The First Weekend

Now where was I?  Ah yes, the first weekend.  So I met my host family on Thursday and was oriented to the house and surroundings shortly thereafter.  With the help of my host mother I purchased a cellphone and a card to use the city metro system.  The house of my host family is in an area of Santiago called Las Condes; I have my own room and the house and neighborhood are very nice.  Friday, as part of the official orientation, I went on a bus tour of Santiago.  It's a very large city with a population of over seven million.  In short, there is a large flat plain surrounded by mountains and hills, and Santiago has expanded to take up all of the flat land: it's kind of huge.

Anyways, around 4:00 on Friday my host brother met me at my university and we met up with a friend of his.  We went to a bar and sat outside, drinking a few beers while discussing everything from the mechanics of the English language to the people of Chile.  We then met up with the sister of Pedro's friend who was to drive us back home.  Unfortunately, the car ran out of gas and/or just died, still not sure which, while driving down a stereotypically busy Santiago road.  We had to push the car off the road and walked to a gas station twice to get enough gas in the car to get it running again.  Unfortunately we weren't able to get it running again, so Pedro and I took a bus back home while the other two began the process of getting the car fixed.

Once home, we did some pre-gaming and headed out to a birthday party.  Since nearly everyone there was Chilean and I speak very, very little Spanish, many people had fun practicing their English with me.  After that died down we went to a second party where I learned that talking to drunk communists who speak no English is surprisingly entertaining, though just as difficult as it sounds.  Also learned that night: pisco, a Chilean/Peruvian liquor made from grapes is very good.  It is also alarmingly potent.

Sunday I went with my extended-host-family to an anniversary memorial service for my host mother's mother, followed by a barbecue at my host mother's brother's house.  The people of Chile really know how to work a barbecue and everyone was very friendly, so that was a pretty good time.

Thus ended my first weekend in Chile, and classes began on Monday.