Already in love!

So I made it! I'm now relaxing on the big leather couch, listening to my sisters chatting, trying to understand the rapidly speaking newscasters, and enjoying the afternoon.
We arrived n Santiago on time and met up with Joel, an adorable and sweet older man sent by the school to take us to our homes. He carried our bags to our mini-bus and showed us exactly where we would be driving, which tunnels and vineyards and forests we would see on our way to Vina. we rode mostly in silence, singing along with the Beatles and Kenny G periodically, and just took in the beautiful countryside from our open windows.
Then we turned a corner and saw the cities on Valparaiso and Vina del Mar sprawled out below us all the way to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. I arrived at my host family's pumpkin colored home, and was warmly welcomed with snacks and curiosity. My mom is lovely, my dad is really nice, my host sister Sandra is my age and really cool, and my younger sister Anita is 10 and so sweet! After lunch, Sandra went with Catie and I to the bus station to buy our tickets to Pucon for tonight, then to the mall to change money, get cell phones and ice cream. I spent the evening by myself in the house emailing and skyping and unpacking and then walked to Catie's house(about 3 minutes away) and we walked another 20 minutes to the beach to watch the sunset. SO LOVELY!
We ate a light dinner around 9:30 (need to get used to that) and I slept wonderfully. Today Sandra took us to a craft fair/artisan market thing and now I am waiting for lunch - pasta because I told them it's my favorite! After that we are going to the beach, even though it's only like 60 degress...and it's the height of summer! I told them it is very possibly hotter in Texas today in the middle of winter!
The city is vibrant and lovely with street vendors and stray dogs, the streets are lined with beautiful trees and quaint cafes, but the malls are full of department stores and designer shoes!
and I'm already having trouble switching back to English to type this!
some things I have learned:
*Avocado is not called aguacate but palta.
*don't wear nice necklaces on the street, or they will get stolen right off your neck! (this didn't happen but Sandra told me)
*don't let the cute little girls tell your fortune or they will rob you (also, not from personal experience)
*Manja is REALLY yummy
*The pet turtule WILL bite!
*my mom calls everyone "mi amor" and it's adorable

I'm going to try to help with lunch. We have an overnight bus to Pucon at 8 tonight and hotal reservation there for two days, but once we start traveling I'll probably be blogging a lot less and in less detail, but I'll try to update! Pray for safety and common sense ;) as well as opportunities for meaningful conversations.

until i have an adventure worth writing about, ciao!!!