Day 2!

Well! I'm in Chile now. It's gone by surprisingly fast, though. I got here yesterday at about 8:30 in the morning and met my family at the airport in Santiago. They are really nice! My host brother, Matias, immediately took my suitcases and put his coat around my shoulders, and my host mom freaked out that I was wearing flipflops. They made all the exchange students (there were like 19 of us!) take pictures with the Chilean and American flag. There was a GIANT crowd of people there--at least 15 cameras were all flashing. It was funny. So, we left the airport and got in the car and Luis (the dad) was talking to me in English, thank god! He said the first day it would be okay. I asked them to drive around Santiago before we drove to Talca and it was so different than I expected! The city is really polluted and not to mention it was foggy and freezing, so I'm not so sure about it. There are a lot of poor parts and it makes the city kind of ugly at parts, but I suppose that's how all cities are...? Yes... Luis was asking me what I thought of it and how it was different from Seattle and I said I didn't know, and he said, "Here, there is no 'sky-crappers'." HAHA. He said it like 10 times and everytime I wanted to correct him, but it was making me laugh so I just let him say sky-crappers. But yeah, they don't have skyscrapers because they have a lot of earthquakes, which should be exciting if I'm here when they have one. We drove up on this big hill and we stopped at the top and were able to see all of the city and the Andes in the back. Except for the fog, it was so beautiful. Then we drove to Talca. It took about two and a half hours and for the first half hour, Sofia (six years old) kept saying "Como se dice ____ en espanol" and then I'd have to answer her. It was hard, though, because she has a strong accent. But, I learned that mice is raton and sky is cielo in Spanish, so I guess it was good... When we finally got to Talca, and to the house, I was so excited. Their house is actually really cool. It has like the traditional Spanish roof things and it's just pretty, I guess. HOWEVER, it is soooooooooo cold! They don't have insulation or heaters, just a fireplace that they really don't care is still burning or not. So, the house is freezing 24/7. I have a heated blanket, though. :) Today, I woke up late and then played a Chilean version of Monopoly with Javier, Sofia, and Matias. It was weird at first but it got kind of fun! Sofia just laughs at everything and she's soooo cute when she does. She just talks and talks and talks and I can barely understand two words, but I just laugh anyways. It's really hard to understand anyone. They all talk so fast and it's so slurred and...foreign. Hopefully when I start school at the end of the week, it gets better!!