Bienvenidos a Chile. For real.
After spending the past two weeks surrounded by twenty gringos, I am finally living with my host family. No more orientation. No more charlas. No more English.
Before parting ways on Saturday, we spent our final day of orientation much like we spent most of the others--in charlas. Fortunately, Professor Winn decided to save the most interesting lecture, which discussed the public health system in Chile, for Friday. We also ended the charlas much earlier than usual, so we could enjoy the delightful weather. While it was only 35 degrees earlier in the week, the thermometer must have neared 70 degrees and we certainly took advantage of it. Several of us had a picnic lunch followed by some of the best ice cream I have ever eaten in my life. To put it bluntly, whoever told me it would be impossible to find good ice cream in Santiago must have lied.
Once night fell, we reconvened for our final meal with Professor Winn, Carmen Gloria, and Raquelita. We went to a rather fancy restaurant in the Bellavista district to try even more Chilean specialty dishes. We started off the meal with a round of pisco sours and some pan con pevere (a salsa-like tomato garnish). This was soon followed by an appetizer consisting of a variety of meat and shellfish. At this point, I was relatively full, but still couldn't resist devouring my entire entree consisting of congrio (eel) and spinach stuffed with a delicious but unknown type of cheese. We washed such deliciousness down with several Chilean wines. Even after eating so much food I still managed to enjoy our chirimoya and pastry dessert. An absolutely amazing meal. My only regret is that we planned to go dancing at some of the many discotecas in Bellavista after the meal, so I couldn't photograph each delicious dish. Before piling into a taxi to return to the hostel for the last time several hours later, we danced the night away at several of the discotecas dotting Bellavista.
Saturday marked the official end of orientation. After frantically packing in the early morning, we dumped all of our luggage to the patio to wait for our host families. Both nervous and excited, we watched as our Tufts classmates disappeared one by one. Suddenly, Carmen Gloria called my name and I plunged into a world of rapid fire Spanish and a bit of confusion.
Immediately after being picked up at the hostel, I discovered that I would meet the entire family that day at my host parents' granddaughter's baptism. And by entire family, I mean the entire family consisting of upwards of sixty people. I honestly tried to remember names, but it's going to take quite some time. While I only understood about half of what was said, everyone seemed friendly and the food was absolutely delicious.
Sometime after midnight, we finally returned to the apartment that I will call home for the next semester. Not only does it boast some beautiful views of Santiago, but it is also beautifully decorated and my room full of bright colors. I'll share the apartment with my host mother (Blanca), father (Juan), and their son (Felipe). While I struggle to understand much of what is said, I can't wait to spend the semester living here.
Hasta Luego!
Christy
No comments:
Post a Comment