so....snort snort, my classes start today.....i{m pumped. actually i only have one class today, and you know what? they SOOOO have daylight savings time here, and i SO didn{t remember that. So i got here an hour early, walked around the building in a panic wondering why no one was in my classroom, doing that inevitable super-dorky thing where you KNOW that if you try to talk to anyone, you wil bust out crying ON YOUR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, WITH EVERYONE WATCHING. of course i assumed that all the clocks were wrong, in the whole country. then i got TOLD. and who needs that? so now, things are better. someitmes you need to get TOLD.

hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, i am wondering whether to like, enter all¬most of my paper diary into here, if that would be a good use of my time or not. i can{t decide. maybe for now i will just give some raw details, such as:

i am living in Valparaíso, next to the Pacific Ocean, on a steep-ass hill, in a flat, with a family of five.

I love it here

i am trying my durndest to larn me some spanish fluency

i am taking two gringo classes ('gringo' is not necessarily a derogatory word here), one dance class, one voice class, one anthropology class, one social work class and one make-home-for-street-kids class.

i cannot figure out how to use the keyboards around here

i miss home

this country was liberated from spanish colonial rule by a man named bernardo

o'higgins. omg omg try not to laugh if you say that name 5 times, or maybe one time really slowly. cause in spanish is sounds like ^bayrNARdo O'HEE-geens^

the downtown of this city is flat, but then all the houses are precariously built upon enormous, steep-ass hills and every possible inch of space has been used, and there is graffitti and art on every wall, and if you walk around you are surprised by views of the bay and the ocean....the streets were not planned out so they make this labyrinth of potential being-lostness....

there is SO MUCH COLOR everywhere, and noise

here there are thousands of packs of stray dogs that run around because they have no animal control but it is illegal to kill them...so there's also dog shit EVERYWHERE

it is considered rude to be barefoot in the house, and also rude to keep your hands in your lap during meals

for the first time in my life i am considered a target for attack for many reasons, mostly because of my gender choice and my skin color. for the first time i am REALLY REALLY REALLY not supposed to walk alone after dark and for the first time if i do, then i am considered to be asking for robbery or rape. this is really inconvenient.

chileans love to eat completos, which are giant hot dogs with avocados on top. they also put oil and salt on everything. they salt their lettuce, for christ's sake!!!

they are amused by vegetarianism, which is good cause it got my foot in the door with my family, who is consistently amused by my radical opinions.

i am experiencing the culture of a society i have studied for years, and am living the politics i preached for so long. am seeing the reality of life and seeing that people are either not willing to talk about coups, disappearances, violence, or they have moved on and think it foolish to dwell on it. seeing the foollishness of politics, and also the value of politics.

i always think i'm doing great, then i talk to my folks back home and have some heartache...

a thousand more things that i could say, as usual...i will say more later i think.....i have class in a minute, so i am going to go eat a delicious nectarine and think about getting a seat...peace out down south 2003