los lobos marinos.

Okay, okay I'm not allowed to use my English normally, but I'll make an exception just for you.

One could say that life has been pretty rad here to say the least.

Since I last left you, we painted up Santiago some more and had some more life lessons on how not to be dumb Americans.

Some of the really memorable outings included touring an incredibly beautiful vineyard, Cousino Macul,

and trekking up to Saint Lucia and seeing incredible views of the city and touring one of the homes of Pablo Neruda.

I also got to experience some of the night life during my last night in Santiago. It's a pretty big deal here.

Oh, and I've really bonded with a lot of the kids from the program. I've met so many free spirited and adventurous individuals. For real, I want to be them when I grow up.

On Sunday, we drove the big bus down to Valparaíso to meet our new families for the next 5 months. The bus pulled up at Ponticifica Católica and. I can't emphasize enough that awkward moment when all the families were lined up outside the building, both of us staring at each other like fish in an aquarium.

Anyway, the family is pretty bacán-- two parents, and three kids and a puppy. We live about a block in a half from the beach in a city called Viña del mar. Our Chilean parents SO patient with our Spanish and general inaptitude.

Oh and thank God for this gem.

{my roommate, Bailey}

It's no surprise that the language was the biggest adjustment in living abroad. As in, throw out everything Señora Brown ever taught you because it won't work here. Chilean spanish is like a brand spankin' new idioma. However, I am absolutely blown away by how far I have come in less than a week. It's pretty liberating to have the Spanish earplugs ripped out of your ears.

Anyway, here's a taste of what you're missing:

mmm honey.

Some general scattered thoughts to leave you with:

1. Santiago makes up over 1/3 of the population of Chile even though it occupies less than 1/1100 of Chile. It's nice to be away from the city smog to say the least.

2. So many things here from food to homes to grocery stores to lifestyles just simpler than the US. It's an incredibly wonderful mindset.

3. Over 75% of Chile is considered to be Catholic although many many of the churches are inactive.

4. Chile is one of the most globalized and least corrupt countries in Latin America.

5. There is so very little diversity here. On the plus side, it is much attributed to the fact that Chile was one of the first nations in the world to abolish slavery. However, we do tend to draw a lot of attention to our non-Chilean selves in public.

7. While there isn't really much recycling, Chileans seem to be far less wasteful with energy and resources.

8. Meals tend to run a few hours behind the average US meals. We usually eat the Chilean version of dinner ("once") around 9:30 at night. And you can show up 15 minutes late to anything. ever.

9. sooooooo many carbs.

I think I might fall asleep before I think of number 10, however...

This doesn't nearly sum up the last 168 hour window in my life.

It's going to be a crazy exciting next couple of weeks in the life of Sara.

CHAO!

SMÓ