Just real quick...

Hey everyone! I don't have too much time, but I figured I give you all a little heads up... this is officially my last week in Santiago! (I can fill you in about this past week in person when I'm home, okay? Okay!)

These next couple days will be absolutely filled with school stuff (3 exams, 2 essays, and 1 presentation), yet it still feels like I still have a coupe more months to go! Weird, huh? Saturday morning I had off to Peru, and I'll be traveling to Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and Lima. On December 1, we head off to Buenos Aires. Happy birthday to meee! We're still figuring out plans there, but I think we might be going to the Iguazu Falls and/or taking a ferry to Montevideo. (We have to wait and see how much money we have...). I come back to Santiago on December 10 then fly out the next night to come home!! I'll be in Detroit on December 12 at 11:30 AM. And we're having a party on the 13th, so if you're in the hood, stop on by!

It's so weird to be leaving soon. I already said goodbye to my aunt. She woke me up yesterday morning and was like "Bye Jenni. Never in my life will I ever see you again. Okay bye!" Buuuut, I think I may have convinced a friend of mine to come visit me, so yaaaay! But really, though, I'm actually going to miss Chile alot. I've met so many amazing new people, and the sad reality is is that I'll probably never see alot of them ever again. Verdict is: Jenni is happy she came to Chile and is sad to be leaving. Don't worry, I'm super excited to see all of you again too!

Annnd here's a little something to leave you with.... I came home a couple days ago and turned on my camera just to look at my picture. Mind you, I keep my camera in the drawer of my nightstand. So I took it out and turned it on... and this is what I found:



It kind of scares me that she went into my room and found my camera, but seriously - how freaking adorable.


Besos y abrazos!

Time is flying!

Last Sunday I went rafting in Cajón del Maipo, which is about a 45 minute busride southeast of Santiago. The day before was really hot and alot of the snow from the mountains melted into the river, making the waves super big. The guy said that a raft had flipped the day before too! Yikes. Anyways, it was tons o' fun!
















I'm the one in the red. The waves aren't very big in this picture, but there were some moments where I felt like I was on the Titanic as it was sinking. Like, you'd see a huge wave coming at you, and all you could do is wave your paddle at it.
















At one spot in the river the guide told us we could jump in and go swimming. One of my friends jumped in and I followed right along because, frankly, sometimes I don't think. Let me tell you, that water was freaking cold.
















The scenery was beautiful though. At the end of the trip the water was a little more calm, and when we went around this little bend, suddenly there was a bunch of cows standing on the side of the river. Cows!! Cows in a river!!

When we finished rafting, we walked back up to the main road to try to figure out a way home. A couple was just pulling out of the parking lot and asked if we wanted a ride back to Santiago. Of course we said yes, so we hopped in. Gonzalo and Consuelo, that's them. Yeah, they were really nice and very talkative. This was still before the election, so they asked us a bunch of questions, like if we could vote and who we were voting for. Like all Chileans I've talked to, they loved Obama and Gonzalo went so far as to say that "Bush is the devil." Anyways, so we were driving down this windy mountain road and Consuelo suddenly reaches under her seat and grabs a beer. So I'm thinking, Hmm, ok. There's a possibility that this a little illegal. And then she hands the beer to Gonzalo, who is driving. Yep, this is definately illegal. But no worries -- we made it home safe and sound.

On Tuesday I just wasn't in the mood to stay up til 3AM to figure out who won. So I went to bed. When I woke up Wednesday morning, I walked out of my room and Patty came running up to me and gave me a big hug, saying "Obama won! Obama won! Jennita, it was a landslide! Yaaay!" Obama was on the cover of all the newspapers too.

On Thursday night I went salsa dancing with some of the people from my YMCA class, and it's official -- I cannot dance. Really, I'm awful. Gonzalo, my friend who was trying to teach me and not the drunk driver, kept telling me, "Listen to the music! Feel the rhythm!" Um, yeah, okay, like you guys know me. I'm a musical-ish person. Like, I know rhythm. Right? Right guys?!? Ugh. I blame it on the song. It had stupid rhythm. Yeah, so I can't dance, but I still try my darnedest and I have a blast doing it, even though I look like a dufus.

Tonight I'm going to a Juanes concert! He's a singer from Colombia. And tomorrow I'm going on a fieldtrip with my YMCA class! Only two weeks left of classes -- yikes! I'm actually getting kind of sad that I'll be leaving all my friends. Don't worry, I'm also super excited to see all of you when I get back!

I can't believe this.

You will never guess what I did Thursday night. Never in my life would I have thought I'd do something like this. I went... I went....... to a 50 Cent concert. No, not a concert that cost 50 cents. Like, it was a concert featuring the rapper 50 Cent.
























Yes, seeing those abs in person was totally worth the $23 I spent on the ticket. A friend of mine asked me if he rapped in Spanish. Heh, like I could tell. 50 (Fiddy?) needs to enunciate. However, one of the things I did understand was when he yelled, "Alright, Chile... how many of you smoke WEEEEEEDDDD?!?!?" It was weird because first the arena smelled like cigarette smoke, and then marijuana, but then it smelled like a campfire for a while. But after 50 asked about the whole weed thing, the lovely aroma of pot became much more prominent. Yahoo.


















This before the concert. Get it? "50"?


Last night my friend Catherine had a fiesta de Halloween at her apartment. It was actually planned by her land lady, who instructed all of us to bring common dishes from our respective countries of origin for dinner. It was like an international Thanksgiving! There was food from France, Colombia, the Caribbean, Pakistan, and of course, Chile and the US. I brought Pringles. Original and Barbeque.

Can you guess what I was for Halloween?























I was a stoplight (un semáforo)! Patty could not stop laughing when I showed her.


These next 3 weeks are filled with presentations, papers, and exams, but I'll try to keep you updated with my goings-on. I don't know if that's a word or not but it sounded right in my head... hmm. Oh, and I'm going white-water rafting tomorrow at Cajon de Maipo, so hopefully I'll be able to put up pictures of that soon! Hope you all had a happy halloween!!

Besos y abrazos!


P.S. Here's a little reminder!!