Hola a todos! I hope you've all enjoyed your weekend (and the heat!) I had a wonderful weekend in Viña with Paula's family...or as I like to refer to them, my Chilean family. I was, once again, spoiled with lots of love, laughter and food. I arrived Friday evening and Sonia picked me up from the bus terminal. She informed be that both Daniel and Panchy wouldn't be home until late, so it was just us girls for a bit! My British friend, Rebecca, was also coming in town, so we picked her up a little later when her bus finally made it from her small town of Los Andes. Poor thing was dropped off on the side of the road because the bus she took only stops in Valparaíso. Fortunately, Viña is small enough that it only took us about five minutes to find her.
After a delicious home-cooked meal and chatting around the dinner table (until about midnight...dinners are late here), we all crashed. Saturday morning we had a big breakfast and then Sonia took us gringas around Viña and Reñaca for a bit. We lucked out with sunny weather, so even though it was a bit windy and chilly, we were able to walk around comfortably for a little while. Later we came home for another delicious meal and after met up with our friends on the huge sand dunes in Concon. For those of you that knew me back in high school, you probably remember me talking about these sand dunes when we came down to Chile for Todd and Paula's wedding. For the rest of you, you wouldn't believe how high these things are! They make the sand dunes in North Carolina look like ant hills. We struggled to get up to the top with our boards we rented for about a $1 per half hour. When we finally made it up, though, it was worth the struggle. We looked out to the Pacific and then inland and could see for, what seemed like, miles. After a few minutes of taking in the scenery and catching our breath, we hopped on our boards and went 'sand sledding' back down to the bottom. It was so much fun! But let me just warn you if you ever go sledding on sand, don't scream because you will have a mouth full of sand! By the time we went up and back down a couple more times, I was wiped. On my last ride, though, I somehow got the BIGGEST clump of sand down my pants...and by that I mean underwear. Ugh, talk about uncomfortable! I had to do a few shakes walking around at the bottom of the dunes so it would fall out...classy, I know.
Then today we went to the Cisternas' church and headed over to Gaby's parents' house for lunch afterwards. It was wonderful seeing all of their friends again! They are such an amazing group of people and always make me feel so welcome. After eating paella and two desserts, time had flown and it was time for me to get on the bus to head back to Santiago. I have to admit, I got really sad today when I was getting on the bus today. It really is incredible how much family and community can impact your life. I just love being with my Chilean family and being a part of their world that I didn't want to come back to the big city.
When I got on the bus, I started doing some more thinking and remembered a quote from a book I've been reading. The author, Donald Miller, says, "...the times in my life when I have been most happy haven't been the times when I've had the most money or the most freedom or the most anything, but rather when I've been in love or in community or right with people." That's so true. As that quote popped in my head, I thought back again to all the times in my life I remember being happiest. They're always when I'm in community. All of my favorite memories are of people and time we've spent together...not the things we had nor exactly where we were or what we were doing...but just being together. I've definitely been having an amazing time down here, but since I'm living alone in a huge city, I miss that sense of community. When I go to Viña, I get a part of that back...and it's so refreshing. I'm so fortunate to have them down here, and I can't wait to go back soon.
On another note, I have less than a month until winter break! (Yes, winter break in July, so weird). I've been a bit resfriada (had a cold and sore throat) this past week with the change in weather, and with one of the English teachers out at my school, I'm looking forward to relaxing. (We've also had five cases of the swine flu at my school, so I'm ready to get away from the germ-y students for a while). However, before I call it a night, I have another confession...so I was working with a substitute teacher in 11th and 12th grade this past week since one of the teachers was out, and, well, I got a little bit of joy out of how my students were acting. This is going to sound awful, but you see, they were all clinging to me the whole week because I don't think they particularly liked her. (She was a very nice lady, and we actually hit it off quite well, but the students weren't huge fans). So every class I went to, they all wanted just me to work with them and help them. They weren't super nice to her, so I feel bad saying all of this, but I just loved feeling more connected to my students! Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually impacting them because they all know I'm only here for a year, but the last few weeks I've been feeling much closer to them. They come up to me all the time outside of class and strike up conversations in class now too. It's a cool feeling. Anyway, I tried not to encourage their behavior this past week, but I secretly got a kick out of it. Haha okay enough confessing tonight, please don't judge me!!
Love you all very much, and please know that I'm always thinking of you!
Grace and peace on your week,
LG
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