One Week and Counting!

I just returned late Monday night from a trip back to the Midwest visiting several family members, and as I unpack from that trip I must start packing for my next trip one week from today! I cannot believe that I am leaving in one week! It still has not hit me yet what I am doing, much to my surprise.

Many things happened while in the Midwest. I had three documents that had to be notarized and thumb printed and sent to the Chilean Consulate in San Francisco. I only got them by email the day before leaving, so I had to do it while back there. Apparently the Consulate did not find it necessary to point out that the documents would have to be re-sized to fit on regular printer paper, so we did not notice this discrepancy until the Consulate contacted me while in St. Louis telling me they would not accept what I sent them because they were not "complete." So I had to do it again! After nearly $80 in overnight shipping costs they finally accepted them and sent me my VISA. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get this small little piece of paper to be placed in my passport. Finally!

I also got my housing assignment, which I am very pleased with. I will be living with Señora Aruti and her father. She is in her mid 40s and is an English Professor at the University (I suppose that might come in handy at some point). Much to my joy, it is a non-smoking house! Apparently many people smoke there, which I would imagine is a result of Chile's high tobacco production. From what I got from the profile, they seem to be very nice people and I look forward to meeting them. I received an email from my host mom and I was so excited that I understood everything she said to me! Praise the Lord! It makes me so much more excited to continue to develop my Spanish. I was also pleased to find that they live within walking distance of the University. Its about a 15 minute walk, so I might take the bus (also known as a "micro" in Chile. pronounced "mee-cro") during the first half of the semester when it is cold and rainy. They do not live on Isla Teja as I was thinking. They live just a few blocks from downtown so overall the location looks great to me!

I have a few more things to figure out before leaving, such as buying a power adapter, registering my trip with the U.S. Embassy, and of course registering to vote absentee! As we all know, we have an important election year coming up, and I intend on taking part, and keeping up with things while away. It will certainly be interesting to watch this presidential election from another country in another part of the world.

It is hard to believe that in less than two weeks I will be starting school!! Where did the summer go? I guess the question is not where summer went, but "why am I leaving it behind?" I fully expect to be greeted by what the Valdivia locals call "Valluvia." (lluvia is Spanish for "rain") This place gets more rain on average than Seattle. It will probably be cold too. Sad face. But what the heck, I'll be in Chile! It will be awesome. And I'll get some warm weather again soon. I just have to wait to get my suntan until December. :)

I have been surprised how many people think I will come back tan, believing Chile to be particularly "warm." When I think of Chile, I think of Cape Horn and the glaciers at the southern end. That makes me think of something cold. Besides, it will be end of winter. Since when is winter warm? It should be noted, that Chile does have a very diverse climate, being very hot and sunny in the North, and very cold and wet in the South. I will be towards the southern part, so it will never get terribly hot. I will be lucky to see 80 degrees in Valdivia while I'm there. In Santiago I will almost for sure. We'll find out!