my chilean happy

This is probably just a bunch of random words to you but to me, they make up what made me fall in love with and remember Chile.
If you get to the end, you're awesome. If not, you are still awesome.

And if you're like, "Hey! What are completos?" or "¡Oye! What does English Club mean to you?," ask away, friends; I love sharing. :)




             Español; Espanglish; teaching English to my friends. My patient friends teaching me Spanish. My patient friends listening to my terrible Spanish. Cón Cón. Coné. The sunset over the ocean. Getting to know Abby. Swimming with Pame. Walking to the store. Going to Viña. Going to church in Viña. Riding shotgun. Las Deliciosas. Driving to Santiago. Going to church in Santiago. Meeting the grupo de jóvenes. Walking 12 miles in one day. Gypsies. Freddy teaching us the metro. Learning the metro. Not understanding the micros. Buying a bike. Biking. Wearing a helmet. Biking to the first day of school. Leaving two hours early. Getting terribly lost. Needing every minute of those two hours. Getting lost the next day. Abby complaining about biking. Me hating public transportation. Well, hating walking from the metro station to my house. Classes. Especially Spanish classes. Our 5 hour break on Wednesdays between classes. Hanging out with Eder. McFlurries with Eder. Weird McFlurries. Jesus. Seeing $4 movies. Not reading for history class. Eating 6 donuts instead of studying. Walking countless times back and forth to the mall. Jumbo. No picnic tables. El casino. Eating lunch in the casino because it was for food, not gambling. Walking to the Costanera Center. Gross instant coffee. Drinking gross instant coffee. Peeling potatoes. Peeling tomatoes. Sunday dinners. Sunday naps. Sunday sunshine. Black tea. The twins. Watching Cueca. Learning Cueca. Chilenitos. Manjar. Powdered sugar. Pesos. The little bakery down the road. Them knowing me. Visiting the bakery with my family. Gelato. So much gelato. Cru, but in Spanish. Vida Estudiantil. Jesus, but in Spanish. Benja singing. Worship. Langham. Jesus. The first three 13 hour days of Vida Estudiantil. Meeting all the students. Everyone loving on us. Taking a nap on the couch with Abby. Getting gelato with Julia. Cutting tomatoes for completos. Completos the first few times. Playing Settlers of Catan in Spanish. Explaining it in Spanish. Cerro San Cristobal. Praying on the way up. Waking up to see the sunrise but it hiding behind the mountain. Being up early with Abby. Being up late with Abby. Walking home in the dark (sorry, Mom). My flip phone. WhatsApp. Walking to Abby's. Frozen in Spanish. Watching The Office instead of studying. Starbucks. Too much. Going on strike. Staying on strike. Leaving while on strike.  Biking to school. Being freezing in the mornings. Being dripping hot in the afternoons. Wearing my Chacos. Everyone looking at me funny. Wearing hiking boots. Everyone looking at me funny. Bip cards. Finally getting my student card after 4 months. Losing it a week later. My bike breaking. A lot. Gaspar driving me to pick up my bike. English Club. Packaged cookies. Learning English. And Spanish. Staring Gaspar in the eyes for two minutes. Laughing. Meeting Stephanie. Soularium. Jesus. Bananagrams. Hanging out with Stephanie. Staying after English Club for an hour talking 'cause we were on strike with no plans. Going to the cat café. Hanging out with Freddy and Ander. Eating a cocoa bean. Going to the concert of the girl whose name I don't remember. Watching the boys dance to her singing. Staying out late on school nights. Being scared of our history professor. Then finding out we could've been friends all along. Using our dictionaries on his test. Almost failing. Him pitying us. Bad Spanish. Good people. My family coming. Staying up late eating ice cream. Hiking in the rain. A dried-up riverbed. Stray horses. Playing in the ocean. Flying. Sharing a bed with my sibs. Eating weird cheese. Not drinking wine. Braiding Abby's hair. Tuesday mornings. Our sweet-hearted team. Drinking real coffee. Having real talk. Having real friends. Jesus. Babysitting. Brianna taking two hours to eat dinner. Matilda missing her mom too much. Matilda falling asleep in my arms. Playing with Brianna. Brianna playing with me. Brianna's lovin. Julia's birthday. That boy being obsessed with MN. Meeting Birte. The German party. Cutting so many potatoes. Speaking bad Spanish. Having a baby voice. Being told I'm a baby because I was 19. Going to Jason Mraz alone. Getting jipped by the taxi drivers. Seeing Santiago Benavides. Missing the metro curfew. Sleeping over at Abby's. Fresh raisins. La Vega. The giant farmer's market. Reading at the park. Playing soccer with the kids. Biking with the kids. The Disney concert. Free toilet paper. Buying wheat bread. Eating my American peanut butter. The kids being amazed at my peanut butter. Pastel de choclo. Cazuela. Empanadas. Yummy fruit. Going to Punta Arenas with Birte. The little kitten. Sleeping at 8pm. Making stew. Being cold. Streets flooding. Wearing layers. Seeing penguins. Seeing the waterfall. Seeing glaciers. Using glacier ice. Collecting rocks. Taking pictures. Taking a ferry. Crazy wind. Not being able to take the ferry back. Sleeping overnight in the bus. Pisco and Pringles at 12am. No one home at the hostel. Birte climbing through the window. Almost missing my flight. Talking to a Venezuelan boy that went to the UMN. Falling asleep so I didn't have to talk to him. Weird airplane meals. Flying solo. Going to La Serena with Gaspar and Abby. Overnight bus ride. Breakfast outside. Patio on the roof. Laughing so loud they think we're high. Playing Phase 10. Staying up too late. Getting up too early. Walking to the beach. Seashells. Sugar. Sushi. Ceviche. Abby's wine. Staying an extra night alone. Being bad at adventuring alone. The micro at 5am. Vincent, the concierge. The other concierge. And then the mean one. Awkward elevator rides. High rises. Sunset. Sleeping on the balcony. Jesus. Leaving the apartment before the kids are awake. Waking up after they've left for school. Eating breakfast with the host fam. Watching the kids love on their mom. Playing Just Dance with them. Being really bad. Being sarcastic with them. Them thinking I'm serious. Teaching Constanza the cup song. Alonso showing me his fútbol cards. Abby. Stephanie, Gaspar, and Carlos. Freddy. Eder. George, Lisset, little Brianna, and Matilda. Pame, Jeff, and Elisa. Julia, Kro, Angie, Benja, Pablo, Chiky, Karina, and all the other loving, welcoming, and Christ-sharing friends at Vida Estudiantil. Javiera. Leslie, Constanza, y Alonso. Ema, Manu, Nicole, Paloma, Feru, Maria José, Josefa y todos los otros chiquillos dulces a la Iglesia Providencia...



I seriously could go on and on and on because of the time I spent there and the love I received and all the things I left out but for now, tonight, that's it. That's my Chile, and I love it all.