Primer Día

My mother would not be proud. I left an airport in a foreign country with two strangers based solely on the fact that they knew my first name. But after a two-hour drive, two-hour flight, a nine-hour flight, and then a couple more hours waiting in lines for immigration and customs you can't really blame me. It all turned out alright in the end anyway.

I haven't actually been in center city yet, but what I've seen is beautiful. The whole drive from the airport and from the front yard of our house I could see the snow-capped Andes just a few miles away, where we're going skiing this weekend.

I was spared my fear of not understanding a word they said since they spoke English, but was quickly introduced to Chilean by my new brother, Nícolas (pronounced Nícola). He's very patient with me and willing to repeat himself or say something another way so that I can understand, and keeps his English to a minimum even though he speaks it very well. He was also more than happy to give me a lesson on Chilean slang over some Taco Bell at the mall (not my choice).

The house where I am living is actually pretty far out of town, so far that it's not on the maps in my travel guides. It's small too. My room is about 7x10, just big enough to fit a twin bed, some shelves, and a desk. The other rooms, including the master bedroom are only slightly smaller. The kitchen table is a sort of counter in the middle of the kitchen, and the room melds into the living room. Total, this whole area, including a little walkway leading from two of the bedrooms to the kitchen is smaller than the kitchen in my house.

Oh, and there's no heat too. It's about 30 here right now, and my mother said she forgot to buy paraffin for the heater, but apparently that's the way it is.

Also staying here is their exchange student from last semester, Rich, who is from Michigan. He has been traveling for the past month and just stopped back for a few days to go home. He went to the same school I will be going to, so he's given me some tips about classes and the city and general and is going to give me the tour tomorrow.