ValPOH, si POH

Poh, poh, poh. I remember when my aunt used to imitate me every time I said 'like'. She'd have a field day here with everyone saying 'poh', which is essentially the same thing.

Yesterday I moved in with my host family; Manolo, Ceci y Gaby. Gaby is my 13 year old host sister and Ceci and Manolo are my parents. My dad works with the mining companies up north in Iquique so he is out of town every other week. My host mom calls him a 'part time husband', but it seems to work for them. He's currently on vacation so he will be around for the next two weeks to help me learn the ropes of the bus systems here.

The house is so cute and colorful. The vase I painted for my family fits in perfectly with their living room since it is blue and yellow (I knew ahead of time...). My room is a pale teal and I have the most sunlight out of all the rooms, which is super nice. Indoor heating is definitely a no go here so I've been freezing inside much more so than outside. In Chile they use 'estufulas' which are gas heaters to warm the house. That helped take the edge off of the cold. There is also a gas heater which you have to light in order to take a shower with hot water. Needless to say I'm terrified to shower, mostly because I fear blowing the house up.

My family is not religious, which apparently is not unusual in Chile. My host mom said that the statistics say 80% are Catholic because everyone is baptized, even if they don't practice. So my whole family was baptized, but none of them practice. My host mom said the only altar they have is the one with the wine, rum and pisco (Chilean alcohol). I think I will fit in well here :)

Today I have my first day of classes with CIEE, so all of the Americans get together to learn about the history of Chile and such. That means I have to start using Micros (buses) today in order to get to the CIEE office in Vina...Fortunately my host parents said they will take me for the first week or so until I am able to do it on my own. There are no maps of the routes or schedules so I have to learn the names of the streets I want to get to. This may be a problem since I am directionally challenged and cannot for the life of me remember street names. solid.

Much love to everyone.
oh, and Mom, thanks for the pillow case :)