Preparing for the Week

In Chile, on Sundays, rest is taken very seriously. My day was spent catching up on sleep, going to the grocery store to buy toiletries and school supplies, meeting with my program for dinner, and taking a short walk around my neighborhood. I have found that lunch is the most important meal of the day for Chileans. They tend to always eat together and eat a lot, while dinner is smaller, and the family does not always eat together. I am used to eating a small breakfast and small lunch. I know it will be hard for me to get used to this change of pace.
Tomorrow I start classes, but I am not sure how much learning we will actually be doing. I have classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursdays we will have different trips, and on Fridays and the weekend is up to us.
The neighborhood that I am in seems to be safe and upper middle class based on the houses. In the evening I see people outside watering their lawns and spending time with their family. There are a lot of decently expensive cars, and some houses not have walls and instead have gates or no gate at all. The windows don't have bars on them, and there are gardens in some yards.

A church and mini mart in the neighborhood

Two of the nicer homes

A lot of homes have dogs and there are also a lot of stray dogs. Sometimes it is hard to tell which ones are stray and which are pets, a lot of pets spend most of their time outside anyways. I think the biggest difference is that strays are friendly to strangers while pets are more protective of their home and family. 

My family has a little rat terrier named Matilda, who lives outside in an enclosed area. She is very friendly and likes me a lot because I give her lots of pets. 

Wishing for the best on your adventures, 

Cienna