First Chilean Haircut...definitely not the last

Highlights of the past week:

1) I cancelled my credit cards and luckily no charges were made. Mommy wired me some money and sent the replacement cards to my house in Villa Alemana. With the Chilean postal service, they should arrive about 2 months after I leave the country.

2) I went to legit Cueca lessons for the first time. The regional coordinator has been having them at her house for the past few weeks but I could never go. Chile is having a 200 year bicentennial celebration in September and since this is the traditional dance of Chile, it's kind of important to know it so you don't look like too much of a foreigner. It's harder than it looks and I'm terrible at it. Add it to the list. However, I DID meet a Chilean named Pilar who was my partner for some dances. She gave me her number and email. She told me that the next time I cueca somewhere, I should call her. She's 50.

3) Got a new roommate. I haven't talked about this much in my blog but the EOD program is having major financial issues. As in, NONE of the volunteers have gotten their stipends in months and neither have the families that have been hosting them. It's kind of dire and some families have been pulling out. Patrick, was "asked to leave" his house because his family was upset about not getting their money. My mom said she'd take him in. Luckily, I've already hung out with Patrick plenty since before we were housemates so the progression should be easier. Funny tidbit: Patrick is white, 6'5" and speaks basic spanish. Remind you of anyone else? We walk around this town and are a constant spectacle. I'm assuming most people think we're on some german soccer team/terrorists like those ones in Die Hard.

4) As the title heading and picture suggest, I finally got a haircut. It had been 3 months since this had happened. I went as long as I could without doing it but I knew I just had to. Don't get me wrong; washing your hair once a week and having it really long worked for me for awhile but I finally bit the bullet. I found a random peliqueria in Villa Alemana that wasn't full of women getting their hair highlighted armed with the following terms:

Quiero un recorte: I want a trim

Pero, solo un poco: But only a little....

En general, lo quiero lo mismo, solo un poco mas corto: In general, I want the same thing, just a little shorter

Por favor, solo un poco!: Please only a little!

por favor no cortarme la garganta:: Please do not slit my throat

I walked into a small place and a woman named Amelia was there with her son Sergio. Amelia understood what I wanted and, I think, it came out perfect. We talked a bit and I found out her son can speak some English and is actually in a class in another school with another teacher from my program....It's a small town. Anyway, I've heard horror stories about foreign language haircuts and since I myself have gotten a Mexican haircut in Chicago that went awry (accidental bowl cut) I was scared. I'm glad nothing bad happened and that they didn't laugh at my Spanish.

Life has been tame this weekend so far. Alot of people are gone for the weekend which makes socializing hard. I'm going to try and rustle up whoever is left and have a good time. After last weekend, I could use it. Oh also, by popular request this is what a Pudu is for whomever was curious:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pud%C3%BA


Disfruta!