Day 2

We did more orientation stuff today. We all got cellphones, which took forever, but luckily my host mom kept the cellphone one of her old host-students used and let me borrow it (which saved me like $30). I just had to add minutes because all cellphones here are pay as you go. We also learned A LOT about safety, apparently pickpocketing here is like a professional career. Tomorrow is our last day of orientation. I think we have a "learning to use the Metro" activity and we take our spanish placement test.

The food here is really good. It's a bit salty, and they serve HUGE portions, but it's tasty. Everyone at lunch couldn't finish the meal their "moms" had packed them. I have a feeling I'm going to be gaining some weight here. They eat a lot of meat and seafood and potatoes. Today my "mom" made me rice and chicken for lunch and pasta, a fried egg, and a chilean hot dog for dinner. My "sister," Carolina, asked if I liked american hot dogs. I explained that I did and then explained a Chicago-style hotdog to her. She laughed and said American hotdogs tasted like nothing, but they load up hotdogs here too. They put the same things on it, minus the celery salt and the pickle (so onions, mustard, and tomatoes) but they also add avacado. They put avacado on EVERYTHING here. It's a good thing I started training myself to eat it! After dinner, I met my host grandma and uncle. They were speaking sooo fast I had trouble keeping up with them! They also speak in a slightly slurred spanish accent, and drop S's at the end of words. It's going to take a while to get used to it, and the lingo. I hope I place well on my Spanish test!

Nina