Silly in Chile

The single thing that has gotten us through this entire adventure here in Santiago is laughter.

We laugh at ourselves - we laugh at each other - we laugh at all the crazy people around us. We laugh at the dogs running around the neighborhood. We crack up at the piles and piles of horse poo that are constantly in our neighborhood now that the wild horses have found our park. We laugh at my attempt to communicate with the nana, or when I tell the cashier "no" when she asks if I want to donate the change, which was like $.001 (or a half a penny). *Hey, I thought she was asking something else.

It's all pretty comical living down here. We also have ongoing movie and youtube video quotes flying around all the time. My boys recite these things word for word, out of nowhere, and finish each other's sentences. Scenes from Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail is a favorite.

Alex is quick to laugh and when he starts - we can't seem to stop ourselves from joining in. So Andrew likes to get him going. Just recently, he's starting making up jokes. Maybe they are not hilarious, but Alex will laugh AT Andrew trying to be funny - then we're all going.

guy 1: "So a rainbow colored manatee walks into a bar"

guy 2: "k."

guy 1: "And the bartender says..."

guy 2: "yeah?"

guy 1: "Oh, the Hue-Manatee!"

So hysterical Andrew... We all kind of sit there like, what? Then Alex starts giggling with a "what the heck Andrew?" and it's all over after that.

There has been an ongoing discussion by my seminary class about Axes vs. Hatches. Why not call them BOTH axes? asks one student. What? Because they're completely different! says the rest. On and on and on and on... boys. We then have our one girl student who adds, "umm... who cares?"

There's also comments that perhaps John was high when he wrote Revelations - Sigh... These kids are hilarious.

Life is crazy. It's full of things that might just make you pull your hair out - the only way I've found to combat all that frustration is to just laugh about it. Sometimes you have to cry first, but as long as you end up laughing in the end - then it's all good.

That's kind of how our adventure here in Chile has been. It's a roller coaster ride of emotions, but if we remember to laugh, it makes it all easier.