I wrote this yesterday but wasn't able to post it until today:
Yes, I can hardly believe it myself, but I am finally here! My flights went quite smoothly and I slept most of the way, thanks to my inflatable neck pillow, my shawl/scarf, and my sleeping mask. They are truly the keys to successfully sleeping on the airplane.
As soon as I stepped through the door to the waiting area, after collecting my luggage, I was greeted quite warmly by my wonderful hostmother Silvia, her son Victor, and her grandson Fransisco. They are SUCH a wonderful family - extremely kind, inclusive and fun.
Silvia is a principal at an elementary school and loves her job. She has been in the education business 44 años. She is very animated, loves music, dancing, and tea. Victor works for the military in telecommunications. He is 39 and is divorced from Fransisco's mother. Victor is extremely kind, informative, and very affectionate towards his son. Fransisco is 7 years old, loves to play games on his Wii, and is usually goofing around and being funny. He, too, is very outgoing and kind towards me and even tries to explain things to me a bit.
They have a little dog, Peliguina, who is small, black, and apparently loves tied up plastic bags. She hoards them, actually. Silvia ties a knot in them, so Peliguina can't hurt herself, and throws them on the ground. Peliguina swoops them up in her mouth, puts them all in one place and just sits there with one held safely in her mouth. If you even come near she'll start to snarl. She doesn't do anything else with them except hoard them. It's very funny.
We all live in a nice apartment in the middle-class area called Provedencia. It is a gated apartment complex with a 24-hour guard watch. We are on the fourth floor and have a gorgeous view of a park, and in the not so far distance, the breathtaking mountains! They are so close and big! Just stunning. Their apartment is very elegant with paintings in gold frames, lots of books and Chinese artifacts (Victor stayed there for four months), and fancy upholstered, carved chairs. All the rooms are in a line: our bedrooms, the kitchen, and the living room all have windows to the park and access to the veranda (I only have the windows).
My room is a little blue and white themed room off the kitchen. I have a bed, computer table, a small closet with some drawers, a small bureau, and a bedside table, plus my own tiny bathroom, a TV, a mounted book shelf, four paintings and a giant stuffed bunny who looks after my bed. =) It's quite cozy. And to top it all off, they have WiFi! The only unfortunate thing is that Victor and Silvia smoke occasionally. But outside, so its not too bad.
Some of the differences: Silvia likes to keep her fruits and vegetables in several baskets, dispersed around the living room floor. They look very cute sitting there, on the floor, filled with prickly pare (delicious - I had some today), limes, apples, peaches, nectarines (?), melons, potatoes, and bananas. Food: today I had yummy empanadas filled with a hard boiled egg, meat, onions, an olive, and probably some other delicious stuff, a corn tamale-like thing called an "uma," which is basically corn mash in a corn husk, banana pieces in palm honey (yes, it's harvested like maple syrup except from a palm, and it tastes like honey!), and lots of yummy other fruits and breads and things that I can't remember now.
Whew! It feels like it's been such a long day. I awoke at 8:30 am, took a shower, got dressed, put away a few last items and then had breakfast. After breakfast I did some things in my room and then we went to the furniture-maker's to request that he come look at their tilting table (we should really have him come to Portland to look at our poor table =P), and to the market to buy fruits and veggies. Came home to lunch, spent some more time in my room, showed Silvia my pictures, and then we all took naps until about 3:30 pm. We had some snacks and tea, and then went out again. They gave me a quick driving tour of downtown Santiago, including the equivalent of the Chilean White House (where the Presidenta works, but doesn't live), and then went to the Santiago Metropolitan Park, which is a hill with a zoo, outdoor pool, gondolas, church, and vistas. Oh, and a statue of Mary, "Inmaculada Concepcion Santuario." We went on the gondolas, saw the sites, and saw three brides on the way back (not in the same place).
Afterwards we drove straight to the giant supermarket called "Jumbo" which sells almost everything! It was amazing. We bought a bunch there and then came home, ate dinner, drank tea, put groceries away, talked for a bit and now everyone is retiring to bed.
"Jumbo" really did it for me, but Chile=Europe (specifically, Germany)+Latin America. Really. Historically, the Germans only started a small colony, as far as I know, but the German-style hats that the store workers wore, and the many European-looking people at the grocery store really made it clear. I really love it here. I'm going to be so good at speaking Spanish soon. I'm getting better. Evidence that I am learning things: I tried to write an email to my Japanese friend, in Japanese, and kept trying to write the next sentence in Spanish. Really! I eventually had to kinda give up and go for English. =P The Japanese sentences took too much time to construct.
Anywho, except for the remainder of my head cold/allergies/a combo of both (I think it was the remainder of my cold and now is allergies - I keep sneezing), I am fabulous! And a bit tired. So I, too, shall retire for the night. I'll have to post picture tomorrow. =)
¡Buenas noches!
~ Kaia, or Kai, as Silvia often calls me (^-^)
Yes, I can hardly believe it myself, but I am finally here! My flights went quite smoothly and I slept most of the way, thanks to my inflatable neck pillow, my shawl/scarf, and my sleeping mask. They are truly the keys to successfully sleeping on the airplane.
As soon as I stepped through the door to the waiting area, after collecting my luggage, I was greeted quite warmly by my wonderful hostmother Silvia, her son Victor, and her grandson Fransisco. They are SUCH a wonderful family - extremely kind, inclusive and fun.
Silvia is a principal at an elementary school and loves her job. She has been in the education business 44 años. She is very animated, loves music, dancing, and tea. Victor works for the military in telecommunications. He is 39 and is divorced from Fransisco's mother. Victor is extremely kind, informative, and very affectionate towards his son. Fransisco is 7 years old, loves to play games on his Wii, and is usually goofing around and being funny. He, too, is very outgoing and kind towards me and even tries to explain things to me a bit.
They have a little dog, Peliguina, who is small, black, and apparently loves tied up plastic bags. She hoards them, actually. Silvia ties a knot in them, so Peliguina can't hurt herself, and throws them on the ground. Peliguina swoops them up in her mouth, puts them all in one place and just sits there with one held safely in her mouth. If you even come near she'll start to snarl. She doesn't do anything else with them except hoard them. It's very funny.
We all live in a nice apartment in the middle-class area called Provedencia. It is a gated apartment complex with a 24-hour guard watch. We are on the fourth floor and have a gorgeous view of a park, and in the not so far distance, the breathtaking mountains! They are so close and big! Just stunning. Their apartment is very elegant with paintings in gold frames, lots of books and Chinese artifacts (Victor stayed there for four months), and fancy upholstered, carved chairs. All the rooms are in a line: our bedrooms, the kitchen, and the living room all have windows to the park and access to the veranda (I only have the windows).
My room is a little blue and white themed room off the kitchen. I have a bed, computer table, a small closet with some drawers, a small bureau, and a bedside table, plus my own tiny bathroom, a TV, a mounted book shelf, four paintings and a giant stuffed bunny who looks after my bed. =) It's quite cozy. And to top it all off, they have WiFi! The only unfortunate thing is that Victor and Silvia smoke occasionally. But outside, so its not too bad.
Some of the differences: Silvia likes to keep her fruits and vegetables in several baskets, dispersed around the living room floor. They look very cute sitting there, on the floor, filled with prickly pare (delicious - I had some today), limes, apples, peaches, nectarines (?), melons, potatoes, and bananas. Food: today I had yummy empanadas filled with a hard boiled egg, meat, onions, an olive, and probably some other delicious stuff, a corn tamale-like thing called an "uma," which is basically corn mash in a corn husk, banana pieces in palm honey (yes, it's harvested like maple syrup except from a palm, and it tastes like honey!), and lots of yummy other fruits and breads and things that I can't remember now.
Whew! It feels like it's been such a long day. I awoke at 8:30 am, took a shower, got dressed, put away a few last items and then had breakfast. After breakfast I did some things in my room and then we went to the furniture-maker's to request that he come look at their tilting table (we should really have him come to Portland to look at our poor table =P), and to the market to buy fruits and veggies. Came home to lunch, spent some more time in my room, showed Silvia my pictures, and then we all took naps until about 3:30 pm. We had some snacks and tea, and then went out again. They gave me a quick driving tour of downtown Santiago, including the equivalent of the Chilean White House (where the Presidenta works, but doesn't live), and then went to the Santiago Metropolitan Park, which is a hill with a zoo, outdoor pool, gondolas, church, and vistas. Oh, and a statue of Mary, "Inmaculada Concepcion Santuario." We went on the gondolas, saw the sites, and saw three brides on the way back (not in the same place).
Afterwards we drove straight to the giant supermarket called "Jumbo" which sells almost everything! It was amazing. We bought a bunch there and then came home, ate dinner, drank tea, put groceries away, talked for a bit and now everyone is retiring to bed.
"Jumbo" really did it for me, but Chile=Europe (specifically, Germany)+Latin America. Really. Historically, the Germans only started a small colony, as far as I know, but the German-style hats that the store workers wore, and the many European-looking people at the grocery store really made it clear. I really love it here. I'm going to be so good at speaking Spanish soon. I'm getting better. Evidence that I am learning things: I tried to write an email to my Japanese friend, in Japanese, and kept trying to write the next sentence in Spanish. Really! I eventually had to kinda give up and go for English. =P The Japanese sentences took too much time to construct.
Anywho, except for the remainder of my head cold/allergies/a combo of both (I think it was the remainder of my cold and now is allergies - I keep sneezing), I am fabulous! And a bit tired. So I, too, shall retire for the night. I'll have to post picture tomorrow. =)
¡Buenas noches!
~ Kaia, or Kai, as Silvia often calls me (^-^)
Today we went to the Club Militar de Pañelolen which is for the families and members of the military. It is on the slopes of one of the mountains in La Reina area, one of the richer neighborhoods. It was very relaxing and we had fun sitting next to the kid's pool, watching Fransisco, reading, sunbathing, and occasionally going up to the deep pool to get cooled off. I hadn't ever really done that before (the sunbathing, reading, etc. in pool chairs). It was fun. When we first arrived we had lunch of beef sandwiches with cooked green beans, onions, and tomatoes, and then later enjoyed some icecream. =) An interesting thing I noticed was that at the Club, most of the females (even the kids) had bikini swimsuits on. And the bustier the suit, the better. And many had sarongs.
We came home, had "once" (tea and some bread with butter, and bologna). I'm still rather confused by the meals here. Half the time I don't know what meal we're eating. It didn't help that I didn't have my watch on. Oh, well. I'll get it soon.
Another observation: it is not uncommon to see guys with long hair here. I like it. =) Oh, and I saw an ad for the movie "Twilight" in one of the bus stops. Except they call it "Crepúsculo," which means "twilight."
We shall have dinner soon, I believe. Then I shall go to bed early. Tomorrow is my first day to go to the University. Classes don't start until next week, but this week we have our orientation to go to every day. Silvia will come with me and we will be taking a bus to the metro and then walking from the metro stop. Should be exciting!
I hope you all have a great week. Sorry this is SO long. Here are some pictures for you. Be warned: I probably put too many up. Again, don't feel obligated to look at them ALL. =)
Enjoy!
~ Kaia (^_^)
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| Mi Familia Chilena |
