Normal is a relative term...

Now that our month of adventure is over, the events of this past week have not seemed especially blog-worthy, but they are adventures of a different variety, so I'll give it a go.

Orientation happened this week and, like orientation in the States, it mostly involved a lot of waiting... waiting to fill out papers, to take pictures, to sign up for things, to go on tours.... Registering for classes proved to be an utterly frustrating experience, not only because we are trying to figure out a completely different system of credits and hours, but because the study abroad program I am with has imposed some ludicrous restrictions on what classes we can and can't take. About half of the classes I wanted to take were off limits, which means I had to pull some strings, but I eventually got the classes I wanted. They seem like they will be really interesting. My classes are: Theory of Translation, Chilean and Hispanoamerican Literature, Man and the Social Doctrine of the Church, Human Experience in the Ideas and Art of the 20th Century, Living and Habitat, and Intro to Italian. And I don't have any on Fridays, which is awesome, and all of my classes will be taught in Spanish. I will have no choice but to really and truly learn the language, which is exactly what I wanted.

It was really strange to be around so many gringos (nearly 80% of my university's international students are from the US) and around so much English, and I'm really ready for school to start so I will actually start meeting Chileans and begin the painful process of having to speak/understand Spanish all day. In this strange limbo stage I'm in I often lose any concept of what language I am functioning in, and find myself responding to English with Spanish, thinking certain thoughts in Spanish and others in English, and many other odd combinations of language overlap. It's kind of sweet, though, to see how our thoughts are independent of language; that words are simply the canvas on which our ideas are expressed.
Wednesday night we met up at a bar with a few friends from school, but it turned into a group of about 20 gringos. Molly and I don't really know how to "go out" anyhow, not only because we cannot do so because of our age in the States, but because the concept of fun that we have grown accustomed to with our friends both in Nac and in our prospective cities is quite different than the universal image of what young people do to be social. Maybe we're just antisocial. Sitting among this large group of people, Molly and I found ourselves just talking to one another, suddenly aware that we were wearing frumpy sweaters to a club and that we didn't actually have any idea what we were ordering when we got drinks. The good news is that we are both secure enough to laugh it off and just make the most of it. We ended up having a good time, dancing later on, and most importantly just letting go. It was an extremely strange experience, and it will be interesting to see how our opinion of this whole "going out" thing evolves throughout the semester. I think it will be much better as we start meeting more Chileans who know the good places to go, but more importantly who we can get to know on a deeper level.

We did call up our friends from hitch hiking, who are from Valpo, and the three of them along with three of their friends met up with us just to walk along the beach at night and chat. It was really nice, and all of them were really fun to be around. Hopefully we will be spending more time with them. We also met up with Marco the next morning and he showed us around Valpo -- we went on the acensores and explored the twisted streets of the cerros around Pablo Neruda's house. He showed us one of his favorite cafes, called Colores Cafe, and took us to eat Chinese food. God blessed us SO much with all three of these guys; they are all complete gentlemen and really eager to show us around Vina and Valpo. Marco is like an older brother -- in fact, he even wears the same cologne as my real older brother.

My host mom is fantastic -- I am beyond a doubt exactly where God wants me. She is eternally happy, when she talks it is like a song, and she loves Jesus a whole lot. Several times over lunch or dinner we end up talking about the Church and God, and how awesome He is. She listenes to the Christian radio station all day, to which she often sings while she's cooking or cleaning. When I came home at 2am the other night I found her laughing hysterically at her computer, and we proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes or so watching funny videos of babies laughing. She tells me how much of a gift it is for her to have this time off working so she can do things around the house -- and she loves it. She loves being able to cook, clean, decorate, invite friends over, and just enjoy being in her home. She loves reality tv, dying her hair, and chocolate cake. Today she made me Chop Suy and fresh peach juice, and tomorrow we're going after church to hang our at her daughter's house for lunch, then at her parents' house for once (once is snack/tea/dinner substitute sometimes). Starting next week people from her church will be coming over to our house every tuesday for the sole purpose of prayer. When I sleep past my alarm she comes and knocks on my door to wake me up. In short, she is fantastic.

Last night molly spent the night after we went to see Slum Dog Millionaire (which was beyond amazing). At the movie theatre we saw a couple who we met in Ancud. They were staying in the same hostel in Ancud as us and went to the Pinguinera with us, then we saw the man several days later just walking in the streets in Castro, AND when I was in a photo center in Valparaiso getting my picture taken for my ID card there was a picture of them at their wedding on the wall. Valparaiso and Vina are big cities. What a small world we live in!!
It is really convenient (and miraculous) that Molly and I don't get tired of each other. The only thing that happens when we spend too much time together is that we run out of things to talk about, since we're experiencing everything together.

I've been skyping pretty regularly lately, which has been fantastic. I love being able to talk to friends back home, and for so cheap!!! If you don't already have it, download skype and add me!!! i'm catie.johnston on Skype.

Anyhow, I'm going over to Molly's house this afternoon to hang out with a bunch of her host sister's friends and eat hot dogs and watch horror movies. It should be interesting.

Keep the comments coming!

Besitos, abrazos, y mucho carino,
catita