God's hand

before my trip I prayed and still pray that God would prepare Chile for me and me for Chile. and He has. I have never once felt "what am I doing here" which has been truly amazing. the connections that I have made and used since I have been in Chile has just proven to me that this is where I am supposed to be and where God wants me.

1) my first week, i stayed with a family in Santiago. the family of a girl that i met in a study abroad meeting at Vandy. She wasn't there but her family and best friends took great care of me.

2) then I arrived in Vina del Mar where I am currently living and have been attending a church run by missionaries that my church when i lived in Florida supports. this church has been so incredible and i would love for you to pray for it! the church is called CEMIPRE and the pastor is John Rugg, wife Cathy.

3) i also changed host families after the first week. this was a hard thing to do (difficult to leave my first mom), but i am so glad that I did. my new family has been such a blessing to me! i would also love for you to join me in praying for my family - dad Victor, mom Francisca, brother Alejandro, and sister Fransica!

4) i have also gotten to know the family of a Vanderbilt friend, Cam Flores (who was a SigEp with my brother), that lives here in Vina. the family is Cam's aunt and uncle and cousins. Tete is my age and has been a great support!

my time here so far has been so sweet. i am growing and can see God's hand working in my life. i am also thankful for those of you reading my blog and praying for me while i am here!

las dunas!

this perhaps is one of the funnest things that i have done yet! these dunes are huge and amazing! after scaling them the first time we played around and rolled down the hill. talk about sand everywhere! this sand is so fine that the wind blows it everywhere. the photos definitely do not do it justice. you will just have to come visit me i can show you in person!

the whole time we were there i was thinking about how great our Creator is. only God with his powerful imagination would be able to create such a scenery - mountainous sand dunes with a backdrop of the big blue ocean and open sky. God is good and i am so thankful for the opportunity to be here in Chile. Chile is an amazing country that screams that there is indeed a Creator.

Las dunas (96 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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El congreso nacional (39 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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cometí un error grave

Un el más reciente álbum de fotos yo compartí con mi blog, ¡no hay ninguna foto con yo en la foto! ¡Oye! Esto es un problema y por favor discúlpame. Desde este punto adelante, voy a estar en más de mis fotos. En el hecho que no me gustan los fotos conmigo en las es algo que necesito sobrevivir.

ENTONCES, estoy en muchas más de las fotos que saque hoy cuando estuvimos en el congreso nacional.

In English:

In the most recent photo album that I shared with my blog, I am not in any of the pictures! Ah! This is a problem, please forgive me. From this point on I am going to be better about being in my pictures. The fact that I don’t really like being in photos is something that I need to overcome.

Therefore, I am in much more of the photos that I took today at the National Congress. J

La Sebatiana (97 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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the epitome of disorganization

So I have already described my experience with registering for classes = disastrous. This past week my classes actually began, well some of them at least.

Monday: being the norteamericana that I am, I was sufficiently early for my first class as my very first class was with chilenos! Well, the door was locked and I waited at the door for 10 minutes after the class has ¨started¨ and then proceeded to ask someone for help… I was advised to ask the ¨portero¨ if my class had been moved. Much to my dismay, my class was moved from 2pm to 5:20pm, so I then had a ¨choque¨ because I had another class at the exact same time. Perfect. So I got to play around for three and a half hours as I waited for my next class. Fortunately, my next class was at the correct time in the correct place.

Tuesday: I had my history class at 8:15 in the morning…muy temprano!!! I drove in with my mom and siblings and got to class at 8. at 8:20 the professor comes strolling in and informs all of us that our class had been moved to Thursday at 10:05. Perfecto. Choque numero 2 porque mi clase de teatro chileno también está jueves a las 10:05. This class was only for exchange students too, so everyone had woken up early and was in class on time. The nerve of some professors. I then went to a poetry class which I hadn’t signed up for and was told was full. So now, I am taking Poesía Contemporáneo, Danzas Tradicionales, Gramática para Extranjeros 2, Juegos Mapuches, Teatro Chileno, and Cuentos Latinoamericanos.

The rest of my week went according to plan! But it truly is amazing how unorganized the school system is here!

the fishbowl effect

So i officially made it to my first discoteca, Scratch, two weekends ago and would like to share my experience…

the dance floor in scratch is in the center of the building and you have to walk down 3 stairs to get to it. So what do the men do?? They make a ring around the dance floor and observe the dancers. Chilean men never dance by themselves, so when they spot their bait on the dance floor, they make their way down through the crowd…fortunately I was in a group of like 8 girls – a substantial enough number of people so that when a man would come up and say ¨quieres bailar¨ we say ¨no gracias¨ and start dancing with other more intentionally…it was also my job to pull girls away from their partners if they were having a bad time (I would keep an eye on my fellow gringas and if they looked in distress I would just pull them away and dance with them). Oh dear! Good times.

But, it was truly amazing how much I felt watched the entire night! Because 1) it is obvious that we are ¨gringas¨ 2) there were like 8 girls in one group and 3) we had no men with us. Nevertheless, we returned this past Thursday and did it all again!

fun facts

1. Chileans do not use salad dressing. They simply use lemon, oil, and salt. (i only use lemon, and it is great! try it!)
2. I have yet to see chocolate chips in any store. :(
3. The baking aisle has like 0 types of mixes...they just aren't into prepackaged mixes here.
4. Chileans typically buy fresh bread at least every other day...Chile is the 2nd largest consumer of bread in the world.
5. mijito/a = a very cute/good looking man/woman
6. la media naranja = your soulmate/the one you have been looking for all your life (my mom asked me if i found any of my chilean classmates attractive...that is when this conversation with these words came up haha. i told that none had caught my attention yet baha!)
7. Karlie Colwell got her wisdom teeth extracted today. get better soon!
8. Rebekah had her first day of the 10th grade today! my baby sister is soooo big!
9. my brother watched my skype my family last night and called me crazy because of all the faces i was making at the camera.
10. i love chile.

La Sarah!

I just realized that when my family talks about me they call me "la Sarah" because in Spanish 'la' is simply the article the and they use it when they are refering to other people. like when we refer to my sister she is "la Tati" (Tati is her nickname).

and then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i remembered the La'Sarah video!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYmBrLofu5Y

when i move you move.

La Isla Negra, Pablo Neruda (113 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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el dia de las gringas

8/3 - the day started with a nice workout, followed by meeting an american couple that lives in my building for 6 months out of the year. my chicas came over - Jasmin, Gina, and Anna - and we went to a little farmers market type thing ( "feriado artesanal") and then to the supermarcado Lider. we proceeded to buy things to make lunch - pancake mix, syrup, peanut butter, triton cookies (like oreos but MUCH better! especially with peanut butter), bananas, chocolate chips. yep, thats right, banana and chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter for almuerzo! it was SO good! familiar food! and it was so fun making it too.

after our ridiculously large lunch, we went downstairs and used the sauna! that also felt so good because no one in Chile has central heating or air conditioning, so it was nice to finally be hot for once!

whenever you are bored in chile you have tea/cafe. it is so fun! it is like having a tea party when you are little! tea or coffee, bread, avacado, cookies... we had tea 3 times haha! this is also what chileans call "once" (own-say) which is there meal at dinner time. big lunch, once for dinner. it is very different than in the states but i like it better!

we also played Scrabble in spanish during one of our tea parties. great day, great friends!

My New Family!

my siblings! Alejandro, me, Francisca! they are twins and 16 yrs old. :)

Valparaiso (36 photos), by Sarah Moredock

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DUNKIN DONUTS

Yes! Dunkin Donuts is in Chile! how exciting right?? because i love their coffee so so much.

well...there are 3 dunkin donuts in the area - one in the mall, one in the other mall, and one in Jumbo (their super walmart type store).

I went to lunch with my chilean friend Tete and we had empanadas and then somehow we ended up at Jumbo and she was showing me that, yes, there is peanut butter and syrup in chile....(essentials for me when i am at home in the states). awesome. now i can make pancakes....then i see the dunkin donuts! how much more awesome can my day get, really?

Tete: "quieres cafe?"

yo: "um, YES!"

off we go - and i order a medium cafe con sabor de caramel. . . and least i thought i did when i found out that they DON'T HAVE COFFEE!

i know. devastated. why even bother having a dunkin donuts if there is no coffee, only expresso drinks.

sad day.

8/1 – Slept in and then went downstairs to my gym with my mom! How great is that?! The gym has 4 pieces of equipment – treadmill, elliptical, bike, and a boflex type of machine – and yoga balls. How perfect! I was able to use the treadmill, elliptical, and yoga ball just like I would in the states! I then went with my mom to pick up my sibling from swimming practice in Valparaiso and she gave me a driving tour of the area. We then went to my grandma’s house for my cousin’s birthday. He turned 14, and I was able to meet my mom’s 2 sisters! Muy divertido and I love my new family!

7/31 – This morning all of the intercambio students went to obtain our Chilean Identification. I then went and bought a new cell phone because I had to leave my first one at my first house. I then was able to go home for lunch and do laundry so my clothes no longer smell like smoke!!!! That has got to be one the best smells in the whole world: clean clothes. Saw La era de hielo 3 en español! ¡Qué divertido en español! I then went out with some other gringitas to Café Journal.

7/30 – Today I registered for classes! In case you were wondering, here is my schedule:

· Historia Urbana e Historia Regional de Valparaiso: Martes 8:15 – 9:45

· Juegos Mapuches de Chile: Jueves 3:40 – 5:10

· Practica de la Comprensión y Producción Oral y Escrita en Lengua Materna 2: Lunes 2 – 3:30 y Jueves 8:15 – 9:45

· Teatro Chileno del Siglo XX: Miercoles 11:45 – 1:15 y Jueves 10:05 – 11:35

· Literatura General: Martes 11:45 – 1:15 y Miercoles 10:05 – 11:35

· PIIE Gramatica para Extranjeros 2: Lunes y Miercoles 5:20 – 6:50

· CIEE Cuentos Hispanoamericano: Martes 2 – 4:30

I have decided that Chile is very inefficient. Today to register for classes we went to a big room with a ton of tables set up. In oreder to register for a class you had to go the department the class was taught by and then sit down with a representative and register. So I had to talk to 4 different people. Cool. AND it took 2.5 hours! Not very efficient.

Enough complaining! Today I changed families! It was definitely a little tense at almuerzo today with my mom…not much to say as I am all packed with my luggage outside. I felt like a little lost puppy waiting to be picked up and hoping that my next family will accept and love me! It is such a terrible feeling of anxiousness. But when I arrived to my new “house” which is actually a 24 story building I was greatly gracious by my dad (my sibling were at school and my mom also is a highschool math teacher) and he gave me a tour of the house and the building. There are two pools – one inside and one outside – a Jacuzzi, sauna, and gym. All at my disposal! How awesome! I am so pumped. Then when my sister came home from school she greeted me with a kiss on the check followed by a great big hug! It felt so good and she told me that she has always wanted a big sister! She is so patient with me and is always trying to teach me what words mean! My mom is so cute as well! Recap of family: dad – Victor – pyscologist, mom – Francisca – highschool math teacher, brother – Alejandro – 16, sister – Francisca – 16 (twins).

God is so good! I feel so much more at home now!

7/29 – Highlight of the day: had lunch with my friend Tete at “entre las masas” which is strictly an empanada place! I had an empanada with chicken, mushroom, and cheese and one with corn and cheese. ¡Que rico! Afterwards we got Cuchufli’s which are like praline type cookies with manjar in the middle and coated in chocolate on the outside. Masa = batter/dough

7/28 – Back to the Casa Central of the university in order to register my visa and get a tour of the building and 2 surrounding buildings. It is my mom’s birthday today, so I went to the store and bought a brownie mix and made it over lunch. These were brownies-a-la-gringa mind you because I cut up an extra chocolate bar and put it in the mix. Haha. My mom’s parents and her oldest son and his family came over and we ate lots and hung out and talked.

7/27 – I went to the university I will be attending today for the first time today for another orientation session and then tea/coffee/finger sandwiches while we watched people doing indigenous dances. Pretty cool. Also got to Skype with Karlie and Hannah!! And was up late trying to figure out what classes I need/want to take.

7/23 & 24 – Our days have been filled with orientation sessions! CIEE has been good at keeping up busy with “talleres” or workshops about everything from the H1N1 virus to what to do in an earthquake to why you should date a Chilean while you are here…

I am also having issues with my house here because my brother smokes like a train. I have talked to my mom about getting him to stop and also to CIEE. CIEE is looking for a non-smoking home for me.

Info:

· Alcayota = marmalade with nuts that is the best thing I think I have ever tasted!

· Predición/predicible = predictiblitiy/predictable. I don’t know why but I really struggled with these words…