it's the small victories, really...

Yesterday was really fun, in the morning I went for a run along this long street near my house called Avenida Americo Vespucio (the guy North and South America are named after). The street is sort of like a long highway but the median is really wide and there's a running trail/little mini parks and swing-sets all along it. There were a lot of other people running, mostly Americans, judging by their college sweatshirts (my host family thinks I'm slightly crazy for wanting to go running in the winter.) In the afternoon, I met up with one of my American friends and we went to a marketplace where they sell all sorts of handmade bags and sweaters and jewelery, really cool stuff. We also discovered this museum/historic building called Castillo Hidalgo that looks like a cross between a park, an old European-style mansion, a castle, and a garden.

Here is a picture (not mine, I forgot my camera) so you can get an idea of what it looks like:


There are really steep stairs that go all the way up and beautiful flowers and trees..and when you climb all the way to the top, you can see the entire city. So far, it's my new favorite place in Santiago. We went out later last night (in Spanish, usually "to go out"=salir, but Chileans have their own words for it: carretear= to go out  carrete=the noun form) with Sophie's host brother and the American who is staying with Sophie's family from last semester, and her Chilean pololo (boyfriend, another Chilean word). The situation was rather ironic: we went to an Irish pub in Santiago, and listened to people sing karaoke..to AC/DC songs. People here apparently take karaoke really seriously and are also freakishly talented; everyone who went up to sing was amazing. This morning, I'm gonna try and go for a run again, and I think I'm going to a barbeque with my host family later in the afternoon.

My accomplishment of the day so far: I successfully figured out (after many, many failed attempts) how to light my estufa, and my feet and hands are no longer dangerously blue. Christine 1, Chilean winter 0.