Barkings! | The Small Dog Apple Blog

The following is a blog from Sophie, who is living abroad in Chile for the next year, and is Small Dog’s current foreign correspondent! She checks in from time to time to let us know how she and her MacBook are doing…

Hello Mac Fans!

This past week I ventured to the south of Chile on a week long
vacation with my friends. The eight of us piled into a car fit for six and spent many hours driving along the highway to reach our destination.

We made stops in hot spots such as Puertto Mont, Puerto Varas and the small island of Chiloe. We crisscrossed to the island and were greeted by a wave of fish smells and I had to clamp my nose because of the odor! The island was dotted with antique wooden churches primed with lilac purple and buttercup yellow as opposed to traditional bland colors.

We ended the week with a three night stay in Barilohe, Argentina. We crossed the boarder through the mountains and arrived in the night and did not stop looking for a cabin to lodge in until midnight. We were always greeted by the phrase “no hay lugar” (no space) as the entire town was flanked with hungry tourists as ourselves.

Bariloche is famous for chocolate and thus we spent much time in the various sweet stores. The best part was waking up and seeing the mountain range leaning above the lake. Crossing back over the boarder into Chile I released a fresh breath, happy to be back in my country!

The mall in my city hosts WiFi and I am a frequent user with my
MacBook. Every time I go there are at least a few people that view the glowing apple and come up to me and ask me about the notebook. Some comments have included “it is such a beautiful, sneaky computer!” One man just looked at it, smiled and said “Wow, I hope to have one of those some day!”

Tags: chile, macbook, sophie, travels abroad

The following is a blog from Sophie, who is living abroad in Chile for the next year, and is Small Dog’s current foreign correspondent! She checks in from time to time to let us know how she and her MacBook are doing…

¡Hola Todos!

This past week I returned from an eight day trip to Brazil with my classmates from school. Before entering the final year, each class is allowed to go on a special trip together, so we traveled to Camborui Brazil!

The trip was amazing; each day there was a planned activity with free time until the early hours of the morning. The beaches in Brazil are excellent—the water is warm, and it is always full of people. I was able to meet and converse with people from all over South America. Many people asked me where I was from; I joked and told them I was from Chile. They gave me strange looks and some even believed me. I did tell them after I came from the USA and they told me that they thought that my Spanish sounded very strange. (Haha.)

One cool part of my trip was sitting in the lobby of my hotel singing with a group of Brazilians at midnight. I walked up to listen and they immediately pulled up a chair and invited me to take a seat and join them. Brazilians are very inclusive, beautiful and fun people.

Other highlights of my trip included talking with a friend from Bolivia about South American culture on the beach at five in the morning, as well as riding a roller coaster with my classmates and singing songs about Chile as we climbed the highest point and proceeded to go down into the rest of our time together…

Tags: chile, macbook, sophie, travels abroad

The following is a blog from Sophie, who is living abroad in Chile for the next year, and is Small Dog’s current foreign correspondent! She will be checking in with us periodically to let us know how she and her MacBook are doing…

¡Hola Todos!

Last night I had the privilege of ringing in the new years Chilean-style. Around 9 PM, twenty five family and friends gathered in my host house for a dinner and celebration. When the clock struck midnight we rushed outside with our noisemakers and confetti and proceeded to welcome 2008 with hugs, kisses and champagne with pineapple ice cream.

Directly after, the adults started a congo line and kept dancing while the teenagers muffled embarrassed laughter. Later a group of my friends and I went to a large party in my city for teens called ‘La Tranca.’ This party is hosted in the countryside in a large tent set up for dancing. And that is just what we did; we all danced until seven thirty the next morning!

Upon my return to an amiga’s house we dined on bread and cereal and took a nice nap in the sun to recuperate and to soak in all that 2008 has to offer.

-Sophie

Tags: chile, macbook, sophie, travels abroad

The following is a blog from Sophie, who is living abroad in Chile for the next year, and is Small Dog’s current foreign correspondent! She will be checking in with us periodically to let us know how she and her MacBook are doing…

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a big party that my school hosted for the to honor the older students that will be graduating in a few weeks. All of us party-goers dressed in fancy fabrics, a little bit less than one might wear to prom. I arrived at 8 PM where the party was hosted in the center of the city, and did not leave until 4:30 in the morning (and the party was still going on).

The fiesta commenced with casual conversation and small dishes of appetizer foods which included small crackers with carrot pieces and the occasional squirt of mayonnaise. Dinner was upstairs and consisted of a plate of various meat choices, small potato balls and was finished off with a photographer with a few gold teeth taking rapid pictures and telling us all to squeeze together and say “cheese.”

Afterwards, the whole lot of us piled into a small room to start the dancing. No Chilean party is ever devoid of dancing, and we spent most of the night twisting and turning to a selection of raggetone, samba and Latin music. Halfway through, a band of drummers came pounding up the stairs to beat a wave of more Latin music and had people dancing in a flurry in the center of the floor. Near the end, parents at the party started to throw out hats and noise makers; I felt like it was New Years Eve but it was only November the tenth, at three in the morning!

When I left there was still a small crowd dancing, but I was happy to get in to bed and retire from dancing in high heels for the good part of the night. Chileans sure know how to throw a grand fiesta.

Tags: chile, macbook, sophie, travels abroad

The following is a blog from Sophie, who is living abroad in Chile for the next year, and is Small Dog’s current foreign correspondent! She will be checking in with us periodically to let us know how she and her MacBook are doing…

Hola from Chile! Spring is finally here down South! I have stopped having to wear five shirts to shield myself from the cold and now have to purchase sunscreen! Other than the weather, life is swell in Chile. It took me a while to write because life was slow and I was having a hard time, but it is much better now!

School is great, last week I visited an English class for third graders and they asked me questions. One boy asked me if I have been to New York and when I was there, did I see King Kong? Then he proceeded to ask me what I ate on the airplane while coming here. Another girl said that she knew I must be from another country because she heard me talking in a very strange way.

It was very funny to be with the youngin’s and they give me so much love! The other day a little girl ran up to me and gave me a ring. A very surprising moment for me this week was when my friend asked me if there was any poverty in America.

I am still eating a lot of meat, I had another BBQ for dinner today! I hope all is well in the rest of the world and your hearts are content with your Apple products!

-Sophie

Tags: chile, macbook, sophie, travels abroad