solo espanol

(first written the night I arrived...then added to several days later. )

I am pleased to announce my arrival to Santiago, Chile. It was a long long trip, sprinkled with ups and downs but I managed to pull through without shedding a tear. I am currently sitting in my bedroom. I have just finished unpacking. It is 6 35 pm and the sun is shining bright still. I look out the window and right in front of me is some kind of exotic tree, in the distance some type of palm trees and in the distance behind those (but still quite close) are the mountains. ...I'm not joking. I will wake up tomorrow morning, look outside...and see mountains. It is absolutely beautiful in Santiago. Let me paint a picture of my trip here:

I woke up on Saturday morning bright and early to finish my packing. I knew I was packing far too many clothes...but I seem to do that every time I go somewhere and it always sets in when I unpack that I brought too much. I watched some TV with my sister, ate a little (but not too much because I get nervous before plane rides and therefore can't eat). Before I knew it I was giving Moe (my dog) a kiss goodbye. The drive to the Toronto airport was filled with talk of what to do if, where to go when, how to... and so on. Travel advice from parents always helps, especially those as well travelled as my mother and father.

I had a bit of a wait at the Toronto airport and looked around for a universal adapter. Unfortunately none of the adapters I could find were for laptops...they all had specific instructions to only be used with hair dryers and so on. (I would later find out from a well travelled friend´s experience that this is not necessarily true). My flight from Toronto to Miami was great. No complaints...except I had to sit beside a couple that loved each other...and although that is lovely...I couldn´t help for the full flight how much I was going to miss my love...and how I would not be able to simply sit beside him for a long time like this couple was doing right then and there beside me.

I landed in Miami which was beautiful (at least from the view I had upon arrival there). I would guessed based upon my 2 or 3 hour experience in the Miami airport that 90 percent of people living in Miami are more than fluent in Spanish. I felt like I was already in South America haha. I was confident that I would have enough time to catch my next flight with lots of time to spare (which was true) BUT after a very long wait in a check-in line, the woman working at the counter and I had a conversation similar to this:

Check in lady: Passport please

(I handed her my passport and flight booking confirmation information)

(She typed many things into the computer and didnt say much for what felt like an eternity)

Me: Is everything OK?

Lady: No.

Me: What´s wrong?

Lady: It´s cancelled

Me: What? It´s cancelled?!?!

Lady: Yes. One minute.

(I was silent for a good...3 minutes but it felt like forever. Thoughts of how I was going to make it to Chile, where I would stay that night, how much money I would need...and so much more ran through my head. I was silent for a few minutes while the woman looked concerned and frantic, making calls, typing things in and so on. I felt like I could have cried and asked for my mommy haha.)

Me: So my flight is really cancelled?

Lady: Nope, just your reservation for the seat...but that´s OK. I fixed it.

Me: Wow, you just ruined and made my day all in the same 5 minutes. Thanks! (I think I said this in a mixture of attitude and graditude haha).

Oh miscommunications...that´s all I have to say about that.

My flight to Santiago from Miami was like 9 hours or so. It left Miami at around 9pm I think and landed in Santiago at around 7am. I had arranged for a car to pick me up and take me to my new address. The cab driver spoke NO English but knew the address. It was quite a long drive past mountains, run down neighbourhoods, posh neighbourhoods, garbage but then pure beauty. I kept switching back and forth from thoughts of amazement and happiness to concern as to why I had come all this way haha. I had always thought going to University in PEI when I lived in Ontario was a little crazy...but was I actually going loco now??? haha

I had a smile on my face the whole ride. Who knows what the driver thought...but I didnt really care either.

Finally, we turned down this street. My new home...for the next month anyways.

When I arrived at my host family´s house I got out of the car and saw Maria (my Chilean mama as I know call her). She was speaking spanish so quickly I had no idea what was going on. I just smiled and laughed and eventually said Englias? She said `No...no Englias! Solo Espanol!´. I knew maybe Ola and Englias as my complete vocabulary of the spanish language. We took my bags upstairs to my room and what I was alone for a second I said out loud to myself. Ok...they only speak spanish...crap!

I was terrified. But then I opened my window and saw this

I knew I would be ok.

I pulled out my spanish/english dictionary and we started to have a conversation. I showed Maria and Edgar (my Chilean papa) pictures of my friends, family, school and so on. We were talking. I was actually learning Spanish...even if it had taken me 5 minutes to say a couple sentences. They gave me a tour of the house and fed me lunch. I didn´t go back to my room for another 3 hours due to thelength of our initial conversation. Later that evening Edgar showed me his officina and told me that if I ever needed to use his computardo it was OK. I noticed his calendar hanging on the wall. November 2008 is what it said. I looked through my dictionary to formulate a sentence that meant something like`Edgar you´re living in the past. It´s 2009. Maria laughed and then pointed to his clock on the wall which had no working batteries and she commented on how time did not pass in Edgars officina haha. After that...I knew this new home was going to be great.

I unpacked my things and got settled in. I was sure that when I left Ontario I was going to cry myself to sleep that first night I arrived in Chile but the mixture of learning a day´s worth of Chilean Spanish, jet lag and heat made me sleep like a baby in my new room!