Host family update

Things are okay with the host family. I'll make it through the semester and might even miss living with them. But there are a few things that drive me crazy and I'm not sure if I've shared them here before. Forgive me if this is old news.

They say crazy stuff. They say some things that offend my liberal gringa sensibilities or that hurt my head because they are so illogical. I frequently let them slide with the thought that I should pick my battles and trying to change the minds of 60-something-year-old Chileans probably isn't the best one to wage. But when I pipe up with my liberal gringa logic, they always agree with what I say. I want to say, "Then why did you say that crazy thing the first place??!"

They go through my garbage. Okay, only the host mom. When a former co-worker was in Santiago, we planned to take a day trip to the coast. I told my host mom and she asked me if I had a map of Valparaíso. I responded that I didn't think so. "Well," she said, "you had one but you threw it away a few months ago. I have it saved upstairs if you want it back." Lady, if I wanted it back I wouldn't have thrown it away! Now you see why I put bags of garbage in my purse and deposit them in the metro trash cans. Ah, to be anonymous! I don't to this with everything, but am careful to do it with anything I don't want resurrected. Or commented on. Like when I plow through a bunch of sweets or chocolates and don't want her to know. Some stuff, I put in the trash can in the bathroom. The plumbing here can't handle toilet paper, so it goes into a special bin. I figure she's got to be REALLY CURIOUS to to go through that!