Back to School

Hola amigos.

Classes started yesterday, and believe it or not, I was glad. However, it appears that "classes starting" is a bit of an ambiguous concept at PUCV. So far, of the five classes I showed up for, only three have actually taken place. I should be in "La Formacion de la Cultura Hispanoamericana" right now, for instance. But I've enjoyed the three classes I've attended. My classes yesterday were with foreigners, and both of my professors were young, enthusiastic, reasonable, and perhaps most importantly, understandable. Today I had my first class with chilean students, "Precolumbian history in texts and images", and I enjoyed it as well. My professor is very much stereotypical: v-neck sweater, tie, balding, beard, mid-60's, well-spoken, etc. He speaks very slowly because he seems to ponder things extensively before he speaks, which would probably bother me in an english class, but will probably save me now.

Things are still going well with my family. I am able to communicate with them much better now than I was two weeks ago, which has made things run more smoothly. Mi mama tends to be a bit dramatic (and she LOVES to gossip), but anytime I feel like practicing my spanish, all I have to do is walk down to the kitchen and sit down. Not only will I get my ear talked off, I usually get fed as well. Fransisco's cousin and her American husband are visiting (my chilean aunt lives right across the street), and last night we played Latin American Cranium. It was a riot. Needless to say, I was useless, and I kept shouting answers in English because I didn't know the spanish word. Things would occasionally descend into chaos when I would know the answer but not the word in Spanish, and I would have to try and define the word to mama, who would then guess at what I was saying. It definetly added another factor of difficulty. As it turns out, Fransisco is a very fact-filled and intelligent fellow, so he pretty much carried the team. (Mama refused to wear her reading glasses, so she couldn't tell what we were drawing half the time).

Hope all is well at home.

ya me voy
Andrew