I now have a new favorite word in Chile. Jóte. Literally translated through Google Translate (a very reliable source for those of you who rely upon it for essays in spanish class sometimes... not) it means "vulture", but what it really means is "creeper". I've been learning so much the past couple days, not just funny words, although it's true that that has been happening, but just about the culture in general! While my spanish is still at the level of a child, I feel like I've gone from a 3 year old to a 4 year old! Last night, I was in my room, and I heard something break in the kitchen... so I went in there, and so did my host sister, and it was just a mug that my host mom had dropped. But from there, the three of us had a 45 minute conversation about school, and the US, and the government... and it was just so cool because it really seemed like a conversation I could've been having with my mom at home in English, except for it was in Spanish and I was understanding a lot! Another thing I've learned... Chileans do everything slowly. Very slowly. Walking, buying things, eating, drinking, etc. The only thing they don't do slow is drive and talk. Because when Chileans drive and talk, it is at a speed so high that it is actually a bit frightening. Case in point with the slowness... my oldest sister, Leslie, and I went to buy toilet paper/other stuff at a little tienda the other day... when you want to buy something, you first have to give one clerk your things, and they hand you a ticket. They then put your things in a basket, put in behind the counter, and you have to go stand in another line. In this line, you give a new clerk your ticket, and they tell you how much it is. You then go to yet ANOTHER clerk, and pay them. Three clerks, for toilet paper and 2 other things. The same thing happened at the bread store the other day! I'm not sure if all tiendas are like this, they probably aren't, but still! It's ridiculous! Oh well, I guess I need to learn to have the pacienca of a chilena, and wait in lines like the rest of them.
In other news, tengo una resfriada hoy. Translation=I have a cold :( I think it is because everything here is just really cold, and not the kind of cold that we have in Colorado... it's a wet cold, the kind that sinks in your bones and never goes away! It could also have something to do with the fact that I got home at 3:15 en la mañana this morning after a friends birthday... but who knows! Mi mamá has been taking EXTREMELY good care of me. She's the best. She let me take a long nap, and then she brought me lemon tee. Around dinner time, she brought me a big tray of yummy foods and warm milk with sugar (sounds gross, but fue muy delicioso). And then just about an hour ago, she brought me sleepytime tea and throat lazanges, and a big box of kleenex. Both she and mi papá are very concerned about me, but I tried telling them that it's okay, and colds are really common in the US haha. Still, it sure is nice to be taken care of like this. I told mi mamá that she is the best mom in all of Chile! I made sure to not say the world, because there is still una mamá that is the best in the world, and she lives in Steamboat Springs, CO! Shout out to SSSS! Time for me to keep some sleep now though, I don't want mi mamá chilena to have to take care of me tomorrow too!
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