The time just keeps flying by here and Chile. It's hard to believe that next week is already Thanksgiving, especially since we're well into spring and almost in summer here now. It's a little strange to be headed into the winter holidays with roses blooming everywhere, but I suppose we'll made do without a white Christmas this year.
Tomorrow Mimi, Caryn, Bridget, Ruth (the North American nun who just moved in with us), and I are planning a Thanksgiving dinner with a few families from the neighborhood. Obviously Thanksgiving is not something that is celebrated here, so we're having to make do with our courses and accept that there will be no cranberry sauce or full turkey (but we are having turkey--no worries!). We'll see how it turns out, since none of us really knows how to make some of the stuff. . .but in any case it should be a fun experience.
The last few weeks Caryn and I seem to have been crazy busy. For one, a couple weeks back Bridget's uncle Tony came to visit, and we ended up spending a lot of time with them. Ruth arrived on almost exactly the same day, so there have also been a few more people around. For one, when Tony was here we went out to a place in the woods in the mountains where Caryn and I will go camping this summer with one of the families that we're close to. Bridget had been there before and asked Carola if she could take us out there to show her uncle. We hiked around to a gorgeous area with a waterfall, but to be honest, if you're slightly clumsy (like me!), the climbing around part was a little difficult and scary. I only managed to fall a couple of times, but hanging out on wet rocks just might not be my strong point in life. I'll post some of Caryn's pictures from that day eventually.
The day after our trip to the waterfall we had an asado (a cookout) in the campo with Sandra, Bridget's host mom. That was enjoyable and laid-back, but then Sandra wanted to take us to this German park thing nearby. We didn't really know what we were getting into, but this was easily one of the strangest places I've ever been in my life. It was this giant German area in the middle of the campo with a playground for kids, a gigantic tent restaurant thing, and a fake pig that claims to sing and dance (totally creepy). I'll have to post a picture of that, because words certainly do not describe how weird this pig is. Later on we learned that this area was where many people were tortured during the Pinochet dictatorship, since a lot of the Germans (who had fled Germany after World War II) were closely connected to the government at that time.
That same weekend we went to a festival in Puertezuelo with Tony and Carola's family. After cramming into the pickup truck (five of us in the cabin with a gigantic sombrero that we thought was a drum since it was in a case and a guitar and another seven people in the back part), we drove for about a half an hour until we arrived in the town for this festival. It was really fun, with lots of eating, singing, and dancing, and it lasted literally all night. The kids that came with us all ended up going out to sleep in the truck, but we stayed until about six in the morning when the festival finally ended. The Chileans sure do love to stay up all night--no matter how old or young you are.
Tonight we're headed to the
Victor Jara festival, which will be another festival full of music and dancing, from what I can tell. I'll write more about this sometime soon.
Beyond going to festivals and parties, Caryn and I have added a few new things to our weeks. We continue to teach English to third and fourth graders, we assist with English at another school with sixth and eighth graders, we hang out with the senior citizens in the chapel once a week, and now we've been asked to try to start a youth group at the church in addition to hanging out with the women at the house and learning how to weave. Overall, we seem to have become pretty busy these last few weeks.
Alright, I think that's all for now. Ruth's been working on a webpage for the Casa Ursulina, so be sure to
check it out!
