a little under the weather (domingo, 8 agosto)

My family is really worried even though I told them it wasn´t a big deal, and with the meds I should be better soon. I´m not used to having people be concerned about me. My family here is really nice but sometimes I wish they would not worry so much. Like tonight I went running by myself and they were all concerned even though it isn´t a bad part of town, but it was dark. I don´t want them to worry but I also want to do things (such as running in the evening) that are normal for me and that I am used to doing on an every day basis. When we are walking around downtown, my brothers won`t let me walk on the side of the sidewalk closest to the street because if a car veers off the road, they don´t want it to hit me. It is sort of nice in some ways, but at the same time, I´m not used to it at all.

I know they mean well, and that doesn´t bother me, but the whole situation with me being sick made me feel really uncomfortable. I guess I´d forgotten what it feels like to live as part of a family since it´s been a while since I moved out of my parents´place. I´ve only been here a week and don´t want my family thinking I´m helpless or sickly, especially since this is the first time in ages I´ve been sick.

The other thing that made the conversation with my host mom difficult is that she doesn´t speak English, and I have a REALLY hard time understanding her because she talks so fast! She started crying in the middle of the conversation today because she thought I was sad when I really just didn´t feel good. She was asking if I was happy here with their family and I kept telling her I really like her family here in Iquique. Then she felt bad because she thought her cooking had made me sick, but she´s a great cook! I just am not used to the water yet and was trying to explain, but she couldn´t understand anything I was saying and then I felt really crappy because I´ve studied Spanish and am trying so hard to learn more, and she didn´t seem to understand me at all. I was starting to feel really stupid and frustrated with myself. Then Santiago, one of the brothers, came and told me that my host mother is deaf in one ear and can´t hear very well, that it isn´t me and not to feel bad. He said that everyone else usually understands a lot of what I´m saying, and learning a language is hard. After that I felt a lot better about things and he helped translate to my host mom what was going on.

I really like Iquique (except for all the pollution here) but just felt annoyed with myself because I hate being sick, waited on, and just sitting around doing nothing when there is so much out there to DO!!!! I guess I need to work on being more patient:)

For a little bit this afternoon, Artemio, my host mom, and I went to El Centro (downtown) because I needed to buy some more formal clothes for teaching. It turns out the khaki dress pants I brought with don´t fit at all anymore, so I needed a second pair of dress pants. Either I haven´t had to dress business casual in a while, or the combination of veganism and more running is making me slim down a little more. I´m not sure, because I´m still eating pretty well. I found a pair of brown dress pants and a black suit jacket. I should have brought one of the ones from back home, but the program said I could wear polo shirts and jeans to class, and then I ended up in a techical/ prep school where teachers HAVE to dress formally every day. Mondays are ´formal´dress, aka black pants, black shoes, collared shirt, and suit jacket. The rest of the week we can wear black,brown, or khaki pants and a regular shirt. At least now I have school attire. It was kind of fun shopping w my host family bc my host mom wanted me to try on everything and have her make sure it looked okay. My host mom also loves shoe shopping!!! It was fun trying shoes on, but I didn´t buy any due to limited space in my suitcase for when I eventually go back home. After shopping I went running. I ran from the house to school and back, and it took a shade over an hour.

A part of me wonders if I´ll eat cheese again when I return to the US. I will kind of miss the raviolis and kyle sandwiches (especially the ones with pepper jack), but then again, they don´t have those things in Chile, so I can´t really miss them. Pizza without cheese is pretty good actually. I like the whole veganism thing so far. Except for this weekend, I´ve felt a lot healthier and including this weekend, still have more energy. There have been times I wanted cheese, mainly bc it would be easier to find food I can eat. Plus, I LIKE cheese... But I really like the idea of not eating or using animal products. And except for yesterday and today, I haven´t had to deal with problems of stomachaches from eating too much cheese. Grr. stupid water...I thought that only happened in Mexico...

On Friday morning I had to go to this conference for English teachers at la Universidad Arturo Prat from 9am until 1. It was pretty boring although it was nice meeting some of the other English teachers. I kind of wish I´d been able to sleep in for once, but no such luck. After the conference I wanted to take a nap but decided that since the sun was shining and the skies were bright blue, I might as well enjoy the sun and go running along the beaches.

Then Artemio, Santiago, and I went hiking / climbing up this giant hill-slash-sand dune called Cerro Dragón, which is only a few blocks up the hill from our house. It was really pretty seeing the city lights from up there. We climbed to the top and enjoyed the views of Iquique. Going at night was a good idea.

Yesterday morning I wasn´t feeling well again but just lounged around the house most of the day. By the evening I felt a lot better and joined Santiago and Manuel for drinks at this bar called Ron y Tequila on Paseo Baquedano. Two of their friends, Daniela and Jorge, were there. Both of them seemed really nice. We´d planned on going to the casino, but the lines were really long and none of us felt like waiting. Later that night my host dad asked what I´d ordered to drink. When I told him I ordered mango sours, he started laughing and predicted that I will stay in Iquique for a long time because it´s a drink typical of Iquique. I wonder if that´ll be true, or how long I will really be in Iquique for.

written by  Sara Florecita on August 8, 2010 from Iquique, Chile
from the travel blog: año de dos inviernos (Chile 2010)
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