sometimes the days just blur together (domingo, 3 octubre)

Friday during the day was really productive. I finished writing a paper for my online Spanish course, went on a run along the beaches and to the plaza, finished another drawing, and learned to sing and play two new songs (one of them in Spanish!)

Friday night I was feeling in a pretty social mood and wanted to go out, but at first everyone I talked to felt like staying in. I was beginning to feel like a bit of a social loser when I got a message from Caroline saying that she and Elisabeth were going to Siddhartha Lounge, a bar in the Mall de las Américas. I took a colectivo there, and on the way there talked to the driver and other passenger, who were about my age. Hanging out at the bar with Caroline and Elisabeth was fun. We had a chance to catch up, even though we had to pretty much yell at each other across the table in order to hear what we were saying. Then Elisabeth started dancing, even though no one else there was. She can dance really well. Part of me wishes I was Latin-American because I haven´t met a latinoamericano who can´t dance well. There were three Chileans and a British guy at the table next to ours and one of them got up to dance with Elisabeth. A little while later she convinced me to dance too, so I did. We had a few more drinks and talked to them, but then Elisabeth and Caroline decided to go home. I went to Cabala, another place near my school with the four guys for a while, where they introduced me to more of their friends.

When I left Cabala it was light outside. It seemed like the night had flown by so quickly. I took a colectivo back to my house but wasn´t able to sleep, so I stayed up for a while killing time on the computer. I tried to sleep but just tossed and turned. At 10am I went to Víctor´s house for my tattoo appointment. We walked around outside enjoying the sun and met Ernesto by Playa Cavancha.

My tattoo turned out really nice. I´m in the process of getting a half-sleeve on my left arm, but am getting it done in sections since doing it in one sitting would be too painful and long. Today I got a lotus flower right above my elbow. It´s mostly in shades of purples with a little bit of pink, and the water is light blue. The lotus is a traditional symbol of hope and purity, of making it through hard times and then blossoming above the murkiness. It also represents spring, peace, and tranquility. It took about three hours to have it done, and fortunately it didn´t hurt too badly. Only parts of it were kind of painful. I was relieved that it didn´t feel worse because for some reason the turtle I got last week hurt a lot more.

When I left Víctor´s, it was sunny and gorgeous outside, so I went on a walk down to the Centro. I feel like I´m getting to know my way around Iquique much better. When I got back home I showered, practiced the two new songs I´m learning (´Story´by Brandi Carlile and ´Cuando los sapos bailen flamenco´by Ella Baila Sola). I hadn´t planned on going out again, but Ernesto invited me to hang out with him and Víctor and their group of friends, so I headed back to the centro. I met five of their friends and they all seemed really cool. In many ways it feels like I´ve known them a lot longer than just one day. We all got along really well and they were asking me a lot of questions (the usual, why am I here, what do I do, where am I from, what is Chicago like? ...etc). A few of them can speak a little bit of English, so they were talking in English as well. I had a really good time and for the second day in a row, the sun was coming up from behind the sand dunes when I finally got back to my house.

I slept in until 4 in the afternoon, but felt refreshed when I got up. I woke up just in time for almuerzo (lunch). One thing that´s kind of weird is that my host family eats lunch between 3 and 4pm. We always eat lunch together on Sundays because my host mom doesn´t have to work, and the rest of us aren´t at school. She made rice and corn, a plate of broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes, and avocados, and homemade french fries (the rest of them also had chicken). A few weeks ago my host mom decided to become a vegetarian of sorts because she wanted to lose weight (I explained to her that I was thin before I became vegetarian, but she still wanted to try it for a while). She won´t eat any chicken, beef, pork, etc during the week, but on Sundays she´ll eat meat. However, I´ve still noticed her eating cakes and other desserts, so I´m not quite sure if she really thinks she can lose weight by just not eating meat but not eating healthily. Of course, when she asked the family if she looked different, all three of my host brothers and host dad nodded their heads and told her she looks much thinner (I didn´t notice a significant difference, and I´m pretty sure they didn´t want to hurt her feelings). After almuerzo I worked on making another poster for my class. This one says my name in giant letters. I finally decided to make a sign with my name to put in the front of my classroom because I´m getting tired of the students repeatedly asking me what my name is. I´ll tell them and write it on the board, and the next day, someone else asks me, ´Miss, what is your name?´So problem fixed...now I can just point to the sign. On a side note, most of them can pronounce my last name. When I first got to Colegio Inglés, they struggled with the ´th´sound. I´ve been making them practice that, and now they can say my name correctly:)

Well, I´m headed off now to meet Eric and hopefully figure out some ideas for the presentation I´m supposed to give at the English teachers´ meeting tomorrow night.

written by  Sara Florecita on October 3, 2010 from Iquique, Chile
from the travel blog: año de dos inviernos (Chile 2010)
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