These two horsemen were wrangling in a cow on my walk home from school. I think that they were practicing for the Chilean Rodeo, which is a pretty traditional and beloved sport in the more rural areas. 

After going all day without showering yesterday, I decided that today would be a day of "renewal" if you will and managed to make it to the gym before school. Later on in my Spanish class we we ended up having an extensive conversation in which the class compared animal noises in Spanish and English with our teacher. It was pretty funny because I had never though about the fact that non-human noises are represented differently in any language. For example, here roosters do not cock-a-doodle-doo, but rather cu-cu-rrri-cuuu.

After that it was off to American Corners where I chatted with some Chilean students in English about the internet, our favorite TV shows, and stuff like that. I really enjoy sharing my knowledge about English because I think its fun to help with something I understand here! Whenever I help them with pronunciation I tell the students to tighten up their throat a little. That seems to be the key to pronouncing things with an American accent oddly enough...

I had my first solo experience with the micro (bus system) today. It began with me hopping into the bus through an open door as it was driving away. When I got on, the bus was packed...It had been raining so the windows were all foggy and the driver kept honking at cars as he kindly chatted with me about Valdivia. At each red light and traffic jam more and more people crammed themselves onto the bus and shoved their way into any open space available. The micro certainly had more of a community feel. I'm glad I don't have to take them all the time, but it was a memorable experience. 

Now I am home and trying to catch up on what's new in the US by watching some CNN. I have found myself craving American culture a little bit lately. And, I even read in that reference book today that it is healthy to engage in one's own culture every once in a while to avoid "culture fatigue." Lately I have had to examine my identity more than ever before. As a representative of the United States, I find myself answering more questions about my language, culture, and history than I have ever had to think about on my own. Also, wherever I go I am unavoidably a member of the gringo (non-Latino) community, which definitely affects how people treat me. I am really curious to see how this intensive identity examination will end up over the course of the year...I will get to see what I'm truly made of I suppose.