Me vuelva loca

"They drive me crazy!"

A week back with my Chilean family is proving to be too long. I can't follow my host mom's logic. This morning, she said that if you don't know anything, everything seems good. But she is better because she knows a lot, and so can tell good from bad. (This was in the context of food.) I responded that maybe ignorance is better, then, because everything seems good. She then said that religion tries to keep people ignorant, encouraging them to depend only on faith. I didn't disagree. She then started to say how much she admires the evangelicals because their faith is so strong. So you don't find them ignorant, I asked. No, she said, everyone has to do what works for them and if they think they have the answer, that's good for them. Gah!

And then there's the calefont (water heater). It's new, it's huge, it's powerful ... and it doesn't work with cold water. What does that mean? Well, for one, you have to choose the water temperature of your shower when you turn on the calefont, which is in the kitchen. The shower is upstairs and so you're stuck with whatever you set unless you want to traipse down to the kitchen in your towel. Once in the shower, it will only get as hot as you set. And if it's too hot, too bad! Even a little bit to the cold side and the calefont shuts off and you get frozen. Who in the world thought that was a good idea!? Why did my host parents buy a water heater way more powerful than necessary for a house with only one shower when they could've bought a smaller one that had the temperature-adjustment feature!? Gah!

So this morning I suffered through a shower, using the brief period as it transitioned from scalding hot to freezing cold to wash my hair, then sending it back to the other extreme so I could take advantage of the transition time again. Ridiculous. When I got downstairs, my host mom asked me if the shower was way too hot. Yes! She said that she thought so because she saw where I set it. Well, why didn't she turn it down!? Gah!

I'm so annoyed. I just want to go home. To my real home. With my real family. And take a pleasant shower. Have a sensical conversation. Get lots of hugs. And cry because there are people who love me as much as they do and that's just too damn great not to get emotional about.