Hello Friend,

The latest drama in Chile, of which there is a lot, is housing. There's turmoil surrounding where I will live (especially as it pertains to the proximity to the school), who I will live with and how I will pay for it.

I came here originally thinking I wanted to do a home stay with a Chilean family. It was a very romantic idea and it involved a lot of naive ideas about what families are like here. I imagined big houses sitting on hillsides with huge glass windows and lots of white furniture and white carpet. And they'd have a dog and a cat and maybe some kids and we'd play cards after dinner and they'd love me forever. And then I heard the horror stories. I heard about students living in laundry rooms or I heard about students flat-out disliking their new family's personality. So I thought that maybe an apartment with students might be better, and cheaper, and less risky.

So in a rage of mental indecision, I went to work out. I thought I'd do some drills, but then I got bored and went running. I thought maybe 20 minutes would be great, but I ended up running to the top of a mountain just before sunset. At the top was a huge statue of the Virgin Mary with arms outstretched, cradling her city just like the Andes did tonight, the mountains painted pink and green like terrible cotton candy. I stopped at the top and wondered what I should do for housing. And then I realized, with La Virgen welcoming me into her arms, into her life, into peace, that I wanted a family to do the same for me.

So for now, I've decided to live with a family for a few months. I don't know who they are or where they live, but I should know by early next week.

Cross your fingers.

Derek.

P.S. I didn't take this picture, but hopefully I'll get some of the same spot sometime soon.