Life

Hi all! It's taken me a while to update once again, but still, I have no internet at my house. My host sister keeps telling me that someone is going to fix it, however each day comes and I am still left without a connection to the outside world other than my lovely PC. But, it is a new week, and I am hopeful that something will happen now, mostly because I was messing with the internet while my host family was away visiting relatives and am pretty sure I broke ALL the internet in the house, including the PC.
I start my classes tomorrow at UaCH and am starting to get a little nervous about it. We literally just 'scheduled' them (if you can even call it that) on Friday, and they begin on Monday. As of now, I am signed up to take 2 grammar/writing courses and a journalism class, which I think is going to be a challenge. One of the class requirements is to make a mock interview/mini movie (in Spanish, of course) and present it to the class! It will probably be very difficult and I may have a slight panic attack, but I think I can do it. Luckily my gringo classmates will be with me in all of my classes, so I at least will be able to have them to help out. We are actually supposed to take a history class, but for some reason the teacher wouldn't allow us into it. So we are on the hunt for another class...
Life in Chile is good. We have spent the last week exploring the town and getting to know our area, and I'm pretty confident in saying that I now know my way around Valdivia, and have a pretty good idea of the Chilean lifestyle. It is very, very different than at home. The whole shopping experience here is so weird. Based on the stores that we have gone to, I will say as of right now, that Chileans have the most insufficient form of checking out I have ever seen! Lol. For example, we went to a store to buy school supplies downtown, I thought there was two counters to go to, so I walked up, put down my things and the guy behind the counter rang them up, gave me a receipt, and then gave my things to the other girl at the cash register next to him. Then, I had to give HER my receipt that the other guy just gave me, and then SHE rang it through her register and I paid her. It was very confusing. At the pharmacy, you have to take a number like you are at the deli in order to have someone check you out. And if you miss it then they just skip over you and you have to just mosey your way up and make them ring you up (as you can imagine may or may not have happened to us...). And the grocery store line moves slower than molasses. But, I have also learned here that time is not an issue in Chile. When you go to a restaurant, expect to be there for a while, because the service is not fast. It's not bad service, the waiters/waitresses are friendly and nice and helpful, but time is not accounted for down here. It's just the way of life I guess. Which for me, actually, is awesome because anyone who knows me knows that I have no regard for time, or being on time, or waking up on time, ect. Thinking about that now, it's hard to believe I have been here for almost 2 weeks!
This upcoming week should be interesting, I'm sure I will have lots to talk about. We are planning on visiting the Kunstmann Brewery at some point this week and maybe planning a trip somewhere this weekend!
P.S. The earthquake didn't affect us in Valdivia at all, there was a little damage in northern Chile and Easter Island, but I was safe and sound down here :)