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When I was in high school I took a computer class that was worth college credit but only for one semester--the second semester my class voted to do a course on video game programing rather than Microsoft Certification (which I had voted for). At the time I would tell my mom everyday at lunch how much I hated school and specifically that class. I had no desire to learn video game programing or computer language and the class seemed completely pointless. I ended up winning an award for this specific class at the end of the year banquet and my mom thought it was the funniest thing considering how much I'd hated the class.

At the beginning of last fall I had a professor ask if there was anyone in our literature class who would be willing to be a layout editor for a literary site he was working over. I went to him after class and told him I had a couple blogs and had done a little bit of computer programing in high school in a video game class and might could help him out. The site that I edit is the Andrew Marvell Society website and it is ran through the academic web server at St. Edward's which is powered by WordPress. All of my previous work on blogging had been done elsewhere and adapting to the WordPress interface is honestly really annoying. Using WordPress requires decent knowledge on plugins and HTML code. Honestly, learning those things isn't difficult and anyone can "speak computer" but when I started working with the code for the Marvell site I had never been so thankful to have taken the video game programing class in high school. I for one stop and laugh all the time when I'm working with the code thinking about how annoyed I was with that "stupid class" three years ago.

I have my first Spanish test tomorrow...and yes, I'm nervous. I'm not worried that I don't know that material, I really just have bad test anxiety which is annoying. I also hung out with one of my friends this weekend who I haven't seen for a couple of weeks and he told me he really thought my Spanish was getting better. Hearing that from him made me feel really good because there are days when I think I'm not getting any better at all. Also, yesterday my Chilean sister cut my hair--SHE ROCKS :-) my friends in the states told me I was starting to look Amish.

I leave Chile in seventy-five days and graduate college in less than four hundred--both seem like a very small amount of time. So small that I have decided to look at my time left here with a different perspective. I noticed this weekend that I have finally adjusted to the city and my new life (in that more, oh yes, this is my home way) and considering it's taken me so long to do so I have little time left to actually "live" here. Making the decision to not get a phone was one of the best things for me here. I really am so connected in my life every day that it would have just been impulse to use a phone in Chile similarly to how I use it in the states. Now that I have adjusted to my life here--I'm letting Chile in part be my home. When I moved to Austin, it took me like two weeks to let the city be home to me and of course it's going to take me a little longer with Chile, but I am definitely getting there. My Chilean parents and family are so helpful in this process--Mama and Papa do everything they can to make our Chilean home feel like it is our home as well--and it does.

Last week I went to the Metro Station in Viña del Mar to get my student card. I know that it seems like something simple but I felt really accomplished after I got my card. I went by myself with all of my papers, was able to communicate in Spanish with the metro worker, and successfully obtained my student card. It definitely was a little thing but it made my whole week better--it's interesting how such a small independent thing can make such a difference. I also was craving a taco and so I went with a couple of friends to get a taco from a restaurant...but it wasn't the same. My friend who happens to be from St. Louis couldn't understand why I didn't think the taco was a taco and I just told him he obviously had never had Austin TexMex, where he then proceeded to tell me I was the stereotypical Texan. What can I say--I like real Mexican food!

On Saturday I went down to a restaurant on the sea before we walked around Valparaiso (he lives closer to Viña) and the restaurant was awesome! It was really good cheap seafood (Mama's is better...) but the view was the best part--from the windows we kept seeing what we thought were dolphins but ended up being sea lions. After lunch we went and watched the waves crash onto the shore and the sea lions swim only a few feet out.

It has been a couple of really good days here in Chile--no matter what language I am using.  :-)

See the sea lion?

La Casa de Yebas Buenas

altar at my church

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

¿Que hora es?

Una historia de mi niñez

For one of my Spanish classes I had to write a story from my childhood so I thought I'd go ahead and post it here as well! It's pretty simple Spanish--I'm not sure if all of it is correct though, but hey, I'm doing my best!

Cuando era una niña que tenía una aventura. Para mi séptimo cumpleaños a toda mi familia llegaron a nuestra casa. Había torta y espagueti mis comidas favoritas. Llegué muchos regalos de todo el mundo. El regalo que era mi favorito era un libro que he recibido de mi tía. El libro iba los indios nativos americanos. La cubierta del libro era de color azul y tenía una niña. El libro era muy especial porque había un collar de perlas en el interior. Después de la fiesta todos se fueron a casa. Mi papá estaba dormido en el sofá y no podía encontrar a mi nuevo libro favorito. Le pregunté a mi mamá y mis hermanos, si lo habían visto pero nadie sabía dónde estaba. Busqué por todas partes y no podía encontrar mi libro. Yo quería ir a ver si estaba en casa de mis abuelos, pero nadie que me llevaría. Yo caminaba solo a casa de mis abuelos, que era un kilómetro fuera de la ciudad en la granja. Paré en la casa de mi amigo para ver si el libro estaba allí. La mamá de mi amigo miraba a través todos sus libros para decirme que ellos no lo tienen. La mamá de mi amigo había llamado por teléfono a mis padres para decirles dónde estaba. Era una niña muy pequeña y había caminado un largo camino por a casa de mi amigo. Mis padres habían estado muy preocupados porque no sabía dónde estaba y había estado buscando a mí. Se condujo sobre en el auto y me levantó. Ellos no estaban enojados, pero contento de que yo estaba bien. Fuimos a su casa de mis abuelos para buscar a mi libro, pero no estaba allí. Fuimos a la iglesia esa noche. Oré para que Jesús iba a ayudarme a encontrar mi libro. Después de la misa nos fuimos a la casa. Estuvimos limpiando la mesa para comer y mi padre cogió el periódico que estaba sentado sobre la mesa. Según el periódico era mi libro!

Now, for the translation for those of you who aren't wanting to try and translate (not that Google can't do it) the story is about one of my birthday's when I was a girl. I was about seven and my Aunt Kay had given me a book about a little Indian girl with this awesome beaded necklace on the inside. Well, after everyone left the house after the party I couldn't find the book--seven year old that I was, I was determined to find it--however, it was nap time for my parents and brothers but since I refused to take a nap (man little did I know) I was on a mission to find the book. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. At the time, it was rule of thumb at our house that if you woke dad up during nap time then you had to go to your room and take a nap so I took it upon myself to walk to my grandparents' house in search of my book. Now for those of you who don't know, I live in town and my grandparents live about a mile outside of town on part of the family farm. I made it about five blocks to Broadway where Chad and Julie Logsdon lived at the time. I'm not exactly sure why I chose to knock on their door but there I went ringing their door and asking if they had the book. Julie let me look through their books reassuring me that they didn't have it and in the meantime called my mom to let her know where I was. About five minutes later my parents pulled up to the house thankful that they had found me. After church that night I found my book lying under the newspaper on our dinner table. That wasn't the only time my parents haven't been able to find me....I'm sure I'll pay for my raising with my own kids. I didn't really know what the big deal was at the time--I knew how to get to my grandparents' and it didn't seem like a far walk. I'm thankful that I still have the same sense of independence and determination as I did when I was a little girl--I also am grateful that my parents still care enough to wonder where I am and what I'm doing even when I am miles and miles away.  

Adventures in Odyssey and a Birthday Weekend

When I was little, around the age of seven, my brothers and I started listening to Adventures in Odyssey. Adventures in Odyssey is an audio program about the lives of people in a small town called Odyssey. We would listen to them all the time, especially at night. I absolutely loved Odyssey with Whit, Connie, Bart, and the rest of the gang. At some point in Jr. High I started listening to them every single night when I fell asleep. I drifted off to sleep listening to the familiar characters talk me to sleep. I'm sure all of you have that childhood radio program or TV show that you're just like "Man, I really feel like I know these people!" Some point in high school, like my senior year I think, I quit listening to Odyssey. The other night I was falling asleep to some movie and thought back to all the nights I had listened to Odyssey and knew every story and every program by heart. I decided to look up Odyssey on iTunes and found out that not only is the show still on air, they have Podcasts now too! I went to the Whit's End website afterwards and read up on all of the characters that I knew so well for a lot of my life. The best thing about it is when I get back into the states I can catch up on the series because there's like five or six albums that I don't have yet....and out of a fifty-five album series I own all but those five or six. Adventures in Odyssey isn't your typical radio or TV show though, it's a bible series but not like Veggie Tales where it's a bible story in every adventure, but more or less about life lessons that everyone must learn. I know the series is primarily aimed at 8-12 year old kids--but I'm a kid at heart so I think all is well.  So if you're ever looking to getting into a good audio series for a long car ride, especially if you have kids, I'd definitely start hanging out with Whit and the gang.

Yesterday we celebrated Papa's birthday and there were twelve (I think) people at our house. It was so much fun. All day long we ate, drank, laughed and had the best time. I also met my two Chilean nephews...they are absolutely adorable! Here are a few photos from yesterday:

My Chileno nephew

SALUD!

Love this man

Chilean siblings!

Cross in our house--the clear circles are Jesus' tears

The birthday boy

Pan

Cuties :-)

Love it.

Boys and their cars..

So much love.

Speaking of Bucket List...

I'm sure that I have made one or many but as of the current:

-get accepted to the Peace Corps Master's International program
-live in Africa
-speak Spanish fluently
-oh yeah and German
-sky dive
-bungee jump in New Zealand
-finish writing a book
-finish reading a book...haha kidding
-live in India
-do everything that someone has told me I can't
-in person, watch KU win a NCAA championship
-swim with sharks
-travel to every continent
-stand on the Great Wall of China
-swim in every ocean...oh wait!
-go canyoning
-fall in love
-learn to capture the world through the lens of a camera
-witness the love of God spread throughout the world like wildfire
-learn to appreciate silence


I'm sure there is more but for now. :-)

As many of you know, this week is Holy Week and for the Catholic church--Saturday is the mother of all masses. Whew, the Catholic faith....now that's a touchy subject for some people, right? I was in third grade when my family started going to the Catholic church and sometime in the next couple of years my dad converted. At the time my brothers were in high school but I was still a young tyke so I went through RCIA classes and converted as well--I was in like fifth grade I think. God didn't waste anytime getting my family super involved in our parish--my parents became CCD (Sunday school more or less) coordinators and they, along with other families in our church, took off with new ideas of how to get people (and specifically kids) involved in their faith.

I don't know when my mom, the other ladies, and a few men started going to say rosary on Wednesday mornings but by now it has to have been at least seven years give or take. They get up early in the morning and go to the church and say the rosary every Wednesday. I'm almost positive my mom says her rosary every night and now that I am in Chile, she probably says it two or three times. I'm not going to sit here and count it all up but that's a lot of prayer for a lot of people--talk about power of prayer. I am totally under the impression that the best thing you can do for anyone in your life is pray for them. When I got to college that is definitely one of the things that made the friendships that I have so strong--we pray for each other. Granted I live the typical college girl life of laughter and yelling but there is also a lot of prayer whether it is for God to send us good boy friends or to pass the next midterm.

When I was in high school I came to a point in my life where I absolutely hated the Catholic church. Granted, I was a high school girl so I hated a lot of things, but the thought of being Catholic after I graduated was repulsive to me. To me, the Catholic church was just a set of rules and a bunch of boring traditions where people continuously put God into a box....funny how I ended up attending two Catholic universities huh?

Yesterday I tweeted about making plans for Easter break and my dad tweeted back at me telling me that the Easter Tritium better be in the plans...basically in his father-like way he is telling me to go to mass. I pretty much laughed at his tweet because of course I know he is just being a dad but by now him and my mom know that I have claimed the Catholic faith for myself and I stopped going to mass because they wanted me to a long time ago. I'm not Catholic because I am that ten year old kid watching my dad getting christened with oil, I'm not Catholic because I went to classes for years that taught me about Jesus and the Church, I'm not Catholic because I go to a Catholic school or have Catholic friends--I am Catholic because it embodies everything that I believe about Jesus and what a "church" should be.

Recently I read this blog post and it kind of all clicked for me. Now, don't get me wrong I'm not saying that Catholic churches don't have problems and that I don't disagree with the actions of people at times--but what I am saying is that the difference for me lies in love and service. Of course I could sit here and give you my opinions on different Protestant churches and why for lack of a more formal phrase "my church is better" but that's not the point and I definitely don't think it would accomplish anything. I want to see God's people in a light where the church isn't what's important but something even bigger than that--love. I think that is a part of what draws me in so tightly to the Chilean culture. Granted, yes, people here are what you'd call "super Catholics" but it absolutely doesn't matter what church you go to here most people are in the mindset of "me da lo mismos" no all churches here aren't the same but it doesn't change how the people here show you love (or not that I have seen yet). I am sure that there is church bias here but more than anything people really know how to love and show God's love through their actions. I don't know how many times in the states there is the question of "Oh hey are you Baptist?" or "Oh, so you're Catholic?" and I am sure that in some cases it happens here too--it just seems to be more out of love than anything rather than a conversation of "my church can beat up your church."

The other night at dinner we were talking about perceptions of love in the different cultures--Chile and the US. My parents and I started to talk about how everyone is open and affectionate here and in the US people are "frio" or more or less somewhat cold-hearted. It definitely takes me back to when I was little and my dad used to read my brothers and I a chapter of the bible at breakfast everyday before school. I remember one morning we got into a conversation about Jesus kissing people when he greeted them and it was like "Dad, he kisses the boys too?" That was also probably the age where my dad had to explain circumcision to me as well ;-). I see it with some families in the US--but most, including my own, are less affection by a great deal to how people are here. When you greet someone you kiss, when you leave you kiss--if I counted it up I probably get twenty kisses a day from my mom alone. Before I left the states I really wasn't that touchy of a person--if I hugged you it was probably because I knew you really well and other than my family and close friends I kind of liked my own little "frio" bubble. After living here for the time that I have, I have come to love the love language of touch--it's not gross, it's not inappropriate, it's absolutely beautiful. My parents and I may not always be able to understand each other all the time but I know that they love me because of their body language. Touch and affection is something that I think the US in majority definitely loses out on--and I don't really like to compare my two homes for the most part, but when it comes to this aspect, I do prefer the general expression of love here. I think that I prefer it over what I commonly experience in the US because I think that I equate it to what I know from the bible. If Jesus greeted me I wouldn't expect it to be a handshake and a "Hello, I'm Jesus" but a full embrace with a kiss on the cheek and a "Hello, how are you, how was your day, are you well?"

This weekend I'm kind of just hanging around the house. It has also been pretty warm so I suspect I will visit the beach. As you already know, I will of course be going to mass or misa and celebrating Holy Week. I didn't mean to get into so many different things today with this post--I'm sorry if it was hard to follow. I hope your Easter weekend is good, wherever you may be!

Today In the Life

Today we went on our class field trip to the Museo Andino in Buin, a city about fifteen minutes outside of Santiago. We arrived at the museum mid-morning and were given a tour of all of the rooms. There were many artifacts from Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. The museum was a collection by the owner of the vineyard that was right next to the museum. I don't absolutely love museums...only because I'm one of those look and walk people unlike my father who could spend a whole day in one reading every sign. I did enjoy this museum for the most part--it was interesting to see all of the collection and take a step back into Latin American history. Also, it was insanely hot in Buin! Apparently it's been like ninety degrees in Santiago...talk about big difference! Today it also rained which was nice because it wasn't as cold here--more rain=less cold.

Tonight for dinner my Mama made the best meal! We had steak with rice and salad--yummm! Tomorrow is my last day of school for the week--weird. I may make a trip to the surfing capitol Pichilemu but who knows. It is also Papa's birthday tomorrow--I'm definitely thankful for his birth which of course calls for a toast! SALUD!

Something interesting that I have been meaning to write about--in my Spanish classes there is young Japanese man and of course he can't speak English and I can't speak Japanese but we are both learning to speak Spanish so we can communicate. I know it's a simple thing but it's really cool to be able to communicate with another person when you both don't speak the others' native tongue.


Latin Music...Rihanna Style

High Into the Cerros

Friday my friend and I hiked high into the cerros to the very top of the highest looking point in Valparaiso. Originally we were going to play basketball but we had gone to the wrong gym and couldn't get to the other one in time. In Valpo, the higher you are, the poorer the people are--well materialistically speaking. We set out from the plan (the strip of Valpo that isn't a hill) and started our walk on one of the many winding roads. We took a few lengthy staircases to get up the cerro more quickly and soon enough it was evident that the people were less wealthy the higher and higher we climbed. It was progressive, at first the houses looked like any of the houses on the lower hills in the city and then we'd see houses with little or no paint and patched roofs, until we reached the higher parts of the hill where the houses were built from wood and metal scraps it seemed like. The paved road ended and we were walking on dirt when we came upon a view of the trees sweeping the hills and low and behold we see a horse. This horse wasn't just any horse, he was gorgeous! We climbed down closer and a younger Chileno was holding the rope while the horse grazed on the grass. After a couple of minutes we had struck up a conversation with the guy who told us that he'd had the horse since he was a young boy and when this friendly wet dog ran up the hill he also told us that the he'd had the dog as long as he'd had the horse and they were best friends.

We sat on a big patch of earth just looking out over the port and entire city and just kind of hung out for a while. High in the cerros the bustle and roar of the loud city is lost and you can hear the laughter of the younger boys playing a soccer game in front of their house a couple hundred feet away. The view offered a new side of the city that absolutely captivated my heart. On the way down we talked to an older lady who was walking up the hill who asked us where we were from in the states and why we were studying in Valpo. People are friendly here and I love every part of the city but it was nice to walk through a street that wasn't busy and where we had the opportunity to stop and talk to local Chileans.

Also, I went to Palm Sunday yesterday and every mass that I have attended here at the church there has been about twenty to thirty people in this huge church..yesterday I understood why it is so big--there was standing room only! The people here definitely take Holy Week seriously and the Catholic roots of the city really come out.

Tomorrow I am going to Santiago to a museum--it's a field trip for my literature class. It's like being in elementary all over again--we go on field trips and don't have to go to school the rest of the day and are excused from our other classes.

IMPORTANT: Kansas plays in the championship game tonight--as for my bracket--at least I picked one team to be in the final game correctly! So for all of you people who can watch it, Rock Chalk yeah?

The Little Things

Paying for college sucks. Sorry to be so frank but really, if you are paying for college, are a parent helping your kid out, or know anything about how much it costs to got to college these days you know it is ridiculous. Since I've been in school tuition's gone up around $2,000. I definitely work as much as I can to help pay for college and haven't stopped applying for scholarships that go towards tuition. It's super frustrating though to write essay upon essay upon essay and get recommendation letters time and time again just to find out you didn't get a scholarship. I would definitely say that applying for scholarships is a pretty humbling experience--you get to find out time and time again that there are many more kids out there who are just as awesome as you are. In high school, it was so frustrating for me to apply for scholarships because so many scholarships committees "weed" your application out if you don't have a high ACT score. I am a terrible test taker and have super bad test anxiety and my ACT score was right in the mediocre range--it didn't compliment anything I did in high school really. My college actually told me not to apply for a certain scholarship because they won't even consider my application without a certain ACT score. So going into college a lot of your opportunities are based upon two numbers--your class rank and ACT/SAT score--awesome right?

When I got to St. Ed's my scholarship opportunities were based on my performance inside and outside of the classroom. I applied for scholarships to study abroad from different programs and the agency I went with but didn't receive any. I'm taking a whole semester and not working so of course when I return to the US I will be under more financial pressure to make what I need to live on for the next semester. More than anything while I am here I am trying to spend conservatively. Last night I found out that I have been awarded a scholarship from my honors program back home--it was a breath of fresh air. Admissions to the honors program at SEU has been one of the best things to happen to me in college. The classes I have taken through the program are some of the best courses I've been through in college and I really can't say enough good things about the professors in the program. The best thing about this scholarship was that I didn't even have to apply for anything. I just emailed the dean of the college and asked her if there was a scholarship I would be able to apply for in the program (months ago) and yesterday she told me I'd be receiving funds for my experience abroad. I know there are pros and cons for going to big and little colleges but this is definitely one of the reasons I appreciate my small university--your professors know you and care about what you are doing. St. Ed's new slogan is "Take on your world" it definitely fits the university and what I have been inspired to do during my college experience.

Just for the record, last night I ate zucchini as my main dish and liked it--yes I like zucchini, but if you know me you know this is a big accomplishment! I also eat a salad with almost every meal--my plate actually has color for probably the first time in ten years. You know how most of the time you don't like many foods when you are little and as you grow up you learn to like different foods? Yeah, well my eating cycle is pretty much in reverse. I'm getting better though--Chile helps with that.

Sunday I register for classes back home--I have a decent amount of hours so hopefully that will go well but registration is always stressful so I'm not counting any chickens. Sunday, is also April 1st which means that I only have three months left here--time flies. I'm definitely trying to make the most of what little time I have left in this beautiful country.