BENNAAAY BENNAY AND THE JETS

The Project has really started to get going.

After the snow its been go go go this end of the line. Me and Kerry are really starting to get into the swing of things. We've been able to take our pretty selves to lots of different places on our own, lots of eating out, talking to randoms and even managed to conquer the fruit market. £1.50 for 2 kilos of strawberries....I AM IN HEAVEN. Im never coming back. I pretty much skipped all the way home.

Kerry came into my room this morning excited by how much asparagus she bought at the market today. I wasnt so impressed...not even after her very long explanation of how much asparagus normally is in England. Yeah okay kerry, i'll leave you alone for a few moments with your asparagus.

We have adults english classes up and running!! Which makes a total of 27 students altogether and as of yet we are just under doubling the red crosses annual budget. (haha this isnt AS impressive as it sounds). 16 THOUSAND pesos raised so far. Good work team. haha. The red cross class are pretty amazing! There is also a girl in there called Macarena. This amused me wholly! I didnt know that was REALLY a name. This excites me.

We also befriended some handsome young men in Vina. One of them had contacted Kerry after he heard we were getting itchy feet and it turns out he is trying to set up his own little charity project. So we've been chatting lately and thinking of hooking our projects up when it gets going next year which is exciting! Lots of beach times for us guys and some nice men to oogle at.

Anyway, we decided to go for a little surf with these boys (i say WE decided...i decided and kerry tried to convince me we needed to plan it a little more) haha nooope. So 6.30 am comes around and we are outside the house waiting at the bus stop with my board. Hold up...bus and a surfboard. Okay maybe we should have planned this a little more. Surfboard slid into the under luggage compartment and a very bumpy ride later (much to a very distressed ella who refused to give up the window seat in the small chance that ANY small chilean attempt to steal cheeky charlie from under her feet) why am i speaking in third person? I blame kerry ANYWAY we arrive in Vina, met by andres who whisks us off to pick up his friend and there we are heading to the water.

Im not sure the boys were used to females being in the water cause 2 bleeding noses and a fat lip later, the boys are looking concerned at how on earth we have managed to bust up our faces in the small ish surf.

This is how it happened: Kerry was given an extra big and heavy board....and decided to instead of surf sing Elton John a lot more. BENNIE B B B BENNAAAY BENNIE AND THE JETS. So when she finally went for a wave, she fell quite rightly on her bum and her board went flying. As she comes up for air, she is still unaware that this huge board is plummeting down towards her head..and all we could do was watch as it landed..on her face. So a quiet defeated kerry gets out...shortly followed by ella and a dodgy roll which also gave her a bleeding nose and a nice fat lip. Kook.

SO in our attempt to erase these rather embarrassing moments from the boys minds, we try to charm them by cooking them a niiiice greasy english brekkie. I think it worked.

We're heading back there tomorrow. Hopefully minus the bust up face. Watch this space.

Over and Out

xxx

Un ano mas!

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE SNOW!!

So after a rather amusing birthday weekend for miss o'neill which consisted of a late night family fiesta with lots of cake and bread (much to my delight) and an independent trip to vina...managed to get the bus there AND back with no problems..and into the cinema and an icecream AND the shops..we're getting good at this spanish malarky. We were back to work monday morning where Head Office managed to sort us out with a suprise visit by my crazy uncle as we'd been struggling to get up to the snow. He offered to drive us down as it was the last week so we packed as quickly as we could and jumped in his van.

2 hours later after being quizzed on how to say everything from road to tree we arrived in portillo where fernando (my uncle) took it upon himself to try and get a cheap deal. This is how it happened:

Hi I have two girls who would like to stay here, can you offer us a deal?

No.

Okay thanks.

Well done fernando good work, I don't think we could have coped. half an hour later after settling into our box of a room we were getting suited and booted from the equipment shop served by some very friendly young men.

And off we went to discover the world of snowboarding. First day didnt go so well. For all of those who know me and kerry it was a classic kerry and ella argument. Where kerry thought it was acceptable to sit on her arse and moan 'i caaaaaaannt'. And i thought it was acceptable to lecture her over how she is not allowed to sit on her arse. Consisted of plenty of fruitfull language and an ending line of 'i am not standing here all day to just watch you sit on your arse'. 'i cant get up' 'you can' 'i cant' 'you can' 'i cant' 'you can'...yeah went on like that for a while i think much to everyone elses amusement except ours.

We then decided to check out the rest of the hotel facilities to get our moneys worth which we were welcome to use even though we were in the hostel shack. A gym, a cinema, a pool, A DISCO! We hadnt packed anything useful like bikinis (cant say that was the first on my list). So we ended up working out in the gym in pyjamas and ugg boot type shoes. I got a nice free gym introduction from a guy in there...who decided to think it was a good idea to show me he could do the splits. One very exposed shower later..why on earth put cloudy glass dividers..and one very exposed ella much to kerrys distaste (hehehehehe boy did i find that shower amusing), we and our empty stomachs went to eat eat eat. After we then decided to check out the cinema which wasnt showing anything great but had bean bags and a nice radiator where kerry was puzzled over why her arse was so cold and attempted to warm it up by sitting on it. Then to hang out at the bar. Where we played cards for most of the night on our own in a very quiet disco. Towards the end of the night we were joined by the hire equipment guys who we befriended, taught them how to play cards and then tottered off home with the promise of new friends and a better day to come.

I welcomed kerry into the next morning bright and early by serenading her with the only spanish song i know 'keeerrrryyy keeeerrrry'. That day i managed to pull kerry off the green slopes and she was managing to not only stay standing but to remain standing for a good ten seconds before she fell again. Very amusing stacks...one of them consisting of a front rolly polly where i couldnt breathe enough to check if kerry was okay. 'THATS what you call a stack kerry' We also were THE WORST at ski lifts and most of them ended with a frantic dash for a soft area and kerry in a heap. Our most memorible stack was when the guy recognised us from a previous stack so stopped the lift for us at the top...where we still both tumbled over and ate snow. accompanied by the most girliest scream from kerry. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH. Much to his amusement.

Also totally didnt bring suncream....and boy my face was burning. I broke my board after lunch by accident and so stopped off into the shop where the boys we had befriended fixed it for free (phew) and gave us suncream. (phew) Because as the great kings of leon say: woooooooooaaaaaah my face is on fiiiiire!

In the eve we crashed in the cinema and almost fell asleep.

After dragging ourselves out of the cinema, we decided to go see if the boys were in the disco...to be sociable. But they werent...here we met a lady who told us that the party is down the hill and across the road. So we tottered down there where i promised we wouldnt stay long...I dont know how or why kerry STILL has not learnt that when those words often fall out of my mouth our nights out end up being some of the most insane, This night was no different. On our way we bumped into the boys who had been walking up to meet us and they walked us to the bar THANK GOODNESS... cause the bar we had been directed to looked like we had just entered someones house and was rammed with chileans. Consisted of lots of dancing....random conversations with australian men, chilean men, random dancing, dancing dancing, dancing to a song which said Culo alot (ass in spanish) and kerry discovering I infact have a small talent of picking up plenty of old men. And plenty of old men i did indeed pick up.

Next day after waking kerry up with the second song i had learnt from the night (or should i say the few hours before) 'un ano mas..ra rdumpr rarra keeerrrryyy!' with nice crusty faces we hit the slopes for the last time, joined for a wee while by pablo who attempted to learn snowboarding for the first time and continued to knock kerry off the slopes. Brilliant.

and then we returned home...where we were welcome by fernando and the paparazzi (fernando had brought his video camera..and for some strange reason decided to film us and trees...roadworks etc all the way home).

im pooped. Good work team.

Over and Out

xxx

Harry Wokey

Hokie cokie....SO...

WELL i must admit its been a pretty easy week! The teachers told us they didnt want any english lessons this week so they could practise their dance for the independence day dance thing yeah i still cant speak spanish but i'll say yes to anything so what? no work? okay sure.

Male and Manuel took us to vina where we had a nice bowling match. Me and Kerry make a pretty super team. We went to the cinema, pelham 123 what a treat, and then we went and picked up my board!!! aaah yes Cheeky Charlie is back in my loving arms. AND its the best job ive ever seen on a board. I was like where did i break it?? Cant see a thing. £4 definately well spent.




On weds, equiped with my dad's cameras, we went and joined in the LIA independencia de Chile celebrations. Lots of cute kids dressed up as chilean people i can only assume? And then we were treated to mote con huesillo (peaches and wheat...yes dont ask its wierd...but so good) choripan (chorizo and bread) and antichuchos (kebabs) BOY they love the meat. Lots of bouncing on a random trampoline (maria and her schemes) and then a good old family boogie on the empty stage OH YES. Ines and Judie showed me their grooves. Must admit...their hips dont lie.

Thurs - We have a teachers dinner - mmmm salad and meat. Here Miss Carolina asks me what harry wokey means. what? the? she then proceeds to sing me where she has heard these words and to my amazement she is singing MJ's Smooth Criminal. Harry arry wokey harry wokey harry wokey arry. Oh miss carolina. annie are you okay are you okay annie.

Later my cousin, appropriately called Daniela Duran (yes handy), took us into town where we had some more beloved icecream and a taxi ride home. Ready for a well earned slumber Male and Manuel persuaded me kerry and chinga to go to some more independencia de chile celebrations must admit was not totally up for it (yes okay by now i seriously get it...chile is independent...well done...have a party or two and then get over it) BUT OH BOY what a treat. a nice almost empty huge marquee with some incredible seriously amazing chilean dancing. There i was, sat down recovering from a good boogie with chinga and THE LOVE OF MY LIFE walks across the room.... and asks kerry to dance. she politely refuses so i swoop in there to get my chance. Oh Juanito where have you been all my life?

Juanito: 80 years old and still going strong.
Skin:Brown
Hair: Brown
Teeth: Brown
mmm i can still remember his wrinkley hands.

That man can dance.

So im whisked off my feet with the promise of learning how to really dance chilean styleee and have the most amazing dance with the love of my life and then sit down in hope that we are leaving soon. oh please very soon. Jaunito tries to woo me by giving me a nice cold enpananda. what a gentleman.

Fri: the REAL independencia de Chile. didnt get in until 3am last night so completely overslept and woke to maria saying something to me. oh. no. so. tired. cant. understand.
so i nod in agreement to something si si si sure...an hour later me and kerry are too stubborn to stop for a taxi to the parade. Are adamant that we'll find it. Another hour later...we end up in the park we were at for the dancing the night beforehand and maria had just called to say its finished. and it was at the stadium. not the park.

A long slightly tired walk later where me and kerry are promising we'll one day ask for a taxi with our chillish, fernando is at the house packing up our stuff onto his car roof....with no roof rack. goodbye shoes. surfboard. kerrys coat. Its been a good run but i suppose my love for you had to end some time. Whilst im frantically trying to shave my legs in hope for some good weather. They may be family but a months worth of leg hair is enough to scare anyone.

Then we arrive to his shack where im wondering where we're all guna crash. Theres 16 of us in total. Turns out he owns 2 shacks right on the edge of this amazing beach(pichicuy). So then the party begins. First the churipan. Then the meat. Lots of meat eating (im ashamed to admit this but by now im seriously addicted). I dont know if its the salt or the hunkedy meatedy but im knawing away at this stuff like an animal sucking all the juices and adding muchos salt much to kerrys distaste. AND OH BOY is this bread good. im eating so much i can feel my insides becoming all.....yeasty. pan with chorizo, pan with toffee, pan pan pan, all the pan me and kerry can get our hands on we're stuffing into our mouths.

I wake up the next day, enlarged by 2 dress sizes and a fully formed bread baby nestling in my stomach. Mmm pan baby...i shall call you peter pan and peter pan shall be your name.

Just for future reference wetsuits are not the best clothing attire to hide a suspicious baby bread bump.

The weather is sunny sunny sunny. Fernando drives us a little down the beach to the spot where surf comps are held. I look at the waves and oh my goodness....no wonder theres so many crosses in commemoration of the dead. These waves are INSANE. Theyre huge, heavy and dumpy. So i stand there for a good 5 mins thinking of any excuse to suddenly not be able to surf. To have gotten in here would have taken some serious over estimation of my surfing skills and i really dont want to die. Infact in these 5 mins im able to come up with some fairly good reasons why i infact do not want to die:

No.1 if i die then i'll never know donde esta elisa.
No.2 i was no longer thinking about one person but now two...me and the precious life inside my stomach.
No.3 id already planned out the happy life for me and peter pan.
No.4. im way too beautiful.

so anyway...we walk further down and just next to a harbour wall are some smaller waves...dumpy, no where near as insane and a bit more manageable....phew.

so yes...some good family times. a good sleep in a very comfortable bed. (a bunk, held together with one elastic band..unlucky kerry for shotgunning the bottom...my superhuman senses told me itd be safer to let her have her way..yes kerry SUPERhuman...that is what i am). Some wierd dreams about uncle fernando singing outside...no wait that IS uncle fernando singing outside...its like 6am you party animal go to bed!

im all independenciad out.

cant wait till next year. i reckon the pre parties are guna start up again next week.

Over and Out

xxx

She'll be coming round the mountain with 3 tramps + 2350 calories

Friday, after kerry had planned another delightful lesson, Manuel pops over to the house saying that his rather handsome young surf friend has let him know where to get my board fixed YES! so me and kerry run into the school to shoot through our lesson which ended up with just us watching them dance..and yes thanks kerry for telling everyone..almost killing a child. HOW EMBARASSING! superman lift gone way wrong. Thankfully due to my superhuman skills (yes kerry...SUPERhuman...again) and my many a superman lift with eron my bro...i flipped him over making it an almost perfect somersault. EEK! EEK! EEK! Just for the record..if the parents get me...no intiendo nada.

Then we drove to Renaca..watched some smurfers at high tide (forgot the batteries for my camera *cough* div *cough*...and took my board to a shop. WHAT? 4 QUID? im breaking my board in chile more often. i hope its not a botch job...watch this space.

Then we ALMOST made it to the disco...until it reached 1am and everyone was clearly falling asleep. 1am start? seriously? the chileans KNOW how to partay.

Then the next day after we'd already been to vina me and kerry decided to sack off our vina day and instead climb a hill. So we made a sandwich to go...forgot juice...and walked to a hill where we couldnt see the normal route people go up and instead trespassed on to 3 tramp's home in the bushes until we found a gate which led up the mountain. Was a serious scramble...both kerry and I were in plimpsoles as well,good footwear attire. reached the top and stopped for a well earned rest.

i also climbed the cross!! was a pretty scary experience. my arms hurt so so bad. Then we came back down the mountain...i say this as though the "came back down" was a normal experience. It consisted of us both on our bums...alot. Ive now got a gaping hole in my shoes from the extreme sliding we did...and kerry looked like she hadnt washed. ever. in fact she kind of looked like she belonged in the bushes, with tramp number 1, 2 and 3. bought some more goods (mainly juice, sugar and a suspect bar of cadburys made in argentina GROSS) and then walked back. We were then invited to some pre independencia de chile celebrations..and then to some more pre independencia celebrations, they love their independencia de chile, where we drew pretty doodles on their tablecloths...here manuel informs me of ALL the calories ive eaten that day. 700 CALORIES PER EMPANADA. oh no. cant. stop. eating. tastes. so. good. and. salty.

and then totally crashed and burned and hit the sack.

good weekend.

looking forward to this week...hello real independencia de chile. (will keep you posted on our snowboard adventures...its guna happen one day!)

VI VE VI VE CHI LE CHI LE VIVE CHILE!

Over and out

xxx

zoo-logical experience

I'm going to try and explain yesterday in the best possible way i can but to be honest i think alot of what i found INCREDIBLY amusing..will be one of those 'you just had to be there moments'.

So we got up and jumped in Manuels car at like 10am (yes hello day off) and drove to his college football grounds in vina del mar. These were probably the size of large netball courts so i dont know if that counts but still. We were there to watch manuel play for 3rd place and numerous other little teams play for whatever...cant say i totally understood but oh wow was this exciting. Firstly it kicked off with some HORRENDOUS girl football players. It consisted of lots of spastic running...oh wow...and an almost girl on girl fight. THATS what i call entertainment. Ah, slightly disappointed for the girls but oh well i'll proudly take one for the team and still be proud to be female after the words the girls were cussing at each other.

Then we watched manuel in all his futbol glory. 2 yellow cards what a treat. And they won which put them in 3rd place..trophy times woop woop. So then we settled down for a good final match (bearing in mind it was BOILING hot..and i kept being attacked by an advertisement poster) 2 mins into the game the goalie falls to the floor in some dramatic manner and all i hear is shouts of 'ambulance ambulance' from the crowd. NOW im one for the dramatics but boy do these chileans know how to pull it off...after the good 'oh i think ive broken my knee/shin/arm/face' displays in the previous matches i really wasnt sure this was true until i could definately see his ankle in some wierd angle. So hands down to the boy...OUCH. Maybe i'll never know who wins the final.

So a short futbol game down we went to the mall for some grub where i ordered yet more meat, bread and CHEESE..yes small burger please...which turned out to be HUGE. like 4 burgers size with added salt, apparently it was the small burger which might explain alot.

And then after, we drove to Quilpue (think thats how its spelt) for some ZOO times. As we were pulling in, maly told us of the time the penguins escaped and were seen walking down the road. BRILLIANT. I think this zoo was actually what madagascar was based on. We caught a kangaroo moments from jumping over the fence (it had scambled up the hill...and was standing by the fence when we arrived...the monkeys were digging and im sure were inches from getting through..sorry im getting diverted...so yes Zoo...Got in free..yes thank you maly and manuel and you're wonderful zoo connections...it was a lot bigger than expected. loads of animals in nice small cages so you could get a good view :s

maly introduced us to Pilon (the tiger) and had her hands almost in the cage which freaked me out until i realised that the cool animal recognised maly and was reasonably tame. So yeah...maly managed to persuade the zoo keepers to let us in to touch loads of animals which was AMAZING. Elephant (which kept sniffing my bag with its trunk...no i swear i dont have any food in there...no no candy...maybe some candy), Some wierd ant eater thing which had a nice snotty nose, a yellow monkey, a tiger (both of these were through the cage) and my LEAST favourite...a penguin. I say LEAST because i used to think penguins were pretty cool...and after maly and kerry stroked it..i thought oh yay this looks well easy i'll give it a go...2 seconds later its pooing a LARGE amount of white gook at me. much to kerry and malys amusement.

maybe it was just part of its escape plan....poo and then run for the open gate. Oh and in the picture above my hand is moving away from the poo..id like to add i managed to avoid the poo with my superhuman reflexes (yes kerry SUPERhuman..thats what i am).

And then we drove home...i was knackered by this point. Manuel and maly watched chile getting their bums kicked by brazil on tv (4-0). Chinga attempted to make some lemon cake...where he put in i wanna say a whole pot of bicarbonate of soda AS well as self raising baking powder...hello HUGE slightly rubbery cake. and i ate yet more bread and cheese.

perfect day if you ask me.

Am still trying to persude manuel to go to the slopes this weekend. this may be a long debate.

over and out

xxxxxx

Catch up times

SO this weekend, i decided to take the chance at a much needed catch up of my life. After eating a late night hot dog as our friday treat me and kerry decided to walk into town to see the delights. Firstly i had to finish my book (3rd one out of the twilight series) so one impatient kerry and a sore back later we headed into town.

On our way, we finally discovered where the market was so detoured...where we found hoards of second hand clothes being sold...lots of very useful toys and fruit. We've only JUST conquered shopping at the supermarket..i wasnt going to attempt my non improving chillish no matter how much that fruit was calling to me. P.S id like to add that ive been duped...i saw NO strawberries, watermelon or peaches. Maria has told me to wait till november so until then im guna have to live on avocados. I knew there was a catch :p

ANYWAY...we decided to stock up the house on much needed english food...crisps ICECREAM and pasta sauce. on our return we discovered that Sole had called at the house inviting us to the beach DANG. So after persuading the gardner man to call around for her number (this involved lots of pointing at the telephone and a good impression of a beach)...2 aunties and 3 different numbers later there was no answer at her house. So we settled for a good film and our newly purchased goods. S'ok...my board still isnt fixed. But im getting on that case sharpish.

Then on sunday, we went round to grandma's for dinner (more meat meat meat) and then had kareoke where maria almost held us at gunpoint to sing along. But all in all, a very chilled evening hanging with some truely amazing people.

Ive managed to convince Manuel to take us snowboarding hopefully this weekend. IM SO EXCITED. He's guna drive us down...and im also guna try and convince him and mal on to the slopes. Should be a hoot.

Maly has also invited us to her work on weds, so we're taking a day off. (no questions asked) She's studying to become a vet so shes taking us to the zoo!!!! She says that we can stroke the animals when theyve passed out AMAZING. Is it wierd that i think thats pretty cool? Stay tuned for pictures of drugged up animals. We're also guna buy some mobular devices while we're in vina and check out the surf shops to see if someone is capable to fix my board.

I also found my long lost spanner and have successfully managed to construct my skateboard (2 weeks later)

We're also starting english classes for adults this week.

Will keep you posted

oh p.p.s just saw maria pull out a pair of childrens gray woolen tights from her pocket. What is she up to?

Over and Out

xxx

Nacho Cheese

hmm in mine and kerrys bid to out wit each other i fear i may not be able to do so in this one...as im probably going to just repeat what kerry said but hey ho

so yes we decided to use paint in our english class..lets just say i'll think twice before doing that again. Firstly i got swiped by some boys paintbrush all down my cardi and trousers...im telling you now...he is off my good list.

Maybe i would of had more humour had lucy not fed us the entire sea bed for lunch...and proclaimed that this soup will make us sleepy...i think she meant this soup will make us sandy..in which case she was right. I think the boy who painted his face may have cheered me up a bit (a lot) more so because it wasnt me he was sat next to. unlucky kerry.

but anyway..we successfully managed to make crowns for each child without any major accidents...but i dont think the kids learnt as much english as we'd hoped..i think we got out the sparlkly sequins a bit too early.

In the evening me and kerry decided not to eat our usual cheese sandwich and instead make a healthy salad where we were interrupted by being invited to visit vanessa at her work in an icecream parlour. So cheese toastie to go and a short car journey later..im eating a very large banana split. Lets just say Chilean icecream is sooooo much better than their chocolate. I think its also safe to say that my diet of bread cheese avocados and icecream MIGHT mean my plan of becoming super buff and brown in Chile may not actually turn out the way it had in my head.

Kerry is planning this afternoons lesson. I wonder what today may bring...(im going to invest in a plastic washable jump suit)I can also smell lunch...it smells like cheese empenadas...i hope im right. mmmm cheese.

Over and Out

xxx