Orientation day 2 started really early... well it seemed really early. The alarm went off for Terrance and I around 7am, because we wanted to get up and eat breakfast which was scheduled from 8 until 9. Needless to say, we ended up at breakfast very early. We forgot that South Americans are notorious for not following schedules and showing up very tardy. So, we got a really nice breakfast in. It included sandwiches which consisted of toasted bread with butter, some cheese and ham, a bowl of cereal, fresh fruit, and yogurt. It was very good and quite filling.
After breakfast we took the much dreaded written Spanish placement exam. Let's just say that I have to really work on my Spanish. :) It has been a little more then a year since I last took Spanish 300 with Alex (my friend from school). Many of the items on the test were items that I new I had studied, but many of the principles I had forgotten. I basically need a refresher course on everything. After the written exam we spent a few minutes with our professors in an oral exam. They asked you a few questions that were more based on comprehension and verb conjugation... well that is what I deducted from the topics they asked me to discuss. I must say that I think my speaking though, has gotten better and many people that I have talked to say that my Spanish is clear. Again, I need to work on the grammar but with time this will come. I have a book entitled, Mastering Spanish Grammar, which I spend about an hour a day on, and I also have been spending some time with a new book I purchased before I left the states entitled 2000+ Spanish verbs which helps you master verb conjugation.
After this we had a session that taught us the basics of security in Santiago. It was really interesting. They said that the thieves in Santiago are world renowned, but I think all thieves, in every country are world renowned. Most security was about backpacks, which can easily be opened by passersby or taken from the floor or other areas.
In the afternoon, we were given an activity to do in Providencia, a sector of Santiago. My group was given the task to learn how many cellular phone companies Chile has and what type of pre-paid plans they have for foreign students. Our group first decided to go get lunch. We stopped at this little Bistro looking place where we had a sandwich and a soda pop. After we found out that Chile has three cellular phone providers. Movistar (Movahstar), Claro (Clahro), and Entel (Entell). They all had pretty similar price structures, etc, but this task took much longer then I expected and I really wasn't that please. I was upset that we had to spend so much time researching while others got more time to explore. Now, looking back it was fine, but still. :)
We got back to the hotel and we presented our information to the group. The other groups did the same. After the presentations we all got some time to prepare for the biggest event of the day... dinner with our families!
I went up and put some gel in my hair to make myself look decent. I went down stairs around 8pm and the woman who had arranged all of our host families was asking us our names and pairing us up with all of the families that were there. My family wasn't there yet, so I sat on the couch waiting for them to come. Suddenly the woman came up to me and said that my family was here to pick me up. I went over and an old man came up to me and gave me a hug. I am sure that I had a very strange look on my face because this man did not look like anything I had seen in the picture Butler had sent me. I asked the woman if this was right and she said that my host mom had sent her dad to come and pick me up. While this was strange to me, I decided to go along with it.
As we were walking out of the hotel, the man said to me, "You were very skinny in your picture, and you had big hair, what happened?" I looked at him and clearly said, "Something is wrong." We walked back into the hotel and he immediately recognized Sam, a student at Carelton in Northfield. Sam is much skinnier then I am and he has a "fro" like do with his hair--- nothing like me. The woman had paired me with someone else.
I sat back on the couch and in a few minutes my real family showed up. It was nice to see them in person. They looked exactly like they had in the picture. Their son was not with them, so I asked them where he was and they said that he was with his grandparents.
I was very hungry at this point because all I had eaten was a sandwich for lunch around 1pm. We were driving along and I talked with Jaime and Muriel, my host parents. We were driving for what seemed like forever, when we showed up at a Chinese Restaurant. I thought that this was where we were going to eat. We went in and immediately walked to the back room where there was a space heater, television, and a couch. There Jaime (their son, now I will call him Jaimito (or little Jaime)), was playing a game on the playstation 2 and his grandparents were sitting on the couch. I gave them both a firm handshake and a hug and we stayed there for a little while hanging out. Finally, Muriel suggested that she was very hungry, so we got back in the car to go to their home. Jaimito of course came with us.
We got to their home, which was quaint, but very nice. They gave me a tour of the home which includes a kitchen, dining room, living room, two bathrooms, and a bedroom. It also has another small bedroom attached to it for the Nana (more about the Nana later). They showed me my room which I liked. It has tiled floors (which get cold at night, but that is okay) a single bed, a desk, a nightstand, a dresser, and a nice sized closet with shelving. The thing I liked most about my room was that there was a map of the world on the wall. I love maps and it made me feel very at home.
After this I was thinking, okay we left to go eat, now where is the food. Which I felt bad for, but it was going on 10 o'clock and there was no sign of food. That is when Muriel said that Jaime and I should go to the grocery store for food. I was thinking, wow, we haven't even bought the food yet, and it is 10 o'clock? Crazy. Jaime, Jaimito and I went to the grocery store, which was not to far from the house and we bought a few things. One of the things included ice cream. Jaimito, was very crazy in the store. He played with the soccer balls in the isles and ran up the down escalator thing at the grocery store. He has a lot of energy, something I am not use to.
We got back to the house and they told me to sit down at the table in the dining room. It seems that the entire time the Nana, which I will now explain, was cooking the food.
In Chile, many families, actually most families, have a nana which comes either once every other week, every week, every day, or lives with the family. My Chilean family has a nana who lives in the room I was talking about earlier that is connected to the house. Her name is Pamela. She is a student here in Santiago who is currently studying Tourism. She is from the south of Chile, where she has told me she hopes to return to work in tourism one day. Nana's have a lot of work to do and basically serve as a servant of sorts to the family. They wash the clothes, dishes, cook most of the food, serve the food, take care of the kids, take the kids to and from school, clean the house, make the beds, etc. It is quite the job and I am always trying to be very respectful and thankful of everything Pamela does for me.
For dinner we ended up having a very nice conversation and some really good food. The meal included chicken, potatoes, and "salad". Salad is different here in Chile then it is in the United States. Salad is any vegetable that is included with the mail. For example, two dishes of tomatoes and cucumbers are considered "salad" in Chile.
It was getting close to 11:30 now and they decided that I needed to go back to the hotel. This was only a short lived stay. They said that the COPA program made it very clear that I needed to be back to the hotel at 12. We sped through the night and we arrived only a few minutes late.
I felt so excited after this meeting with my family. They were so nice and loving. I went to sleep around 1:30am. I knew the next morning was going to come early.
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