Por fin...

I´ve finally arrived in Valparaíso/Viña del Mar! We got here yesterday afternoon, had lunch and some presentation/discussion time during which it was really hard to focus because everyone was so nervous about meeting their host families...and finally, they came to pick us up. My family is really nice; there´s a single mom named Marcela or Marce which was the name of my last host mom :), Valeska (25, finishing her thesis for a degree in psychology), Macarena (22, going to university, but I´m not sure where), and Pamela (16, loves music and is a bit quiet but also really nice). Right now there´s also a cousin and his friend visiting (Enzo and Marceal, but I´m still not sure which is which) from the Andes.

They´ve had host students before and I think they were as relieved as I was after talking for a bit. I think we´ll get along really well. I was glad that I had photos of Russell and Donovan because they were a great ice breaker and helped me explain that everyone in my family eats meat, I love seafood and am actually not that picky when they were wondering what type of vegetarian I am. The mom (Marce) embroiders beautiful, beautiful scenes that are hung around the house and Valeska paints so the photo book of Kauai that I brought was a lucky pick -- she said she´d probably end up using the photos for another piece. They have an adorable dog named Ino who is white and fluffy but not one of those irritating kick-dogs the size of a football that never shut up. He´s the regalón of the family (spoiled) and isn´t allowed in my room because he walks on the windowsill and they´re afraid he´ll break the window and fall all the way down.

I´m in the CIEE office in Viña and I think we have to go soon; we´re doing a practical tour of Viña and Valpo today then taking a language placement test. More on where I live, the journey here and PICTURES in a bit...