Isaac’s best “chilean” friend

Bastian, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, french boy from our neighborhood, has become Isaac’s best friend and playmate.  His native language is French and Isaac’s is English, however they communicate in Spanish.  We consider him to be one of the family now.

His family moved from France to Chile when he was just 3 years old.  He has two younger sisters.  His dad still lives here in Chile but no longer lives in their house.  Bastian goes back and forth from this house here in our neighborhood to his dad’s new house on the other side of the city.

 

Last Day of School!

There is lots of excitement in the house today.  It is our last day of the school year!  Both students and teachers (a.k.a. mom and dad) are ready for summer vacation.  The days are warm, the sun is bright, and the anticipation of the end of school, by the counting down of days, has been felt for the last few weeks.

These past two years, we have been following the Chilean school calendar, which runs from March until December.  It makes it easier for everyone if we, as home schoolers, have the same vacation times as all the neighborhood kids.  There is nothing worse for a teacher than to try to teach your students while the doorbell rings 15 times and kids ask if your students can come out to play, ask how much longer they have to be in school, etc.  It is much easier for us to follow the same school schedule as those living around us.

 

Time to Start Packing

Almost two years ago now, we headed to the Buffalo International Airport with our 12 suitcases and 12 carry-on bags, and in ten days we will heading to the Chilean International Airport to do the same.

Buffalo International Airport

 

Random Thoughts…

We will be driving down to Chillán (see map  - between Concepción and Temuco) to attend annual conference this weekend.  We will be making our announcement to our Chilean friends during our time down there.  Thank you, in advance, for your prayers.

We enjoyed a good day as we celebrated Thankgiving with our dear friends.  In our grocery stores, turkey is very scarce and, if found, very expensive, so we “gobbled down” some delicious roasted chicken with a great variety of side dishes (including an exquisite strawberry pretzel salad that my friends, Kay and Yvonne, prepared – mmm, mmm, good!)   Thank you, Lord, for good friends and good food!

 

The Title of My New Book

As you may know, I have not yet completed my first book, Help, I’m Married to a Pastor!; however, it looks like it is already time to start working on the sequel:

Help, I’m Married to a Pastor…AGAIN!

Did we see this coming four months ago?  No.

Do we sense this is what the Lord is calling us to do?  Yes.

 

Earthquake in Chile

As probably many of you know by now, about 2 hours ago, a strong earthquake hit the northern part of Chile (see CNN article). The location of its epicenter is about 780 miles from Santiago, but some of the reports say that people could feel it here in the capital city as well, although we did not feel anything. So far the damage seems fairly minimal for its 7.7 magnitude and length of time (about 50 seconds).

Thankfully, Chile has spent decades improving its buildings and codes for earthquake resistance. No loss of life has yet been reported.

I just wanted to let you know that we are safe.

 

From One Blog to Another

I have missed all of you! As you may recall, one of the items on my things-to-do list in the previous post was to work on a new blog. I realized that it had to take priority over Sincerely, Kristin this past weekend so that is why I have not written for the last few days. It was quite draining to work on it, but it was so worth it!

Let me give you a little background of it before I give you the address to go and visit the site.

Max traveled to São Paulo, Brazil, for our denominational world conference. Before leaving, our good friend, Yvonne, emailed and asked us to be a part of a team to set up and have a blog running simultaneously during the days of the conference. Her vision was to have as many people as possible hear the inspirational stories and feel a part of the conference by sending photos.

 

What An Experience!

Surreal — That is what Max and I felt as we sat in the former Congress building, waiting for President Bachelet to arrive. The choir began to warm up, and after two songs, I was in tears and said, “Okay, I can go home now.” Of course, the video below does not give justice to the sound of the angelic singing we heard in that historical building; however, I hope it will give you an idea of just how powerful it was.

We knew when the president was entering because of the sea of photographers and news cameras that sped past us on the red carpet in front of us. Because we arrived early, they seated us in the front row. And then…as surreal as it was, President Bachelet came walking down the center aisle, shaking hands with each person she passed. (It reminded me of the way our presidents enter the Congress building to give their “state of the union” addresses.)

 

Connections

Do you have someone in your life that always seems to have connections – that “knows somebody”?

Max and I just laugh at our friend and fellow pastor, Eduardo. He is one of those guys. You need some drywall? No problem. Eduardo knows somebody that can give you a good deal. You need 150 pens, with a personal message printed on them, for your women’s conference? Sure. Eduardo has a friend that can hook you up.

Well, the connections continue. The other night, at about 11:30pm, our phone rang. Max and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, “Must be Eduardo!” Sure enough, it was.

 

Judging by Appearances

Someone came up to me today and said (in broken English), “You don’t look like four children! You look too young for that!” (Obviously, she meant to say that I don’t look like I have four children.) I just smiled and said, “thank you”. I get that a lot when I am out in public by myself. When meeting someone for the first time, I find that I am looked at quite differently, depending on whether I am alone or with my children. When I am alone and I meet someone, that person usually uses the word “señorita” (meaning young, unmarried woman) throughout our conversation. It is kind of fun to play along, actually, because I just wait for the opportune time (usually when s/he gets to the question of asking if I have any children), and then I wait for the shocked expression when I reply that I have four. On the other hand, when I meet someone when my children are with me, the person will automatically use “señora” (the title for wife and/or mother) without hesitation.

 

Being Honest

(I am sorry that I am late in posting this week’s Bible study. These last few days, I have been helping Max with preparations for his trip and presentations.)

Thank you SO much for your thoughts and prayers while Max is away from us for these next six days.

I want to be honest with you. Have negative thoughts crept into my mind at times, with the thought of Max being so far away? Yes. Have feelings of fear snuck up with regard to being in a foreign country with my four young children, having all the responsibility and decision-making falling solely on me? (If an accident occurs, what hospital do we go to? How do we get there? What if the car breaks down on the way to soccer practice with my four children in tow, in the middle of rush hour traffic? What if the kitchen sink’s leak gets worse, what do I do?…etc.) Has fear snuck in at times? Yes.

 

Appliances

Just this morning, I was reminded again of the difference in use of certain appliances and housing utilities here in Chile versus the States. It is amazing what you just get used to. (Once again…”it’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different!”):

1. The definition of “dishwasher” has taken on a whole new meaning. I grew up having a machine in my house and had one in almost all the houses that Max and I lived in. Now, “dishwasher” means the person that is standing at the sink with hands full of soapy water and a scrubber.
2. Since it takes our clothes dryer about 2 hours to dry just one load of laundry, we have learned the art of hanging our clothes on the clothesline in the backyard. Thankfully, here in Chile, there are 8 months of bright sunshine and decent temperatures. I love the fresh, clean scent it gives to my wardrobe!



3. We do not have a bread machine, but that doesn’t bother us one bit since we can get fresh, (cheap!) bread every day at the bakery down the street.
4. On the weekends, while taking a shower, be prepared to have to hold the shower knob in place with one hand because the water pressure is so low due to the fact that everyone is home using it at the same time. (SUGGESTION: Most people sleep in, so if you give up your extra hour of sleep and get in early enough, you won’t have to hold the knob!)

 

NPR’s World Story of the Day

Max and I enjoy listening to all different types of podcasts. One of our favorites is from National Public Radio (NPR). They have multiple podcasts to choose from, but the story we found most interesting today was from their “World Story of the Day” podcast. The reason why it was so fascinating to us is because we felt like such experts on the topic they were reporting on: “Transantiago”. They were discussing the new transportation system that they put into effect here in the city of Santiago, Chile, this past February. We have been able to witness (and experience!) the before, during, and after effects of this new system.

 

Women’s Retreat

Well, I’m headed off to the retreat tonight, despite my daughter’s pleading for me to stay – “Please don’t leave me with all the boys for the whole weekend!!” (She will be just fine, though, thank the Lord, because of the friends she now has in our neighborhood.)

Just to give you a little peek at what I am headed to—the first night of last year’s retreat, we started eating dinner at 12:15am…and none of the women thought anything of it! (Do you remember me mentioning about the different time schedule here in Latin America?!?)

 

Feeling Stupid

Yesterday, Max and I went to the Chilean DMV so that I could obtain a Chilean driver’s license. (Up until this point, I have been able to use my International Driver’s Permit from AAA, but that has now expired.)

I began by talking to the receptionist – all in Spanish. Then, I had to fill out the application that was all in Spanish. After waiting awhile, I had an interview to answer the personal medical questionnaire – and had to respond all in Spanish. Then I went onto the physical reaction tests that were explained to me all in Spanish.

Then they called my name and asked me to enter a room to take a written exam. With God’s assistance, I made it through all the other hoops so I thought, “Well, let’s give this a try.” I kind of joked with the test administrator, asking if he would translate it for me and he just smiled. So, I sat down in the room that already had two other people working on the same test. I opened up the test booklet and started my attempt at reading the first question. “Umm,” I thought, “this is not going to happen.” My Spanish has come a long way in the past year and a half, however, I realized that this test included a whole new set of vocabulary words that I had not learned yet. It would take me forever to try and translate each question, then each answer, and then try to pick out the correct answer from my broken translations.