Football on TV? This calls for a post.

So I was minding my own business, eating dinner after going to a movie from the Santiago Film Festival, when I turned on the TV to find the Monday Night Football game on ESPN. Even though it's the fourth quarter of a preseason game and the announcers are speaking Spanish, I was inspired to write. (I think I'd take these guys over whoever they have announcing in the US anyway. Imagine if Dennis Miller had been speaking Spanish and you could have just tuned him out whenever he opened his mouth. The world would be a better place).

But, unfortunately, this is going to be a recap post, because there was such a long break between my last two posts I had to leave a lot out. That means it's not going to be filled with observations as much as telling what's been going on in my life for the past few weeks.

First, I broke a long streak without any illness any worse than a mild cold. I fell victim to what can only be described as Montezuma's Revenge. A weekend spent between my bed and the bathroom. Luckily, I got sick on Friday and was better in time for class on Monday, so all I missed was the first weekend of parties at my new school. Qué suerte! The only problem is that I can't figure out what caused it.
Theory 1: The water.
Unlikely. The water here is considered clean and safe for everyone, including foreigners. None of my fellow gringos fell ill, so it's unlikely that I would be the only one affected.
Theory 2: Choripan. (The night before was a party for foreigners called a Choripanada. It was basically a barbecue with chorizo and pan (bread). And piscola, lots of piscola. But more on that later.)
Unlikely again. My host family is convinced that cheap chorizo is the culprit, but again, no one else got sick. The chorizo was cooked well, sliced in half, and cooked well again. I really doubt that its the culprit.
Theory 3: Adjusting to a new environment.
Explains an upset stomach, diarrhea, etc., but not being sick for the whole weekend. This was proposed by a Chilean student in the medical program, and sounds the best, but really doesn't explain it perfectly.
It's more than likely a combination of things (minus the water), but I'd be happy to hear if anyone else has any theories of their own.

Just two weeks ago, it snowed in the city. While this might not sound very exciting since you can go into the snow-filled mountains in about an hour's drive, it was huge in Santiago. Depending on who you asked, it hadn't snowed in Santiago in anywhere from 5-9 years. On the bus, middle-aged men were giddy with excitement about the snow, and it was what everyone was talking about the next day. One professor said it was the most snow she had seen in the city in her life. In total it was about 3 inches, and probably wouldn't have even been enough for a two-hour delay at home since it didn't stick because it wasn't cold enough long enough for the ground to freeze. It was the top story on the news the next day, but for more than just the excitement of snow. The snow was actually a result of an onda polar (the opposite of a heat wave) and caused a lot of problems in other parts of the country. Destroyed crops, livestock frozen to death, and people trapped in towns that aren't equipped to deal with snow.

That's it for now, I think I'm caught up on the things worth noting that have happened to me over the past couple weeks. This weekend I'm going to Valparaíso, a famous town on the beach just an hour and a half away, and have some pictures from my ski trip last weekend that I will upload as soon as I can. Also, there are a few things I've been meaning to write about, so check back because I should have a couple more posts this week.