Ohhhh Chile how I'll Miss You

The 14th is approaching too fast and today I felt especially nostalgic. It's going to be a hard transition but I'm going to make the best of it. I'm going to recap below...

Things I'll Miss
1. The city lights and smells
2. The street dogs
3. The men selling ice cream on the street corners
4. Cheap cookies and fruit
5. Sleeping in (yes, i've finally learned how)
6. Avocado at least once a day
7. Watching all the teen boppers in their school uniforms with their mullet hair
8. The ocean
9. The amazing people I have met here
10. Walking around JUMBO
11. The vibrant night life
12. The people and their willingness to help
13. Mc Donalds soft serve ice cream (yes, its better here)
14. The crazy colectivo drivers
15. Riding on a Micro, standing and trying not to lose my balance

Favorite Memories
1. Torres del Paine..."Goodnight American SWeethearts"
2. Making shakshuka and apple crisp with amazing friends
3. Tall Itay and Short Itay (our friends from Israel)
4. Watching Grey's on Monday afternoons
5. Running a 5k in Santiago
6. Walking around the hills in Valpo (the good parts and the bad parts)
7. The border crossing on my way to Mendoza
8. Being proposed to by 4 16yr olds while teaching english
9. Working at the Colegio with a 3rd grade class
10. DAncing SALSA
11. CAmping on the beach in Horcon
12. Salamanca...the amazing food, views, and people
13. Climbing a volcano
14. Making breakfast pizza with Chileans

Things I've Learned
1. Its ok to tip people performing on the streets....its how they make a living
2. Always wear your backpack on the front
3. Be patient, go with the flow
4. The three greatest things in life: Friends, Food, Dancing
5. Sometimes you need to forget about the work you have...it will get done...and live in the moment, spending your time experiencing the culture, learning about life, and building relationships
6. 6 inches of fries topped with meat and egg will not kill you
7. Walking is one of the best ways to get to know a place
8. Treasure every moment and do what makes you happy rather than what you think others want you to do (although it is important to consider)
9. It's ok to sit around at the table for 3 hours talking
10. Talk to people, learn about them and their stories
11. Don't think you have plenty of time to "do it later" ... if you want to do something, learn something, experience something , do it now.

ok, enough of this sappy Blog....just some thoughts before I make the trip home. HOWDY to the family in NY....wish i could be there this week!!

Salamanca Amazingness

Hey everyone! Wow, time is flying by here, and i'm starting to feel panicked with all the things i want to do still!! This past weekend was a good one. On Friday I got up early and went on an all day field trip with a 3rd grade class that i've been going to weekly. The field trip was for my social geography class, a class that places groups of students in different public schools to do projects with a class throughout the semester. It was so much fun to spend the day with kids.





First we went to the University and gave them a tour and did science experiments. We then took a bus to another building and played games and had lunch. The kids loved it and it was so good to see them happy. THey all come from a very poor neighborhood in valpo. A number of them didn't have coats and a few of the girls didn't have stockings to wear under their skirts (mind you its about 40 degrees here). I've attached some pictures of the kids below. I'm goign to miss them. After the field trip I hopped on a bus to Salamanca to meet Erin, Maren, DAve, and Ale, the Chilean brother of Erin. It was a 6 hour ride and I sat next to this nice man that was from Salamanca. We talked the whole time about EVERYTHING. He has lived in numerous towns in Chile and has decided to retire in Salamanca. It was so interesting to hear his stories and was nice to have someone to talk to for the ride up.
Salamanca was AMAZING. Ale's parents have a house in the country at a vineyard but htey live in town. The house i s HUGE and beautiful. I got there around 11pm and Erin and Maren had just made vino navegado (hot wine with cinnamon, sugar, and oranges). It was just what I needed after being out in the cold. The fire was going and we spent the night talking and playing cards. The next morning we went for a hike up a mountain. It was BEAUTIFUL out and the first time I've been warm in months. The mountain was filled with cacti and by the end of the trip our legs looked like they had gotten in a fight with a cat. That night we cooked Shashuka and apple crisp....yummmmm.....The next morning we made fresh squeezed OJ w/ oranges right off the tree and made french toast for lunch / breakfast. It was so relaxing and I wish we could've stayed longer! Ok, I suppose that is all. I hope everyone is well!

Suenos and Cerros

Hola everyone! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! Things are moving SUPER fast here and I can't believe my time is coming to an end! School is looking good, except for my cine class...blah. On Friday I went out with some of the other Luther ladies to a vegetarian restaurant on cerro Alegre in Valpo. It was SO SO good! AND it was actually warm inside...the Chileans don't believe in central heating. We each ordered something called a SUENO (dream). Its this brownie like cookie topped with the richest chocolate sauce imaginable. It truly was a sueno. I will definitely have to go back there before I leave!
Last night I went walking through the cerros (hills) of Valpo with one of the chileans I know. We started on Cerro Mariposa (in the center of the city) and walked for two hours on an Avenue called Avenida Alemania. The first hour or so we were in the upper class area with AMAZING houses. THey reminded me of doll houses and were all different shapes and colors....I wish my camera worked! Its amazing how much things can change between cerros. We turned the corner and were in a poorer district of Valpo. This is when my friend said, "if someone tries to assault you, give them everything." and promptly followed by saying, "you said you wanted to walk the cerros tonight, so i figured I'd give you the whole experience." At this point i was a bit nervous...It's not like I stick out or anything..haha. So we're walking on this street that is NOT lighted amongst run down houses and numerous stray dogs. In the end I was glad I got to see the real Valpo but at the time I was feeling pretty nervous. So we're walking and these guys start throwing rocks at us from above and yelling. All the sudden I see bright flashes of light and hear loud popping. It was only fire crackers but I was FREAKING OUT. So we keep walking and I figured that we were going to head down. I was wrong. We crossed into a better section for a while and I felt a little more relaxed. After about 15 min he warned me that this next section was a dangerous one and again told me to give up every thing if someone asks for it. yikes. So I felt like I was holding my breath for the next 15 minutes while walking through this area. We walked past some cops doing a drug bust and continued up the cerro. FINALLY we reached the end of the avenue and sat down to look at the port. It was such a beautiful view. We then headed down and took a micro back to vina where I had a McDonald's burger and tea...odd combo. It was a great night, and I'm so glad I got to experience all of valpo, I'm also glad that nothing happed.
Today the sun is out, YESSSS. I'm going to hopefully spend the day writing a paper...if I can focus, which is rare. I suppose thats all. Miss everyone
Love Cristina

Churiana and Walking in the Rain

Dad, you would be proud....I tried/ate something called Churiana today...let me start from the beginning. I met my friend Jaime in Valpo for a fun filled night. We took the trolley down town and he showed me around one of the marine buildings where his dad works. It was amazing...SO OLD. It is a building for all the generals and ex generals to go and hang out and socialize....defiantly a different class of people. The bar inside was only for men so i was just allowed to peak my head in...a weird feeling. ANYWAYS, then we walked up this little alleyway to this hole in the wall restaurant...this is where I was introduced to Churiana. Churiana consists of a heaping pile (about 6 in tall) of the greasiest french fries known to man topped with eggs, steak, and onions. It was...GREAT. Sounds gross, I know, and I wish i could say that I didn't like it, but man oh man it was excellent. So yes, I ate a HEAPING plate of fries, stake, onions, and egg...which will explain the Chile 20 (instead of freshman 15...haha). Anyways, then we walked to this coffee shop on top of one of the hills in valpo. It was AMAZING. The coffee was real and the view was incredible. We talked a ton about Chile and the different social systems here and just enjoyed the FREEZING COLD night. Then we walked around valpo for a while, JAime is a tourism major so he knows all the places to go in the hills. I love this city, its so unique. We then took a bus to Playa Ancha about 5 min away. We went to his university which is having a strike right now. The students take the university, sleep in it, cook in it, have parties, and rallies. They have a whole system of doing things...people are appointed to be security guards, cooks, cleaners, and much more. Anyways, we stopped in to check it out. There were about 2000 people there, hanging out, sleeping , talking, eating, etc...what a sight. Then we walked by the water for about 2 hours....1 of those hours being POURED on...BRRRRRR. But it was SO SO fun and so beautiful by the water. What an adventure. Now i'm beat and heading to bed. yay. Hope everyone is doing well

A Little Taste of the Bolder Boulder

What a weekend. As many of you know, the Bolder Boulder is a big deal in our family...and last Monday every time I looked at my watch I would think "they just took off," or "here come the elite runners," or "now they are cooking for the bar b que." I was bummed that I missed it but this weekend gave me a little taste of what it would've been like. Erin, Ale (erin's host bro), Amy, and I took off for Santiago on Sat. afternoon. When we got there we went straight to the stadium to pick up our runner packets. The stadium is located in the foothills of the Andes and could easily be confused for Boulder. We got these AWESOME long-sleeved dry fit t-shirts and immediatly tried them on when we got home :). Walking into the tent was like walking into a different country. There were actually ATHLETES there ....with REAL running shoes! SO EXCITING. Anyways, we made our way back to Ale's apartment and headed to the nicest mall I've ever seen to eat shushi....YUM, I tried octopus, pretty sure its my new favorite food. Then we bought Ice cream and cookies and had a relaxing night in the appt. The next AM Erin and I got up super early to get the FULL EXPERIENCE. We got to the stadium and were close to the first runners to arrive. We waited around for about 1.5 hours before AEROBICS got started...yes, aerobics. There was this big stage with these three women leading aerobics for the 1000 runners in their matching t shirts. IT was SO FUN! I laughed the whole time, thinking that this would never happen at home. We finally got ready to start. The starter was talking about the race while we were on the line and all i caught was first we were going to bajar (go down hill) and then subir (go up hill). So we start bajaring and then after about 200 meters get to the first hill. It was a short one, and the trail flattened out pretty quickly. Little did we know, the worst was to come. About 5 min later we were running up the longest hill of my life. At one point we walked because we were able to go faster than running. AFter a while we started down hill and got to cruise the last 3km. Erin and I were 2 and 3 and after crossing the finish line had cameras and mics shoved in our faces ....they soon realized that speaking spanish after a race would be difficult and promptly focused on the next runner coming in. Over all , it was a BLAST and I wish I could do the next 3 (argentina, uraguay, argentina). Hmmm, I guess its a thought. :) I've attached pics below. MARCUS congrats on the graduation! I suppose that's all for now. Time to get back to work. C.

Post race....grrrrrrrr

Start/finish line

Andes mountains

Post race in our SWEET LUTHER-BLUE T SHIRTS