Chile! :( and :)

As many of you already know, my baggage did not arrive with me in Chile. Hence the sad face. It still has not arrived. And the can't find it. They have no idea where it is. Welcome to South America. haha! Maybe someday I will laugh about it. Right now, sitting here having attended my first day of school without make up on, Im not laughing so much. The woman I am living with (I have a hard time calling her 'my host mom' like the last one, considering she is younger than me)has called them numerous times and the director of the school has as well. Please God, let it just be lost in the mess in Argentina and not stolen!

There is also a sad face because I didn't like it here in Chile when I first arrived. If you remember, I didn´t like it too much in Buenos Aires either at first. What does this say about me? I have a low tolerance for uncertainty (a term I learned in grad school regarding language learning, very apropos for this situation). I guess I knew this about myself, but now its certain. I like to know where I am, what I can eat, how I can get there, what people are saying etc, etc. If I dont, then I dont like it! Thank goodness Im not going anywhere else new, hahaha. I dont know if I could take it.

I still don´t know how to get anywhere really, but I can at least walk places here. My walk to and from school is tree lined. I walked to the beach today too. I think that helped a lot. I saw the ocean. I am walking distance from the ocean. I AM WALKING DISTANCE FROM THE OCEAN. What is not to like about that? I also met other students today, which helps a lot too. (Another thing I knew about myself which has been confirmed, I dont like to do stuff alone generally). There are only two students: One guy from Germany and one guy from...wait for it...Denver! Im really going to miss the girls in BA, but these guys seem pretty cool and we've already made plans to do stuff together. Deep breath! I can relax now.

My host mom Gisela (hahaha I mean the woman I am living with) is really sweet too. She actually has a boyfriend that lives here too, Alejandro, but he left for 7 days right after I arrived. She has helped me a lot regarding the luggage and other things. We went to an outdoor market together yesterday and we ate popcorn and watched a movie together last night. I was a little nervous about my room when I arrived. There is an external sliding lock on the room. Yes, thats right, the room locks from the outside, like you see in the movies with serial killers who lock their victims in small rooms. That is exactly what it looks like. (Don't worry mom and dad, Im sure its fine, haha, Ive slept here two nights now and I've been able to get out each morning). When I arrived and walked into the house, she started speaking to me immediately in English, but I asked her to please speak to me in only Spanish even if it is difficult and she has. The bad part of that is I don't understand all the things that she has told me. hahaha.

Viña del Mar is much calmer than Buenos Aires and the driving is just like in the states (with the exception of one really crazy microbus driver the other day). People seem to drive the speed limit and stay in their lanes and there is not nearly as much honking as in BA. The drivers will even stop for pedestrians who are just waiting on the side of the street. You are lucky in BA if they stop for you while you are in the middle of the street! hahaha. It is also much cooler here. Actually (Karen, shut it)it can be cold and I actually have had to wear a sweatshirt. (Luckily I had that in my backpack and not in the suitcase) I also think that there is no hope of me blending in here in Chile. In BA there were more European looking people and if I didn´t have my backpack you couldnt tell, but here everyone has dark hair and dark skin. In addtion, as far as I can tell, the other students and I from the school are probably some of the very few extranjeros (foreigners) here.

Anyway I finished the title with a smiley face and that is how I feel now. Im adjusting and I think I can get used to tree lined streets, the ocean and the calmer culture here in Viña.

Besos