My home away from home

Hola!

I am now getting settled in my host family's beautiful home. It in an area of Santiago called "La Reina" (the queen), which is apparently known for it's quiet feel, trees, and for being a slightly more liberal area. All of this is true! It is about 20 minutes away from downtown Santiago and even though I am still in a big city all I can see outside of my window is trees and mountains. It is absolutely gorgeous.

(There are six homes in our private driveway- this is standing on their porch)

(And this is the front de mi casa!)

My host family is eccentric and different, but so similar to me in so many ways! My host madre's name is Viviana, but we all call her Vivi. She is about 40 and so caring and thoughtful and nice. She has taken great care of me so far, and this weekend she is going to take me to buy some shorts so I don't die of heat stroke every day in my jeans! We have already had lots of bonding time going to el supermercado (grocery store) and eating late-night snacks :) (Last night I made her peanut butter and jelly for the first time- a success!) Vivi lived in the US when she was young, so she actually speaks English, but we mostly speak spanish. Vivi's family owns and runs a vineyard about 3 hours south of Santiago, which she has already told me that we will definitely visit. I am pretty excited for that!

My host padre's name is Sergio. He is so loud and outgoing- I have never met anyone like him in my life! Unlike Vivi, he only speaks spanish which is actually a GREAT combination because I speak spanish with him always, but if I don't understand Vivi can help. Sergio and I found out right off the bat that we had something in common- he LOVES Sex and the City! He even has all the seasons in Spanish, so we are definitely planning on watching those. He also loves Marilyn Monroe and has pictures of her everywhere. He even collects sunglasses- you should see how many he has! And he offered to let me borrow any of them anytime. Can you believe that? BeforeI met him, CIEE told me he was an actor. So when I got to the house, he showed me where he keeps all of his clothes and I soon realized... he dresses up as a drag queen! He kept trying to explain this to me in Spanish, but finally he just blurted out DRAG QUEEEN. On Fridays and Saturdays he goes all around Santiago performing. Vivi and I are going to one of his shows tonight! I am SO SO excited. Even though it doesn't start until 2 am! I figured, my boyfriend is 4000 miles away, so I might as well spend Valentine's day at a drag show right? :)

(Sergio and Vivi by the pool!)

The house where Vivi and Sergio live is absolutely perfect. It has three floors, and I have my own bedroom and bathroom. It also has a POOL! I have already been swimming a few times. The sun here is so so strong though and even though I had sunscreen all over my whole body, I still almost burned when I was out there for literally 15 minutes! Apparently it is because the ozone layer here is thinner because of the pollution. Whatever the reason is, hopefully it will give me a good tan! Their two dogs are also super cute- they have a yellow lab name Teresa y a mix named Coismo. Teresa is so fun and cute, and LOVES to swim in the pool! She is in there so much that they have to put sunscreen on her nose. Every morning when I wake, all the windows and doors are open, a warm breeze is blowing inside, and there is quiet spanish music playing. It is unreal!(Teresa and Coismo)

On a side note- something interesting and shocking (to me at first) about Chile- there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE. They literally just live on the street and kind of follow you around. It is so weird! Just something you never ever see in the US, especially on the streets of a nice, downtown of a big city. Weirdddd and really sad!

Anyway, I miss everyone so much but I have the most amazing situation here. Couldn't be a more perfect match! Hope all is well in los estados unidos (USA).

Ciao!

Laura


P.S. If there is a picture of a weird dog at the very top of this, it was supposed to insert below where I was talking about the strays!