"I don't know why, but I've been sleeping on my ear weird here." "Oh, it's because we're south of the Equator."

Things are different here. Pretty different, and pretty much everything. This post will be dedicated to all the (major) differences I've noticed so far.
Hot Water
Apparently water, light, and gas are really expensive here so they are (understandably) pretty fanatical about not wasting these things. Cecy told me that the combined bill for these three things might be about $300 a month. This is outrageous. Chileans must light there water heaters before they shower. This is really inconvenient say, when you want to wash your hands before lunch. They also will turn the water heater on when they have a lot of dishes to wash, but if its just a few after breakfast, cold will suffice. I literally have to psych myself up to wash my face before I go to bed. "Ok Kaylie, here it goes, it won't be so bad." On the plus side, my face feels really warm after I dry it....
Food
The food here is really good! I like it a lot. However, its funny because we eat bread with pate, or avacado, or whatever else for breakfast, lunch is the main meal around 2, and dinner is the same as breakfast about 8 or 9. Lunch is a huge meal and they think I don't like their food because I can never eat as much as they want me to. Like today, we had chicken, and some kind of pork with roast vegetables as the main dish. Then there was a plate of (skinned with salt, and olive oil) tomatoes, a bowl of broccoli with lemon juice and salt, and a bowl of lettuce, again with salt and lemon juice on top. Oh, and more bread. The tomatoes, broccoli and lettuce are always present at lunch, but I can almost never eat it because there is no room in my stomach left.
The fruit I eat for breakfast is always peeled. Even apples. I asked Cecy why they don't like to eat the skins of fruit and she said she doesn't know why because that's where the vitamins are...duh
Me
Everywhere I go, I am on display. There are no people of color here, no Asians, no African Americans, no (other) Americans. Everyone here is homogeneous, and I stick out like a soar thumb. There are definitely zero blonde Chileans here, and try as I might, my clothing doesn't look like theirs either. When I go out with my family to the supermarket or to the farmers market I get only curious stares. When I go around town after school or to the bars at night, I get obvious stares and sometimes "Where you are from?"'s from my peers. Today, in the car Cecy and I were stuck in traffic because a soccer game had just let out and we were moving at a walkers pace, and everyone we passed did a double take, or simply stared. Its a little unnerving because when I go out, I know people will stare, so I can't just go out like I would at home, I feel like I have to be more presentable here. Last night I went out with another blonde girl and we both have white NorthFace coats and it was awkward because we looked like we were twins or something haha.
English
I am forgetting my mother tongue. When I talk to my American friends, we pepper our conversations with Spanish and in turn I find myself forgetting the word for "souvenirs," or "eyeliner," or "hand sanitizer." It's annoying when I don't know the word in Spanish, but when I forget the English one too, I want to scream.
Going Out
When I go out in my car, or am walking around down the street or in a store at home, I don't have to worry about which pocket my cell is in, or where my money is, but here you must be conscious of everything. Never put anything like money or your cell in your back pocket here because it will be gone when you get home. If you want to use your cell and you're out of the house, stand between two walls because someone will take it from your hand if your not. If you wear a coat out at night, put everything your taking with you in your jeans. Don't take a lot of money either, the most $10. One day I went down to the plaza in front of the casino with 4 other friends and it was really nice, but starting to get dark out (about 630pm). This older lady was walking her dog and he ran over to us, so she came and started asking us about ourselves and she told us to go home because it was not safe there, but it looked fine and we were in a big group, and no one had any valuables on them...people on the streets will often warn you about staying outside by yourself. At first I thought, "Wow, people here are so nice and helpful," now I think, "Jeez, okay, I get it, I'm very aware of my surroundings and I only have 2000 pesos in my pocket," (around 4 bucks).
Driving
The more I write about the differences here, the more they come to me. I would never, EVER drive here. Drivers are erratic, there are no lane lines, and people often dart out in front of your car, it's like they have no sense of self-preservation. I live on the side of a mountain that goes down to the sea. The hills are steep, and include hair-pin turn, which people will take at about 40MPH. I seriously have to close my eyes when we go out in the car.

Well tomorrow I start school and I'm pretty tired today and have a bit of a cold, but I have more to tell and pictures to post next time. Chau!