I thought I'd be happy to leave 95 degree Colorado weather. I thought it would be refreshing to experience a South American winter. WRONG!
I'm absolutely FREEZING. It's cloudy. Cold. About 40 degrees. And I don't have a heavy coat here! But don't worry. I'll only be in this freezer for another 5 or 6 days and then I'm moving to Iquique, Chile! It's a consistent 60 degrees in Iquique. On the coast. Beautiful. I've only hearing AMAZING things about my town-to-be. I can't wait! And, get this. I google earthed my address in Iquique yesterday, and the avenue my house is on is ON THE COAST! I'm not sure if it's correct, but it directed me to a street on the ocean. I would be soooo lucky to live there. Google-earth it for yourself!
My address is:
Avenida Aruro Prat 3582.
I'm not sure how you send stuff to the address in the mail yet, but I'll update my blog when I find out.
I'll be living in a house with a dad named Juan. He's 51 and a Pharmacist. My host-mom's name is Yannett. She's 37 and a Comercial Manager. I have a host sister named Catalina. She's nine. And my little host brother, Juan, is 2. My house has 5 bedrooms (HUGE FOR CHILE), 2 bathrooms, hot water, potable water, and INTERNET! Yeah!!! It sounds like I'll be living really, really well.
Training has be incredibly tiring. I don't know if I've fully recovered from my 24 hours of traveling. Today we started training at 9...and we finished up around 6. This afternoon around 4 (my most tired time of the afternoon), they sprung a 2 hour written Spanish test on us. We're going to take the same test we when finish the program in November to see how much we've improved. The test was REALLY hard. One of my roommates (Elisa--she's actually from CU!) was born in Uruguay, and she said the test was really hard...and she's FLUENT!
The other people in the program with me are AWESOME. We're all here for the same reason. We're either delaying the start of our "real" lives, or postponing working in the corporate, adult world. We love Spanish, travel, kids, and want a Latin American adventure. I've really clicked with several people. My bunk-mate, Molly Malone from rural Minnesota, is really awesome. She's spunky, fun, smart...we've hung out a lot so far. And there's another girl named Kristen (Kristen Daniel) going to Iquique with me. We've clicked. She's from Atlanta. Or North Carolina? Or Cincinnati? One of those. We joke that our nickname is "Run DMK" (like Run DMC) because she's Kristen D. and I'm Kristen M. We also found out today that her middle name is like DawNay or something, and mine's obviously Dawn. We laughed about it for awhile (I think we were really tired and giddy). But we're already telling people that we're going to be BFFs (best friends forever) after this experience. And she wants to join a gym and be healthy in Iquique...so we'll support eachother.
And I'm kind of doing amazing with everyone's name. There 72 volunteers here (we're taking up the entire hostel...or almost the entire hostel). Let me tell you about some people. I'll list them:
My roommates:
Molly Malone
Michelle Baptista (remind me of Michelle Stavros like crazy!)
Elisa Garcia
Other cool folks
Bri (she's going to Iquique)
Andy (going to Iquique)
Colin (going to Iquique)
Kristen (going to Iquique)
Charlie (fun guy)
Cheryl (from Trinidad and Tobego)
Annie and McKensie (from CO, going to Iquique with me)
Anthony
Katie (from England)
Oh man...I can't remember more now. But, I promise I know a lot more people than that. There's someone from South Africa! And a dude named Richard from New Zealand...I asked him if he knew Flight of The Conchords, and he just laughed at me. I think he gets asked that a lot.
Anyway...that's the update for now. The people here are great. Oh! The hostel food is kind of gross. We all get our trays and file in line. The cafeteria lady schlopps a bowl of watery soup on our tray, and a plate of rice or potato and some chicken. And we have this orange drink made from goo and water (seriously...I saw them mix it the other day...they dumped orange goo in a jar, added water, and shloshed it around until it became orange liquid sugar water. Yum.). And then we have bread. And we all eat until our plates are wiped clean. We're kind of starving. So, I'm probably losing weight since I don't eat much and I've been walking like a million miles a day. I think I'm going to go find some real food tomorrow...and empanada or something. Yum!
And! I went to church at Santa Ana on Sunday. It was a BEAUTIFUL mass...and the priest was really nice...and young. And I understood everything! I love Spanish.
Oh...also, this is random...but I had a dream two nights ago that Father Peter (my priest from St. Tom's) was teaching me how to make this mixed drink that you had to put Tropical Skittles in. I was like, "Father Peter...Tropical skittles in a drink? Really?" And he was like, "Yeah, it's delicious." And then I woke up. What's the significance of that?
Okay...I'm leaving now.
Ciao...adios...Amor...besos...
Kristina
