Wednesday, February 04, 2004

My Arrival
The flight to Santiago was fine- hardly and turbulence and I was fed edible food. Once I got off the plane, I changed out of my pajamas and had to wait in line about half an hour to pay the reciprocity fee of $100 in order to enter Chile.

Helpless
Once I went through customs, no one was waiting for me to give me a ride to my family's house. So I ended up wandering around the the same area in the airport for about two hours, trying to avoid all of the taxi drivers accosting me for a ride and trying to find someone holding a sign with my name on it. After being helped by a young guy, misplacing my passport, and buying a phone card that didn't work, a lady at the phone station connected me with my host family. My host mom told me to go to the TransVIP station where someone should've been waiting for me. I went there and saw my name displayed in the very back corner of the booth in tiny letters. It was no wonder I had no idea to go there.

Going Home
During the bus ride to Las Condes (where I am staying with a famiy), I noticed many similarities to San Bernardino- there is a ton of smog which prevents and view of the mountains and there are a lot of low lying hills. I fell asleep though, so I didn't see much else.

The Fam
My family is very nice- a mother and father who are very funny, smiley people and three brothers- one is married and lives with his wife, the other is a bohemian dude with long curly hair and just went on vacation with his girlfriend in Argentia, and the other one goes to school in Valparaiso (I haven't me him). Another Rotary Scholar is living with us- she is from Alaska and is getting her Master's here.

Santiago
Since being here, I have managed to get lost two times while trying to come home after school- Santiago is ENORMOUS and the drivers are crazy. It's a good thing that I will be taking public transportation because everyone knows how much I hate to drive.

The most interesting thing thus far has been that I don't stick out like a sore thumb- I look just as Chilean as the next person. There are blonde-haired, blue-eyed people speaking perfect Spanish, and as long as I don't open my mouth, no one would ever know that I am from the US.

I have mostly been going around with my roomate which is only bad in the respect that we speak English with each other. Also, we have gone out to eat with a few other Spanish students and they are all English speakers.

FOOD!!
Speaking of eating, the food in home has been great. I will come home with some awesome recipes. I ate a horrible sandwich today at lunch (chicken, corn, mayo, and I don't even remember what else- but it was not good). But the juice is amazing- it is fresh and made directly from fresh fruit. I will never want to return to bottled juices.

Not Knowing Where You Are Going Isn't Always Horrible
I tried to register my student visa today, but didn't have any passport pictures with me, so I have to go back. But on the way home, I found myself in the middle of Plaza de Armas, the downtown plaza, and it was so neat. There were some artists painting and an open air market on the street. I ate some good ice cream and people-watched. I will definitely return.

I am learning a lot of cultural things about white shoes, long hair, citi bank employees, and other things one would never know unless they were able to speak with a Chilean, but I will explain more next time.

Chau!

posted by Rebecca @ 2/04/2004 05:48:00 PM