Two months in

Well, it's been awhile since my last post, and we've been pretty busy since then.

As of the last time I'd written, we were headed to a birthday party and then a trip to Vilches. That weekend ended up being quite fun. It seems like basically everytime we're invited to a birthday party, it's with the Pulgar family. Carola, the woman that Caryn and I know best in this family, is one of 12 sisters and brothers. She has four children and lives just around the block from us, and she's a wonderful person that helps us out in whatever way she can. Anyways, the birthday party that we attended that weekend was for one of her relatives, and like always, it was quite a feast of barbecued meat, lots of salads, soup, and plenty of other food. At that party Caryn and I ended up napping in someone's bed there--it was sort of like eating Thanksgiving dinner and then just wanting to go to sleep afterwards. We didn't make it the duration of the party, which went well into the night, as we knew we needed to get up and travel the next day.

On Sunday of that weekend we went to Ted and Maruja's place in Vilches. Not knowing exactly where we were headed, Caryn, Bridget and I just got on the bus and hoped for the best. When the person collecting money for the ride asked us where we were going, we described the place as we'd been told, and finally he said, "Oh, the place where the gringos (Americans) live! Yeah, I'll tell you when to get off." They do live in a small town, but it's just really funny when random people on the bus figure out where you're going and then warn you to get off. We spent a few nights there, which was a really great experience. We got the chance to go hike around in the mountains and down by a gorgeous river, but there was also time to rest as well.





Last weekend was fairly normal and relaxed. We hosted a lunch at our house for the anniversary of the death of the mother of some of Mimi's godchildren. Maybe I shouldn't say we hosted. . .they brought and prepared food for the 20 or so people that came. It was really good, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It's interesting how much time people spend celebrating and remembering and eating here. In some ways, it seems a lot healthier and like people actually get together and spend time with their families more than just a few times a year.

This past week the house received a free bus and tickets to go up to the the Termas de Chillan, hot springs up in the mountains. It's about an hour and a half away from here, curving up the side of the mountain. Everyone packs gigantic lunches to share for the day. Caryn and I were a little bit confused--when we started to think about what we wanted to pack, we were thinking things like sandwiches, a piece of fruit, maybe some crackers or chips. Instead, we ended up making things like an entire pasta salad, egg salad to share, pevre (a sort of salsa thing), ants on a log (you know, celery with peanut butter and raisins. . .except we forgot the raisins), all kinds of things. You just end up taking your kitchen their with you. There are three pools of hot water of varying heat and depth. It was an interesting experience. . .some of the women were covering their faces with the mud from the pools, saying that it's really good for your skin. I just sat and tried to not get burned--by the sun or the water. About a half an hour before we were supposed to leave it started to get really cold and was threatening rain, so everyone packed up and got on the bus a little early. The bus ride is an interesting one. There were something like 45 seats, 51 adults came, and then they're allowed to bring their children, who are held on laps or sit on stools that we brought along. For instance, Caryn and I sat in the front seat with a thirteen year old girl in between us and I held a nine year old for most of the ride since she also suffers from motion sickness like I do. Everyone just crams in like sardines. . .the claustraphobia when you first get on the bus can be immense since nobody can figure out where to sit or how to fit everyone. With time, though, it gets figured out and everyone survives the trip.

Besides our normal routine for the week, we had two birthday parties to attend yesterday as well. One was for Daniela, who turned 11, and another was for someone we just call "Abuelito" who turned 80 (he's Carola's father-in-law). The party for Daniela was nice and not much different than a party for kids in the States. Abuelito's party, though, was something else. More than sixty people showed up at their house around 9:00, and at 3:30 AM when Caryn and I left they were still going strong. They set up gigantic tables outside, and everyone sat down together to eat his birthday dinner. It was incredible--Caryn and I were sort of expecting a buffet kind of thing or pick at food whenever you want to experience, but nope, this was a full out meal in which we were served our food by the cousins in the family and everything. It was really good, and the abuelo seemed really happy that so many people made it. After dinner, the tables were pushed aside and everyone started dancing, and then some of the guys pulled out their guitars and they sang for awhile until we returned to dancing again. Overall, it was a great night.

As for this week, Sister Ruth arrives to move into the house with us on Wednesday, and Bridget's uncle will be visiting from the States for the week. It looks to be another intersesting week!

Getting used to life in Chillan

Well, since it's already been nearly two weeks since my last post, I suppose it's time to write something new. It seems like time is already flying by here--it's hard to believe that Caryn and I have been here for about six weeks now!

Lately we've been adding new activities to our schedules. This week, for instance, we began teaching English at one of the local schools. There's only one class for each grade, and, well, even though I've only been there for one morning, I think it's safe to say that the school is lacking in many areas. In any case, Caryn and I decided to start off by only teaching two grades--3rd and 4th--to get a feel for it before we decide to take on any more than that. Although teaching went relatively well (thank goodness for the experience working at Arrupe this summer!), walking into the school was quite overwhelming. For one, most of the kids were at recess, so we walked into a swarm of children. The other thing that certainly wasn't helpful for me is that many people here think that I look like a former volunteer (who also taught at this school), so much so that they run around yelling "Tia Betsy is back!". It's a confusing process to explain to little kids that you're not the person you think they are. Anyways, our third grade class was a little crazy but nothing too terrible, and our fourth grade class was quite calm and under control. Considering how concerned everyone was for us here at the house that we wouldn't be able to handle the situation, I think we did pretty well. For now we're going to keep teaching every Wednesday morning until the end of the school year in December, and then we can decide what we want to do next school year.

The other activity that we added for sure this week is hanging out with a group of senior citizens on Wednesday afternoons. Every Wednesday there's a free lunch for seniors at the local chapel, and since they arrive at 12:30 for lunch and then have a meeting at 3:00, many of them just hang out after lunch until their meeting. Apparently the time passes slowly with little to do, so Caryn and I are going to start hanging out with them, bring cards and bingo and things like that. There are only about nine of them, so if anything it probably won't be too overwhelming. In fact, it seems like this will be a good way to get to learn more about the history of Chile right from the people who experienced it here firsthand.

Other than that, Caryn and I are about to finish weaving our first scarf (which certainly has its, um, "artistic" parts). I took a giant blanket off my bed today, which is a good sign for me that it's finally getting warmer outside. Our pregnant cat just had four kittens, which are sooooo tiny. It's a game to try to touch them--you have to wait until the mother cat gets trapped outside so that she won't ferociously attack you.

This weekend we have a birthday party to attend, and then since it's a holiday weekend (yep, Columbus day. . .) we're heading out to the country to visit Ted and Meruja and their daughter--they're a Maryknoll family here in Chile.