¡Que fin de semana! (What a weekend!)

I am not 21 anymore. But sometimes I think I am, which is when I try to pull off what I tried to pull off this weekend. And then I remember.

The lone male in our class, Davis, comes to class every morning and regales us with tales of the fabulous things he cooks himself for dinner every night (he is the only one of us not living in a homestay; he is in what I can most closely describe as a 'commune'). So of course we told him that he must cook for us one night and, since he is outnumbered 3-1, he happily obliged. So Friday night we were treated to steak, veggie stirfry and garlic mashed potatoes.... mmmm! Guys that cook rock.

Then around 1, we decided that we needed to head out to one of the cute little outdoor places that is within walking distance of his place. We lasted there about an hour and, admitting our defeat, were all just about ready to leave for home when we heard someone exclaim "Oh my gosh, they're speaking English!". There was a weird moment of confusion wondering who was speaking English to us but we soon met two other American girls who were SOO excited to have other people to speak English with (they're in the picture on the right). So, needless to say, the night continued.... until 5 am. The picture below is the 4 of us is us all waiting at the bus stop for my ride home. Not bad for 5 am, eh?

Had that been the last big venture for the weekend, I may have been able to maintain the illusion of youth. But, nooooo. Saturday night one of our beginner English students, Jorge, had a fiesta at his house. We were invited to show up at 10 (nothing social here starts before 10 pm) but, since we're now in the Chilean mindset, didn't arrive until 11. My American guilt was kicking in bigtime about showing up so late until we got there and there were only 3 other people. No one else started to show up until midnight! In the end, there were about 25 people there and it was a GREAT time, one of the first that I've had to really hang out and mix with Chileans in a social setting outside of my home. There was music, a great mix of people, tons of chatter in both Spanish and English, dancing and a wicked Michael Jackson impression. In fact, it was SO fun, it lasted until 6 am, when we finally had to call it a night... although there were still other people going strong.

I will not tell you how long of a nap I took this afternoon, so don't even ask. But let's just suffice it to say that when I woke up and came downstairs for dinner and walked into the room where Edgar y Maria were, there was a pause when we all just looked at each other and then burst out laughing. Pathetic. So maybe I'm not 21 anymore... but, come on, I should totally get points for trying!