Monday, March 31

Today I had to wake up for school. It was a normal day, with nothing special to report. Then after school I got home at 3, changed my clothes, and met Louis outside my house to walk over to the Jumbo. We waited in the Jumbo for a little while before Sally and Nigel got there with Sally’s mom and sister from the US. They had come to visit her and wanted to meet Sally’s exchange friends. Katie H and Katie W arrived a little bit later and we all went over to the coffee shop nearby to have a coffee and talk. I asked them about what they thought of Chile and what they’d seen so far, and then we all told them funny exchange stories that we had experienced together. I was so happy for Sally that she was able to share her exchange with them like that.

After we finished drinking our coffee, Sally, her family, and I walked back to my house. They were going to eat dinner there that night so they could meet my family (Sally’s second host family). I thought I would be a little jealous that it would become a complete Sally show in my house and I would feel forgotten, but it was actually a really nice night. We cooked sopaipillas and American pancakes for dinner, which was a nice mix of cultures. Nancy and Sally’s mom talked a lot (Sally’s mom in her broken Spanish and Nancy as slowly and clearly as possible, but they were able to communicate without Sally or my help), and Maxi and Sally’s sister talked in English together. Later, Manuel and Lillian, Sally’s host parents, came over and we all ate a big dinner together. I really like Sally’s parents, and the more I’m with them, the more I’m sure that I’m going to have a great time living in their house. We talked, laughed, and it was a really awesome parent reunion. Then Cristobal called Nancy over Skype, and Sally and I talked to him for a while. We hung up and went into my room to talk. Sally confided in me about how hard it was to have her family here. She kind of felt like they had invaded her personal world. Her mom had gone back to yelling at her and telling her what to do, and her sister had gone back to stealing all the attention away from Sally. I finally understood why it’s going to be so hard to go back to the US and back to my family and friends after a year here. I have changed; grown more mature, and have new experiences that they can only dream about, just like Sally does. The people there are going to expect me to be the same person they said goodbye to a year ago, and when we both discover that I am no longer that person (like Sally and her family and discovering now), things will be a little difficult. I’m almost scared to go back and see how things are. I’m also scared to go back and go back to being the same person I was before because I like who I am now. Anyway, Sally’s family gave my family presents, took pictures together, promised to keep in touch on Facebook, and finally left the house around 11:30. It was another late night for me.