This picture honestly doesn't do that wall of dust justice...Now that the puddles have dried up I find myself with this new challenge on my walk to school. 

I've been having a lot of quality conversations with my host family ever since I got here, and I know that talking with them has improved my Spanish immensely. As time goes on, I've been able to understand more and more and even express my opinions coherently while we are still on the topic! My host mom and dad are both generous people with a healthy sense of humor. They've told me that they consider me a part of the family and even entrusted me with the job of answering the telephone when I'm home alone. I'm planning on staying with them for both semesters, and it is comforting to know that I will always have this couple who cares about me. My host dad is always telling me Chilean sayings, and my host mom constantly serves me up a serving and a half of whatever we may be eating. 

Right now I am kind of going through an MSN instant messenger phase right now. Feels slightly similar to 8th grade when I was into that type of thing. However, since this all takes place in Spanish I consider it a valuable time for learning. An especially good brain workout is when I am talking to some people in English and others in Spanish and have to flip back and forth. I can tell how these online chats have really improved my typing and understanding, which is pretty funny. Quite an authentic way to learn the language....