Nuevo Hogar (New Home)

Atlanta airport!

But soon enough, I’ll have a little bit more stability in my life. At least for a while. Probably. 

Mi Familia

As soon as I got in the car in Santiago to go see my new home, my host-mom showed me a message in google translate; it went along the lines of, “Welcome to our family. I’m so glad to have you as one of my children.” Ohhhh my gosh, I’m so incredibly thankful she affirmed that they want me here—it put a bit of my worries to rest. 

I have 2 host-sisters (4 and 14 years old), Maria-Laura and Sara, a host brother, Raul (15), who will be going on exchange to the U.S., and two parents.

As my little sister, Laura, “helped” me write this, she announced that I have joined “a una familia muy muy feliz” (“a very very happy family”). She said far more than that but I had no idea what she was saying. I absolutely adore that child. 

Me giving Laura a piggyback ride. Edit: I carry her everywhere now, I swear.

So far, I think I’m rocking this whole older sister thing.

Sara is incredibly welcoming, so sweet, and—lucky for me—really good at making conversation. No one in the family speaks very much English, but we make do with the help of my bestie, google translate. In fact, Sara and I have had several conversations just by passing a phone back and forth. We speak in Spanish PLENTY as well, but right now, I value bonding over practicing the language. We’ve even made mini cupcakes together!! They looked positively toxic, but tasted fine enough :)

The cupcakes Sara and I made. The cupcakes were purple on top, green on the sides, and blue inside.

They look inedible, I know.

The very first day, we played Just Dance in the living room. There was more giggling and tripping over each other than dancing, but it counts!! After that I spent several HOURS playing with the little ball of energy named Laura—we created little blob cats with playdough, fought with superhero doll thingamajigs, and I sped around the house pushing her in a little plastic car. Later in the week, I was running and spinning while giving her piggy back rides and she went crazy with making little vlogs on my phone (they’re really, REALLY cute!!!!). Sometimes Laura comes into my room and literally just LAUNCHES herself on top of me before chattering on in clumsy Spanish (but still FAR less clumsy than mine).

Within days of meeting me, Laura (4 year-old) was making a “vlog” and as she introduced Sara and I to whoever would be watching, she said “mi hermana, Sara, y mi hermana, Maia” (“my sister, Sara, and my sister, Maia”). Absolutely no differentiation, no acknowledgment of my exchange student status, nothing. My heartstrings were not simply tugged. They were YANKED.

I love this family. They’re amazing, and I know I can trust them to take care of me.

Gala Spotlight

Guess what! They have a dog!!! 

Before you judge me for what I’m about to say, I would like to note that I love all dogs (and most living things—NOT COCKROACHES), no matter how big, small, handsome or ugly.

Well. The first time I met Gala (the dog) I found her oddly reminiscent of a rat. 

… still do.

Gala, the family dog.

This little snack of a dog (like seriously, my dog could eat her in three bites—GALA IS SMALLER THAN MY CAT) steals socks and shoes, forces you to throw a tiny plastic dog bone, jumps on you to lick your face, and curls up on you at any time of day. 

While we’re talking about pets… my family has two (Edit: now three) sheep. And a horse. I’m not kidding! Imagine my surprise when I see two puffy white fellas sauntering around the GIANT backyard? Edit: a few days later they had a baby (it’s CUTE).

The new baby sheep!!!

One time when I was eating lunch with the family, my host-mom saw that the sheep started eating her favorite bush or something, so she stood up, marched over to the window, and started yelling at the sheep. Obviously, they didn’t listen—they’re sheep. Next thing I know, my host-mom is half HANGING out of the window, shaking her fist at the fluffy creatures!!! I tried to hide a smile, but the rest of my host-family was already laughing out loud. 

The horse’s name is Princesa, and she has a strangely fluffy coat. I hope I get to know her more :)

Sara and Princesa in our FRONT YARD (can you believe it?!?!).

Also, I regularly see people riding horses out in the street in my area (rural). Culture shock moment!

Chileeeee!

What I did NOT predict when I came to Chile: the flooding. As I mentioned before, the streets were rivers. The rain was coming down non-STOP for dayyyyys, and since before I had arrived in Chile. 

My host family and I have a running joke of “this is your welcome to chile” while gesturing at the watery disaster. 

Sara and I taking a walk through the flooded streets of rural Cúrico.

We kept watch over the days as the river rose higher and higher, closer and closer to the house. I had to sleep in a different place every day, since everywhere I slept was at higher risk of being flooded. First the guest building, then Sara’s room, then the grandparent’s house, then back to Sara’s room. Just two days after sleeping in the guest building, the floor was under 4 inches of water. 

Sara and I were unable to walk to the end of the driveway without being half a foot under water. Btw, I love it when people swear in English but with spanish accents (didn’t I say the same thing in Indonesia?)!

Fortunately for us (and the house), nearly all the flooding disappeared overnight—the same day it stopped raining. Mother nature was just showing off, I think.

The main part of my host family’s house suffered no damage, but other people didn’t get so lucky. 

El Pais

Chile is CHILLY.

I expected it to be, well, WARM. It’s NOT. On the bright side, my host-mom gave me this super puffy beige jacket that I absolutely LOVE because for some reason I was too dumb to bring a legit jacket. Edit: I wasn't the only one to make that mistake.

There’s no snow, but it can be pretty frigid (also, I’m coming from Indonesia), ESPECIALLY the nights, AY AY AY!!! On every bed there are piles and piles of blankets, so it’s fineeee but the mornings… ugh, no. 

Aside from the cold, and the floods, this part of Chile is pretty awesome. First, it’s gorgeous, and I mean GORGEOUS. The city of Santiago doesn’t seem that much different from the States (at least from a glance—bleh) but the rural areas? Oh mi oh my, it’s lovely.

The path we were walking on when Sara and Fria were claiming Chile is soooooo "ugly". Ha, as if.

For some odd reason, Sara and her friends are convinced that Chile is ugly and the States are pretty, but they told me that as we were walking on the streets of rural Cúrico with the backdrop of wine fields and mountains. My gosh, I think they might be blind. 

Second, the food… it’s like a broken mirror. It SEEMS like what I’m familiar with, but it’s not. We have sandwiches pretty regularly, but the bread? Fluffy, tasteful deliciousness. The tomatoes? Juicy, flavorful yumminess. At one point, I noticed that my family would put tomatoes and ONLY tomatoes in their lil sandwich thing, and I was soooooo confused. But, like a good exchange student, I did as they did, and I was left with another question. How is it possible for a tomato sandwich to taste so good????

Other tasty things: sopaipillas (my fav. food here!), warm milk (ya, I don’t know why that’s so good either, it just IS), manjar (caramel thingy—superrrrrrr sweet). 

There’s so much more to tell you all, but I think this is enough for one post. 

Thank you all for readingggg!!! ❤️