Hola Amigos!

Hola amigos! I wanted to let you all know that I'm doing just great here and give you a little view of what's going on. I took some video on my iPod so you can see my house and the park where we've been running (I was gonna put it up right now but I can't, I'll keep trying). Unfortunately today in the park I missed the aerobics classes that they have. I wanted to take a video because they're hilarious. The park is great though, and the city in general, save some parts, is really safe and clean. It's really interesting because it looks kind of dirty by our standards, but it's a matter of the buildings being older and of different materials, because if you look at the streets, parks and rivers, they are really clean. It's beautiful here too. The weather is practically perfect all the time, about 65, partially cloudy. It's really green and I have geraniums outside my window in the middle of January. The city is very historic. There are lots of cathedrals and old buildings. I've taken a tour and my family has taken me around a lot, so I'm getting to know it but there's still tons to see. I can't wait to visit some of the museums, in particular that has Incan ruins right behind it.
The family I'm staying with is wonderful. They have made me feel right at home and we get along really well. The house is full right now because they normally host students and right now they have me, a girl who's in college here, an American couple who's studying Spanish, the two kids and the parents. There's 8 of us total! It's great though, because there's always people around, we all eat together and talk. It's nice for me to have the American couple here because sometimes I need a break from speaking Spanish and English is sooo much easier. My Spanish is fine and getting better by the day but sometimes my brain gets tired.
Today I'm going to a meeting at the charity where I'm going to be volunteering three days a week. It's a place for disadvantaged students to come afterschool and learn, do crafts, play and essentially just have a safe place to be. In addition to that I'm going to have Spanish lessons and help with some translations at a magazine. I'm starting all that in the next couple days, should be good.
Up till now I've basically been on vacation. Can't complain about that at all. Last week I went out with Hernán, who is my "exchange brother", and his friends and then on the weekend all of us went to a family friend's country house. It was up in the mountains (which actually turned out to be down in elevation from here, but nevertheless in the mountains) and it was beautiful. We spent Saturday and Sunday lounging by the pool. They said they go up there often, so I'm looking forward to doing it again.
I'll keep you updated and put up some more photos soon!