On September 2nd, we met our host families.
The experience was like a rollercoaster ride.
That Sunday morning, we traveled from our orientation lodging in Algarrobo to Santiago. Our families met us at CASA SIT--actually, the lower half of the building which is a Cafe/Theatre Restaurant. When we walked in, our families were already waiting, swarming, squirreling merriments here and there, calling for us. It was like coming home to a big family reunion with aunts and uncles, cousins and third & fifth kins three times removed.
The feeling was fabulous--so exciting...to be received so well...by strangers. Perfect strangers.
And yet they weren´t. They were our family now for 5 or so weeks (note: throughout the program, we will have two or three host families, by nature of our traveling schedule).
So after the communal reunion feel subsided, immediately an adoption process ensued. Moms and dads rushed for there prearranged ¨hijo¨or ¨hija¨ I myself found myself being wrapped up in hugs and kisses the moment a lady called my name and I looked her way.
After that--I was left overwhelmed. Ovewhelmed with questions, overwhelmed with spanish, overwhelmed with questions in spanish, overwhelmed with not enough words in my head to answer questions, let alone in spanish...it was baffling! But without the baffle, because I couldn´t even say that much in spanish!
What in the world was I doing here?! In Chile?! And no momentary way of conversing with my family beyond, ¨ah, ho-la?¨
In those first moments in the Cafe--and even later during my first dinner with the whole family--I was sure that they thought I was stupid or something. Or at least disappointed by getting a ¨hija¨ that could only say ¨hola¨ without drawing a blank and searching for better words.
Throughout dinner, I was sooo ovewhelmed and just at a loss of words. And hearing, apparently, because to nearly every question or comment that came my way, I repsonded back,¨um...pardon...no entiendo.¨
LOL. HORRROR...
Brief blurb about the fam:
So my Chilean family is super nice, and just right, I think, for me.
(Oh, minus the fact that they all smoke. And in the house. Fortunately though, it´s not too bad. The smoke smell. But Yea, not sure how the placement went regarding this, esp since the no smoking was definitely checked off on my homestay application. annnywhoo...)
I have a mom, a dad, a big sis (around 28), a big bro (sort of, he´s around 22), a grandma, a polola, and a dog.
Okay, so some notes:
1) cultural fact: grown Chilean kids tend to stay at home and live with the parents longer than what we generally think of for the norm here in US (hence my sis in the count, although i don´t have much interaction with her)
2) mom & dad are the main two I converse with in details about my day and stuff....they´re cool. I´m not sure how old they are--they look up there in age, but I´m not sure if it´s because of age or years of smoking.
(ps smokers: don´t mean to offend, but you know it´s bad for your health. Interesting note on that: So, on the packs of cigarettes here in Chile, they have a pretty serious picture of this guy that has a hole in his neck from cancer due to smoking. It makes for quite a warning label.)
Anyways, I think my mom is a home maker and my dad...yea, I haven´t figured out quite what he does just yet.
3) my bro seems cool--but I don´t really know for sure, because one, I can´t understand 95% of what he says (he talks really fast and abbreviated), two, I don´t see him half the time (he´s a 3rd yr engineering student), and three, he spends most of his time with his polola (more on that later).
5) grandma - grandma is 88, ya´ll. And the first week, I actually thought she was confine to her bed because that´s where she stayed morning, noon, and night--but apparently that isn´t the case. she is very mobile, climbs stairs with no problem. she just stays in bed a lot because she likes to. Oh, and it´s cold as I don´t know what all the time in the house (no central heating here, for many).
4) pololo/a = boyfriend or girlfriend. In Chile, ¨novio/a¨ is used only to refer to engaged couples. Anyways, so my brother has a girlfriend who lives with us, lives with him, too. She´s my age and is from California. This is great in in some ways because I have some right under the same roof how can ¨understand¨ me ¨easily.¨ However--for the most part, she only speaks spanish to me. Rats! So much for a language co-hort.
Well, anyways, that´s everybody. That´s my familia chilena. Like I said, they´re a really nice bunch, very patient with me and my butchered spanish, and they really do make me feel at home. Oh, and now, I no longer feel overwhelm with conversing with them in spanish. And oh--this past sunday (aug 9), I even understood most of our dinner conversation. So, that´s a relief.
