Teresita loves...

Things I Love About Vallenar:
1) I am watching Spanish t.v. all the time. I mean literally, we have three channels in my house (four on a good day) and nothing is ever in English and it dawned upon me this past week that I don´t even care. I watch the news about three times each day with my Spanish-English dictionary glued to my hand (Now that is my new alternative Bible, NOT Lonely Planet) and am absorbing at least five new words a day (important words O.K.? I´m working on the volume). I am now so accustomed to living (or traveling) in South America that I watch American movies dubbed in Spanish easily, as if I´m missing nothing -- as if Will Smith always spoke in a husky Castillaño.
Imp. Random Note: I have also discovered that at the finish of these dubbed movies each night at exactly 10 p.m., one of my 3 1/2 channels converts into a public karaoke channel... sometimes these people still manage to leave me speechless...

2) I feel I must properly introduce everyone to my "tia" Dora, Marcela´s mother and the woman I live with who insists on washing my dishes, hanging my laundry, tidying up my room and (my personal favorite) making sure each night before I go to bed I have my "guaterro"(sp?), (a hot water bottle/pack) tucked under my sheets, strategically wrapped with my pajamas. "Dorita" as I call her, tells me that it feels like I have lived here forever (for which I love her) and tries desperately to adjust to my bizarre American habits. The first time I asked if I might make myself a cup of tea for no reason in the afternoon, she looked utterly perplexed. Didn´t I want to wait for "tecito?" (dinner, which actually consists of a cheese sandwich and tea) she asked. I told her if it was alright, I would like some tea now AND at dinner ... and while I was on a roll, might I even pour a couple drops of milk in there? Family will visit us for tecito and offer me the sugar and before I can politely decline Dorita officially informs them that Teresa doesn´t LIKE sugar in her tea. She´s so cute. She has also caught onto my avid love of all things postre. Each night she offers me some sort of make-shift candy bar like it´s a secret special treat only for us girls. (Note: the wrapper warns it is "chocolate flavored," so I must stress that I wait with bated breath for a twix bar from...anyone.) She has also noticed that I don´t really eat the creepy unidentifiable bologna looking "meat" she puts out for tecito but dive in when there´s turkey on the table, and that I much prefer mashed potatoes to rice. Dorita is as old-fashioned as they come and she is one of the people for whom I am thankful every day in Vallenar.
Worth Mentioning: the desperate attempts at communication on behalf of both Dora (who speaks only Spanish) and Kevin (who speaks only English and knows "Hola, soy Kevin. Puedo hablar con Teresa?") when he calls each night. He´s been hung up on a few times (once by grandma) and messages I get on both ends rarely match. But bless them both, they try so hard each time, even with the pleasantries. "Como estas?" "Bien, tu?" "Bien," (I know after this bit Kevin is out of material and panicking so I run to the phone giggling).

3) The sunsets here are a-mazing. It is when I stand on the hill above my tiny city between 6 and 7 p.m., watching the sun set over the valley of 50,000 people, fluorescent pinks and oranges exploding against a backdrop of mountains, that my breath literally catches in my throat and I say "thank you" out loud to the universe for placing me here and giving me this gift. I know I sound stressed sometimes, and I would be lying if I said this was easy, but I am not unaware of how lucky I am and how life-changing this experince has already been.
Worth Mentioning: I love that I can see every single landmark in this city from my neighborhood up on the hill -- my school, the plaza, the church, the bus station, my favorite supermarket. It´s like a mini Google Earth map, except I don´t need to Google it, cuz I´m actually here.

4) I am living in the driest desert in the world (Atacama), but I stumble upon the most beautiful flowers and trees here, unlike any I have ever seen. I love the tree in this picture. I have no idea what it´s called but it sprouts millions of these bright yellow round buds that just always put me in a happy mood. The colors in the desert are hard to find, but when you find them, they are brilliant yellows and red and fuchias and I love them, yes I do.

5) It seems important that I should mention the tiny fact that I now have bodyguards in my high school. I´m not kidding either. These guys are BIG and if they weren´t protecting me from 15 and 16-year-old´s I´d be scared. They are the "inspectors" here, in charge of discipline and disorder and many mornings now before class they wait for me outside the teacher´s lounge patiently and say "Miss? I will walk with you?" Why yes, you absolutely may walk with me. Take THAT, you ... monkeys.

6) In Chile there are endless "modismo´s" or "Chilenismo´s," which at first made my life difficult (all prior vocab went out the window), but which I now enjoy. It´s like I´m part of some secret society that speaks in codes (I have no IDEA how I snuck in). My favorite is the "-ita, -ito." I swear to you that these people believe that every single word in the language could use a little "ito/a" to top it off properly. Tecito, perrito, Teresita, aguita, bolsita, tragito, viejito, pancito, cafecito, zapatito, amorcita ... IIIIII mean... any idiot could catch on and immediately be part of this club. My other favorite new modismo which I probably overuse is "fome." From what I can tell it´s some mix of boring, lame and not cool. I split my seniors into groups last week and had them write a tiny story in English using some funny vocab I had just taught them. The last group of boys got up and read three lines about nothing interesting and I just cocked my head to the side and said "That´s it? ... FOOOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEE." I´m so hip it´s unbearable. They usually laugh AT me, not WITH me, don´t worry.