The good, the bad, the ugly.

Alright sorry I haven’t blogged in awhile. I don’t even know where to begin. First things first, the Seahorses won! Haha. We barely came out with a win in overtime, but we did it! Our next game isn’t for awhile, so it practices for us.

Secondly, I must inform you of a terrible event that occurred this past week. I was out with a friend and as we were leaving to head home, we crossed halfway into the street to see if it was clear to cross. I saw that we could not make it in time to clear the buses, so I headed back to the sidewalk. When I turned around, thinking my friend was behind me, I saw a man come running towards her. At first glance, I thought he may be pulling her out of the way of the oncoming bus, but after a second or two, I realized he was not so nice. He pushed her once and then into the stopped bus that we were in front of. Before I could take two steps I heard a snap and he took off running with her purse.

Thankfully, she was okay despite having been shoved into the front of a bus and hitting the ground. It was definitely a traumatic event for both of us that I never want to relive again. After running after him for a bit, yelling help in English, to the tons of people watching and staring at us, I stopped. At that point it was a lost cause, safer not to follow him and not draw anymore unwanted attention to us. We quickly got on a bus and headed home.

Needless to say we were both pretty shaken up and got very little sleep that night. It was definitely learning and growing experience. I knew that I couldn’t harbor any bitterness and anger towards all of Chile just because of one man’s decision. Furthermore, I knew that I can’t be afraid to go out into public anymore because of the incident.

I jokingly say though that the incident was the end of the “honeymoon period” for me. Through it all though, I just had to praise the Lord. There are several reasons why. One, I had my passport on me because I needed it for something earlier (I never carry it with me though!). Two, that the Lord protected us from something worse. Three, that I could freely forgive without harnessing any anger or resentment, yet actually laugh (probably to prevent myself from crying), smile and praise.

The verse that came to mind that perfectly describe this “honeymoon” buster is John 10:10. It says, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that you may life and life abundantly.” Despite everything that happened, the money lost, the shock and all, the attacker wasn’t able to steal my joy! It reminded me that I have these material things, but my worth isn’t in this world. My worth, my joy and my hope is Jesus!

So out of the bad comes the good. Thank you, Jesus that You have come for all to have life to the fullest even when things go terribly wrong. I almost didn’t want to tell the story to scare y’all because it really is a great, safe place and loving people, but I share because through it all we are to praise Him!

And now I don’t have a great transition onto the next thing, but I do want you to know that I am enjoying it here! My family is great! My Chilean brothers were definitely sweet after the incident and concerned for me. They kept talking of how they should have been there and prevented it all or taken the guy out. It was flattering to say the least. Seriously though, it has been so much fun in my house. Never a dull moment!

They constantly tease me for a couple of things…my laugh and being from Texas. They always mimic my booming laughter and they never cease to get me going on the laughter. The second is that they have a weird image of Texas that is a mix of Chuck Norris in Walker Texas Ranger, John Wayne and Yosemite Sam. They think of Texas with a bunch of tumbleweeds rolling around and gun-toting Cowboys constantly dueling. So, they always act out a cowboy shooting at the feet of someone else yelling “Arriba! Arriba!” For this, I found a little kids sheriffs badge and pistols with the holsters. It was a big hit with everyone! I told, Matias, the ring leader of it all that they were for when he makes his grand trip to Texas. He’s ready now!



I think that’s a good stopping point for now. Too long already and I hope I haven’t bored you to death. So far, so good! Vaya con Dios!

Viva Basquetbol

I decided that it would be fun to play on the women's international team with the university. All the international students play on one team against other women teams from different departments in the university. We had our first game yesterday and it was a lot of fun!

We won 23-0! We have a picture of us after the game on the university website. You can check it out here:

http://ucv.altavoz.net/prontus_unidacad/site/artic/20100818/pags/20100818111710.html

It was strange though because Chilean basketball is a bit different. We only played two halves of 10 minutes. Nevertheless, it was fun to finally play a sport that you don't have to use your feet! Namely soccer. I'll keep you posted as we fight our way to the top! Viva gringas!

Oh I forgot to tell you that we are the Fightin' Seahorses!

Almuerzo con la Familia

So, I think that I am finally caught up on the events and stories thus far. For the most part at least. Yesterday, we had a lovely lunch at my aunt and uncle's house with some of the family. It was fun and I tried oysters and shell-fish for the first time!

Uncle Lucho is my favorite uncle! He always make sure that I am taken care of and always ask me questions. He enjoys to talk to me in English and then I respond in Spanish. It's great! I challenged him to smile and he said that he never does. So, I worked my charm and beauty to get him to smile in a picture with me. He did, but I had to sit in his lap! He's so funny and always cracks me up!

I'll post a picture soon of my Chilean family! But, here are some of my aunts, uncles and cousins thus far!

El Banco

Funny story:

I went to go talk to the people at BBVA Bank to ask if I had to pay the ATM fee everytime or not, because I am a client. Once I got up to the counter to talk to the fairly good-looking, younger banker, I started in on my predicament. I thought he was looking at me intently, because he couldn't quite understand my Spanish. I don't know bank terms very well and had to ask him a couple times to repeat what he was saying. Finally, I point-blank asked him if it was possible to avoid the fees or not. He finally gave me a straight-answer that I could understand, no. Then, he turns to his co-worker walking by and tells him, "Mira sus ojos son lindos!" Translation: Look, her eyes are beautiful! So, I finally understood why he was staring so intently as he and his co-worker marveled over my eyes.

I didn't know whether to be flattered or frustrated. I wondered if he actually was paying attention to anything I was saying! Nevertheless, I didn't get much more out of him. I left saying in Spanish, "My eyes are pretty, but my Spanish is horrible! Thanks and good-bye!" haha. It was quite funny and sweet with a little frustration!

My parents later said, "Why didn't you bat your eyes and milk it to see what he would do?" I did bat my eyes a bit, but I was in shock that I didn't know what to do! So, I'll visit another bank later and try with someone else. Maybe a banker a little older...

Gone Skiing!

Well I had the opportunity to go skiing for my very first time in the Andes Mountains! It was so much fun to get to see SNOW and MOUNTAINS! Everyone kept giving me a hard time, because I like a kid in a candy store. I was so giddy and excited! Until...I actually got into my skiing class. haha. I realized that they make it look easier than it actually is, and that it hurts. ALOT!

Right out of the gate in our ski class, I pulled a muscle cuz my skis went both ways. This caused a painful split, that I didn't know I could do. After that we practiced how to stop using our skis. Well I did so well this time around and fell. My instructor, a goofy guy, came over to help me up. He told me to jump up as he picked me up. However, as I did this my skis clipped him and he fell on top of me. Quite funny and embarrassing all in one! Thankfully everyone took out the instructor at some point in time!

After our 2 hour long ski class, we took a break and ate lunch. The most exciting thing was to sit down! haha. Then the other beginners and I ventured to ski on our own! I fell many more times, but it happens. Two of the others decided they had enough, but my buddy, Dylan, and I wouldn't give up. We went back down the hill a couple of times and practiced on the ski machine a bit.

Funny story though: Before we went back down the hill, we saw some friends by the netted fence. We ventured over to them to take some pictures, chat it up and take a breather. The funny part is that as we were leaving to go down the hill, one of my friends asked if she could help me any. As I was saying no, I slid right into the netting and got stuck. After getting out of it, I went to go to the ski lift and slid right back into the fence a little ways down. When I looked up, I was stuck right in front of another beginner's class. The instructor asked if I was alright, but all I could do was laugh! So embarrassing!

The biggest accomplishment, though, was that I made it down the (little) hill without falling, and that we got on and off the ski lift with our skis on perfectly! Success!

It was so much fun, gorgeous and exhausting all in one!

Sand Dunes of Con-Con

Some friends and I ventured about 30 minutes north of Vina del Mar, where I live, to Con-Con. It is known for its massive sand dunes. We had hoped to go surfing off them, but were unable. Don't feel bad for us though, because we definitely had fun despite it!

The fun started when about 15 of us "gringos" jumped on the public bus. I just know we made everyone's day on the bus! haha. From there the bus driver put on some of his favorite tunes, Michael Jackson. They love him down here. All the Americans started to laugh, sing and dance a bit as we are standing crammed like sardines on the bus.

Then I was stuck standing as our lovely bus driver flew around corners. I was tossed like a rag-doll all over the place. It was comical to everyone (Chileans and Americans), but myself. No one in our group was too sure of where to get off either, so being the lucky one, had to make my way up to the front of the bus to ask the bus driver to tell us which stop. It was quite funny!



Documenting the lovely bus ride.

Once we made it to the dunes, the adventure was on! We all started running, climbing, sliding and hiking up and down the dunes! On the back side of the dunes is the sea with some cliffs that you can explore and climb. That was our mission!





We definitely hiked down the dunes and and rocky areas that I don't think were made to be traveled on. No big deal! We made it to the cliffs and it was beautiful! The waves were crashing and splashing up on us, and the view of the cities along the bay was neat!












After the exploring, we decided to start to walk back to catch the bus. Needless to say, we ended up walking about 2 miles to get back to the bus! It's okay because the view and company was great! All in all, I think we hiked about 4-5 miles that day.

Touring of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso

This is the tours of the "sister cities" Vina and Valpo. They are divided by a street and people (like me) travel between them daily. I actually live in Vina del Mar, but take the bus to the university in Valparaiso.

However, the unique thing about the university is that they pride themselves on being "part of the community." In theory is nice, but in actuality not so fun. Meaning that they have the school in different buildings throughout Vina del Mar, Valparaiso and another city close by. This makes traveling and getting around kind of tricky at times, but fun! haha.

Anyways, we visited the second of three houses of Pablo Neruda. Once again, its like a ship. Then went up and down the many hills and historic parts of Valparaiso. In Vina, we went to the Vergara Garden. It used to be owned by the foundng family of Vina del Mar. However, now it hosts the city amphitheatre, a beautiful garden and museum (in the old house). Sadly though, the house suffered a lot of damage from the earthquake and is no longer open to the public. The garden was gorgeous though!







The next set of pictures are of the rich and historic part of Valparaiso and the boat to that we got to take! It was so neat to see the view from the bay, see the sea lions up close, and see the Chilean Navy ships up close and personal!

Una Mezcla (A Mix)

This is a mix of everything that kind of happened from Palacio and on during Santiago. We had many orientation with ISA, the program I am going through. Then we did little sight-seeing stuff throughout the city.

One morning, we toured a 6th generation family winery. That was interesting to go into the basement and see the barrels and wine-making process!



Then went to one of Pablo Neruda's Houses in Santiago. He is a famous Nobel Peace Prize winner in literature. He is well-known in Chile and many people love him. He has 3 houses, and will visit the other 2 later. His house was interesting...he definitely had an interesting imagination. He made his house and each of his rooms like his was on a ship. The designs, flooring, lighting, everything! He loved the ocean and always wanted to feel like he was on the water. The pictures are just parts of his house and don't do it justice. There were about 4 diffent sections to the house that we had to walk through.





After our touring and orientations we left for Valparaiso! We met our families and the real fun began, because we were with our newly found friends to speak some English or Spanglish together. It was just you, your family and the Spanish language.

My family was very sweet though, but it was overwhelming right at first with all their questions. On top of that, it was the little boy asking a bunch of the questions and he was the most difficult for me to understand! I have four brothers though. Felipe (21), Maximo (18), Joaquin or Kako (15) and Diego (7). The mom is Lorena and she is a very brave lady with all those boys! haha. Then, there are 3 others Chilean students (boys) that live here, but are currently on vacation. So it's definitely fun and never a dull moment! I'll post a picture soon!

Palacio Moneda

*Taken from journal.*

Today started with orientations about the program, city, families, etc. Afterwards, we went to downtown Santiago. We visited the cathedral of Santiago where many public figures are buried. Then, we ate at a nearby fish market on our way to the Palacio Moneda.

Visiting the Palacio is like visiting the White House in the U.S. Needless to say, it was exciting and fun for me! The palace was beautiful and it was neat to explore where history was made, a country torn apart, and then revived into the strong Chile it is today.



(For those who don't know, Chile suffered a military coup, supported by the U.S., in the 70's where the president was shot and killed.)

We got to see where the President makes his public announcements, speeches and signs documents. The Palacio is where the President works as well. We think he must have been there, because there were secret service all over the place! One was specifically for our group, too!





Anyways, I was part of the group where we are advanced in Spanish, so we were fortunate enough to have the entire tour in Spanish. Woo! They definitely threw us into the immersion of sink or swim to understand! It ended up being fine, but definitely a shock.

Some of the pictures show the guards out front in their lovely uniforms. It was fun to see the changing of the guards. They are just like the British, because they never cracked a smile or moved! Impressive. There was one official with a floor-length cape, which my friend and I loved. He was nice enough to take a picture with us.



The last thing is of some of the damage that was done to the Palacio in the last eathquake here. It was crazy to actually see the effects and reminants of the earthquake.

Bienvenidos a Chile!

*Taken from my journal that I have been keeping.*

Well just arrived in Chile and it's freezing. I slept sort of on the plane, but once I landed we hit the ground running. I have met tons of new and interesting people. It's exciting and overwhelming!

Our first stop today after the hotel was to Cerro San Cristobal, where we rode up the "funicular." The funical is an interesting combination between an elevator and train car that takes you up and down the hills. It's an easy way to travel up and down the hills, and you get a great view! On top of the Cerro San Cristobal was a massive statue of the Virgin Mary, a cathedral and prayer garden. The significance and purpose of building Virigin Mary is to protect the passengers going through Santiago. Back in the day it everyone had to pass through Santiago and the journey was a lot more treacherous. So it was a nice symbolic touch to go visit Mary-Mary before our travels.



However, the view from the top of the hill was amazing! You could see and almost touch the Andes Mountains and it was beautiful to look out over the city at sunset!