Play That Funky Music White Boy

Okay, so the title of this entry has nothing to do with anything except that I have that song stuck in my head! Sorry for being such a downer the last entry. I am in much higher spirits! I am still sickly, but Melissa is feeling better, and I am sick of sitting in my room. So, we are out and about today. My family is making PAELLA for lunch! Woohoo! After that, we are going to do a little bit of shopping - I am looking for some pajamas that my little sister here has that are fabulous! I don't know what they are called, but they are the kind that toddlers wear that have the footsies attached and the shirt attached and everything. Yes, they make them for grown-ups too! Then tonight, we got invited to a fiesta that we might go to. Tomorrow, we will probably pretend to be tourists again (haha I guess we're not really pretending though...)

Melissa and I were talking today about remedies for sicknesses that different cultures prescribe. For example, in the States, we usually eat chicken noodle soup, Sprite, and saltine crackers when we are sick. Does Sprite really help? I don't know. Here, they want you to drink hot tea with lemon, plain burnt toast, plain noodles, and plain chicken. Oh, and we cannot forget the healing powers of our dear friend Coca Cola. Someone in our class from Germany says that when they have colds, they sleep with dirty socks around their necks, which is supposed to somehow absorb the cold. I am sure other cultures vary as well!

I spent some good quality time in the apartment yesterday. It was FREEZING and raining and yucky out, so I wore three pairs of socks, a long sleeve shirt, sweater, fleece pull-over, and another sweater over that. Then, I was still cold so I crawled underneath my blankets and took a little nap. I have lots of layers of blankets, which is fabulous! Sheets, a fleece blanket, a comforter folded in half (like having two more blankets) and a comforter over that. After that, I had some hot tea and watched some Chilean sitcoms. Oh, and I watched Threes Company Too in Spanish! Fun stuff! I love watching American television in Spanish. Very entertaining!

Really REALLY Sick of being Sick (This time I mean it!)

Sorry I haven't written in such a long time. I haven't really had the chance to use the internet much because I am still sick. (By the way, sorry in adcance for typos - I am typing with gloves on which is kind of hard, but it's better than being cold!) I missed class twice this week, and made myself go the other three days because the material we are covering is pretty complex. I've had the worst cold of my life - most of you are probably thinking, "She just has a cold? That's it?" but you can only imagine! It's been a cycle of headaches, stomach aches, fevers, and of course all of the cold symptoms. First, it was just headache, stomach ache, sore throat, and cough. That calmed down, but then I had a runny nose - wait, thzat's an understatement - my nose turned into a faucet of mucus. Plus, my eyes kept watering, so I had red, puffy, swollen eyes and looked like my aunt just died or something. After blowing my nose so many times, my nose started to peel and I got three cold sores on my mouth, and - didn't know this was possiblew - a HUGE cold sore on my right nostral. Grossest thing I've ever seen! I am sorry that I am complaining so much -I have just been so miserable. Plus it's been cold and rainy and miserable and I have spent most of my time in bed trying to recooperate.

Melissa and I were going to go skiing or to Isla Negra this weekend, but seeing as we haven't been super healthy, we can't. Maybe we can go see some museums or something. Last weekend we were able to go to the zoo, which was pretty fun. They had porcupines, polar bears, penguins (out in the open - didn't even need a special refridgerated room!), seals, camels, mountain goats, reindeer, and a whole bunch of monkeys! I liked the orangatanes (spelling?) the best - those are the ones with the pink butts, right? They were so funny! They kept picking each other's butts and eating whatever it is they found. One of them had a little baby, too which was cool. The zoo is on this mountain/hill thing (called a cerro I think) on which you can ride special elevator-type things up the mountain (like the ones you ride at Silver Dollar City in the caves) and then you can also go down the mountain in these bubble-like ski lift things. Sorry for the lack of vocabulary - I know the words in Spanish but not in English.

Sorry for being so negative, but I am just down in the dumps and ready to come home. I am sure Chile is fun and beautiful during it's summertime, but it sure is miserable in the wintertime. Just a little over a week and I will be home! I will try to prepare myself for 90 degree weather if you allo can prepare yourselves for a really really pale Alli.