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!