¡Mi Misión!

This blog was initially intended for Chile-only related posts. But, since Chile cemented my desire to serve a mission, I suppose this is entirely appropriate. In the months since my return to the States, I’ve submitted my papers and received my mission call. And so (drum roll please), I report to the Provo MTC on June 23 to begin my 18-month mission for the Norway Oslo Mission. That’s right. NORWAY. No joke.

My feelings on this? I think surprised sums it up pretty well. But, I love it. Honest. I’m so excited and I feel good about it. But, Spanish was no cakewalk, so I must admit that I’m terribly nervous about this Norwegian language business. I don’t know how to count to ten, or how to say “hello,” or even how to say “Jesus Christ” in Norwegian, but I do know the Lord qualifies those He calls. Entonces, me voy a Noruega. Woop-yeah!

Right: Eli and I with my call. Surprised faces all around. Left: The "Where in the WORLD is Sister Stevens Serving?" guess poster. (Pun off of "Where in the WORLD is Carmen San Diego, and a sweet alliteration if you ask me.) The closest anyone got was Germany, and when I initially saw that guess I thought to myself, "you jerk! Don't write anything in Europe!"

Brush with fame

A couple months ago I was walking through downtown Vina with Giselle. We saw a huge group of people gathered and camera flashes going off. Of course we had to investigate. I saw people taking turns getting pictures with a man and a woman in the middle. Giselle told me that the man ran for the Chilean Senate the last term, and his daughter-in-law was a famous TV Anchor. I handed Giselle my camera and asked her to take my picture with the pair since I didn't want to pay for the Polaroid print.

So here I am jumping up and down not only being an ugly American, but an obnoxious one at that. After this picture a man running the operation kindly pushed me forward to be with the celebrities...

...I learned a couple things after this picture was taken. One: the Polorid was free. I didn't have to tell everyone to look over towards Giselle taking the picture. Two: the man in the red jacket wasn't just being annoying, HE's the famous one, not they guy in the blue. JA! Too funny!

One more thought: Chileans are positively shameless in their political advertising! Elections for both the Senate and new President are this Sunday, the 13th (the same day I leave). I need to get some better photos, but this will do for now.

Mira! Look at all those signs! Who honestly wants to see their face that big every three feet?

Not only are the signs huge and everywhere, but they're also cheesy-lame like you wouldn't believe. These would not fly in the States.

Remember my photo with the former Senator-candidate Lavin? Well it turns out he's back this year, and someone told him that the jacket over the shoulder (which he has in all his pics) was a crowd-pleaser. Mentiroso!

La Campana

I distinctly remember the first time I really perked up at church. I believe it was my second Sunday in my ward and I was in an interview with the Ward's First Counselor, Esteban Gonzalez. He asked me if I liked hiking. He might as well have asked me if I liked hard-blue skies or chocolate. YES. In fact, I love hiking. He told me that he would organize a group to climb el cerro (hill) La Campana at the end of the year. I told him to count me in. And so, the hike I've been looking forward to my entire time in Chile finally happened today.

Here's a couple things I learned about La Campana. It's called a hill, but I must tell you that that beast is not a hill, it's a mountain. Also, hikes can be hard! Multiple people told me multiple times that La Campana was a difficult, all day hike. Strangely enough I would get more and more excited when they told me these things. That thrill left me about 15 minutes into the hike. Yao! It was HARD! Really hard, straight up the entire 4 hours...but I loved it. As Megan O'Brian would say, "it hurt so good."

Our group of six met up at 6:30 this morning (6:50 Latin Time) to take a Micro a La Campana. Pictured above: yo, la Giselle, y el Esteban.

My first time wearing Chacos on a real hike. I can't remember the last time my feet and legs have been so dirty. They Chileans thought I was crazy, and I had to give up trying to explain how cool the shoes are when I started to get some hot spots (which of course I didn't mention because I wanted them think Chacos are flawless).

Por fin, la cima (summit)!

Sights from the top. Check out the snow-covered mountains in the background.

The crew (left to right): Niko, Esteban, Kevin, Yerko, y la Giselle

La Campana. We went all the way to the top. WHO-RAH!

Finished the day with completos (Chilean hot dog with all the good stuff). Have I mentioned lately how much I love my life?

Hobbiton Habbitations

I have a bit of a fetish with the doors and vibrant colored houses in Vina. When I first arrived here I was constantly reminded of "The Hobbit" because so many of the doors have a knob right in the middle. But ye be warned: the knob does not actually turn and open the door; it's purely there for show. Take a look at some of my favs (doors and houses).

Southern Chile

It's a well known fact to Chileans that Southern Chile is beautiful. It's not a well known fact to everyone else. But now that I know I'll share it with the world. Southern Chile is incredible!!! I wish I had more time to go into detail, but the pictures will have to suffice for now.

Bike ride in the rain

Penguins on Chiloe Island
(which turned out as tiny white dots in the pictures)

Trekking

Saltos Rio Petrohue

Canopy

Volcanoes - the one pictured is Osorno

Another bike ride in the sun

Sights in Puerto Varas

Lovely (of sorts) bus ride back to Vina

Santiago

This weekend I went to Santiago with Holli and Emily for a couple days. It was such a nice little getaway trip complete with culture and new experiences. We went to Santa Lucia (kinda like a big garden), a Contemporary Art Museum, the Moneda, the mall, a market, a Don Quixote Ballet, and also figured out the different Bus and Metro system. The three of us had lots of good laughs and enjoyed our stay in the capitol city, rain and shine.

I had my first Hostel experience with our stay at the "Hostal Forestal." It was actually pretty nice.


Making a wish on a peso at a fountain in Santa Lucia...I believe that wish is only worth 1/200th of a penny. Pucha.

The Ballet: incredible everything. It was a gorgeous building, I was amazing by the grace of the dancers, I loved our seats (yea for being a student!), and I got just as much out of the show as everyone else (yet another universal language). Did I mention that it was beautiful?


The Moneda, which is like the equivalent of the White House.

I must explain this picture. We left Santiago on a Saturday night; a Saturday night in which there was a World Cup soccer game on. Yikes. Everything was closed and it felt like a Ghost Town without any cars on the road. There were carabineros (police) lining every street in armored buses for crowd control, and we felt a bit anxious from the sight. To make matters worse, a couple Metro Station entrances were barred shut and we didn't know how to get home without it. We managed to fine an open entrance, but the Red Line to leave was not to be found. What! After a nice lady showed where to go we glowed with satisfaction upon finding it. That feeling didn't last long. The Metro intercom announced something about Pajaritos (the Station were we going to) a couple times and made us nervous. What was going on? They made it sound really important. In the end, all they were saying was to exit on the left rather than the right. Oh boy, this is when knowing Spanish would help out a lot. Anyway, this picture is when we finally reached Pajaritos and were joyous beyond words.

The Real Deal

Chileans are incredible nice people. Emily, Holli and I are always saying how lucky we are to have our Chilean friends from church. Think about it. None of us can speak fluent Spanish, but people want to do stuff with us and show us around regardless of this fact. Bacan! Yesterday las tres gringas got to play with a couple Chilean friends, Hector y David. We went to El Mall (yeah, we have those in the States. I know, I know...) and got a mini tour of Valpariso from the local's perspective. David showed us and ex-prison and amazing cemetery just like the one in the Phantom of the Opera movie (which unfortunately prohibited photography).

The gang (menos Hector) in Valpo. *Just as a side note, David received his mission call to the Buenos Aires West Mission yesterday. He's really excited to serve.*

Oh the graffiti saturated sights of Valpo...

Yesterday was also fun because I was introduced to Chilean soccer. When I went to the countryside with mi familia and would say it was the best day ever, mi padre kept correcting me saying, "just wait, soccer day will be the best day ever." So last night the fam had about six people over to watch the World Cup game of Chile vs. Venezuela projected on the wall of the Living. They cooked a ton of meat (steak and spicy hot dogs) for all, and I was excited to experience the real futbol spirit. It was kinda fun to watch, but once the score reach 2-2, I was down and out...I feel asleep during the big game. I woke up only to find out that in soccer there is no overtime, so the final score was a tie, how strange. I feel like a competitive American, I want a clear winner!

Palacio Rioja and Quilpue

Last Friday Emily, Holli, and I set out for some adventures in Vina. We began with the Palacio Rioja, which is just down the street from the Stake Center. It was neat to see the fancy interior of the early 1900s building, but my favorite part was the information packet's English translation. Being an editor and perfectionist at heart, it truly made me cringe to read sentences like, "he was the found of this area in 1907." Ugh. Simply dreadful. But it made me wonder if English to Spanish translations were just as bad. After the Palacio we went to the Mall, and I was quite impressed. It's pretty big and I thought it was interesting how there was a grocery store inside. That evening we went to Quilpue via Micro (the cheap bus) with our Chilean friend Raul and I have to admit that we feel really cool having an authentic Chilean around us gringas. It was a day full of learning and laughs.

I was just thinking about how much I wanted to play my violin when I saw a man at the Metro Station with one. He was kind enough to let me play his violin, but now I lose sleep at night because I forgot to give him some money as a token for my gratitude...

Holli and I in front of the Palacio Rioja.

Me, Holli, and Emily



On our way to the mall we walked past a huge Catholic church with open gates. There was an opera type song playing and the church was full of people. We had no idea what was going on. Holli and Emily felt uncomfortable and went to stand outside, but I went to a pew and discovered that it was was a funeral service. We were the only ones that we not dressed up, oops.



We went to a Karaoke activiy at a church in Quilpue, which was a 30 minute ride on the Micro. We were there about an hour early, and about two hours early in Latin time. To pass the time we all played the piano for each other and tried to teach Raul some songs. It was quite entertaining.