Two Months Down

(9/7-9/9) On Friday we had Almorricas which is the girls lunch. We traveled really far to have lunch with this one student named Fernanda. Her university was really awesome though. It was small and focused on technology and cooking. She is going to be a chef so she took us on a tour of her part of the school. It was cool watching people my age make these amazing looking dishes. Before we had lunch, some of ran over to this little empanada store to grab lunch. I think that’s the best empanada I’ve had here. It had tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, ham, and oregano. It was great. We came home and got ready for the movie night Katie and I decided we wanted to have at the El Oasis house. Katie and Phil went shopping for snacks and I stayed behind and cleaned and got the upstairs ready. After that a student (Koke) asked me for help with his English homework so we worked on that for about an hour. Then it was time to start the movie. I went around asking people to vote on which movie out of a list of movies we had they wanted to watch. Batman the Dark Knight won so we watched that. I set out my Sour Watermelons for the students and they loved them! They ate about two bags worth, but I loved sharing the candy with them. The students had to leave as soon as the movie was over because the metro closes at 11:30. One girl had to spend the night because she lives far away. I stayed up and watched another movie with her which happened to be Batman Begins. It ended at like 3:00 and I was exhausted so I had to go to bed. I slept in Saturday until about 12:30. I was so tired and just exhausted. After I woke up I went to the grocery store and to the market. I don’t know what was going on but the prices at the market were so much more expensive than they had been. I wasn’t able to buy a whole lot but I bought what I needed until Wednesday. Katie and I did Insanity when I got back and then I showered. Some students came over to hang out which was cool. We ate lunch together and then they watched a movie while I read and spent some time alone with God. I even got to listen to a Life Spring podcast which was awesome! It was a pretty low key day but I enjoyed it. Sunday I woke up and walked about a mile and a half to a church. Some students go there and thought it would be cool to hang out with them in a church setting. The church sang some of my favorite songs in Spanish which was really awesome to hear. I’m getting better at singing in Spanish. After church, I decided to walk to the big Lider because it’s pretty close to the church. It was pretty much like going to Walmart on a Sunday, not doing that again. I got a few things and then went across the street to Burger King because I was so hungry. They spelled my name ‘Dake’. I don’t understand. After that I walked back home. We had two Insanity videos to do on Sunday so when I got back we knocked out one of them. Then I read, played guitar, and watched some Criminal Minds. It was a pretty awesome day until the second Insanity video. That was killer. I can’t believe I’ve been here for two months now. It’s so crazy how fast time is moving. Less than 100 days left, I can’t believe it. 

movie night!

Eli, me, and Susana

finally got to use some Ranch

Burger King fail

Special Edition

Before I left, one of my friends who did Globalscope in the past showed me a list she had made of things she missed back in the United States. She said after she wrote them down she didn’t think of them again. She told me it might be good to make a list too at some point just to write it all down. I took her advice and these are the things that I truly miss. I’ve been here for two months now without these things so I know I can survive. I just wanted to write them down, so here they are.

Things I Miss

Family

Friends

Chick-fil-A

Parker’s drinks

Driving

CCF

My own room

My bed

My pillow

Normal outlets

My laundry detergent

Bruster’s

Beef Jerky

Dairy Queen

Hot fudge

Grocery stores

A full shower

Shane’s

Statesboro

Intramural sports

Indoor heating/air conditioning

Being able to talk to someone when I want to

 I do miss all of these things, but being here is worth it.  

Puppies and Stuff

(9/3-9/6) Monday was fun. Claudia and David got a puppy! They brought it to the house for the first time and it was so precious. It is a basset hound and has the cutest little scrunchiest face! It's a boy and his name is Chala which means flip flop, like the shoe. During the day the El Oasis staff had lunch with Katie and I. It was really great, they brought in Waya’s salads which are delicious. We sat around asking each other questions. They asked us about what we liked and didn’t like about Santiago and stuff like that and then I asked them about El Oasis and how they got involved and what it was like being students in the ministry, stuff like that. It was really fun though, they set up a big table outside and it was just a great lunch. I cooked the dessert for Donce which didn’t super turn out like I thought it would, but everyone loved it none the less. It was quite delicious, just really ugly. Donce was good, Claudia gave the talk about Proverbs 16:1 and it was pretty neat. The game to decide who had to clean was throwing peanuts at your team while they tried to catch them in their mouths. It was hilarious. We weren’t the best team but thank God we weren’t the worst either. Tuesday was probably one of my favorite days so far here. I met my friend Katy to help her with her English while she helped me with my Spanish. I met her at a metro station at 1 and we walked around to different stores for about an hour or so. After that we went to the park to sit down and just talk. I brought empanadas and she brought some drinks and then we just sat there talking for 3 hours. It was really awesome! She was so fun to be with and kept writing down everything I was saying in English, it was a really great time. We are going to meet every Tuesday to practice our language skills. I got home at about 5:15 and then a student named Susana came over because she and I were going to go to dinner. We didn’t really have a set restaurant we wanted to go to so we just walked around until we found one that we liked. The one we found was called For the Love of Art. It was a cute little restaurant/boutique and it was really precious. She got a salad and I got steak and potatoes. It also came with bread, juice, coffee, and a dessert. It was the best! I learned a lot about Susana and it was awesome! Like I said, it was one of my favorite days so far. Wednesday I woke up and then Katie and I went ot the market to get some fresh fruit and vegetables. After that we stopped by Lider, and then the post office to send some letters to the United States. When we got back, I made lunch and watched a show on Netflix while I ate. After that I hung out with Eli outside. We just sat on the street curb in the sun and talked for a little bit. When that was over I went inside and heard some people singing up stairs so I followed it. Some students were practicing a song and it was so pretty. When they were done we went back and forth doing karaoke. It was a blast! There were only three of us but it was so spontaneous and awesome. Thursday was Cafe a lo Gringo and Tertulia like always. Cafe was fun. The first game was the students had to listen to a song and fill in the blanks. The song was Call Me Maybe. It was hilarious! Everyone was singing along and it was great. The second game was the students watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother and then had to answer questions about it. They seemed to really enjoy the show which is good because that's my favorite. I made the brownies and they didn’t turn out the best because I forgot about them in the oven but people still liked them a lot. A student gave me an egg roll to eat and I can’t believe I’m saying this but that was my first egg roll ever. The dinner for the night was my favorite food in the entire world...chocolate chip pancakes!!! I was so excited! The worship was awesome and Frizz gave the talk. It was basically about good verses best. I enjoyed it a lot. I got to hang out with the students for a while after the event was over to just talk and hang out. It was a good night! 

me and Chala

Katy and Carla

my friends

It's September!

(8/31-9/2) I enjoyed Friday a great deal. We had Almorrica which is a girl’s lunch thing with students, but I went about an hour and a half early to meet with this girl named Daniela for a while. I t was really fun, we walked around all of these little shops for a while and I would have bought stuff if I remembered my book bag. It got pretty warm so Daniela bought us both ice cream, it was very sweet of her. It was strange ice cream though, more like a sherbet because it was really light and it was apple flavored. We went inside the mall after that and it was the biggest mall I have ever been in, seriously, it was huge. We walked around for about an hour just talking and goofing around. It got close to 2:30 so we headed towards the metro station to meet with everyone. There were only two students at Almorrica this week, but I’m still glad I went. It was only Claudia, Eli, and I. Oh and there was a chicken. Like three tables away from us these people had a pet chicken and it was awesome. Then Claudia, Eli, and I headed back to the house. I did Pilates with a bunch of gringas which I wasn’t too happy about. I would rather hang out with Chileans but it’s whatever, gringas showed up. After that we went to a restaurant for a student’s birthday party. Believe it or not, there were two birthday parties at the restaurant with the same name and same amount of people in the party. It wouldn’t have been that bad but we were the first to show up so we had no idea what was going on. Once people got there it was really fun. I got to hang out with Chileans and eat which are my favorite things to do here. We stayed a few hours and were ready to go home. Once we left the restaurant David flagged us down and told us the alarm at our house went off so he was driving over there. We got in the car and got to the house to figure out the alarm went off because Katie and I didn’t shut the windows up stairs. In my defense, I hadn’t been up stairs all day and had no idea they were open. That was enough excitement for one day. I would like to call Saturday Blake Day. I focused on myself all day. Katie went with some friends somewhere and I stayed home and enjoyed my peace and quiet for a day. It was fantastic. A few people dropped by during the day but it was all good. I was so relaxed and everything. I even made chicken alfredo by myself for the first time being here. I made one of the pastas my mom sent me. I watched Criminal Minds all day and showered and did laundry. It was a great day. Sunday was interesting. The time changed, which I was unaware of until I got a call at what I presumed was 8:30, which it was apparently 9:30 to make sure I was going to church. I was going to church with Phil and his girlfriend Eli. Phil told me to take one of three bus numbers and he would meet me there. I got ready and went to the bus station and got on one of the buses he told me. Well turns out, he was wrong and I didn’t end up in the right place so I had to take another bus. It was chaotic, but we were only 15 minutes late. The church was pretty cool though, the music was a tad bit cheesy. After the church service, Eli’s youth group thing did a fundraiser selling empanadas so I stayed for that and bought one. I met a few pretty cool Chileans that go to Eli’s church so I will probably start going there. They actually meet on Sunday nights though which is still pretty cool and I could sleep in. I waited 30 minutes for a bus to get home which was crazy. I eventually got home around 3:15ish. I played guitar and relaxed for a bit. Katie and I finally made it to recovery week in Insanity so we’re almost half way there. After that I watched a little tv and went to bed a little early.

my delicious pasta!

Making Friends

(8/27-8/30) Monday was a good day. Other than the fact that I was super tired from the Vina del Mar trip, it was good. I talked to this girl and invited her to lunch with me so we went and got some sushi and brought it back to the house and talked for a little bit. This is the girl who is going to Thailand in December with Globalscope which I think is incredible. It was really fun. After that I had to start baking or Donce. My job on Mondays is to bake the dessert. I picked chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. It took longer than I expected to make them but they were delicious. Everyone loved them! I love when people love what I cook, makes me feel good inside. I hung out with Carla and Daniela at Donce, they are two really cool students who I have grown quite attached to. We made plans to hang out in the future which I’m excited about. Carla even invited me to her house next week so she can cook me a traditional Chilean meal. I’m very very excited about that. She lives almost an hour away, but I know it’ll be worth it. Tuesday was a very relaxing day for the most part. There were student protests going on so we couldn’t really leave the house and go do stuff. Katie was out of school and we were both pretty sick so we slept until almost 12. It was crazy. I spent the day reading and writing some thoughts down in my journal. I also watched an episode or two of Criminal Minds. I received a long awaited package from my friend Aubri which was quite surprising. It had my lucky pick which I had lost in the CCF house in March or something. It also had a grow your own Spiderman washcloth in it which was hilarious. I wrote a few letters to some people back home, so they should get those in about two or three weeks. That night Katie, Phil, and I made dinner together which was chicken alfredo, my favorite! It was really great getting to spend time with Phil. Then we had our exchange student meeting and our café a lo gringo meeting. On Wednesday I got a lot of things accomplished. I read and wrote back to people and updated the café a lo gringo sheet. I got the stuff done for this café a lo gringo done as well. I had to watch a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother because the game this week is to watch an episode and answer questions. I loved it haha. Eli and I went to a little bread store and picked up some empanadas for lunch. Then we watched How I met Your Mother while we ate. She loved it too. I didn’t do a whole lot, but felt busy. I’m still getting over this cold and felt pretty crumby all day. I’m hoping it passes soon.  I did Insanity, took a shower, and went to bed. Thursday was good. I woke up and read for a while and then had lunch. After that I started making the brownies for Tertulia. Then I cleaned the kitchen because that was my chore for the day. When that was done I got stuff ready for Café a lo Gringo. After that I helped Frizz with making the banana bread, which was funny because there wasn’t a bowl big enough for the amount we needed so we kept switching bowls. After that Café a lo Gringo started and we played the name tag game, which was basically just coming up with names of famous people and sticking it on everyone’s foreheads. It lasted about an hour and was very hilarious. Then Tertulia started. Brent gave the talk and it was pretty good. I hung out with this girl named Katherine all night and she gave me her hair scrunchy. I don’t know why, but it was really sweet! Also made some plans with other students for next week which I’m very excited for. Later that night, some friends from Southern Skyped me and it was very cool being able to talk to them for a while! Good week! 

Donce!

my package from Aubri

name tag game

Katherine