Chilean RYLA

This last weekend I joined 29 fellow foreign exchange students and about 30 chilean exchange-student-to-be's at RYLA.
You may be familiar with RYLA. It stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and is another of Rotary's youth programs. In some districts, like in Northern Indiana, you don't have to be in RYE to do RYLA. In my district here however, it's only for us kids in RYE. Probably because there are 60 of us here and only 12 of us there. XD
Anyway, in both of my districts it's pretty much the same amazingly fun weekend. We hang out, do camp activities, eat food and listen to inspirational speakers. But the best part is the company. I absolutely love hanging out with these people! I love talking about politics with people who realise what it is right. I love hanging out with people who know all the ups and downs of being an exchange student. And I love being around people my age who share my priorities.
The number 1 best thing about RYE is having the chance to know all of the amazing people that I have. My exchange student peeps, all of my chileans, and the rotarians.
I had a really bad cold last weekend, but it was still the most fun I've had in a while. :)

we spent Friday sight seeing around Las Angeles Chile.
This is the Pewenche Museum

the dam on the river Bio Bio that we went to visit

these are the chileans that will begin there adventure next year

us inside the dam

Fact Friday #25- Sports II

Young People and Sports-

In my school, St. Patrick School, they have club sports. However, the table that gives these is in Spanish, so I will do my best.
On Mondays they have girls soccer, futbol e. media, and basketball. On Tuesdays they offer girls rhythmic gymnastics, basic soccer, and volleyball. For Wednesdays there is basketball, artistic gymnastics, and handball. Next, the club sports on Thursdays are hockey, basic soccer, badminton, and volleyball. Finally, for Fridays they offer handball, hockey, and girls rhythmic gymnastics. The Cerro ñielol also offers sports.

Sports Opportunities for Girls and Women-

In Chile, girls have a decent amount of sporting opportunities, as you can see above. However, we are expected to stay home more and not do as many sports as boys. So, it is not a requirement for girls like it is for boys, but it is allowed. However, there is no law like Title 9 in Chile. So there are typically more sports offered in school for boys than for girls.

¿Quieres saber más?-

http://www.footballtop.com/countries/chile
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/football/11/06/first11.rivalries/index.html?iref=24hours
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_Chile
http://www.thisischile.cl/sports-in-chile/?lang=en
http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/clubs/rivalries/newsid=107009/index.html
“Cultures of The World: Chile” by Winter/Roraff, Marshall Cavendish publishing

Isla Negra- Pablo Neruda's Inspiration

You may or not know about chilean poet, diplomat, and nobel prize winning, Pablo Neruda. Now that you do you might want to click the link. Oh, and you can also hear readings of his poems on Spotify, and I imagine in other places as well. Anyway, he had three houses. One in La Chascona (in Santiago I believe), La Sebastiana (in Valparaíso) , and Isla Negra. (oops. sorry. those links are in Spanish. but the pictures are still good). Isla Negra happens to be fairly... ish close Algarrobo, where our beach house is. 

I asked if we could go, like, every time we were in Algarrobo, so my host dad took us one day. My siblings, cousins and I. It is really beautiful and used to be excluded from other human life. So I can see why Neruda spent most of the end of his life, and wrote a ton of poetry, there. I think I could win a Nobel Prize too if I got to wake up to the view of the ocean he had!!! Ok. Maybe not. Or at least not for literature. But it is a really lovely vista. 

However, we only got to see the outside of the house. :'( There's a lot of traffic near the coast in the summer, even on the weekdays. So by the time we got there, it was pretty full. The next tour opening to see the house was in 4 hours, which I would have waited for. However, with three small, and fighting children, it did not seem like a very good idea. So, that was a little disappointing... but I got postcards! Which are very cool. And I got pins for my Rotary jacket. 

It was fun. But if you want to go (which you should) I recommend not going in the summer. Or if you do go then, to go very early. 

First Day of Tercero Medio

Last Thursday was my first actual day of school in a year and a half. I went to school last year, but it was just for the second semester, so I never had a real first day of school. 

School is a lot different now that I can actually speak Spanish. In August last year it was like, "Willow, do you want to go jump off a cliff?"... "sí".Plus for tercero and cuarto medio (junior and senior year) one elects a pathway. In bigger schools there are 3 pathways. Humanist (with a focus in language arts and history), general (a mix of everything everything) and scientific (with a focus in math and science). But in my colegio there is no general. I'm in the scientific pathway (because I like math and am not very good at language arts in Spanish), so my week looks like this:

Monday: 2 hours english, 2 hours history, 2 hours math, 1 hour values, 1 hour elective physics (which is part of the scientific pathway), and another hour of values

Tuesday: 2 hours elective physics, 2 hours language arts, 2 hours physical education, 1 hour music, 1 hour language arts, and 1 hour math elective

Wednesday: 2 hours chemistry, 2 hours philosophy, 1 hour english, 1 hour language arts, 2 hours math, and 1 hour language arts

Thursday: 2 hours english, 2 hours biology elective, 2 hours math elective, 2 hours biology, and 1 hour music

Friday: 1 hour english, 1 hour language arts, 2 hours math, 1 hour home room, 1 hour philosophy, 2 hours history, and 1 hour biology elective

School now is more like school in the US. Because the electives are more intensive, and interesting, and I can actually do the work. 

There are a lot of new teachers this year. One of the new English teachers is from the US. I have yet to talk to her yet, but I really want to. I just haven't had the chance. I go to an "English School" so she gave a speech in English on the first day of school. It's kind of funny because, after she said, "Hello", I knew that she wasn't from Chile. The class mates of my host sister told her, "Look, Willow has a knew friend!" XD XD She has a really strong US accent. In English and Spanish. Afterwards I asked my friends if I talked like that and they said yes, but not anymore. One of the new girls in my class said that she didn't know that I was from the US until we told her. So, hurray! My Spanish isn't perfect, but the fact that my accent's not as blunt anymore is a big step forward. 

I had mixed feelings about starting school, but it feels good to actually do something with myself during the week. Plus I get to see my friends again. :)

my host siblings and I on the 1st day

A Time for Tanning- Summer in Algarrobo

With it's 6,535 km (≈ 4,061 miles) of coastline, Chile has a ton of beaches. Of all of these beaches, Algarrobo is mine. Ok. Go ahead and ask it. My what? My favourite? Like mine as in I own it? Well, by mine I mean the one I've spent the most time at. My beach. The one I know. The one I could never get lost at. Mi playa. 

    So after spending Christmas in el campo and January in Santiago, we headed to Algarrobo, my beach. I have talked about it before, on a lot of occasions, but Algarrobo's different in the summer than any other time of the year. It's fuller, warmer, busier, and funner. Complete with little touristy shops, empanadas with cheese and shrimp, churros filled with manjar, sunsets, and sandy runs. Our daily plan was always "tratando de conquistar el mundo", which basically consisted of reading, tanning, shopping, tree climbing, and swimming. Perfect for a relaxing end to my summer in Chile. 

   Saying that makes me sad. A relaxing end. I don't want it to be the end! I don't want to admit that I only have 3 months left. It's been a lifetime of a year, but I feel like I just got here!! I need another year. I know that's what every single exchange student says, but I didn't think that I would. Well, here I am. I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE US!! Ok. Everyone in the US reading this please know that I love you all. Nothing personal. I just don't want to go back. Just not yet.  

But I did have a really good time in Algarrobo.

Algarrobo beach.

While we were there, there was like a week where the waves were really big and no one could go swimming.
It was still fun to play in the surf though. 

this is el pino at our beach house.
can you find me?
now el pino has a tree house. But I forgot to take a picture.

there I am.
from there I could see the waves on the beach.
Plus it's a whole lot cooler, and no one could bother me. ;b

the inside of our beach house.

we spent a lot of time with our little cousins
who were spending 2 weeks in my grandma's beach house.

this is the birthday party of the littlest one.
It was good to get to see the whole family again.
I got burnt. for like the 5th time though.

I bought these pants in down town Algarrobo. 

remember the part about beautiful sunsets??
oh. and they were over the ocean.

crazy moon!
because holding one's hand still while one takes a night picture is rather hard.
but it turned out rather cool looking

that's better.

do you like the shells in my hair? I got them done in Viña del Mar.
post coming soon

weekend beach excursions