el gringo estupido

I made my first Gringo mistake on Tuesday.

Well the day started off fine, I had class until 1pm. We tried to get out Chilean ID's but the government headquarters was closed. I had a nice lunch of rice and mystery food...my typical meal.

I was excited for my afternoon because it was Nick's last day here (he was just visiting Kristin for a week). We were going to a barbecue in a local park. I went to the metro to take out money (for the first time). I popped in my debit card and took out about $40 worth of pesos. I was so caught up with counting the money, getting my receipt, and being aware of the people around me I forgot my card in the machine...

I was really upset with myself for being so careless. I went straight back to my house, called my card in as lost and had a self imposed "time-out" to collect myself and make sure this kind of thing didn't happen again. I ended up falling asleep and I missed the barbecue. Apparently it was really nice and there were wild horses and food and music and stuff...but at least I learned my lesson.

I hung out with my mom for a while and we talked about various things. She said she was going to the grocery store and I asked to tag along. Francisco ended up coming as well. It was cool browsing around their different foods and meats. Prices are pretty similar I think (I didn't do much grocery shopping in the states). It is still very hard for me to talk to anyone who doesn't treat me like a baby...but I'm learning every day.

After the grocery store I met up with everyone at Esteban's house. It was his brother's birthday and he had a lot of friends over. They were really cool. When I arrived...Esteban's brother made me promise (for his birthday) to speak ONLY in Castellano (spanish) the entire night...even to my American friends. I did it! It was pretty hard and frustrating at times...but for about 6 hours I spoke in only Spanish to everyone. I was pretty proud of myself...and I was still able to make jokes and laugh with my new chilean friends.

I took the bus home with one of my new chilean friends...I think he grew a little overconfident in my abilities and started talking very quickly with slang on the bus. I nodded my head and smiled...I had done enough work for the night!

Chao