At a friend's place right now.
Will be here 'til I leave. Doesn't look like I'll be posting anything until I get home so hang tight!
My plans for Tokyo is just basically hanging out with Jessi (the wonderful gal that I'm staying with) and buying omiyage (but don't know how much I can buy since everything's cho-takai and too... Japanese-y).
Mkay, that's all. I must now sleep. Bye!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Festival de la Cerveza (Oktoberfest) y Quilpue
It's been a while since I've had a fatty post, mainly because I was busy with finals. But now I'M DONEEEEEEE. Finishing off with the easiest finals week of my LIFE. No joke. I was playing the entire weekend before I had to write a a paper, with our Gringo goodbye party for church (that's a whole other post) and various other things with hanging out with people as a "last-time-I'll-see-you" kind of thing. Sniff sniff.
Guess what animal this is. It's like one of those children's books where you have to guess the object from a closeup picture.
It's an ostrich!
Birdbrain, hehe.
Goat! So white and precious and cute. Awww.
And below is the Stephanie Higa pictures collection. I saw so many varieties of chickens and poultry (er, what's the word for living poultry?) that I knew you'd love it!
This one had wild hair.
This had feathers that would look cute on a dress! I think it's a pheasant???
Or is this a pheasant? I dunno...
A little walkway to take us back to the festival.
Some sort of cerveza and choripan (Sausage and bread). The beer was OK, but I couldn't drink it all; it was too much for little 'ol me.
The bus ride back.
And the day after, my apartmentmate Sole invited me to her family's house in Quilpue (2 hours outside Santiago) to meet them for the weekend.
Table all set up for a special Saturday lunch.
Yummy tuna, mayo, and heart of palm salad.
Me with Sole's brother, his partner, and their 3-year-old daughter Nicole.
Me and my apartmentmate Sole! She's 39 and quite a pal =) She's like an older sister and when she's bored, she just comes in my room to sit on my bed and chat. It's cool cuz my apartment has 3 generations of ladies--golden years (70--my host mom), middle age (39--Sole), and a lolita (21-meeee!)
Sole's brother Julio took us in his car to go around the beautiful Pacific coast. But what really irks me about Chilean beaches (picture above is Con Con...funny name.) is that they are FILTHY. It's dangerous for kids to play in the sand because there's broken beer bottle glass everywhere. You can't just lie down and dig your feet in the sand cuz you might get all cut up. ARRRRRG!! Why can't people be considerate of the beauty of nature and just throw their trash away in a trash can or hold onto it until they find a trash can?!?! Such low standards they have for preserving nature and beauty. I feel like it's a lack of self-respect for their country and a lack of teaching manners and a lack of educatin and enforcement on the part of society and government. And everyone suffers from ugly beaches!!!!!! >:O
Anyway, here is Sole and her poodle/dog daugher Puky. (pookie, not puke-y, haha)
Little Nicole got dirty sand in her eyes.
We drove more up and down the coast, stopping at beautiful vista points. Here is Bastian, the 6-year-old son of Sole's brother. It felt like I spent the weekend playing with kids, and I left realizing how much I really do like kids =) I thought I didn't, but being in Chile and spending time with children has taught me that I do in fact like them. They make things so much fun, and you can read them so easily unlike adults. It was so easy to get the kids to trust me and like me--candy! =) And they really do say the darndest things.
I love the Pacific Ocean. Pictures don't capture the beauty of the vistas.
Me, the kiddies, and the poodle's head.
Bastian pretending to be able to read a book about his latest fascination--dinosaurs. This is the day after, and when he left to go home, he wanted to know if he'd see me again. When I left, he called Sole later that week and wanted to talk to me on the phone. When I answered, he clammed up and didn't say a word. Awww, I have a little 6-year-old suitor!
They had an asado (barbecue) for me the next day! Sole's family was super sweet, accommodating and welcoming. Sole was right--the city of Quilpue itself doesn't have much interesting, but it's her family that I will remember :)
But anyway, here are more posts that I've been meaning to post but didn't get around to. I went to Festival de la Cerveza in Malloco, which is about 4o minutes outside of Santiago. It's like an Oktoberfest and there are various vendors of artisan beers from all over Chile.
But we found a mini zoo right by the festival! Animals? We've gotta go!
But we found a mini zoo right by the festival! Animals? We've gotta go!Guess what animal this is. It's like one of those children's books where you have to guess the object from a closeup picture.It's an ostrich!Birdbrain, hehe.Goat! So white and precious and cute. Awww.And below is the Stephanie Higa pictures collection. I saw so many varieties of chickens and poultry (er, what's the word for living poultry?) that I knew you'd love it!
This one had wild hair.This had feathers that would look cute on a dress! I think it's a pheasant???Or is this a pheasant? I dunno...A little walkway to take us back to the festival.Some sort of cerveza and choripan (Sausage and bread). The beer was OK, but I couldn't drink it all; it was too much for little 'ol me.The bus ride back.And the day after, my apartmentmate Sole invited me to her family's house in Quilpue (2 hours outside Santiago) to meet them for the weekend.
Table all set up for a special Saturday lunch.Yummy tuna, mayo, and heart of palm salad.Me with Sole's brother, his partner, and their 3-year-old daughter Nicole.Me and my apartmentmate Sole! She's 39 and quite a pal =) She's like an older sister and when she's bored, she just comes in my room to sit on my bed and chat. It's cool cuz my apartment has 3 generations of ladies--golden years (70--my host mom), middle age (39--Sole), and a lolita (21-meeee!)Sole's brother Julio took us in his car to go around the beautiful Pacific coast. But what really irks me about Chilean beaches (picture above is Con Con...funny name.) is that they are FILTHY. It's dangerous for kids to play in the sand because there's broken beer bottle glass everywhere. You can't just lie down and dig your feet in the sand cuz you might get all cut up. ARRRRRG!! Why can't people be considerate of the beauty of nature and just throw their trash away in a trash can or hold onto it until they find a trash can?!?! Such low standards they have for preserving nature and beauty. I feel like it's a lack of self-respect for their country and a lack of teaching manners and a lack of educatin and enforcement on the part of society and government. And everyone suffers from ugly beaches!!!!!! >:OAnyway, here is Sole and her poodle/dog daugher Puky. (pookie, not puke-y, haha)Little Nicole got dirty sand in her eyes.We drove more up and down the coast, stopping at beautiful vista points. Here is Bastian, the 6-year-old son of Sole's brother. It felt like I spent the weekend playing with kids, and I left realizing how much I really do like kids =) I thought I didn't, but being in Chile and spending time with children has taught me that I do in fact like them. They make things so much fun, and you can read them so easily unlike adults. It was so easy to get the kids to trust me and like me--candy! =) And they really do say the darndest things.I love the Pacific Ocean. Pictures don't capture the beauty of the vistas.Me, the kiddies, and the poodle's head.Bastian pretending to be able to read a book about his latest fascination--dinosaurs. This is the day after, and when he left to go home, he wanted to know if he'd see me again. When I left, he called Sole later that week and wanted to talk to me on the phone. When I answered, he clammed up and didn't say a word. Awww, I have a little 6-year-old suitor!They had an asado (barbecue) for me the next day! Sole's family was super sweet, accommodating and welcoming. Sole was right--the city of Quilpue itself doesn't have much interesting, but it's her family that I will remember :)Thursday, November 27, 2008
Email from Norma (Pastor Jorge's wife)
hola grace ¿como estasssssssss? estamos re contentos de que ya se acerca el dia que vamos estar juntas , soy NORMA yyyyyyyyyyyyyy aprende mucho español porque vas estar en mi casa y yo no se nada de ingles ok 
greacias a DIOS estamos terminando el año con muchas bendiciones y muchos hermanos nuevos .Este domingo pasaran por las aguas del bautimos 7 hermanos.
te digo que te AMAMOS mucho y te esperamos seguro sera de mucha bedicion recordar juntas el nacimiento de nuestro SALVADOR
.
( eli barrionuevo mu ayudo a escribir el e_mail )
Hi Grace! How are you? We are very happy that it's already nearing the day that we're going to be together. It's Norma. And, learn lots of Spanish because you're gonna be in my house and I don't know any English, OK? (I'M STAYING IN THE AHUALLI HOUSE IN TUCUMAN!!!) Thanks to God we are finishing this year with many blessings and many new brothers. This Sunday we will be passing the water of baptism of 7 brethren.
I tell you that we love you lots and we are waiting for you. Surely it will be a huge blessing remembering the birth of our Savior together (I'M SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH THEM!!!!!!!)
Eli Barrionuevo helped me write this email.
Norma
AHHHHH OMGGGG I'M SO EXCITEDDDD!! TUCUMAN IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!! DECEMBER 17ISH!!! WITH THE AHUALLIS! IN TUCUMAN! WITH IBM!! Now I just need to pack my suitcase, go souvenir shopping, and hike through Torres del Paine first...
Chilean Central Coast: San Antonio y Cartagena
This is way delayed...from over a month ago...on Halloween. But I'm waiting for Liz Seward (UC Irvine) to have our weekly Mmm-mmm-Monday date, only this week it's on Thursday. Our Mmm-mmm-Monday is a food date where we try a new restaurant every week. Anyway, Halloween is Evangelical Day in Chile, which just became a holiday a year ago so we had school off. I wanted to get to know Chile more so Richard, Andrew, and I took a trip to the Central Coast, which is just 2 hours away. We went on and off buses trying to hit up all the small towns that dot the Central Coast.
I was hoping for a beautiful sunny day day, but it turned out to be grey and cold. I only brought a thin jacket, and I was really cold. I also didn't want to buy a new jacket for $20. Solution? Found a used clothing store and picked up this stylish sweater for $1.20 that probably hasn't been washed in 5 years. Looks good, no? Above is the woman who sold it to me. I quickly donated it when I got back home, haha.
First stop: San Antonio! An industrial port town that isn't too easy on the eyes.
But it has big pelicans walking around.
But you can see, not too pretty.
A huuuuuge walrus we saw right next to the pier! It was so fat and big it looked almost mechanical. A cat tried getting close to it, and it got annoyed so it ROARED at the cat, scaring it away. Such a funny sight!
My guide book told me about a 'caleta,' whatever that is.
Working our way down to the caleta.
With my ugly sweater.
So it's like a cliff?
Andriuuu was brave enough to climb the rocks and pose as a merman.
A seafood empanada. Mmm. Since I was along the coast the entire time, seafood is quite abundant (and cheap!). I want to go back there again before I leave Chile to eat some good seafood.
My lunch. Pastel de jaivas...it was watery and not very good at Manzana restaurant in Cartagena. Bleh. I only enjoyed it because Andrew gave me all his seafood to mix it in.
We then went to a laguna in Cartagena. Here is Andrew posing with an ugly face...that's what I get for being his official Chile photographer.
The welcome sign on the laguna. I took a picture of it because there's funnily written Japanese on it.
And we ended the day visitng El Monte! There was an Evangelical Day concert thing going on. I mainly went back to El Monte to visit Pedro and Teresa though. I felt so bad ebcause I called them like 3 times flip flopping about whether I'd be there or not. It was so nice to see them again and buy more alfajores from them :0)
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