Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Chile -7

Inside the final information packet from ISA was a very exciting bit of information: who and what is my host family.

The Ordenes live in Vina del Mar, which is basically the more-touristy suburb of Valparaiso. The dad (my dad??) is a publicist who mostly travels for business during the week and is around on weekends for the family. The mom stays home, keeping house and feeding the family. There are two sons, aged 17 and 24. AWESOME, because that means a ready-made connection to young Chilean social life. I'm actually really psyched to have host brothers near my age to talk to and learn from, and I've always wanted a big brother anyway. It also might be fun to be the mom's only "daughter." I'm hoping she'll teach me some Chilean recipes, go to the market with me, etc.

Knowing a bit more about my living situation has made me significantly more excited to go. The nervous energy has subsiding, replaced with this bubbling anticipation which I'm quite enjoying. I'm sure as this last week flies by, I'll grow more nervous again, but even that is alright because it won't last very long now!

3 comments:

girlalex said...

That's so exciting!! It's definitely awesome to have a host family with kids the same age, it adds so much to the experience. I found that when I was in India, it was like pulling teeth to get my family to let me help cook (I was their guest, and guests don't help out in the kitchen!) but once I finally got them to let me help, it was tons of fun!

Bryce said...

"Social life"... sure... anyway, I'm terribly happy for you. I'm also doing some research this weekend. Let me know about Saturday sometime, will you?

Anonymous said...

yayyy!!! so excited for you that you have an older brother. hopefully you'll get to hang out with their friends and meet some really awesome Chileans.

P.S. Can I live your Chile trip vicariously through you? hehe
P.P.S. eat lots of yummy fresh fruit while you're there!!! yummm