happy happy joy joy

It's almost summer here, and that means cherries are everywhere. And that means I'm one happy camper.

What brings great joy is Rosi's encouragement for the study bug (that's me). Mads and I have finals this week, and my host mom is making it an extra-special time with some chocolate gifts for "mental reinforcement."

More updates to come. Teasers: Sausage. Gringo bowling. Pumpkin pie in a can. Christmas. Madeline as avatar/smurf.
 

Why the 504 is really the best bus ever...

Quick story:

Last night, I was making my way home after the midnight premiere of HARRY POTTER (go see it!!). Since this was around 3am, I was the only one on my bus. When we pulled up to my stop, I was standing towards the back of the super-long bus, expecting to exit through that door. As the bus came to a stop, however, the driver turned around and said to me, "Mejor bajarse acá..." ("It'd better for you to use this door in the front..."). Weird? I guess he only wants to open one door, since it's just me? So I headed up there, and as I was about to step down onto the curb, the cute young bus driver handed me this:

That's right. It was a beautiful flower. At 3am. What a great surprise. I beamed all the way home, and even forgot to be terrified of Bellatrix Lestrange for a little while. 

Chile, have I told you lately that I love you?

Swayzes in Santiago

Remember that time Carol and Scott Swayze made their way to Chile to visit me? No? Well that's because I've never told you about it, even though it happened way back in October. Serious blogger slacking down here. Better late than never? Ok great.

On the morning of October 20th, my phone buzzed in the middle of Quechua class, meaning that my real mom and dad had arrived in Santiago!! I grabbed my books, scooted out of the room, ran to the metro, and impatiently waited for Transantiago to get me home. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough, and Mom and Dad beat me to my house. Meaning that they got to spend some quality time with la Teresa who speaks negative zero English. And my parents? They speak "un poquito español," as Dad told several people during their week here. But they managed just fine until I got there, and it was all uphill from there!

We got to do so much while they were here, including:

1. Tours of Santiago, led by Madeline:

Plaza de Armas

The Pre-Columbian Art Museum

Plaza Italia and Bellavista

Cerro San Cristobal

My university campus at San Joaquín:

The market at Los Dominicos:

 

 La Vega and Mercado Central 
(sorry... no photograph evidence... just trust me. We went there.)

2. A tour of the beautiful Chilean wine country in between Santiago and the coast:

 

3. A day exploring Viña del Mar and Valparaíso:

 

4. A weekend getaway to Temuco:

When my parents booked their flights, back in August, I was unaware of a trip that was already planned for October 22-24 with my study abroad program. When I realized my mistake, I thought about just skipping the CIEE trip, but it was already paid for, and Temuco (in Chile's southern lake district) is supposed to be beautiful, so we just decided Mom and Dad could come along. I had no idea what to expect, but the fact that we were traveling in a group of 40 and going to very non-touristy Temuco meant that it was definitely going to be an adventure. And I, at least, had the best time! I was so glad Mom and Dad had the chance to meet some of my friends in the program, and to see a part of Chile that can't be found in any guide book.

First we were in Temuco, spending time learning about the Mapuche (the indigenous people of Chile) culture. Mom and Dad were really patient with all of the Spanish tours and my abbreviated translations.

 

They even managed to entertain themselves just fine when I ditched them to spend a day with the program painting, making S'mores, and playing Capture the Flag at a local school.

After Temuco, we headed to nearby Puerto Saavedras on the Pacific Ocean, where we got to do some hiking, and see some beautiful views.

5. Dinner and bonding with the host fam: Sadly, there are once again no photographs to document this event, but it was awesome. I had been nervous about this interaction for a while (language barrier? hola?), but my host parents and real parents got along great, thanks to a collaborative translation effort by my host sisters, my host sister's boyfriend's mom (don't ask...), and me. It really was so much fun to have them all together. And my host family still can't stop talking about how enchanting my parents are, and just how much I look like my dad.

(Wow this post is getting long. Sorry.)

Having my parents down here for a whole week was just the best. After three months in South America, I was definitely in need of some North American lovin', and it was so fun for me to get to show them everything about life down here. They ate some Chilean food, learned some Chilean words, and got to see a lot of this wonderful country.

zucchini fiend

This post won't be that exciting. Just wanted to introduce you to my new favorite food: zapallo italiano. That's Spanish talk for zucchini. Rosi has figured out how to make this formerly no-name vegetable (at least in my culinary experience) taste like heaven. I have eaten - count it - 5 WHOLE zucchinis this week. My host dad told me he thought I was turning green. She just slices a zucchini in half, guts the innards, mixes them with cheese and onions and hamburger meat and yummy herbs and spices, sticks the mix back in the shell and bakes. Same concept as a twice-baked potato, right? And then she feeds me, like, a zucchini-and-a-half for dinner three nights in a row, and I happily oblige. Get ready, USA. No way I'm leaving Chile without zapallo italiano in my recipe book. (Speaking of returning to the USA ... in exactly one month, one day, and one hour, Madeline and I will be beginning our journey home. Reflections and emotions to come soon.)

Great with some parm cheese. Those fried potatoes are pretty divine as well.

no tienes pies

"You don't have feet." - from the mouth of the new love of my life, a two-year-old who equates not wearing shoes to not having feet

---

Hey guys.

So if living in a Chilean house, getting cooked my favorite meals by a cute woman I call mamá, being scolded when I forget to wear my raincoat, and attending grandma's birthday party didn't convince you that I really am just another member of the fam down here, I've got another persuasion point to offer:

I just returned from a six-day family vacation.

My host niece Sofía (for those family-tree-impaired like me, that's my host parents' granddaughter) turned two recently. So we loaded up the car with what else but tea and bread and made the 10-hour trek to Osorno, Chile (in the lake district, near all those lovely places like Pucón and Puerto Varas we visited during Bicentario). 

Riding with my host parents ain't nothin' like riding in a cramped-n-crowded bus. We stopped every two hours to take tea, stretch our legs ("to prevent thrombosis" ... Rosi's real concerned about that), and to moo at cows meandering across the highway.

We arrived late Wednesday night (yep, I skipped a good deal of school to partake in this adventure ... but Mads promised to share her notes! Thanks Mads!) to a shower of hugs and kisses, most of which came from the most preciously precocious two-year-old EVER. 

World, meet Sofía González, AKA mi reina preciosa (my precious queen), mi corazoncito (my little heart), mi pedazo de cielo (my piece of heaven). 

Credit: Thank you, host parents, for the nicknames of my future children.

She was fascinated by my duck silly band. Patito = little duck.

My host mom gave her some wallet photographs of herself as a baby. She carried those around so proudly.

So smiley!

Gahhhh pigtails make her even cuter.

Her favorite plastic fruit was the potato.

Noted: Children like to bang hard-boiled eggs on the wall. Great, healthy diversion.

Something learned about Chile this weekend (or maybe just the particularities of my host fam): while adults greet adults with a kiss on the cheek, children are given open-mouth kisses. Yeah, it took me a little while to get over it too, especially since Sofía had a nasty sinus infection going on. But I haven't developed any symptoms yet! (What does that make the score, Mads? Abby's Immune System = 8, yours = 2?)

And now, World, meet Sofía's hometown: Osorno.

Lago Llanquihue.

That's Volcán Osorno! That sneaky volcano that wouldn't show itself when we visited Lago Llanquihue in Puerto Varas!

You didn't think you'd get away without some flower pictures from me, did ya?

So, obviously, we enjoyed the outdoor beauty a bit. 

Salto de los Novios. Waterfall of lovers.

We stayed inside on rainy days and danced the cueca to the sound of Tío Pedro's (Uncle Peter's) guitar strumming.

We scouted out some quaint local restaurants for this slam-dunk combo of raspberry kuchen (remember what that means? PIE) and raspberry smoothies ... both fresh and all-natural. 

 We went to the farmers' market.

It took SO much self-control not to stuff one in my pocket ...

We went to some thermal baths next to a river.

105 degrees Fahrenheit. No artificial heaters.

 And we decorated the house for the princess's birthday party.

My present, the butterfly wings and matching wand/boingy antler things, was a HUGE hit. So was my host sister Pauli's bouncy pony.

She just kept shouting, "¡La Sofía vuela!" Sofía can fly!

Each cake I've had in the country has gotten progressively better. This cake had manjar, banana cream, and PEACHES. Ay Dios mío.

I contributed the birds' nests (thanks, Momma Hannifan, for sending the peanut butter and butterscotch! And thanks to my language-exchange partner Nicolás for helping me make them!).

One thing learned about select host family member:

My host dad says, "I am Jack Nicholson" in English every time he puts on his sunglasses. Do you see the resemblance?

One thing my host family found out about me:

I talk in my sleep. My host parents (yeah ... in a house of 10 people, someone's gotta share a room) said they awoke one night and entertained themselves for 5+ minutes listening to me have a conversation with someone. "Love" was the only word they could pick out. Dad's advice at the breakfast table: Work on stopping that before you get married, or else hubbie's going to ask, "Who is Edward? Who is John?"

Overall, lots of family time, zero English, and fresh air for six days was exactly what I needed before the upcoming craziness of end-of-the-year exams. It was also great to be greeted by freshly powdered mountains upon arriving in Santiago. Weather can't make up it's mind :).

There's the metro Mads and I ride to school EVERY DAY! With the mountains behind!

This is your birthday song... it isn't very long.

(That's a Hannifan family birthday song, just to give credit where credit's due.)

Abby's on a trip to Osorno (in the South) with her host family for 6 days! She'll be excited to fill you in all about that once she gets home. But first...

We've had several joyous opportunities to celebrate some births around here lately! I think there were 5 or 6 October birthdays within our program of 30ish people.

First, on October 26th, our own Abby turned the big 2-1!! On the night of the 26th, her sweet host family invited a few of us over to celebrate with completos and torta. The guest list included a few of our friends, Abby's host mom and dad, my mom and dad (more to come about that!!), and even Abby's real mama, via Skype, of course.

Abby's host mama got her a present!

Abby and her real mom having tea

Abby's host dad was in charge of decorations.

The next night, on Ab's actual day of birth, we had the treat of going out to dinner (we never eat out here) with my parents, since they had to head back home the next day.

A few days later, we were off to San Pedro de Atacama to continue the fiesta. And luckily, we had another great reason to celebrate, as Allison's 21st came on October 31st!

The night before Allison's birthday, we got to go to a nice dinner (described by Abby earlier...) in a really cool open-air restaurant, and Abby was bold enough to ask the band to play "Happy Birthday" for our friend. They were awesome and enthusiastically complied, getting the whole restaurant, staff and diners, involved. 

Little did Allison know, but that was just the beginning. Thanks to some sneaky earlier planning between the three of us (mostly thanks to Abby's thinking-ahead skills), we had managed to create a birthday surprise without Allison's knowledge. When we got back to the hostel from dinner, this is what we found:

Yes that's a cake made of alfajores. Yes it looked more beautiful before the candles melted all over it.

Then, as Abby's already told you, we spent Allison's actual day of birth hanging out with flamingos, high-altitude lakes, and little Andean villages. There was a surprise singing attack, which involved Abby stealthily informing our whole tour bus that it was Allison's birthday.

Then, when we returned to Santiago on Monday, we headed over to Allison's house, where her host family was having an asado (basically a cookout) for her! 

So that's the end of 21st birthday time in Santiago. It was so great!

PS- All of these pictures are Abby's. That's why they're so pretty.

PPS- Only 20 days until we're done with all of our school work. And only 39 days until we're back in North America!! Aaahh!