Hola de Belloto Chile‏

Hi family,

It was great to talk to you all yesterday.. I am glad that we could figure out how to get the phone to call outside the country. What is new in the world? I am detached from everything here! It is weird. It doesn´t help that I don´t understand anything people are saying either. lol Chileans speak a different kind of Spanish.. even my companion who´s first language is Spanish as a hard time and says a lot of things are different. So needless to say I don´t understand a whole lot. But everyone says between week 4 and 5 you really start understanding and picking up the language. That means I am really going to have to learn patience.

 

Chile is a very different place. There are so many things that are different that I don´t even know where to being... hmm maybe with the toilet. lol  So they have really bad water pressure here or something so we cannot flush toilet paper, so we have to wrap each piece we use and put it in the trash, kinda gross and smelly. lol Oh well :)

 

Everything here runs on gas which I am trying to get use to. So for example if we want warm water for anything we have to turn on the water heater thing by lighting a match and waiting for the thing to light. So we mostly have cold water for everything but showers when we turn it on.  I have kind of a fun story about the gas trucks here... they have trucks that go up and down the streets selling gas tanks. They look like the propane tanks we use for the BBQ grill, expect a little bigger. Anyway one day we were studying in our little ghetto pension when I heard and ice cream truck and I was so excited.. so I asked my companion about it and she said it was the gas truck... saddest day of my life! lol They drive around in their trucks playing the music the ice cream trucks in America play. So now when I hear it I have to remember that it is the stupid gas truck and not the ice cream man, danget. lol

About our pension.... I was pretty excited at first because my Hermana, Hermana Amaya( from El Salvador) was telling me we live in one of the best pensions in the mission. So as we traveled to pension from the mission home it was about and hour or so trip. It was interesting because we don´t have cars here so we were carrying around my two 50lb bags, a 30lb carry on, my 15 lb backpack, and my pillow.... yea  It was a little rough. So during that time we had to walk 5 or 6 blocks in Viña to a bus, after we got off the bus we walked about a 1/2 mile or so with all my stuff and another Hermanas stuff. We get to the pension and its to up to flights of stairs that are some of the steepest steps I have ever seen! I am not going to lie it was not one of the greatest moments in my life. lol So we get everything up there and I see our pension for the next 6 weeks. Very, very small and we have lawn chairs and plastic lawn tables to study with. No closet just this clothes hanger thing that is being held up with duck tape and tacks( to anchor it to the wall..lol) The only way to really describe the rest of it is very small and poor looking. Its okay though because we are only there in the morning and at night. Oh yes and as I was telling you guys we have TONS of fleas here, everywhere. In our beds, in all the rooms, all over the country. In Chile it is illegal to kill dogs so they have tons and tons of stray dogs everywhere and all of those dogs carry fleas so it is impossible to avoid them. I since I talked with you guys yesterday I acquired more flea bits. Oh dear! But its okay they don´t hurt, they just itch and leave bit marks and red circle in the area for a good while. lol I still need to see what thing one of the other Hermanas have in our room that keeps most of the fleas and bed bugs away because I really think it is working and since we can not use flea collars we need something. lol

Anyway... enough about the fleas :) Fun fact about Chileans, they love fruit cake. It cracks me up because in the states it is this big joke. They give you fruit cake all the time as a snack and a dessert and they sell it at all the stores. I am trying to learn and like it because right now I really have to force it down. Actually I have to force a lot of things into my stomach that I do not want to eat. haha They do not eat anything that is the same in the states expect bananas. I don´t even think I am going to talk about the food right now because it will take up all my time today:)

How is everyone going there? Zach said it was really windy and in the 40s or something. Did it not snow for Christmas. It is so hot here and sunny! I am already tan/burnt. I have so many different tan lines... I think I am just going to call it the sister missionary tan.. tan lines where my watch is, where my collar is, where my sleeves end, where my shoes don´t cover, and a tan that fades up my legs. lol Very attractive I am sure.

 How is school for Zach and work for you guys? Are you and Dad pretty busy? Anything new.. I have a lot of people that I need to write back and I am going to try and catch up on that but in might be another week or so... I need to catch up on a few things today and if i send things this week or nexted it is going to get to Wyoming in about two or so weeks from when I send I.. i think.

 A couple of the crazy hills in Chile. Oh my heck... tons of hills and walking all day. lol It is really not bad at all, I like the challenge. The heat and the sun is what I am trying to get use to. I am this mixture of the colors tan, white, and pink. lol  Also one in the pension on Christmas eve around our little Christmas tree. In Chile they celebrate Christmas at midnight with fireworks and opening of the presents and they eat a ´dinner´ which is not normal for them. Chileans only have lunch which is a very very very large meal around 130-300. Everything shuts down at that time so they can all eat. :)  Craziness here in Belloto Chile.

 

I hope all is well with you all... I love you all and I am really glad that we could talk yesterday :)

 

Love,

Hermama