So, after we drove almost two hours to the Orientation (I thought it was going to be in Santiago) we were shown our cabanas. They were little individual houses with 4 or 5 to a house. I was in Cabana Dies. The first thing I notice about Valle Verde was that there were palm trees everywhere. It was barely above freezing and there were palm trees! I was very excited (I took a ton of pictures.) At dinner on the first night, we had an empinada, which is basically a huge pizza pop, but with only mozzarella cheese inside, and it is deepfried. I have now found out that almost everything in Chile is fried, or is loaded with carbs. I understand why Rotary made our jackets so big: I´m barely going to fit mine when I come home. I really miss fresh fruit and vegetables though. I havn´t had any since I´ve been here.
At the Orientation, we talked about exactly the same stuff that we did at the Spring Orientation in Edmonton. The rules, what to expect, the rules, the culture, and the rules. There are alot of rules, but I´m sure we´ll all find some way to have fun :) I also had a chance to meet all the other students, including Nikolai, from Denmark, who is the other student staying in Ovalle, and going to my school. Our two host families are very good friends so we will probably see a lot of each other. This morning, at 9:00 am, the bus picked us up and took us to the airport in Santiago where we all took our connecting flights to our cities. There are a ton of students going to La Serena, so we were all together.
At the airport, we were met by our families, who cheered and clapped when we came. My family is soo nice. The mother is Ximena and the daughter who is 18 is Ximena too. The father is Luis, and the 20 year old son, who is not at home, is too. Fernanda is the only child living at home right now, she is 9. They were so welcoming, and although they spoke to me in English today, they promised that tomorrow it would stop, so I can learn Spanish. Anyway, there is so much more to tell, but I need to go now. Keep reading by posts, I´m sure there will be even more to say later!
