Finally, I have amassed enough pictures of my family and my home to give you all a taste of my life here! I have been living here for a week and a half now with my mom, Ester, her spoiled dog, Sofie, and the always-disappearing Fito, my cousin. We live on one of the main streets in Arica (21 de mayo) but in the more residential area, not downtown. It's a very convenient spot to pick up the collectivos going downtown and also around lots of other "gringas" (what they call foreigners) houses, which is a plus!
My host mom, Ester, is married and has two children. Her husband, Gonzalo, works in another city about two hours away and his schedule is very busy (his only free day is Sunday). Sometimes, he only comes to Arica once a month but hopefully I will get to meet him soon because Ester has said several times that he wants to meet the new student living in their house. Her son is married and lives in Santiago. Her daughter in in college near San Francisco! And my cousin also lives here because our house is closer to the university than his parents' house ("closer" means by like a mile, and he actually isn't even in class now due to the strike so he's just been drifting around town doing whatever!).
My host mom has been really wonderful to me so far- she's moderately proficient in English which makes it fun to compare the two cultures. For example, if we're having a cabbage salad, she'll ask me what the English world for cabbage is, and vis versa! She's also amazing at speaking slow but also good at challenging me to keep working on my Spanish at home too. She makes cakes from our house for a living, and gets most of her business from the "panaderia" (bread/pastry store) her parents own in the center of town. Yes, that definitely means I benefit from that association- but thankfully, they make wheat bread so I've stuck to that instead of "manjar" pastries (Chile version of dulce de leche).
 |
| My mom preparing a cake |
 |
| Mi perro, Sofie |
 |
| My room |
 |
| My room |
 |
| Dining room |
 |
| Kitchen |
 |
| Living room |
So that's the grand tour. I love having my own big space with a desk- it's made it so much easier to acclimate and adjust to the culture by having a spot where I can be alone and do homework, skype, and have some non-Spanish time. The hardest part of this experience so far has really been the complete Spanish immersion- but I know that will lessen as we continue to practice!
As always, email me! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa
No comments:
Post a Comment