champagne and two kinds of queque

highlights:
-my tandem partner(language partner, a Chilean university student who wants to practice English) is WONDERFUL and invited me over to her house for a party, which was super divertido-I love house parties, soooo much more than clubs. And partying on thursday nights(especially when you don't have class friday) is so nice. Makes the weekend stretch and stretch. I mentioned that I wanted to cut my hair, and asked if she knew any good places b/c her hair is adorable and she's very stylish, and she said she would take me!!! how sweet is that?!
-I'm officially the baker of my house now-my tia asked last week if I knew how to cook anything chocolatey, and when I proposed brownies she quickly took out all the ingredients and as I mixed them all together, she diligently took notes in order to reproduce them! Nevermind that the recipe was a random one from foodnetwork.com, she noted the exact order I added each ingredient and analyzed every measurement(which was all estimated in my head seconds before...) thankfully it turned out delicious. Today I came home from school and my host brother greeted me with a kiss and a proposition: "can we make queque?" Yes, cake.
-My host mom's best friend is staying with us for a few days and tomorrow's her birthday, so my host mom bought a beautiful cake and champagne, so we actually had two kinds of cake for dinner! My dream....
-This weekend a group of my american friends and I are going to Valpo and Vina del Mar(neighboring beach towns) for the weekend, in order to celebrate my friend Jessie's birthday. The timing is perfect b/c Friday is September 11th, aka the anniversary of the coup that killed President Allende and brought Pinochet to power. Consiering how controversial that history still is, the 11th still brings people into the streets demonstrating, protesting, and sometimes clashing with the police. Apparently at night it can be really dangerous in some areas so its good that we'll be an hour away.
-I think I've already mentioned this, but I'm volunteering with an organization called Un Techo Para Chile that does Habitat for Humanity-style work, and helping them start an organic community garden in one of the slums they work in. Right now I mostly just do research about other community/organic gardens in Santiago, and the first one I visited was called Huerto Hada Verde=Green Fairy Garden. Adorable. The woman who runs it was super nice, and they hold workshops now and then open to the public, although I've missed the past two. Well, I just found out they're starting a 2month intro to organic gardening class that will meet twice a week. Of course I was thrilled to hear this, but my schedule is getting crazy and I didn't think it would fit. Thankfully, it falls on one of the few days I have (mostly) free, so I'm now enrolled in the class!!! I'm going to learn host to compost(for real), design and plant my own garden, practice different styles of organic gardening(raised beds, in-ground, permaculture, greenhouse, etc) and hopefully meet some nice, Chilean greenies!!
-Also, in order to get some sort of exercise(yes mom, I was listening all those years), I signed up for the ONLY PE class that fit in my schedule....Beginning Arabic Dance! HAHA Its ok, you can laugh, I'm laughing too. I have no idea what to expect, but hopefully it'll be a good way to make some new friends. I start tomorrow, and all I know is that I have to bring an "Panuela araba"=Arabic handkerchief?! Wish me luck...
LOVE YOU ALL,
allie
ps: feel free to write comments...I do kind of love to hear from y'all