English not only opens doors, it also opens windows.

Wisdom of my school's principal!

In some ways there has been a lot of door AND window opening of late, whether it's Gladys leaving the door wide open while cleaning (have I mentioned that Chileans are not big on keeping their houses well insulated in the winter? And yet my family has a collective near-coronary when I consider leaving the house without two sweaters, a buttoned-up coat, a scarf, gloves, boots, and a hat) or me prying open the bathroom window each morning to see if the weather has improved.

The sky remains a hazy shade of winter here in Yumbel. One smell I will never forget is the smell of the smoke issuing from the houses on my walk to school in the morning, and in the late afternoon - it comes from the small wood-burning fireplace in each Chilean home, and I can only describe it as toasted marshmallows. The wind whips over the roofs of the houses when it rains, and on days like these we stay indoors and drink endless cups of tea as my macho host brother, home from army training on the weekend, listens to Mazzy Star and the Cranberries on repeat, a situation whose humor needs to be fully experienced to be understood.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks as I try to settle into my life in Yumbel for real. Corey and Joanna, the previous volunteers, made it a fun-filled two and a half weeks and helped me adjust in ways I'm really missing now that they're gone, leaving me the gringa queen of Yumbel. I think I will learn to enjoy my reign, but for now, it's lonely at the top. The challenges of teaching at school are becoming a big thing, as are host family dynamics and general missings of everyone. I could do a separate post about all the frustrations, but I don't want to turn into another version of the Debbie Downer Chilean news programs that my host mom seems to love watching and commenting on.

I haven't been writing enough, and I think that might be a sopaipilla-sized part of what's going on. For now I'm trying to be patient with everything and everyone, including myself. I caught a bad cold almost two weeks ago, and that hasn't been helping, but it does give me an excuse to rest and relax a little - I got myself somewhat re-organized with a snazzy new notebook (when in doubt, make a list! especially when that list is in a notebook with Luis Miguel on the cover!) and my latest knitting project (a scarf with llamas and the word "bacan" knitted into it) has grown enormously! I remain as liquid as ever, although I fear evaporating completely. (A little chemistry humor for you all... lord, what has happened to me?!?!)

Every day is new learnings, something else to puzzle over and analyse over without over-analysing. I'm listening to Hawaiian ukelele music on the walk to school, hoping that the sun comes soon, and hoping that today is the day I will have reliable internet access to attempt to upload pictures for the 6th time. So far, no good. I owe you all pictures of painfully adorable baby sheep and mouthwatering asado (vegetarians, avert your eyes!) as well as better updates. Until then, I love you all, and please, wherever you are, appreciate the fact that your hands are not numb. :)

Abrazos,
Meghan