Day -1

I leave in less than 24 hours. It kinda makes me nervous thinking that I'll be leaving the US for six weeks, but then I take a step back and look at the US and chuckle. I am nervous about the whole speaking Spanish again for the first time in over a month. Boy I wish Spanish class never ended...ha!

Today is my last day of working at the pool until August, and the pool doesn't even open until tomorrow. I worked quite a few hours already which is nice, but it's a little upsetting to go because I was just promoted to being a head guard by my bosses. I wonder if they'll give me keys before I go...I like keys. They give you so much power. Unless you don't have them, then you're powerless. I still have a key to my old job from over a year ago. I probably should give those back sometime...I also have keys for a house I was housesitting at, but they moved.

Well I'm sure you're all extremely anxious to hear how my new goals turned out. If not, I could care less. They are:
1. Clean up my room by unpacking and organizing stuff I don't need until next fall, and getting rid of anything I don't want any more (Ehh...who needs clean anyways?)
2. Ride my bike 22 miles round trip (Ok this was great. I decided to do a gentle 38 mile bike ride up Clodfelter road and all the way out through the fields and back through Badger Canyon to my house, but someone failed to mention that 5 miles of the ride was gravel road...stupid stupid construction. Well road bikes do not bode well with gravel, and after finally getting past the construction and down to Badger, I was too tired to finish and had to have my sister come pick me up before I got too exhausted, ha. Lame. Still managed to ride 28 miles though, success!)
3. Learn to play a new song on the piano (I'll leave this one to someone who can)
4. Cook a meal including the dessert (Well I made some great tasting ribs for the first time, but I couldn't find any good berries to make a pie so I skipped the dessert part)
5. Draw Alyssa a picture =) (I managed to finish this one, luckily I didn't specify it being a good picture...)

Well I'm off to work now. One more day of saving co-workers while trying to ignore my hunger since I never allow myself time to eat before I leave. I hope you have a great weekend, and next time you hear from me I'll be in Chile!!!

Day -5

Well I finally found out my host family information today. I'm living with Lissette Hurtado Mondaca and her esposo (husband) Enzo Valle. They live right next to her madre (mother) Alicia Hurtado, and they also have their 24 year old hijo (son) Daniel living with them. They have two perros (dogs) that live on the patio, they are Catholics who attend Sunday mass, and they have Wi-Fi in their house, which means I will be able to update this on a regular basis.

I also found out that they live in Viña del Mar rather than Valparaíso, so I'll be taking the bus everyday to school. It shall definitely be an exciting adventure everyday since the drivers are crazy and traffic laws aren't enforced. Sounds like high school all over again...

Only five days left before I flee this desolate wasteland that is the Tri Cities...oh how I miss when friends were actually home for the summer. I am definitely stoked out of my mind for this wonderful experience, and I still have a crapload to do before I leave.

Oh yeah, my sister graduated on Saturday. After receiving her diploma on stage, she purposefully tripped and fell as the entire Toyota Center gasped "Oh...." Priceless. I think the best part was how shocked my mom was. Hasn't she learned yet after her other three kids? I will hand it to Amy though, she definitely topped anything we ever did. Way to be Amy, way to be.

I leave you today with one of my favorite jokes:
Why is a stove? Because the more you shine it, it gets.