Everything

I have been bad with keeping up my blog here, but now I will try to catch up. All in one post.

Through I now feel very comfortable here at home, the first few days were a little weird. My family learned quickly that they need to talk to me rather slowly, but I was(and still am) constantly asking people to repeat themselves and I hope that they don't get too annoyed, though it seems to me like it could easily be extremely bothersome. The one thing that still I feel uncomfortable with is refusing an offer. My abuelita that lives with us is always offering me food. Not that it isn't good, because it is generally, but I feel like I am eating way too much sometimes. That is of course her goal because I am assuredly far too thin. Luckily I am exercising. I'll get to that later this post (sorry it is so long)
As for people I've met, they all seem quite nice, if only I could be more a part of the conversation. We had a party/onces de bienvenidos and around 18 of my class of 25 came. While I barely talked at all with some, others put a lot of effort into having a conversation with me. One girl decided that I should always be talking with someone and asked me quite a few questions, until someone else noted their growing absurdity and mocked her, asking "does el Toby breathe?" Overall, the party went quite well, though I was very tired by the time the last few guests left at around 2 in the morning.
My brothers here are very active and one of the first things I spent my pesos on upon arriving was a gym membership. At 9000 pesos per month it seems like a pretty good deal, that's about $18 U.S., and I will be going pretty often with my younger brother. Sebastian is 16, and somewhat shorter than I, though about the same weight. He goes to the gym often so while I could best him in a race, he has a bit more upper body strength than I. We do lift weights together, but he is almost always lifting more, if it's not with the legs. The gym is not huge, but since there aren't normally that many people there, we can use pretty much any equipment we want.
My older brother, David, also goes to the same gym, but not with us. With him, I run. We have only gone on one run so far, but that is only because of the bad weather we've been having(it rained every day for the first week I was here). The air is pretty good here, though there is quite a bit of wood smoke as that is the principal method of heating here, also causing the houses to be lacking the warmth of our centrally heated ones.
Other impressions include the amazing view of the Andes from anywhere in Linares, and the wonderfulness of being able to walk anywhere, though come school next week that one might lose its charm slightly.
If I've forgotten anything, it must not be important right now. This post is long enough.