Things had been on absolute cruise control for the past couple of days. I had class in the early afternoon all of last week. This coming week, class changes to the morning so at least I will have free afternoons and it will be a lot more of a flexible schedule. One evening last week I went to see a Brazilian independent film at the famous La Moneda (The Treasury), which was the site where Salvador Allende barricaded himself in a room and gave his last speech via radio while outside Pinochet and his troops proceeded to bomb the building and force entry. Allende committed suicide following his speech. The film was entertaining and cost not even 2 dollars to enter.
After the film, I went to a going away party for a Chilean student who is the neighbor of one of the American's in my program. He is going to study in Australia in 6 months and invited a bunch of people over to his house. It was very fun and I met a lot of nice locals. Couldn't stand the fact the only music was played was reggaeton, but whatever makes the people dance I guess. It get's old fast, especially after 5 straight hours of it.
On Friday of last week, I spent the morning registering my visa downtown and requesting a identity card. That should arrive in about two weeks. The office is like the DMV, but worse and slower. After, I got a quick haircut and headed to campus to take care of some school work. Class felt slower than usual since everyone was itching to get out and celebrate our day of Independence. A couple of us immediately headed to a Pizza and Suishi place after class, which was pretty fun. I came home to have dinner and drop off some stuff and returned to downtown around 10 to start the fun. ugh....
The night began at Le Petit to meetup with a small group. We headed to the park across the street quickly after arriving to watch a group of people perform a strange type of Brazilian dance, Capoeira, which combines dancing with slow fighting. It looks like slow motion martial arts, but there is no contact and people sing in a circle around the two participators. We then proceeded to place across town called Bar Barsico where pretty much all the students in the program packed the place full. That was fun, but many of us were craving to avoid dancing with just gringos all night. Bouncing around a couple of different places, I ended up at a large dance club with a couple people and had a good time. However, when leaving the place, I got in a taxi, first mistake, let alone a cooperativo (group, cheaper), second mistake, and on the ride home, all four of the people in the cab including the cab driver turned on me, one with a knife, and took my wallet and cell phone. I knew the dangers of this town and I could have avoided this situation easily. Lesson learned I guess. I have spent the majority of this first real weekend recollecting lost items, canceling cards, picking up a money wire at the bus station, etc. At least the things I lost can be replaced and I still have my health.
For the rest of this weekend, I am doing class work, watching Wimbledon finals, and reflecting lots of the past few days. As I said, class starts early on Monday but it makes my daily schedule easier. Hasta luego.
