So, Abby and I arrived in Chile on Thursday, February 19th around 10am. Our program director Pam (who is so, so awesome) picked us up from the overwhelming/crazy/scary airport in Santiago. Both of our host families were still on their summer vacations, so Pam took us to their second home with her on the coast in Con Con, 1.5 hours away from Santiago. There were her husband, Jeff, and the most beautiful baby (1.5y/o) I've ever seen, Elissa. Staying with Pam's family for our first few days in Chile was such a great way to start our time here! They showed us around the coastal area, introduced us to some Chilean food, and helped us start to learn real Spanish (because the stuff you learn in high school is not real. I thought I knew Spanish. But I didn't....).
Here's a cute story:
Every night that we stayed at Pam's house, when she put Elissa to bed, she would curl up into a little ball and fall asleep with Elissa in her crib (SO DARLING). One of these nights, Pam fell asleep before Elissa did and Elissa crawled out of her bed, grabbed a toy in one hand and a book in another, and toddled into my room! We read and played with my sunglasses for close to half an hour before I put her back to bed. Now we're friends. We hang out every Sunday at church before she has to go home.
After spending time with their fam, I went to my host family! (I almost just started typing this next sentence in Spanish) The family is mama Leslie and two ten-year-old twins: Alonso and Constanza. They're so much fun and so patient with my lack of Spanish vocabulary and speed at which I speak and comprehend at! I'm having a good time getting to know them and teaching them how to make pancakes. :)
Before Abby and I bought our bicycles, we walked SO MUCH. We still do, but at the beginning we were walking like 10-12 miles the days that we were exploring Santiago. Now, I'm walking like 4-5 miles a day and riding my bike when I'm not too tired. Maybe like once a week though my Fitbit reads 9 miles! Sometimes I wonder if it's completely off but then I think it's not when I notice how exhausted I am at the end of those days.
School is so different here! I'm taking three Spanish language classes for foreigners and those are really awesome. I love them because 1) the professors are great, 2) they know English so when we're making gramatical mistakes (because of the way grammar is in English), they can correct us AND explain why it's not the way we think it is and 2) I just love learning Spanish!! I'm taking 3 other courses as well, though: Social History of Chile, The Photographic Representation of the Body in Chile, and Environmental Problems in Chile. They're mostly good but my history class is kicking my butt. It's 1.5 lecture 3 times a week in Spanish. I have a hard enough time listening to that long of a lecture in English, let alone a language I'm still learning!
Besides trying to listen to that much Spanish history, Spanish itself is getting so much better. Chile is one of the hardest places to learn Spanish because of the speed at which they talk, but I can tell that my comprehension of the language is way better than it was even a week ago. It helps that most of the people I spend time with understand that I'm still learning and will slow down or re-word what they say when I don't understand. Also, Abby and I have made a friend, Eder, who is learning English and gets to practice that with us and loves to help us with our Spanish. I'm so excited for where my Spanish will be when I come home in August. :)
Ministry is tough here, but God has plans and I'm so thankful that I get to be a part of them. A lot of the students here have grown up Catholic but had really bad experiences with the church and have turned from the belief in God to trying to find happiness in drugs and alcohol. I thought that that was how it was at home but here it's at a whole deeper level. We're trying to meet students and just invite them to come to our "Missional Community" - no need to be Christian, no need to believe what we believe, we just want to get to know them and have a good time together. The going is slow but if we rely on the Lord and really have faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, I know that some good things will become of our time on this campus. Even impacting the life of just one student would be so worth our semester here.
My family has already been here and left! They came 3.5 weeks and spent 10 days with me in Chile. We spent Thursday-Monday exploring Santiago, then went down to northern Patagonia to a biological reserve where we stayed at until Thursday, and then headed to the Con Con/Valparaiso/Viña del Mar area on the coast. (Santiago is closer to the eastern edge of Chile, while the coast is on the western side.) We went zip lining through the mountains, rock climbed in an extremely dry (AND DEEP) riverbed, and got a really great tour of one of the cutest cities I've ever seen - Valparaiso. I think it was probably one of the hardest vacations we've been on (because of the language barrier, my lack of knowledge about the country, etc.) but it made me SO happy to have them come and spend the time with me. My family are literally my best friends and I'm glad they got to be a part of this time in Chile! I miss them so much already and I know it'll be even more once (your) summer rolls around but I also know that this semester here will be one for the books.
My friend (that I've known since elementary school, got close with in junior high, and have continued to be friends with), Paige, also came and visited me!! She got here 3 days before my family did so I got to spend some quality time with her before I saw my family. I still can't believe that she decided to buy plane tickets to come see ME in CHILE. So crazy that that happened but so great.
That kind of sums up the past two months that I've spent here and I promise I will try to be better about posting (even if no one reads them)!
Here are my prayer requests:
1) We make more, good friends on campus and are able to love them well.
2) Homesickness wouldn't be a big problem for us (as I'm afraid it will be for me).
3) Language would not be a barrier when having conversations with students on campus.
4) We're able to learn a lot of Spanish.
5) We take advantage of the time we have in this country and continent that we're in.
6) We study hard and well. :)
What are your prayer requests?
2 Corinthians 4: 8-9
We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed.
(these are Chile's school buses:)
("Alyssa, why is your jacket zipped up so high?")
P.S. Here's a hilarious (to me) and SO embarrassing story:
One day towards the beginning of our time here, Abby and I were kinda lost and needed directions somewhere. I went up to a man in an information booth and asked how to get to the nearest bus stop. He then asked me where we needed to go (yadayada) but he said it with a smirk on his face.
Now, as I mentioned, Chileans talk sosososo fast. I couldn't really understand but I heard "where" and saw the smirk. I thought he was making fun of me and asking where I was from because of my accent (like other people have done).
So I responded, "The United States."
He then looked at me like I was completely crazy and I realized he asked where I wanted to go, not where I was from.
I just told him I wanted to take a bus to the United States.
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