Banana Milk Makes Life Sweet.

I'm in a semi productive feeling mood tonight so I thought that I would give it a shot and try to update this thing.

So much has happened (but then again not really) since I have updated this thing last.

Orientation at Catolica really wasn't worth it for Hillary and I since we had pretty much gone through it all during the summer. The highlights were meeting some students, feeling really smart because we could make decisions on our own, and having our visas finished. We also got cool planners and had a chance to watch people dance the Cueca- national dance of Chile. Oh yeah and we took a tour of the entire Catolica campus- which I learned is spread out through Vina and Valpo. My favorite campus is Sausulita. Its near a laguna in the hills. It is really pretty and reminds me of Messiah. I currently have my children's literature class there--unfortunately, however, I have to drop the class. We'll talk about that in more detail later in this post. But the history building isn't bad either. I mean I really don't like the massive stairway you must climb to get to the building but its alright. I'm definitely getting my exercise. Gimpert or RC isn't bad either, however, it reminds me of a high school. Its kind of old and old. Yeah old. Different than Messiah. I must admit though, the one room has a wonderous view of the ocean, it it absolutely beautiful when the sunsets. The palm trees, the water, the lights on the cerros, the pink and orange sky--no wonder I had some trouble concentrating in my grammar class. :) The gym, well it is like a wrestling room--that's where I have my dance class. All of my classes require me to walk a good bit, which I mean I don't mind as long as it isn't raining. But I can't hold my breath, we are still in the rainy season here in Chile, which I've been told has been unusually unrainy. :D

God is really teaching me a lot about life and living from my experiences, from Youth group, from my family, and from my friends especially--like the talks I've had with Hillary, Elizabeth, Kate, etc. I'm learning to direct my attention towards him, not to worry about the future, and that time will not make itself available to me, I have to make myself available to it. I'm learning to look deeper into things, I just have to make sure it doesn't keep me from pursuing my dreams because I should remember to go confidently in the direction of my dreams. I've learned though that I really have a passion for international students, teaching English as a second language, and traveling. So I really hope to find a job in the future that will let me incorporate all of these interests plus my love for different cultures, interaction, structure-but not routine, and networking all into one career. I really want to do some traveling when I graduate--and though I'm not completely sure right now, I'm really considering doing a year of service with a program through the ELCA--the main part of my church. Just a thought going through my head right now. I would really like to shadow someone in admissions and spend time talking to missionaries, professors, RDs, study abroad people, etc. to see how they got to where they were. Its like a project that I'm taking on. So far, I am really enjoying it, especially when I get to talk to people in ISA like Paula--I get to practice my spanish and talk about something I am passionate about. I think a job in admissions or with college students is where I'm leaning towards because I would really like to help students figure their lives out. I just want to get out into the world and serve all of it, not just one spot but the whole world. I have a goal to get to all of the continents (maybe not Antartica) at least once before I die. :)

What else? I took a trip to La Serena with two great friends after Orientation. :) It was a ton of fun and taught me that I can pack for a week (well ok 5 days) only using a backpack. We stayed at a cute hostal--kind of like a camp :) the rooms were fun and colorful. Every morning we ate bread and drank tea outside. The only downside was the uncomfortable beds and FREEEZING SHOWERS! Oh well. It was only $12 a night. La Serena itself was ok, I really enjoyed the tours in Valle Elqui and to Isla Damas and to the Observatory. We got to see so many cool towns, mountain views, a desert like area, a huge goregous dam, the stars!, the moon, dirt roads, nice people, little kids playing in a plaza (riding those motorized cars)--the plaza had music and a family feel to it: for once people were not staring at us!!, eat yummy food-fresh fish, empanadas, solar cooked food!, etc. The tour guides were informative too. Ohhhh and we got to see PENGUINS! REAL LIFE PENGUINS! And take a boat ride in the Pacific and ride through a cloud and see a lighthouse and see Gabriel Minestral's (SP?) school and a lighthouse and a $4 meal (cazuela, drink, and chicken/rice) and I tried Mote con something that I still can't remember and oh it was just so great. And we had great seats on the bus (top floor front row, full views, and then on the way back front row AND lots of space!) and oh just everything about the trip was fun. I mean at times it was difficult for me but it was worth it especially when we ate at Cafe Colonial-it reminded me of something I would go to with my family. I had a delicious pepperoni, mozarella, and veggie sandwich-delicious and perfect and then the next day I had an AMAZING hot chocolate with marshmallows- they didn't even charge me for it; I was able to substitute it instead of having tea or coffee, how cool is that!? And I had a huge omelete with huge toast and they played the best American music on the TV. It was just great. And a fun way to end the trip. I learned a lot about myself and just had fun with friends, talking laughing, and exploring. I took a ton of pictures too. :) Gymnastics on the beach was included as well ;) and SHOPPING!

So coming back to Vina was difficult because I didn't want to leave the greatness and spontenaity of La Serena.

I skipped my first class Wednesday to visit my Jardin Infantil through one of ISA's initiatives to show students what Vina and Chile is like outside of the touristy areas--I loved it. Really I mean I could feel the community and the love the kids had to share and it was in the hills- TREES AND GREEN HILLS EXIST! We got to meet the kids, see the Jardin--its a free Jardin, the parents pay nothing and the kids get everything they need including toothbrushes and little sinks to brush their teeth. They are full of life and energy there. :) They sing fun songs too, sometimes in English and the teachers are passionate. By the way, to the kids the teachers are Tias. I get to be a Tia :) After touring and posing for lots of pictures for the paper (by the way I was in El Mercurio de Valparaiso!!!!!!!!!!!) I'm famous, we had tea/coffee with the mayor of Vina. She was sweet, kind of like Kim Phipps!! Super nice. She had a crazy assistant guy that was obsessed with trying to speak English. Oh crazy man. I got to meet some cool girls there too from ISA. It was a good experience. I look forward to volunteering there more. However, I would like to volunteer with older student too so that I can try to get credit for my time from Messiah--if that will happen, I don't know if I stand a chance.

After that I went shopping-bought shoes, the guy treated me like I didn't know Spanish, which I obviously do...whatevs, I had my first class Wednesday night. It really wasn't anything. Our grammar prof just introduced the themes and a bit about the class. The end. Hillary and I ran errands and then went home.

Thurday was a random Catholic holiday--that means no classes. The first week and classes are already being cancelled. Oh my welcome to Chile. I think I just relaxed all day? I don't really remember. OH WAIT. Hillary and I went around and check out hotels because MY FAMILY IS COMING IN OCTOBER! :) I'm excited. It was fun. I got to practice my "spanish" some of the people were nice others not so much. But I found a cool hotel--one that my dad loved and it is right on the water. I'm staying with them. That really excites me. :) I'll figure out the class stuff later. I'm just glad they are coming. And it is cool because my grammar class is cancelled the week they are coming! How random!?

I don't think I really did anything else. Friday was laziness and hanging out with Hillary. I wasn't really feeling wellish. We had empanadas-the veggie kind in the cool juice place and I drank a ton of fresh juice-grape and orange! It was fresh--no sugar, por fin! It was tasty! Church was fun as well. We danced haha afterwards. I liked the message, I forget it though right now but it'll come back.

Saturday, I went to the Feria with my host mom. The reality of Chile. Its this huge farmer's type market with any fruit, fish, or vegetable you could ever want. And it is CHEAP. Definitely not sanitary though but full of color and life. I didn't like the closeness of them though and I realized how pushy my host mom is with other people. She knows what she wants and does everything in her power to get it. She liked going with me because since I'm gringa they called everything beautiful and tried to give her the best stuff. Oh my. I'm glad I could help? haha It was an adventure. I want to take pictures of it sometime. I've never seen someone buy so many fruits and vegetables at one time in my life. It would cost a million dollars in the US but here it is affordable and fun! Speaking of fruit..I have to eat my orange. I don't think I've eaten so many oranges or fruits in my life. But I'm definitely enjoying it. I met my host dad's sister. She has a huge rabbit, a turtle, and a dog oh and cats. She's pretty nice and cool. Reminds me of Aunt Linda in a lot of ways, speaking of her...I miss her!

After that Hillary and I went to Con Con with Paloma, Fran, and a guy that I can't remember his name. Haha it was fun. We took the Micro there. Ate delicious seafood empanadas (crab, shrimp, and some cheese) and then walked around the beach and took fun pictures. Fran kept saying bad words in English and we had to explain to her why she could not call her friend an Ass or why WTF was not a good phrase to use. She was sad about that and couldn't grasp how bad the things were. haha oh Chileans. After that Hillary and I went to the Centro de Vina and went to a cafe. I had hotchocolate :) and tea to warm up because I was FREEZING! I was apparently sick. But it was delicious. Then we waited for an hour for Katrina to show up and we went out for a bit near Journal. It was full of laughs and fun. Finally I went home and my mom had tea and bread waiting for me. Definitely appreciated that.

The next day after church (I was overwhelmed there because my host mom made sitting down more difficult than it had to be...) we ate artichokes. I don't know how they were cooked but we pulled the leaves off and ate them. I don't know if I have eaten that much food in my life for a long time. It was good but man I was full!!

Monday I officially started classes. 8:15 I had children's lit. I felt like I was in a middle school classroom. The girls wore pink, giggled, talked when the profesor was talking, had Hello Kitty/Strawberry shortcake notebooks, cupcake change purses, and gel pens. Oh man. I didn't think I would survive. I could bearly hear the Professor too. Luckily, I met this really cool girl at the end who helped me figure life out--well that class anyways. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to drop the fun class because it won't count for anything and I want to make sure everything counts :( I'll miss my Chilean group there. They are fun and the class really is good even though its the same class I took in the US. I think Anita Voelker is definitely a better professor though!

After a long break and a rushed lunch during which my mom tried to talk too extremely fast while I was trying to eat, I walked to my history class. I thought I might die in class. First there are over 50 people in the class and the professor is monotone and really boring. He spent the entire period (1 hour and 30 minutes) really talking about NOTHING. He said the same thing over and over using different words each time...oh man I think if it continues like this I might die. I would really like to drop the class. But I dont' think there is anything else I can take in its place. Ugh fail. And to top it off the people in the class spend the entire time talking while he is talking. :( I don't know how classes work here but man they are frustrating. I still have to figure out how the evaluations work in this class.

Literature is going to be hard but I think that I'll really like the Professor. She is informative, uses a powerpoint, and the first book isn't too long and doesn't seem to bad. The funny thing about Chile is that here you don't buy the book--you go to the library, check it out, and PHOTOCOPY the entire thing. Yes, the entire thing. How crazy is that?!

Dance class will be entertaining. The teacher seems crazy. I had to dance with him haha that was interesting. We learned how to dance the Cueca from the North and Isla Pascua. And we played this crazy hugging game--I WON WITH RANDI haha. it was fun. We made a good team. It was interesting though, and another form of the disorganization here, no one was quite certain where the classroom was for this class and I got lost of course and was there too earlier but it worked in my benefit because the four of us that actually found where we were going learned the dances first and yeah it was good.

So that's life. Its crazy. I had a good talk with Paula yesterday when we visited the Jardin again. I got to talk in Spanish and learn more about her life and stuff. It made me proud that I could speak in Spanish and carry out a conversation.

Some aspects of life have been frustrating. The whole miscommunication thing with Messiah is getting really obnoxious and the miscommunication with Texas is too. It'll all work out eventually I guess.

Today Hillary and I spent money shopping because we can do that since we are in Chile. haha There was an entire section of a store that I fell in love with, I restrained myself however and only bought 3 shirts. :P It was good fun.

I'm still working out my schedule and life but yep.
Tomorrow its supposed to rain...boo.

But I get to sleep in!! Then I'm going to a concert tomorrow night with Hillary and Katrina because apparently it is El DIa de La Juventud in Vina (FREE CONCERT!) woot. So that works for me.

I'm still adjusting to my family here. Its good though at times. Yesterday I helped make lunch and Monday I watched a movie with Pablo. Oh and I walked with my host mom to get bread. Haha I'm trying. She made my favorite lunch yesterday (Spinach, ground beef, and alfredo sauce!) Its good. I also learned some of her "secrets." Like sometimes soup is just yesterday's lunch food processed HAHA Oh my. The things I saw...

But yeah I've spent way too much time on my computer the last few days and weeks. I should get our in the world.

Chao!