(where does the toilet paper go, again?)

It's early morning, and I'm in Miami. Despite a severe lack of attention to this blog, the last four months have been more than eventful--I just didn't have the heart to post about it all. Life in Chile was quite the mixed bag, and so in many ways I'm glad to be in transit back to Atlanta today. I counted the days until my departure like I never did in France (so ready to escape the mean women in my host family and the fleas in my bed, among other trials), but in the end, I have to say that I'm glad I went.

I speak Spanish now.
I learned more about humility and patience.
I am even more laid-back than before.
I thoroughly enjoyed my middle school students, when we weren't on strike and I got to see them.
I feel that I was able to deeply engage Southern Chilean culture.
My host sister's baby, Josefa, was a consistent joy in a chilly (figuratively and literally) house.
I made more Chilean friends than I ever did French ones.
I saw breathtaking natural beauty on a daily basis--volcanoes, mountains, lakes, green everything and insanely blue water.

That's just a short list of what comes to my groggy travel brain in defense of my time in Chile. I have had totally new experiences and learned tons. Now I'm back, a bit nostalgic, and re-learning the things I forgot in my time down South. So far, that's remembering that toilet paper goes in the toilet in America, and not in the trash can ;)