Home Alone

(12/3-12/6) Let me start this post by saying this past week was heavenly. The staff went on a four day team building retreat and Katie went with her parents to Valparisso for four days so guess who got the house to herself? Yes, this girl. I loved it! Ok so back to the other things that happened this week. This week I did so many things with so many people and didn’t give myself a break. Totally worth it though. Monday when I woke up I decided it was going to be my last day of shopping so I set off on a mission. I went to the market by Santa Lucia with a list and cash. It took about 2.5-3 hours but I did it. My list wasn’t long, I just couldn’t find the right things for the people. So I looked and compared and looked some more. I got it done. After that I went home and did laundry and cleaned upstairs. I made sweet tea (because that’s my friend’s favorite drink, not mine) and ordered sushi over the phone all by myself. Success! My good friend Camila came over at about 6 and we hung out and talked for a while. After that we ate our sushi and drank our tea and watched Good Will Hunting. We wanted to watch another movie so Camila looks for movies from Thailand (this is the girl going with Globalscope to Thailand in a couple of weeks.) She found one but while we were waiting for it to load we decided to play a game. We found a Disney Trivial Pursuit game in the closet so we went with that one. Oh, by the way, Camila speaks almost perfect English. So we played and dang if she didn’t beat me. It was fun though! When it was over the movie had kind of loaded so we started watching it. To my surprise it was actually really interesting. I was so into it. When that movie was over it was about 3 am so we started getting ready for bed. Then we ended up talking for another hour, you know girls. I think I went to bed at about 4:30am. The next morning Camila had to go to class so we got up at 10:30am. I actually went back to sleep after she left. I woke up again at like 1 which was good because I was meeting a friend for lunch. Carla got here at about 1:30 and we went to J.Cruz which is a restaurant that specializes in Chorrillana. I had only been there once before but I loved it! So I took Carla and she loved it too. We wrote on the walls (which you’re allowed to do) and talked for a pretty long time. Then we goofed around taking pictures on the walk back to El Oasis. It was awesome.  When we got back we watched a movie. A little later Koke and Abraham came over to hang out. We all played ping pong together and after that we went to the supermarket to get pizza supplies. When we got back we went straight to cooking and by the time they went into the oven they looked delicious! When they were ready we went upstairs and watched White Chicks while we ate our pizza. They left after the movie which was pretty late anyhow. Wednesday when I woke up I went to meet my friend Cynthia for lunch. We had to go close to her work so we ended up eating in the food court of a mall. We both got hamburgers called the Gringa. I loved it, she didn’t…go figure. We talked for a long time. Then she gave me a present which was this awesome photo collage of us. I was so happy! She eventually had to go to work so I went home. When I got home I was determined to clean the house because I wanted to live in a clean house my last week. Half way through my cleaning rant Koke came over and then he helped me which was really nice. After we got done cleaning, we played ping pong for a couple of hours. I love ping pong and not sure if I’ve ever mentioned that. After that we decided to watch a movie called My Boss’s Daughter and eat ice cream. The movie was really stupid but the ice cream was delicious. It’s lucuma and doesn’t exist in the United States. He had to leave right after the movie so I finished up the laundry I had started a couple of days before (whoops) and went to bed. Thursday when I woke up I went to lunch with my friend Diafna. We had to go somewhere close to her school so I ended up eating in another mall food court. It was cool though. Afterwards we walked around the mall just talking. Eventually it was time for her to go to class so we left. When I got back it was already time to meet my friend Nanii for a little afternoon dessert. We went to a pastry shop pretty close by and it was delicious. We both got chocolate mousse cake. Heaven. We talked for a while and then we walked around the nearby shops. When we got back to El Oasis we talked for a while and then decided to play some Nintendo. She beat me in the battles but I creamed her in the actual races. First baby! She had to leave after that so I went with her. I decided to go to the grocery store to grab a little food since I have nothing. After I got back from the grocery store I hung out with Eli and Greg because they were back. I did a little packing test run after that and it didn’t end well. Once that was over I had to do some work for El Oasis because we have a special event on Friday that I’m not going to ruin the surprise of. So I spent the rest of my night working on that. What a great week!

Camila's beautiful face!

I love both of these things

Carla wrote our names with yellow finger nail polish

pizza pizza, mine is on the far right

Cynthia and her Gringa

mountains in the distance at sunset

Weekend of Fun

(11/30-12/2) Well this past weekend was pretty dang awesome. Friday after I woke up I did a little shopping and got some really awesome deals! I couldn’t believe how excited I was, I guess I am my mother’s daughter. When I got back I went shopping with Eli for the last Almorricas. We bought stuff for brownie sundaes because that’s what Claudia wanted and I fully supported the idea. When we got back we started cooking and setting up. Then some girls came over so we talked for a while before the event actually started. Then the event started so we went upstairs and made our own sundaes and talked. Then we watched a youtube movie clip and discussed that. After that we played a game where you asked other people questions. All in all it was really fun. When Almorricas was over, Eli, Katie, and I went to meet Katie’s parents for dinner. They flew in for the week. We went to this really fancy restaurant and I let Eli order for me and she ordered Tar-Tar, raw meat. Thanks Eli. Actually it wasn’t too terribly bad. It was nice thought being able to talk her parents, they were really sweet people. Saturday I woke up early to go to this market to grab a few things. The market is like the cheapest market and I just needed three things. When I got back home I took a little nap because I was still exhausted. When I woke up it was time to meet my friend. We were supposed to meet at 2 but she was an hour late. It’s ok though. We went to Lider first to pick up some stuff to eat then took two buses and walked up a hill about a mile to this park Mahuida. We sat and ate and talked for a while. After that we went to the real destination Rodelbahn. It is basically like a little park that just happens to have a tobogganing course. Yeah I went tobogganing in Santiago, Chile. Pretty awesome! We did two runs. The first run I let Natty go first and she went slow so I had to too. The second run I went first and went fast, so fast that when I got to the end of the course I had enough time to get out of my sled and climb up a bridge to watch her finish. It was an incredible experience. After that we took a bus to Santa Lucia and checked out this art exhibit. Also in the museum was a wedding so we sat and watched the reception and ate and talked for a while. When that was over we walked to a friend’s house for a going away party for Josh. We got there at like 10:20. I stayed like two hours and then was ready to go home because I was tired. Sunday I woke up at 7:45am because El Oasis was in charge of a church service and I had to help. The first service started at 9:30 and the second started at 11:30. I handed out flyers, greeted people, set up communion, passed out communion, collected money, and told people bye. It was a lot of work but it was cool. David gave the sermon and the band played. Afterwards a student (Ruth) invited me to her house for lunch. Of course I went! I’m so glad I did because it was the best meal I’ve had. Plus I got to meet her parents so that was really cool too. We started with artichokes and then ate this wonderful meat, rice, salad, and for dessert strawberries and cream. Dang! After lunch we went to this market in a park and met her sister Pulpa and Natty Meli. They were selling some clothes so we just sat around and talked for a while just hanging out. Occasionally we would get up and go look around and I bought a couple of things. It was pretty fun though! I love just being able to spend time with people without an agenda. We finished up in the park at around 9, then everyone went home and I took a shower and went to bed. It was pretty awesome though! 

woohoo!

incorrect English

me and Natty

CHILE!

My Week of Lasts

(11/26-11/29) Well this was a pretty sad week of lasts. Monday I decided to cook a really difficult dessert that I cooked once in the past but it didn’t have time to set. So I spent about 4 or 5 hours Monday cooking the dessert again giving it plenty of time to solidify. Then I went to our last small group and our last Donce. We ate lasagna and it was pretty good although the sauce tasted a little like ketchup. A student named Israel gave the talk and he talked about how he had cancer when he was younger and how his family prayed everyday and eventually it went away miraculously. It was awesome. I really appreciated his story. Then we ate my awesome dessert called Chocolate Revel Bars. We played a game that was finding a list of items and then you tally up score. We didn’t win but we didn’t lose and it was really fun so a great way to end the year. Tuesday was pretty good. We were supposed to have Almorricas but like an hour before it was supposed to start they switched it to Friday. Because it was cancelled Claudia and I went to Bravissimo together to eat lunch. It ended up being really great because I got to learn a lot about Claudia. When we got back I played some ping-pong with some guys who happened to be in the house. Then I ordered a pizza and Eli and I ate the pizza and watched the Christmas episode of Glee. I spent the rest of my night just kind of relaxing. Wednesday was a great day! My friend Camila, her friend Dany, Claudia, Katie, and I went to Pomaire. It was my second time going and it was awesome. Hardly anyone was there and I got to do some shopping. It was perfect weather and the whole day was just perfect. Dany drove us for free so we didn’t have so ride on a smelly bus. For lunch I ate chicken nuggets and French fries, everyone made fun of me, but I don’t regret it. We shopped for about two hours and it was all around a pretty great experience. When we got back some students were here playing Just Dance, so of course I joined them. We danced for like two hours and then they left. I had some alone time after that and Skyped my parents and then I went to bed. Thursday was bitter sweet. It was my last staff meeting. Then Eli and I went to the grocery store to shop for the last Tertulia. When I got back, Katie and I made a bunch of food and drinks for the very special and last Café a lo Gringo. We made homemade chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, just peanut butter sandwiches, lemonade, and sweet tea. Then I made the last batch of brownies for Tertulia. Café a lo Gringo started pretty soon after that. We did a poll the week before to find out what everyone’s favorite game was and we used the three most commonly said answers. They ended up being the name tag forehead game, train wreck, and mafia. It was really fun and a great way to end the year! After that our last Tertulia started. Everything was great, the music, Phil’s talk, the food (pizza), and the very special event that happened after. A student got baptized!! It was so awesome to watch and I am still just so happy for him. I played ping pong with Abraham after that and kicked his butt! That was an awesome feeling! Afterwards a lot of people went to a restaurant to celebrate the end of everything and the exchange students and just to hang out. We stayed a couple of hours and then we all went home. I went to bed after that. What a great week!

me at the last Donce

me in Pomaire

me playing Just Dance with Koke

meet Elvis and Mulan

our feast

baptism!!!