Holaaaaa!
How is everyone?! Hope everyone still has the majority of their hairs on their head after they read my last post ;) It was crazy right? Well, I haven't had any super crazy adventures like that lately, but I've still been having some fun times in Arica! Mostly this post is summing up what I did this past week...and how amazing it is to watch fútbol! It took me forever to actually realize that this whole trip isn't a dream. I realized it when we returned from Peru :) But, I still think it's crazy that I'm actually here! Ok...on with my week!
Ok starting with Monday the 11th, after classes I went with Rachel, her prima, Rae, and her prima to the centro, and we looked around at the "Hippie Feria" here, where there are little artifacts and gifts that are from the area..so pretty much little souvenirs. Then, we went to eat at Schopdog, a restuarant in the centro. Got me some empanadas, hot dog, fries, and I think that was it :) Oh and of course, mayo to go with it! They eat mayo with everything here!! Also, a side note, most of the ketchup here tastes a lot different; it usually is sweet instead of salty..so when I get some good ole' salty ketchup-I enjoy it a lot! Ok, so anyway, then Carolina came a little bit later, and she helped me find a Chilean soccer jersey! I finally found one that fit after going to a few places. I tried on a few that were super tiny because I wanted the #7, but I could hardly fit my head into the head hole of the shirt...Carolina had to help me. WOW did we giggle our heads off! :) It was a great time, and I finally found one, but it is #17--but this fútbol player is very good looking to AND..he's a good fútbol player! haha ;) It was great spending time with Carolina, and it's so cute->She was trying to continue speaking Spanish with me, but she kept switching over to English (she studied at UNI this past semester, and her English rocks!)..but then I'd continue in Spanish, and she'd realize she was speaking English ;) hehe Love ya, Carolina, if you're reading this! :) So anywho, thanks to Carolina, I was ready for my first Chilean fútbol game the next night!...
Ok, so Tuesday, pretty much the only thing I did was go to a pub called "Naif" to watch the fútbol game. The game was Chile vs. Peru in the American cup..a pretty big game because Peru and Chile are pretty much big rivalries :) It was so funny, I was walking to the centro with Rachel to watch the game, and I had my Chilean jersey on..I have never got honked at and yelled at so much in my life (more than normal here in Chile)! Everyone was so excited about the game :) There's a picture of me with a huge picture on some wall in the centro with Medel-the player of who's jersey I have :) Anywho, at Naif, Rachel and I ordered this Chicken with BARBECUE, empanadas, and some brocheta thing..HOLY COW-I never realized how much I LOVE bbq sauce haha :) We took lots of pics that day, but we made sure to take them before, because once the game starts..it's time to concentrate on the game! Nothing else ;) You can see the pics below. One with Carolina and I, and also part of the group there. There were SO many close goals! It was cute to see Carolina get so upset that Chile was doing so well...BUT in the end, ¡CHILE GANÓ! CHILE WON!!! Pretty much to sum up the scene, the people in the pub including myself, and everyone else in the country of Chile were jumping up and down, screaming with excitement, hugging and high-fiving and cheering "¡CHI-CHI-CHI-LE-LE-LE-VIVA CHILE!" Everyone was SO excited! It was pretty much one of the best feelings I've ever experienced! Everywhere we went people were yelling stuff about Chile :) Rachel and I went with Carolina to Dimango afterward for some ice cream, then we went to a little part in the centro-in front of the morro-where there were all kinds of people with Chilean flags, fireworks, posters..some had painted faces and funny hair (look at pic below for a good description hehe), and everyone was yelling Chilean chants and stuff like that :) GREAT TIME! There were even police with those shield things near the street so no one would go out into the street and get hit by a car..or if things got out of hand. INSANE! I have NEVER in my life experienced a national pride like this..which is kind of weird, because it wasn't even for my native country. I felt so proud to be a part of Chile in that moment! (I even wrote an article about this night and how cool the national pride is here for the Arica newspaper called "La Estrella de Arica" or translated "The star of Arica". It'll be in it this week!). When we were leaving the centro, there were a group of guys that all of a sudden came over to me and surround me jumping and chanting. I kind of freaked out right away because I thought they were going to jump me, but then I started jumping up and down with them and singing the chant they were singing :) haha Great times!
Not a whole lot happened Wednesday-a study day..and Thursday was another day to try and get stuff done. Rachel and I went downtown instead to try and study and ate at T&T another one of the many cute centro restaurants. Then we went to Dimango for a coffee and to study more. The waiters know us pretty well there :) It's pretty great! haha. The cutest thing was, when we received our coffees there was a drizzle of chocolate on the top..but it said something! Mine said "Dimango" and Rachel's said "hello"(pic below of Rachel's). Haha, this is something they don't normally do:) We ran into some more United States people there who were visiting for a weekend in Arica but are mostly spending time in Peru for a ministry thing. One of the girls was from Brainerd, MN! Crazy!
Friday was a FABULOUS day! Rachel and I bought ourselves Harry Potter tickets (pic below with the sign of Rachel and I), and then we headed to the beach to watch the sunset. All I have to say is GORGEOUS (pics below)! While I sat there, all I could think of is, I can't wait to come back here! I really would like to come back and study for a semester..but if all else fails, I'm definitely coming back to visit someday! Thinking this is the only way that I know that I can leave next week haha. After we enjoyed the calmness and the beauty of the sunset, we turned around to head to Dimango on the beach..and guess what?! There was a HUGE moon (Pic below w/ the palm tree)! It was so cool to have just seen the beautiful sunset, and to turn around, and there's the giant gorgeous moon :) After Dimango, we headed to Harry Potter-the final movie!! Boy-was that an experience. We had to wait in this super duper long line, that went up the hill next to the theater, and Rachel and I were starting to get nervous that we weren't going to get in, even though we had tickets. Eventually, we got in, and the movie started with Spanish subtitles..I got SO excited because I thought it might be in English!! I was jumping in my seat even! BUT this was only because there were signs in English. Sad day..but it was quite the experience. I concentrated so hard the first part of the movie to try and understand the Spansih, that I had to close my eyes for a part of the movie ;) hahaha Anywho, I could understand most of it, which was pretty exciting, but I'm excited to see it in English when I get back. There were a couple jokes I didn't understand..and the Chileans all shhhhhh when people start talking haha. It's kinda great. AND they all started applauding when people were killed in it :) haha ooooh Chileans, how I will miss your reactions and emotions! Afterward, Rachel and I celebrated with a toast to Harry :)
Saturday was a relaxing day, and then we celebrated Phil's birthday at this house, and then we went to a little club called Estres afterward. There weren't too many people at Estres because it was closed for awhile, so many people thought that it was closed..So Tiare, Carolina, Jonna, and I went to Drake, and we danced until it closed. I stayed up until 6 am that night! WOW! I was actually really proud of myself..This weekend my goal (which I have had since I've been here) is to see the sun rise while near the ocean. I'm super excited haha!
Sunday was another fun day...but super sad. All I'm going to say is that Chile lost the game vs Venezuela and were out of the American Cup. It was pretty depressing, and it definitely shows. I have never seen Arica SO quiet before. Kinda of eerie!
Monday, I did nothing, and Tuesday I spent the day being a beach bum once again. Geez I love the ocean :) It's so beautiful! Rachel and I went for a long walk on the beach, and we even saw some police men on horses that were on the beach :) funny stuff! I decided to wade a little bit further into the ocean this time, but I didn't go all the way in. The waves are just a tad intimidating :) That night we went over to the Rachel's prima (Jacqueline)'s house. We were able to meet her whole family: her dad, mom (who was SO much like my own mom), brother (16 years old), and sister (3 years old). We watched a Chilean movie, which was pretty funny..something like American Pie, but in Spanish. Then, Jacqueline's mom served us some amazing appetizers, pizza, and this giant burger thing that was on a hamburger bun with I think bologna with fries and tomatoes , and A LOT of it. That burger thing was the size of probably the biggest burger in the U.S. No joke! :) It was wonderful! When we were about done eating, the lights went out (this seems to happen quite often here?), so we went home :)
Wednesday-I studied my butt off because we had to study for our literature final which was either Thursday or Friday (we didn't know which day we would have to go). So I move on to Thursday..I didn't take my final, and later that night Rachel and I got together with Loren and we had a knitting party! THE BIGGEST EVENT OF ALL: I SAW A WINEBAGO MOTORHOME IN CHILE! This is a huge deal! People that don't know, Winnebago motorhomes are made in my hometown, so when I saw that logo that has meant so much to me while growing up-I kind of freaked out! haha :) (Pic below!) Ok, so we made it to Lauren's after my crazy excitement, and I learned to knit, which was pretty great, but it is difficult! I enjoyed it though :) We also watched a Glee episode and played with Loren's to little twin sisters from here. They were adorable! It was one of my first times communicating with little Chileans. A strange experience because it's difficult to understand them sometimes, but I loved when they used only one word and I could figure out what they said ;) haha. After that, Rachel and I walked to the centro to get some Dimango ice cream..I can never turn down good ice cream! And... the waiters there are pretty much some of my favorite people here :) Plus, one of them is super good looking ;) haha.
Friday-We got out pictures taken for the newspaper. We had a class assignment where we had to right an article about something about Arica, and obviously if you've read everything you would know I chose to write about the Chileans national pride, and more specifically about fútbol. It'll be in the paper this week! And, I am officially done with literature now! Woot woot! I'm going to miss my professor! She was the one I had a lot of difficulties understanding in the beginning, but by the end, I could and I loved her class. She's hilarious :) After class, Rachel and I went with Ligia to this little place to buy some goodies that are made from the area. As we were in the car about ready to go, Ligia said she received a letter from my mom and dad :) I was going to try and translate it for her, and next thing I know, she's translating it! She can't speak English, but she's able to translate English to Spanish! Rachel and I were shocked hahaha :) Funny times, but anywho-mom if you read this, Ligia loved the letter and sends many thanks :) Tonight was wonderful! We went to that little place that has foods first, and then we went to a little place with arts and crafts that the people make right there! How cute! Got a couple things there too ;) It was great spending some quality time with Ligia. All three of us had some good ole' laughs tonight, and during our dinner tonight we talked about Amish people :) She was really interested about it! I'm really going to miss her a lot! She's a special woman :) ...ok I can't talk anymore about missing people..sheesh!
I'm just busy enjoying my days here...I guess that's about it. Like I said, not as exciting as my crazy trip to Peru, but it'll be really nice to look back at this. It's been really a couple great weeks! Ok, well see you all soon I guess! I don't know how many more times I'll write since it's getting close to the...well..I'm not going to say it. Haha :) Take care all! And I love you!
Chau Chau! Un beso!
Katie Wencl
Hola Katie,
ReplyDeleteSounds like some fun times in Arica! What a great experience for you to be there while Chile was playing in the American Cup! Chilean people really show their emotions and excitement weather it be fubol or Harry Potter!!
What a fun time with Carolina trying to find you a jersey! Glad you found one. I can just see your big eye's as the group of guy's were coming your way jumping and chanting - I would have been so scared that I think I would have turned around and ran right out of there.
It is interesting about the food - how they like mayo so much on everything, sweet ketchup, not much BBQ sauce, and the best ice cream anywhere? What about Logan, Utah? I figured DIMANGO'S had MORE than just good ice cream!! :)
You got a little taste of home with seeing the Winnebago and the girl from Brainerd. I'm sure you talked to her about us go fishing up that way every year. It's a small world!! :)
I'm so glad you had a chance to interact with little Chileans. I'm sure that was a lot of fun! :)
The sunset picture is gorgeous!! Wow, I can see why you like going to the beach so much.
Although, I don't know how you can stay up so late. You must have had a very long siesta that afternoon. How will you adjust when you are back here? Good thing college doesn't start again for 1 1/2 weeks.
Your Dad and I are sure glad that this week was not as crazy as Peru - yet, it was still a very full week. I don't know how you had time to study but obviously you did. Congratulations on your score on your oral test - we are proud of you, honey!!
Nice Post and great photos!!
Can't wait to see you!!!!!!!!!!
Many Hugs and Many Kisses xoxoxoxox
With all of our Love,
Papa y Mama :) :)