Welcome to Chile

Sunday I was sustained as the 2nd counselor in the Young Womens. I’m very excited about it. I get to go to girls camp in a couple of weeks! That should be interesting! Jeff and I taught sharing time this week and will teach it again next week while Sister Lambert is in the USA visiting. Sister Lambert is bringing us a suitcase of items we want from home. Sharing time for a suitcase is a great trade!
After sacrament meeting a man and his 14 year old son were baptized. It was a very nice service and a great opportunity for us to see the fruits of missionary work. The brother was so happy, he was just glowing.

After that we went to the Clarkes house and ate dinner with them. They had cooked dinner for the missionaries on Christmas eve and they had lots of left over food. Since we cooked them Christmas dinner – they had us come help them finish off all the left over’s \! They were delicious. But it was sooo much food.

Brother Clarke speaks a little English and he is very funny. He has a saying that he uses often – ‘Welcome to Chile’ . For example, when he turned left out of the wrong lane so he could get through a light, he turned to me and said ‘Welcome to Chile.’ When I needed to use the bathroom while we were on a walk, he pointed to some trees and then said ‘Welcome to Chile!’ (no I didn’t take him up on the offer) When he kept piling food on my plate after I told him I was full he said ‘Welcome to Chile’ . The kids have picked up on it and when anything weird for us happens they say ‘Welcome to Chile.’

Christmas in Chile

Christmas in Chile was a very interesting experience. For me, much of Christmas is the ambiance before Christmas. The lights, the smells of baking, snow, music and the like. Well, Christmas lights aren’t as big a deal here for a couple of reasons. They use electricity and it doesn’t get dark until 9:30 pm because it is in the middle of the summer. Baking isn’t big because it is hot and no one really likes to bake in the summer. Snow – obviously no. Music, well there was a little Christmas music playing in some of the stores but not everywhere. So the build up to Christmas just really wasn’t there. On the other hand, once Christmas came the spirit of Christmas came with it. Christmas eve we didn’t get together and talk until it got dark outside and we could put on our Christmas tree lights and feel like it really was ‘eve’. We talked about the symbols and Christmas and the similarities to our own lives. Then we watched Mr. Krugars Christmas, a tradition at our house.

Christmas morning we rolled out of bed about 9 am. We were really tired because we went to bed late. In Chile, everyone stays up on Christmas eve until midnight, then they open their presents. There was lots of noise and partying going on until early Saturday morning. Nate suggested that we immerse ourselves in the culture around us and do Christmas on Christmas Eve! Not going to happen. After opening presents, we all went back to bed for a couple of hours. Then our friends, Henry and Pauli Clarke came over with their four daughters for Christmas dinner. First we took the kids to the pool while the chickens baked. Then we ate our feast! It was delicious. It was very fun to talk to all of our family on Christmas eve and Christmas day. Thanks for calling! The kids loved getting their cousin gifts. The books from Grandpa and Grandma McGuire were also very exciting since we don't have many books here. It was fun to see the kids truly feel excited over getting things like 'American' Cocoa Mix and a pack of Star Bursts!
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The most exciting part of Christmas day was getting to talk to Elder Griener. We had a great visit with him. It makes everything seem so normal to talk to him on the phone. It helps him and us feel that life isn’t that different after all. He will come home to a very ‘changed’ life but when your family is all there, it is all good. He told us that his release date will be July 20th. As I said, he was transfered to Flushing Queens. He is in an apartment with his companion and 2 english speaking Elders. One of the Elders is from Shannon and Stefan's ward!

The Shopping Cart

One funny little thing about living in an apartment in Chile is the ‘shopping carts’. When we moved in to our first apartment, there was a stray shopping cart in the parking garage. Jeff wanted me to get it to put suit cases in. I was totally humiliated. I thought we looked like homeless people using a shopping cart to drag our stuff around in. He finally convinced me that that was what the shopping cart was there for. Of course he was right. All the apartments have a few shopping carts in the parking garage and even in the laundry area or other spots on the main floor. If you come home with a lot of things in your car, you go get the shopping cart and load it all into your cart. Then you take it into the elevator and up to your apartment to unload it. Then you take it back where you got it from. Well, you are supposed to take it back to where you got it from. Some people just put it in the elevator and push 1 for the main floor. They just figure who ever gets in next will have to get it out! I will post a picture of us using the shopping cart sometime.

Preparing for Christmas

We attended the ward Christmas party. It was good to get to know more members of the ward. First President Laycock gave a Christmas message. Then we went outside to play some games the missionaries had arranged. They were games that required communication and cooperation. After the games we went inside and the Primary and the Missionaries had arranged a nativity story. We finished up with soda and cookies and other treats.






Christmas shopping this year was really a chore this year. Shopping isn’t nearly as fun when you have to carry everything home with you that you bought. The 23rd Jeff and I went grocery shopping to get stocked up for the holidays. The store was a zoo! We bought so many things we needed to take a taxi home. We walked out of the store to the area where the taxis are waiting and to our joy, we discovered that there was a huge line of people waiting for a taxi. We had to wait for about 30 or 40 minutes until we got a taxi. On the bright side of grocery shopping – it is getting easier to do. The first couple of times it was very stressful. With all the different brand names and everything in Spanish the store just looked like a jumble of colors and letters to me. My brain would throb. Now that I recognize brand names and know some of the items that I am looking for it is much easier. One of the major differences is that the meat is cut differently. None of the cuts of beef are the same as well as they have different names for them. I’m having the most success cooking hamburger and whole chicken. I know for sure what parts of the animal they are and how to cook them!

Vina del Mar

Friday afternoon, Jeff and I took a bus to Vina del Mar. There are a couple of distributers there and a new person wanted to meet with us about the business opportunity. We stayed with a friend of his from his mission. Her name is Bojidarka. She has a very nice apartment looking over the ocean. Vina is world famous for its beauty. You can see why in these pictures. The houses and apartments in Vina and the neighboring town of Valparaiso are built up and down the hillsides. It reminds you a bit of the streets in San Fransico.

As you can see, I just can't resist taking pictures of the beautiful and interesting flowers.

We are going to go back with the kids and stay with Boji for New Years. She said that there is a big fireworks show out over the bay.

Home Sweet Home

Here is a glimpse of our apartment. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a familyroom/dining room, a kitchen, laundry room and an entry. We are still waiting for Sarah and Jennie's bed to arrive. It is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. The building has a security system with men at the front desk 24 hours a day. They have to push a button to unlock the door when anyone comes out or in. We also have a 2 car parking space in the parking structure below and a storage room attached to it. It has a small exercise room and a pool. There is an event room that you can reserve. We held our first meeting in the event room last Thursday. It was really nice to have it in our building and not have to go anywhere.

Here are a few pictures.










Our first meeting. We had a good group attend.

Flowers

The beautiful flowers of Santiago...

Making toast and looking at corners

Making toast without a toaster. An ingenious little tool.


The walls in our first apartment.

Settling in Las Condes

Wow! What a week. I will definitely need to update my blog more than once a week if so many things keep happening.

Monday for family night we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It wasn’t on until 10 pm here Sunday night so we saved it for the next day. Jeff continued to work on getting a new apartment for us. We found the perfect place and the owner was very motivated to rent it so we got a great price and he agreed to a 6 month rental contract. Tuesday they met and signed papers and late Tuesday night we started the move. A great family in our ward lent us their Durango – thanks Sorensens! He is a doctor in the Air Force and he is in an exchange program with the Chilean Air Force.

It was a little exhausting to be packing the suitcases again but we got strength from the fact that this time we wouldn’t have to pack them again for 6 months! Wahoo! Tuesday we took a load to the new apartment and then on Wednesday we finished up. Wednesday afternoon we went back to the old apartment to check out with the owner. She is a very nice young married woman with 2 little kids. After the earthquake she moved into a nicer apartment! Lots of people got scared out of high rise apartments after the earthquake. I’ve included a few pictures of the corners of the first apartment. The outside concrete structure looked fine, the elevator ran great etc., but the inside walls and around windows had obviously moved a lot. The wall paper is all torn in the corners. It was a great little starter apartment for us. We saw some interesting things out the windows while we lived there. A building burned up a couple of blocks a way. A movie scene was filmed across the street. The construction site next to us had a crane operating all day that Josh loved to watch and Josh and Nate enjoyed neighbor watching. We learned this when one day Josh yelled ‘Nate, code orange, repeat, code orange!’ I went in to see what code orange meant and found out that that was the name they had given for a man in the apartment complex on the other side of the construction site. I asked watch was so interesting and they said ‘nothing, he’s actually pretty boring but we like to watch for him.” Ah…city life!

Our new apartment is wonderful! It has a few things that I wish were different but all in all it is perfect. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a laundry room and kitchen with a counter top on each side, and a family room/eating area. It also has a large entry and a little breakfast nook. We have a 2 car parking stall in the basement garage and a nice storage closet next to it. There is a group meeting area that Jeff can rent and a small pool. It is in a nice area with great bus and subway access. We also had a little extra blessing…there was an artificial tree, lights and ornaments in the entry closet. We were so excited. We got it set up and put the cousin presents and the presents from Grandpa and Grandma McGuire under the tree. Grandma Sharon had made us all some beautiful Christmas pillowcases to take with us. We used Jeff and my pillow cases as a tree skirt. It made the kids so happy!
We spent the next few days moving in, swimming, grocery shopping and setting life up. Jeff and I continue to work a bit. This week we are up and running and have the meeting room downstairs reserved for Thursday night and we are holding a meeting at 8 pm.

Sunday was a great day! We went to church and the kids all headed right off to class after sacrament meeting. Jennie and I both understood a lot more this week. After church we went to a family in the wards house for lunch. He is here working for a company that is in the mining industry. They have lived all over the USA including Macon, Georgia. They say that Macon was actually their first international experience! Matt will understand that! She fixed a wonderful pasta dinner. Another couple come over as well. They are not in the ward but are here just looking for a place to live. He can work from anywhere over the internet and they decided to move to Chile. They have a 3 year old, a 1 year old and she is pregnant. And you all thought Jeff and I were crazy!!!
Sunday night we had our friends the Silvas come over for a late dinner at our house. Ronald, Carol, and Ignacio(Nacho) Silva are the family that Jeff has been living with this last year. I met his mother when she was one of my cleaning ladies in Alpine. Then Ronald is one of our business partners in the bookstore here. They are a great couple and we love them. We cooked them hamburgers and had them try Beetles Rock Band. They loved it!

This morning we are cleaning house, working on our cursive writing and our Spanish. Sarah will be here this week and we are very excited to see her. Jeff is off meeting with our newest person. She is signing up today and bringing friends with her on Thursday night!

A little side note…I’m having a great time learning how to cook with the oven in this apartment. I have to light it with a match and then decide what temperature I would like it to be. My choices are 1,2,3,4 or 5. Anyone want to take a guess what 350 degrees is? I don’t know either. I just stick my head in the oven like the witch in Hansel and Gretel to see if it is hot enough!