My first Asado (BBQ)

I was super stoked when my host sister invited me to an asado at her boyfriend's cousin's house on Saturday night. They picked me up at 9:30, they being Conny (my host sister), Nico (her boyfriend), Sebastian (Nico's Brother), and Pablo (their friend). I was pretty nervous when I first got there cuz I didn't know anyone and when I get nervous, my spanish gets worse. But everyone there was really nice. Asking me where as was from and how long I'm staying etc. And they usually made a point to talk slower when they were talking to me directly.

Most people know a little english and they get really excited when they can say some of the phrases they know. Towards the end of the evening I found out that some of the guys I came with speak English pretty well. So they would kinda translate the conversation for me because even though I was trying my best to uderstand what they were saying, I really had no idea. They also started explaing some Chilean slang to me, most of which I can't remember.

My favorite word that they taught me is "Cachai?" which means understand? or get it? Once they told me what that meant I heard it all the time and although I had no idea what they were saying I knew when they said "Understand?" which made me feel a little better.

Conversations I don't understand

Turns out Chilean Spanish is a little tricky to understand... They speak really really fast and kinda blend all their words together. I'm sure I do that with English, but nonetheless it's difficult.

I just had dinner with my host Dad. My host sister was out with friends and my host my was who knows where. Not that I didn't ask - I asked. I just had no idea what he said. Something about their older son who lives far away and his kids and maybe a hospital was thrown in at some point. It's all a bit hazy.

So it was just Omar and I for dinner (which was delicious by the way). He did most of the talking and focused intently on listening. What I'm realizing is that if I have any hope of understanding him I have to focus all my attention on understanding him. Cuz if I space out for just a few seconds, I may have missed the point of the story.

And I've also noticed he tends to ramble a bit, which doesn't really help me understand the point of his stories. Like tonight I asked him if it would be safe for me to walk to the metro station alone and he said yes. Then proceded to tell me that in Argentina (or maybe Brazil) they don't sleep. That you can buy stuff and go to restaurants at all hours. An interesting fact to know but made me a bit confused about the answer to my question.

I may be venturing to the "hip" area of Bellavista tonight... Either way it's been a very eventful and already slightly exhausting evening.

20 hours later...

I am HERE. In CHILE. I can't really believe it. After 20 hours of travel (12 of which were on a plane), I have arrived. I haven't met my host family yet. I meet them tomorrow but I have met lots of other people in the program and they all seem pretty cool.

Noteworthy events over the past day or so:
- I managed to only check one bag (40lbs) and take 2 carry ons (~20lbs). I could not be happier with my packing skillz
- The stewardess on my first flight tried to set up a date of sorts between me and the other student in my row by giving us a free bag of chips... pretty classy
- 2 of the flight attendents on my second flight thought I was Chilean. Could be the start of a trend...

That's all for now, but I have only been in the country about 6 hours.