Una Pastilla & Reyes

     I survived the weekend. Four sisters, 1 Dog, 1 Crazy Host Aunt, 2 Host Parents (one overbearing, the other knocked out by drugs), and lots of antics.
    Like I mentioned, the two older sisters visited this past weekend from Santiago to come and meet me. They got there on Friday, where we not so promptly kept talking about going to the Stadium, only to leave 2 hours later (as seems to happen a lot here, ugh). All of their waffling had us there essentially in the dark, but still, a nice park with a big soccer stadium. None of them have been to a game at the stadium though, they've just visited it multiple times when nothing is going on. Weird, but who am I to judge. Then we made our way to the mall after an eventful police calling, yelling filled bus ride, where the Bus Driver wouldn't let my 10 year old sister pay the student rate because she forgot her ID, though clearly was a student. My sisters didn't like that, made a huge deal. It was a bit overly dramatic for my taste, but really hilarious to see all four sisters in action.  We got to the mall, had some dessert and picked out a present for a friend of Francisca's for her birthday.    
    That night was followed by karaoke in the living room. Now you all know, or maybe not, how I feel about karaoke, but I was a good host kid, played along as best I could, it was almost like a sociology experiment, watching this whole family interact, how similar they all were. It was absolutely creepy, it makes me wonder about what people think when I'm with my family, how similar we are, the way we talk, the way we express our ideas and interact with one another. It's really nice to see that kind of puzzle from the outside fitting together so seamlessly, just like I'm sure it is with my family or any other family.    
     Saturday morning was supposed to be a day for adventuring to Rican Lay, a lake about an hour or two from here, but it started with more drama. Apparently, the night before my host sister gave my host dad a muscle relaxer to just relax and sleep better, well he had a negative reaction, ended up in the clinic, and proceeded to sleep the whole day away. The sisters were besides themselves, especially the one who drugged her father. Hahaha.
    Despite their concerns, all the girls in the family (minus the little 11 year old sister), ended up at the bar that night. We went to a bar, La Boca del Lobo, where we had french fries and pretty good Southern Chilean beer, I would've gone for a bit darker of a beer for the setting, but overall, it was good. (Southern Chile has some of the best beer in the country, as this is where a huge German immigrant population arrived during the late 19th and early 20th century, bringing with them their beer making traditions, so there are quite a few German descendent brewery companies and places here in the South, especially near Valdivia in Los Rios). So there we are, my 26, 23, and 16 year old host sisters, my host mom, and my paternal host aunt, drinking in a dark pub, when the 16 year old suggests we play Los Cuatros Reyes. Next thing I know, I'm playing Kings with my host family. Surprise!
    The game was slightly different from the version back in the States, though really it just seemed like a bastardized version, one that came from us, but in transmission got a bit mixed up and I'd even say diluted. Like questions, instead of there being a question master, you stupidly ask questions to the person to your right, in a circle, until someone messes up and can't ask a question. I think they realized it was stupid too, but that were the rules here, so they did it. Although it sounds weird to play Kings with my host family, it actually was a really good way to relax with them and just hang out for once. We hang out a lot (meaning, we spend a lot of time together as is Chilean custom), but this felt really good, because we all felt like friends. I felt more comfortable, more open to express myself, and really helped settle things a bit with the family, made me feel more a part of things.  
    Nothing exciting really happened on Sunday, just more time, and lots of opportunities to practice Spanish. It's slowly starting to come back, my listening is kicking ass, but I still am working on getting my speaking back to where it used to be, something clearly happened when I didn't speak Spanish for the past two years. Silly me, thinking I could keep a skill by letting it get dull and dim.  The weekend ended, and surveying the damage around me, I had survived all the fun, all the talking and retelling of family stories and learning Chilean expressions, and all of the drama about very little. It was a good break in the day to day life, but now we're back into work.