On Saturday we coerced our director into pushing back the time of our orientation to watch the Chile v. Brazil game and although Chile lost it was so much fun to hang out with the hotel staff and watch my first ever full fútbol game( I know right, what have I been doing all my life?!). We ate really well all weekend (bread,bread, and more bread with every meal) and although it continued to be frigid in every room we went to, it was a great time! That night there was a huge party for the fishermen of Algarrobo and there was a band and dancing, and lots of drunk old men dancing their feet off. It was so much fun to experience a small town celebration like that and get to hang out and get warm by jumping and twisting and pretending I have any rhythm at all.
This morning we had orientation again bright and early and I wouldn't normally include such a weird thing but to give you an idea of how cold it is all the time, I'd just like to say that you don't truly enjoy hot showers, until you've woken up cold( wearing full pants, thick socks, and a sweatshirt), sat for an hour and a half freezing in a conference room, and then gotten to shower. Definitely the highlight of my day. Later we left our little coastal getaway happy for the experience and to get to all spend time together as a group. Now I'm home in bed with my guaterro to keep me warm in bed and so excited to start my language program tomorrow! Hopefully soon I'l find a place to buy more socks and sweats and long sleeve shirts.
*I would just like to note that I am holding up fine and the cold is probably not as bad as I think it is and everything takes a little getting used to so there's not really anything to worry about ( I'm talking to you Grandma and Grandpa Aguirre and Grammy Helen)*
(There's more after the pictures!!)
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| Hotel Pacifico |
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| Chile v. Brazil game |
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| one of the many nice stray dogs in Chile |
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So I wanted to add on to this post to share a kind of funny story. On Friday the other student that I live with comes up to me and asks me, "Your name's Faith right?" Puzzled, I answer yes and she goes on to tell me that my host mom has for some reason taken to calling me Joyce, which I hadn't noticed in the slightest because it sounds more like yoice and it's not my name so I wasn't really listening enough to notice it. After this clarification Eni's granddaughter tells her the mistake and she didn't really know why she had started calling me Joyce at all and kind of just went on with her day.
This combined with when I introduced myself to her son-in-law and I said my name was Faith and he goes, noooo, what is your NAME?, after repeating myself he kind of stares at me and tells me that this is strange because it is a word and not a name( thanks mom and dad haha). Hold on folks, because that's not all. Because not only is my name apparently not a name but in the spanish language you don't exactly have the "th" sound. so, now I'm stuck with a name that not only cannot be comprehended but is also impossible for Chileans to say.
After sharing this with all of my friends that are in the program multiple people have suggested that I have a new name. Now I really like my name, I think it's pretty cool, pretty unique but I seem to be at a crossroads. So, begrudgingly I offer to you all to give me a new Chilean name, which I may or may not go along with( right now I'm pretty against it), but any suggestions to overcome this are welcome and encouraged. *** I also want to mention that just going by Fé (the spanish translation) would only solve half the problem because people would still think I'm weird with my word-name. Anyways thanks for reading my babble! (apparently my last name is common just not my first, "Lomas de lo Aguirre"
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