Okay, last weekend was the birthday party of my host brother, Felipe. A bunch of his friends came over (about 20-25) and we ate and talked. Here is a picture of him and I after the majority of the guests left.
My host brother and I are also in a program called Huellas. It is basically like a big-brother, big-sister program. We are a big-brother, big-sister to a little girl. Here is a picture of her and I when she came with the other kids from the orphanage to the Church. Last weekend we also visited the orphanage to spend time with the kids.
Okay, moving on, this week has been so busy. Monday night a friend and I went out for supper. Tuesday after class, a classmate and I went for a walk along the coast to see the seals. Before coming to Chile I had never seen seals. They are very amusing to me. I took a bunch of photos and filmed them as well. The thing most interesting to me was the following: in the picture are a bunch of seals laying on that cement thing out in the water. They barked some and moved a little bit. I wondered how they got up on that thing since it is about 4 feet out of the water. Suddenly, we saw a seal playing and jumping in the water. It then jumped up on the side of that cement slab and wiggled its way up and waddled the length of the cement to be by the other seals. It was awesome. I screamed!-haha. :) I also noticed star fish on the sides of the cement slab, which cannot be seen in this picture. Moving on, Tuesday night, two friends and I started a Bible study. Wednesday afternoon 4 of us went for a walk around the city. We saw the sunset and took some pictures. It was gorgeous! God's creation is amazing. He made the sunset, and I simply snapped the photo of it. I am including one picture I took of the sunset and also one picture that a friend took of Felipe and I in front of it. Then, that night I went to another city about 30 minutes away with some friends to a birthday party. It was fun. I am including a picture of us there.
Then, Thursday I got a call from a friend asking me to go for a bike ride. I was excited. I hadn't done that yet in Chile. I borrowed my host siblings' bike and headed off. I thought we were going to be gone a short while...not so much. We were gone many hours. We rode bike from Vina del Mar, to Renaca, and then part way to Concon (and back again). Almost all of this was along the ocean. It was gorgeous!
Then, on Friday morning, I went surfing.....yes, SURFING!!! A friend from the Church invited me to go. He is a surfing instructor. Anyway, surfing is tough. I have gone water-skiing before. In my opinion, that is a lot easier because the boat does a lot of the work. Yes, the skier has to wait in a ready position with the skis facing the right direction and then has to balance to get up. However, from there I think that one mostly has to stand with knees bent as the boat pulls him/her along. However, to give you an idea about surfing...okay first of all, one must be a sufficient distance from shore. My instructor explained to me that it is important to read the waves, to see whether it is a good one.
Anyway, after that is decided, I had to lay on my board, balancing in the middle...not too far to the right or left, neither to the front or back, or it would tip over (as it did many times). Then, I was supposed to start swimming, as I was balanced on this board. Imagine...staying balanced on this board while swimming without hanging onto the board..haha. Okay, anyway, after about 3 meters of swimming, the wave should reach me. If I have enough velocity and the wave is big enough, I should be pushed out in front of it. Then, after scanning to my left and right to make sure that I am in front of it, it is now time to pop up. That was probably the hardest part: to go from a laying position to standing up in one smooth motion without tipping the board. I fell numerous times. Pablo, my instructor, sometimes was behind me and gave me a push to increase my velocity before the wave even got to me. One time when I actually got up, I was so excited that I started screaming. I then fell. Haha. Also, after each fall, I needed to swim back out further (countering waves in the meantime) to a location from where I could start again. This is not the easiest either because the waves push you back towards the shore. Also, doing this with a board is especially tough. It should be easier to swim on the board against the waves, but I kept wanting to drag the board or push it, because swimming and balancing while on the board was very difficult for me (especially as waves kept crashing over me or pushing against me). Haha. :) I am probably making this sound like a soap opera. But I really just want to explain what surfing entails. As with many things, it is way harder than it looks. (Even though where I was learning was in a place with smaller waves and shallower water.) Anyway, it was really fun, and I am really sore today. But, I feel that it was worth it. Two other quick comments...since it is the ocean, it is salt water. Secondly, the ocean is so cold here, because we are so far south. In fact, a current comes up from Antarctica. Since the water is so cold here, sharks aren't really a concern like they are in many other surfing locations. I actually don't think I could have done this without a wetsuit, which kept me pretty warm. I also had a hat most of the time. The only cold parts were my hands and feet. However, after getting out of the water and out of my wet suit(s), I put on like 3 layers.
Then, I had a class on Friday night. Afterward, I went to a friend's house to have a pajama party. There were 3 of us in total: 2 Chilean friends and I. My friends and I made Gringa pizza with some ingredients from the U.S., and we watched some movies. We also played UNO (they play it somewhat differently). :)
Finally, today (Sunday), I went to Church and afterward went to a surprise birthday party in a city about 40 minutes from here. It was fun. We ate, talked, and did karaoke.
In conclusion, I feel very blessed to have so many opportunities to spend time with Chileans.
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