Meeting my Host Family :)

Today we got up and had a good breakfast with really runny scrambled eggs (YUMMM!). Abby grabbed some sort of Nutella-looking substance which I tried. We think maybe it was Dolce De Leche - it tasted like really thick caramel. Bethany and I packed up our things and the whole group went on our bus for a tour of Santiago! We got to visit a museum and the federal building called La Moneda Palace, where the President’s office is. The museum underneath the palace had a lot of exhibits - mainly an Egyptian exhibit and a bottle lamp exhibit. The Egyptian exhibit had about 400 pieces and was visiting from Berlin. My favorite part was the little hippo carvings!

Sidney and I ran upstairs to the street when we hear a band playing outside! It was the changing of the guard at La Moneda and was really, really impressive. I have seen the changing of the guard at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia - but this was much different. There must have been at least 80 marching instrumentalists, 80 men with guns and 10 men on horses who all marched through the street and to the building’s front entrance. They played a few marches and they sounded really good! The trumpet parts were really high and in-tune. They had marching bells on what looked like giant lyres, clarinets, and even an oboe!!! They all stood in silence in front of the building and followed the general’s commands, marching and turning in unison. During their marches a few stray dogs wandered into the gated off area! They were barking and running around under the snare drums but the soldiers paid them no mind. It was pretty incredible!

There are stray dogs all over Santiago - about 1 million! They don’t look stray though, because they’re really not. They’re city dogs, or ‘Kiltos’ and there is an organization in Santiago which catches them, spays them, gives them shots, and either sends them back into the city or keeps and trains them as city police force. People leave dog food outside for them and will even pet them occasionally. I’ve seen about twenty of them so far, and they are all very well-tempered!

After visiting La Moneda, we went to the Metro station that we will be meeting at Monday morning, and to a small exhibit on Mestizo culture across the street. They had beautiful abstract artwork there. I especially liked these little rocks with holes in them. I don’t think you were supposed to blow air in them, but I did, and they all made different pitches!

I was talking to Bethany this morning about how much I miss playing piano, clarinet, and singing already! I don’t usually crave music too bad, but I usually play music when I am going through hard/challenging times. It’s one thing that is constant, challenging, and enjoyable no matter where I am or what is going on in life. At the hotel there was a decorative harp that I played on for a while (until Luis told me no teehee!). It was really fun - even though it was missing many (nylon) strings and incredibly out-of-tune. The tuning knobs were welded in place, so I plucked on a few strings which were in some sort of near-tonal-center and jammed out with the Kenny G mixtape playing on loop in the lobby (LOL). It was certainly a unique 15-minute musical experience. This morning Bethany and I sang along to some country music on my phone and I instantly started feeling less nervous to meet my host family.

I fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel (having only gotten five hours of sleep last night haha!) and when we got there our host families were waiting inside. Everyone was meeting theirs and I couldn’t find mine - but saw two ladies sitting on the couch. The older lady asked, “Ah! Charlott?” and I said “Si, si!”. She introduced herself as Vilma in Spanish, my host mother, and her daughter (probably 30-40 years old or so) Ximena. I nodded and laughed and smiled and they each kissed me on the cheek! Bethany and I grabbed our luggage and headed out with our respective families.

Vilma turned to me and said,

“Hablas Español?”

“No.. un poquito.. !Hola.. ¿Cómo estás?… Leche..” I said, laughing.

“Du kannst aber Deutsch, ne?”

I laughed again - yeah I could speak German, alright, and apparently so could Vilma!

“Ja, ich kann Deu—“

“Aber SOLO ESPAÑOL, SI?”

We both laughed and got in the car where a tiny poodle in a sweater was yipping at us and Ximena.

“Su nombre es Gala,” said Vilma, and after an approving sniff of my hand from Gala, Ximena started the car and we drove off to their casa.

I took some pictures on the drive there, and when we arrived I lugged my suitcase and backpack up three flights to their little apartment. There’s no elevator so I got my exercise in, woohoo! I gave them my host present consisting of a USA plastic water cup with a straw in it, a postcard of a sunset over the Grand Canyon, a magnet of the AZ flag, and the itty bitty cactus! Ximena loved the postcard and put it up next to her picture frames. Vilma kept doting over the two little magnets which she stuck to her (magnetic, YES VICTORY YODEL) fridge. We ate a huuuuge lunch of a full freshly oven-cooked pollo (chicken), arros (rice), ensalada (salad), zumo de naranja (orange juice), sliced papas (potatoes) and white Chinese tea and platanos (bananas) with caramel syrup for desert.

After lunch I organized everything in my room which is super nice! The bed even has an electrical heating pad underneath the mattress pad! I’ll try to remember to post more pictures of the whole apartment later.

After that, Vilma took me to the market, bank, and the subway station down the street. The subway is not very far from the apartment - and the stop I’ll be going to Monday morning is only two stops away! The entire time we were speaking in a jumble of Spanish, German, and English! I kept finding myself switching languages mid-sentence, saying things like “Ich möchte una ___” or “Yo mag ___”. But so did Vilma, so it was really funny - she said things like “Ich como Schinken gern” and other really silly phrases that we both laughed at!

When we got back she handed me a pair of house keys and asked if I wanted something warm to drink - I asked if she had any Kakao (German hot chocolate) and she said she didn’t but she made me some with baker’s chocolate! It was a little bitter but still really really yummy and tasted like how they make it in Germany. The dog, Gala, has been getting friendlier and friendlier toward me since this afternoon - she even flopped a couple times for me and had me play tug-of-war with her giant stuffed bunny! She barks pretty loudly haha, but I'm sure I'll get used to it :)

Vilma's friend came over tonight for dinner! She speaks a little English so we talked for a little while. Then a host mother and her student from my program, Jacob, came over for dinner too. We all had guacamole on bread (I guess that's a Chilean specialty!), and zumo de naranja (orange juice). My favorite part of the meal was the onion bread which went by FOUR different names. It was referred to as an Italian specialty name that I forgot, onion bread (English), Zwiebelbrot (German), and cebolla pan (Spanish). It was hilarious having three languages at the table at once - I ended up translating everything that mamá Vilma said in German into English for Jacob, he and his host mother translated some Spanish for me, and I translated English into German for mamá Vilma! I felt like a French fur trader translator back in the first explorations of Western America - who would perhaps have a conversation which went Native American > English > French and back again! It was quite the experience.

After that, everyone headed home and Vilma texted me cute little messages wishing me sweet dreams! Tomorrow we are going into the city with two boys to go to the supermarket and explore. It should be fun! Buenos Noches!

Love,

[CHAR]