Y mía ...

(Posted by Abby, but written by Madeline. Madeline's computadora hasn't decided if it likes Chile yet.)

I made it back to Santiago! It’s so weird to me that I’ve officially spent more of my time in Chile outside of Santiago… 2 days here and 3 days in Quilpue. It’s only been 5 days? Seriously?? Ok, I’ll start at the beginning and try to be brief. So far, Abby and I have experienced very different things. We didn’t see this coming, but we just decided that it’s good for us. Personal growth or something.

Wednesday, I got here (without my security blanket, Abby) as scheduled, and met up with a big group from the program, which was surprisingly not at all scary or stressful. Everyone is really cool (although there is only ONE other Southerner…), and we instantly bonded in the FREEZING airport. Did we tell you yet that Chile doesn’t believe in central heating?? Strugglesville. But we’re adapting pretty well. During the day, it’s almost hot sometimes if you stand in the sunshine, but at night and in the mornings, it’s pretty darn cold. Anyway, we went to the hotel and did a few orientation type things, like a mini-scavenger-hunt around Santiago to take pictures of ourselves with typical Chilean items. Then we had free time starting around 4, so we rested for a while, and then a few of us went out to find dinner. We ended up eating some typical Chilean completos, basically a hot dog with avocado and tomatoes on top. They are BIG on avocado here, which of course we love. Contrary to the vocab we learned in school (aguacate), here it’s called palta. Another fun fact about Chilean cuisine: they eat an average-sized desayuno (breakfast), an enormous almuerzo (lunch) around 1 or 2, and not really dinner at all, maybe just some bread or cake with café or té con leche around 8 or 9. They super love bread and mayonnaise, bread and avocado, bread and marmalade… I could keep going.

So then Thursday, we had more orientation, and Abby finally decided to show up (es una broma, Ab!), and we got to go buy Chilean cell phones. And then around 5, it was time to go with our familias!! I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. For some reason, it was totally not a big deal that I was going to move in with a bunch of strangers for 5 months… But there was no need to be nervous, because my family is wonderful! And huge! So it feels just like home. Sorta. There are 7 of us living here: Fernando, my Chilean padre, who is a huge goofball and always making sure that I’m entertained; Silvana, my madre, who is also very concerned with my well-being at all times; their daughters Francisca (19) and Fernanda (12); and their live-in nanny of 14 years, Teresa, and her 13-year old daughter (Carla). And they have another daughter, Coni (23), who’s in grad school in Italy for 5 years… And Francisca’s boyfriend, Wes, is here whenever we’re awake, so he feels like part of the fam.

Friday morning, I had to be at orientation at 11:30, so Fernando decided we should get some good sight-seeing in. It was a Saints’ day, so everyone was off work, so the city streets were virtually empty! He couldn’t get over that, and kept telling me to take pictures of the streets, just because there were no cars. He took me to everything important in all of Santiago. I got to experience the metro and micro, and we climbed a huge hill that overlooked the city, and I saw la Moneda (palace), and two huge markets, and so many other things. It was awesome. He’s a great tour guide. 

That afternoon, we all (minus Teresa y Carla) piled in the minivan to go spend the weekend with Fernando’s family in the coastal town of Quilpue, about a 20 minute drive from Vina del Mar. We stayed with his parents, affectionately called el Tata and la Tutu. I love them. From the moment we met, they wouldn’t stop hugging and kissing me and greeting me with “ah, mi corazon” (“ah, my heart”). We also spent time with about 20 other cousins and aunts and uncles and friends during our 3 day trip. It was SO fun and sweet to experience their family, but at times very overwhelming. As Ab said, we’re only understanding about half of the Spanish around us at this point, because of how fast they speak, and the fact that they don’t really care to pronounce consonants. So I did a whole lot of watching and listening and concentrating this weekend. But they were all very good about asking me questions and trying to include me. It was just like being at one of our family gatherings, except everyone was speaking a different language. Overwhelming, right?? But they showed me all the sights of Vina and Valparaiso and Quilpue. I can’t wait to go back to visit! I’m feeling very informed about Chile these days.