January 12, 2009

Que tiempo ha pasado....

Sorry guys, I'll be the first to admit I'm terrible at updating. But here it is.

Main news, my mom, sister Teresa and brother Josh all came to visit, but ONLY for a little more than 2 weeks. They almost died from heat at first. It made Josh sick. He also hated all the food, lol, cuz its all new to him. Definitely not a White Christmas! (It's about 95 degrees average here right now). They stayed for Christmas, which made my holiday season. I think it would have been rough for both mom and me to pass it without one another.

I wish they’d been here longer. They were worried I'd be homesick but I'm okay. We rode horses, they met all my friends and family, went to the beach (where I got the worst sunburn of my life..), stayed in Valpriaso for a while, saw the mountains, stayed in my friends haunted hotel.. I wish they would have gotten to see the south of Chile. I haven’t even gone there myself yet, but I plan to and I've heard it’s absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. My friends have been there and told me so.

Otherwise, so far I've traveled to the edge of Argentina once, to Vina a bunch of times (it is summer and that is the big famous beach town, one hour away), but to Valpo just a few times (the cultural pulse of the country, next to Vina, and my current host sister lives there), and tomorrow I believe I will be off to Curico! And you know whose there? I'll be reuniting with two of my friends who came from Chile to Ohio for their exchange years (too bad for them, but good for me!) I'll get to know a few other cities this way and have a free bed to sleep in too!

I had to get permission from my counselor/dad for this since its out of our district. I know I failed to mention this but, after being here for about 3 weeks, our Rotary counselor abandoned us more or less. My current host dad (having sent 2, soon to be 3, children through Rotary Exchanges) is very involved in the youth exchange already and quickly and fluidly took over the job. Now that took away my 'unbiased mediator' when it came time to switch families (a little awkward having my old AND new family discuss me changing houses) but I never complained because having him right there all the time, to answer questions and to comply with the rules, was very convenient. Sad news, two of my very closest friends left last Friday -- one girl from Minnesota and another from New Zealand. And I KNOW you're supposed to make really good friends with people of your host countries, not your home country, but we instantly became friends and I just couldn’t help it, nor did I have any real desire to.. They were in their last final stretches of their exchanges and helped me get through the beginning mess of loneliness ALOT. I'm sad they're gone but now I'm hanging out with my host sister even more than before and we’ve become real close. I'll be sad to leave her...

I'm nervous, despite myself, to change families. The new one I've met multiple times because I'm in the same class with my next host brother! But they couldn't be more different than my current host family and house. My current family addresses one another very casually. Even swears when they're mad, sometimes even in front of grandma! Very open, but traditional too -- mass every Sunday. I also live in the very center of town! I can walk anywhere and have permission to do so. We have family events but sometimes I can miss such occasions. We go off and do our own thing 70% of the time... My new family lives in the middle of nowhere, 15 drive from Los Andes in a country-section called Curimon. They address me formally, even though I'm their child, and never ever, ever curse. They are ALWAYS together, 24-7; very family oriented and never go to church (not that I really will miss catholic mass or anything. definitely not..) They have a horse, a pool, and a yard. BUT they do not have the benefit of this great current of wind like my old house and therefore it is VERY hot (no indoor ac remember?) On the positive side, my friend from Minnesota will be living with my uncle next door! Shes from Minnesota and we will now be immediate family members. We long ago, right when we got the news we'd be so close all the time, made a vow against speaking English. Only for dying, bleeding, emergencies. That and talking about boys... lol.

I am really going to miss my current host family.. even my crazy little sister who sometimes makes me insane. And my current group of friends. Changing in the dead of summer is not such a happy thing, and I'm not sure how often I'll get to see them living out in bum-fricking-nowhere.

I really love Los Andes. Everyone keeps thinking I'm going to get homesick at one point soon. I thought I'd still have that feeling, cuz it was pretty strong in the first month or two. But seriously, you'd have to hold me at gunpoint to get me on a plane now. This is the best country and I doooooont wannnnnna to go hoooooome. Well I will when the time comes but not now. Beautiful country, loving people.

I cried with my friend from Minnesota, cuz I totally knew how she felt, ALREADY. She only got to be here for 6 months. I revel in the fact that my Spanish is better than hers. But I had A LOT more Spanish in school than most of the other exchange students here. I don't know if mentioned this but there are 2 more exchange students here in Los Andes but through WFU. One boy from Denmark who's had NO Spanish, can't conjugate a verb, but could tell you every Chilean bad word/slang you could ask for, lol. The other guy's from Norway and is doing ok as well.

I am very proud of myself. I can understand almost anything spoken as long as the person is not talking like an auctioneer, which sometimes is the way it comes out, haha. Chileans have the fastest tongues in the world.

Wow, that was one of my longest updates. I can’t think of anything else right now but you can ask me for more details on ANYTHING you want! I am totally willing to go on about my experiences.

I've already started talking to the outbounds going to Chile. Also talking to Braden Rucinski, calling him a traitor because he told me he was thinking about Chile, like his brother before him, Garrett.

--Jenny (the name doesn't get under my skin anymore at all, like it would have a few months ago)