#11

-- sabado --

Third day in Santiago de Chile. I couldn´t access the computer yesterday, so here I´m going to put some snippets of thoughts from some of the group.

Thursday:

DUBI: We arrived about 7:30 this morning. It took a litle while to get through custom but not bad at all, really. The flight was long and most of us got little to no sleep. Once I arrived at Patty´s house, I had some tea and toast and went to bed for a nap. I´m feeling the after blahs now, but tomorrow should be much better. Just had a great supper - typical South American chicken soup with veggies, potatoe and cilantro. A small cup of vino tinto (red wine) and so far that´s it. Everyone here is on school vacation. Both Patty and Mickey are teachers. So we´re all just lounging around. Just what I need today. I already have invitations to take off with others later.

At the airport, the girls disappeared quickly after we got thru customs and took some pictures from the ´welcoming committee´. One dad was taking video .. and the girls felt like the paparazzi was after them! It´s still hard to believe I´m here in Chile.

Natalie: My family is trying so hard to make me feel welcome. I´m learning Spanish like crazy, plus having three younger siblings that know little words helps!! I´m going to the cinema and the pool today and i think that tomorrow we´re going to head to Vina.

Marissa: Wow. Is anything the same here? I´m having some issues adjusting...though my family is very kind. It´s almost impossible for me to understand them, well when they talk to each other. I have to have Consuelo translate to me from her parents too. But, it´s good. We went to a concert last night at the University in town. And I think we are going to their apartment at the beach this weekend. It will be nice to start school and see people I know! (The culture shock is extreme here, for me. Last night, at the concert, I was literally the only person out of maybe 60 people with blonde hair. And the many construction workers look at me funny and say things to each other, which I can´t really understand. ) Wow...it´s difficult right now, but it will get better, I´m sure of it.

Corinne: heyyyyyyyyy i know it all happened so fast! OMG!!! i love cecis family they are soo nice!!! i just got back from hanging out with ceci and 16 of her friends. they were having a party because some of them are going to rome to meet the pope. they talk sooooooooo fast i could only pick out a word here and there but then again their dropping letters and using slang i dont know didnt help my understanding either hahaha. they were all really nice though and i talked with some of them and they have realy good english some better than others but still wayyy better than my spanish at least it seems that way not that i was joining in on the conversations. the ones i talked to wanted to know how things were different here than in the US, and they wanted to know about the social life and my life they were surprised at how different they were. surprisingly they all though i was older than 16, no idea why, and they all assured me after i told them i havent had a boyfriend nor do i have one that the chilean boy will in their words "look at me" hahaha. i cant beleive its 830 and im getting ready to eat dinner . . this is soooo wierd but in a good way. feel free to put some of this in the blog if you want (you might wanna edit it a lil bit tho hehe :-P). just thought id let you know how things are going. talk to you later and if not see you monday in school ahhhhh!!! by the way this gives a whole new meaning to sumer school lol. caio!!!!!!

Friday:
DUBI: Friday
Went off to the mountains to the south today '' where there´s some snow on the peaks. It´s kinda like the Kangamangus highway winding around the mountains with the river below - that color of water that comes from the melting snows in the spring. Took some cool photos.

The air here is very very hazy from humidity and smog (especially in the city) so my photos will look bland until I get to adjust them digitally. I´m going to try to put some up later today .. The family here is wonderful. They are very loving and very close. The 12 & 14 year old boys still hug and kiss both their parents. Very affectionante.