Angol

I arrived!  Three days ago at this point, but I haven't had much down time.  My entire host family was there to meet me at the bus station, and that night we went to dinner and watched War Horse.* They are super sweet!  I was pretty nervous on the bus ride down here, but I realized that I think they were just as nervous.  I think they were actually a little disappointed that I speak Spanish, because they were (are) so eager to learn English (even though my host brother already speaks it pretty well).  So I'm going to make an effort to help them with English anyway, starting today with my host sister!

On Sunday we hung out for a while and taught each other some card games (BS seems to have universal appeal as long as you pick a different word to yell), and then I went with them to mass.  I was blessed by the priest!  It may have been my imagination, but the holy water itched a bit.  Such is my life.  Then we drove about 45 min away to the larger city nearby (Los Angeles) where there's a big mall and shops that they don't have here.  I finally tried a completo, a gourmet hot dog thing popular in Chile (with diced tomatoes, avocado, and mayo).    Not bad, but messy to eat!  But really I love my host family already.  My host brother and sister both sing and play the guitar, really well!  It's a nice treat.  Apparently we're all going to the beach in two weeks and to an asado (barbecue) in the countryside the next week.  Can't wait!  

Yesterday I went down to Temuco, the regional capital, for orienation with the volunteers and co-teachers from Araucania.  My co-teacher seems very nice!  I went to school for the first time this morning to start observing classes with her, and I'm excited to start my own classes next week!  I was surprised that some of the students in the first class knew about Indy cars and the Pacers when I said that I was from Indianapolis.  They seem pretty well-behaved relative to all the warning stories we heard in orientation, but I hope I'm not jinxing myself saying that.**  At orientation I got a big box of school/classroom supplies so I'll have to set my room up soon!  And start planning lessons for next week... fun stuff! 
  
*every time anyone said "war horse," I couldn't help but picture that weird SNL skit where Jimmy Fallon was galloping around saying "WAAAAR horse." anyone?  

**the students call the teacher just "Miss," and it sounds like Jonah from Summer Heights High so I laugh to myself almost every time they say it, which is a lot.  Gonna have to reign that in.