I am not slower, I am lazier...

Apparently, Chile has made me ludicrously lazy. I have not done a great job of keeping this updated. It is pretty crazy how time has flown by since we got here.

I am stupidly spoiled. I have regressed in age. You know the cliche, 'He left a little boy, but came back a man'? Well, I feel like my time in Chile with a family should really be more, "He left a man, but came back a little boy." I am a child. I have a nanny. She does my laundry everyday, she folds my clothes (even when I already folded them), she makes my bed, she makes me snacks with milk (lactose free, strawberry-flavored milk for those of you wondering). Also, when I hear, 'snacks', I think of crackers, pretzels, etc. Here in Chile, 'snacks' mean fresh baked bread (maraketa, my first Chilean love), peanut butter, jelly, guacamole, and fresh fruit. A few times I have been working on something in my room when this is ready, and they have brought it to me in bed. This is my life.

Here is a basic summary of my current life responsibility: show up to work. Do some reading and some writing for ENL classes at ND. That is it. The rest is just backrubs and bubble baths.

I AM HAPPY. (But I do miss you all...)

Here are my three favorite South Americans under the age of 18...Just us living our lives in front of some graffiti. Can you dig it?

My Chilean family. Note: I hit the freaking jackpot with my Chilean fam. So lucky...

My host mom, Claudia, is wonderful. She is extraordinarily thoughtful and caring, and has done an amazing job of making my life and my adjustment more comfortable. She is also extremely accommodating when I need a ride or an explanation of some Chilean term that completely went over my head. A great example of her hospitality: she made me a halloween costume for the halloween party (which was epic, by the way). I told her I was dressing up as cupid, asked her for some ideas, and the next day she had google searched and showed me about 10 different possibilities. I told her one, and the next day, SHE MADE IT. What a sweetheart.

Here is a picture of me in the costume that my mom made for me. Como se dice, freaking awesome?

Here is a picture of the birthday barbecue my family threw for me. It was great.

Victor, her husband, is also a great guy. He is a lawyer, very funny, and super chill. I have yet to see him become upset about anything. He is also a fierce ping pong player who has handed me my stuff more than one lazy Sunday.

This is a cool photo of a trip we took to the coast this past weekend. This may or may not have been the view from the condo where we stayed. AMAZING.

The kids:

Victor Manuel, 14, is the oldest. He is like another parent. One day, the rentals were gone, so we were making dinner. I assumed that I, being an 'adult' would do the work and that Victor Manuel, the child, would sort of help but mostly just watch tv. In reality, he was the boss, and I was his sidekick. He cooked everything and I just stood there awkwardly and followed his instructions. He also reads to his siblings each night as the go to bed.

Victor Manuel's critical flaw is that he doesn't like the beatles. This is going to be a problem at some point...

Josefina, 12 is the only daughter. She is a lively and playful 6th grader who is INCREDIBLY artistic. She made her own puppet last week. She also makes her own dolls and played an instrumental role in the construction of my Halloween costume.

Here is a picture of my younger sister. She will be a star someday.

Javier, the youngest (8), is definitely a character. He is also my favorite member of the Marshal-Desarola family He absolutely doesn't care what other people thinks. This is awesome in most circumstances. He is also VERY protective of me. We play basketball and wrestle basically every day. I taught him how to ball, and he has been tearing it up. Maybe my favorite Chilean story so far: we were shooting hoops and these two little Chileans (4, 5 maybe) came up. They thought it was the craziest thing since sliced bread that there was a tall gringo with a weird accent in their neighborhood. They began talking about where I was from in a joking way, hiding behind the basketball hoop. "(In Spanish) He is from the country of Germany!" HAHAHAHAHAHA! They thought these jokes were unreal. "He is from the country of France!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well, Javier had about enough of these, so after a few of these, he articulately retorted (also, in Spanish) "He's from the country of SHUT UP!" Yeah, so not only does someone make my bed for me, but my 8 year-old host brother has to stop 4 year-old girls from picking on me. I am a man.

Now there are a couple of real tough guys. Wouldn't want to bump into them in a dark alley...

So these are the people I am spending most of my time with. They are amazing, and I am incredibly blessed to be with them. More updates soon to come...