adjustments

the other day i was swaying along on the micro with the crowds of people headed to work and school and i realized something: people weren't staring at me anymore. maybe the "GRINGA" written on my forehead in invisible ink has washed off. a better guess is that i no longer sport the wide-eyed look of confusion and public transportation-induced tension. two people even assumed that i was chilean...

but that was before i had opened my mouth. my cockiness (and mediocre chilena disguise) wears off as soon as i start to talk. i've gotten much better at using more than one verb tense (thank god) but i desperately wish i knew what was happening around me a little more frequently. my vocabulary is limited to pretty much food, basic adjectives, and verbs pertaining to transportation, school and purchases. this is really frustrating sometimes, because i want to talk to my host mom about her life and her opinions about politics and health care in chile, but it requires a lot of sitting and waiting for google to translate our thoughts. today i was thinking about my frustration and it actually reminded me of an activity that maricarmen (the AMAZING director of IES) made us do on the second day. she made us write "i feel frustrated about my level of spanish" on a piece of paper, then tear up the sheet and throw it away. as doofy as it sounds, i feel like it actually helped, and remembering it today even made me feel a little better. after two and a half weeks, i barely have to rely on charades anymore (whereas when i got here i could barely form the words "no, i don't speak spanish" to the guy in customs). my abilities will continue to improve and i am so excited for that.

also, if you are interested in reading my OTHER chile blog, the one i write in weekly to fulfill my scholarship requirements, you can go here. several other students are contributing as well, so there is an interesting mix of perspectives (although we all have the same photos of us cheesin' at the camera). okay, northwestern plug complete.

i'm looking forward to the long weekend we have coming up. even though i'm not going to pucon with most of the other people on the trip, isla negra (one of pablo neruda's three houses) and possibly even valparaiso (fingers crossed) are in my future. to top it all off, my host mom's birthday is this weekend! i have to make her a card...preferably one that incorporates catita's insanity. on top of that, our first clinical observation is tomorrow morning!