Thanksgiving Lunch and Christmas Dinner

(11/23-11/25) Let me start off by saying it is currently 2:30am on Monday morning/Sunday night. I’m awake because I am waiting on my laundry to finish. It’s been a crazy weekend but I will start with my adventures from Friday. I woke up Friday and went to a grocery store called Jumbo. I was looking for candy canes and cheddar cheese that are not very popular items in Chile, which I found. The store was huge though and really awesome. I guess you could compare it to a Super Target. It was a little expensive but overall a good shopping experience. When I got back we did our Exchange Student Meeting because we missed it on Tuesday. It went well. After that I started making decorations for Saturday which was the day of our Thanksgiving feast, but I’m not there yet. So I made decorations for about four hours or so. I did name tag place settings on the computer and cut out about a thousand little hand turkeys and leaves for a garland and cut out Happy Thanksgiving. After all that was said and done I went to a restaurant for a friend’s birthday party, well actually three friend’s birthday party but I went for Ruth whose actual birthday was Friday. Their birthdays aren’t very far apart so they just combined one party, convenient. So we hung out there about two hours and after that we all went dancing. I was pretty exhausted because I got like 4 or 5 hours of good sleep the night before so Katie, Brent, Liz, and I left at about 1:45-2am and I got home at 2:30am and went to sleep. I woke up at about 10am Saturday morning so I could shower and start cooking for Thanksgiving. I made macaroni and cheese and some brownies. Thanksgiving started at about 2pm and there was a ton of food, including an incredible turkey. It was so awesome and such a great experience. It was a little weird talking in Spanish during dinner but it was still cool. We ate and talked about what we were thankful for and other typical Thanksgiving things. Even after the dinner they downloaded the UGA vs Tech game which was cool, but sad for Tech fans. Then we cleaned everything up. After everything was cleaned I went and took a three hour nap. When I woke up, Liz and I went to our second party of the day. An American girl (Celeste) is leaving to go home Tuesday so it was like her going away party/Christmas party. It was on the roof of her apartment building which was pretty cool. There was a pool and it just felt fancy. I wore my finest attire of pajama pants that were red and had snow and a green shirt. Everyone was in red and green and a lot of people rocked Santa hats. The party started at like 9pm and there was so much food. I made chocolate peppermint cookies and they were awesome. We sat around and talked and ate and just enjoyed each other’s company until about midnight. Then we played the White Elephant gift exchange game where everyone brings like a $5 dollar gift and you steal and unwrap and it’s a bunch of fun. So that lasted about 2 hours. Then some boys decided to jump in the rooftop pool which was pretty funny to watch. Then we danced for a little while. I left around 2:45am with Greg and Eli. I pretty much went straight to bed when I got back. Sunday I woke up at 10am because Katie and I were going to spend the day at Eli’s house (granted we didn’t leave the house until 11:30am.) We had to take the metro about 30minutes and then a bus for another 45minutes. It was awesome though. Her house was so cute and where she lives was so cute. We all made lunch together and just hung out for a while. After we ate we went and bought ice cream which I am always ok with. After we ate ice cream we all pretty much took a nap for about an hour. When we woke up Eli and Jorge (her brother) took us to this hill and we climbed up a little ways and it was beautiful. The sky was so clear and there was so much green. We hung out at the top for a while and then we had to leave. On the way down I managed to fall and scrape my leg, I thought it was hysterical and it didn’t even hurt…until later. When we got back to the house Eli and Katie cooked some stuff and Jorge and I listened to music. I brought up the fact that I needed laundry detergent so Jorge suggested we ride bikes to the store while they cooked. I said ok thinking there would be two bikes. There was one and I had the pleasure of sitting on the metal bar above the back tire. It was incredibly fun though. We talked the whole time and I didn’t have to work at all. We got to the store and I bought my detergent and then went back. I’m pretty sure on the way back he hit as many bumps as possible because it hurt me. I still thought it was funny. When we got back we ate a little dinner and talked for a little bit. We had to catch a bus back to Santiago which took about 30minutes of waiting. When we got on the bus it was about 10pm. The bus trip back took forever because the guy kept stopping to pick up more people. I shouldn’t complain about that but I just did because it was annoying. When we got back to Santiago we were 3 minutes too late to take the metro…3 minutes!!! So we had to take the bus which I hate. Well we missed our bus stop and ended up walking most of the way home. It was fun though! So that brings me to now, 3:00 am waiting on my laundry. It was such a great weekend but I am exhausted!

our feast!

my decorations!

Christmas party with Jorge

Celeste and I, how cute are we?

group photo on the hill at Eli's house

just me

Thankful

(11/19-11/22) This week was pretty eventful. Monday started off kind of slow though. I woke up and worked on some stuff and cooked which is the usual for Mondays. I made banana chocolate chip cake again because everyone loved it the first time. Small groups started after that and it went well. Donce started after that and we ate this rice casserole stuff with chicken which was really good. A student named Natty Meli gave her testimony which was really cool because she talked about her trip to Africa which was awesome. The game to decide who cleans was to make a construction out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows and the tallest win. We did not win but we didn’t lose either which is that only thing I care about. After the game all of our supplies ended up in my hair which was pretty funny. Susana, Cynthia, and Natty thought it was hilarious so they just kept adding. When Donce was over a few students went to a restaurant to celebrate Phil’s birthday which was on the Sunday before. I stayed about an hour and then everyone was ready to go so we left. When I got home I Skyped my friend Briana for about 2 hours which was nice because I haven’t seen her in forever. It was a good day. Tuesday not too long after I woke up Clau, Eli, and I went to Bravissimo to have an Almorricas meeting. I was so happy that I got to get ice cream from there again. It was fun hanging out with all the girls. After Bravissimo we went to a park to just hang out and talk. Then Eli and I had to go find colorful paper so two students went with us. We stopped at this awesome museum and walked around a bit. Then the two students had to leave so Eli and I kept on walking. We stopped at the National Library because I had never seen it and this awesome church in Plaza de Armas. Then we found these stores with a bunch of jewelry that we looked around in for a while. We finally found paper after that. Then we had to go to a party supply store to pick something up for an event this weekend.  We got home a little late but my friend Koke was there so we played ping pong and read some of my book. After everyone left, Eli, Greg, and I made homemade French fries and they were delicious. I showered and went to bed after t hat. Wednesday was probably my favorite day. My friend Camila came over and taught me how to make empanadas. It was the best and I was so excited to learn how to make them. We ended up making three different types, pino (which is meat, onions, boiled eggs, and some other stuff that we didn’t add,) napolitana (which is ham, cheese, tomatoes, and oregano,) and a postre empanada (which had strawberries and chocolate.) It was a blast! And we made lemonade from fresh lemons which tasted awesome. We watched a movie while we ate called Made of Honor on my Netflix. After that we went through her pictures and just talked. It was awesome! That night I went to hear a student’s band play at a restaurant. He is the drummer and he sounded awesome. It was definitely fun to just relax and hear music. What a great day that was. Thursday (THANKSGIVING but not for me) was pretty cool. I got to Skype a lot of my family because everyone went to my parent’s house this year to eat. I got to see my grandma, sister, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, brother in law, grandpa, and two cousins. It was pretty awesome. When I got done Skyping all of them I started baking for a special Café a lo Gringo. I mixed the dough and while it chilled Katie and I went to a restaurant to eat. She bought me lunch and because it was Thanksgiving I ordered a turkey sandwich. When we got back we started rolling out the dough and cutting little hand turkeys. They were absolutely adorable. We put an M&M on for the eye. They came out so much better than I thought they would. I made the brownies after that. Café started and we ate the cookies and made hand turkeys and wrote what we were thankful for. We also played a quick game of hangman and Pictionary. It was fun. Tetulia started after that and we ate sloppy joes, delicious. Then the band played and Claudia gave the talk which was good. After that I played ping pong with the boys upstairs until they had to leave. Then I took a shower and went to bed. This was definitely a week to be thankful for. 

my wonderful ice cream!

me making empanadas

our feast

my friends show

my sugar cookie hand turkeys

my hand turkey

Special Edition #2

Ok so in September I created a Special Edition and wrote about things I missed in the United States. The only thing I can even remember missing now is Chick-fil-A. Anyhow, that’s beside the point. I have exactly three weeks left in Chile as of today so I just want to share with you guys the things here that I’m going to miss from here the most.

The students/my friends here, they’ve completely stolen my heart and I pray I stay in contact with most of them

The ability to walk around the corner and grab lunch for $3

The freedom to climb Andes Mountains whenever I want to

The Virgin Mary on top of the hill

Food, especially anticuchos, napolitana empanadas, and my favorite restaurant El Guaton

Living in the ministry house, it’s so convenient

Spanish music, especially the worship songs

The prices of everything

The cheap fresh food market every Wednesday

The metro, even though it’s hot, sometimes smells bad, and takes all my money, it’s convenient

This ministry in general because it’s awesome

All the staff

Chala

Cooking desserts that everyone loves

The chocolate

Street vendors

Street performers

Sharing a room with Katie, although I'm more than happy to go back to having my own room

Watching the sunset over the Andes Mountains from my balcony

Having a game room

I’m sure that there are 3214397823 more things I’m going to miss about this place. I love it here. I’m sad that I only have a little time left here but I plan on making the absolute most of it. God has blessed me more than I could have even imagined. Please continue to pray for these final weeks for me. My biggest goal right now is to make sure the students know that I love them and they have changed my life. See you guys in a few weeks.

Merry Christmas To Myself!

(11/16-11/18) Friday, I felt pretty crappy all day. I did a little shopping in the morning and when I got back I slept for three hours. I don’t know what happened but I got sick out of nowhere. Well, this temperature has been pretty crazy and changing more than I change my clothes, and I change my clothes pretty often. It’s spring, what can you do? Nothing. Take allergy medication and just bare it. Onward march. So the rest of Friday I spent pretty much doing nothing. A student came over to wait for another student so they could go to dinner so I talked with him for about an hour and a half. They were supposed to meet at 8 but here that apparently means 9:30, I still haven’t quite figured that out. Anyhow after that Eli and I hung out for a bit and played ping-pong extreme because girl can’t keep the ball on the table to save her life. It was fun though. After that I pretty much knocked out for the night. In the morning I made chocolate chip pancakes and ate them all, along with an apple. Then Eli and I literally ran to pick up medals for the boys Futbol Tournament. Then we had to go to the grocery store for the boys and pick up meat and charcoal. Boys can’t do anything for themselves, is what I have concluded. After that Eli, Katie, and I went to a fancy shopping center in Los Dominicos (where the rich people live.) Everything was pretty expensive, but it was such a cute place. I couldn’t resist buying a few things, although mostly I bought gifts for myself…I deserve nice things! Anyhow, once we were done there, Eli and I went to find Eli’s mom a birthday present. I’m glad she found it in the first store because I was tired and ready to go. Of course after we found that we went to Santa Lucia to find a birthday present for Phil from Eli. Luckily that didn’t take too long, and I got to buy more gifts. Once we got back, I ate dinner and then Katie and I watched a movie called A Knights Tale. I went to bed right after the credits rolled. Sunday morning Katie and I decided that we would go to the cute little church on top of Cerro San Cristobal. We’ve always admired the church and we only have three more Sundays here so we wanted to go at least once. It’s a Catholic Church, Katie is Catholic and I just think it’s kind of cool to hear the songs and the group chants. So we left the house at 10:30 and got to the top at exactly 12, talk about perfect timing. Oh yeah, Mass starts at 12. That was also the best climb I’ve done, I didn’t stop once on the way up the mountain, I was so proud of myself. Of course I sweated like a beast because it’s hot and I worked my body. For the first 15 minutes of Mass I was just trying to cool off. After that it was pretty cool to see and hear everything and be able to understand. After climbing down the mountain Katie went straight home but I wanted to walk around a little. I walked around and looked at cute little stores and even ate lunch at McDonalds, it was my first time at an international McDonalds and it was the fanciest fast food restaurant I have ever set foot in. No lie.  It was gorgeous. When I got done eating I made the long walk back home. Once home I started laundry and took a shower, I smelled pretty awesome from my morning hike. I didn’t have much down time because at 6 I met a student, Susana, for dinner. Our originally planned location was closed because everything here is closed on Sunday and I somehow always forget. Thanks Santiago. So we walked about 2 miles to this HUGE mall (we’re talking 6 floors, with two grocery stores, movie theater, bowling alley, 2130587413534 stores, and probably more stuff that I don’t even know about) because it had the only food places open. That’s probably a little dramatic, but it was open. She got a salad and I got a hamburger called the Gringa. I thought it was ironic. Gringa or Gringo are what they call Americans here and only Americans. I don’t know why, it actually translates to without underwear. Anyhow we sat down and talked for a while which was pretty awesome. We walked around the mall for a little while after that and then went home because it was getting late and it had been a long day for both of us. Once home I finished laundry, relaxed, and slept. Pretty content with my weekend.

fancy shopping place

me in a pretty garden

pretty church

awesome Christmas decorations

someone bedazzled a reindeer