First week down

I am all moved in to my new house... have been for like 4 days actually. I love my new family, they are all so happy and active. I feel incredibly welcome and more at home now. The house is bigger than I thought, and my room is bigger than the one I have in the states. The family used to live in Santiago and when they moved to the house they built an extra little apartment for when their grandma comes to visit. When I walk in the front door there is a bathroom straight ahead, with my own personal sauna, and no I'm not kidding, a big bedroom to the right, mine, and a room to the left with a couch, bunk beds and some exercise equipment. The first week of classes is over now, and it went pretty well. I ride the bus to and from school everyday. Things are going a lot better now, but I still wish I could come home. For some reason, I had a really hard day homesickness-wise. Tonight I am either going to go out with everyone to La Biblioteca, a pub, or hang with my family. I think the second, cause I am tired and don't really feel like paying more money for the radiotaxis and such. Tomorrow I will probably go downtown and shop a bit for presents at the mercado. I absolutely LOVE the mercado. I wish we had something like that every day in the states. Anyway, that's enough for now. I'll catch up with you later. Chao.

Kayli

P.S. I am starting to plug my free phone in now more than before because I have wi-fi. It is a Magic Jack from my dad, a phone with an Oregon number that runs off internet. It will probably be plugged in every night from like 6 to 11 my time. Feel free to give me a call, or leave me a message. 503-919-4007.

Waiting

So... I am officially moving to a new house. I will be with the family with two sons and am very excited. Not only do I think they will be a very fun family, but apparently they have a very big house. Florencia told me they have a big backyard with a pool and... a piano inside!!! Plus, the father heard that I was sad I couldn't go to church and said he is super excited to take me to mass with him on Sundays... should be interesting, but fun. I am hoping to move in tomorrow night, but I am not sure yet. Florencia was going to talk to Rossana for me yesterday, but Rossana went to Concepción to visit family. Hopefully Florencia will get to talk to her today, but I guess we will just have to wait and see. I will continue to keep you guys updated.

We had a party at Florencia's on Thursday night. There were tons of people, and it was very fun. We started around 8 and the party didn't end till 1:30. I stayed after to help clean up, and ended up spending the night. I spent most of the day yesterday with Casi and her sister walking around downtown. It was Chile's independence day, so we went to on eof the little parties, called Ramadas, on the side of the street that looked almost like a little fair. There were lots of small covered areas to dance and drink in. There were games, swings to ride, some shops and snacks to buy. Then we walked to a Rodeo, but got there a little too late, so we just looked around the shops. Then I spent the night at Casi's place, and we have been spending the rest of the day just relaxing.

Things are still pretty hard for me, and I really miss home and everyone there, but things are getting a little easier. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and words of encouragement. Love you all.

Kayli

Moving...

Well, it has been quite crazy the last few days. I had a really rough night on Sunday and spent the night at Florencia´s house. She is the director/our surrogate mother while we are here. She was very nice and her house was amazing. She mentioned to me that a change of housing, to one with more people, might help. We decided to hold off on the dicision and have coffee later in the week. I spent the next night at Ashley´s place, another girl in the program, and we went downtown to shop and explore for a little while the next day. Last night I spent the night back here at Rossana´s and watched TV for the first time. I discovered that there are like 10 channels in English with Spanish subtitles, it is so great! I can understand what is going on, YAY!

Today I finally did my laundry. It is so strange not having a dryer, my clothes aren´t warm and soft when I get them but cold and stiff. Oh well, I will get used to it. I also went out to coffee with Florencia and we talked about the possible move. We both decided that it would probably be the best thing for me right now and she gave me a few options to choose from. The first, whom she called today at lunch, is the family of her daughter´s boyfriend. A mom and dad who are both fairly busy with work, a son about 17 who knows a bit of English, and another son about 8 who is apparently very hyper and a bit of a brat. She said she thinks we would be good companions for each other because we would keep each other busy, haha. That is the family I am hoping to be with. The second is a family with a single mother, a son about my age who studies in Santiago and is home on some weekends, and two daughters a little younger than me. We got to drive by both of the houses on the way home, and they are really big compared to the one I am in now so it will be a big change. Who knows what will happen, but pray that God puts me where I need to be.

I have absolutely no idea what I will do for the rest of the week, but I´m sure I will find something to keep me busy. I will continue to keep you updated on my move. Love you all.



Amor siempre,

Kayli

Another day, another something...

Hola mi familia y mis amigos. I am here in Las Termas de Chillàn, a hot spring in the Andes. I went snowboarding yesterday and swam in the hot springs with everybody. They even had a little kareoke type thing after a while in the pool. They played "I feel good" for us gringos and the lady kept holding the mike in front of me, so I sang almost the whole song. It was really really funny. The rooms took forever to get ready though, so we had 20 people's junk in one room from 10ish to about 6. It was absolutely ridiculous since they told us the rooms would be ready at 4. But, we got free drinks, free wine with dinner, free lunch and 6 free half hour massages out of it thanks to the grand negotiating skills of Florencia. Now we just have to wait and see who gets the massages.

I had a great time yesterday and hope today will be good as well. I still miss everything and everybody though, and if someone told me I could go home tomorrow I would leave in a second. Hopefully when school starts I will get used to being here and not feel like that. We go home tonight and have next week off for Chillán's "Spring Break". Kayla and Ryan and I might take a trip to Santiago, we shall see. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last few days of summer.

Amor siempre,
Kayli

Better day...

Yesterday was a better day. I got to go to Kayla's house, and they have wi-fi!!! So I got to Skype with Danny... yay! And her power actually worked to charge my stuff, so I didn´t blow a fuse like I did the night before. We had a welcome ceremony at the school, and one of the performing dancers made me get up and dance in front of the audience with him, thank goodness for those ballroom lessons. Haha. We also met our compañeros, mine doesn´t speak tons of English, and I have a hard time thinking of what to say, so I stay fairly quite, and I feel bad about that. I am hoping we will get along better later. Last night we went to a pub and had a great time. We were there from 10 till almost 1. I was so exhausted when I went to bed. It was fun, but there were still many hard times yesterday. This morning I am having an extrememly hard time, I miss my family and friends SO much. I know things will get better, but right now it doesn´t really feel like it. I really just wish I could come home. I am so tired of trying to communicate. At night my head literally feels like it is swollen. Rossana, my host mom, is so nice, but communicating is just so hard. I will hopefully get to go out to coffee with Florencia, the program director here, later today. She is teaching us, and is also like a second mom to us.

Anyway, I am having some fun, but am still in the midst of crappy culture shock. I am still not sure if this whole thing was a good idea, but I´m here now. Sorry that these posts just keep getting longer and longer. Hope you are all doing well, and I will talk to you later. Chao.

Kayli

And so it began...

I made it to Chillan safely at 3:00 here time (3 hours ahead of Oregon). I traveled for 24 consecutive hours and am absolutely exhausted. We had a flight to Dallas, then a layover, then a 9 and a half hour flight to Santiago, then a 5 hour busride to Chillan. Rossana met me in the park along with everyone else´s families. Since then we have been trying to communicate with my limited knowledge of Spanish, and doing alright if I do say so myself. I got to talk to mom and Danny on the phone for a few minutes each, and have cried twice and wanted to I don´t know how many more times. I really am fine, but because I miss home and have been awake for over 24 hours my nerves are completey fried and the slightest thing makes me a bit emotional. My brain is totally fried with trying to think in Spanish all the time, but I know it will all work out in the end.

My house is much smaller than I expected, and I brought WAY too much stuff, there is barely enough room for anything, so I will be living mostly out of suitcases for the next 3 months.

Anyway, I think I am going to go continue to try to fit many things into small spaces. My love to you all and Adios por ahora.

Kayli

P.S. Any prayer would be greatly appreciated, I am at my wits end today with all the happenings.

Goodbye America...

Tomorrow is the big day, I'm so excited/nervous/oh my goodness this is nuts!!! My suitcases are finally packed, and I think I have everything. I'm going to miss everybody, especially Danny, mom and dad. I'm a bit scared because my Spanish is not as up to par as it was 3 months ago and my host mom speaks absolutely no English. So, I could use some prayer for peace of mind and a fast remembrance of what little Spanish I know, haha.

I hope everyone is having a good last part of summer and that all transitions to school are going smoothly. Next time I talk to you it will be from Chile!

Love you all,
Kayli