There and back again

The day I've been both looking forward to and dreading finally arrived: my return date. So many emotions crammed into one day. Opposition in all things, right? I'm just glad I got to say all my goodbyes and enjoy one last day in the Chilean sun with friends y familia.

'Twas my last Sunday as the Agua Santa Ward Pianista. This is also the ONLY picture I have with the entire family. Entonces, esta foto es tan precioso.



Fun in the sun with my ham hermanita Dania. Que tierna!

Las tres amigas para siempre.



Waiting in the Santiago Airport to leave Chile. It was a good time to reflect and think on my experience. At this point I wasn't too excited to leave.



I have a proclamation for the world: Air Canada is the best airline! It's by far my fav, largely because of the personal TVs. These TVs include FREE music, movies and TV. They help the ten hour flight go by much faster.



It was such a blessing to be on the same flight to Toronto, Canada with a fellow UVM student, Lauren. We got to sit next to each other and we watched "UP." The movie was perfect closer to our time in South America as well as a great pep talk for our next big adventures. But regardless of future adventures or no, ten hours on a plane gets pretty long (left: before; right: after)



But of course, the layover and 14 hours on a plane were definitely worth it in the end. My wonderful dad picked me up at DIA and I must say, it feels good to be back.

So it begins: the goodbyes

Mi familia Chilena held a last Noche de Hogar tonight that included all my favorite things to do with the fam; singing, spiritual lesson, and games. Oh my, more than anything I KNOW I will miss Noche de Hogar. A lot. Tonight mi familia presented me with going away/Christmas presents. I got a heart-shaped Chile pin and a Chile apron that I'll most certainly wear every time I make pan.

Jaja, I love this candid shot. I also loved it when mi papa said, "okay, picture with my daughters." :)

Giselle

I love mi familia Chilena. In this particular post I want to feature Miss Giselle. She is such a sweetheart. Seriously, imagine a strange, awkward foreign student coming to live at your house. She takes over your room (I didn't know), and she is a bit of a bathroom hog (I'm working on it!). But all this doesn't even seem to phase her. With all the goodness in her heart Giselle still loves me and takes the time to have meaningful conversations with me. But if there is any one quality I've noticed from Giselle it is patience. She is patient like you wouldn't believe. It's not easy to explain something to me, but she never get frustrated or annoyed. Three cheers for Giselle!

Hermanas para simpre

Baptism: a time to celebrate

October 20th was Alina's eight birthday, and she and her cousin Alejandra were baptized yesterday, October 24th. It has been years since I've attended a baptism and I loved it. I won't go into detail, but I do want to say that there was a wonderful spirit present.

Make a wish!

We celebrated Alina's Birthday with all her friends and family at the Chapel directly after the baptism. Mi madre is incredible. She baked so, SO many goods for this fiesta. She started baking on Wednesday and the baptism and party were on Saturday. I felt like my house was a Pasteleria. This picture doesn't even begin to convey how many sweets there were (most of which were Ukrainian). It's missing the cakes, fruit, and finishing touch of cream or powdered sugar.

These bad boys are filled with manjar. Positively sinful. Mom, Matt, you know what I'm talking about.

Bread Run

Tonight mis padres had me go buy bread (at the Panadoria just down the street) mostly to practice my Spanish. It reminded me of the day I got my drivers' license and was actually excited to go buy milk for my family. I told the checkout lady "I'm an exchange student and I need to practice my Spanish." She smiled and said something I forgot. I asked her if my Spanish was "claro" y she said yes. Then I got excited and figured I should stick around and have a pleasent converstaion with the kind woman. I said something that I'm pretty sure didn't make any sense, to which she responded, "te vaya bien" (have a good day). I took that as my exit. When I got back to mi casa mi familia had me relate my bread-buying experience to them. I love how the smallest things become a story and a celebration down here!

Dia del Cine

Chile has a National Movie Day where every movie at the theater costs only 1 mil (which is about $2). Brilliant. I saw Tinkerbell (this MUST be said in a Spanish accent!) with my family. It was hilarious to walk into the theater and see it full of little girls, mothers, and only three fathers. I understood a lot of the movie--more than General Conference, visuals make a huge difference--and to be honest, I liked it. (To answer your questions, Tink did travel safely to the far North, she learned to admit that sometimes she's the one at fault, she made a new friends and patched up her friendship with Terence, and she managed to created the most beautiful Moon-Stone Septor for the Fall Festival. Whew, what an amazing fairy!) Afterward we all got ice-cream cones at McDonald's and I was reminded of how special the trips to the Movie Theater were in my early years.

But I'd like to give some background on the event. In my Grammer class we started watching a movie that I discovered was rated "R," so I emailed my teacher asking to be excused from watching it. She responded saying she was surprised by my "petition" and she even lightly reprimanded me by saying it was in the syllabus I received in August. I think she believes I'm sheltering myself and that I don't understand real life. I've had this discussion with lots of people about why I don't watch movies that don't agree with my standards, and I was thinking about how difficult it would be to explain this in Spanish. But it turns out that I didn't even get the chance. I ditched class to go to the movies--Tinkerbell of all movies--with mi familia. So now I just have to laugh thinking about tomorrow. My professor will ask me why I missed class. She will tell me that the movie from class isn't that bad and it has good themes to discuss and she may try to get me to watch it. This will be the part when I tell her that I'm not sheltered, and that I missed class yesterday to go see Tinkerbell. Oh boy, too funny. Can't hardly wait...

El Campo

I had this entire week of of school off in celebration of Chile's Independence Day this Friday. I made plans to travel up North to San Pedro with my friends, but what I'm assuming was food poisoning made me miss that bus. Fortunatly my incredible family took me to the beautiful campo (countryside) with them to Abuela's (Grandma's) house for four days. It was wonderful. We didn't do anything spectacular, it was one of those things that was great for no particular reason. We played UNO, watched "Platera Tierra," hiked up the green hills, and made tons of empanadas for the 18th. I loved my time in el campo.

Sights en el camplo.

My special drink en el campo. Since I don't particuarly like Ecco, pop, or juice this became my "healing" drink. Abuela would go outside and clip some "menta" (mint) to put in my mug. It was kinda fun drinking something with leaves in it...kinda.

Taking empanadas out of the huge oven with Abuela. We made more than 50 Pino Empanadas.

Milko

Meet Milko: the family cat. I would never say that I hate cats, but Milko is not helping the species' case for making me like them more. My relationship with Milko includes shooing him out of the bathroom, shooing him away from his cat food bag (which unfortunately means picking him up most the time), and listening to him meow outside my window. Milko loves, loves to meow outside my window when he wants let into the house. He used to do it in the morning to wake me up, but now he's move on to about 4:25 in the afternoon. Sometimes when I'm feeling very Christian I open the window to let him in, but he still likes to play games with me. He'll just stand there like opening the window was my idea and that the three-foot drop is too much after all. I keep reminding him that cats always land on their feet, but he still takes his sweet time to make the jump. Silly cat.

But yesterday we actually had a bonding moment. I was reading out on the patio enjoying the sun and Milko rubbed up against me purring. This really took me back. I thought he hated me because he's a cat, but I went with mood and actually petted him. It was certainly a precious moment in our relationship.

Mejor Dia!

This weekend mi familia took me to the beautiful campo (countryside) with them and I had so much fun to get away from the city for a day. I loved the drive out where we could see the mountains, green hills and trees, and even sand dunes. And our motto of the day? "Mejor dia!" (That is mi familia's condensed way of saying, "this is the best day ever!" *Yea for Badger!*) I met members of mi padre's extended family, toured a "green house," skipped shells at the beach, tried new seafood, and even ate some famous Chilean dulces (sweets). Even the language barrier couldn't put a damper on my time en el campo! The day ended with a Church dance in Valpo--which is another story in and of itself--undoubtedly it was a day full of sights and adventure.

Lemon trees and "beehive" at mi tia abuela's (great aunt) house where mi familia gets their honey.

Inside the "Green House" at tia abuela's.



Country Roads, take me home...



La playa.



Viva Chile!



Alina y Dania making some tough choices...they were only allowed to pick out five shells each from their beach collection.



Trying a new kind of seafood (alas, the name has entirely slipped my mind) con mi padre. Despite my disgusted look, it really wasn't that bad.

Back to the Past

If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to be a little kid again, or how it would feel to be back in middle school, then sign up to be a foreign exchange student. Really. I feel like I’ve relived the ages 3-19 since I’ve come to Chile. The first couple of days I felt like a toddler because I never knew what was going on. My life consisted of sleeping (recovering from a month of AFY and jetlag), eating, and more sleeping. My familia would explain where we were going before our outings, but all I understood was, “vamos.” I totally felt like a little kid again just getting in the car because everyone else was and sitting content in the back seat looking around. It was fun because every destination, whether it was the market or bank, was a surprise to me.

More recently I feel like I’m in elementary or middle school. I (try) to tell mi familia everything about my day: school, friends, activities. The other day Emily, Holli and I wanted to make cookies and didn’t really know how to go about it. We didn’t know which of our madres would be the most “okay” with it. The next day Emily said, “I asked my mom, and she said you can come over on Friday to make cookies!” I just had to laugh out loud at this. I’ve been away at college for the last two years, and I totally forgot about what it was like to ask mom if and when I could have friends over.

Another change I went through upon arrive in Chile is going without a cell phone because Verizon doesn’t work down here. *I have a secret confession. One of the things I’m most excited for when I return to the states is listening to what I call the “Mystery Voicemail.” I received a voicemail on my phone when I was waiting in the Toronto Airport, but I couldn’t open it for some reason. Ten bucks says it’s my dad saying, “Abby. This is dad. Call me.” But all the same, I look forward to when I can listen to the mystery message…*

But, back to Chile, it felt so strange to have no way to call anyone or for them to call me unless I gave them mi madre’s number. The first week or so I kept getting “phantom vibrations” thinking someone was calling me. But my sister Giselle got a new phone, and mi familia presented me her old phone. I was so excited! I felt so cool to have a cell phone. Granted, I only have six numbers in my phone and I keep forgetting it in my room, but it’s a phone nonetheless. It gives me flashbacks because there is no T9 texting, and I can’t figure out basic things like sound setting. I actually don’t call people much because I pay for the calling card, and every call I make costs me money (but it doesn’t cost money to receive calls, so we always say, "you call me," catchi).

Giselle presenting me with my very own cell phone. It was a joyous moment that the everyone (even the cat) gathered for. Happy day.

The times that I feel like an adult are when I talk about traveling. I tell mi familia about possible trips to Argentina or Peru, and they listen to me and take me seriously. I know I can do it and I do have some solidified trips lined up, but I can't believe they take me serious enough to trust me traveling around South America. They've heard my Spanish. They know how bad I am. So, even though I may feel like a kid around them most the time, I love that they treat me like I'm adult that has things all figured out. Bacan!

The Bread Winner (or Maker)

Last night I made bread (pan) with mi Padre, Alina, and Dania. It was fun to help out in the kitchen a little bit.

I loved watching the Chilean bread process for this recipe. My padre mixed the dough with water, hot milk, and other things I unfortunately missed because I wasn't paying much attention. Once it began to solidify, he mixed it very well--he even pounded it on the wall at one point. But my favorite twist to this specific recipe would have to be the addition of olives! Little bits of olive were mixed in, which gave it a special flare. The end result was delicious. It tasted like the green onion cream cheese you put on bagels, only this was in bread form. I definitely recommend serving it with avocado on top. Yum!

We shaped some of the dough into tradition flat disks, but we made some fun shapes a well. In this pic you can see our creativity at work. Mi Padre made the horse and bird, I did the frog and turtle, and the girls made the face and hearts.

El Dia del Ninos

Earlier this week mi padre told me (in his broken English) that Sunday was "the day of boys." What the? Boys get a holiday here? After seeing my confusion he clarified by saying it was Children's Day. I told him (in my very broken Spanish) that we don't have a Children's Day in the States. I told him that when I was younger I asked my Mom why there was a Fathers' Day and a Mothers' Day, but no Children's Day, to which she responded, "Abby, Christmas is Children's Day." My padre chuckled when I said this, and I was so pleased to see mi padre laugh. Finally, I had told a successful story in Spanish!
Children's Day is actually a low-key holiday. I had completely forgotten about it, but after breakfast mi madre y padre had all the girls come into the "Living" (aka Living room) where they gave each of us a present. I was so excited, I didn't expect anything, but they gave me slippers! YEA!!! It is so freezing here, and everyday I just kick myself for not bringing my slippers. I just love my family here, they are very sweet and far too good to me.

Alina and Dania waiting in anticipation to receive and open their gifts.

The children with our gifts: Alina's bathrobe, Dania's umbrella, Giselle's pillow, and a super-excited me with my slippers. You know, these girls (especailly Alina and Dania) are usually really loud and smiley, but the never look like it in their pictures...

Alina and Dania under the Umbrella of Love of their mother.

Dania loves to play with my camera. Every time I get it out she takes it and takes pictures of everything and anything.