I have a phone number
(701) 205 – 4165
that will connect to my computer. If I'm online, I can answer and we'll talk over the internet for the cost of a regular local or long distance call, whichever it will be depending on where you're calling from. If I'm not at my computer, you can leave me a voicemail, which I'll retrieve the next time I come online. Pretty sweet, huh?
I don't know if I mentioned Keith, the Canadian who is staying at the same B&B as Mom and Dad, but he told us that he kept a daily journal for 34 years. Incredible. So, he's inspired me to write at least 5 sentences every day about my day. We'll see how that goes. Along with this blog, I've been trying to keep up in my regular hand-written journal, but it does get to be a bit much.
I had Poetic Creation this morning. We just played with our sheets and revised our poems and stuff — no real interpretive dancing. Except for Aleida, she loves stuff like that. After class, Mamy, Keith, Mom and Dad and I had lunch at a nice restaurant down the street. That was a lot of fun. Keith is hilarious. Mamy said that if she were married to him, she wouldn't let him travel alone. Haha…he's pretty charming.
Then I had Grammar and after that, I met Mom and Dad at the bus stop and we took a bus to Villa Alemana to have supper with my elder and his family — Don Luis, Sra. Laura, & Co. The traffic was HORRIBLE. We stood on the bus for most of the way and then some people started to clear out so we were able to sit down. I have only taken that bus once and in the dark, I missed our stop…so, Alexis and Don Luis came to pick us up about 8 blocks away from where we were supposed to get off. How embarassing. Yeah, so we didn't get to their apt until about 9:00 and then we had supper and talked for a little while and then took a bus home. I'm glad my parents were able to come out and see where I go to meeting and to meet the family.
Yesterday there were two 'temblores'. An earthshake. 
And another one today while we were eating supper. One yesterday was quite noticeable if you were in a building. Mom and Dad were out walking in the street and they didn't notice a thing…and the other two were so minor it was like a big truck driving close to the house or something. I think it's so novel that the reality of what is happening — the earth is MOVING — doesn't quite sink in.
No class tomorrow. I think we're going to go up the coast a ways and have lunch.
On a side note, Becca is in Grenada, Spain today…they were in Seville yesterday and we haven't talked to her but Dad checked her debit card balance online to make sure she's alive (and probably happy since she's spending)…haha…
I just got home from having supper with my parents. We went to some Italian restuarant, Fenelli's, several blocks away. Dad and Gregorio tried to set up wireless internet here in the apt, but they were having trouble with the firewall…so it took longer than expected, so we didn't get out to the restaurant until around 8:30ish or so.
Anyway, on my way home from Mom and Dad's bed and breakfast, a homeless dog followed me two blocks to the apt here. I think he's old and only has a few teeth and has a bad leg…he's a German Shepherd, very handsome. So, I came up and got a good sized roll for him and brought it back downstairs and he gobbled down half the roll and ripped up the bag it was in and lay down in the grass with the rest of the roll between his front paws. It makes my heart ache. He put his head between the bars of the gate when I went back upstairs and just stood there, wagging his tail. I just peeked out the window and he's laying on the sidewalk in front of the gate…..poor, dear, thing.
We went to Placilla this weekend to be with the workers last weekend and Cassi and Ami and Don Alfonso and Sra. Mary. It was lovely. My parents really liked the quietness of the country and were able to converse with Sra. Mary because she understands a little bit of English and Mom can ape a little Spanish…so, it all worked out.
There's a girl from WA who has been in contact with the friends there and has been to several Sunday morning meetings, who lives about 10 blocks from me, and also is going to the U in Valparaiso. She had contact numbers for the workers in Santiago and she called them last week and they came over and had a nice visit with her and put her in contact with Susan and Heather. Her name is Aleida. Susan and Heather invited her to come with us this last weekend and she did… She said she's facing a lot of questions about Christianity and the Christian church in the Bible and as she sees it in the Presbyterian world, etc, but she did say she feels very at home among the friends, so, we'll see. It's kind of funny because she introduced herself to me during Orientation week and said that she had seen me at the welcome breakfast. At the time, she left a really strong impression on me because of her very direct but sweet attitude and way with words. 
I even wrote a journal entry about it.
So, my classes are starting to even out, things are going well in general. Mom and Dad have met some interesting characters at the bed and breakfasts they've stayed at. There's a Canadian Presbyterian minister who's retired and has been travelling the last two months in South America — he doesn't speak any Spanish, only 'si' — while his wife starts her new career at home in Ottowa, after going back to school at age 50.
Haha…there's all kinds, I guess. I know I owe tons of emails…and I'm sorry, I will make time soon.
I just flossed for the first time in about three weeks. Ouch. I forgot to bring floss with me and floss here is weirdly expensive. Even the off-brand store mark is like $2.50 so my parents brought me a TON of floss. Like, 5 little things of floss. Floss is a weird word.
Mom and Dad arrived safely, albeit a little strangely. When they arrived in the airport in Santiago, there was very nearly a brawl amongst some taxi drivers who were vying for their business. They were finally able to contract one who agreed to take them right to the door of the bed-and-breakfast but he got lost twice and they had an impromptu tour of Valparaiso. Mom told me they were bouncing along the dirt alley that runs near the B&B and she thought to herself “Boy, if we were murdered here they’d never find us.” Valparaiso is built on 42+ hills and neighborhoods go up as well as across…so it’s easy to drive by the gate to the stairs that leads to a house if you’re not quite sure what you’re looking for. In any case, they’ve arrived sound and safe.
They had empanadas yesterday at the (expensive) market and met Angela and not too much else. Today they went to see Pablo Neruda’s house, La Sebastiana, and rode an ascensore (sp?) — it’s like an elevator turned sideways that goes up a diagonal rail and they’re absolutely unique to Valparaiso. Angela told us they were made and installed by German folk that immagrated here a long time ago. Anyway, they had a fun, busy day. I had class this morning, Poetic Creation, did some reading homework after lunch, then went to my Grammar class then walked to the B&B to hang out for a little while.
I have to buy a small sheet for my poetry class because next week we’re going to be doing interpretive dances (or three distinct poses with our sheet) while we recite a 5 line poem that we’ve written. The profe (pro-fay) is crazy…actually, the whole class is crazy. He doesn’t wear a real shirt, just an undershirt. He actually took off the dress shirt he was wearing in front of the class and hung it on the back of the chair…then when he left to get a cup of coffee and probably have a smoke, some kid in the back busted out his guitar and played a little bit while we waited. It’s a good time.
Grammar was a little more trying as we’ve been ‘reviewing’ a lesson from 2 classes ago…so it’s like, the 3rd time ’round. Ugh. Boring.
Yep, so, that was my day. More or less.
There were five of us this morning in meeting. Don Luis, Sra. Laura, Rodrigo, Gustavus and I. Alexis was there as well but he and Mauricio aren’t taking part right now. I don’t know where everyone else was. I didn’t talk to Roswitha (Rose-veet-a) and Jorge wasn’t there nor was David or any of his family. I met David’s younger brother last week…but can’t remember his name. He seems sweet, like David.
I took the bus all the way to meeting by myself. It was horribly confusing as it drove through neighborhoods and streets and I didn’t recognize Any of it… I was on tenterhooks for the last 10 minutes of the ride trying to figure out when to get off but then I saw some apt buildings that looked familiar and the grocery store where I catch the bus home to Vina so I got off there and found the Ossa’s building relatively quickly.
We heard about Psalms 84, dwelling in the habitation of the Lord and those verses in 1 Cor. about the single man and the married man and the difference in their cares. Also, 1 Kings about Solomon and how his heart was turned from the Lord in his old age because of his many, strange wives and Hebrews 11 about Moses’ willingness to suffer with the children of Israel and another chapter in the Psalms about the constancy of the Lord’s mercy. Don Luis invited me for lunch again. They were having fish, he said, but I had already told Mamy (Mah-me — Angela) that I would be home for lunch so I declined. I was home by 11:30 my time and was able to talk to Ryan for 30 seconds before the meetings started in MN.
My parents are leaving from the gospel meeting in St. Cloud to go to the Cities tonight. Their flight schedule is the same as mine. A flight to Atlanta in the afternoon then overnight to Santiago, arriving early Tuesday morning. I won’t see them until Tuesday evening because they’ll get on a bus to Valparaiso and the couple that owns the bed and breakfast where they’re staying will pick them up from the bus terminal and take them back to the place to rest for a while. I have a class at Casa Central, which isn’t too terribly far from the B&B, so I’ll go over there after they’ve had a chance to rest up, after my class. I’m excited to see them and Angela is so excited to meet them. I don’t know how this is going to go as I’ll have to translate for everyone…it’s going to make small talk around dinner pretty difficult. Gleeps.
It’s early on Saturday morning and I feel lazy. I don’t have any plans for today, really. My ‘friend’ Nicole might call to go to the beach this afternoon or something. I didn’t bring along a swimsuit, thinking I’d just get one here…but I didn’t find anything that I liked so my parents are bringing my suit on Tuesday. Nicole has an extra I might borrow. It’s supposed to be nice…around 77 and sunny. It’s been so windy lately though…brrr…
Well, this week I’ve been trying to go to classes but it seems like they’re always being cancelled or postponed or something…and the professor is always 10 minutes late. They keep the classrooms locked until the proff comes so the hallways are packed with kids and then it’s a rush to get a seat in the front because if you sit in the back you can’t hear anything. It’s frustrating because the desks are so close together…there’s literally no space between them on the sides or front to back…grr. I went to a Geography of the Chilean Population class and there at least 50 kids in the classroom…yet the professor proceeded to read attendance for the 15 kids on the official list that he had…. Right now, everybody is class shopping…if you don’t like a class, you just don’t come back. If you think you might like a class, you find out the time and go. There’s no official paperwork involved until the 31st (for exchange students, anyway). It’s nuts. And frustrating. Nobody has a syllabus, nobody buys textbooks; instead you get a photocopy of the reading assignment somehow…
Anyway, my class schedule is in limbo right now.
My parents are going to be here in about 3 days. That’s pretty cool. We’re going to have fun exploring Valparaiso and all the rest of it.
Some friends and I were planning on going to see La Sebastiana yesterday — one of Pablo Neruda’s houses in Valparaiso — but on the way there, Nate got sick, so we turned around. It was almost 5:00 and the house closed at 6 so we figure we’ll go some other time. He took a bus home and Nicole and I walked around Valparaiso for a little while. We got some desert at the Marco Polo Restaurant. It was reminiscent of a 50’s diner. I had chocolate icecream and Nicole had tiramisu…mmm…it was SO good. There was a little street fair type thing going on further down the street so we walked through there. Artisan type stuff…there are a lot of tarot card readers and things like that. She bought a couple of pairs of earrings and I bought some neat hair sticks. Then we walked down to the pier and watched some guys fishing. A lot of them don’t use a rod or anything. They just have string wrapped around cardboard and just fling the worm over the side of the pier and pull it back with their hands. They don’t have any equipment to store the fish after it’s been caught so I don’t know what they do with it… We saw a couple of guys catch fish that got away and one guy that caught one and clubbed it to death.
As for getting chubby, they eat a lot of this fresh bread called marraqueta or pan batida or pan frances. It comes in these huge buns and Angela slices them up but on the convention grounds, they served them as they’re baked. We have it with every meal with the salad and then through the main course if you’d like it. I love it and it’s worth getting chubby on. :p
Well, in short, here’s what I did today…
-went to the University to talk to someone about dropping my class
-went back to JUMBO to look for some stationary
-came home, lay down for 15 mins
-let Susan and Heather into the apt, showed them some pics of my family and sundry friends, such as I have
-went out for lunch with the workers (at a really cheap restaurant down the street…an empanada, seafood chowder type thing, salad, fresh fruit for dessert, and a soft drink cost 2,000 pesos, total)
-went with the senoritas to visit one of the older friends who lives in Valparaiso; she has really bad memory and poor health and so doesn’t get out to the meetings
-went to JUMBO with the workers, bought a really colorful rug for my room…I’m in love with it…it’s so cheerful.
-the workers dropped me off at the apt.
-had supper with Angela (and we talked about the sister workers…I think the whole business really bothers her because she’ll ask a question like ‘How do your friends have so many contacts from all over?’ and then she’ll just mull over my answer and frown at the table and fiddle with a napkin and then ask another question…it’s kind of awkward. It’s confusing enough in English for people, I don’t know how it must be in pidgewidgeon Spanish)
-took a shower
-wrote an email
-showed Angela some pictures of my family. She thinks you look kind of German, Dad. Haha… and she wonders why so many people from the States wear glasses. Something in the nutrition, maybe, she said…she’s going to tell her grandkids to get a degree in optometry and go to the States where they’re sure to get a job. She’s so cute.
-wrote two more emails
-wrote this blog
Nighty-night.
Today has been quite busy. I had my first full day of classes and an excursion to the Chilean version of Wal-mart.
My first class was at 8:15 — ‘Independence and Formation of the Chilean State’ and is pretty intense. It’s a specific period in history…but I don’t have any knowledge of a general picture of Chilean history so it’s a little scary. Plus, the weekly 3 page reports and presentations aren’t looking too good. I’m going to drop it.
My second class was at 2:00 in the veritable Attic of the Casa Central. Sheesh. It’s ‘Oral and Written Expression’. I went up two wrong staircases before I met a group freshman who were as lost as I was. It’s a really interesting class. There are 5 gringos, including myself, and one French girl, so it’s comforting to have some people to confer with after class to clarify things. The proff. said that the average Chilean speaks about 125 words a minute and uses 300-500 words out of the 700,000 that are in the dictionary of the Academia Real de Espana. I’d be interested to know what percentage of the English language the average speaker uses…anyway, it was very interesting and enjoyable. I love talking about languages.
My last class was my grammar class…and that was fine. The proff. looks SO young. His name is Pedro…haha…this is funny…we were talking about the word for ‘burp’ and my ‘friend’ Paula asked what the word for ‘fart’ was and he said ‘Pedo…like Pedro, but without the “r”‘. Chileans are really queasy about all bodily noises…it’s pretty much always inappropriate. Although, Pedro told us that his friend, who is a psychologist, told him that when a couple can um…make all bodily noises comfortably in front of each other, that it signals a high level of trust and confidence. He reminds me a lot of this teacher I had in highschool, Mr. Ball. He’s always making these dumb jokes…actually, I think they’re pretty funny but they are pretty dumb.
After class, my ‘friend’ Paula wanted to practice speaking Spanish for a little bit so we hung around with our mutual ‘friend’ Nicole. The reason I put ‘friend’ in parenthesis is because they’re friendly girls and we’re classmates but I’m not so sure that I really want to be ‘friends’ with them….for example…they are Extremely open about their personal lives, etc..and all things pertaining to such things. It’s not that they’re ever inappropriate, they’re just really comfortable talking about things that I have never even imagined, let alone heard of. I can’t go into too much detail. My grandma reads my blog. Well, anyway, we were standing around in front of the school, talking about classes and we saw that the ‘Jumbo’ down the street was open. Jumbo is like the Super Walmart of Chile. It’s ENORMOUS. I mean, we’re talking…32 check out lanes. HUGE. And people everywhere. And security!! Whoo…it’s like an airport in lock-down. We all had to have our bags taped shut with special Jumbo tape and tape wound around our zipper handles. It was crazy but preferable to leaving our stuff in a locker…which is what the security guard first suggested. It’s just like a Super Wal-mart… clothes, houseware, groceries, and pretty good prices, actually. Compared to some of the places I’ve seen. So, that was kind of cool.
Nothing going on tomorrow, my one class was canceled. Another free day!!
Hello, all! I’m home again.
Thursday I took a bus up to San Felipe (northeast of Vina, about an hour and 45 mins, approximately) to be with the workers at their bach on the convention grounds and to meet some girls that are starting at a university in San Felipe.
The bus ride was super comfortable and I watched the scenery and listened to my MP3 player so it passed quickly. Susan (Weichert) met me in San Felipe and then we met up with the girls, Cassandra and Ami (Ami’s real name is pronounced Ah-me’-ah-rye and is a native name but I have No idea how to spell it) and Cassandra’s mom. They’re from the northern part of Chile and live in a town called Chaneral. Chaneral is a 14 hour bus ride from San Felipe…so they are quite far from home and it’s nice that they have each other. They’re cousins. Cassi is studying nursing and Ami is studying special education. They have a nice room above the worker’s bach where all the sisters sleep during convention and they have it all fixed up…it’s cute. Ami loves pink so there’s a lot of pink stuff.
Thursday I went shopping with Cassi, Ami, and Cassi’s mom…whose name I can’t remember…in San Felipe. They were looking for some small chest of drawers and various other things for their room before school starts. It was fun to walk around and see the centro of San Felipe and what kind of stores and things there are. It was super hot though…ick. We bought some icecream — my second time in Chile. It’s not like at home…not as creamy, but still very tasty.
When were done shopping, we went to the grounds which are located in a teeny little town named Placilla, outside of San Felipe. It was So Nice to get out of the city and all the noise of the traffic and everything and be in this beautiful place in the stillness of the country. There’s a vineyard for table grapes on the convention grounds and it’s beautiful. Because the appearance of the grapes is important, they grow them raised above the ground — I can walk around underneath them easily as the vines and the grapes form a kind of canopy. It’s otherworldly; with the sunshine coming through and clusters of dark purple grapes hanging everywhere. I love it. The whole region around San Felipe is famous for growing grapes for export.
The couple that lives on the grounds, Don Alfonso and Sra. Mary (her real name is Maria, I think, but everyone calls her Sra. Mah-ree…it’s not pronounced like Mary), are older but very capable. Don Alfonso is still working, I don’t know where, and Sra. Mary has a degree in Agricultural something so she runs the vineyard…they’re very nice. Like all the friends, really.
So, Thursday evening I wandered around taking pictures, getting to know the place a little bit, talked to Cassy and Ami, etc and had supper.
Friday, I went with the workers on their visits and got to meet several of the friends in the area. We had a visit with Natalia, she’s about my age, studying Social Work. She lent me a book called ‘El Alquimista’ (‘The Alchemist’) and said she really likes it because it’s kind of inspirational. The kid, Tyler, that I went out to eat with at the empanada place had been telling me about it too, so maybe it’s pretty good. I don’t know, we’ll see. Then we had lunch with Sra. Elena — chicken and peas, potatoes, bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc…and walked all around her garden. She has some really funky plants. She has this little cactus plant that looks like a pickle plant or something…also, one called “The Rod of Justice” and another, “The Virgin’s Rosary” Haha… Then, just down the road lives Sra. Louisa. She lives on the old convention grounds. She reminds me of my Aunt Lou so I felt right at home. We took a siesta there as they have a lot of room then the workers went across the street to have a visit with a couple that is just about to profess. They’ve been coming to gospel meetings, having studies with the workers, reading a lot on their own and praying about things so they are Really Close. The man, Sr. Umberto, said something like “…so, we were Catholic before we professed…” or something like that. Sra. Louisa’s daughter and her two children live with her in the house so I played with their cats, Rapunsel and Lobito (Little Wolf), while the workers were having their visit. Then, Sra. Louisa and Marcela (her 7 year old grandaughter — super cute) and I went over to this couple’s house for supper. They have this sweet clay oven in their backyard where they bake their own bread. I was pretty excited about that. They also have a ton of backyard…a few grape vines, an enormous garden, a pool, a patio, it’s nice.
Saturday we all hung around the convention grounds… I took a long walk, took some pictures before my camera died…but then Ami has the same camera so she lent me her adapter so I was able to use my charger…that was lucky. I had breakfast with the workers in their little bach..they have Quaker Oatmeal Squares here!! My favorite. We had lunch outside under their huge, spreading walnut tree. Sra. Mary sells the walnuts to a factory or something that makes cakes so after lunch we gather a few that had fallen during the meal. It was a nice, quiet, relaxing day. Cassy showed me a bunch of pictures of her younger siblings and the friends in Chaneral so that was kind of cool.
Heather (McDonald), Susan’s companion, was telling me about Ami’s father, Pascaul. He owns a construction company or something…anyway, he had this government subsidized project that he won the bid for but part of the requirement was that he had to hire 36 people that were previously unemployed. So, he hired the 36 and the project was to build these vault thingies for a cemetary and put down some cement paths and things. He teased Heather, who was in the field at the time, that these were 36 more people that he could invite to gospel meeting and Heather teased back “Well, just put up a little house in the cemetary and we’ll preach the gospel there” and not much more was said about it. One morning, Pascaul asked all 36 employees to meet in a certain spot and when they were all there he told them his testimony and asked them to come to three meetings to see what it was that he had. He told them their job was not dependent on it but that they were all invited to his house for the gospel meetings. Then he went home and told the workers, who were staying at his house, what he had done and Heather said “But, Pascaul, we haven’t got enough hymnbooks!” and he said that it was no problem, that he’d stand at the door and take the hymnbooks from the friends as they came in as they should know the hymns anyway, and hand out their hymnbooks when the ones the workers had were gone. And 15 workmen came to gospel meeting that night. One, Guillermo, kept coming to meeting and has since professed. I thought that was pretty awesome.
Today, the workers and I left Placilla around 8 am and drove down to my Sunday morning meeting in Villa Alemana and picked up Roswitha when were close enough. It was a nice meeting — quite a few more there than last week. I had been invited to stay for lunch and we had rotissery chicken with rice. Some things are universal, I guess. It was kind of awkward, however, because their four grown sons still live at home (it’s kind of a complicated situation) and there was one chicken between 7 of us and I had a nice big piece and it seemed like everyone else had a leg, or a much smaller piece…so, I felt sort of…awkward. The boys (I should say men, really…since they’re like … 22-30) are nice. Rodrigo is the oldest son, probably about 30, and is a marine biologist. Mauricio is 27-28-29ish and an architect. Alexis is 25-27 and is a future lawyer — he has to take his bar exam still. Gustavus is 22-25 and is in his last year of college and will be a dentist when he’s done. They have an older sister, Veronica, but she moved out and hasn’t come to meeting since. The parents are Luis and Laura. Luis was in the navy for quite a few years. He’s really nice, a good man.
So, that’s been my weekend, kind of hodge-podge, I know. It’s nice to be ‘home’ again…Angela was excited to see me again. She’s such a sweetheart.
Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll have classes…sheesh. I went to one class last week, my Poetic Creation class and the proff didn’t show.
How are things at home? Update me.
I had my first class yesterday — advanced grammar with other exchange students. I’m glad I’m taking it. I don’t know what the lady was thinking when she tested me…there are a ton of kids in my class who speak far better Spanish than I do. The proff. is young and looks like a student but he’s really nice and I think he’s going to be a good teacher.
After class, a guy from my class and I went to eat at a mercado down the street from the U. There was a welcoming ‘party’ for freshman and exchange students and we all thought it was a dinner kind of thing, but upon further inquiry, we discovered that no, there was no food. So, Tyler and I went to the second floor of the mercado, which is well known for it’s little restaurants and fresh seafood. We each had a cheese and shrimp empanada and they were So Good. Then our bill came and it was 4 mil — 4,000 pesos — about 8.00 dollars. Which is a ridiculous price…both of us had had much larger meals for A LOT less. Angela said they probably overcharged us because we’re foreigners. That really hurt my feelings, to be taken advantage of like that, but I guess it’s not uncommon. People must really be strapped for money if they have to resort to dishonesty like that. Anyway, it was a lesson learned.
Today has been really quiet. I don’t have any classes as the Real Classes don’t start until tomorrow. I’ve been reading a horrible romance novel I bought at the airport and didn’t read on my flight. Impossible by Danielle Steel. Don’t read it. It’s the worst romance novel I’ve ever read. Angela and I are going to exchange cash to traveler’s checks a bit later and then we’ll see what happens….
