile (in English...we both needed a language break).

And now, I'm home. Tomorrow is a national holiday for the Assumption, but unfortunately I won't get to go to church because everyone is going to the parish in Vina del Mar for their patronal feast day (bummer). The upside is that I will go here for Sept. 8, because it is the patronal feast day of the parish here, so that's some consolation. Tomorrow I will be playing tourist with another friend from the program and visiting some museaums here in Santiago. I will make sure and post pictures.

Anyway, for those of you going to church tomorrow, please say a prayer for me. All of you are in my thoughts and prayers as well. Chao!

Photos!! 5 - Cerro San Cristobal

So, hopefully this works...here is a link to an online photo album to see the photos from Cerro San Cristobal. Please let me know if it works/is easy to use (it was a lot easier for me to upload pictures there than right here, so if it works, I'll know I can use it again).

Love you all!

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=234698603/a=30405193/t_=30405193

Stuff

So, it turns out that Chile has decided to broadcast the Olympic games live...which means, with the time difference between here and Beijing, I could watch the Olympics at 2am, if I wanted to. YouTube, here I come!! Seriously, we did get a chance to watch Chile beat China in tennis (the favorite sport here) and lose to France or something in fencing (it was a really close match, though). I also got to see part of the opening ceremony, which was really cool.

Saturday was a sleeping day :) followed by a trip to Cerro San Cristobal. This is a hill/park that has a beautiful Japanese garden (curtesy of the Japanese government), walking trails, a playground for children, a teleférico (you get to ride up the huge hill in little cars on pulleys...I know they have them at like disney land and stuff, but I can´t think of the English name...pictures will be coming soon, and you´ll know what I´m talking about), and culminated by a gigantic statue of the Virgin Mary, the protectress of Santiago. As I said, pictures will be coming. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I got to cross yet another goal off my list of places to see while I´m here.

Sunday I went to church and got to sing/chant for Matins and Liturgy. I got such a kick out of that, because I had never chanted in Spanish before, and it was so cool. I do have a lot more sympathy for people who are chanting in their second language, and really realize the importance of practicing before hand. Following that, I talked to Marjorie, one of the college students there, who invited me to come with her next Sunday to help with Sunday school :) I´m liking this parish!!

Well, right now I´m on campus waiting for my 1:30 class (it´s 12:30). I came early (11) to try to sign up for the poetry class I really wanted. Unfortunately, I was second in line - the person in front of me took the last spot. Talk about frustrating! Whatever, I ended up in the same class with a different professor, hunted around for his secretary to make me a copy of the syllabus, and put my order in for photocopies (they´ll be ready by 2:00). It looks like a relatively similar syllabus. Less group work (which I actually like better), but it completely skips anything prior to the XIX century, which is a little bit of a bummer. Oh well, as they say here in Chile, Así son las cosas. Such is life.

When I get home tonight, I will upload pictures from San Cristobal. There´re like 100 of them, so I actually may be uploading them to a different website and putting the link here...to make it a little easier to read. Hope all is well. Thanks for the emails!! I love them :) Until next time!!

Updates

So, I know it's been quite a while since my last written post. Things here have really been busy (not to mention that fact that people around here have a habit of not going to bed until like 1 or 2 in the morning).

Let's begin at the beginning...

As I mentioned before, classes started on Monday. I had the interesting experience of showing up to class with only two other people and realizing that the professor was not showing up. After wandering around the Facultad de Educacion a while, we finally found somebody who could tell us what was up. It turns out that the professor had canceled class for the day. He had sent an email to all of the registered students informing them of this, and put a note up on the class website. Since we exchange students are not actually registered for classes yet, we unfortunately did not receive said email. Semi-disappointed for having drug myself all the way to campus for nothing, I returned home and spent the afternoon in the company of my host sisters watching TV and tidying up around here.

Tuesday was a little more productive. The first class I went to (Anthropology) was also canceled, but at least the TA's were there to explain to the whole class that the professor was ill and to give us the dates for the exams this semester. This class had quite a few more Americans in it than my Ed class, which was nice since I knew some people, but also frustrating as most of the Americans I knew have this aversion to speaking Spanish amongst ourselves (really weird, I think, since that is why we came here). But, I did meet a girl from another program who is facing similar frustrations and we have had a great time speaking Spanish together. Afterwards, I went to my Chilean Poetry class...what an experience! First of all, 25 Americans show up like 15 minutes before class starts (again, since nobody is registered, everyone is just kinda attending whichever classes they want) and fill up the room. Between 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after class starts, about 25 Chilean students filter in and realize there are no more desks to sit at. So, they fill up the floor. The professor, bless her heart, is at this point really trying to hold things together. She warmly welcomes all of the international students (us), but says she only has enough syllabi for about 40 people. Hence, quite a few Americans are now without one. All in all, the class went really well and while many of my compatriots have decided not to take the class ("too many Americans"...kinda ironic), there are still quite a few of us left, mainly interested in the awesome professor (to be continued when I talk about Thursday)...

Throughout this time, I have also been working on my final paper for my Contemporary Chile class. I have decided to do something on Violeta Parra, a renowned folk artist. I'm also getting lessons on Chilean essay writing from my host sister, Sandy. Apparently, Chileans are a great deal more long-winded in their essays than Americans are...hey, no complaints here. I can write 7 pages of nothing quite easily, I've determined. Haha.

Wednesday, I showed up for my Ed class again, not really expecting much, but went just in case. Again, no professor, and we determined with some other Chilean students that he must be starting class on Monday...we'll see. Otherwise, I'll have to find another class, which will kinda be a pain since we're already a week into classes. Whatever, it'll work out. It all turned out for the best since I had time to make some photocopies for my poetry class. The process is very different. Each class has a folder with all of the readings for the semester. You fill out a little slip saying which reading from which folder (unfortunately, it is quite difficult to photocopy the entire folder at once), stand in line for like 1/2 hour (because everyone is making photocopies), hand the slip to the photocopy guy, pay him, and then he gives you an estimated time for pick up. In my case, it was two hours later. And, of course, I have no homework since I haven't had any other class yet. So...I manage to get into the library, but have not access to the computers (since I don't have my ID card yet either), so I just kinda wander around a bit. Found a funny little pamphlet on Anthropology which was kinda like a cartoon strip about two boys who find an arrowhead and take it to an Anthropologist who goes on to explain what early life was in pre-historical Chile. Kinda cool, I thought. I will have to see if I can get a copy to take home.

Wednesday night, I went to church for the Feast of the Transfiguration. I was invited by Fr. Francisco's wife, Lorena, to sing in the choir, which was a lot of fun. There were about 30 people at Liturgy and everything was very beautiful. Afterwards, we had some snacks in the hall and I met Marjorie, a history major at La Catolica. She and I are going to get together on Monday for lunch, and hopefully get a chance to hang out during the school day. Following this, Fr. Francisco had a class on the Feast and I went home to celebrate Sandy's birthday. We had dinner and a very delicious cake, followed by watching "Who deserves to be a millionaire" - the Chilean version, which by the way I like a lot better. It takes smart famous people onto the show who then sponsor someone they feel should be a millionaire (for example, there was a single mom with four children, three of whom had severe mental disabilities). If they win, the money goes to the person they sponsor. Pretty cool, I thought, and much healthier than the American version.

Thursday, we got stood up in our anthro class, but at least we were all in it together. I met Fabiona, a Chilean student in my class, and we talked a little bit afterwards before I went to read my poetry homework. The weather was very nice, 18C/63ishF, so I ate my lunch outside while I did my homework. Poetry class was full again, but not quite as much as Tuesday, and more Chileans had seats this time. We found out that this particular professor only has about 10 spots left for foreign students. Since we can't register until Monday, I am planning an early day to run and get my spot. While I could take the same class with one of two other professors, this particular professor is very animated and obviously loves what she teaches. I would much rather take it with her, if I can. Please pray that this works out.

Thursday afternoon, I went to a meeting for volunteer work at the CIEE office. I learned about a program through the Chilean Department of Education called "Ingles abre puertas": English opens doors. Native English speakers (me) spend 4-16 hours a week (4 is looking really good) in a public school helping Chilean teachers teach English. I'm really interested in doing this, and am going to sign up this week. I think it would be a great experience to take home with me as an ESL teacher, and will also probably help me get my EFL (English as a Foreign Language) certificate later on.

Well, I think that brings us to today (Friday). Thanks to wonderful scheduling (thank you, thank you *bows*), I have NO CLASSES on Fridays :) I got to sleep in late and have been working on homework while planning to watch the Olympics later on. Tonight, I am planning on going to church again for the youth group meeting. I'm really looking forward to it! I think they generally do a Bible study and then talk about their activities for the week. I will let you know how that goes.

That's all from this end of the world (haha). I'd love to hear how everyone else is doing as well, so please pass this on to friends and family and send an email if you get a chance. Love you all!

Photos!! 4 - Daily living

So, here are some more pictures...sorry they are kinda out of order. Classes have started and it's getting late. I just wanted to send a few more pictures before it was too late into the week. I'm hoping to write more soon. Until then!

Munich Youth Symphony Orchestra

Alfredo Perl - one of Chile's famous pianists - not to mention Sandy's favorite!!

Me and Sandy (the birthday girl)

Me and Paula

The three of us at the Municipal Theater

The Municipal theater

Program

Outside the dining room window

Our back yard (with the mountains in the background)

Auditorium of La Catolica

View of the back of the auditorium of La Catolica

Ditto...

Buying eggs

Eggs!!

Karioke :)

Sooooo...last night I went to a Mass with my host family in memory of their grandfather who passes away last month. It was very interesting, and it was cool to pick out the parts of the service that are similar to the Orthodox church (the prokeimenon, Alleluia verses, anaphora, etc.). Afterwards, we went to their uncle's house for dinner. As I soon found out, "dinner" is not eaten very often - only on special occasions. On these occasions, it is eaten sometime around 9 or 10 o'clock, usually followed by a lot of partying. In this case, the partying consisted of karioke. It was really fun to watch everyone singing various songs. I even attempted twice - once with "All-Star" and once with a Shakira song. It was a great time, and we all got home around 2:30am.

This morning, I went to liturgy, which was a lot easier since it started at 12:00pm (I think the whole sleep cycle of this country runs a lot later than that of most Americans). It was really cool, since the bishop was there. Fr. Fransisco introduced me to him, and I also got to meet a few more of the youth there. It looks like I will be able to go to liturgy Wednesday night for Transfiguration and to the youth group meeting on Friday night. Yay! I think this is the longest I've gone without speaking English to anyone - almost two full days! (I don't count typing...haha).

Tomorrow classes start, so I'll have updates on that coming up soon. Hasta entonces (until then)!

Weekend 3

Ahhhh...Friday at last!

Today, we registered with the Chilean police. I now have my temporary Chilean ID card and will get my official one in a few weeks (another trip to the police station). Well, at least I can feel a little more official now. I'm really living here, not just visiting - crazy!

Another crazy thing was yesterday's orientation at La Catolica. There was a presentation by a student organization for international students. As I was looking at all the pictures from previous events (filled with Americans), it finally dawned on my that I'm the international student. Thinking back on my Cultural Diversity Club days and my "help the exchange student" background, this was really a change of pace for me. But I'm getting used to it. My only frustration is that among Americans, everyone only wants to speak in English. It's extremely disheartening, as I thought the whole purpose of being here was to learn Spanish. I've just made the decision to avoid as many Americans as possible and make Chilean friends...we'll see how that works.

Last night, this international student group (CAUC - don't ask me what it stands for) went "out" to a typical Chilean bar. After tasting the famous terremoto (earthquake) and watching my compatriots getting drunker and drunker, I decided it was not the place for me and, along with a friend of mine and a very nice Chilean guy from CAUC, headed for home. On the way, the three of us took a nice detour to the Plaza de Armas (I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not, but we were there on Tuesday as well). This is literally the center of Santiago. There's even a plaque that says "Kilometro 0" - at least, there is supposedly, as none of us could find it. Raul (the guy from CAUC) showed us some good shopping spots as well and gave us key safety tips:

*Trust the carabineros - they are your friend
*The metro is (crazily enough) one of the safest places in the city, because it's full of carabineros and cameras
*Don't go to Santiago Centro after dark without a Chilean escort...thieves can spot an extranjero a mile away

Anyway, I just wanted to reassure you that no unnecessary risks have been taken thus far. Also, for the record, Santiago is the safest city in South America, due to it's amazing carabineros.

As far as classes go, the current list is as follows:

Culturas fueguenses (Cultures of Tierra del fuego)
Antropologia chilena (Chilean Anthropology)
Educacion, Cultura y Sociedad (Education, Culture, and Society)
Poesia Chilena (Chilean poetry)

The last one may change, as the section of Antropologia chilena that I want to take is at the same time, but there will be another lit-related class for sure.

Classes at La Catolica (that is, the last three classes in the list) start on Monday (blah) and UChile starts next week. Time to start the grind! Realistically, I'm hoping that none of these classes turn out to be too difficult. I confirmed with other Chilean students that they are more or less extranjero-approved (that is, hopefully not too difficult). I opted out of taking a linguistics course because the only interesting ones are levels 4-6...completely doable, but not if I want a life.

Other than that, it looks like a quiet weekend. No youth group meeting tonight (bummer), but hopefully next week. Possibly a trip to Pomaire tomorrow (a cute ceramics town), but not sure of family plans yet. Shopping today (yay...more winter clothes!) and christening of my host mom's niece or something tomorrow night.

That's it for now. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will try to take some more as I start visiting places in a more touristy-fashion. Hope to talk to you all soon!