More Pictures

My host mom, Erika.



My host brother Christian. Serious.



Christian shows his other side : )

Here are the photos I promised of my host family, though just of Erika and Christian. I'll get some of Marjorie and Hector next weekend when they're around more.

I had a decently, if not extremely, fun night last night. I went with a couple of friends to see The Magic Flute at El teatro municipal in Viña. I'm terrible for getting the times and places of things mixed up, and last night I got there an hour and a half early because I'd remembered the time incorrectly. So I wandered around Viña and was impressed by how clean and prosperous it is compared to Valparaíso. I stopped in a little German bakery and got a pastry, which was delicious. By this time the opera was about to start, so I headed back to the theater and found my seat with some of my friends. Anyways, the opera confirmed my belief that orchestral music is fantastic and that opera singers are pretentious and ridiculous. Hah. It was enjoyable though, especially because we'd gotten the tickets for free. I hadn't thought that I knew the Magic Flute at all, but the whole time I was there I was trying not to hum along. Its weird how some music slips into your mind without you evening realizing it.

Afterwards we went with a Chilean girl, Yasna, to a little hole in the wall eatery. I was glad that I'd filled up on pastry so I didnt' have to sample anything on the menu, which consisted of Chilean hotdogs ("completos") and other Chilean specialties, like "Lomo a lo pobre", which is eggs, steak, and french fries all mixed together. I enjoyed talking with Yasna though, who is remarkably friendly. She's also, I learned, the daughter of an Evangelical preacher. That's pretty unusual for 90% catholic Chile.

To finish the evening off, we went to a couple little coffee shop/bar places near Plaza Aníbal Pinto. We heard a great, really great live band and got our pictures taken for the local newspaper (!) Now we are not only gringas, but famous gringas ; )