So, I was thinking about it, and if you want to see the videos on YouTube, I think you´d be better off searching jkhouri87 and then selecting the videos...otherwise, you get a bunch of other stuff that has nothing to do with the Hogar. Just a helpful hint :)
Chau!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
So I thought I´d take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
While this amazing American holiday hasn't quite made it to the Southern Hemisphere, I have been getting very warm wishes from my Chilean friends, including a Charlie Brown video on Facebook (which made me smile).
I also thought I'd catch you all up on my activities the last week or so.
On Monday, I took my last History exam (actually, my last exam PERIOD!) and feel I did pretty well...at least, a great deal better than I did on my Education exam a few weeks prior (going to see the grade tomorrow...keep your fingers crossed). Tuesday I finished my poetry project and started my group project in Education. We got about half way through, and should be finishing up on Saturday. I have also started my Education paper which this blog is helping me procrastinate for (haha), but as the topic is really interesting, I feel I should be motivated to finish it some time in the next few days.
Last night, I attended the Hogar del Nino Sirio y Palestino end of the year show. All the girls performed, some by reciting poetry, almost all Arabic dancing as well as some other dancing, and singing. Macarena, the graduating senior, gave a very touching speech on the occasion of her graduation as well (she graduated from a technical high school with a degree in auto-repair, something she greatly enjoys).
The night was full of good food, good entertainment, and good fellowship and it was the greatest feeling watching the girls I've grown so close to perform dances they've been working hard on all year. I think leaving the Hogar is going the be the most difficult part of coming home, and each of the girls has found a way into my heart. (Editor's Advisory: all family and friends be prepared for very long picture/story sessions about each of the girls at the Hogar probably in way more detail than you really want to know...LOL).
For those of you who would like to see a little bit of the show last night, the dances and songs have been posted to YouTube...if you search for "Hogar del Niño, Fin del Año", they should be like the first four or five videos (you will know it's them because it will say "Posted by jkhouri87" - that's me).
Anyway, I wish you all God's blessings on this day, and hope each of you have a marvelous celebration :)
While this amazing American holiday hasn't quite made it to the Southern Hemisphere, I have been getting very warm wishes from my Chilean friends, including a Charlie Brown video on Facebook (which made me smile).
I also thought I'd catch you all up on my activities the last week or so.
On Monday, I took my last History exam (actually, my last exam PERIOD!) and feel I did pretty well...at least, a great deal better than I did on my Education exam a few weeks prior (going to see the grade tomorrow...keep your fingers crossed). Tuesday I finished my poetry project and started my group project in Education. We got about half way through, and should be finishing up on Saturday. I have also started my Education paper which this blog is helping me procrastinate for (haha), but as the topic is really interesting, I feel I should be motivated to finish it some time in the next few days.
Last night, I attended the Hogar del Nino Sirio y Palestino end of the year show. All the girls performed, some by reciting poetry, almost all Arabic dancing as well as some other dancing, and singing. Macarena, the graduating senior, gave a very touching speech on the occasion of her graduation as well (she graduated from a technical high school with a degree in auto-repair, something she greatly enjoys).
The night was full of good food, good entertainment, and good fellowship and it was the greatest feeling watching the girls I've grown so close to perform dances they've been working hard on all year. I think leaving the Hogar is going the be the most difficult part of coming home, and each of the girls has found a way into my heart. (Editor's Advisory: all family and friends be prepared for very long picture/story sessions about each of the girls at the Hogar probably in way more detail than you really want to know...LOL).
For those of you who would like to see a little bit of the show last night, the dances and songs have been posted to YouTube...if you search for "Hogar del Niño, Fin del Año", they should be like the first four or five videos (you will know it's them because it will say "Posted by jkhouri87" - that's me).
Anyway, I wish you all God's blessings on this day, and hope each of you have a marvelous celebration :)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Haha, forgot something
Haha, so I forgot the best news of all!! For those of you who don't know, I've been having serious issues both with my senior thesis (my advising professor left the university) and with my ESL endorsement (one class short, not offered again for another whole year). Yesterday, I received an email from another professor who has agreed to advise my thesis and refund any books I purchase here in Chile specifically for research, and today I received an email from the assistant Dean of Education agreeing to approve me for student teaching and offering me various ways out of my class dilemma. So thank you for all your prayers! These emails have reduced my stress load by like 1000x.
Chao for now!
Chao for now!
Updates!!
As the semester is coming to a close, I have been extremely busy with final projects and exams, hence the lack of writing lately. However, I would like to take a few minutes to give you all a quick update on how things have been going these last couple of weeks.
As I said, school is keeping me really busy. I think I have something like 8 evaluations (tests or papers) within the next two weeks...on top of reading. So that'll be keeping me pretty homebound at least until Thanksgiving (which, unfortunately, I think I will be missing this year :( ).
On the church front, Fr. Francisco has asked our choir to record a CD with various church songs in Spanish for the parish to listen to during Christmas Lent. We have been having extra practices, which has been a lot of fun for me to help out with as well, and we are planning to record on Friday (place your orders now if you're interested!).
Also, today I went to the opening of a Russian Cinema Festival, which was unfortunately composed of very strange avante guarde type movies that I don't really understand (we left early); on the upside, I made away with a bunch of free DVD's, including a documentary on a monastery in Russia, so I'm excited to watch those! I'm not sure what language it's in and/or what subtitles are available, but should be fun anyway :)
Teaching is getting a little better, but still very difficult as the nice weather makes students restless. I'm using more English in the classroom (that's a good thing, since it's English class), but it's still very difficult because the students still don't understand very much. Only two or three more weeks of that, however.
The weather has been gorgeous (80s), so I've really been enjoying that, and am not happy about coming home to snow...brrrrrr. Just trying to take as much advantage of the weather as possible.
I think that about covers it for now. Haven't been taking many more pictures, because I haven't really gone anywhere, but please let me know if there's something you want pictures of (I know Frank likes Ferreterías), just let me know.
I love you all and hope to hear from some of you soon!
Besitos a todos!!
As I said, school is keeping me really busy. I think I have something like 8 evaluations (tests or papers) within the next two weeks...on top of reading. So that'll be keeping me pretty homebound at least until Thanksgiving (which, unfortunately, I think I will be missing this year :( ).
On the church front, Fr. Francisco has asked our choir to record a CD with various church songs in Spanish for the parish to listen to during Christmas Lent. We have been having extra practices, which has been a lot of fun for me to help out with as well, and we are planning to record on Friday (place your orders now if you're interested!).
Also, today I went to the opening of a Russian Cinema Festival, which was unfortunately composed of very strange avante guarde type movies that I don't really understand (we left early); on the upside, I made away with a bunch of free DVD's, including a documentary on a monastery in Russia, so I'm excited to watch those! I'm not sure what language it's in and/or what subtitles are available, but should be fun anyway :)
Teaching is getting a little better, but still very difficult as the nice weather makes students restless. I'm using more English in the classroom (that's a good thing, since it's English class), but it's still very difficult because the students still don't understand very much. Only two or three more weeks of that, however.
The weather has been gorgeous (80s), so I've really been enjoying that, and am not happy about coming home to snow...brrrrrr. Just trying to take as much advantage of the weather as possible.
I think that about covers it for now. Haven't been taking many more pictures, because I haven't really gone anywhere, but please let me know if there's something you want pictures of (I know Frank likes Ferreterías), just let me know.
I love you all and hope to hear from some of you soon!
Besitos a todos!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Arica Photos
So, here's the link to the photos I took from Arica. As my camera petered out (again) part way through, I am going to try to bum some photos from my friends as well, and will add those as I get them. Hope you like them!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/AricaIquique#
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/AricaIquique#
Trip to Arica and Iquique - Day 4/5
Sunday morning, we took a taxi to the bus station where we caught the first bus to Iquique. 5 hours on a bus is not fun, and we were all very grateful we had flown from Santiago instead of the possibly cheaper option of taking the 28 hour bus ride (that would have been aweful!). We got to Iquique about lunch time, enjoyed the cities specialty (seafood!!), and then went grocery shopping for some home cooked dinner.
We were staying at the Backpacker's Hostel, which is a chain of hostels specifically designed for (go figure) backpackers. We had access to the kitchen, and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. After shopping, my friends took a trip paragliding and as I am not quite so brave, I contented myself to reading on the beach and walking through waves - which was plenty of fun for me :)
We all ended up back at the hostel in time to start dinner. In the process, we met a lot of fellow traveler's from around the world, including the US, England, and France. It was fun sharing experiences, as we had all definitely been in Chile longer than most of them, and could share some very helpful tips. For dinner, we cooked some improv Indian food (yay for my friend travelling with Marsala mix) and then made a dessert of chocolate dipped fruit - a big hit with everyone in the hostel!
We spent the evening hanging out and talking, and got to bed late, but happy overall with our trip.
Monday morning, we headed to the airport for our flight back to Santiago. As I didn't get home in time for class that day, I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping, which was well needed after our trip.
Anyway, that's the Arica trip. Pictures will be in the next post, so I hope you enjoy them.
We were staying at the Backpacker's Hostel, which is a chain of hostels specifically designed for (go figure) backpackers. We had access to the kitchen, and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. After shopping, my friends took a trip paragliding and as I am not quite so brave, I contented myself to reading on the beach and walking through waves - which was plenty of fun for me :)
We all ended up back at the hostel in time to start dinner. In the process, we met a lot of fellow traveler's from around the world, including the US, England, and France. It was fun sharing experiences, as we had all definitely been in Chile longer than most of them, and could share some very helpful tips. For dinner, we cooked some improv Indian food (yay for my friend travelling with Marsala mix) and then made a dessert of chocolate dipped fruit - a big hit with everyone in the hostel!
We spent the evening hanging out and talking, and got to bed late, but happy overall with our trip.
Monday morning, we headed to the airport for our flight back to Santiago. As I didn't get home in time for class that day, I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping, which was well needed after our trip.
Anyway, that's the Arica trip. Pictures will be in the next post, so I hope you enjoy them.
Trip to Arica and Iquique - Day 3
Saturday morning, we ate a very yummy breakfast of qunoa and hot milk (like a cream of wheat type thing), coca tea, and bread/butter. We then continued our trip up to the precordillera. We stopped on various occasions for pictures of the llamas, vacuñas, and alpacas, as well as in a couple smaller towns for a glimpse of atacameñan culture. About late morning, we reached Lake Chungara and the Parinacota volcano. Absolutely gorgeous (pictures coming soon)! Situated at 20, 413 feet, it was DEFINITELY high up! walking from the van to the edge of the lake (about 50 feet) was enough to leave us all breathless and dizzy - but totally worth it! After having our fill of picture taking, we stopped for a leisurely lunch nearby, where we also had a chance to buy various handicrafts made from alpaca wool, and then began the 5 hour descent back to Arica. As we quickly learned, the trip down is definitely harder than the trip up...all of us (including our driver) almost fell asleep on various occasions due to the altitude change. But, we made it safe and sound, bought our bus tickets for Iquique the next day, went out to dinner, and got to go clothes shopping in one of the cheapest cities in Chile for clothes (knock-off skirts for less than $4, for example). As we checked in to our hostel that night (the same as the first night), we were given a significant upgrade in rooms, which definitely made the stay a great deal more enjoyable.
Trip to Arica and Iquique - Day 2
Friday morning, we met our tour guide, Freddie, to begin our tour to Lake Chungara - the highest lake in the world. We started our tour with a trip to the "supermarket" - a huge warehouse like complex where families set up fruit and vegetable stands. After buying supplies for our trip, we continued out to the desert where we saw hieroglyphs - the ancient atacameños would create images on the hills using bits of rock, retelling stories from their history for future generations. After that, we went to Arica's museum and saw a detailed accounting of the development of the indigenous people in northern Chile, complete with mummies! From there, we started the looong drive UP: 5500 feet in one day. We drove through a good portion of the desert, stopping at a Hari Krishna monastery for a vegetarian lunch, and also for a hike along the Inka Trail (about an hour or so, during which time my friend got to get up close and personal with some guanaco). We ended the day in Putre, a tiny altiplano town 7000 feet above sea level, and were treated to a typical andean dinner of meat, vegetables, quinoa (a type of cereal that when cooked is kinda like couscous), and coca tea, supposedly really good for the altitude (worked for me, at least!). Then to sleep for an early morning the rest of the way to Lake Chungara.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Trip to Arica and Iquique - Day 1
For those of you who didn't know, I spent this last weekend with some friends from my study abroad program visiting the cities of Arica and Iquique in the northernmost region of Chile. Overall, the trip was really worth it, as we got to see a lot of great scenery and...LLAMAS!! Yes, llamas, as well as alpaca, guanaco, and vicuna - other members of the cameloid family to which llamas belong :)
Thursday morning (as in prior to sunrise), the three of us took a cab to the airport and flew to Iquique, a quiet city on the coast. Geologically, it's a very interesting place, because if you stand in the city and look east, all you can see is desert, and if you look west, all you can see is ocean. Pretty crazy! From there, we took a lovely 5 hour bus ride (haha) to Arica. Due to the change in altitude, I managed to get a little lightheaded, but survied. ***Editor's note: I just learned that Santiago is located at an elevation of 1562 feet and Arica at 1503 feet; therefore, all elevation-related illness (at this point at least) was entirely psychological or related to the airplane/bus trip*** We arrived in time for a late lunch, followed by a little shopping and a nighttime exploration of the city. We stumbled upon a political rally geared towards the upcoming mayoral elections (they actually were just completed on Sunday), complete with cotton candy, music, and an Elvis impersonator (we think he was trying to sing in English, but aren't exactly sure). We then returned for a decent night's sleep in our hostel, which was not the nicest/cleanest/most travel friendly, but served its purpose.
Sorry to keep it so short for tonight, but will continue tomorrow with more details on Friday-Monday.
Thursday morning (as in prior to sunrise), the three of us took a cab to the airport and flew to Iquique, a quiet city on the coast. Geologically, it's a very interesting place, because if you stand in the city and look east, all you can see is desert, and if you look west, all you can see is ocean. Pretty crazy! From there, we took a lovely 5 hour bus ride (haha) to Arica. Due to the change in altitude, I managed to get a little lightheaded, but survied. ***Editor's note: I just learned that Santiago is located at an elevation of 1562 feet and Arica at 1503 feet; therefore, all elevation-related illness (at this point at least) was entirely psychological or related to the airplane/bus trip*** We arrived in time for a late lunch, followed by a little shopping and a nighttime exploration of the city. We stumbled upon a political rally geared towards the upcoming mayoral elections (they actually were just completed on Sunday), complete with cotton candy, music, and an Elvis impersonator (we think he was trying to sing in English, but aren't exactly sure). We then returned for a decent night's sleep in our hostel, which was not the nicest/cleanest/most travel friendly, but served its purpose.
Sorry to keep it so short for tonight, but will continue tomorrow with more details on Friday-Monday.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Photos!! - Pucon
Here are my pictures from Pucon. Just a heads up...lots of landscape! Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/Pucon#
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/Pucon#
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Long time no write + Pucon
I apologize for not having written in so long. Things have been crraaazzzyyy.
I have had three projects these last two weeks. Chilean professors have this horrible habit of not giving you your paper topic until two weeks before the paper is due, and not giving you your study guide until the class before the test. While I do have procrastinating tendencies, even this was a little much for me. The good news is that all three papers (two of which were group projects) are done and the test has been taken. I also got a grade back from a paper a few weeks ago and pulled off a 6.1 - a solid A-.
Brief vent about group projects in Chile:
Chileans are all procrastinators. My group for my Education paper decided that the Friday before the paper was due was the day to write the whole thing - 5 pages + bibliography. As if that wasn´t bad enough, all the information (a summary of the educational sociological theory of a British sociologist) was in English...which none of them speak well. Hence, I spent the five hours of our paper writing scanning articles and translating what I hoped were the most important parts of them. Hopefully I should be hearing more about this paper in the next couple of weeks. My other group project was a poetry paper. My partner also decided that the Sunday before the paper was due (aka two days after spending five hours translating British sociological theory) was the perfect time to write this paper, especially since she failed to show up to our get together on Thursday. Unfortunately, this plan also had serious flaws as we spent four hours going back and forth between each others houses (separtely, not together) due to misunderstandings as to whose house we were meeting at. Loooooong day. I do not have really high hopes for that paper, but ya never know.
Ok, enough school stuff.
This weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to go with my program to Pucon, a resort town in the south of Chile. For those of you familiar with California, it is a lot like Three Rivers. We drove down all night Thursday and got in early Friday morning. After a shower (yay) and breakfast (double yay) we took a tour of the area, seeing volcanic lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. Everything was absolutely gorgeous. Pictures will be coming in the next couple of days, but warning: they are not anywhere close to what these things looked like in person.
The place where we´re staying is a resort composed of different cabins. But these are not your run of the mill camping cabins...these are like cabins on steroids! Kitchens, TV, radio, whirlpool, etc., it´s really luxurious (now that´s one way to go camping!).
Saturday, I got together with some girls in the program and we did a canopi tour. Basically, we climbed a tree and zip-lined through the forest for an hour and a half. For someone who has never really like heights, it was definitely a step out of my comfort zone, but totally worth it. The forest was beautiful, and we got to zip over a big river, which was really cool! Following lunch, this same group of girls and I decided to go on cabalgatas, which is a horse-back riding tour. While at first it was kinda nerve wracking (they didn´t give us any instructions for riding...thank goodness I´ve done this before at Camp St. George), the trip was beautiful. Our guides took us up the mountain where we dismounted and hiked to a fantasticly out of this world waterfall (took a video of this one). It was so surreal, I didn´t want to leave. But, we had to, so we hiked back up to the horses (a lot harder since it had rained and the trail up the hill was completely muddy and slippery) and then rode back down the mountain. One of the girls´ horses slipped, which was really scary, but she held her own and everything turned out all right...no injuries to either horse or person.
Today, we learned that Daylight Savings has started in Chile. I am now two hours a head of Central Time Zone time (instead of one), so that´s good to know. I took a little trip to town and had fun taking nature pictures (Dad, can´t wait to show you). Also did a little shopping (Mom, I have a surprise for you :)) and bought some chocolate, which is REALLY good. Right now, I´m just kinda bumming around until our bus gets here to take us back to Santiago. We should be getting in early tomorrow morning, then I will go to class and then coffee/tea/lunch with Lorena, before studying for a test this Thursday.
That´s kind of it for now. Definitely going to be looking in to different nature-lover things to do for when I get back to Iowa, because it is really so much fun. I hope all is well with everyone, and please shoot me an email if you get a chance, or if too much time has gone by and my pictures still aren´t up (I have a tendency to put them on my computer, but forget to upload them).
Love you all!
I have had three projects these last two weeks. Chilean professors have this horrible habit of not giving you your paper topic until two weeks before the paper is due, and not giving you your study guide until the class before the test. While I do have procrastinating tendencies, even this was a little much for me. The good news is that all three papers (two of which were group projects) are done and the test has been taken. I also got a grade back from a paper a few weeks ago and pulled off a 6.1 - a solid A-.
Brief vent about group projects in Chile:
Chileans are all procrastinators. My group for my Education paper decided that the Friday before the paper was due was the day to write the whole thing - 5 pages + bibliography. As if that wasn´t bad enough, all the information (a summary of the educational sociological theory of a British sociologist) was in English...which none of them speak well. Hence, I spent the five hours of our paper writing scanning articles and translating what I hoped were the most important parts of them. Hopefully I should be hearing more about this paper in the next couple of weeks. My other group project was a poetry paper. My partner also decided that the Sunday before the paper was due (aka two days after spending five hours translating British sociological theory) was the perfect time to write this paper, especially since she failed to show up to our get together on Thursday. Unfortunately, this plan also had serious flaws as we spent four hours going back and forth between each others houses (separtely, not together) due to misunderstandings as to whose house we were meeting at. Loooooong day. I do not have really high hopes for that paper, but ya never know.
Ok, enough school stuff.
This weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to go with my program to Pucon, a resort town in the south of Chile. For those of you familiar with California, it is a lot like Three Rivers. We drove down all night Thursday and got in early Friday morning. After a shower (yay) and breakfast (double yay) we took a tour of the area, seeing volcanic lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. Everything was absolutely gorgeous. Pictures will be coming in the next couple of days, but warning: they are not anywhere close to what these things looked like in person.
The place where we´re staying is a resort composed of different cabins. But these are not your run of the mill camping cabins...these are like cabins on steroids! Kitchens, TV, radio, whirlpool, etc., it´s really luxurious (now that´s one way to go camping!).
Saturday, I got together with some girls in the program and we did a canopi tour. Basically, we climbed a tree and zip-lined through the forest for an hour and a half. For someone who has never really like heights, it was definitely a step out of my comfort zone, but totally worth it. The forest was beautiful, and we got to zip over a big river, which was really cool! Following lunch, this same group of girls and I decided to go on cabalgatas, which is a horse-back riding tour. While at first it was kinda nerve wracking (they didn´t give us any instructions for riding...thank goodness I´ve done this before at Camp St. George), the trip was beautiful. Our guides took us up the mountain where we dismounted and hiked to a fantasticly out of this world waterfall (took a video of this one). It was so surreal, I didn´t want to leave. But, we had to, so we hiked back up to the horses (a lot harder since it had rained and the trail up the hill was completely muddy and slippery) and then rode back down the mountain. One of the girls´ horses slipped, which was really scary, but she held her own and everything turned out all right...no injuries to either horse or person.
Today, we learned that Daylight Savings has started in Chile. I am now two hours a head of Central Time Zone time (instead of one), so that´s good to know. I took a little trip to town and had fun taking nature pictures (Dad, can´t wait to show you). Also did a little shopping (Mom, I have a surprise for you :)) and bought some chocolate, which is REALLY good. Right now, I´m just kinda bumming around until our bus gets here to take us back to Santiago. We should be getting in early tomorrow morning, then I will go to class and then coffee/tea/lunch with Lorena, before studying for a test this Thursday.
That´s kind of it for now. Definitely going to be looking in to different nature-lover things to do for when I get back to Iowa, because it is really so much fun. I hope all is well with everyone, and please shoot me an email if you get a chance, or if too much time has gone by and my pictures still aren´t up (I have a tendency to put them on my computer, but forget to upload them).
Love you all!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Pictures from Frank's visit
So, I realized I never put a link for the pictures from Frank's visit. Here it is, and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FrankInChile#
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FrankInChile#
The Beach!!!
On Saturday, the Iconography class at church took an outing to El Tabo beach. Even though I'm not in the class, I got invited to go by the other college students who are in the class. I'm really glad I did, too, because I had a great time.
We left Santiago early in the morning and got to the beach around 12:00. We had "breakfast" of hard boiled eggs, bread/butter, cake, and tea, and then took some time to walk around the beach and neighboring pueblo. I mostly hung out with my friend Marjorie, but also with Patricio and Natalia, two other choir friends. We got to play being 5 years old and splashing in the waves (even though it was only like 65 degrees), and then checked out some artesania in the pueblo. There were cool chimes and things made from sea shells and different statues and stuff all with beach themes.
After that, we had a late lunch (around 3) of chicken, a variety of salads, French fries, and rice, all topped off with ice cream and tea for desert. From there, more walking and picture taking along the beach until sunset (which I do have pictures of this time), when we headed back for the bus for the two hour ride home. All in all, it was very tranquilo as they say here, but a great way to get to know people better, relax, and just have fun.
Pictures are up and running here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TallerDeIconografiaEnLaPlaya#
We left Santiago early in the morning and got to the beach around 12:00. We had "breakfast" of hard boiled eggs, bread/butter, cake, and tea, and then took some time to walk around the beach and neighboring pueblo. I mostly hung out with my friend Marjorie, but also with Patricio and Natalia, two other choir friends. We got to play being 5 years old and splashing in the waves (even though it was only like 65 degrees), and then checked out some artesania in the pueblo. There were cool chimes and things made from sea shells and different statues and stuff all with beach themes.
After that, we had a late lunch (around 3) of chicken, a variety of salads, French fries, and rice, all topped off with ice cream and tea for desert. From there, more walking and picture taking along the beach until sunset (which I do have pictures of this time), when we headed back for the bus for the two hour ride home. All in all, it was very tranquilo as they say here, but a great way to get to know people better, relax, and just have fun.
Pictures are up and running here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TallerDeIconografiaEnLaPlaya#
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Frank's Visit - Day 5
Sadly, we have come to the last day :( Monday morning, I picked up Frank and we checked out of the hostel. From there, we traveled to the center of Santiago to see La Moneda, the presidential palace. As luck would have it, we caught a military parade and learned that in an hour, the president of Hungary would be visiting and we would get to see the president of Chile as well. To kill time, we visited an exhibit about Arica (a town in northern Chile that I will be visiting in October), which was very informative and cool. After we finished that, we ran back to the palace just in time to see La Presidenta greet the president of Hungary and walk into La Moneda. Very cool! I don't think I've even seen the US president in person, so I was pretty excited. After that, we went to Domino's one last time for lunch. It was wonderful, as usual.
After lunch, we visited Cerro Santa Lucia, the place where the city of Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia. It was my first time there as well, and it was very beautiful. It was just nice to walk around, and we found a tour guide in one of the stray dogs who literally led us around the park (there's a picture coming). From there, we picked up Frank's luggage and headed to the airport. It was a sad parting, but we had great memories from this weekend and are happy that we are half way done!
After lunch, we visited Cerro Santa Lucia, the place where the city of Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia. It was my first time there as well, and it was very beautiful. It was just nice to walk around, and we found a tour guide in one of the stray dogs who literally led us around the park (there's a picture coming). From there, we picked up Frank's luggage and headed to the airport. It was a sad parting, but we had great memories from this weekend and are happy that we are half way done!
Frank's Visit - Day 4
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, and I picked Frank up to go to church at 10:45 (he also thought sleeping in on Sundays was a cool idea). We got to church, and Frank got to meet Fr. Francisco. We had matins at 11, and about half way through, Christine, the choir director, thought Frank's singing was so good, she recruited him to sing the rest of the service in the choir. Considering it was all in Spanish, Frank did a great job. Liturgy was beautiful as well, and at the end Fr. Francisco gave a very warm welcome to Frank and congratulated us on our upcoming wedding. Following Liturgy, we spent a little bit of time talking afterward, and then headed to lunch at Gatsby's, a nice restaurant near the church, and had buffet. After lunch, we went to the National History Museum and learned about the history of Chile from pre-Hispanic indigenous peoples to the coup of 1973. All in all, it was a very informative trip.
After that, we took a short detour to my house to charge my phone and discovered that restaurants do not usually open for dinner on Sundays (who'd a thought, right?). We did manage to find a restaurant open next to Frank's hostel, and we were very pleased with our choice. That was pretty much our day on Sunday, and we were both exhausted at that point, so we went home to bed.
After that, we took a short detour to my house to charge my phone and discovered that restaurants do not usually open for dinner on Sundays (who'd a thought, right?). We did manage to find a restaurant open next to Frank's hostel, and we were very pleased with our choice. That was pretty much our day on Sunday, and we were both exhausted at that point, so we went home to bed.
Frank's Visit - Day 3
Saturday, we got to sleep in a little bit. I went to pick up Frank around 8:30, and we headed to Cerro San Cristobal, a large and beautiful park in Santiago. As the teleferico (cable car thingy) didn't open until 10, we took our time exploring the Japanese garden and talking. My camera decided to work again, so we have pictures of that. We then bought our tickets to the teleferico, and took our first ride up the hill. About half way, we stopped and got off to explore Jardin Gabriela Mistral, which is like a huge playground. We walked around that for a while, and then continued up the hill. We stopped for a quick snack of ensalada de palta (avocado!!) and drinks, and then hiked up the last leg of the hill to see the statue of the Virgin Mary of Santiago. From the top, we could see all of Santiago, which was breathtaking. We then headed to the artisan fair and bought souvenirs :) Took the teleferico back down the hill to the bottom, and set off walking to the metro, which we took back to Providencia for lunch. We decided to try Domino, a famous hot dog place. After Frank's first vienessa Dinamica (a hot dog smothered in avocado, mayonnaise, tomatoes, green salsa, and Americana [which we're still not 100% sure what it is, but it has something to do with carrots]), he was in love and had to have another one, a desire which was shortly granted. We also enjoyed two large glasses of pineapple juice, which consists solely of juiced pineapple - amazing! After lunch, back to the Santiago version of Bravissimo for ice cream (just a chocolate cone this time), and then to the grocery store for party snacks. We headed over to church where the iconography class was throwing a Fiestas Patrias party, so we brought our snacks to that. Frank got a chance to meet a few of my friends there, and we had a good time talking and watching some of the students dance cueca (I even got a chance to try!). Then it was dinner time!! For nostalgia's sake, we opted for sushi (pronounced "suchi" here) and headed to this place one of the lady's at church recommended - great idea! The restaurant had just opened, so we were the only one's there, and the food was to die for. The best sushi we had ever had! And plenty of it! Then it was back to bed to rest up before church on Sunday.
Fiestas Patrias and Frank's visit - Day 2
Soooo....
Friday morning, Frank was a great sport and got up to meet me at 7:30am! Unfortunately, what we didn't realize was that the metro didn't open until 8:00. Oops. So, we caught a cab to the bus depot where we caught the 8:30 bus to Vina del Mar, a beautiful Chilean coastal city. After the two hour bus ride, we narrowly managed to dodge salesmen selling tours and decided that walking at our own pace was more what we wanted for the day. So, we headed out to a museum on Easter Island; unfortunately, due to the national holiday (Armed Forces Day), it was closed :( However, we did get some cool pictures in front of the moai statue - the big heads from Easter Island. From there, we walked around the city, getting to see some cool castles and a bay where the river and the ocean meet - I thought that was really cool! Took some pictures, and then headed downtown for lunch. We stopped at this great Chilean bistro and got to try some of Vina's famous shellfish plus empanadas, palta (avocado), and sopaipillas. Afterwards, headed to Bravissimo for ice cream and split a HUGE chocolate sundae. After enjoying our dessert, we took a leisurely stroll to the beach :) The weather was cool (like 75), but I changed into my swim suit anyway after managing to soak my jeans from a stray wave that was a lot bigger than it looked while trying to wet my feet. Took turns sun basking and walking in the water, and then just relaxed and watched the little kids flying kites on the beach (note to self: will learn to do that one day). We then got to watch some people make sand sculptures, which was pretty impressive, and then changed clothes. Must make a note here: Frank was the hero of the day and went back to the dressing room, by himself, to ask the changing room attendant, in Spanish, to let him in and find my sunglasses...what a brave guy! From the beach, we went to dinner at a restaurant that advertised "More than 40 flavors of empanadas" which we thought was really funny, because when we counted how many flavors they had, they had 41. From there, we started heading back to the bus depot via the beach and got a chance to watch the sun set over the ocean. Truly a gorgeous site that I will never forget. Unfortunately, no pictures because my camera had decided to fizzle out by this point. So, back to the bus depot and the 2 hour ride back. Then, I dropped Frank off at the hostel and headed home to sleep and get ready for Saturday.
Friday morning, Frank was a great sport and got up to meet me at 7:30am! Unfortunately, what we didn't realize was that the metro didn't open until 8:00. Oops. So, we caught a cab to the bus depot where we caught the 8:30 bus to Vina del Mar, a beautiful Chilean coastal city. After the two hour bus ride, we narrowly managed to dodge salesmen selling tours and decided that walking at our own pace was more what we wanted for the day. So, we headed out to a museum on Easter Island; unfortunately, due to the national holiday (Armed Forces Day), it was closed :( However, we did get some cool pictures in front of the moai statue - the big heads from Easter Island. From there, we walked around the city, getting to see some cool castles and a bay where the river and the ocean meet - I thought that was really cool! Took some pictures, and then headed downtown for lunch. We stopped at this great Chilean bistro and got to try some of Vina's famous shellfish plus empanadas, palta (avocado), and sopaipillas. Afterwards, headed to Bravissimo for ice cream and split a HUGE chocolate sundae. After enjoying our dessert, we took a leisurely stroll to the beach :) The weather was cool (like 75), but I changed into my swim suit anyway after managing to soak my jeans from a stray wave that was a lot bigger than it looked while trying to wet my feet. Took turns sun basking and walking in the water, and then just relaxed and watched the little kids flying kites on the beach (note to self: will learn to do that one day). We then got to watch some people make sand sculptures, which was pretty impressive, and then changed clothes. Must make a note here: Frank was the hero of the day and went back to the dressing room, by himself, to ask the changing room attendant, in Spanish, to let him in and find my sunglasses...what a brave guy! From the beach, we went to dinner at a restaurant that advertised "More than 40 flavors of empanadas" which we thought was really funny, because when we counted how many flavors they had, they had 41. From there, we started heading back to the bus depot via the beach and got a chance to watch the sun set over the ocean. Truly a gorgeous site that I will never forget. Unfortunately, no pictures because my camera had decided to fizzle out by this point. So, back to the bus depot and the 2 hour ride back. Then, I dropped Frank off at the hostel and headed home to sleep and get ready for Saturday.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Fiestas Patrias and Frank's visit - Day 1
From September 18-21, Chile celebrates its day of independence, when the first meeting of patriots met to plan their separation from Spain in 1810. I had the great blessing (and it truly was a blessing) to spend my first Fiestas Patrias with my fiance, Frank, who came to visit me for this weekend. Since he was only here for five days, we tried hard to accomplish many things in a very short period of time. Thus, there is lots to write (and lots to read). As it is getting late (12:30 already) I will limit this post just to our first day. Pictures will also be coming soon (naturally).
Thursday, my host sister Sandy and I got up early and drove to the airport to pick up Frank. After a little scurrying around, we finally found him. It was so great to see each other after so many months. We left the airport and drove Frank to the hostel where he would be staying the next couple of days. The hostel is run by Don Ignacio and attended to by my host mom, Veronica. It is a small, but comfortable converted house in the comuna of Providencia, one metro stop away from the church and about a half an hour bus ride from my house (in other words, really convenient). After unpacking and resting for a bit, I took Frank to my host family's house where we had a huge lunch to celebrate 18 (dieciocho). We had steak, rice, potato salad, a variety of other salads, and dessert of fruit and cream, all washed down with Gato Negro red wine (it comes in a box, but is actually very good). After a post-lunch nap, Frank and I headed to the Providencia Fonda, which is basically a huge fair set up to celebrate dieciocho. There were different stands with traditional Chilean games, such as climbing a greased pole, something similar to bocci, and kite flying; a zoo with native Chilean animals, including llamas; clowns and a circus; exhibits from different parts of Chile showing traditional housing and artifacts; live music and dancing, including a cueca competition (cueca is the national dance of Chile and is supposed to simulate the rooster chasing the hen; it is actually very pretty to watch, but very difficult to do); and, of course, food. We tried the traditional Chilean combo of chica and empanadas, and then spent the evening browsing the artesan tables and looking at hand made jewerly, clothing figurines, etc. After that, it was back to the hostel for a good night's sleep for Frank, and back home for me to get ready for Friday - a trip to Vina del Mar!
Thursday, my host sister Sandy and I got up early and drove to the airport to pick up Frank. After a little scurrying around, we finally found him. It was so great to see each other after so many months. We left the airport and drove Frank to the hostel where he would be staying the next couple of days. The hostel is run by Don Ignacio and attended to by my host mom, Veronica. It is a small, but comfortable converted house in the comuna of Providencia, one metro stop away from the church and about a half an hour bus ride from my house (in other words, really convenient). After unpacking and resting for a bit, I took Frank to my host family's house where we had a huge lunch to celebrate 18 (dieciocho). We had steak, rice, potato salad, a variety of other salads, and dessert of fruit and cream, all washed down with Gato Negro red wine (it comes in a box, but is actually very good). After a post-lunch nap, Frank and I headed to the Providencia Fonda, which is basically a huge fair set up to celebrate dieciocho. There were different stands with traditional Chilean games, such as climbing a greased pole, something similar to bocci, and kite flying; a zoo with native Chilean animals, including llamas; clowns and a circus; exhibits from different parts of Chile showing traditional housing and artifacts; live music and dancing, including a cueca competition (cueca is the national dance of Chile and is supposed to simulate the rooster chasing the hen; it is actually very pretty to watch, but very difficult to do); and, of course, food. We tried the traditional Chilean combo of chica and empanadas, and then spent the evening browsing the artesan tables and looking at hand made jewerly, clothing figurines, etc. After that, it was back to the hostel for a good night's sleep for Frank, and back home for me to get ready for Friday - a trip to Vina del Mar!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
New Picture Links
So, I did hear some complaints about the previous snapfish links for my Chile pictures (I didn't realize you had to have an account to see them). So, I uploaded the pictures to Google Picasa, which (hopefully) should be easier to use. Here are the links to those albums:
Parish Feast Day: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FiestaPatronalYAniversario#
San Pedro de Atacama: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/SanPedroDeAtacama#
Museo de Bellas Artes: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/BellasArtes#
Cerro San Cristobal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/CerroSanCristobal#
Teatro Municipal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TeatroMunicipal#
Enjoy!
Parish Feast Day: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/FiestaPatronalYAniversario#
San Pedro de Atacama: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/SanPedroDeAtacama#
Museo de Bellas Artes: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/BellasArtes#
Cerro San Cristobal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/CerroSanCristobal#
Teatro Municipal: http://picasaweb.google.com/jkhouri87/TeatroMunicipal#
Enjoy!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Church pictures
Here's the link to some pictures from last Sunday. Enjoy!
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=243100835/a=30405193_30405193/t_=30405193
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=243100835/a=30405193_30405193/t_=30405193
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