I'm way over due to be writing to you all...I hope you know that despite my delinquency, I've been thinking about you often! Here's an update on the what I've been doing the past month and what lies ahead.
Paula and Amelia arrived on July 10th, and I immediately went to Viña to spend time with them as soon as school let out. I had a great time hanging out with Paula and her family in Viña for a week, including eating lots and spending time with close friends, before Mom arrived the following week. It was amazing to see how much my little niece has grown in the past six months. She just turned two on July 9th and is already turning into a little girl. I kept wondering, what happened to the little baby Amelia?! But how fun it is to spend time with her and watch her talk and goof off. She has an incredible spirit and lots of energy! She speaks Spanglish (which is to be expected with a Chilean Mommy and Gringo Daddy) and calls me 'Nauren'!! How cute is that? I love the 'n', and I'm impressed that she can pronounce the 'r'. I remember having difficulty with my own name until I was probably seven, haha.
When Mom arrived the following week, we hung out in Santiago for a night...just us two girls...then our adventure really began. The reason I say adventure is because Mom and I travelled almost the same way I've been traveling since being down here. She had to ride the metro with me across the city to get to the bus terminal and then take a bus to Viña. It was hilarious when we got to Viña because Amelia woke up about five minutes after we arrived, and her face was priceless when she saw her Gigi. I think she was a little confused to see her Gringa grandmother in Chile. She was so cute and so happy. While in Viña, we all celebrated Amelia's second birthday (for the second time, haha), went out for walks on the beach and through Valpo, and even got to have Once and a game night with all of the Cisternas' close family friends.
After four days in Viña, Mom and I hopped back on a bus to go to Santiago to catch a plane to Buenos Aires for five days. Once we got to BA, we were stuck in the airport for another hour because of course the hotel shuttle didn't arrive when it was supposed to. But when we got to the hotel, I was in amazement. As you all know, I've been staying in hostels and traveling in the cheapest way possible since coming to Chile, but thanks to my wonderful Daddio, we got to stay at the Marriott using his hotel points. I felt so spoiled! And of course Mom treated me to delicious meals the entire time we were there too. Unfortunately it was rainy and windy the first two days, but that didn't stop us from having an awesome time. We still had lots of laughs, went to an outstanding tango show and explored the whole city. Our favorite part, though, was our last night's dinner. We went to a fabulous steak restaurant right on the port and were treated like royalty. I don't know what aura we brought with us that night, but after the wait staff had already brought over a ton of delicious bread and complimentary appetizers, one brought over two glasses of champagne. I quickly turned to the waiter and said, 'Umm, we didn't order this' (in Spanish of course), and he said, 'It's on the house!'. We looked around and we were definitely the only people with champagne, but hey, it was free! We must've been super chic that night, hahah. And on top of that, we shared probably the best steak I've tasted in my life...mmm!
When we got back to Santiago, I had to go to work on Monday and Tuesday. Mom accompanied me both days, and I think she really enjoyed seeing where I spend most of my days. I even had a class of seniors that sang to her in English and Spanish (pictured above). They were full of themselves, but I couldn't help but laugh. Despite her fun with this particular class, I think Mom was a bit shocked about how the school systems are run down here...all the freedom the students have, no heat in any classrooms, no discipline, etc. But all-in-all, she enjoyed herself and probably realized even more how happy she is to be retired!
On Thursday morning, Matt arrived. I was so excited to pick him up after not having seen each other in five months. (Even though I had to leave my apartment at 6:30am to head to the airport! That was the happiest I've EVER been that early in the morning). Little did he know that once he set foot in Santiago, we had lots of things to do! We spent the first day with Mom going to a beautiful park called Santa Lucia followed by a typical Chilean meal in Bellavista. That evening we took Mom to the airport to catch her flight home. It was rough saying goodbye to her, Paula and Amelia, but fortunately I knew I had Matt to spend time with for five more days.
On Friday we didn't plan to do much but pick up my paycheck from school and go on a wine tour. Unfortunately when I arrived at school, my check wasn't there! Go figure...that's the second time it's happened where I almost haven't gotten paid. Oh Chile. After a couple hours of waiting and hanging out in my school's neighborhood, my check was finally ready and we headed down to the Concha y Toro Vineyard. We had a great time seeing where the famous wine is produced and enjoyed our taste-testing :)
On Saturday, though, our real adventure began. Matt, my friend Molly, and I took a tour bus up to Portillo, one of the most popular ski resorts in the world. Matt's friend, Justin, had coincidentally been skiing and training there for the past week, so he was really looking forward to meeting up with his friend from Vermont. Unfortunately, the bus was late leaving Santiago (so typical down here), so we didn't get up to the mountain until about noon. Matt was only able to see Justin for about five minutes, but that didn't stop him from having an amazing day on the slopes. I felt bad for not being able to accompany him on the expert slopes, but I guess that's what I get for having only skied twice in my entire life (once in WVa and once in NC). But to me, the view alone was worth it. I couldn't believe how incredibly gorgeous it was up in the Andes, covered in snow. I've never seen anything like it in my life.
Once we finished our day in the snow, we rushed back to Santiago to catch a bus to...guess where...the beach! Only in Chile can you be in the mountains and the beach on the same day!! We had a wonderful three days in Valparaíso, just hanging out and relaxing. I spend a ton of time in Viña and usually take day trips to Valpo, so it was cool to stay there for an extended period of time with him and really get to know the city. We had long lunches, rode the ascensors, walked up and down LOTS of stairs, went out for tea and dessert, and just enjoyed spending time together. It was funny not being able to put him on 'mute' for five days straight...we joke about this often since the majority of our relationship has been on Skype and sometimes there's feedback in the microphone, so we have to put one another on mute to talk. But seriously, I'm really looking forward to hanging out like a 'normal' couple when I get back in December :)
So now that all of my visitors have left me (well at least until September when Miss Kayla Jones gets here), I've finally gotten back into my normal routine...although I don't know if I can say normal because this semester is starting out busier than before! Fortunately the chaos at school has calmed down a little bit. We now have a permanent replacement for the teacher that quit, but were just informed that another English teacher is leaving the end of August to get her Masters at UMass. Sooo hopefully the school will have enough time to find a replacement this time around!
Also, I'm starting to work with my new host family's father on a side business. He is starting up a program to bring down university students to Chile to do internships. How cool would it be to do an international internship? I love the idea, and he wants me to be the USA 'relationship manager', so I'm going to help with making connections in the States and doing any interpreting/translating from Spanish to English. I'm so excited to be getting some international business experience in the upcoming months too! We have our first meeting Friday evening...we'll see how I do in a meeting conducted completely in Spanish...eek ;) Feel free to check out the website if you have a chance: www.regardingchile.cl
In addition, I'm going to be getting more involved at El Oasis helping with 'Café a lo Gringo'-an English cafe that they do each week for an hour to help Chilean university students practice their English. They usually play games, sing karaoke, or just chat, so I'm going to plan some new activities for that. I'm excited to get to know some of these university students better. I think in the long-run I'd prefer to work with this age group rather than K-12, so it'll be really cool to build relationships with some college kids down here.
And on top of all of that, tutoring continues on Wednesday evenings. Whew, this semester is going to fly faster than the first, I have a feeling! But I'm so excited about these amazing new opportunities I'll be having in the next four months.
Last thing, I'm moving in with my new host family on the 22nd! I'm super excited to live with the Soto family and learn more about the Chilean culture. My new Chilean Mom's name is Eva (pronounced Ava), Dad is Sergio, sister is Camila (17 years old) and brother is Sebastián (14 years old). Can't wait.
Thanks for all the continued prayers and sweet messages, cards and notes I've been receiving! I'm so grateful. Love and miss you lots!!
LG
