A New Family and Valpairiso

So two major things happened since the last time I blogged and I am going to take a couple of minutes to tell you about them. First of all, I changed host families and I am absolutely in love with these people! Like the US and Chile, there is no way I can compare my old host family and my new host family because they are both so different and I love them both so much, but I can say that I continue to be incredibly happy here! I forgot what it feels like to be in a house that has kids living in it, and it is so different having Chilean siblings than siblings from the US. Now I can't speak for Chilean children in general, for I have not lived with any except the ones I live with now, but I can tell you that the experience I have been having for the past week has been amazing! My little sister Monse is 9 and she is seriously just a little sun that runs around the house shining all the time. When I arrived, she helped me organize my room and she is always hanging out with me and we have made so many plans together for my last three months in Chile! My host brother, Maxi, is 15 and he is seriously the perfect brother. He is so respectful and helpful and also quite intelligent and hardworking. He is pacient with me and always answers my questions with smiles and I just think he is so amazing. My host mom, Nancy, is very kind to me and is honestly the most incredible baker in the world so I can pretty much just forget about being skinny hahah. I haven't spent much time with my host dad, but what time I have spent with him I have had a good time so I am happy about that too!

 In my new house, I have a nana named Señora Adela and she is soooo great! I love her hahaha. Not only does she make my bed and wash my clothes and make me yummy food, but because she drinks chai tea with me and tells me stories and makes me feel like I have a third host mother. I am so grateful to have a family that accepted me so well into their home and makes me feel loved and cared for. :)

This weekend I went to visit Viña and Valpairiso for the first time with all the exchange students. I have been waiting  to visit those cities since I arrived in Chile and it was so perfect to see them with for the first time with my lovely exchange student family! We spent a lovely day walking along the beach in viña and up through the extravagantly graffitied walls of Valpo! I absolutely fell in love with Valpo. It would have been a perfect day of it hadn't been for the little fire we saw. Up on the hill above is, brown and black smoke began to rise above the city and ash began falling like little burnt snowflakes. We were told it happens all the time in that city and that it was probably nothing, so we continued taking oictures and having a great day. 

But as the afternoon dragged on, the flames did as well. By the time we got back to the hotel we got the report that 11 people had already died, 2,000 homes had been destroyed and that 8,000 people had been left homeless. We were all devastated to hear such news and are planning out as many ways as we can to help out by orgazing fundraisers and collecting food and clothes to send to all the people affected by this tragedy. All I really want to do is get on a bus and go help build them new houses, but the fire stopped very recently and I doubt I would be allowed to go there alone with all the chaos and Rotary rules. It really gets me down thinking about all the people over there, not even that far away from me, scared and cold and not having any idea what to do without any of their belongings. 

But the thing is, Chile is a calloused country filled with people sweet as cabritos but tough as nails. In this country, earthquake after earthquake can knock down every creation made by these people but together they always find a way back up. What is going on right now is traumatic and tragic but if there is one thing I am sure about, it's that despite the pain, the hurt, and the loss, is that these people are going to be okay and that we are all going to see it through. Chileans know how to lend a helping hand and have learned the meaning of what it means to have someone's back because literally everything that hasn't killed them has just made them stronger. 

Fuerza Chile <3