Left for the airport around 6am in the morning. I got everything checked in alright. This is kind of boring so I will skip ahead. I arrived in Miami and was suppose to meet an contact person at the check in desk for American Airlines. Unfortunately, American Airlines has 3 MASSIVE check in desks covering a good 1/3 of a football field. I wandered around being overwhelmed by Spanish. Probably about 70% of all conversations in the Miami airport are in Spanish. Eventually I saw a bunch of students sitting a circle and they looked slightly older than college students so I walked up hoping someone would say something. Luckily at that moment Janelle walked up and she let me know that we were suppose to have orange tags on our luggage so anyone with an orange tag is LASP (Latin American Studies Program). I missed/probably forgot this packet in Boston memo. Sat around in a corner of the airport for a couple of hours before we got our tickets for the plane. Biggest plane I have ever been on. One of those with two seats on the left and the right and four in the middle. Flight went alright blah blah blah. The airport was really busy especially with 48 Norte Americano students running around. Took a bus to a Christian compound where we slept. The next morning we had orientation and my Spanish immersion began because I sat at a table with one of the program directors who evaluates our Spanish and is a native speaker. Thankfully there was a girl at my table who was fairly fluent so I could listen most of the time and say something basic when I wanted to. More Orientation. The time came to meet our families and what they did was walk around with a guys pile of sheets and we just picked out a piece of paper with our host families name and information on it. Then 10 minutes later we met them and left for our house. Some family info:

My mom: Albertina (Tina) 53 Housewife
She doesn’t speak any English at all and the first question she asked me after I told her what my name was “What is your Spanish name.” Because of the double vowel in the beginning it is really hard to pronounce my name in Spanish. I didn’t know what to say so I explained my middle name was Paul and she has now decided to call me Pablo. Janelle and Chelsea have also decided to call me Pablo
My dad: Mario 56 Retired
I think he used to be a professor and I know you use to fix a lot of electronics. He has decided to lead the way in teaching me Spanish and often he will spend an entire hour explaining one word but he really wants me to learn and is extremely patient (and a pretty good jokester too.)
My brothers:
Mario 28 I don’t really know what he does but he is awesome and likes a lot of the same television and movies. In fact we are watching the BSG special tomorrow in English and then again on Sunday in Spanish. I told him we could watch Heroes and BSG in Spanish but I might need to watch it again in English to really understand. I first met him when he was playing WWF wrestling on his PS2. He is the youth pastor of the church.
Alexis 24: I have never been properly introduced. The rest of the family said he doesn’t really like to talk. My bus goes past his work and I think he is a car salesmen. He likes hard metal music and I often hear him singing some weird stuff in the shower.
Carmen 22: She looks like she could be 17 or 18 and is really nice. She came to pick me up from the compound with her mother and then I had a 2 ½ hour conversation about not very many topics.
Rex: The dog that stands on its hind legs and looks through the kitchen window at everyone. Supposedly it doesn’t bite and seems friendly enough but I have no desire to find out.
Doggie: this is one mean dog about the size of my dog Beau that is kept in the garage on a rope and apparently will bite me so I am not suppose to go near it.

I have my own room. There are two other students here from Messiah college (Tim and Phil) till Monday then they leave. Their Spanish is probably worse than mine but who’s keeping score? It is nice to have 2 other guys to help me decode statements.

I spent Thursday walking around downtown San Jose with two girls as part of a scavenger hunt orientation. Their Spanish was fantastic which was great because I was pretty tired.

Everyone gets everywhere by bus and it is really extensive but not expensive despite the fact prices for most things are the same as the states if not more on many occasions.

Oh, Mario is getting married February 14th so I bought some “nice” shoes and I am really curious what this will be like. The most difficult word to figure out was the one for engaged and I still don’t really know it other than it begins with a “P” and I think it sounds like “promise” sometimes.

I visited my grandma and aunt the other day. The grandmother tried to explain to me how she lost her left but all I understood was that I think it happened in the bathroom. She then showed me her prosthetic leg. My aunt gave me some plaintains and then we went home. Fun Fact: I live right next to a very beautiful…cemetery.

I had my interview for placement into a Spanish class and it went just about as well as it could so I am happy about that. The institute is beautiful and with a tropical backyard.

Fun things I have done since coming:
Played Rummy and Rum (Ron) with my family.
Played a form of big booty with my family.
Had really long conversations about stuff with my dad while drinking a lot of coffee. He likes coming home and “practicar practicar practicar”
Explored downtown San Jose and the mall.
Enjoyed how it is summer here everyday and “Hace Frio” is nothing more than a little breeze.
Watched the Dark Knight with my family because Phil accidentally packed it.

For my mom:
Don’t worry I’m being very safe and carry nothing of importance on me. My passport is safely locked away in a safe at the LASP office and my computer doesn’t leave my room.