TERREMOTO

Ok soo much to say about this...

There were 70 kids from all over the world in Rancagua, Chile. About an hour and a half south of Santiago. The earthquake hit at about 3:30 Saturday morning. I woke up because the whole cabin was shaking really hard back and forth, and the beds were creaking and i though the walls were going to cave in or the bunk bed on top of me was going to fall and kill me. Brutal i know, but its the truth. the shaking lasted for about 30 seconds and it kept getting worse and worse. after it stopped, some AFS volunteers came into the cabin and made sure that we were ok and told us that we had just gone through a really severe earthquake, which happened to be the worst earthquake Chile has seen in almost 100 years. How convienient that it happens the first night that im in Chile. So we slept outside for the rest of the night on the grass, with each othger and some blankets to keep us warm. We couldnt have the orientation that we were supposed to have the next day, which was the whole point of being there, because some structures that covered the main area had fallen down and it wasnt safe to walk under them. So we just hung out under the hot sun all day, and were able to go to the pool as well. it wasnt that bad though because we had each other and we got to know one another pretty well. i made a lot of friends that i wouldnt have made otherwise.

We were quickly running out of food, and we didnt have electricity or running water. sooo we left sunday morning by bus, which took us to santiago, to the national AFS office. all 70 of us crowded into the tiny office until some of us were taken to temporary host families in santiago, or in the other case, some were taken to their real host families if they lived nearby. i am living with a temporary host family because it was not safe to travel to parral, because many of the roads and bridges had been destroyed from the earthquake. i am with another girl from austria, named nina, in an apartment in a suburb of santiago, with a 22 year old girl named valentina, who is going to law school here, and her mother. We are having a great time! we shopped in santiago yesterday, and its great because everything is so cheap.

AFS called earlier today to update us on our families and it turns out the school im supposed to go to isnt working because of damage from the earthquake. my family and house are fine though, and the roads are even good enough now to get me there. so im just waiting for the school to be working so i can go to my family, which i guess could take up to a couple of weeks, but hopefully not. thanks for thinking of me and i love you all

chao

steph

Host Family

I have just heard news of my permanent placement with a Chilean family! I live in Parral, Chile, about 200 miles south of Santiago. I have 5 siblings; four sisters and a brother. Alejandra is 16, but is on foreign exchange in the USA, so we're kind of switching places! However, she is placed in Massachusettes. Trinidad is 13, Paula is 11, and the twins, Magdalena and Raul are 10. I live in a big house surrounded by farmland. My host father, Raul, is an agronomist, and my host mother, Queni, is a teacher, among other things. I will go to a school in Parral called Colegio Concepcion, which is a small school of about 300 students.

Thank you again to everyone who made this possible-I wouldn't have been able to do this without all of your love and support.

CURRENT TOTAL: $6,936

THANK YOU TO ALL

I am very grateful for the generous contributions I have received over the past few months. I just wanted to thank everyone for helping me to achieve my goal. Thank you to: GRANDMA & PAPA, MARY & JIM SPERLAZZA, SUSAN HOEFFEL, LISA HIEBERT, RYNE JOHNSON, AUNT CORLISS & UNCLE CHUCK, THE GODIL FAMILY, AND THE SCHONDEL FAMILY. Without all of you, I wouldn't be able to go on this adventure.

CURRENT TOTAL: $4350

Accepted to Chile

I have officially been accepted to AFS Chile, which means the only thing left in this extremely long process is to find me a host family. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing when I will get my host family because the AFS volunteers in Chile have to find me the perfect match. I could know within the next month or two or it could be that I get my family just before departing at the end of February.

It is so exciting for me to be able to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I check my email everyday for updates and will let you all know as soon as I find out!

Thank you for your love and support, and please keep checking in.