One of the best parties I ever went to was actually a party I held in my flat on New Year’s Eve in about 2002 or 3 (I think).  At that time I was living in a 2-bedroomed flat on Manuel Montt close to the corner with Elidoro Yañez. My wife and I gave the party. We invited about 30 people put on about 10 or 12 people made it. Even so we had a really great time. If I remember rightly, we cleared out 2 rooms; one for eating and chatting, and one for dancing. We made sushi and bought other things to nibble and, of course, lots of drinks; mainly beer, wine, pisco, rum and vodka. About 8 or 10 people arrived before 12 o clock; the others arrived at about 2 or 3 in the morning.  I’d made up some mix CDs to dance to and everybody really enjoyed the selection (I think I’d prepared about 10 hours of music).  What good thing was that my friend’s Marco and Jacki arrived at about 2AM just as people were starting to get tired. They came with a friend of theirs called Carmen Gloria who was full of energy and ready to have fun and enjoy herself – actually I thing she was a little bit drunk. However,  their arrival gave everybody a new boost of energy and we ended up dancing until about 7AM and then we went to the Mercado Central to get some Paila Marina and recharge our batteries. All in all it was great party.

Write about a party or celebration you remember.

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Who you went with,

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Tiki Tiki Ti

I don't normally get involved with the celebrations for Fiestas Patrias. I used to go to barbeques with friends or house parties but I never enjoyed going to fondas in Santiago because I always found them over-crowded and over-priced. In fact the only fonda I ever really enjoyed was 8 or 9 years ago when I went to Algarrobo. I went with my wife, a British friend, Karen, and a Chilean friend Claudio. Claudio's parents have a house in Algarrobo and we went to stay there for a couple of days. It was great being near the beach and getting some fresh sea air. Also, the weather was warm and sunny during the daytime and not too cold in the evenings.

The fonda was on the main road leading into Algarrobo and we went twice on consecutive evenings. There were lots of people but the atmosphere was friendly. We did the typical things like play some games, eat empanadas and drink chicha. There was music and people dancing cueca. Later on we drank piscolas and danced (shuffled about!!) to cumbias.

I think my friend Karen found it somewhat strange. She’s from Liverpool and I don’t think she knew too much about South American culture. Nowadays, being a “fish-e-tarian” I don’t go to so many barbeques but I’m quite happy staying at home and celebrating with my wife. We actually, met on September 18^th 1996 at a house party so it is a special date for us for other reasons:

Write about a Fiestas Patrias celebration you remember:

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When it was,

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Who you were with,

Why you enjoyed it.

 
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A Concert, Exhibition or Sports Event

I guess I've been very lucky as far as live music is concerned. I started going to concerts on a regular basis when I was 16 and I got to see lots of great bands. Often I got to see bands by chance because they were supporting other bands and other times I went to gigs were lots of bands were playing, often free of charge. The last big free festival I went to was in Bristol in 1998. It was about a month before I came to live in Chile. The festival is a yearly event in a place called Ashton Park. This year was special because my brother was playing the festival with his band (Grist) and my sister-in-law was singing Bulgarian songs with one of her friends. The festival also had a great line up of some local Bristol bands. I went with one of my brothers but met up with a lot more family. In fact the festival is a family event so there were 3 of my sisters, 3 of my brothers, in-laws, and nephews and nieces.

There were 4 or 5 stages and some of the bands performed in big tents. I think my favourite band was Moloko. They played in a small tent to about 300 people and were simply amazing. Especially Rosin the singer who is a great performer. The festival finished with a special concert by Portishead who are from a small coastly town just outside Bristol. They played on the main stage and were watched by about 30,000 people. My favourite part of the concert was when they played "Glory Box" which is the song of theirs that I like most. The sound was excellent and everybody had a great time.

Write about a concert, exhibition or sports event you went to.
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What it was,
Where and when it was,
Who you went with,
What you enjoyed about it.

Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.