Familia, familia, familia

¡Hola! Today we had our first day of school, our first class was Spanish where we are split up in half-one class is intermediate and the other is intermediate/advanced. I was placed in intermediate/advanced and it’s definitely going to be a challenge for me! I was jealous of the other class the entire time because I could hear them through the walls laughing over and over again. We have that class four times a week from 8:30-11, such a long class!! It’s only the first day and we already were assigned our first essay L After that class I returned home for lunch, we had spaghetti noodles with corn mixed in and some type of cheese. There was chicken too, but I only took a small bite because it was spicy! Then we returned to school and had our history and culture class. The professor seems really nice so far and he’s pretty funny but I’m already nervous because I can tell he is going to be a hard grader! It was really hard returning to school after eating a huge meal and being in hot/humid weather-I was struggling to keep my eyes open and I noticed a few other people nodding off too!

Kristin, Ashley, Katy and myself all went to a store called Claro after school to get cell phones! Whoo hoooo!!!! Finally. Life is rough when you have no internet or cell phone at home ;) Seriously though, I’m glad I can communicate with the people who live across town about homework and making weekend plans etc.

Yesterday was the parade of the bulls which Kristin and I went to with my family who is continuing to get bigger everyday. I thought we were going straight to the parade but we stopped at this random house, which apparently is another “tía” (aunt). Then I met a “tío” (uncle), two grandchildren, and a niece…I think. It’s really awesome that I don’t know anybody’s name. Even though all the family is overwhelming, everyone is extremely nice and welcoming, and of course, hilarious! All the tía’s were rolling their eyes at the tío because he was talking a whole lot to Kristin and I. My host mom introduced Kristin and I as her two daughters which I thought was sweet, I’m glad Kristin is always welcome at my house J

Chandler is hard enough to pronounce in English (thanks mom!), but in Spanish it’s 100 times worse. My poor family has been practicing my name everyday and they still apologize every time they say it (even though I don’t mind their pronunciation I think they feel bad). The two girls somehow thought my name was Natalia and they call me that often, only problem is that I don’t respond to it. My host mom always laughs and reminds them again. I also tried telling them that my friends call me Chan a lot if that is easier to pronounce, but they pronounce it like “Cheng”…which I also forget to respond to. My history professor asked my name last week and after saying it three times he drew a question mark in the air and gave up. I think I should probably start responding to “Natalia” so I can stop dreading when people ask my name!