So. . . the keyboards look really different here. Many of the punctuation marks are nestling in different places-lugares chilenos. por ejemplo, it took me five minutes to figure out where the (-) was. Also, there are several keys that have three symbols on them.
whoa--right. Its blowing my mind. I can not for the life of me figure out what to press in conjunction with these keys to make the third symbol appear. So, one of the many symbols that remains trapped on my keyboard is the back slash. So, I need you to know that if I knew how to free the back slash symbol my title would have been correctly formatted as--
firme sigueron trabajando (back slash) las horas en la tierra. (back slash) Porque eres (back slash) solo (back slash and accent on the first o) una semilla.
so that you would know where the line breaks are. Neruda forgive me.
There is too much to say. When we drove away from the airport in a large yellow van with the windows open, the smell overwhelmed me. not a bad smell, just Chile. Memories of my last trip to Chile came flooding in with the smell. i dont know if it was the smell of the wind or the trees or the ground, but it was distinctly rooted in my memory. I feel as though I have been here a week instead of twenty-four hours, and I have the strong urge to try and type this all in spanish, but I wont.
I am in high gear learning mode. I feel as though Im back in Pomo or Calculus, and my head is constantly spinning and processing.
I arrived yesterday morning, and my lovely, lovely chilean parents picked me up at the airport, and they are truly a treat, both of them. Berti, la madre, is 54, short and blonde with a huge smile. She is a scorpio, she professed and very comforting and strong-willed. I immediately felt safe and at home with her.
Pancho, el padre, is a hoot. He is 62 and very outgoing and funny. Although she definitely dominates the marriage-the two are a great pair. They laugh and bicker back and forth. They are constantly worrying over me and are very protective. I am their ¨hija especial.¨ I feel soooo lucky to be with them.
The house is surrounded by a tall locked gate. When I first walked through the gates I felt as though i was in a fairy tale. The house literally looks like a cottage from a fairy tale. Its covered in ivy and adorned with colorful flowers. The door frame is made of small colorful pieces of stained glass.
{They have wireless, but Pancho has to call Gianni, their son, to get the password. So, as soon as i have the password I will post pictures.}
They first brought my stuff into a small room downstairs that has a stairmaster thingy, a computer and a tv, with an open window and four small stain glass windows in the wall- seriously Im telling you. . . this place is almost magical.
so anyways, I thought that this was my room. But Antonio, an exchange student from Spain left a few hours after I arrived and in the evening all my stuff was moved up to my permanent room upstairs. My room is much larger with a television, closet, a desk for my computer and a huge open window. All the windows and doors are protected with decorative bars. But Ivy grows in through all the windows as if it were a part of the house, almost like its veins.
I slept most of the afternoon yesterday. I had a late lunch with Berti. Both she and Pancho exude an ungodly amount of patience with me. They listen to all my questions and we exchange english for spanish as if we were trading goods.
I was extrememly nervous about my spanish because I havent been in a spanish class since last may, but Im finding that just in 24 hours I feel as though a remarkable amount has come back to me. a veces I feel like words i didnt even know that i knew just pop into my head. Its very exciting.
Claudia, their daughter, lives with them and is my age. I met her later last night, and seriously she could be a model. She has perfect skin, dark eyes, and long curly hair. She speaks very, very quickly, even a little english, but she is very nice and laughs easily. I hope we become friends. She has a boyfriend, and I think they spend lots of time together.
This morning Pancho went with me to the metro and showed me how I will get to and from my classes everyday. I only have to change trains once, and I have to be honest, Im pretty stoked about getting to ride the metro everyday. I just love metros, all the people, the excitement.
However, people do kinda look at me like Im an alien. I think its much more the light eyes than the skin. Pancho assured me not to worry if I got lost because many people would be willing to help such a lovely young girl. . . right.
Once we arrived at the school and met with the secretary, Nelly-there had been a mixup because she had been waiting for me to confirm the schedule before she contacted the professor, and I, surprise-surprise, didnt even know that i needed to confirm the schedule. but all was fixed easily, and I begin my classes tomorrow. As we waited for Nelly, a large class of americans filed into a spanish class, so maybe i might get the chance to make some friends, who knows. Pancho is already like an uncle to me-he is so kind and helpful and makes me laugh. I told Nelly that I was teaching him English, and she laughed hard. ( i dont think I really got the joke- im not sure if him learning was funny or me teaching-but no worries) she told me i would get an official certificate at the end of the month, and I told her we needed to make an English certificate for Pancho, which resulted in lots more laughter. I filled out some basic paperwork, and we returned home after we had stopped at a bank so I could withdraw some money and the grocery store- to get some bottled water for me.
I know Im being long winded, but my senses are in overload. There is this beautiful park two blocks from where they live with these weeping willow like trees and what i think is a sewer river, se llama mapocho. Hopefully, this afternoon I will go out and explore some more. I need to buy a really, really strong sunscreen and a more powerful hair dryer. Thanks to all who supplied converters, they work and are really helpful. Ok-Im off to unpack my room. I hope all is well with you and yours. If you havent sent me your address, please do.
¨steadily the hours kept on working
upon the earth.
Because you are
just
a seed¨
I feel very much like that seed today.
Lots of love y una aurora,
mere
Oda a una castaña en el suelo
{in English} Ode to a chestnut on the ground
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