Hola de Santiago!

18 hours.

2 flights.

A sunrise over the Andes that made them look like they were on fire this morning.

3 hours to go through immigration and customs.

Many separate conversations with a multitude of Chileans.

And I am finally all set up at my host mom's house in Santiago.

World fact book

I'll tell you one thing about Chilean's they do love to talk. And the accent is a little hard to pick up on at first as this other blog tells you. I have had conversations with people on my plane; 3 with my host mom, Josefina's, relatives who were picking up another member of the family at the airport; and one very long conversation with the lady that is responsible for leading me to her this afternoon. They've all told me I speak very well, like a Chilean, which makes me pretty proud of myself. Apparently it's better than being told I talk like a Peruvian, which was something my friend Elise told me is meant as an insult here.

Though I needed an english break this afternoon and reached for one of my books I brought with me, talking is good; it's keeping my mouth moving which is helping my body stay warm. It's freezing here right now.I am literally writing to you all right now under the covers on my bed, with a few more extra blankets, a sweater and a jacket and I'm still cold. The Minnesota 54F is a lot different than a Chile 54F. Granted it's about 9 p.m. here and the sun's down so that makes a definite difference, but still, brrrrr. No humidity here to give that extra cushion.

 Thankfully though, as you can see in the next link, it's going to warm up soon. There's a shot at 70F people!I was told that tomorrow is the start of spring here. How wierd is that?

I do have an estufa in my room which is kind of like a portable radiator, but I can't seem to find the matches that go with it. Josefina lit it for me earlier, but now I can't find them. She's resting right now since she came to the airport to pick me up early this morning. She's really tired and I don't want to disturb her. The least I can do is let her sleep after she did that for me.

I already love Josefina. She's super sweet and funny too. She loves to cook, she made a wonderful lunch of arroz con pollo which we swapped stories over for awhile, and I've already promised her I'd make her my specialty, Tortilla Espanola, while I'm here. I think we'll get along swimmingly.

Well I've got to go. I'm leaving to go to the mall with Josefina in a little while to buy a local cell phone and a BIP! card that will help me get around the city while I'm here. Our adventure tomorrow is finding out how to get to my internship. Apparently there's a micro route (city bus) that stops close by Josefina's house and takes me all the way to work without having to change buses at all.

I'll mark that down as
 Avery Cropp: 1
Directional Dysfunctionality: 0
if that proves to be true.

Until Next Time,
Avery