Oh, We're Half Way There

(9/24-9/27) Monday was pretty good. During the day I spent a lot of time that morning reading a book called Through Painted Deserts. Then Katie and I made lunch and watched an episode of Criminal Minds. After that it was time to make the dessert for Donce. When I went to start making it I realized that the person who went shopping forgot some of the needed ingredients. It was my fault because I didn’t write it down. I felt bad about it and then Phil went to the store on his bike to get what I needed. I decided to make cinnamon bread because it seemed easy and I was still exhausted. Small groups started at 7 and Phil’s group didn’t have a topic to talk about because Tertulia last week was a fonda. Instead we watched a short film and it was awesome. It was so symbolic and just a really beautiful film. After that Donce started. We ate dinner which was this awesome chicken lasagna and then Phil gave a short devotional. The game that decides the cleanup crew for the night was guessing the TV show from the theme song, which was finally a game I could actually help on. We didn’t lose, but because a student on our team called the winning team cheaters we had to help clean up too. It wasn’t too bad though. Tuesday I woke up and read some more of that book. Then I went to the post office to mail a few letters and swung by the supermarket to pick up a few things. On my way back to the house I bought my first Chilean hotdog. It had tomatoes, avocado, and mayonnaise on it. And it was huge and pretty delicious. When I got back Eli and Claudia asked if I would help them with decorations for the new talk series on Matthew 6:9-13. We wrote the verses in a bunch of different languages and hung them upstairs to look like flags. It was cute and I love helping Claudia and Eli. A student met with me after that to practice English which is always really fun. She brought me a piece of pie too which was really sweet. We spent about an hour going over words in English and Spanish. We had our Café a lo Gringo meeting and our exchange student meeting which both went very well. I spent the rest of the night reading and finishing my book. Wednesday I went to the fresh market all by myself but everyone gave me a list so it was slightly more complicated than it should have been, but I made it out alive. When I got back to the house I made lunch and started another book. For lunch Eli, Claudia, Katie, Amy, Heather (girl visiting from Atlanta), Heather’s husband and I went to Barcelona for lunch. I love that place because it’s $6 for bread, salad, thin steak, French fries, dessert, and a drink. Crazy and I love it. After lunch Katie and I cleaned the windows out front. Then we helped Brent shoot the announcement video for the week which was crazy but some students came over so it was cool being able to spend time with them. I got a little cranky for a second because Brent doesn’t know how to communicate what he wants, but other than that it was good. I got to video chat with my friend Aubri that night which was really nice because I hadn’t seen her or talked to her in a while. Thursday was fun. I went to staff meeting and then read some more of The Hungering Dark and I helped Eli with the chalkboard, except my drawing looked really stupid. I made myself lunch and I did my chore after that which was to vacuum the two living rooms and the hallway. I guess I just got in a cleaning mood because I cleaned my half of the room too. I dusted and reorganized and vacuumed. Now everything is where it should be and it feels good. Oh well, I tried. After that I made the brownies for Tertulia which I love doing. Then I had to get ready for Café a lo Gringo. This week’s Café a lo Gringo went so much better than I expected it to. I had the idea of doing a photo scavenger hunt around our little neighborhood. The students really loved it and got really competitive with it running as fast as they could to find the scenarios on the hunt. It was pretty awesome. After that we had Tertulia and hotdogs were the dinner. Katie and I did the cover band and we preformed the song Livin’ on a Prayer. Want to know why? Because we’re half way there, literally, Thursday was our half way point of being in Chile. We choreographed a little and wore hats and sunglasses. It was hilarious! The rest of Tertulia was pretty cool too. Greg gave the talk and we started a new series about Padre Nuestro. It was pretty interesting and that’s the most I’ve understood from a talk so far. I was proud of myself. After that, the staff and a couple of students went to a restaurant called HBH to spend time with this couple that just came in from Atlanta to go to some wedding here in Chile. They were both former exchange students in El Oasis. It was cool being able to hang out with everyone. The whole time though I talked my friends Koke and Abraham about English because they both want to learn it. It was really fun.

me helping with the game, for the first time

Katie and I performing Livin' on a Prayer

I'm super cute

One More Week of September

(9/21-9/23) Friday was really special. During the day a group of students and staff and I went to a little boys orphanage to hang out with them for a while. We flew kites, played soccer, played basketball, ate lunch, played baseball, and just hung out with them all day. It was fun and the kids there were really cute. They were constantly hugging us and just so thankful for everything. I loved it a whole lot. Really precious and I hope we go back soon. Whe I got back to the house I had a package waiting for me from my friends Kelly! It was so precious, I love getting mail here, it's like mini Christmases. Later that night we went dancing with some students around Santiago. It was super fun and we danced for like four hours straight. One of the songs that came on was Cotton Eye Joe, it was hysterical. Katie and I were the only ones who knew what that song was so we were the only ones in the entire place dancing. It was really fun getting to hang out with the students in their environment. It was an all around great day. Saturday I woke up and Katie and I had a list of places we needed to go to like the post office, Lider, and the fruit and vegetable market. A student left her bike her a few days ago so I borrowed it to make the journey. I thought it was going to be really quick but it ended up taking about 2 hours. We were completely out of food though because we didn’t plan on everything being closed during the holiday week. We were desperate, but we stocked up pretty good. Luckily the bike I borrowed had a basket so we got to carry a lot more food. When we got back I made and literally watched tv the rest of the day. Some students came over for a bit and I hung out with them. At around midnight, we all decided we were hungry, so I stopped watching Criminal Minds and we made vegetarian fajitas. They were actually pretty good too. We went to bed shortly after that. Sunday was a pretty neat day, besides the fact that it’s my laundry day and I hate doing laundry. I decided to make some biscuits for breakfast for my friends but the oven wouldn’t turn on. So Camila who had spent the night had a great idea of boiling water and then placing the dough in a colander above the water. And it worked, they were really good, just a little small. Katie made eggs to accompany the biscuits and breakfast was really cute. We had two Insanity videos that we had to knock out which kicked my butt. That night we had Iglesia El Oasis which was basically just a church service in the El Oasis house for the students. Not a whole lot of people showed up, but it was very awesome none the less. After that the students just hung out at the house for a little bit talking. It was a really fun night.

my package from Kelly!

Dieciocho

(9/17-9/20) This was such an exciting week. The National Independence day was Tuesday and Chileans here started celebrating the Sunday before and ended the celebrations on Thursday. This week was truly amazing and very memorable so let me get to it. Monday wasn’t too eventful. Katie and I climbed Cerro San Cristobal with some friends then we took a nap, did Insanity, and went to bed. Tuesday was amazing. Katie, Phil, Phil’s brother who is visiting from the states Nathan, Phil’s friend who is visiting from the states Eddie, and I woke up at about 6am so we could spend the entire day skiing in the Andes Mountains. We got to the bus station around 7am and caught a bus to another bus station which took us to a bus stop near the skiing trip place bus station. This guy approached us asking if we were going to Valle Nevado and said he would take us for a little cheaper so we went with him. It was great luck because through this guy we got discounted ski tickets and discounted ski rentals. It was pretty cool. The bus was really nice too. We started the way up the mountain and about 20 minutes later I looked out the window to see a little patch of snow, the first snow citing. From there on the snow kept getting thicker and thicker and on top of that it started snowing. It was great! The bus had to pull over to put chains on the tires so we got to play in the snow for a little while. Once we reached the top of the mountain where the ski resort was it was 5 degrees F and snowing like crazy. You literally couldn’t see 50 feet in front of you. It was awesome though. I put on my skies and Katie and I tried to find our way to the bunny hill for beginners. We got a bit mixed up and went on a different hill which I immediately fell and some ski patrol lady told us we were on the wrong hill and how to get to the bunny hill. So we got to ride the ski lift down to the bunny hill. After falling a few times, Katie taught me how to stop and turn with my knees, the basics of skiing. She went on to bigger and better hills and I rocked the bunny hill all day. I was getting pretty dang good too! We had to leave at four because the snow was getting so bad. On my way back to the bus, I got stuck on the ski lift. It was a little terrifying because I was so high and it was snowing so I couldn’t see a whole lot. It was such a great experience though and I hope I get to go again in the future. Wednesday was pretty fun, not much happened in the morning except we went looking for food. but at about 4:30 we met some Chileans to go to a fonda in parque Ines de Suarez. This fonda was a little more expensive than the last one but it was still really fun. I got a lot more meat on a stick (anticuchos) and really enjoyed spending time with Chilean students. We danced and watched a circus and walked around for hours. It was really great.  I wish fondas happened all the time, well except for the fact that I would be broke. Anticuchos are just the best things in the world, as long as you’re not a vegetarian. Thursday El Oasis, instead of having a normal Tertulia, had a fonda to help raise money for a student here who is going to Thailand with Globalscope. We spent all day setting up for it and going to get decorations and making everything clean and Chilean. It was really fun decorating, so much white, red, and blue. The fonda started at 6 and my job was to be in charge of this ring toss game. It was really fun watching people try and try and try and never quite getting it. I ate a whole lot too. I ate 3 empanadas and 7 manjar filled chocolate covered rolls (chufli). My money went to a good cause so I just kept eating. It was all very very good. After eating all of that, me and a student named Koke got entered into a dance competition of the Cueca (the National dance of Chile), I had been practicing for a while. It was a blast, even though we didn’t win. After that it just turned into a huge dance party for about an hour or so. It was awesome! One student whose dad showed up wanted him to meet me which was really special to me. I thought it was super cute and her dad was very nice. Everyone left around 10:45 because the metro closes at 11 so we cleaned up after everyone left and went to sleep. 

before skiing

after skiing

la fonda en parque Ines de Suarez

me dancing the Cueca

still just a dancin'

Sleepovers and Food

(9/14-9/16) Friday was excellent. I woke up and David and Claudia asked me to watch their dog Chala. I was super excited because he is the cutest dog in the world. While he slept Katie and I did Insanity real fast and then I showered. After that I played with the puppy and rolled in the grass with the puppy and had a photo shoot with the puppy. It was precious. When the group got back, Phil, Katie, and I worked on planning a ski trip so I hope that happens soon! Then I went to Lider to buy chicken and a bunch of junk food because I was having a sleepover with some of my Chilean friends. It was crazy how much junk food I bought. They got to the house around 8:30-9ish (Ruth, Nani, Carla and Carla’s sister) and we started cooking. I made brownies for dessert and chicken alfredo for dinner. The noodles said it should feed ten, but five of us girls cleaned it out. We made brownie sundaes for dessert. It was their FIRST brownie sundae, crazy. We had chocolate syrup, sprinkles, M&M’s, and ice cream to go on top of the brownies. It was delicious. We headed upstairs after that to watch a movie. I figured out how to hook the laptop up to the projector so we had a huge screen and a legit sound system. It took about 30 minutes to pick a movie, because we were using my Netflix. We started one for about 30 minutes and no one liked it very much so we picked a second one called Flakes with Zooey Deschanel. It was super cute. It was about 2:30 when that ended so we transformed the upstairs into sleep head quarters. We ended up going to bed around 3ish. One girl had to leave at 7 and the others at 9. Also this one girl’s mom called her every 30 minutes after 7 to make sure she was awake, crazy. They left and I went back to sleep for a few hours. When I got up, Katie and I went into town to do some shopping. We hit a few different little fierrias which are just groups of self managed stands in the same location. We ended up spending about five hours just walking around. We explored the city and a few churches. We even got to hang out by La Moneda or Chile's version of the White House. There were a ton of policemen around, probably because of the riots that have occurred in the city recently, still, it was a tad intimidating. I really enjoyed it. That night Katie and I just hung out and watched some movies at the house. We hooked it up to the projector with the surround sound. We watched August Rush and Once. We ate brownies and popcorn. That was my favorite day with Katie so far. Sunday I slept in a little because I needed some rest. When I got up, Eli and Greg were here and asked if Katie and I wanted to go to a big fonda (party) in Nunoa. There’s a lot of fondas around town because of the holiday Tuesday, which is their Independence Day. So we went and it was a blast. There was so much food! I ate meat on a stick, empanadas, and chocolate covered apples. We saw a rodeo, people dancing the Cueca on horses, some policemen putting on a trick show with their horses, and a bunch of Chileans. We walked backed home after and I did laundry and Skyped my parents. All in all it was a pretty great weekend. I’m looking forward to the week ahead. 

Carla and Ruth eating their first brownie sundae!

movie time!

La Moneda

meat on a stick at the fonda

It's Getting Warmer

(9/10-9/13) This week was really busy. Monday started the tradition of only Spanish Mondays. All day on Mondays from now on, Katie and I are only allowed to communicate in Spanish. It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. I slipped a few times but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who even caught it. Anyhow, about the day, I woke up and went to Lider with Eli to pick up some groceries for Donce. It took about two hours because Eli forgot the list so we would shop and then call and check the list. Then shop some more and then call to check the list. And shopped a little more and called to check the list one last time. It was fun though, I like spending time with Eli. This week’s dessert was Dirt Cookies, basically sugar cookies with crumbs of Oreo. It wasn’t hard at all but everyone really really loved them. Everyone thinks I’m the best baker in the entire world, I won’t argue. After I made the dough I stuck it in the fridge to let it cool at little while I finished cleaning the kitchen. After cleaning I baked the cookies of course. It took a while because there’s only one big pan and two little pans. I got it done though. One of the students named Koke then showed me how to do the Quaka which is the national dance of Chile. It was really fun to do. Susana, another student, helped me too. They said I was pretty good but I’m pretty sure they were just being nice. After that I showed them how to Wobble! It was really fun. We had small groups after that which mine was pretty awesome, especially now that I’m understanding a little more. Donce was after that. Dinner was a version of chicken pot pie (which was excellent) and the cookies. David gave the talk which was nice. My table didn’t lose the cleaning game so that’s always a plus. I hung out with students after and even formed my own band. It’s called the Blake Band and I play the tambourine haha! It was a fun night. Tuesday was crazy. We went to this area of the city where three colleges sit next to each other and handed out free coffee and tea and invited students to El Oasis which was kind of like Dum Dum days at GSU. After that I met with a student named Katy for English/Spanish lessons. I really enjoy that. Then we had a grill out at El Oasis for a big soccer game. These people love their soccer, they were going crazy. Unfortunately they ended up losing, but it was fun and the food was good. I helped another student with homework after that, he basically just needed a few tongue twisters to help him practice. Some students hung around the house for a while after which was fun hanging out with them. I went to the grocery store with two students randomly just because they asked me too. We had our Café a lo Gringo meeting and our exchange student meeting that night. Phil’s girlfriend Eli came over and hung out with us for a while too. It was cool. Wednesday was pretty calm. I woke up and wrote some letters to friends in the States. I went to the market and the post office and then stopped at Guaton to get a big sandwich for lunch. I didn’t really do much the rest of the day but students were over all day so I just hung out and talked with them. Thursday was crazy. I woke up and went to the staff meeting (which I only go to on Thursdays) then went with Claudia, Eli, and Brent to pick up some flowers and food for El Oasis. The first place we went was this HUGE flower market, literally thousands of flowers. It smelled really good. And Claudia somehow charmed the lady at the gate so she gave us free meal tickets that were good for an empanada and a drink, it was awesome! The second place was this huge fresh market on this really busy street. It was crazy the amount of food and the amount of people in this place. It was fun though and a guy at one of the stands gave me an orange for free. He probably just felt bad for me because I looked so lost. It was cool though. Apparently, there was a huge riot in the city. A police officer died, 26 people were wounded, and 255 people were arrested. Five public buses were set on fire to act as barricades from police and over 400 vehicles had damage. So we were stuck in traffic…for two hours. It was crazy. I didn’t see anything, but it was big news. Anyhow, after that ordeal, we got back to the house and I cooked and cleaned and then we had Café a lo Gringo. My game was Jeopardy and it was awesome.  The students had a great time. Tertulia started and this week was a little different. Since we finished the first series last week, this week was called a Break Out, just a devo between series. This one they split us up between guys and girls and the girls talked about their dreams as children and how that impacts us along with other things while the guys talked about the differences between boys and men. It was really interesting. I liked it a lot. After that I had fun taking really silly pictures around the house with some students. I enjoyed it.

my cookies

my band

the girls at Tertulia

Jorge