Even though today is Monday and I didn't get quite enough sleep last night, I'm in a great mood. This weekend I've got Argentina and my 21st birthday to look forward to, and I am feeling more and more like Valdivia is my home with each passing day. So, as some of you may have noticed I've been spending a lot of time at Devin's house lately...Most of that is spent with Devin's host brother Marcelo, the guy who beat me twice in chess last week. The first time I met him was at the birthday dinner at Devin's house right before we left for Santiago. He made Devin an elaborate cake he called "torte de amor." Marcelo has been fun to hang out with because he has a way of making me feel more confident in my Spanish while at the same time helping me out when I can't think of a word or conjugate a verb wrong. We inevitably have slightly bilingual conversations but understand each other perfectly, which is all that matters. I'm actually about to meet up with him at the university gym right now. I was talking to my mom and telling her that if I gained a bunch of weight while I'm here it's partially her fault for cooking such delicious food in such large proportions, but I'm going what I can so slow down the effects of this inevitable process of eating my way through Chile. Totally worth it though : )