Traveling budget

Being the ultra-money-conscious person I am (I save all receipts and double-check them against my bank statements and have a running Excel spreadsheet...although I completely skipped calculating anything for the month of July) I decided to have some fun calculating the total cost of my trip to Argentina. I'm bound to have saved a ton of money for traveling to a country that is weak against the U.S. dollar, riiiight?

The grand total (price includes airfare and hostel):

$798.32
D:

First of all, I didn't even know I had $800 to spend...
Second of all, THAT'S TWO MONTHS OF RENT!
Thirdly, I spent the most on food. I also spent a lot on cash withdrawals, but I can't account for everything I bought with cash, so I have to go by my credit card statement.
Fourth, to be fair, without housing and airfare, I spent $388.79.
Fifth, but oh my gahhhhhhhh!!!! $800?!? And to think I could've spent even more were it not for some kind gifts that were given to me...

Lesson learned: calculate everything. Money runs like water when you're not careful. Now I'm working on my August Excel spreadsheet...

GMW - G = MW - W = M

It's Moon left in the USA. Wury arrived safely in Denmark and has sent out an email to let us know that she's gonna go get groceries. Hahahaha. It's crazy, just a week ago, I was saying bye to Wury at the San Diego airport and now, she's on a whole other continent.

Just thought that I'd update with that little tidbit. It's making me even more antsy to go! Assuming that I do get to go. o_o Seriously, it's not certain that you're going to go until you actually get on the airplane and land in the country. 'Cause who knows! Your visa may not go through, you might get to the airport late, your plane might be delayed, your plane might crash, you might die in the next day... stuff happens, ya know? But Lord willing, I'll be in Japan in less than a month! :D Craaaazies.

Wury, update with pictures already. D:

Buenos Aires, Argentina--Recap

I already devoted several hours to editing and uploading my pictures from my trip to Buenos Aires on facebook, but I don't feel it's fair to neglect this blog either, so I'll give a brief overview here. This is what my trip to Buenos Aires consisted of:

Papas fritas, beef and chimichurri. Although I got sick of beef after a few days, it compensates for my almost meat-free diet in Chile.

Hanging out with Lighthouse in Uruguay (OK, so maybe this isn't Buenos Aires, but close enough! Just a 2 hour ferry ride away!). I can't believe God made the scheduling so perfect that I was able to spend the entire debriefing time with them.

Hitting up all the touristy places that all Argentina guidebooks recommend.

Spending practically 24 hours a day with these dudes. I don't know how I survived it...it was definitely the grace of God. Thanks God for everything : )

And although I was longing to stay and extremely sad to leave, my time in Argentina is over (for now...). It's back to Santiago and being a chilena again. Speaking of being chilena, my Chilean ID cards came in! I'm legal now! The top one is my university ID, the bottom is the national identity card that everyone needs to carry around.

They'd be fantastic souvenirs to bring home!

P.S. I am doing Flocks-style homework for Bible study tomorrow-- in Spanish! We are studying Galatians and it's terrific to know more deeply God's Word in another language. I have to keep on making comparisons to the English text and the Spanish text so I'm also learning new words as I go along. I also have to write my answers in Spanish so it helps my writing skills as well. What a sweet deal!

my denmark visa!

i'm going!!!!!!!




















i was in san diego this past weekend to visit and just want to say that i'll miss all you dearly! :( it was really sad at the airport. airports have been such a cryfest these past couple times. monday at SFO will be a cryfest too. but i know the flight back to the states will be such a happy one, God willing!

my itinerary:

Lighthouse in Argentina

Everything worked out. No update because I have been so busy having fun with, catching up with, and hugging them : ) Pictures to come when I return to Chile.

Edit: They just left Argentina. I was able to see them off at the airport up until they entered through security. I hugged each and every one of them and began tearing up when I hugged Romi. I left the airport, not wanting to look back and hopped in the first taxi I found and rode back alone. The three days spent with them was a refreshing time spent with some of the people dearest to me from my San Diego church family. It was much needed after being away from them for one month to hear about the missions trip to Tucuman as it's fresh on their minds, see people increase or discover their love for Iglesia Biblica Misionera, telling them how my time is in Chile, savoring every second I have with them...

I love Lighthouse.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buen dia (o sea, buenas noches) desde Bs As! I guess God did want me to come to Buenos Aires because here I am in my strange hostel in a shady part of San Telmo typing on my laptop in the dark and listening to Brazilian speak Portuguese outside my door. I am rather familiar with my way around here already, much more than when I came here the past 2 times with LBC because we only walked thru Calle Florida, the huge touristy shopping pedestrian street, which is the scene that I want to stay away from now that I have an opportunity to check out non-touristy Buenos Aires. I didn't take any fotos yet because I don't want to take out my big bulky camera until I have a good feeling of the city. It makes me rather nervous.

I'm getting kind of anxious about meeting up with LBC tomorrow because I don't know what time they are arriving and I don't know their cell phone numbers. I really don't want to stake out their hotel until they arrive, but I might have to. I went to Andres' church today and met his pastor, who gave me his phone number, which was different from the one Andres gave me, so I'm kind of nervous about not being able to get in touch with them. If worst comes to worst, his pastor has my phone number and Andres can get my phone number from him. I will not be that excited to be here until I see LBC! Sure, I'm having fun here, but now that I have Chilean eyes, so to speak, Buenos Aires is just another city. It actually reminds me a lot of Santiago, just with more blondes, better food, better air (but not that much better), and more European buildings. And weirdly enough, I actually miss the Chilean accent and slang. When I got here, the Argentinean accent weirded me out, even though I have heard it many times before! I had a hard time understanding them even! Moo Tang, you're right...I'm slowly gonna like Chile more. Look what one month has done to me! What I like about Argentine Spanish though is that they speak much slower (whew) and I understand a lot of what they say, unlike in Chile. Nevertheless, the rapidity in which many Chileans speak really helped me nurture an attentive ear, which has helped me a lot coming to Buenos Aires. Woot! Now I know for sure my Spanish is improving! Furthermore, I do miss Santiago because my Chilean momma is there, my room is there, and it feels like home now that I'm away from it. Weiiiird!

Furthermore, I'm meeting a lot of international people. My 3 roommates are from Ireland, and I was explaining to them where I am from. Kind of the USA, kind of not. It's kind of cool: I'm a US citizen whose parents are from Taiwan, but I came from Chile because I'm studying there. It makes me sound like one of them people from Europe who go all over the world to study and know 945869670 languages. Jajajaja I wish!

Anyway, this ends my random thoughts while being in Buenos Aires. I hope I get to catch Lighthouse tomorrow. Sigh. Stressful. They're pretty far away too, so this should be quite an adventure...

Chilean White House

Part 2 of my week's excursion included a trip to La Moneda, Chile's White House, basically. Had I gone 2 day earlier, I could've ran into Michelle Bachelet, Chile's female president (who happens to be a divorced woman, which is shocking that a very Catholic country to elect a president like her). Oh well. Unlike in the U.S., the Chilean president does not live in La Moneda. She lives in a neighborhood called Providencia, which is super close by!

Obligatory tourist shot. No WuWu vest this time. Lo siento.

Looking onto Avenue Bernardo O'Higgins. I think that's the funniest name ever. Bernardo=Spanish. O'Higgins=Irish.

Room with red walls! I love red walls! Too bad I was too busy taking pictures to listen to the tour guide. However, I did learn about the Chilean flag. Apparently it is only in La Moneda that there can be a crest/emblem on the flag (the eagle looking thing on the flag). Anywhere else it is prohibited. The red stands for the blood of the soldiers who fought for independence. The white stands for the snow-capped Andes. The star stands for...I forget. And the tour guide joked that the blue stands for the blue skies of Chile...everywhere else but Santiago due to its nasty smog. True that, sista. Cough cough.

More red room.

The chapel of La Moneda. Very Catholic, as you can see.

This room of La Moneda was dedicated to Salvador Allende. He was the first democratically elected Socialist president in the world, which scared the US at the time of the Cold War because it would mean another Cuba. Chile was in shambles. Then he committed suicide. Then Pinochet, the dictator of the military government came in and the rest is (contested and controversial) history...

A museum dedicated to Allende.

In the gift shop, displays of Mapuche ceramics. These ceramics are doing my favorite activity! Can you guess what it is?

Very patriotic little ones they are.

A 50-foot long map of Chile in the gift shop.

And I located my 'hood. I live here! I'm so proud to say that. :) It took a lot of work to be living here-- lots of paperwork in the US and when I got here as well, a lot of waiting in line, a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of fees, a lot of time devoted to learning Spanish...

But I'm still divided who I love more. We'll see when I go there this Saturday. : )

Random shot of food at home. That is lettuce, tomato, and 1/2 an avocado filled with clams. Deee-licious. Even though Chilean food is lacking in the flavor department, I think the daily (yes, DAILY) dose of avocado makes up for everything.

This is a dog sleeping in my classroom. You see, Chile has a dog overpopulation problem. This random dog followed a classmate to school today because it was raining. It decided that it could just follow her right into class, scratch at the carpet as if he were digging, and make himself at home. Chile is so weird.

Chilean wine

Part of my EAP fees include excursions to random areas around Santiago. This week consisted of going to vineyard Concha y Toro and La Moneda (the Chilean equivalent of the White House). However, I'm gonna keep the posts separate.

I've never been to a vineyard before; I never knew how beautiful they were!

Let me take you to the entrance:

"Concha y Toro." This vineyard is pretty popular for their wines. I may have seen it in supermarkets in the States. But now you and I both know to keep our eyes open for this brand!

See the gringos entering.

The view from reverse.

And of course, I had to zoom in on the lovely gorgeous Andes...*sigh*

Here are random shots of the beauty inside the vineyard:

This could work as a wedding walkway thing.

Hola angelito!

Fiery July foliage.

We got to see where the wine was produced and kept:

This storage room was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit on normal level. These are wood barrels with wine inside, giving the wines a smoky woody flavor that those wine snobs always talk about. Now I know! The newest barrels give the best flavor, but over time the wood deteriorates and thus produces lower quality wine. Apparently there are wood chips in wine sometimes???? Is that a good thing??

Here is the underground cave level of the wine barrels. Very much colder. Brrr.

And here is the devil...in honor of their Diablo label wine or something. Haha. Real funny, Concha y Toro. It was more corny than anything else.

Here is my glass of wine. We got to try 2 glasses; one of Merlot and the other Cabernet Sauvignon. Yummmm. I originally I didn't like wine because this was my reaction to my first wine several weeks back:

Luckily, it was just because it was a cheapy low-quality brand. Concha y Toro wines aren't too expensive; about $8/bottle. I bought one to bring home to the Wu family to enjoy together in December : )

new add on!

Haha, i had to point out to this because i love watching it. I know you(whoever reads this) loves to watch it too! Hahaha, just kidding. I know I'm gross. But we have a wonderful new add on to the blog - a slideshow of GMW pictures! I will continue to add to this btw. keekee. LOVE YOU LADIES! MISS YOU LADIES!

Certificate of Eligibility

Oh, what's this?

That's right, baby! It's my certificate of eligibility! Jen said that it was waiting outside of the door. :D I can apply for a student visa now! I think that I'm going to wait until I go home to do it, though, because then I can just take a nice drive up to San Francisco.

The part that says "Japan Address" is, yes, my address in Japan. :D I'm guessing that I'll let you know my apartment number? o_O? For those who want to send me goooodiessss (... Grace & Wury...).

Speaking of which, Grace, did you post your address on here already? o_o? If you did, I totally missed it. If not, POST IT, GIRL!

Japan! IT'S COMIN' UP SOON.

Pipicito

According to my Spanish prof. Lesmer Montecito, Chileans like to add the diminutive to every word. For example, drinking a cup of tea is té --> tecito. Bread is pan --> pancito. Etc.

Today we learned the word orina. No one knew what it was so Lesmer in his thick Chilean accent said, "Pisssssss!" (but in reality it sounded more like "peassss!") That led to a whole conversation about the word "pee pee" in Chilean Spanish. Apparently, for women, it's more proper to say "Tengo que hacer pipí." (I need to go pee pee) Or, if she wishes to be even more proper, she can use the diminutive-- "Tengo que hacer pipicito."

For men, it's much gruffer. "Voy a mear" or "Voy a echar la meada." This means literally "I'm gonna have a piss." Not very polite, huh?

Hm. Speaking of which, tengo que hacer pipicito. Chao!

Chilean church membership; Cajon del Maipo

As usual, another great Sunday attending church and worshiping God in castellano. Though it was my second time attending Luz al Mundo, I've becoming slowly integrated into the church family. Yesterday was the young adults meeting, with church members from ages 16-late 20's in attendance. I spoke with one of the elders, who is from Germany, about church membership and his role in a missionary organization in Chile. The purpose of the missionary organization is to make Chilean churches branch out into the world through missions because they are inward focused right now. It made me glad to hear that the Great Commission is a reality for Chilean churches in this era and it's not just the United States sending out missionaries. The elder also told me that they are trying to teach systematically from the Bible. That made me smile. :D

As far as church membership goes, Luz al Mundo has a formal church membership process as well. It's a five-week process where you have to take a class that teaches you the Gospel and then guides you to be committed to growing your private spiritual life as well, such as having correct relationships with people and God (similar to Peacemaker's Pledge, from what I understood) and being committed to daily devotions. I thought it was great that they emphasized these things because they are crucial aspects of the Christian life. They have members' meetings/retreats as well! Furthermore, one needs to be a member to serve in the church. I think us gringos (there's four of us) in the church are in a weird position because we are not here for a long time so it's hard to fully integrate us knowing that we'll be leaving in December...unless one of us extends...haha.

God is answering my prayer requests that I would submit to the leadership here. Even though it's not Lighthouse, I am not comparing it and being critical. It makes me even more thankful for Lighthouse that I sat under solid teaching that I can be discerning as well as supplement what I learned from LBC with the lighter (less theology-heavy) but still biblically-based sermons and messages.

Anyway, we'll see as the weeks come along what my position as an attendee is...
But for now, I have a few pictures from a very unexciting class project trip to Cajon del Maipo, about 1.5 hours outside of Santiago. This is a place where Santiaguinos go to escape the esmog and city life. It was a silver mining town back in the day, thus very reminiscent of Caifornia's small mining towns such as Calico or Julian-- only with a Chilean twist. And many, many, many more quiltros (yucky mutt dogs...nasty. Yes, I am a hater.)

This is one of the "must sees." A little Catholic chapel. Do you like the scattered group picture? Do you like the 59976086 dogs in the background? SO nasty. They can smell gringos from a mile away and they followed us around thinking we would feed them. Yeah right. There was also this nasty golden lab that had a tumor around its neck the size of a Nerf football. It jiggled when the dog ran... >.<

The poster outside the door of the chapel. I think this means "He also has faith in you."

The inside of the chapel. Nothing special.

More dog! Haha! I was trying to get a nice picture of the cordillera (mountain range) and it was after I took the foto that I realized I caught that quiltro mid-action...

A random hostel in the middle of this random town. I ask myself, "Who would stay here anyway?" I think we came on a bad day though. It rained and ruined all the outdoorsy fun we could've enjoyed. It also made me buy a new black jacket with a fuzzy hood for $20 from the ONLY clothing store in Cajon del Maipo. Yay Chilean fashion!

As part of the class project, I had to conduct interviews with the locals. This here is Senor Francisco R-something who worked at the restaurant where we ate lunch. He is a die-hard fan of Cajon del Maipo. More power to you, Senor Francisco.

Back in civilization, the rain really cleared up the nasty esmog in Santiago! This is the view outside of an empty room in the apartment. It makes me want to occupy this room.

Off in the distance is Cerro Cristobal...I think that's the right name. Either way, there is a pregnant Virgin Mary on top of that hill that is illuminated at night and can be seen from the streets. Here is a pregnant Virgin Mary unilluminated in the daylight.

Close up. One day, I will go up on that hill.

And it was this view that sold me. THE ANDES! IN ITS SNOW-CAPPED GLORY!! It's an amazing sight to behold when it peeks out from behind the smog, kind of the same feeling when you get to see the ocean from certain points on the UCSD campus. You just have to stop, take a breath, and enjoy its grandeur and beauty.