A Day in the Life of Me in Arica

I realized that I've only been taking pictures of sightseeing and special trips, and I've only been writing about the excursions and crazy stuff. I want to remember my actual life in Arica, so I decided to do a day in the life. I don't remember which day this was, but it was sometime this past week. I took lots of fun pictures of a typical day, and I'll try to kind of explain it too...  :-)

Our living room!

I woke up and had breakfast with dad and Irma, my nana. Breakfast is pancito, basically a roll with butter or jam or cheese, and tea. After breakfast, I get on my bike to ride to class! it's quite the ordeal to get out of the little patio/garden area because the biggest of the 3 dogs, Jimmy, always tries to run away when I open the door. So I have to let him out of the yard onto the porch, then lock the door from the porch to the yard, so I can open the gate from the yard to the outside, walk out with my bike, and then tell Irma she can let him back into the yard. It is crazy, but we've gotten it down to a science.

The dogs trying to get in the porch gate
Tachito, Jimmy, and Rex

So then I ride my bike to school...it's a nice ride because it's on a big street that isn't too busy. I pass by a bunch of Almacenes, which are little stores that sell bread and usually sodas, yogurt, chips, cookies, and sometimes random cosmetic supplies. I go by lots of random people hanging in the streets and usually get a few piropos (cat calls) but they're usually sweet on this back road...something along the lines of a smoochy sound or a quiet "ayy que linda" (oh how pretty). I think at this point I've just gotten used to the way the men are here and just laugh when a little 15-year-old boy tries to do the same.

on my way to school

on my way to school

on my way to school

 Then I get to the university and the doormen say Hola Hannah, and they're super excited that they always remember my name but nobody here can say it right so I just laugh and they let me into this gated area where they watch my bike for me.  :-)

My bike buddies at the university!

Hanging out on campus-we are very brave for sitting on these benches because they're super covered with birdpoop!

      I got to my Spanish class literally right as the teacher Karin was about to start talking. As always, just in the knick of time. I'm in the middle level of Spanish, and there are 8 other kids in my class.

My Spanish class

     Once a week go on an exursion, basically a field trip for big kids. This time we went to A Teleton, which is a child rehabilitation center. There was a presentation on how the center was formed and how the center works, and then we got to walk through the center to see the pool, arts & crafts room, PT room, and basketball court. It was really amazing and just the kind of place I've always pictured myself working someday. It turns out there is a Teleton in Temuco, where I want to go to do my ISP. So now I'm actually thinking of changing my entire ISP to work in the Teleton. I already turned in a proposal for my ISP, but I could probably change it if I had to, and the Director said it's not too late to change topics. (We're leaving for the south in 5 days, but it is possible!)
     After class, I rode my bike back home for almuerzo, lunch. In latin America, lunch is the big mean of the day. It's like dinner is in the US. We had some kind of beef..I never know exactly what I'm eating here.. with rice and salad. And my mom makes this really good juice out of honeydew melon. After lunch, I did a little bit of work on my computer and went to FSS (Field studies seminar class). After class, I went to Casa SIT. Casa SIT is the office building for my program. We worked on things for the seder we're planning..lots of cooking and putting together a Spanish/Hebrew/English hagaddah...it has been quite a process but it's coming out so well!
  I have a nice little routine of making my way home right around sunset when it starts to get dark..just in time to tomar te! (have tea/dinner) Dinner isn't a big meal, but we have more pancito bread and tea! And sometimes I put Manjar spread on it...it is so amazing! There will be a separate blog in the near future about manjar...no worries. But it is really good and I eat a lot of it! The picture is of my dad showing the lovely pancito bread that I eat twice a day, every single day. I'm surprised I'm not dreaming of pancito at this point, and it's pretty amazing that I haven't gotten sick of it yet. He saw this picture and decided he needed to look more macho, so the second picture is him stabbing the pancito with a knife. :-)  And the other picture is our cute little table where we have our means and tea!