August 30: Exercise.

Words of the Day:
arquero= Goalie
volante= defense
delantero= forward (position)

So good news: I've lost at least 5 pounds since I've been in Chile! Not entirely sure how this happened, since I feel like I've consumed more hotdogs, hamburgers and ice cream in the last month and half than in any other time in my life...But as my Food Nutrition and Culture professor loved to point out last year, humans can make a diet of pretty much anything and be fine.

In general though, I credit all the exercise I've been getting, intentionally and unintentionally. All my attempts to lose weight in the past that have relied on eating less have failed because I like food too much, so this is pretty much my only option. I'm not sure that inhaling smog is particularly good, but I'm hoping that the effects of being overweight are worse...

I've started running again, which has really been wonderful. I'd kind of fallen off from running much towards the end of last semester and I forgot how much I enjoyed it and how spiritual of an activity it is for me. Mostly though, all the walking I've been doing has been great and I don't mind it because if I vary my routes, I always get to see something different. At a minimum I have to walk for about 30 minutes a day to get to the subway to go to class, but since I hate the metro, I usually walk an extra 10 minutes so that I can ride the bus, where I can usually get a seat and listen to the performers who come on the bus to play guitar or sing, etc. Economic anthropologists would have a blast trying to figure me out: I am very stingy with money, but only when it comes to certain things. While I don't mind shelling out plenty of money to go on trips or sit in a café with a cup of coffee, I prefer to keep my transportation expenses to about $2 a day, or 2 metro/bus rides. This means that I often walk an extra hour to get between the Law School and the Public Affairs school and then 45 minutes to the Economics/Business School. It's a lot of effort to save a dollar or two, but it takes me through the entire center of the Santiago Centro, so I feel like I'm in on all the action. Add in an side of salsa, the occasional trip up San Cristobal or Santa Lucia and 4 hours of dancing on Friday or Saturday and there you go.

Recently too, I joined a soccer team! I forgot how much I liked soccer- I hadn't played since freshman year when I quit to run. It's very relaxed, practice 3 times a week, but make whatever you can. Funnily enough, the first practice I went to, we had a scrimmage. I ended up in goal, which was certainly interesting since I hadn't really tended goal since 8th or 9th grade, with the exception of one pickup game while we were in Santa Anita, Guatemala. Soccer's been a really great way to meet people and practice Spanish, because it's basically forced interaction- I have to be able to communicate in an informal way if I want to contribute anything to the game. Luckily, none of the other girls are particularly good either: many of them only started playing since they've been at University. I think it's going to be a really positive experience.