This past week was pretty mellow, except for the parts where it wasn't, but hey, that's just life right?
We started off strong on Sunday by going to mass with Gonzy, my host brother, and Abuela. Genuinely, I enjoy going to church in Chile. It makes me feel a little more connected with Quillota and my host family in general.
Also, I've found that it is a really excellent way to practice Spanish because I know, or am at least a little bit familiar, with most of the stories in the Bible and with a lot of the prayers. This means that Spanish becomes more of a matching game for me instead of a deciphering exercise. That probably sounds like it might be cheating at language learning but I pinky promise it actually works great. You see, if I have a bit of context on a situation and know more or less what is "supposed" to be said, then it allows me to translate words contextually and not just directly, which arguably is the more important translation.
Anyways, enough of that rabbit hole. I had a good time at church. The sermon was good and I got to spend time with Gonzy and Abuela who are some of my favorite people in Chile so my heart was happy.
That same evening, right as I was heading into the house after everyone was getting done with closing the restaurant, my host brother, Nacho, and one of the life guard girls, Anto, called out to me.
"Anna, come on hurry up!" which was then followed by some big arm waving gestures.
I had no idea what was happening but I'm not about to say no to an adventure, so I hopped in the car and off we went.
Turns out, the lifeguard crew, which includes Nacho, Anto, a boy about my age named Amaro, and another young man named Vincent (We call him Vicho, pronounced Bee-cho, which in Spanish means bug, so just let that help you paint your mental image) who's probably 25 or so, were all going out to get cheeseburgers and Anto thought it would be nice to invite me along.
I am very grateful she did because it was very fun. This excursion happened to coincide with a rare Chilean summer phenomenon of a lightning storm as well, so as we were sitting waiting for our burgers we got to watch bright flashes of lightning strike across a darkening Chilean sky. There was lots of "oooing" and "aaahing" as the rays struck down on some nearby hills, as well as a fair amount of Chilean cussing which was funny. I want to clarify that I say Chilean cussing, not Spanish because Chilean's really do have their entirely unique way of swearing that is not replicated in any other Spanish speaking country.
After that, we brought Anto home and Nacho was determined to find a place to eat some ice cream because he was craving it but alas, we did not succeed in that mission and had to return home empty handed. Good news though, he did find some severely freezer burnt, poor imitation of ice cream in the freezer and munched on that. It honestly hurt my soul a little bit to watch him eat it and call it ice cream. I swear to all things good and holy that I will never take for granted the delicious dairy products of New York after this year abroad. We truly are spoiled.
Somewhere within this week I went to pilates with a lady from the Quillota Rotary Club and her two daughters, Marty and Fran. I'm sorry I don't remember the specific day, time moves really weird during Chilean summer. Pilates itself was very fun and I'm so honored that they thought to invite me. It wasn't too challenging physically, but I did have some trouble with the directions and the instructor lady had to help me out, but she was very patient and kind so there was no problem. It was just a quick little outing one morning, however now I can say that I have done it.
The biggest event of this week happened on Wednesday. I went with a group of friends to Fantasilandia in Santiago. Essentially, it is the most American amusement park you could dream up, plopped into Chile's capital. The biggest difference I noticed is that the Chilean teenagers go absolutely wild for it, whereas in the U.S. all of the teenagers would act like they were too cool to go to an amusement park. This attitude adjustment really made the day that much more enjoyable.
To start off, I got up earlier than normal because I had to go to my friend Seba's house around 8:30 so I could ride with him to pick up the rest of the crew. He only lives 10 ish minutes away and Gonzy was kind enough to drive me because he was heading into Quillota around that time anyway to get a haircut. When I got there, Seba was making himself an iced coffee and offered to make me one to which I happily responded yes. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but sometimes in social situations such as these I like to indulge.
Anyway, after that we hit the road and picked up Ornella, her mom, and then Javi, Trini, Isi, and Anto, making the body count inside the car an illegal 9 people. That's how they roll in Chile though so don't get too concerned. I'm just assimilating to the culture.
The ride itself to Santiago was fine, except for the fact that for the last 40 minutes or so I had to pee really, really, really, bad but it all worked out because we stopped at a cute little cafe before heading into Fantasilandia because the food is insanely expensive inside.
When the park opened at 12pm, we were right there in the line ready to punch in our tickets and take the day by storm. The first ride of the whole day that we decided to go on was called the Boomerang because it pulled you way far back up a giant slope, and then flung you up and around upside down curves before doing the same thing on the other side and sending you right back. After that, we hit up basically every single other ride in the park, and a good majority of them twice.
One of my favorites was this giant swing that took you up so high that you could see a huge portion of Santiago and the Andes Mountains off in the distance. It made my heart swell up with pride for this beautiful country I get the privilege to experience.
On the way home we were all very tired, but blared loud music and sang our hearts out anyway. Seba's mom was kind enough to drop me off at the house around 9pm which was just in time to eat once (un-say, aka Chilean dinner) with the family.
A footnote I would like to address before concluding this blog post is that I have officially been in Chile for 5 months.
5. Months.
I'm sorry, that is just crazy to me. That is almost half a year. At the end of February if all goes well, I will turn 19 and also complete my 6th month in Chile, leaving me with only 3 more months until I touch down in the United States again.
The passage of time in this phase of life that I am in boggles my mind, but then again maybe this is just how the passage of time goes from here on out now that I'm not a little girl anymore. I suppose that only time will tell, which is a bit ironic.
Hope you are all well, and sending love.
Yours truly,
Anna
