Hello!
I have been LOVING life the last few days and can‘t wait to tell you all about my host family! I knew nothing about my host family until 2 days before I moved in with them...which was terrifying. Two days before our move in date we had a big ¨Host Family Powerpoint Presentation¨ where our families were revealed. I almost threw up I was so nervous....but it turns out I had nothing to worry about because my family is incredible!!
I have a mamá named Verónica (Vero) a papá named Jean-Pierre, and a sassy 7 year old sister named Pierra! Here is a photo of the the of them at lunch, the biggest meal of the day. Vero is a wonderful cook! She also puts meals together very quickly which according to Jean-Pierre is almost as important as the quality. In the Chilean household breakfast is a small meal-usually consisting of bread and butter/cheese and coffee/tea. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and Jean-Pierre, like many other parents and students, comes home to eat lunch with his family daily.
Vero prepares very healthy meals including a lot of avocado (palta), olives (aceitunas) and fruit (fruta). In the meal pictured below we had homemade watermelon juice, avocados stuffed with chicken salad, corn (choclo), olives, a salad of onions and tomatoes, and a celery salad. We do not eat a full meal for dinner, but instead have tecito, or a small meal of tea/ coffee with bread and avocado or cheese. This meal is also called ¨once¨ and is a little different in every household. Family friends often come over for tecito and we can spend hours chatting while drinking tea on the back porch. My family is also very welcoming of my gringo friends and tells me to invite friends over for tecito whenever I want.
Jean-Pierre is the regional census coordinator as well as a statistics professor at the local university. Jean-Pierre and Vero have a very fun-loving and teasing relationship which reminds me of the relationship my birth parents have. Jean-Pierre saids I am similar to Vero in that I am always laughing and making jokes. I am the 8th ¨gringa hija¨ Vero and Jean-Pierre have had. They are well versed in my study abroad program and have a lot of practice caring for American students. They seem to trust my judgement and as long as I keep them informed as to what I am up and follow safety rules, they let me do as I please and encourage me to go out a lot!
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Me, Vero, and a neighbor
I love my sister Pierra, a sassy little girl who would probably remind my parents of me at that age( a.k.a a handful). Pierra likes baking cupcakes with her mini cupcake machine, watching the Disney Channel show ¨Violetta¨ and swimming in the pool. She does not like boys because, ¨los chicos son aburridos¨ (boys are boring). You go girl!!
Yesterday Pierra and I played games in the pool and choreographed a little dance together. Later when some of my friends came over for tecito she put a jar on the table and said, ¨No permite Inglés en esta casa. Si se habla en Inglés tienen que pagarme. Voy a usar este dinero para comprar más cosas Violetta.¨ ( English is not permitted in this house. If anyone talks in English they have to pay me. I will use this money to buy more Violetta toys).
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| Pierra bailando |
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| La preciosa Pierra |
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| ¡Vamos a la piscina! |
On Sunday I went to “ El Agro“ with my chilean family. This is HUGE open air market that sells mainly fruits and vegetables. Uhm it is my new favorite place. My host mom made me try lots of new fruits like tumbo and tuna ( a fruit not a fish). The market was super crowded and exciting and we pretended Pierra was a fruit we were gonna eat for lunch as Jean-Pierra pushed her around in the shopping cart. El Agro is connected to another market that sells clothes and games which we also visited and I thouroughly enjoyed. I bought a pair of overalls for about 3 dollars and am very happy about it.
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| Pierra la fruta |
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| El Agro |
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| Trying tumbo. Consensus: tasty but wierd |
La vida es tan rica here in Arica. (Life is good/rich). I don’t think I have been this relaxed in a very long time. The pace of life here is slower and I am soaking up every minute of it. Today for example: I went to spanish class from 9-12, went to Allie´s house for a quick swim before 1:30 lunch with the family, walked to my 3-5 class with friends, drank beer on the beach till sunset, came home for tecito with family friends, did a little home work, worked on this blog :)
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| Modeling our hospital visit jackets (delantal) |
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Relaxing at the pool pre-lunch
Chilenismos:
- Pololo/a : Girlfriend-not as serious a relationship as ¨novio/novia¨ which implies the possibility of marriage.
- ¿Como estái? :This is commonly used by young people instead of como estas.
- La previa: Pregame
- Bacán: Awesome
- Cancha: Sports field/court. Cancha de tennis/fútbol...etc
- Cacho: Yes I understand. This is the response to Cachai or ¨Do you understand?¨
- Al tiro: Right away
- Paco: slang for police-equiv. of po po or fuzz. The actual word for police is carabineros.
I miss you all muchisimo!!
Nos vemos pronto.
Besos y abrazos,
Carrie
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