Mi familia

Now having lived with them for a week, I feel knowledgeable enough to write about my host family. As is common in most Latin American countries, most Chileans live with their parents until the last possible moment before venturing off into the real world of being married with kids and having a job. This seems to be quite intelligent given the fact that usually parents have more money than the average college student and job seeking graduate....not to mention that Chilean mothers are pretty darn good cooks. This being the case, it's not very strange that my 26 year old host sister, Carolina, still lives in the house. She works as a Nutritionist in a suburb of Valparaíso about an hour commute north. I also have a 29 year old sister named Patricia (hey, Mom, that's your name!) who has since moved out of the house, is married, and has a rather adorable 2 1/2 year old daughter, Josefina. The youngest of my siblings, Javiera, is 19 and goes to a University in Viña del Mar (the city I'm living in, right next to Valparaíso) and also studies voice at the Conservatory in Viña. She seems like she is cool, but she doesn't really go out of her way to interact in any shape or form with yours truly...I'll have to work on breaking the ice there. Now, my parents, Patricio and Julia, are a cool bunch. Julia works at home and does everything from washing clothes to making meals to cleaning my room...I know, I live a tough life. But most importantly, she's the more talkative of the bunch and we have some good conversations. A note to myself, however, is to listen intently to what she has to say because sometimes she gives me directions that will help me later in the day. Por ejemplo, yesterday I wasn't going to be home in time for lunch so she told me to look in the microwave for my food. Now, I just heard "microwave" so I assumed that I would be the one putting the food in there. When I arrived home to eat, all I saw was a salad and some fruit (hardly a very satisfying lunch, usually the biggest meal of the day for Chileans). I was slightly confused so I took the meager rations up to my room only to have Javiera remind me to look IN the microwave (needless to say, I felt stupid...though I did interact with Javiera...which was good I guess. We had a good laugh). Sure enough, there was my grande plate of pasta waiting for me eat. Now to figure out how to work a Chilean microwave...... My dad, Patricio, is usually working most of the day as a commercial engineer (don't ask what that means...I tried to have him explain it but all I got was that he works in a court room, but behind the scenes...yeah, it's still a mystery). Because he works late, I don't see him much except during the weekends. We've taken some good "father" "son" strolls around town where he lends me his wisdom of Chile. So, basically, my family's pretty sweet, I think some adjusting is still in order, but hey, it's only been a week. I just have to somehow figure out how to connect with the sis...we both play guitar!...I'll try starting there.

A bit of a summary

As you're reading this, the events described in the proceeding paragraphs have come and gone it seems like forever ago. But alas, I've only been in Chile for a week and four days. Given the late start of this blog (how irresponsible, you say) I present to you now a brief summary of my time in Chile thus far, a time so brief, but rife with adventures as I begin to explore this new, but vastly grand, and indescribably long country called Chile (a note: Chile is not pronounced, as many gringos would have it, like the popular restaurant establishment, Chili's. It is in fact pronounced: Chee-lay). I would like to start with the most dubious adventure as of yet, that of course being the flight (or lack thereof) that got me to Chile (but actually didn't get me to Chile). The following is an excerpt from an email I sent to some friends recounting the ordeal: "I should be in Chile right now, if you were going by my original flight ticket. Thanks to a most inconvenient "weather radar malfunction" my first flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta was delayed about 3 1/2 hours (perfectly coinciding with the layover time I WOULD have had were I to arrive in Atlanta at the scheduled time). So yes, long story short I missed the connecting flight to Chile and had to stay in a rather mediocre hotel (it was a suite room though) last night. Now I'm sitting at gate E28 most earnestly awaiting my new flight...which leaves in just under 5 hours (exactly a day after the original one was supposed to leave). So come 10:05pm tonight I should be on my merry way to Santiago, Chile (though it'll be a rather subdued state of merriment given my experiences within the last 24 hrs). Upon arriving in Chile, I will meet up with the students on the group flight (conveniently (but not for them) having been canceled yesterday as well....guess you can't trust American Airlines either). Then off to orientation in Olmué which is a small rural town on the outskirts of Santiago." You can tell I'm in a much more relaxed state at the moment. That was a most stressful day. After the flight fiasco, I met up with the group at the Santiago airport. They were also a tired bunch so we didn't say much to each other and slept most of the way to Olmué. It was surreal when I woke up in Olmué because I hadn't seen how we got there (for I was in an irreversible state of slumber) so as far as I was concerned there was nothing in between the airport and this mysterious quasi-resort hotel smack dab in the middle of what I was going to learn to be the "Cordillera de Los Andes". The next day we took a horseback ride through the town so I was better acquainted to this, now slightly less mysterious, place. We also hiked around the Parque Nacional de la Campana, which is a park at the base (and at the top I guess) of la montaña de la Campana. It's a pretty majestic mountain and I really want to hike to the top...but that's for another day. A guide told us about the history of the place and about the rare desert and forest vegetation that grows on different sides of the mountain because of the way the sun shines on it. So, that pretty much concludes the events that occurred in Olmué (oh yeah, and we had orientation where they basically told us "ladrones" or thieves were waiting around every corner waiting to take all of our personal possessions at the slightest glimpse that we weren't paying attention to our every move). This is only slightly true, it only really applies if you're a gringo walking down a dark street at 3am by yourself and are drunk...at least that's what my host family told me. Well, there's still more to say, but I don't feel like writing more right now so tune in later.