Long Over Due Easter Celebrations

I understand that it has been all to long. I am sorry. Everything here is going swimmingly. I have been fairly busy with trying to keep on top of everything at school and everything else that is asked.

The Easter season was wonderful, it was very busy and i did not know nor appreciate the work that goes on to hold a Easter Celebration. It was very fun and worthwhile to help out and be apart of the numerous events that the congregation had.

Palm Sunday was a nice celebration. It was interesting to see the ornate palm branches that were sold outside of church before the mass. There was also a small reenactment done by some of the kids in the school. It is very different being on the flip side of the coin, where we are the ones checking the kids to make sure everything looks good and is presentable for the rest of the people. It is interesting to see that it is always the parents of the children that are the most worried. Never really the kids themselves. (at least with very small children) It is nice to see the actions and beliefs of children before they become crippled by social norms and unnecessary expectations.




Wednesday of Holy week was Via Crucis or the story of the crucifixion. How it is celebrated here is by having a mass and in which during the mass we walked to all the different stations of the Cross. It was nice to see all the different members of the community come out and participate in the celebration.



Easter Vigil was also very beautiful but i did not take any pictures of that. It was from 8-10ish and then after we had a BBQ at our house. We had the members from Pastoral come and also some American friends. It was a wonderful time. I hope that all of you had wonderful Easter celebration and were able to spend it with those you hold dear.

Otherwise i have been busy with school, from teaching English, working in Pastoral, taking kids to the zoo (pictured below), and chaperoning high school students (French Canadians and Chileans) on a cultural exchange. This weekend is marked by birthday of a buddy of mine, Oliver, so in true Chilean form we are going to have a nice large and long dinner tonight.


So i wish you all well and i will be better at keeping this up to date.

Tuesday

Today is a warm day in March, it is weird to think that it is fall here and i can already tell that the days are gettig shorter. School is going full swing now, and i am keeping busy with that and also with planning and helping organize Holy Week, which for all of you who aren´t familiar, is a pretty big deal. But then again i guess salvation is.

So, i would to let you all in some of the interesting people that i are in my world here in Chile. I have a co-worker, a mother of a senior in high school, who came up to me a couple of weeks ago to show me pictures that she had taken at the WWE or (WWF not sure) show that weekend. She was disappointed though that she didn´t get a picture of Triple H. So after my original shock i was lead into a lengthy conversation about the athleticism and showmanship of fake wrestling.

Today, i was told by the man in charge of the school´s finances that i was working too much. I am contracted for 30 hours and i was working more. I am a volunteer. So i was told to work less because i was working is more than my imaginary contract allowed me too.

I am teaching the CHa CHa slide to my students. This, for those who don´t know was a hip hop like dance made popular in the 90´s. I am going to force them to dance to it, or they will not recieve participation ponts. To answer your question, this does actually have something to do with learning English. The excuses i used to get this cleared where building vocabulary and listening comprehension.
Well i hope you are well and i will try and get some pictures up of the school.

Hello Fair Brethren,
I hope that all are well and that you are enjoying all the gifts that are given to you.
I truly apologize for the lack of news. Things here have been wonderful, i am truly having an exceptional time here. School started back up two and a half weeks ago, but we didn't start having full days until this last week. It was a lot of fun to get back to seeing the kids and what not. It is amazing to see how much they change over even a short amount of time. I have been very busy with trying to get back in the swing of things with school and also with the congregation. We had a lovely mass and dinner with the Congregation last night in celebration of St. Joe's. Otherwise my days have been taken up by school, or planning for it. (yes i do get a free minute from time to time, but those also seem to be very busy affairs also)
This is a tough part of the year for many that i hold dear. I pray for all of you who have lost loved ones. I pray that you find comfort with your loved ones and with him.
I hope you are all well

The End of Vacation

I have two days left of vacation before returning to work on Thursday. Starting Thursday we will be doing planning for the upcoming school year for Campus Ministry. The rest of the faculty will be returning on the 2nd of March and then school begins the 4th of March. I am looking forward to getting back to school, but the next week or so is going to be filled with a lot of things to do first.

I had a truly enjoyable time traveling for the last week with a friend of mine from the U.S. Tony Deblauw came in two Tuesday's ago and left on Sunday night. It was a very eventful trip but was also managed at a breakneck pace. We visited Santiago for a couple of days spent two days in Argentina and then another two days on the coast in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. It was fun to share the experience that i am having here with another friend. I believe the highlight of our trip would have to be Mendoza in Argentina, in which we encountered numerous accepting and interesting people. We did a biking wine tour which was a lot of fun . In the process we met some very nice Australians and then later in the day hung out with some Argentineans that where kind enough to take us to their house and let us use their shower. Overall i would say the trip was a success and it was a nice little highlight to the end of my summer vacation.

It is amazing to see how fast time flies. My summer vacation is already over and i have been here 7 months already. It was almost two months since my family came to visit and that seems like it was only yesterday. Reflecting on this it just reminds me how short time really is. That we have to live life to the fullest for the opportunities and days will pass you by otherwise. It is also eerie to think that i have less than a year left and that this time is going to pass very quickly also.

I have been, for the last two days, a bum simply hanging out at the house and relaxing for the last couple of days before school starts back up again. It is nice to be allowed to have a little time to yourself without anything to do.

I hope and pray that all of you are well and enjoying the time with those who you hold dear.

Puerto Varas

After being back for a couple of days from my last trip, i got the itch a bit and went back down south to the Lake District.
I left on Monday with a friend of mine Molly. We went down to Puerto Varas until Friday morning then we switched and went to Frutillar for a couple of days. We were met up by another friend of our Connor before we went to Frutillar.

The lake district was beautiful and got to do some sweet hiking. The lakes up north were turquoise, it is a wonderful sight. The weather was nice, except for a couple of days of rain. Nothing that is too bad compared to what we have in the NW, But of course in my last minute packing i forgot to bring any sort of suitable rain gear, so i just had to be a little wet.

The trip overall was very relaxing and it is always nice to get out away from the city for a bit to experience nature. My plan for the next couple of days is to take care of stuff here around the house and get a little bit more organized. The house is kind of a wreck due to us keep coming and going, along with the slight bed bug problem that we have.

I hope that all of you are well and are enjoying whatever gives you life.

Villarrica

The second part of Brian and John's Adventure down south lead us to the town of Villarrica.

We arrived around midday at Villarrica set out to find lodging. This was of course after a little hiccup that we had immediately after we got off the bus. In my, all to common, absentmindedness and lack of attention to detail i left my camera in the pouch of my seat as it set off to its next destination. Thanks to the help of Carlos, the employee at Jacks(the bus company) we (like i truly had anything to do with finding my camera) were able to track down my camera and have it returned to me later that day.
After hearing that my camera was going to be returned later that day, we left and found a nice little hostel in near the Lake in Villarrica. The lodging was a step up from our past lodging and had a nice little log cabin feel to it.

Things we did in Villarrica:

-Saw yet another free concert in the city
This was a small folkloric group that we happened upon after going out to have a drink and converse at night. It is impressive to see the amazing musical talent of so many artists here. I have come to appreciate it more. Living with a music player has definitely opened me up to new and otherwise unknown types of music.
-Went to the beach in Villarrica.
It was nice just to be able to soak in the sun and enjoy the lake water. Again, not being a details person, i overlooked the need for sunscreen and found myself slightly burnt. This would present itself to be a problem the next day.
-Visiting Pucon
This is the more touristy city on the lake. After our visit to the beach we went and saw the city of Pucon. It was a typical resort city and was a little overwhelming to be honest. We did step in to a Casino, in honor of a friend of ours who recommended we go. I was fairly successful doubling up in poker and winning 20 bucks and then playing 5 cent slot i won an additional 15 bucks. So for 45 minutes worth of work it was rather fruitful. This also helped pay for the rather extravagant lunch that we had. (something that wasn't planned into the budget, but the food was delicious and we just had to splurge)
-The hike up a volcano
The next day we went on a 24-28 km hike up Mt Villarrica, a live volcano that gave impressive views of the surrounding lakes, mountains as well as being able to see the smoke the was coming out of the volcano. The hike was wonderful barring the rubbing of the backpack on our recently sunburned backs.
-Visiting the University in Villarrica
Originally we went to visit the University to see the chapel and we were then recommended (forced) to see the little museum that they had in the basement. The exhibit was fairly impressive and the guide that we had was very helpful. He actually had us try on some replicas of indigenous clothing and then had us sit in an actual indigenous canoe (over 400 years old) to take a picture. This was slightly awkward for us, considering we are taught in the U.S. not to touch the artifact, and the guide had us simply step into it.

At the end of the day we got on a night bus to Santiago and enjoyed a 10.5 hour bus ride home, reaching Santiago early Thursday morning.

Valdivia

Valdivia

A city in the south of Chile that has some wonderful rivers and scenery and is also know for its brewery Kunstmann and their seafood, as well as being an old German settlement. There still remains to be a large presence of Germany ancestry in the town.
Brian and I on our excursion, stayed for three days in Valdivia which is about 12 hours south of Santiago on a bus. We arrived in the city with little to no plans (something that we did for the entire trip, but it ended up being absolutely wonderful). Luckily we found a hostal right when we entered Valdivia. Actually, a better way to put that is that we were almost forced into the habitation by an supremely confident and bull-headed woman, who also owns the hostal.
The place was fine, and it was fairly inexpensive which was nice.

Things we did in Valdivia:
-Saw the Kunstmann Brewery
Realistically this is the only Chilean national beer that can pass as actual beer. This might be my beer snob from Portland coming out, but the in house brew coupled with the traditional German food made for a delectable little luncheon.
-Visited Parks in the south
Frankly not that impressive, it would be like waking through a park in the middle of Tacoma with a bunch of houses and what not all around.
-Visited Parks on the Isla Teja
Way cooler, this was also coupled with the viewing of a traditional Chilean rodeo which was pretty fun. Then there was also a festival in the park that was showing and selling the wares of the local inhabitants.
-Saw La Noche
This Chilean group, was playing a free concert in tandem with the crowning of the Miss Valdivia Celebration. The group themselves are decent, but are for some reason, ridiculously popular right now. It would be like seeing (insert famous trendy band/singer/group) live for free.

The time spent in Valdivia was very nice and relaxing, it was nice to be able to get out of Santiago for a while. Then after Valdivia we headed off to Villarrica.