First Week of Events

(8/2-8/9) Well I haven’t written in a week now but that’s because last Thursday to Sunday I pretty much did nothing. The students were coming back Monday so we used this time to clean the house and just kind of relax and get our mindset ready to start off the semester on a great note. David and Claudia came back Friday and it was really good seeing them. Monday was really awesome. I went to class which was still pretty boring, but after that, the entire class went out to lunch which was super cute. We went to a pretty fancy restaurant but it was neat looking inside. After the restaurant I went back to the El Oasis house where I got to meet Greg for the first time. He is another staff member from the United States who is going to be here for about 2-3 years. He is super nice and friendly. Katie and I had to help make the dinner because we had our first event as El Oasis which was basically just a dinner to meet and great everyone. We helped to make the pebre which is a Chilean salsa. It was a little harder than I thought it would be because we had to peel the tomatoes before we diced them. Peeling tomatoes is hard work! After that we sliced all the bread and by that time a lot of students started showing up. The guys started grilling the sausages because the meal was these little sausage things on these little buns with pebre. It’s apparently a really authentic Chilean meal and I know it has a name but I’m drawing a blank on that. The meet and great went really well. I met a ton of students and had a blast trying to understand them and have them understand me. I’m starting to get the hang of this whole Spanish thing though. I found out that a lot of students travel 30minutes to an hour to get to El Oasis. That was just really cool seeing how much time they are willing to give up just getting here and how much of an impact this place makes if students are willing to travel so far. It was just awesome. It ended probably around 11 and then Katie, Eli, and I did our Insanity workout which is like our roommate bonding time. Tuesday was a pretty great day. I had my last day of Spanish class at least for a while and then came home to just hang out with everyone doing random things and just getting to know the staff. After a while a student at El Oasis came over to start cooking for a fundraising dinner that she had planned for that night. She is going to be an exchange student in Thailand, how awesome is that? I helped her cook and then went to the church to help set everything up. The night was so special, she gave a speech about why she felt God was calling her there and you could tell her entire heart was in it. It was great to get to be a part of something like that. She leaves in January and will have a few more fundraisers to help meet her goal. I can’t wait to help with those as well. Wednesday was pretty fun. It was my one month of being here and Brent took Katie and I to lunch to celebrate. It was so good too! We went to a place close by and I had a thin steak with French fries, a piece of bread, salad, soup, and a chocolate mousse for dessert…and it was only $6! Awesome and Brent paid which was even more awesome! After that we just hung out at the house for a bit, I read and cleaned my room a little bit. After a while Brent asked us to help him with an intro video for Bible Study (Tertuilia). So we spent about two hours with that which was a complete blast. After that we just hung out did our workout and went to sleep. Thursday was amazing. I woke up and went to the store with Eli to buy supplies for dinner which was sloppy joe’s, nice right? We had to wait like an hour though because the store had to make more bread but it was cool. After that I got back to the house and Claudia asked me if I could sing a song at Tertuilia and I said yes even though I was so nervous about it. We each have chores we have to do before events so I started on those and finished up pretty quickly. After that it was time for Café a lo Gringo which is an event that we’re kind of in charge of that helps Chilean students learn English. It went really well and the few that were there seemed to enjoy it a lot. Tertulia started after that and we ate first and then I did my cover song which was Hey Soul Sister by Train. They were very encouraging and seemed to enjoy it even though I messed up a little. The real band came up after that and played a couple of songs which were incredibly amazing. They are all so talented! They did songs that I know in English but they were in Spanish obviously. There was a short skit after that and then Phil gave the talk which I’m sure was good but it was in Spanish so I only caught a little bit of it. The band came back up and did a few more songs to close us out which were just as incredible as the first set. Then we hung out in the house for a little while before going to a student’s going away party. His name is Matias and his church is sending him to a Bible college in Texas to study there for four years so eventually he can take over the church as the preacher. Isn’t that awesome? I think it is incredible. We went to eat at this little restaurant and hung out with him until about 1 am before going home and completely passing out. It was such a great week.