August 5, 2009 - Finally Here

Lucas, my host family's dog.

The living room.

My room.

The hotel room where I stayed for four days.

I arrived in Chile yesterday morning and I have had a very interesting 24 hours since my arrival. When I got off the plane, I felt completely lost: nobody spoke English, I had to find baggage claim, go through customs, etc... Once I found the exit a lady who works for the AFS Chile office found me and we took a taxi to her office. She spoke perfect English which was nice because it gave me a chance to calm down. After she spoke to me about what to expect in the next 5 1/2 months, we took another taxi to the bus station where we boarded the bus that was headed to Rancagua, Chile. People drive crazily here - it is truly scary. The taxi driver drove at about 120 km/hr the entire was to the bus station. I am not sure exactly how fast that is in mph but trust me, it's too fast. My host brother and host father picked me up at the bus station and it was great to finally meet them both. My host father is extremely nice and very funny and as soon as he met me he gave me a hug and told me that I was a part of the family (in Spanish of course) to him haha. When I arrived at my host family's house I met everybody else before taking a nap. When I awoke from my nap I attempted to speak to my host family; however, I wasn't very successful in doing so. Everybody is constantly offering me food which is really nice. Also, people here kiss on the cheek as a greeting which in my opinion is awkward. I am not going to go to school until Friday so I will probably spend most of my time unpacking and becoming more comfortable in my room. I have noticed since I arrived that there is a huge problem with stray dogs - it is extremely sad because they are everywhere and most of them have mattes in their fur and are starving. I also could not help but to notice the Andes mountains... I have never seen anything like them. They are enormous, snowcapped, and not at all like the mountains that I am used to seeing.