Welcome to La Unìon

I've made it safely to my new home in the south of Chile. So far everything has far exceeded my expectations. After a pretty comfortable bus ride (the program sprang for cama seats, plus i took a sleeping pill which helped me sleep), I was greeted at the bus station here by my host dad, the teacher I will be working with, and two of my future students holding a sign that said "Welcome to La Union Kimberly". It was very sweet. Then I was brought to the house, which is very nice and comfortable. I have my own room with everything I could possibly need, I even get my own bathroom. And my host family seems incredibly nice. Josè and Anita are my parents, and they have two daughters who I have yet to meet, ages 12 and 16. They made sure to tell me that this is my home, and that i should feel comfortable to do anything I want here. And I already feel very comfortable. I am lucky to have been placed with such a nice family.

I can already tell that the teacher I will be working with is very nice as well. i will be teaching kids in 5th to 8th grade, and she told me she'd like me to do workshops with all her best students. She said that the students here mostly all love English, and they do well with it for what they have, although outside of English class, they really have very little exposure to the language. So they are very excited and motivated to have a real live English speaker here! The teacher is especially happy to have some to practice her English with. She has never traveled to an English speaking country before.

I haven't really explored the town yet, but from what I can tell, it is small, peaceful, and safe. I am close to two bigger cities, only about half an hour from Osorno and about an hour from Valdivia. So i'm sure i'll have no problem finding what I need here.

So far I feel very happy and excited to be here, i have a good feeling about all of this!