Magical Moment

Boy has this been a fun filled week! Went to a famous chilean bar for the first time and tried their famous drink called the "terremoto" which translates to "earthquake" because it is so strong after one of them you definitely feel like the world is moving a little bit...

I also had a sushi night with a bunch of chileans I didn't know but we were invited by a friend of a friend and so we went! We made sooooooo many rolls of vegetarian sushi (they're all vegetarians) and they were amazing and really fun to make! tip: the key to good sushi is good rice.

I went to a spa with Francisca because her parents sent her a massage and spa day with a friend for her birthday and..... I am her friend :)   It was actually kind of a shock to the system though because it was in a really ritzy hotel in the nicest part of Santiago and it just magnified to me the inequality that is present in Santiago... compared to where I do my work with the kids this was an ENTIRELY different world.  We definitely did not feel like we belonged there and you can only imagine how goober-esk we looked in the bathrobes and swim caps we had to wear in the pool haha

Franzie with a Chai Latte at a cafe today

Lastly, I had one of the coolest experiences I've had working with the kids.  We had three adoptions this week which is so amazing to see because the parents are always so excited and emotional and the kids are sooooo happy to have so much personal attention.  We also got a new child on Tuesday who came to us from another home where he had been for a year already.  This other home houses 98 children who they keep in cribs all day long regardless of their age because they don't have enough resources to play with them (difference between a government and a private home).  He is only 2 years old.... He was super shy and nervous and petrified obviously to be in this new place so we were trying to ease him into it all and we hadn't heard him say anything so we weren't sure if he knew how to talk or not.  Another little girl brought me a book to read to her and although I began reading it she quickly got bored and ran away.  I noticed that Dillon (the new kid) had been scooting closer though and listening to the book.  I asked him if he wanted to read with me and he even came over and sat on my lap.  I began to read a super simple book that repeated the words "dos" and "osos" a million times.  I started hearing this little noise every time I said either of those words.  Then I realized that it was Dillon repeating the words I was reading.  He could talk! He had just been too shy before.  He still wasn't really talking but he was mouthing the words and whispering them.  I began to ask him to say more words and he repeated every single one of them.  We then read that same book about 15 times because he liked it so much :) It was just a really incredible feeling and moment to share with him and to know that I had had a small yet significant role in helping this child feel comfortable in the big scary world that he was faced with every day.

P.S Esa es mi amiga Marcela! No he hablado mucho de ella pero es Chilena y estaba en California cuando yo llegué (I swear to you all that spanish sentence just came out when I started typing about her because i was thinking in Spanish and didn't realize it was spanish until half way through the sentence ha YAYAY!)

But anyway this is my friend Marcela! I haven't talked much about her for some reason but she is Chilean and was in California when I arrived here in Chile.  I met her family through my host family my first week here and her mom put me in contact with her.  She stayed with Joey in Berkeley and then when she finally got back to Chile we met and have been really good friends since! We are VERY VERY different people but somehow it works and its really cool to have a friend that is so different then I am yet who I really get along with. Anyway, now you've met Marcela!

I FOUND A BAGEL

Holaaaa! This weekend we had a long weekend because we didn't have class on thursday because it was the Dia de los Trabajadores (Day of the workers).  There were a bunch of marches going on to better workers rights and drawn awareness to the fact that there are still a tonnnnn of inequalities going on.  I was in Valparaiso on Wednesday night for the the birthday of one of Francisca's old housemates and when we woke up we heard all the marches protests going on but we didn't actually see them ha.  Valparaiso was beautiful once again and the houses are sooooo cool inside.  Their house was completely wood and just had a really cool design.  I can't really explain it but it was beautiful.  We also went and walked down near the port and there is a place where you can watch sealions and it reminded me of home and made me really happy :) That whole floating thing in the picture below is COVERED in them and they were also swimming around and it was really entertaining watching them jump up there. 

I also went on a "field trip" with my exchange program that was really really interesting.  We went and explored four of the poorest neighborhoods with a man who is from one of them and is really involved in bettering the situation of the poor working class in Chile.  He fights to claim land for them and get the government to build better parks, houses neighborhoods in general for them.  It felt weird to drive through these neighborhoods with a big purple bus as if we were tourists looking at the poor areas like they were some type of rare tourist attraction or something.... my friend and I brought this up with our director who was on the trip and he explained that this was the first time they were profiting from this and that in reality they were happy about it because they wanted to spread awareness about their cause.  Lastly he brought up the point that we were with a community member as our "guide" and that in reality that was the only way we could do it.  In one of the neighborhoods we couldn't get off of the bus at all because he didn't have a "contact" in the neighborhood and our director explained that in these parts of the town it can be seen as a threat to show up in a different neighborhood with a bunch of people, especially a bunch of gringos and that it would actually be dangerous for us because we would be such a huge target for pick pocketing or jump aggression.  Anyway I thought that was incredibly interesting.  We also saw the difference between the community government housing made by the Pinochet regime and the presidents that have come after him compared to the community housing made by Allende before the coup and it was truly incredible to see the difference.  I wish I had pictures but the Pinochet houses looked like jails and were 30 square meters while the Allende houses were 150 square meters I believe and looked like actual houses with porches and dignity... it was crazy!

Also went to dinner at the Del Rio's house which is the family that Grandma Bertie put me in contact and they are just so nice and fun to be around.  Their oldest son Martin is still my best chilean friend that I have haha.  Its incredible to me that Grandma's random contact ended up being my best chilean friend.  He is also hoping to move to the states next year and is PROBABLY coming to the bay area so that is really really exciting!

Lastly, had some good solid time with Fran and Nerea which was great :) (In case I haven't talked about her yet Nerea is one of my housemates who is also studying at my university and is from Murcia, España.

Cuddle time :)

Las abuelitas spent our saturday night with hot chocolate, knitting and Harry Potter

Then this morning we started a tradition of Sunday Brunch and went to a cafe we'd heard about from some people.  We went because we heard that they had........ BAGELS!!!!!!! They actually had real bagels! I ate a bagel with locks and tomato and I was oh so very happy.  We also got nutella cheesecake and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good.  I was in heaven as Im sure you can all imagine

This is Nerea with a mocha that was almost completely chocolate haha.  

Love to you all!