Ariel's Visit and Church

Ariel's mom, Ariel, Ma, and me

Ma, Ariel's host sister's friend, host sister, me, Ariel

Saturday night, Ariel comes over with her mom, her host sister, and her host sister's friend. We all have some wine together and discuss Ariel's and my adjustment to living in Chile. It turns out that Ariel's mom is a singer, which is funny because so is my host mom. It was very interesting and amusing to watch both of them bust out their iPods and play their songs and point out exactly when they're singing. Then, Ma mentions to Ariel's mom that I'm a singer, and she asks me to sing. I decided to sing Amazing Grace since I'm used to how Talisman, my a capella group, sings it. Ariel's host mom really like it a lot and asked me questions about my singing career. Another topic Ariel's host mom brought up was Chilean cuss words, and she immediately asked my mom what words I learned. This was an interesting topic, because Ma had actually never taught me any bad words. I did pick up bad words along the streets and in conversation, but even then I didn't really know that many. It was funny because Ma immediately starts spitting out words that I recognize but she never taught me, primarily because she sensed a competition with Ariel's mom. The mother began responding with a whole novel of words that she taught Ariel, much to my mom's dismay. This turned out to be a very comical discourse between families, and it brought to attention a very important part of Chilean culture: the emphasis on inter-familial bonds. Sharing of wine with friends is very common when inviting them over, and usually friends spend about 2 to 3 hours catching up and having a great time.

After wine sharing, I went to Ariel's house with her family so the sister could get ready because she was going to take me and Ariel to a very popular club on Ave. Ossa, called D'Katar. Ariel and her sister and her sister's friend were going over lessons in make-up, while the mother hosted me while singing songs for me using recorded accompaniment. Finally the ladies finished their prettying rituals and were ready to bounce. We ended up having a great time at D'Katar, meeting up with a whole bunch of girl friends of the host sister and dancing on the main floor.

Parroquia Nuestra Senora de la Divina Providencia

Laura and I found a very nice old gentleman walking around the gardens.

The next day being Sunday, I decided to go to church with Laura. We went to Parroquia Nuestra Senora de la Divina Providencia on Ave. 11 de Septiembre, next to Antonio Varas. It was a very beautiful church, and there was a beautiful courtyard inside where I took time to just gaze at the beauty of the plants. Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time for Mass, but we stayed for a while. We also met with this very kind old gentleman, who happened to know a lot about the church. However, his accent and overall enunciation was very unclear, and it was difficult to hear and understand what he was saying, even for Laura, a native Spanish speaker. Afterwards, we headed home for dinner.

Dinner tonight was salad (eggs and tomatoes), olives, rice (see below), and juice

My host mom knows how much I love rice.

My host family's kitchen

My host family's living and dining room