Spring is Springin'

Life has been busy and I apologize for being MIA. I have finally figured out my classes and almost figured out my internship, but it’s been quite the struggle. “Chile Time” is pretty lax and deadlines really mean “plus or minus a few days or a week” which would be great if I didn’t have to figure things out on Tufts Time, which is all about the deadlines. My final class schedule is The Social History of Latin America (my really hard class in the Social Sciences Dept.), Cine Foro (foreign film class that gives no homework), Spanish 121 – Advanced Grammar and Composition, and Salsa. All are taught completely in Spanish, and the Social History class gives tons of reading that I don’t think I’d even understand in English… whatever, I’m going for it. There are plenty of other gringos in the class so we can get through it together.

I’m feeling pretty settled into Santiago by now. I love my host family – they’re so much fun and are always so nice to me, I got so lucky! They tease me about going out on the weekends (“carreteando”) and coming home while they’re quietly sleeping in the wee hours of the morning, but it’s always in good fun. It doesn’t get too rambunctious around my house since the son is 15, the daughter is 18 and always has tons of homework (while I basically have none – the tables have turned!), and their family is very Christian and spends a lot of time at church. Living in such a religious household has been my biggest culture shock since it’s a pretty stark contrast to my real family, but it’s been really good for me to experience and I’m excited about being here for the rest of the semester.

Short scenario that sort of embodies this living situation: last Saturday morning I woke up at about 11am, made myself some tea, and sat down on the couch to watch some TV (specifically the OC in Spanish). Everyone in my family was gone to do productive activities for the day – my sister to tutor other students at her school, my brother on a church organized hiking trip, and my parents at the fruit/veggie market. As I started to drink some tea, groggy and slightly hung over, I turned my mug and realized that I was sipping from a coffee cup that said “Club Cristo 2008” (“Christ Club 2008) with a large cartoon Jesus grinning at me with arms outstretched. It might as well have said “Tenley, come hither and rise from your post-carrete grog!” Obviously I started laughing by myself which is always a cool thing to do by yourself...

In other news, the weather is getting really nice here!! As you poor North Americans are about to nosedive into fall/winter I’m gearing up for spring/summer and it’s awesome. I have to admit that seeing all the pictures of my friends running around sunny Seattle or hanging out at Tufts during the past two weeks has made me miss home and Tufts lots, but I’m really excited for an entire semester of warm/hot weather. And apparently the smog is going to clear up a lot so I won’t be getting the Black Lung anymore. Overall: things are looking good in Santiago.