seis punto tres

So I officially completed and passed my first class with Chileans. Passing is a 5 average in the class, (I think. Someone told me it was lower...I'm not exactly sure.) The highest you can get in this grading scale is a 7 - which I don't think happens much. Kind of like an A+.

Anyways in my Spanish lit class I have had three grades... the first in class essay, first take home essay and the last take home essay. (Haydee decided to let us not do the last last final essay since she thought it would be too complicated, haha.) Anyways I got a 5 on the first essay, a 6 on the second! I finally got to pick up the grades from the extranjero office and I can't tell you the relief to see a 6.3! Especially after I thought I hadn't written a very good paper. I honestly don't know if Chileans would consider this a good grade or not... but I'm incredibly incredibly happy. I did it. I passed a class with Chileans. Now let's see how Art History comes out....

Anyways update on the traveling... I'll be home August 2 but got some traveling to do in the mean time. Andrea and I will be traveling up north to see some penguinos and some desierto. Then to Peru! We're going to La Serena, San Pedro de Atacama, Arequipa, Cusco, Aguas Calientes y Machu Picchu and Lima where I will be flying out of to my home sweeet home. I'm way stoked about Peru. But I'm also dying to get home and simply be with my family. I've "started" the process of moving out. I have to do this interview today for my journalism class which I hope will be relatively quick and not time consuming as I have a lot to do by Saturday.

procrastination [dilación -- según el google traductor]

cemetery in valparaíso... this is actually the section where they bury little kids.

so if i were to add up the amount of minutes i have spent in my life procrastinating... sheeez i don't even want to have the faintest hint of an idea.
things i love about chile (as we get somewhat close to wrappin' it up)
-they speak spanish here
-pan de leche
-chorillanas
-how in order public transportation is
-guateros
-vino navegado
-un besito para ti
-jugo natural
-palta

things i'm looking forward to
-fast food how i love it
-having my life in the crazy chaotic yet orderly way that it is
-southern smells and sounds
-southern accents
-california summer
-beach
-tan
-sisters
-mommy
-daddy
-angus
-spicy
-coffee

graffiti at the ex cárcel... an abandoned prison taken over by artists who have painted murals on every wall.












http://www.samsararestaurante.cl/
[[where we went tonight]]


went to a protest the other day... the were protesting the educational law that they've pretty much been protesting all semester. it was my first experience in a march. i didn't exactly march with them... just "walked on the sidewalk...." i felt excited to be there.








the march started in plaza victoria and walked several blocks of valpo. i stayed on the sidelines.

my goodness

So a good amount of people have already left.
I have a good amount of work to do before I can call it a semester. But I can't really believe it. This went by fast. A week and a half and I'll for suuure be done!!

bare feet and how they possibly affect my health

Alright. Every time I clear my throat if there happens to be a tickle in it or sneeze I hear ah Brett! You're gonna catch a cold! You need to keep warm! Um, honestly? I promise people it's not like I walk around barefoot in a tshirt and shorts. oh no. I wear layers ok? Lots of them. Often an undershirt tank top, and undershirt longsleeve, a sweater over that, leggings (if i have clean ones) and pajama pants around the house. I feel like I wear the same stuff everyday even though I guess I don't really. I also wear socks -- long socks if available -- and slippers. Oh and at times a scarf when it's very cold. And to top it off, I sit in bed most of the time under the covers.

Alright. So I wake up this morning and find my upper half of my body uncovered apart from my sweater and undershirt. Lovely. And I also feel the feeling of a chest and head cold all throughout. My blankets are cold. My hands are cold. My face is cold. Everything is cold! I have a cold which evolves into a fever today which I took advil for and which has currently subsided.

I did sniffle though when I was helping with the preparation of once and I think I have pretty dark circles under my eyes, so I was asked if I was sick. Yes, I said. I have a cold and I had a fever earlier. Now ok... SOMETIMES when I'm like out of clean socks I just sit in bed and pretty much don't get up. But I'll run and put on slippers if i have to get out and do stuff. And then throw on dirty socks to go out of the house in. Yes I'm really glad everyone now knows my sock habits here. Sheesh. My ability to do laundry is another topic altogether that I don't want to vent about. So apparently I've done this more than once and enough times to be noticed because after I tell her I'm sick, Marcela asks me... Brett where are your socks? Well dangit I'm in slippers for a 20-minute once. Ok, well right now I'm not exactly wearing any. Just my slippers. Welp, that's why you're sick.

Ugh! Really? That's why I'm sick??? Is this even true? That your feet can affect if you are sick or not. I mean... I think generally being cold all the time can have an affect on it. Or not taking vitamins. Or lack of sleep. Or just riding the micro a lot and catching germs. Or sitting next to someone in class who is coughing up a lung.

So I have decided to research this topic -- this perhaps urban myth of whether or not one can catch a cold if their feet are cold.

Well I found a few answers. One source seems a bit more credible than the other.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~myranya/bf_sickness.html

and... here's the CNN article which i find a bit more credulous.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/11/14/cold.chill/index.html


Ok so according the CNN article... a decrease in temperature can possibly lower your immune system which leads to the ability to catch a cold. Ok MAYBE it makes a difference if my feet are always 100% warm or not. But I mean alllll I'm saying is that regardless of whether they are warm or not I am always cold, haha. Even with a down jacket outside I am cold. So my point is that it isn't necessarily my feet. Haha, mk??

Anyways, also found this article: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/travel/escapes/22hike.html


ps... [please guess which feet featured above belong to me!]