Futbol!

Andrew's first futbol game was Friday night. He played starting keeper for the JV team. There is some discrepency about his school year and birth year. He's a junior, but'96ers play JV. It doesn't really matter. The more he can play the better. They will choose players for the SAAC team at the end of the season. He's hoping to earn a spot on that international traveling team. We'll know more about that later.

The game was at home and it was a beautiful day. You can't go wrong with soccer futbol in the mountains. The land behind the school is used for cattle and horses. I guess the maintenance people keep horses/cattle back there. We were able to watch them herding during the game - lasso and all.

There were some fun Nido fans in the stadium. They brought one of those big ole' marching band drums and were chanting for our team. (in spanish - so not sure what they were saying) At one point, I think they were singing the Nido school song. Fun to play with an excited crowd.

They lost 0-1 but really, with only 2 practices under their belts, playing a team that has not only played together for years, but has been practicing for a while, they did FANTASTIC! I can't wait to see what they will be able to do when they've actually had some time together. The teams at Nido turn over quite a bit due to the population of international students, so this was a promising start!

Pre-Game pep talk. Andrew is in yellow.

He had a few nice saves - and nobody scored on him. They have a great defense, so he didn't have to work too hard.

Here is the view from the bleachers. A beautiful backdrop for the national sport!

Ala'deen

Aladeen is how "Aladdin" is pronounced here. The boys' big production was this weekend. For my Mormon friends - think "Roadshow". It was so much fun.

At the final dress rehearsal on Thursday, I wasn't 100% sure it would all come together. Andrew didn't have his part memorized and Jasmine wasn't singing her part of the song all the way through. Kids were everywhere on stage.

Keep in mind everything with this group takes twice as long. You have some spanish-only speakers, some english-only speakers and 1 dual speaker. So you can imagine: explain in spanish, now explain in english. Spanish kid has question. Answer in spanish, repeat in english. English kid has response. Translate back to spanish kids. All night long, every single day. It's the blessing and curse of our ward. The leaders are so patient and so very good with these kids.

By then end of that rehearsal on Thursday. I wasn't sure how the performance would actually go. But truly, these type of things ALWAYS come together. Always. The only explanation - lots of prayers :)

And true to form, these amazing teens pulled off a fantastic little mini-musical. Andrew memorized his part of "A whole new world" in espanol. He did fantastic. The only downside was the fact that his mic didn't work (he had a cordless clip-on mic) so we could barely hear him through Jasmine's microphone.

Scene 1 was a street scene to "Arabian Nights". The group of the kids did a fun little dance number. Alex juggled for part of it while everyone gathered around to watch. In the background, Andrew (as Aladdin) was stealing fruit from the stands and passed it out to the judges in the front row. A little fruity bribery never hurts. Seriously though, Alex is an amazing juggler. Everyone is so very impressed with his skills and that he has REAL juggling balls. We'll have to look into some juggling pins next...

Scene 2 was Aladdin and Jasmine singing "A whole new world". The leaders put together a 'magic carpet' that was so fun. It was a piece of plywood with large caster wheels and heavy-duty eye hooks on either end. A rug was stapled to the wood and a rope attached to either end. With a fog machine pumping fog on the stage and people pulling the rope back and forth - it appeared to be 'floating in the air' well, kind of. It was cool none-the-less and you totally got the idea. The two of them did a fantastic job.

Scene 3 was a group number "You've never had a friend like me". Yes, this is out of order of the real movie, but it made more sense to end with a fun, big group number. The genie was played by one of my seminary kids, Sam. He was awesome! Perfect for the part. Blue face and all. Alex juggled across stage to "can your friends do this" there were kids doing backflips, dancing, it was all so much fun!

Our ward won an award for what translates to be something like Best Screenplay. Everyone received some type of award. It's less about the competition, more about getting there, but it was fun to acknowledge each group up on stage. They also handed out goodie bags for each performer.

I am so proud of these kids. They really did work hard to pull this off and I think it bonded them all as a single group. They are more comfortable with each other now than ever before. They are working harder to try and communicate with each other. This activity couldn't have happened at a better time. It really helped my kids integrate right away.

The trophy was a beautiful engraved crystal piece. A REAL trophy. My kids were impressed.

Two little super funny side notes about the night:

#1. When Jasmine was goofing around shortly before the start of the show, she jumped up on the 'magic carpet' and it split in two. Right down the middle. So all the dads were frantically scrambling to put it together at the last second. Not so funny for them in that moment - but pretty funny after the fact. She's not a big girl - just hit it in the wrong place.

#2 It was so funny for us 'gringos' to be at this production. There are 6 wards and the stake went all out to make it a fun night for the kids. A real DJ was there. The emcee was really entertaining (well, the crowd really liked him - I couldn't understand a word he said). The whole thing was a blast. The only problem, most of the songs were in english. And most of the songs were NOT appropriate for this venue - but nobody knew it. There were kids up on stage lip-syncing the "F" word. When they announced that Grease would be next I cringed just a little. Nothing about that music is appropriate. So yes, there they were singing about getting 'down in the sand' and then the ever so fantastic "Grease Lightening" with it's T & A and on and on... NOT APPROPRIATE! Even the songs in-between by the DJ were not good. "Sexy and I know it" is a favorite song of mine, but maybe not something that you want to play in a church building. Good times! A conversation was initiated by our english-native speakers (the leaders) and the coordinators. To prevent this type of thing in the future. But seriously - it gave Greg and I a good laugh. My kids would get all wide-eyed and look at us with that "holy cow can you believe this?" expression on their faces.

Awesome memories!

Some Observations

Some random observations while driving in this country:

- The lines on the roads are only suggestions

- If you are driving on a 2-lane road, and someone behind you thinks you are going to slow, they will pass you. IF they can not get around you safely -keep in mind our idea of safe is NOT the same as their idea of safe- on the outside (using the lane for oncoming traffic) they will use the sidewalk

- If you are at a bus stop, you must still flag down the bus or it will drive right past you

- If you are at a bus stop, and are tired of waiting for said bus, just stick out your thumb and a passing motorist may stop and pick you up

- Driving in the left lane on a 4-lane road is best. The carbinaros (police) often do random pullovers and they will pull from the right lane

- Carbinaros drive with their lights flashing always - don't be alarmed when one is behind you

- Carbinaros will often honk their horn at friends on the street - so if one is behind you with lights flashing, and they honk - you may still be in the clear

- It is assumed that you will pull to one side of your lane so that faster motorists can zip around you at the stop lights. Otherwise, they'll honk incessantly

- When in stopping to wait to turn left, cars will use the sidewalk to pass you without as much as slowing down

- If someone is waiting for a car to back out or pull in, actually being a courteous driver, the cars backed up behind said car will lay on their horn until everyone gets moving again. Apparently that will make everyone go faster


Fortunately, I have only had to observe these driving antics and not had to be a part of them (yet).

Alone in a Strange World

Last night was my first night alone here. It didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. I feel completely safe inside my home. But even in Arizona, I get a little uneasy when I go through the house before bed double checking the doors. In Chile, when you check the doors and windows, you doubt their ability to protect you when you can feel the flood of cold air coming in from all the gaps around the door. It makes it seem as though it's just leaning there - not really "sealed up tight". Nobody can get in. We're locked up tight, but for some reason, those locks didn't seem like enough. And the house, it was sooo dark last night. Sometimes, with the clouds and/or smog, the lights from the city bounce back down on us and it seems like daytime outside. Last night, it was clear skies - and dark...

I always struggle to sleep the first night when the hubs leaves on a trip. Always. By the second night, I sleep like a baby sideways across the bed - with his pillow. Then upon his return, I again don't sleep so well, because I have to readjust to him being there. It's a roller coaster ride that I've been on for our entire marriage. Last year, when he was gone 80% of the time (side note: he says 80%, I say 90%) I got in such a habit of sleeping alone, that I struggled every night that he was home. I would wake up several times. He'd roll over, and it would wake me up. But he was only ever home for 3-4 days at a time and then he'd be gone again for a chunk of time.

To be fair, it was just as hard on him. Probably harder. The man can sleep anywhere. Good thing, because on those trips, he'd usually be in a different hotel every night. When he'd come home, I would often scare the living daylights out of him. I would reach over and touch him and he'd jump through the roof. He was so used to being alone, that having someone in the bed with him startled him in the dead of sleep. It would take him a minute to wake up enough to realize where he was and that it was ok that for me to be there. I'm lucky I didn't get punched. I tried to stay on my side at night. :)

Right now he's worried about me. I wanted to go to the 'big' Lider (grocery store) and he asked me not to. He wanted me to take both kids and only go to the little one. "It's safer." He had me text him when I left home, when I arrived at the store, when we left the store and again when we got home. He wanted a play-by-play of how things went. Sweet man. I'm ok. Really. He said that if he were in town, he wouldn't care, but being out of the country - he wants me to stay close to home. Keep in mind, the 'big' Lider is only like 3 minutes further away than the little one. But, in his defense, you do have to cross a bridge near a large community of homeless people. I am not sure if you would really call them homeless, they have built structures for themselves in a little 'lean-to city'. I believe that these are the street performers that we see at the stoplights in the evenings.

In the end, we stayed closer to home and I took both kids with me (they weren't thrilled). We got to the store and home safe and sound. We went through our nightly routines and headed to bed. At 5am this morning when I got up - it felt like I didn't sleep at all.

Oh well, this is his first trip. We'll get a flow soon.

A Balancing Act

I posted just this morning about how I have finally found peace. I seem to be the only one...

Poor Greg. He is beating his head against a wall down here. He can't work efficiently. He tries and he tries, but things are staked against him. Keep in mind that he is currently doing the same job that he did before we arrived here plus hiring and training new guys over the phone. Add to that the additional responsibilities here and the man is a little overloaded.

He's also had to carry an additional emotional and physical burden caring for me and the kids while we are adjusting to life here. He's done beautifully. But just as I am getting my feet under me, he is hitting his breaking point.

First he can't get hardwired into the internet at work. Something about security. So he has to work off of the horrible wi-fi. Our connection at home stinks, and it's a bazillion times better than the one he deals with at work. So he often works off of his iPhone during the day when the system won't connect which isn't fun and slow moving, and then does his 'real' work when he gets home.

Then about 2 weeks after arriving here, his laptop crashed completely. Luckily he had backed it up recently. So a new one was sent from the IT guys in the US via a US employee who was meeting with a Chilean employee in Bolivia - who brought it to Greg.

This new computer doesn't seem to like any excel email attachments. Greg works almost entirely from excel and email is critical to his business. The IT guys down here are not very helpful, and trying to get with the IT guy over the phone in the US requires working over a telephone line ran through the internet - which again isn't very good.

Needless to say, he's losing his flippin' mind.

He was still up working last night at midnight, I'm not sure when he went to bed. This morning he was up by 5am. The driver came early so he felt rushed to get out of the house and to the airport. He grabbed a yogurt for breakfast and dropped it on the floor. It, of course, broke open spewing yogurt all over him and the inside of the fridge.

What can I do? I can clean up the yogurt. I can hug him tight and tell him that I love him. I can tell him that I'm not worried one bit about being here alone over the next few days. I can tell him that I'm doing great. He worries about the kids and I. He is constantly aware of how we're feeling and how we are handling things. It just adds to the already piled on stress.

Today he took a plane from Santiago to Iquique, then to Arica, then La Paz then sat at the airport in Cochabamba for three hours before heading to his final destination in Brazil and then driving a distance to the hotel. He'll be at the mine tomorrow and then replay this whole travel craziness again to get home Thursday.

I am grateful for blessings in the midst of turmoil. I am grateful that while I was breaking down, he was at peace and now that he's at his breaking point, I am at peace. It allows us to pull each other through the rough patches.

Changing Perspective

Last night when I went to bed, I felt my perspective change. As I turned out the light, I felt this sense of peace. It was almost like an, "I'm home" feeling.

It happened again this morning as I scraped the frost from my windows with a credit card and headed to school with beautiful snow covered mountains in the distance and a car full of teenagers.

Maybe it's finally setting into a routine with school starting. Maybe it's the familiar hustle and bustle of Greg preparing for a business trip. Maybe it is the added spirit in our home due to early morning seminary. Maybe I've hit the 'mark' in our time here... I can't say for sure. I credit the added spirit in our home with the bulk of it. I am just at peace finally. It's been a long time.

There was so much going on before we left that my mind was going a thousand miles an hour - always. There was so many new things happening when we got here that it was all I could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Don't get me wrong - I don't have this whole Chile thing under control yet, but I am finally ok with that.

I am alone in this country for the first time today. Greg is off to Bolivia on business for the next 2 nights. I can't fill my own car up with gas because this country doesn't have 'self serve' pumps. You have to TALK to someone here, and I still can't do that, but I've got plenty of gas. I need to head to the store, but I can handle that. I need to get the kids back and forth from school and practices, but I know how to get there with my manual transmission driving self.

I look around our home and it is filled with someone else's things. They are not my couches, my art work, my bed (oh how I miss my sleep number bed), my plates, my pans. I finally bought some new drinking glasses and put those retched blue things in storage. I flipped the abstract art on our wall upside down so that it doesn't look like a woman's breast anymore. I hated that thing. Now, it just looks like abstract art.

I am not in any way saying that I'm ready to commit to staying longer than one year. I'm just saying that it is nice to just feel at peace again. It's been a long time coming.

Catching Up in Pictures

There are soooo many things happening around these parts, that I find that some things slip through the cracks of this little blog. Things that I want to share, but maybe get out-shined by something like a broken oven.

We have had so many amazing experiences already. Here are a few photos to keep things up to date:

We enjoyed this amazing cultural event put on by our community of Lo Barnechea. Our church building hosted one night of the concert. This full orchestra was amazing. The conductor was so very animated, which I LOVE! I couldn't understand a word he said, but I loved the fact that he was doing more than just performing, he was explaining the purpose and reason behind each movement. He was so much fun to watch!

The boys were tasked with helping to park cars, which here in Chile is a common thing. They directed cars to open areas and helped them fit into the tight spots. Anytime you have someone helping you park around here, you tip them. They were eager to see if they would be 'tipped' at the end. But alas - no pesos came their way.

My boys are so very silly. They make me laugh every single day. They have made this whole experience worth it. Their attitudes are amazing and their determination is inspiring. Just like this - getting every last drop out of those precious US soda cans.

Notice Andrew's "PHOTO BOMB" above :)

Money Honey:
We're still figuring out the whole money thing. Really, it's hard to take money seriously when it looks like it belongs in a box of Monopoly.

All different colors and sizes. Clear windows with holographic looking photos in them. Lots and lots of zeros.

The coins are the worst. There are two that look completely different but are exactly the same (the new 100 and the old 100).

I'm learning what to tip whom. For example, for only a few groceries, you'd tip the bagger at the store 500 pesos. For the guy watching your car at a restaurant, maybe a couple hundred. I think. My Chilean friends may need to give me a cheat sheet.

You can also tip the street performers at every stop light in the evenings. There are guys that juggle fire, dance with those zero gravity ball things. I think they are call fushigi? All kinds of entertainment on the streets. You can also buy fruit, candy, flowers, umbrellas, cell phone charges, bubble blowing guns. Yep, sit at any main stop light and you can be entertained and shop to your hearts content. No need to leave your car!

I'll have to get some pictures of that. This place is so very interesting!