Beach Hike

Our team had some good friends and mentors come visit us a few weeks ago. We had a lot of intentional discussion time about our work and plans for the future, but we also had some fun eating yummy food and seeing some sites. One morning we went on a beautiful hike together. The trail wound around the coast and ended up at a secluded beach. It was a gorgeous day and a perfect way to spend time together. While there are not many touristy things to do in our city the surrounding area is a sight to see. There are some definite perks to living in such a beautiful area of the world.

Christmas Time Is Here

Well my friends it has been quite a while since I have blogged and a lot of things have happened since then but I will just let you read my newsletter to see those updates. If you don't get my monthly newsletters and would like to then just let me know in a comment.

An interesting cultural observation I have made lately is in relation to the Christmas season. Chileans seem to get into the Christmas spirit like we do in the US and I am happy about that. The malls and streets are decorated, many of my neighbors have decorated and are discussing a Christmas party. All of this is great, but here is the odd thing. It is summer here in the Southern Hemisphere so Christmas is not a winter holiday, but a summer one. Strange huh? Now luckily for me I am from Houston and so a white Christmas is not at all normal but to have Christmas in summer feels a little off. even for me.

Me and my cute little tree

What is more interesting is that despite Christmas being in the summer time here, many of the decorations are still centered around snow. They have icicle (had no idea that was how you spelled that by the way) lights, snowmen and snowflakes and Santa wears his big winter coat. Poor Santa, he must be so hot. Why don't they let him wear shorts? I think it is just because much of the commercialization of Christmas comes from the US where snow is often equated with Christmas but I just can't get into it. I am trying to mostly avoid the wintery decor.

My front door sign. Now every time I come home I start singing "Feliz Navidad..."

I am trying to get excited for Christmas though despite my worry that I will just feel sad to be so far from home and my family traditions. I am just praying to have opportunities to spend it with Chileans who might also not have people to spend it with. Can't wait to see how they celebrate!

Package

I received the most highly anticipated birthday gift of my life a few weeks ago. That's right, my birthday is in April and six months later my birthday package full of lots of goodies arrived, sent from my brother and sis-in-law.


You see, they sent it way back when I was living in Santiago. We waited and waited for it to come and it never showed. Eventually I left Santiago, but still called my apartment building every week to see if it had arrived. Nope. It never came and I eventually stopped calling. About 5 months later I get an email from my previous landlady. She said the building had called her and told her they had a package for me! You can imagine how surprised I was to hear this. Not only that it had ever arrived, but that they made the effort to try and get it to me. She told me they would give it to any gringo that came to ask for it. So I called on my very helpful friends in Santiago to pick it up for me. I had no idea how I would ever get it from them but at least I would know where it was. They got it for me and a few weeks later they had a friend traveling to Concepcion who brought it down. He ended up leaving it at his hotel for me to pick up.


So six months later my package, passed through who knows how many hands, finally arrived. It had the tape all around it that lets you know customs opened it so they must have been the ones who slowed things down. Shannon thinks she put velveeta cheese in the package and maybe that is what they stopped it for. It was not in the package but we will never really know.


When I finally got to open it I was so thrilled. There were so many great goodies inside including the highly prized hand made converse all star house shoes. Those of you who know my sis-in-law will not be surprised at how cute they are but really, they are so adorable and I almost don't want to wear them for fear of messing them up.


Thanks for the birthday gifts. You better go ahead and send my gifts for next year now! :)

"the most delicious fruit known to men."

I have recently discovered the wonder that is the cherimoya fruit. I have heard of it since I have been in Chile and even had cherimoya flavored ice cream, but until recently I had not tried it. Once I did, my life was changed. It is delicious!


You can learn more about it on the Wikipedia page, but know that from experience I can tell you it is as good as it sounds. The outside of the fruit is tough but the inside is sweet, creamy and smooth, kind of like coconut but much better tasting. Many people eat it straight out of the skin like a bowl. The seeds are pretty big, kinda almond like, and are easy to pick out. It is native to South American but is grown in other places around the world where it has been transplanted too. It must not be too common though because I had never heard of it until coming to Chile and I don't think it ships well so it is not exported very much.

It has recently come back into season and I have really been enjoying eating it. I cannot wait to share it with visitors when they come. Everyone enjoys a good, exotic fruit, right?

The Visit

Well it's another rainy day here in Concepcion and if it weren't for my cold house I probably wouldn't mind at all. We have been having beautifully sunny days lately which make the rainy days much more bearable. But I am not here to blog about the weather. I want to tell you about my parent's visit!

They came for a 10 day visit and we had a great time. It was their first trip to South America and it went pretty smoothly. It was so great to have them here. They enjoyed getting to see my life here and I enjoyed getting to show them around. I had a good mixture of activities planned for us to keep us busy and yet there was plenty of down time to just relax and be together.

They brought me all sorts of goodies, from them and friends at home

Hanging around the house, warm by the fire

We spent some of our time doing home improvement projects that I needed help with including hanging things on my walls, sealing my doors, planting new plants for spring and installing fire alarms. My dad also taught me how to drive a standard car so that I can drive here if I need to. It was challenging at first but by the end of their trip I was feeling more confident. I do not plan on buying a car any time soon but now if I do I will be able to drive it!

I learned how to use a drill. Watch out!

We love gardening

Another part of our time was spent seeing the "sights" around Conce. I put sights in quotes because this is not the most touristy town. In fact, there is very little sight seeing to do but I just showed them some of the normal activities that Chileans like to do and we really enjoyed it. We also took a little day trip out of the city to see some waterfalls about 2 hours away. The drive was beautiful and so were the falls. It was nice to get out of the city and see something new.

Waterfalls

Huge tree on our hike through the park

Plaza de Armas- the central plaza in Conce

At the cold beach

At the natural history museum

The rest of our time was just spent hanging out, taking trips to the grocery store and mall, watching movies, cooking, eating out and doing crosswords. It was so nice to have family to be around, to take a little break from my normal life, to share my life and new home with my parents and to have visitors in my home. My house sure has seemed quiet since they left.

Trying a popular Chilean treat-Nalca. It was...interesting...

My parents embracing the Chilean's love of hotdogs

Cruising the local market

We made lunch with fresh fish from the market

Enjoying some team time at a local seafood place on the beach

I think they really enjoyed their visit and were already talking about their next trip. Hopefully my brother and s-law can come on that one too! Sometimes it is hard having this life here that the people I am closest to are not a part of but this was a great chance to get to share it with them. I am so thankful they were able to come.

Bio Bio Region- This is where I live!

Anyone else who wants to come visit, I promise to show you a good time! Maybe I can find some new sights to see by then.

Food!!!!

The theme of Chilean Independence Day seemed to be food. Look at all the food I ate. Wow!

Grilling out at the neighborhood party

The spread at the neighborhood party

Asado at Marco and Kathys

Choripan (Chorizo in bread), my favorite

Mote con Huesillo (see previous post)

Anticucho (kabob) at the city party

The grills at the city party

Churro con manjar (aka dulce de leche)

So what did I do Independence Day weekend? I ate. :)

I'm Excited

I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately. Not because I haven't been doing anything but I have just gotten into a somewhat normal routine (or as normal as you can get here). There are a few things going on or coming up in the future that I am excited about so let me share.

1. Spring is here! I don't know if I would say the weather is warm yet but it is warmer. We still have cold, rainy days, but they are mixed in more and more with warm, sunny days and I am thrilled. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is the real deal here and because of the new changes that is starting to fade and the excitement of a new season and new life is here. Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, people are coming out of hibernation and I try to spend as much time outside as I can. I am excited for Spring and then summer!

2. I have been attending a yoga class once a week to get me out among new people and doing something healthy. It is a little different than yoga in the US but I am really starting to get used to it and enjoy it. Some of the other students are regulars so I am slowly getting to know them and my teacher is just thrilled to have an extrajera in her class. I am excited for yoga class!

3. This weekend is Chilean Independence Day weekend. Sept. 18 is the actual day but the festivities begin Friday and go till Monday. I have a party with my neighbors, a party with friends and I plan on going to the city wide party as well. Chileans LOVE Dieciocho and really get into it with performing the national dance, decorating anything possible (cars, streets, stores, parks, etc.). This will be my first Deiciocho so I am excited to soak in all the culture and time with friends.

4. My parents are coming in 12 days! That's right the padres will be visiting me here in Chile for the first time ever and we are all (me, them and my teammates) excited. It is going to be so fun to finally get to involve them in my life here in person by showing them where I live, what I eat, where I shop, and what I do. We are going to do normal daily activities around the neighborhood and city but also going to do some tourist stuff that I have yet to do. I am excited to see my parents very soon as it has been about 8 months since I have seen them.

Lot's of exciting things are happening here in Conce and I will keep you up-to-date as they occur!

I Heart Chile

These are just a few things I love about living in Chile:

- I don't have to pay for gas or car insurance, I just hop in a car and someone takes me where I want to go.

- It is so easy to go to the doctor, much less waiting and you actually just see the doctor, no nurses to do their bidding.

- They changed to the summer time schedule in August so we are already getting more daylight.

- I like that question marks and exclamation points are at the beginning and end of the sentence so you know what you are getting into when you start reading.

- Once- the name of the Chilean dinner. They eat a big lunch and then basically just little sandwiches and tea for dinner. It is so simple and they all love it.

- Chileans like to stay up late and sleep late. Me too.

- Beautiful nature is everywhere. You should see the trees here. Gorgeous!

- You never feel like a Chilean doesn't want to spend time with you. If you go to their house and only stay 4 hours they will say "leaving so soon?"

- People here are passionate. They see a change that needs to be made and they will make that known to all and won't stop until they get what they want.

- Chileans enjoy being outside. Sometimes and rains and rains for days, but as soon as the sun comes out someone is always outside soaking it up. They love washing their cars, playing soccer and going to the parks just to be outside.

Living here is hard sometimes because of how different it is from my own culture, but it is not all bad. Chilean culture has a lot of great things to offer that I am loving taking a part of and learning about.

First Team Retreat

It is often noted that missionaries do not do a good job of taking care of themselves. They get so busy taking care of others personal and spiritual lives that they neglect their own. With this in mind our team has implemented team retreats where we get away for a few days for some peace and quiet, some escape, some spiritual renewal, some vision brainstorming, and some good team fun time. We just had our first one of these and it was a huge success. I know we are not overwhelmingly busy in work right now but we sure are overwhelmed so this was just what we needed. Here are a few pictures to share our time and so you can be jealous of the beautiful location we went to.

View from our cabin

We had some good team time

We had some good quiet time

And we had some good nature time

We laughed at ourselves and the silly things we have done since being here with team awards

We attempted to go hiking in a national park nearby but it was too snowy on the road to get there

So we just enjoyed the snow around us and went for a little walk in it until we got too cold to go on

And we still got to see some pretty gorgeous views anyways

Missing Out Part Two

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about missing out. Then I was mainly referring to people's lives that I was missing out on. Today I have been thinking about the silly, superficial things I have been missing lately while in the depths of culture shock. Here are just a few. Think about what your life would be like without them.

- Listening to the radio in the car (or having a car)
- Canned beans ( they make recipes so easy)
- Fast Food (the conveinence and yumminess of it)
- Cheddar cheese, oh it is so glorious you have no idea until you don't have it
- Paying bills online (as opposed to having to wait in a line at the grocery store)
- Watching TV shows on a TV rather than my computer
- Chips and salsa at a restaurant
- Free refills
- Being able to call my mom or BFF while walking or shopping
- American Football
- Double pained windows
- A heater
- Dry air
- Knowing how to get around

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer lately. I really am doing ok. Just missing stuff.

BBC Is Where It's At

I still remain opinionless on all the Chilean education protests but I thought this article from BBC was interesting and informative. Mainly what I am thinking is, that I sure am glad I don't live in Santiago anymore. My old apartment was almost directly on the protest march route and let's not forget the tear gas incident in the metro. That was nothing compared to what is happening now, so I've heard. I do not live close to downtown Conce or any of the universities so I usually don't even know they are happening anymore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14487555

Missing Out

Well I dont mean to be a downer but I need to share one of the negative realities of being a missionary. Missing out. I now have my life here and it is great and moving along, but also life back in the US continues on without me. I know you must be thinking "duh Deanna, did you think it would not?" And of course I knew it would, but it is still an adjustment from knowing that life would move on to it actually happening and me watching from afar.

Friends have babies, family gets together, friends get engaged and married, people move to new cities, people loose jobs. I am not there to experience any of that with them and sometimes it just stinks. I know I made the decision to come here and I would not give that up, but that does not make the hard times any easier. I wish I could be there with my friends and family during important things. I guess it is mainly a selfish desire because I know they will get along fine without me, but I want to be there to experience it all with them. We are told mission work is difficult and requires great sacrifices but also is so rewarding and worth all the work. I am beginning to see those rewards but that does not make the sacrifices hurt any less.

Feliz Navidad

Well as I mentioned our team celebrated Christmas in July this week. It was kind of a way to cope with our culture shock and our seasonal confusion that comes along with living in the Southern Hemisphere. The weather treated us well as it was cold and rainy and we just had a great time. In typical Christmas fashion we made tons of sweets, hung out at the house all day eating, talking, opening gifts and watching movies. It was a wonderful day and a great trial run for making all our tasty treats for the real Christmas. Check out some photos from the day!

Making cookies on "Christmas Eve" while watching Christmas Vacation

Our "Christmas" tree whose origin shall remain a secret

Me sitting by the "fire" with our gifts for White Elephant

Everyone happy with what the opened or stole

Our yummy sweets. We also ate glazed ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls and a pineapple dish.

David Bowden: "Diversity's Symphony"

Christmas in July

Because most of us associate Christmas with cold weather and all our calendars are thrown off since it is July and it is cold, we have decided to celebrate Christmas in July. We are not trying to make this THE Christmas and combine all our family traditions, but instead, trying to make this more of a team tradition to help with the confusion. The party is going to be on Monday, July 25, which makes today Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve. Haha.

All that to say, you Christmas lovers be jealous. I am listening to Christmas music in July and I do not feel like a freak. It really sets the mood. I wonder if they listen to Feliz Navidad here like we do in the US... Probably not.

Next up: making fudge and decorating cut out cookies.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Now In The News

I am learning that Chileans really love to protest, at least the young people do. I hear it is drive by the fact that they (or their parents) grew up under a dictator and now they have free speech and they are going to use it in whatever way they can. And hey, as long as they stay peaceful I say more power to them. I don't really get it but it actually works more than you would think it would.


Remember those dam protests a few months back? Well, the work on the dams was postponed because of protests. I think that is pretty impressive. I guess then Chilean government is one that responds to the voice of the people (or at least the people yelling on the streets) so that is kinda cool.


So the newest protest hitting the streets and making the news is about education. Please do not quote me on any of this because I have asked many people about this many times and I only have a gist of what is going on. It has something to do with the cost of education and the students are not happy about it. They quit going to school a few weeks ago and will not return until they get what they want. This means all students in public schools, high school and college, are on strike. That's right. They stopped going, took over their buildings and are in a waiting game with the governement. The gov promised $4 billion to help releave some of the costs but that was not good enough. I hear another offer will be made this week. Hopefully they agree to it.


I have been told a number of time many of the details of what they want but I just do not understand the educational system here enough to really get it. To me, a university should cost money because that helps the education be higher quality but maybe their universities do not offer much financial aid or something like that. I really just don't know so I am not picking a side but what I do think is sad is the state of the campuses. As you can see from the pictures of the Univ. of Concepcion, they really have taken over and totally messed up their beautiful campus. And even though the students are on strike they are all over the campus, shouting things, and hanging out in their department buildings (the English students invited us to come join them and we could all practice English and Spanish together, nice thought but I don't plan on joining in protest thank you very much).


It is all very fascinating to me and I am very interested to hear the outcome and see if they ever go back to school.