A Day of Rest

Unfortunately as soon as we all got back from Argentina, Justin came down with a sever flu, and was bedridden until Wednesday.  For the rest of us, we were out in service all day everyday because as all pioneers know, it is nearing the end of the month :) As a result the whole family took a Sabbath, if you will, on Thursday. We started our day at the feria (an open air market of any kind),or the farmer's market.  Tons of fresh fruits and veggies, and unlike the farmer's market in Madison, it is cheaper than buying produce at the super markets.  Charese usually makes a weekly visit and buys all of the fruits and veggies for all 5 of us for the week, spending about $25.  It really is amazing! Needless to say the locals were surprised to see Americans there because the tourists don't usually venture that far from the beach areas. Brandon and I did some purchasing of our own and got fresh cherries, nuts, olives, and some fresh goat cheese.  Tonight after meeting we hope to enjoy the olives and cheese on crackers with some wine :)


After lunch and naps we took a trip down to the beach.  It was a little chillier than normal, but it was still great to lay in the sun and just relax in the sun.  Hopefully we will get a link up to Justin's blog because he took some cool video while enjoying the crashing waves.

The next stop of the day was the dunes in Concon, which we have mentioned previously.  Definitely a great way to overlook the sea while enjoying the natural beauty that Jehovah has created for us.  I don't know how tall they are, but if you notice the lower left picture, those apartment buildings are at the base of the dune, so maybe we were 14 stories up. There are only two dunes left because the builders of the area insist on developing them since they are all sea front. Many Chileans are very upset that the government just dropped its protection to one dune, so there is protesting to protect the second one. Why you would want to build sky scrappers on top of piles of sand in an earthquake zone is beyond me though, it just doesn't seem like a smart idea.  Plus if the sand blew in once, chances are it will blow in again so I assume the buildings will be covered in 14 stories of sand in the future. After the dunes came pizza night! We of course made American style (with pepperonis, mushrooms, peppers, mozzarella, and tomato sauce) while Andres and Charese made Chilean pizza (sauteed onions instead of any sauce, palm hearts, mushrooms, a local cheese, and topped with fresh avocado). Both turned out great and were much enjoyed even though dinner time got bumped back to 11:30 due to the day's activities.  Short post today because we are going to meeting, and Brandon and I both have our first parts tonight!

Argentina...

Well, we are finally back from our venture in Argentina and let me tell you, it was truly an unforgettable experience. I think it was very much like a chapter from one of the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books. Don't get me wrong, we had some good times but as Justin said; "Argentina lifts us up just enough to smack us down again." To be fair what happened was a combination of bad timing, poor planning, forgetfulness, unfortunate decisions and unfortunate happenstance.

Let's go through it shall we: We left on Thursday morning at around 7:30. The bus ride from Chile to Argentina was awesome. We got on the top level of this double decker bus which provided us with a quite view. We drove through the Andes which was breathtaking.

The windy road used to ascend the mountain.

We arrived to Mendoza in high spirits. The city has many old and cool looking houses and buildings. Many of the streets had tall trees lining them and their foliage reached together like a green ceiling. We made it to the plaza located in the middle of the city. It had fountains and metal coverings on stone walls and a museum and theater under it. Every night crafters and artisans gather to sell and make all sorts of cool things. Many of them were skilled. From there we went to our hostel which was 30 seconds from the plaza.

We left the hostel and decided to walk and see a statue that Bradley read about and wanted to see. We knew that it was in a park nearby and we did not know how the buses worked. It took about 40 minutes to walk there. The map was not proportionate and we ended up spending 2 hours walking around lost in this "park". It didn't seem like a park at all due to the random roads with nothing on them and the water treatment plant and the hospital. Oh boy, we were frustrated and tired. So we finally went back to our hostel defeated.

On the bright side we went to an excellent restaurant afterward. Argentina is known for their steak and La Florencia did not disappoint. We have been a little starved for meat here in Chile so it was especially appreciated. Justin, the most carnivorous of us, was in meat heaven. We went home in good spirits.

There were many excursions available: horseback riding, rafting, zip-lining, mountain climbing, hiking and more (all in the beautiful Andes). There were also many wineries and museums and a cultural center that we wanted to visit. Too much to do in only two days!!

We decided to take a so-called 20 minute bus ride to the wineries and then rent bikes and ride to each one on Friday. We were so excited! The only ATM near our hostel had a huge line and was not even open yet. So we decided to go and get money at the city by the wineries, Maipu. So we took the "20 minute bus ride" for a hour and a half . Three people said they had only one ATM in the whole town. We went to that one ATM and it was closed. After paying for the bus and the bikes we only had a little Argentinean cash. Surely these big wineries took credit cards, right? So we spent the whole day biking to places that did not take credit and then to the ATM that stayed closed. We got to go to one winery. We took the tour which took forever but at the end we tried 3 wines. They tasted great. Also riding around the wineries was pretty and fun. On the bike back Bradley crashed in a three foot culvert filled with water. He scraped his hand, knee, and feet and broke his toenail and camera. A very sad day for Bradley.

We decided to go Italian for dinner since we have heard and read that they have great Italian food because of their strong European influence. La Tomazzo did not represent. The service and food were abominable. The waitress even noticed this and added the tip into our check so we couldn't change it!

Now for Saturday. We decided to see Bradley's statue and then go to the museums, art galleries and cultural center. Our bus was leaving around 11:30 pm so we had plenty of time. We figured out the buses and took them to the base of the hill that the statue was on. We climbed up and enjoyed the view of the Andes. The Statue was also very impressive. From there we we went to the cultural center of Mendoza. The building was gorgeous.

It was also closed. Guess what, the other museums were closed on saturdays as well. Closed on saturdays. We could not believe it. In fact everything was closed and we couldn't even go shopping. There weren't any people anywhere. How were we supposed to know that Mendoza is a ghost town until 7:30 at night? Is that an Argentinean thing? So nothing was open and we walked randomly from 11:30 to 8:00. We took two naps in two different parks. We did not want to be disappointed again so we went to La Florencia again (which opened at 8 by the way). It was excellent again. We then shopped at the artisan's market on the plaza for gifts and the like. We were in reasonably good spirits after that and very ready to get out of Argentina and back to our beloved Chile.

At 10:06 we left the hostel and headed for the bus. Then, just to be sure, we decided to check the time of departure...

It was not 11:30 like we thought and talked about for 5 days since we bought it. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10:00. We all felt like idiots (rightly so). So we stayed another night and booked the bus at 9:30 that morning. Also, once we got to the border, customs took 4 hours! It was ridiculous. Instead of getting home at 4 pm we got home at 8 pm. 

So we got unforgettable memories and some good life experience.  :)

Next Stop!!!

Hey all, sorry for lack of posting lately.  Brandon and I have been trying to get in some killer field service this week because tomorrow we leave for Argentina!!! Justin, our other housemate, needs to leave the country because his tourist visa is up, so we decided to join him for a long weekend in Mendoza, Argentina.  Looks like a pretty swanky place with lots of fun stuff to do.  Apparently it is very hot there though (and that is according to sisters serving here originally from Florida) so hopefully we survive.


It has also been rather toasty here on the coast these past few weeks.  When I say toasty, in this instance I mean Chilean toasty (about 75 or 80) so it has been great for service, though standing in the sun too long takes its toll.  As you can see though, we take some short breaks to see the sights :) This week we were in Concon and their claim to fame is the dunes.  If we hadn't been in service we probably would have climbed them and sand-boarded down them, so we will have to stop back on a free day.  The nice thing about Concon is that there are many English speakers there.  We spent the whole morning walking across the neighborhoods to speak to the contacts we already know, and we still had half of them left by 1! No Bible studies yet, for either Brandon or myself, but hopefully soon.
On another bright note Brandon and I have checked out our first territory and we now have a phone so we can't get lost anywhere. Most of the territory will be searching for English so we will be walking tons of blocks!! We also have a list of known English contacts so hopefully something pans out. Another major part of service is teaching all of our Chilean friends English.  The questions they come up with make you realize that native speakers don't think about the language they are speaking.  For example, people wanted me and Brandon to explain the rules of phrasal verbs to them. I never realized that I say so many things where the definition of the words have nothing to do with what the phrases translate into. All of their questions make me remember some more English rules though and keep me on my toes.
One of the highlights of the past weekend was a sushi night!!! As you know Chile is mostly coastline so there is plenty of fish to find in the markets.  Our family is known for their sushi making skills, so we feasted! The most unusual was the breaded and deep fried sushi, which had a very unique flavor, but may have been my favorite of the evening. To all of my Wisconsinites, I have heard of all the snow you have gotten I will hold a beach day in your honor and bask in the Argentinean sun for you.

A Busy Week...

So it has been a very busy, very hot week.  We have our CO visit this week which means tons of extra meetings and service time.  The brother and his wife are actually from Milwaukee, so they were happy to see another Wisconsinite here, and will be joining us at our family's home for lunch tomorrow. Last night we had our pioneer meeting with all 30 pioneers, counting Brandon and myself, and then one sister who is auxiliary pioneering.  Even in Sign Language we never had that many pioneers!!! It is almost like the entire congregation is pioneering because there are only 18 publishers besides all of us.  There has also been some great service support this week and some good experiences. In the morning Brandon and I both met women who greatly appreciated that we visited them and shared a scripture, took the tracts we offered, and asked us to come back to share more with them.  It was great!!!! In the afternoon we ended up doing return visits in a different part of the city, and as you can see the car was a little crowded (yes there are 6 of us in a car that snugly fits 4).

The only strange thing about service here is that we travel is a mass hoard. You know how is the States we don't like looking like a swarm of locusts in a neighborhood? Not the case here.  We always seem to be this big pack traveling through the area, but nobody bats an eye so I am guessing it is the norm.

We ended up taking a bit of a holiday this past weekend because the congregation had their district convention.  Not only was it in Spanish, because there are not enough English congregations in the are to support an English one, but it was also last's year convention in the States.  We ended up just hitting the beach and enjoying some parts of the city we haven't been to yet, so it was very nice to relax before this week of extra activity. The waves are huge, and our other room mate, Justin from California, is hoping to take his underwater camera out into them, because photos just don't capture them. Also, I am proud to say, Brandon and I can venture out by ourselves because we now know the bus route home :) Nothing else riveting I can think of now, so I will catch you all later!

So, today was a very interesting day. Guess when the assigned time for service is on Mondays? 4 pm!!!  So, Bradley and I got a lot of reading done today. It was very relaxing. Being in a new culture is an interesting and enjoyable change of pace, even if at times it is less than the height of efficiency. We actually started at 3 with return visits and then met at the kingdom hall at 4. Isn't it pretty?

Then we set out to do street witnessing!! A nice change of pace since we have only done census work up until now and guess what? I got a return visit!! This is exciting because it is my first one here and return visits are not very common in street witnessing in a completely tourist area. We also placed 4 tracts to English speakers before a car pulled to the side of the road ahead of us. Two women got out and tried to open the hood. Their car was smoking a little so we tried to help them. The engine looked perfect, only the radio was smoking. They started to take all of there stuff out of the trunk which I thought was an overreaction. But it turned out that was wise because the situation escalated just a little...

Suddenly Vina had a new tourist attraction. Everyone from the beach went to see what the giant pillar of black smoke was about. Everyone in the service group wanted to see our pictures. The moral is to make sure your electronics are wired correctly in your car and if you do find yourself in that situation and would like to save the car, disconnect the battery. Learn something something new everyday :)

Later on, while I am in the Kingdom Hall bathroom, the door and the windows start shaking. I thought my service group was being immature but it turned out to be an EARTHQUAKE!! It was a 4 point something. Only two days before I had been the only one in the group who had not felt one and was a bit jealous. How cool is that.

Another great highlight of the day came later...

Very very good ice cream here, it was coconut and mocha and more like gelato even though they call it ice cream. I was the only one who got some and was affectionately labeled a Chancho (fat pig here in Chile)

That's all I have for you right now and as a friend of mine would say,

Toodles

A Few Points on Chilean Culture

So in our first week it seems we have learned quite a few things we have never known about Chile or its people so we would like to share them :)

1. A Day of Eating-Chileans have four meals a day which is quite a change. The first meal is obviously breakfast which is normally bread with jelly, a liquid yogurt, and maybe some fruit.  Thankfully they are also coffee drinkers so we can both get our morning fix.  The second meal is lunch which we eat around 2.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and can be almost anything.  Today we had delicious tortilla (the kind from Spain not Mexico) with salad, roast potatoes and bread.  The best part was all the vegetables we ate were from the farmer's market this morning so it was incredibly fresh. Then instead of dinner at 5 Chileans have "Once" (not once but 11 in Spanish (I can't do the proper accent marks in Blogger)).  It is not so much a meal as it is a snack to tide you over until dinner.  It is usually coffee or tea with bread or cookies.  And finally around 9 is dinner.  Normally it is a light dinner, but it seems like a full meal to me because I am always stuffed afterwards and there is always tons of food on the table.  Of course with dinner we have wine because why live in a country that makes some of the best wine if you are not going to drink it?!? As you may have noted bread is at every meal.  Everyday people go to the Panderia (a bakery) to buy their bread for the day because it is a staple here.  If you don't like to eat your carbs, Chile is not the place for you.  We have also been eating avocados everyday because they grow them here and are very cheap and versatile. Also Chileans hate, hate, hate spicy foods.  You can not even buy hot sauces or peppers with any kind of kick because they are so unpopular here.

2.No, it's Not the Ice Cream Truck-So yesterday we were sitting around the table when all of sudden we hear "It's a Small World" being belted from the street.  I turned expecting to see the ice cream truck, but no it is the Propane Man.  The stoves and water heaters all run on propane here, and for convenience they sell propane in the streets so people don't have to lug them home on the bus.  So here instead of children going to the street when they hear the classic songs of youth, the adults go to the street to buy their propane.  The sad part is there are many propane companies, so there are trucks circling the neighborhoods all day and all I want is ice cream when I hear them coming.

3. A Shell Game-The majority of people here do not own cars, and even if you do it is sometimes easier to take the bus.  Even though there are so many people who rely on the bus to get where they need to go, there is no written schedule or map of where the buses go.  You have to look in the window to see if the area you want to go is posted and hope that it has a stop in the area you want to be in.  Needless to say, Brandon and I can't leave home unaccompanied because we will have no idea how to get back. The buses do have numbers according to the route they run, but since there is not a list of what number bus goes where, it is trial and error and then remember which one is right. Besides the buses they have taxis that act like buses called Colectivos. It is a taxi that follows a route instead of taking you to an exact address.  They are more expensive than buses, but quicker because their stops are more spread out and they can only fit four people, so once they are full it becomes nonstop until you reach your desired stop.

4. Watch Your Step-I'm not sure if it counts as a point of culture, but it is just and interesting tidbit.  There are tons of dogs just running loose here.  So far they have all been nice (its seems the only ones that are mean are the ones kept as pets) but they are very distracting.  They follow you around in service just trying to get some attention or some food, but the dogs kept as pets don't like them at all.  When you walk down the street all of the dogs start barking so when you speak to a house holder you are yelling over every dog living on that block plus the strays.  At night all you can hear is the stray dogs barking though the streets playing and fighting with each other, then come morning you see them curled up in various spots to sleep the day away.  You always need to look where you step because they make messes anywhere.

Day One in Vina

Sorry for not saying so earlier, but we have arrived in Vina safely.  The family we are staying with is very sweet, and there is also a brother from California who is living with them as for the next year, so it is a full house. Today was our first day of service in Chile.  As much as it pains me to say, we did mostly search work today, which I was kinda hoping to escape on this break from Sign Language.  However, being able to search for English people is Spanish is a bit of a change of pace, and we spoke to many people today in Spanish and English.  We have also made many new friends with the other pioneers that were out today.  Its typical to come home for lunch during the day as it is the largest meal, and as you can see Brandon is throughly enjoying his Completo.  It is basically a hot dog with everything on it: sour kraut, salsa americano, tomatoes, avocados, ketchup, mustard, and mayo. I am not a hot dog fan, and they were amazing!!!! Tomorrow we get to do service in the nearby city of Valparaiso, so hopefully that means we will get to see the ocean for the first time.

Santiago English Congregation

So after a night of not much sleeping due to the riot like celebration of New Year's in all of Santiago until 4 this morning, we sleep in and had an easy morning of studying our Watchtowers in a local park.  Afterwards we grabbed a quick lunch and had our first adventure on the Chilean Metro.  I was actually quite impressed as it is cleaner and easier to follow than the NYC subway system.  The English congregation here is clear on the other side of the city, so after half an hour we arrived.  Everybody was so excited to see us, but were sad when we told then we leave for Vina tomorrow and will be there until March.  They were very insistent that the service here is much better than it is there, and the Kingdom Hall was the first air conditioned building we have been in, so we shall see. There congregation is also in the ritzy part of town, so there were much cooler buildings to look up at and trendier restaurants to enjoy after the meeting with our new friend David. Today was our last day of "vacation" so from here on out its gonna be some hardcore service!!