El fin de semana!

Hola!!
This last weekend (Happy Labor Day!!) was my 4th weekend here!!! (a month will be this friday! where has the month gone!?!? WOW!). And what a weekend it was! Thursday we had class and then Ashton and I went to look for ski clothes and empanadas! (i already know im going to miss empanadas when i get back to the states). That was sort of an adventure because suddenly when we wanted a cheese empanada the most, they were nowhere to be found... We thought we finally found some at this big resturant thing (the red umbrellas on calle valpo) so we sat down and went to order (no menus, they just post what they have on the windows and such) and they dont have any cheese empanadas, only pino. Pino isn't bad but when you want a cheese empanada, you can only have cheese. hahahahaha so we ask where we can get cheese empanadas and he shouts to the host at the resturant next to us if they have cheese empanadas, which they do, and so he buys two cheese empanadas from them and serves them to us at his resturant! crazy! hahahaaha. then when we asked for the bill they brought us these dessert shot things (we saw them at the other tables but thought they had ordered them or something...). It wasn't really alcoholic, just sweet. Fine to try but really no need to do it again... hahahaha Then we searched for a second hand store to look for some ski clothes or something with no luck because we had to go to the social responsabilities workshop thing. After class I went to Joey's to borrow some of his stuff since he wasn't goign, but had it all because he had skied the week before the program started and then went home and hung out there for the night.
Friday we had to meet at 6:30 to go skiing!!! So i set my alarms for 5:30, one of which doesn't go off (nor has it since the 1st week I've been here) and the other i just turned off for a few minutes... Next thing I know its 6:09 and I am still in bed. So i throw everything on and go to run out the door and my mom is trying to serve me breakfast (the night before I told her i had to leave the house at 6) so that was a little funny because even though I told her I had to leave at 6 and that i was late, i am in latin america, so there is no such thing as late or schedules really. hahahah anyway i ran to the bus and i wasn't the last one so that was good. There were 5 people from my program and then like 15 from the advanced program (which was weird because the girl in my program had set it up...). We drove through Vina to Santiago, through santiago to valle Nevado. I slept through all of vina and santiago but not the drive up to the resort... Thats an experience. The road is "2 lanes" but they really only let one way go at a time (ie its closed from like 6 am to 12 pm for those wanting to go down, and vice versa after 12) and you dont really ahve a gradual elevation gain, you just wind back and forth up the mountain. And these turns were far too sharp and i really have no idea how we didn't roll (we were in a micro sorta, regualr tour buses couldnt fit on the road let alone make the turns). So when we finally got there it was a lot different then i had expected. We went from sea level to about 2 or so miles up (in 3 hours) which was neat! But there also doesnt get to be snow until about 9000 feet or so, so the entire ski resort was above treeline. Its really weird to ski without any trees! And i understand why its called valle nevado (snow valley), it was not very steep and more rolling. They have 4 levels of difficulty. Green, blue, red and black. and everything is groomed... so really its all blue because nothing is that steep and if it is a little steeper, its groomed... There was one high speed lift (Andes express) like 3 other chair lifts and then maybe 3 poma lifts? But the pomas were long! one was longer then the high speed quad for sure, so that was wierd. By being that high up though there were some awesome views!! I have a ton of pictures and I will try to put some up here soon. It was a great day! Sunny and warm, like spring skiing! the snow was even slushy by about noon... hahahaha When we got home (around 9 or 10?) i came in talked briefly to my family and went to bed. I have the slighest goggle tan, at home people wouldn't even notice it, let alone say anything, well pretty much the first thing my family noticed/said was about my goggle tan! And then when i was getting ready for bed, my other brother (who wasn't at the table when i got home) came up and was talking to me and pointed out my goggle tan and said not to worry because I can probably cover it up with makeup! hahahahahaha At home goggle tans are cool, but here... hahahaha then on sunday i saw Fran and she made a comment about my tan line! hahahahaha (yet none of the gringos noticed, even when i pointed it out they go oh yeah now that you say something i see it, but i didn't even notice). so that was pretty funny.
Saturday was pretty calm. I did a little homework and then after lunch went to the beach to watch the sunset and learn how to knit! hahahaha. me and a few of the girls bought some yarn and knitting needles because after class we have all this time, not a lot of homework and nothing to do. so we are taking up knitting! hahahaha so we sat on the beach and knitted a little (and the two boys we were with knew how to knit too! hahahahaha) and took a lot of pictures and just hung out which was pretty fun. We have some really awesome fun pictures which i will try to put up later as well. After the beach I went home to change and then we met up at a mexican resturant called Margarita for dinner. It was alright, had more flavor then most things I have eaten here, but not the same thats for sure. and expensive... we went and got ice cream afterwards, then a bar for a drink and were home by midnight! hahahaha not at all the chileno way! hahaha
Sunday was really mellow too, just hung out and did some more homework and stuff. my sister was studying for an chemistry quiz, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY!!!! that just blew my mind, 17 and learning some organic chem as part of her high school reqs! (i think she said its just a unit in the chem class? but still thats awful!!) then around 7 I met up with most of the group and we went to a Chileno concert. That was soooo cool! The group is called Inti Illimani and they are from the 60s and 70s (but got banned from the country when Pinochet took power) and its the typical chileno music. like chileno country sorta?? it reminded me of bluegrass/folk/tribal music. hard to explain but really cool. and it was cool when the whole audience would sing along and clap and dance and everything.
So overall it was a pretty good weekend. Skiing, beach, and concert all in the same weekend! wooo!!!!
anyway I will try to upload some pictures again later this week or something. have a good labor day!
buenas tardes!