Getting used to living Chilean style

Alright, so i´m not going to lie, yesterday was a little intense for me. i felt like i was on the verge of tears the whole day and i´m really glad i didn´t write a blog bitching about everything because today was so much better. the language and culture shock is quite intense, to put it mildly, but today was sunny and the chilenismos (chilean slang) is slowly catching on.
So, lets start out by talking about my host fam. the dad´s name is leopoldo, the mom is juana, and the 2 daughters are yakollen and rellen, which are both indigenous chilean names. the older sis, yako, is 21 and took me shopping yesterday but put me in a cab and sent me home so she could go and hang out with her pololo (boyfriend) so that was kinda lame. the mom and younger daughter got in for the night from santiago around 5pm and the mom seemed a little uneasy at first. she has since turned into the most awesome pseudo mom a girl could ask for, except for the fact that i don´t think i´ll be seeing her much. she and rellen are only here on saturday nights and i plan on traveling every weekend. last night i went out with one of the other girl volunteers, emily, and we bought some warm stuff made out of wool and alpaca to help us survive the freezingness. i went and had once (like tea time) t her fam´s house then rode the micro (bus) back to my neck of the woods. i watched a hilarious chilean movie called el rey de los borbones (king of the idiots) with the fam, then went to bed. luckily, the warmest i am during the day is when i am in bed. i got up around 11, then hung with the fam all day.
i don´t know if anyone remembers, but when i came to chile last january, i had a bit of a problem with the fam because of our differences in political views. they were super conservative, and well im not so much on that side of the fence to put it nicely. the socialst woman president, bachelet, won when i was here last january as well. i was excited about it and the lame host family, not so much. this fam, on the other hand, is socialist and their stories are so interesting. juana was a prisoner during the dictatorship for 4 years, where she was tortured and then exiled to france. leopoldo was a pow and tortured for 3 years, then exiled as well. juana showed me their named in the book entitled ¨informe de la comision nacional sobre prision politica y tortura.¨talk about some heavy shit. polo (leopoldo´s nickname) and juana are both fluent in french and italian because they were exiled for close to 15 years. juana is the sweetest little lady, but she showed me pictures of protests against torture and the dictatorship, where she was front and center. she is definitely not afraid to speak her mind.
i also sat and talked to the younger sis, rellen, for a while this morning. she taught me what a lot of the younger kids in chile were thinking, and that a lot of them held some animosity towards america. i expected that. polo and juana took me on a drive tody before the sun went down, and i got to see the real campesino way of life. the houses are made out of mud and straw, and the vineyards are everywhere. we are in a valley, surrounded by snow covered andes mountains. there is no more snow in the valley, which is sweet. between getting warmer clothes and having the snow leave, i feel a little more like i´ll be able to tough out the next two months.
tomorrow is my first day teaching 5-8th graders. i am nervous but excited, and hope i can get to sleep tonight. my spanish is already 10x better than when i got here and the comlete immersion will do me good. i plan on going to santiago this weekend to meet up with some of the other volunteers, so i am definitely looking forward to that. i´ve tried uploading pics but the internet is beyond slow, so i dunno if it´s gonna happen while i´m here. but i am happy and getting adjusted and couldn´t have asked for a more interesting and eye-opening family. i hope you all are doing well at home and feel free to write me an email (which only jeff and mom have done coughcough) i´m in need of english dialogue anyway i can get it!!!
okay chao and i´ll try and write tomorrow about how my first day as an english teacher went!
peace
g