Chile-giving

The great thing about coming to Santiago as a part of ChACE is that you have this ready-made group of friends and people who care about you. And if there´s one thing I really love in life, it´s being a part of a group, a family. As easy as it is to sometimes feel isolated here because I don´t speak the language, because I don´t understand the culture, because old, deranged men pretend to shoot me at bus stops (yeah... that´s right)... as easy as it is to feel that way, I never have to go far to feel more at home.

And with all the difficulties and struggles I face in figuring out how to live and work in this new place, there is an equal number of rewards and wonderful things I´m experiencing every day. The staff and the students at San Esteban are truly so kind and welcoming. I´m constantly barraged by greetings of "Hello, Miss!" "Miss, how are you?" And I´m finally getting used to the cheek kisses that both faculty and students (and everyone in Chile) greets me with. I´m excited for the opportunity and challenge to teach here.

Last week was Thanksgiving. That´s pretty hard to believe. We had school like normal that day. Instead of getting colder like it would be in Nebraska, it´s getting hotter here. The school year is coming to an end, and I´m having a hard time connecting to the idea of the holiday season. But, this year especially, Thanksgiving felt very special to me. It was the first Thanksgiving I had ever spent away from my family. This Christmas will be, too. And I couldn´t help but thing... can´t help but think... about how thankful I am for them. Thankful for their love and support while I am here. Thankful for their appeasing me in my demanding attempts to contact them. Thankful for everything about them. And I miss them a lot.

My family at Thanksgiving. They´re pretty great. 

I´m also endlessly thankful for my friends in the United States. Not only have they been very intentional about supporting me and contacting me during my time here, but their support has made me feel incredibly loved. They are all so good. I don´t know what things I´ve done in my life to be so lucky to have the friends I have, but man, whatever it was, it was the right thing. The picture below is of a fraction of my friends from one particular group of friends, but this picture could easily be of dozens of people who I have come to love over the years.

Last fall at the pumpkin patch. 

And I´m thankful for my new family and friends here. I need them, and they are always here for me. And I´m so looking forward getting to know them better and spending the next year in their company. about a month after we arrived in Chile the current ChACErs (the people who started this program in Chile a year before my group did) threw a Halloween party. Traditionally, the group choose costumes to wear to the party.

We went as clue. I´m Ms. Boddy, and Dan (on the right) modified Mr. Green to Hipster Green. 

The other group went as Batman characters, and I hate to say it, but I think they won. 

And that brings us back to Thanksgiving. Other ChACErs have said it before, and I think I have to agree, Thanksgiving was the first day I actually felt homesick since coming to South America. The whole day was just strange. There wasn´t any build up at all... and then I just went to work like it was any other day. I knew that all my friends and family in the United States were either in the middle of a giant meal, talking to one another, or in a turkey-induced coma. And I was grading papers. The saving grace of the day was the Thanksgiving dinner that the priests at Saint George´s College (the school some of my friends work at) hosted for us. It was great. I love being able to see everyone during the week, and I felt anything but alone.

All of the people who hosted and attended our Thanksgiving here in Chile. 

All of the past and present ChACErs who were in attendance. 

Finally, my ChACE group. We´re pretty fabulous. 

In summary, I´m so thankful. For everything. I´m just so thankful.