“Lo pasamos super bien” means roughly, “we had a great time,” which is a perfect way to describe mostly everything here in Chile. There are definitely days here where I miss America and realize how far away Iam from everyone I care about,but most of the time, these Chilean people are becoming more and more “cariños” to me, or “dear to my heart.” I find that the pace here and the general way in which people are immediately caring and open with each other has really helped me to slow down and value more and more both the relationshipsI am making here and the relationships I have with all of you who might be reading back home. Though I have never been one to sit back and let lifepass me by, here I am really “aprovechando” or “enjoying and making the most of” the people around me and the things I am doing in a way that I haven’t before. Maybe it’s something in the water, or maybe in the Pisco Sours, but Chile and the Chilean people really have a way of making you slow down, look around,and count your blessings. A bit more on this . . .
ChACE Retreat and Thanksgiving
ChACErs on Thanksgiving with Fr. Scully and Juan Esteban Montes, founder of ACE/ ChACE and Notre Dame ChACE liason in Chile, respectively. We are in the backyard area of the rectory. I get to see those mountains every day at work.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I celebrated my very first Thanksgiving away from my family. Because Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, I worked a normal day from 8-4 without anyone having an idea it was such an important holiday. Then, after school, the Holy Cross priests that run St. George invited us to a beautiful mass in the chapel righton campus. It was the first mass I had been to in English in about four months and it sure was strange to hear everything in English. It was also quite a blessing to be able to pray so authentically on a day where it is so important to me to thank God.
After mass, we walked over to the rectory where the priests live and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our rag-tag group of priests, nuns, and gringo volunteers. Though the food was not quite St. James mashed potatoes, Aunt Barbara’s famous stuffing, and Jan’s zucchini bread, enjoying Pisco Sours and some home-made apple pie while wearing a sun dress, sitting outside, and looking at the Chilean mountains was not a bad second. Despite my anxiousness about feeling super homesick on this day, I actually experienced a great sense of peace and a strong awareness of how truly blessed I am. I realized particularly that day how absolutely wonderful my ChACE cohort is and how our community is really life-giving. The experience we are sharing is so unique and the times like Thanksgiving where we realize how far away we are from the familiar really make our closeness and the fun we havetogether so evident. That day, I also thought about how lucky I am to be here in Chile, experiencing a completely different culture and expanding my mind to a world that is so much bigger than the one that I knew. Finally, that day I thought about my own family and how despite what an awesome time I am having here, no one can truly replace Jan, Jim, Lauren, and Charlie.
That night, when I got home, I skyped with my family and had the great luck of talking to every single person present at the O’Leary-Rava Thanksgiving while my mom followed the computer around the room as it was passed from person to person. After that, I ran upstairs with my lap top, and virtually introduced my host family to my real family. It was such a surreal moment and was so special to me that my real family could finally meet and see my host family, who has been such an integral part of my life here over the past two months or so. Only recently, my host mom told me that my real family seemed “super gringo” when she met them on Thanksgiving, which gave me a good laugh.
The day after Thanksgiving, our ChACE cohort, the cohort that will be leaving soon, Fr. Scully (who came in all the way from Notre Dame), Juan EstebanMontes (who is in charge of all of ND’s initiatives here in Chile), and Ignacio (a long time friend of Fr. Scully’s) headed to the beach town of Zapallar. We stayed in the houses of Ignacio’s family and another family of whom Fr. Scully is a great friend. I will let the pictures do the place justice. It was incredible! We feasted, enjoyed some beautiful masses and walks on the beach, had some great conversation, and generally just enjoyed some fellowship. As I said, “lo pasamos super bien.”
Our ChACE group on the rocks overlooking the beach. Que linda!
Adventures in San Felipe
Host Grandma, blowing out the candles of one of the THREE cakes we ate that day
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned much about my host grandmother yet, but she is definitely a lady worth mentioning. Though in her late seventies, maybe even early eighties (my host mom told me how old she is once and I remember being shocked at how old she is based on how great she looks), she still works full time running her own school. Her husband passed away about two years ago and my host mom told me, “If she stopped working, she would die.” Without her husband, her work is what keeps her going. Her energy is ridiculous, as is her ability to wear heels that are way cuter than any shoes I own. Recently, she won an award for her contributions to her town, San Felipe, through all of her dedication to her school. I went to the awards ceremony with my host Dad and host brother. Upon arriving at her house, which is about an hour outside of Santiago in the country, she immediately looked at my shoes (which I happened to think looked quite nice), and said, “Oh, you’re wearing those, this is a formal ceremony!” Of course, I immediately felt awful, but with these large feet, there’s little chance of ANYone having shoes they can lend me. Then, she said, “Oh you North Americans, you are always so informal,” and I just let it go. What else is a girl to do? After the awards ceremony, my host dad and brother left to go back to Santiago, and I stayed with grandma, enjoying a ridiculous lunch of many courses.
A few weekends later, the entire family spent the weekend at h
ost grandma’s house to celebrate her birthday. I went with the host fam (this time in fancier shoes) expecting an intimate family gathering, only to find out that every year, host grandma throws herself a giant birthday bash. This particular party was at the beautiful house of family friends (whom I had already met), complete with
tents brought in just for the day and a fully catered, delicious lunch of about 50 people. Lunch in Chile on the weekends is code for “we are going to eat all day.” This feast literally started at about one and ended at nine. The next day, I woke up early and went for a good long run around the host grandmother’s town, setting the record for being the first blonde gringa to ever run in the pueblito of San Felipe. Afterwards, we went to mass and then visited the cemetery where my host grandmother’s husband is buried. It was a beautiful moment
for me because I felt like it was such an intimate family event and yet the family didn’t think twice about having me be a part of it. On our walk out of the cemetery, host grandma put her arm around me and we talked about how she must really miss him and how she prays for him and asks God that her husband watch over her every day. Again, just another really cool moment of feeling so welcomed.
A photo of me with the host family at Grandma's cumpleaños. Don't I just fit right in?
Ladies Night
My host family does not eat typical Chilean food. My host dad is from Spain and none of the kids like Chilean food, so we mainly eat a mix of Spanish food and generic foods like pasta, hamburgers, etc. A couple of weeks ago, my host mom went out to dinner with one of her friends to the Marriott hotel and discovered that every Thursday night, the Marriott puts on a buffet (Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Charlie, read BOOOFEEET) of traditional Chilean food. She marked her calendar and told me we need to go, because I can’t leave the house without knowing what Chilean food is. She asked me to invite a friend so I told Aislinn to tag along. We arrived at the Marriot only to find out that there are no longer traditional buffets happening and the particular place where we were going to dine was closed for a private party. This resulted in my host mom taking us to the grill at the Marriot, which was significantly more pricey than what we had planned toeat. She then encouraged Aislinn and I to order from the ridiculously expensive, four-course, set-price menu. We both felt super awkward about it because of how expensive it was, but decided to go for it. It was an UNBELIEVABLE meal. Every course came with wine, the food was super-rico, and we had some great conversation about Chile, ourselves, our families, and other fun girl talk. The night was yet another reminder that the generosity of the people here is truly astounding.
Coming Up
I have much to look forward to in these coming weeks. On January 3rd, I leave for a 10- day mission trip to Osorno, Chile, where I will be accompanying high school students as they live, work, and pray with some traditional Mapuche people. From there, I’ll embark on 6 weeks of traveling throughout all of the South of Chile all the way to Patagonia, and to Bariloche, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Iguazu Falls, and Rio de Janeiro. Midway through my travels, my friend Maureen from high school is meeting me in Santiago and accompanying me to Buenos Aires. I am super pumped to “conocer” so many new places and to see Maureen and show her a bit of my world down here.
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