Host Family

Since I don't have it in me to write one long post, I've decided to it up into a bunch of smaller posts. This post will be on my host family.

I like them a lot, they are better than expected. They have a nice small house about a one and quarter miles from the beach. In this house I have my own room and my own bathroom. The room is maybe a tad smaller then my room at 1406 Webster without the attached sunroom. However, because I have a lot less stuff here, it is pretty spacious for my needs. Like all of the houses here, the house has the slight feel of a fort (or as my host mom put it jail) because they have bars over the windows and thick locks on the door to prevent robberies. (My host mom was happy to declare that her house at never been burglarized) The most interesting part of this security apparatus is the horizontal bars over the open air atrium that attaches my room to the rest of the house. (see related pictures)

My host family consists of a grandma (who's name I don't know but goes by 'buela), a mom (Silvia) and two kids, a nine year old girl and a 15 year old boy (Connie and Alex). The mom speaks alright English, Alex speaks pretty good English and even the grandma speaks a little bit. This has been both a good and bad thing. It has definitely helped me feel comfortable in my new surroundings and when I have asked them questions I have been (mostly) sure that they actually understood what I was asking. On the other hand because the whole family wants to practice their English, I don't have as many chances to hear/practice my Spanish. I've notice though that I can make out a lot more Spanish words when my host family talks to me in Spanish then when other people talk to me in Spanish. I think this is because I sort of am starting to understand their accents/ how they say things but it could also because they speak a tad slower and say things more basically.

Also helpful is that my host family has had volunteers in the past. I feel that makes them more attuned to how Americans act and to volunteers needs. They also tell me what other volunteers did, which lets me know of what activities there are to do. For example the volunteer last year played rugby with the students which I am going to try to do.

My host mom like call herself a witch and says that I will come to dislike her but so far she has been very nice and helpful. She likes to tell jokes, and to talk and jokingly threatens to hit me if I misbehave (despite being just over 5 feet tall she seems to be under the illusion that she can beat me up.) Yesterday she helped me out by taking me shopping (I bought a bunch of small stuff hangers, tape, batteries, cell phone, paper, folders etc.) She is a secretary at the school that I teach at and t on the first day introduced me to everyone.

The son Alex also attends the school, and is in 10^th grade which means that I will be teaching him. He was on the debate team that won the national contest last year. He is a good guy, smart and teaseable, and I get along well with him. The daughter (who the mom says has devil hands) is a typical nine year old. From what I read, compared to American standards, Chileans tend to be indulgent with their kids and this can been seen with the daughter who tends to get into things. However, I enjoy rough housing with her (the pictures of her with the sword were taken after we play fenced … I had a saw to defend myself).

The family is Mormon (except for grandma who is Catholic), but the only signs of this is going to church on Sundays and not drinking alcohol (I made the mistake of bringing a bottle of wine as a house present) .

I have been eating all my meals so far at the house. I've adopted fairly easily into the Chilean eating schedule. This is a light breakfast of bread/toast and coffee, heavy lunch at 2 consisting of a salad (Chilean salads consist mainly of chopped lettuce and tomato and/or cucumber with lime juice on it; however Chileans really like mayonnaise and the other day my host mom put mayonnaise and bbq sauce on her salad) and a main course and then a light dinner at maybe 9 / 9:30 with perhaps a small snack around 5/6. There is always plenty of food and often I'm not able to finish my lunch or dinner. (those at work who have had lunch with me know I regularly tend not to finish my lunch) For example, at lunch yesterday we had eaten a salad and an empanada before the grandma brought out a huge plate of rice and chicken for me. I managed to get half of it removed from my plate and still couldn't finish it.

The food has been pretty good so far, with chicken, lasagna, pizza all being cooked. One day the food was pretty bland with chicken and rice but everybody at the table (including me) put BBQ sauce on it. I've been buying fruit juice at the supermarket to add to my options. I food has been agreeable to my stomach so far with only minor indigestion

So yea, in summary basically a good living situation here.