Why didn't I go to ND?

So I got in trouble for the first time at school the other day. Apparently us gringos are too loud in the computer lab at school and the head of the english department gave us a gentle warning of sorts. At least we are living up to the american reputation of being loud and obnoxious.

I have been training much harder for the half marathon. I have recently acquired a trainer. He is one of the track coaches at the school and has been friends with the group that has been here. His name Mateas (sp?). Same age as myself and really cool. He came up to me about two weeks and offered to create a workout plan for me and to kind of be my trainer. Was he implying that I look skinny? Anyways, he is getting me ready for the half marathon right now, and he told me the other day that once that is done, we will change our workout routine and make me mas fuerte. He must really think I need to work out...

Two weekends ago was the Santiago Athletico which is basically the largest track event is Chile for middle and high school students. It was hosted at the national stadium and the main attraction definitely was not the competitors. Every school that was there (roughly 30) was given its own section in the upper levels of the stadium. Each section was completely packed with its students and they all wore their school colors. Stages were set up at the base of each section for each school crowd cheering leaders and they were definitely cheering. The place was nuts and at one point, during the track and field competition, the announcer would come over the loud speaker, announce the name of a school and then that school would break out into some choreographed cheer with props and all. Each school went in turn and then they were judged on their performance. We came in 9th. During the entire day, there were numerous times that the announcer would have to ask the fans (students) to be quiet in order to hear the gun to start the races.

So last weekend was a bit rediculous. It really began on Wednesday of last week which was Halloween. The ND group ahead of us threw a party at the apartment. We all went as characters of Gilligan's island (i was gilligan). We worked in some beer pong and flip cup although the flip cup was a bit dissapointing because these chileans here suck at it. The party didnt even really get started until about 1:00 in the morning with loud music and dancing in the living room and it probably reached its peak at about 4:00. I crashed at about 5:00 and i think everyone left by 6:00ish.

The next day, both ND groups left with our director, Kat, who had flown down from ND, to go on a retreat for four days. We got a large van from the school and drove out about two hours from santiago into the mountains to an area called Cajon del Maipo. We stayed at a refugio there in the valley between several towering mountains. Immediately when we got there we made our way to the hot mineral springs to recover from the previous night's party. The water was amazing and I am pretty sure I gained an extra ten years of life by swimming in it. The food at the refugio was amazing as well.

The next day we had some reflection time in the morning followed by a hike through a picturesk green valley to nearly the base of a glacier. I had my first snow ball fight of the year there, saw wild horses and just soaked in the views. The next day a bunch of us had planned on doing a full day hike into a different mountain but two of the girls didnt want to, nor were they really capable, so we had to accomadate them and all drive (the were either too scared or incapable of driving the stick shift on the rocky roads) to some stupid market about an hour away so they could shop and other stupid stuff. Me and Brian just wandered away to find a soccer game to watch. We were in one of the most beautiful places and we had to leave to go SHOPPING. Anyways, we got a shorter 3 hour hike in up a steep mountain with some difficult, if not dangerous parts. We got up there just in time to see the sunset. That night we had more reflections and sharing around a fire.

So how did we end our retreat? Good question, Kristy. We went to a vineyard. Yup, the last day of our retreat was spent touring a vineyard, drinking some wine, and purchasing a huge 5 liter bottle of wine. The entire retreat, excluding the 5 liter bottle of wine, was payed for by ND. So i feel i am entitled to make the gross generalization that all ND retreats are like that, so I have to wonder, why didnt i go to ND?

To end on a boring note. School has been going well. I am finally receiving some work to do. This past week I had to create a test covering two chapters for all the 10th grade classes and this upcoming week i will be doing some teaching. Last thursday, three of us went to another Holy Cross school to tutuor english. This school serves only poor students and has a great vision. It was amazing to see though the difference in their level of english compared to the english at my normal school, Saint George's. These students hardly knew any english and they were in 8th grade and had been taking it for several years. It is a good school too but I definitely think that this displayed the difference in social classes here. The richer students at Saint George speak exponentially better than these students.

Ok, in the collage, the first two pictures are from the first hike, the third and fourth are views from the refugio, the middle one is from teh mineral baths, the next is from teh second hike, the bottom two on the left are from the vineyard and the last is all of us dressed up for the halloween party.