me amo temuco

I have done so many things this last week. I don't know what to blog about. I had my 1st day of school on Friday, and everyone seemed really nice. This has become a trend with Chileans. They are all super nice and cordial. My classmates were understanding of my Spanish, and asked me a million questions. One of the girls sat next to me and explained the questions to me, in English. I just hope that all this cordiality lasts and isn't just a "hospitality to the gringa thing".
I also went to m 1st Rotary meeting, and it's an all women's club. Which I was not expecting. But I got to talk to a few of the inbounds. In English. God I miss English.

I went to downtown Temuco to get my ID card, and while my mom was working me and Leo (my host brother) went on the roof took pictures and I told him about prom and school lunches. Temuco is so beautiful. The Chileans will tell you otherwise, but I love it. It's not beautiful in the way Hawaii is, or even in the way South Bend is.  Instead it is beautiful in only the way that South America, no only Chile, can be. Only a way you can try to understand if you've been here. Colorful, picture worthy graffiti covers everything. Mountains loom wherever you look and are just as mystical in the smog as in the sunlight and in the rain. I never expected this. I guess I just thought in my mind Chile would be just like, I don't know, a slightly different version of the US where they speak Spanish. Now I have realized that each country, and each of it's various regions, is a different person. Different and beautiful in her own way. Made even more beautiful because of her flaws and imperfections. And I love it.   <3

That thing in the background... yeah. It's an active volcano.