Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November, 2005

the beach in Caldera

Thisis the beach about 8 hours north of La Serena and about 16 hours north of Santiago. Just darn beautiful. The water is so blue. And the weather was perfect. Darn beautiful.

how much He loves me

I was praying this morning as I was waiting for the bus and I was half way joking when I asked God if tody he could show me how much He loves me. The second I said it though, I realized how much I was serious. So I smiled and thanked Him that today would be an amazing day because I was going to know today how much He loves me. I got on a micro (bus) and sat down in a seat (which a seat in and of itself is a blessing here in the city). I soon heard a friendly voice behind me say goodmorning. I turned around and saw one of the men from California I had had lunch with on sunday. I asked him where he was going and he said that he was going to a men's bible study. We chatted a little and parted at the bus stop. What a great way to start my day, talking with a friendly face. And for lunch i am going to meet up with the woman from Nebraska that I met at Thanksgiving. AND then for dinner I am hanging out with the multi denominational bible study. a quick little note about the buses in Sant

just like the good old times

So last night was a wierd night (a felix type of night). I'm not going to go into too many details, but basically I had a moment where life was just too ironic and I needed to talk to a specific friend(Ashlee). So, thanks to the extremely cheap phone card that I found, i called her up and we chatted. It was strange to talk to her and know in my head that I am thousands and thousands of miles away. The lives we live would be practically impossibel without the technology we have. We couldn't visit other cultures as easily, we couldn't get information we want as easily and in reality we couldn't expereince as much variety of life. All these things make me so grateful for the technology we have, but at the same time I think we are in a sense prisoners to the very thing that seems to free us. How many times do you check your email in a day? In an hour? (Mom, you don't have to answer that, I know that you check it three or four times an hour... hehe) Not that this blog ha

Sunday sunday

I am writing from the food court at teh local mall where there are computers you can pay to use. I just finished having lunch with 6 californians. I am not sure why, but it seems like the majority of gringos I meet are from California. A little side note. Do you ever think that you like someone one because it works well to like them, and not because you actually like them. For example, you might choose to like your new boss, because liking your boss would make your life easier. But there is not necessarily anything special about your boss. Sometimes I wonder if I choose to like people more than I actually like them. Like I like the idea of them. Some people who read this will prabably thing I am crazy, but others of you will understand. And then the next question is: If you like someone just becasue you want to, does that make it wrong?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone (a day late, I know)! I have had a lot of people ask me about Thanksgiving down here. Well, it is a holiday only for the US, but the average Chilean knows about (We can thank the Friends episode for that). I actually went and had a REAL Thanksgivng meal, pumpkin pie and all. My church which is an international church and is made up of mostly Gringos, put on a Thanksgiving potluck. It was amazing. Of course it was missing a few things that I have come to realize are traditions for me from my childhood. Some of the foods they were missing were Grandmom's augratin potatoes, deviled eggs, and Martinelli's sparkling cider. The church also was not able to provide chairs in front of a tv for all the men to fall asleep on. I think that is one of my favorite memories: walking into our tv room and finding not just my dad, but my granddad, both sleeping in front of the tv. Overall though, the night was wonderful. I sat at a table with a couple from nebraska who

my pastor

Every wednesday morning, the pastor of my church and a few elders and anyone else who wants to come, meet at a coffee and bagel shop to pray for the church. It happens to be at the same bagel shop that I go to everymorning, so I get to join them. Today though, no one showed up but the pastor and I. So we ate breakfast and talked. Can i just say that I appreciate the fact that God places the most amazing people in my life? This man is a prebyterian missionary and had like 4 degrees from different universities, including Fuller and Westminster. BUT he is not caught up in all of it. What do I mean? Well, we were talking about the situation with pastors here and it was so interesting to hear the issues that are coming up with the training and selection of national pastors here in Chile. He and I discussed everything under the sun and I was glad. Sometimes I think that people assume that just because I am a blonde girl from California that I am not up for an intellectual conversation about

a difficult morning

I can feel God breaking me. I was so desperate for His grace this morning. So desperate for His grace. I sat at breakfast and listened to the amazing worship cd that Ashlee sent me and read some of His amazing promises. It was a difficult morning but through all of it, He stayed by my side and showing me in the details of the morning how much He loves me.

Two of my favorite people in the world

One- my GRANDMA!!! I absolutly love my grandma, and I feel so blessed that especially the past five years or so, I have really gotten to know her. I just received an email from my grandma who has for the first time in her life set up an email account! So welcome grandma to my blog. I hope this gives you a little insight to my life here in Chile, and I promise you it is SO SAFE! Two- ASHLEEEEEE!!!!!! Okay, out of all the people in the world, the person I love to travel with teh most and in all honesty have travelled with the most outside of my family is my buddy Ashlee. A few summers ago when i was having a hard time in teh heats of Wisconsin I photocopied my journal adn mailed them to her. She commented on them and mailed them back. So we have decided to continue the tradition and a month ago I sent her my journal. Today, I received in the mail not only my jounral returned with comments from her, but TONS of goodies, including: reeses peanut butter cups, candy necklaces, cds that I req

An amazing weekend that is following me into the week

This weekend was amazing. After my BK night on friday I decided to venture out for Saturday. I had heard that there was some prayer meeting for the city of Santiago so I droppped by the church to see if anyone would be there to give me directions. Well, it turned out that two of the organizers were there and I helped them prepare and set up. the meeting was on a hill, more like a mountain that overlooked all of Santiago. Since O got there early with the organizers I was able to meet some people before the whole of it started. I met one girl in particular who spoke perfect English. As we were talking I asked her what she wanted to do after she graduated and she asked me if i had ever heard of Campus Crusade for Christ. Ummm... Yeah! She wants to go on staff with them once she is done so we got to talking about ministry and all the amazing stuff going on right now inthe world. People slowly trickled in and by the time worship started, about 150 people had arrived and the sun had set. We

Burger King

So last night was my first friday night in the huge metropolitian universe of Santiago. And where was I? I went to Burger King. That´s right. Well, the other students met to go out to a friends house to drink and hang out, but after starting each day this week at 7 am and not getting home until closer to 8pm, I was exhausted! So I declined the invitation, yes even though it involved Pisco, and I headed out to the Starbucks I had found earlier this week. I guess coffee houses serve different purposes here because at 9:30 Starbucks was already closed! Well, Santiago is not really the safest town to wander around in late at night, so I knew I needed to find a spot soon. I walked back to the bus stop and noticed that the burger king there was open, and they would remain open until midnight. So that is where I went. Instead of a latte, I had a large diet coke. I sat in the burnt orange booth, under the harsh neon light, and I studied grammar. After an hour or sho of grammar I moved on to wo

an update from the classroom

I taught my first practice class for my trainers and peers today and loved it. I had such a great time because the technique we use to teach is like a puzzle game. When the time came for feedback the major comment from the group, including my trainer was that I use my voice and speech very well, One guy even commented that I am like a kindergarten teacher, but in a good way... hehehe, I guess that is not the first time I have heard that. Tomorrow is my first REAL practice teaching with real language students. I am excited. At lunch I got into a great discussion with two of the guys in my group about globalization and other interesting world topics. It was nice to have an intellectual conversation and disagree, and yet be okay with that. Alot of the people in my group with me are very open to talking about life and philosophy and God. It is an interesting group and I am stoked to spend a month with them. Chao for now...

some interesting people

So my class went well. It is going to be alot of hard work, but it went okay for a first day. I started off yesterday with breakfast at New York Bagels where a prayer group from the church that I want to go to was meeting. I joined them and met the three men who were with the group. I dont understand why these things are always men and never women. Anyways, the pastor was there who I am excited to banter with over theoligcal issues, one of the elders, and the guy who is in charge of the youth. Now let me just discuss for a moment, Matt the youth leader. He is a gringo from North Carolina and probably in his mid to late 20s. he is on missionary staff with MTW, yeah. He uses the Westminster Catechism for evangelism, yeah. And he loves arguing with Jehovahs witnesses, yeah. SO when i found all this I thought to myself, I think I need to call Kallie. Kallie, because she will appreciate more than any other person my attraction to these qualities. Yeah. Okay, done with the discussion. I went

Santiago is growing on me

SO I have to admit it, the city that I dreaded coming to is growing on me. i am not sure HOW MUCH, but at least for now, it is livable. It helps that I had my first real espresso, actually from Starbucks, in three months. ahhhh.... And also, I have been eating breakfast at this New York Bagel shop, so my tummy is very happy! IS that sad that I am here in this beautiful country and the only food I want is the comida gringa? I have decided that basically anyone´s first day in Santiago is going to be a trying one, unless you are on a tour or something. The transportation system here is kinda like the people, very unorganized and messy but it works perfectly once you get the hang of it. The family asked that I be home for dinner at 8pm every night (8pm is actually early for Chileans to eat dinner). So at about 6pm, I decided to take a short adventure on one of the micros (the local buses). Unfortunatly I forgot to bring my map, so I ended up in some random part of the city with no clue how

I am a obsessive, crazed fan!

So I am in Snatiago now and I am living with the family that the school set me up with. They are nice and the apartment we live in is in the best part of Santiago, fairly safe, etc. So, a little background- I have become obsessed with one of the telenovelas (a Chilean version of a sitcom or soap opera). It is called Gatas y Tuercas and I LOVE IT. I have learned alot of spanish from it too, so really I just watch it for educational purposes. In reality, it is Chilean and takes place in Santiago and I really have learned SO mcuh about the culture from it. So after I settled into my room last night, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. As I was walking down the street, I saw her. The actriz who plays my favorite character on the programa was walking her dog down the street. Okay, being from California, everyone asks me if I know famous people. And I have to explain to people that it is not THAT common to run into famous people in the streets in little San Luis Obispo Ca. But

"Faces of the earthquakes"

I am watching a program on CNN which is now my connection to the world. There is a program on right now about the families in Pakistan who are facing not only the absolute horror of dealing with the thousands upon thousands dead, but also the cold winter ahead that could easily kill them if they do not get better housing then the thin tents they now live in. I feel so helpless. What can I do here? I want to do something, but I don´t know how. I don´t know what. and these darn photojournalists show the eyes of the people, so sad, so hopeless. Please tell me what I can do, because I dn´t want to live this life like this. I hate the fact that I can live in total denial of the suffering that others are in. I hate that. I hate that the situation seems so big and I feel so small. These families in Pakistan are facing more harship than I could ever imagine. Mothers who have lost their young children. Nothing could be worse. I need to do something, but I don´t understand how. I makes me want t

Gone home to Chile

I thought alot about Argentina while I was there and spent a good two hours sitting at one of the sidewalk cafes watching the people and observing the culture. I noticed a few differences between Chile and Argentina. (Disclaimer: the majority of my observations of Chile are made from a six week stay in La Serena and the observations of Argentina are made completely from a two day stay in a small but urban city called Mendoza. My observations may not be accurate of the culture as a whole, but they are my observations.) Argentina´s good and services are considerably less expensive than Chile (about 1/2 the price in most cirsumstances) The women of chile are much more protective adn possessive of their men. There is a ridiculously higher level of Public display of Affection (PDA) in Chile. Anywhere you go you can find couples kissing, but in Argentina it is much more conservative. The people look physically more diverse in Argentina. i could not describe for you what an Argentinian looks

¡Vive Argentina!

Wow, I found a reason to stay in Argentina. I fell in love with this town within the first minutes being here. It has a spirit that reminds me alot of New York City, but is much cheaper. In fact, it is SO cheap here that Chilean come here to shop. For example, a sweater that would be $40 in the States, and the same in Chile, is only about 8 dollars here. Or breakfast this morning, which was amazing, was only $1.25! So I am going to go shopping, yeah. Teh streets are lined with small boutiques and sidewalk cafes (with real espresso!) And the people here are dressed like NYC. So fashionable and chic. The streets are fairly clean and the trees that line the raods offer shade as you amble your way down the busy sidewalk. At the hostel I am at, there are a bunch of women. One woman from California is there with her 8 year old daughter. They are learning Spanish. They first went to Chile, but didn´t like it and decided to come to Argentina. They say the people here are more content and happy

Travel plans

I told a few of you that I would be heading to a small surf town called Pichilemu, but I have changed plans. I am actually going to go to Argentina instead. I need to renew my tourist card so I can either pay $100 at an office in Santiago, or I can just cross the border again. Yeah. In all honesty I am not in the mood for a HUGE adventure, so this probably be low key, but I am planning on returning to Viña for a few days to visit Marcela and Flo again before I have to be in Santiago. This is on purpose because Flo is having her first communion on Sunday. I just love that kid! I just got back from a horseback ride that lasted about 4 hours and was just beautiful, but I forgot how much four hours on a horse kills your butt! My horse was named Frutilla (Strawberry) and was the sweetest thing ever. The tour consisted of another gringo from Florida who is just spending a week vacation here and spoke NO spanish, and my guide who is a 15 year old local who spoke very little english. So I tran

Pucôn

Pucôn is a small town in southern Chile (about 10 hours from Santiago) that sits upon the eastern end of one of the many lakes in this region. It is in my opinion Chile´s repsonse to Lake Tahoe. It is smaller and there is only one casino, but the log cabins that line the water look like they belong on a postcard. The downtown consists of the main road filled with boutiques, cafes, and most importantly the tourist agencies. There are over twenty tourist agencies here and it seems impossibel to know which one to go with. The volcano that looms in the distance is actually active and is climbed everyday by many tourists who want to see the boiling lava quietly spurting from the whole. I, who am not as adventurous as I would like to think, will not be climbing up the 5 hour hike in the snow to the volcano peak. I am going to take a horsebackriding tour to a waterfall instead. But for those who read this adn want some adventure, there is plenty in this town to be had. Today, I chose to hike

the life of a missionary family

I spent the last four days with a missionary family in Temuco who have served in Chile with SIM for 20 years or so. They first worked with Wycliffe working with the natives (like Native Americans) of the land. The native people of this area are called the Mapuche and they live lives that look very similar to the North American native americans. They are generally poor, living on reservations, and unfortunatly their culture and language is dying out. This family has really invested their whole lives to helping these people and sharing the Gospel with them. Their daughter is in the country for a few months and is my age so we spent a good amount of time talking and hanging out. She brought me to her college age group at her church and it was so similar to what I went to when I was at Poly that it didn{t matter that it was in Spanish, I loved it. At one point the MCs called up all the visiters and first timers. I pretended like I didn{t understand and lowered my head. Unfortunatly, I am a

a walk through Viña with an unexpected lunch

I took a walk through Viña Del Mar today since I have noticed that what I enjoy more about cities is just walking through them and watching the people as they live their lives. I am not much of a tourist, am I? anyways, I have been thinking recently about how much i used to pray and I happened to have my cell phone from California in my purse because I am going to try to get a plan for it down here. So I pulled it out and opened it as if it had been ringing and began to pray. I did this in California, but there EVERYONE is talking on their cell phones as they wak along the streets or as they shop. And as I walked i noticed that not a single other person in sight was on their cell phone. So I talked to God for a few minutes and then "hung up". h well, it was at least nice for a few minutes, even if I was being the stereotypical gringa. Well, I walked and enjoyed the slighty overcast day here in Viña and took note of all the stores and the people and just the culture that this

a quote from my diary

For those of you who don´t know me too well, I have kept a diary since I was about 13 years old. I go through about a notebook every other month or so. If anyone thought I wrote alot on my blogs, you should see my journals. So today, I was writing not because I really knew what to write, but I felt like maybe I needed to write. Some interesting truths about how I am feeling right now came out while I was writing. Here is a piece of my entry: I just wish I knew what I was doing. Right now I am so sick of waiting. I do really like the idea of working with the AIDS project... Jesus, I am happiest when I am serving You. And I haven´t really been doing that here. If anything, this two month period has taught me how I am absolutly misreble without serving You. It is like James in the Bible says, "faith without works is dead". And it is true. I have faith and I have had faith, I have studied Your Word, and I have kept my mind learning about You. But I have not loved. My faith is wor

Halloween

For some reason I have a hard time understanding just how far away I am in this world from those I love. I think the fact that I talk to my mom a few times each week on the phone and the fact that I generaly feel connected, although not enough, with my friends, leads to my misunderstanding of how far away I am. This thought keeps coming into my head that I should go home for Christmas. I have to keep reminding myself that it is not plausible. Because it is about to be summer time here, the airline tickets are ridiculously expensive here. So yeah, not possible. Last night was Halloween, and Marcela and I were laughing because I was practically back in the states. Halloween is not a HUGE holiday here but there is a good number of families who celebrate it. Marcela is definitly one of them. She decorated the house and put orange and black balloons outside the door. We made a costme for her daughter Flo, who decided to be Miss 17 (kinda like Miss teen). As the kids came to the door we, bei