The month of December

I was told several times that the month of December is the busiest month in Chile. It is the first full month where the weather is nice everyday and it seems that every weekend, if not every day, people have plans to enjoy this nice weather – beach, barbecues, birthday celebrations, picnics, you name it. Not to mention the all important holiday on the 5th (my birthday, haha) and the month ending with Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. I was (and still am) exhausted every day with my work preparing for my upcoming trip to the U.S. with the student exchange kids as well as my missions trip with Saint George. I found it hard to imagine finding time to do anything extra knowing that I still am visiting the kids in the orphanage once a week and cooking at the kitchen for the meals on wheels program. Yet, by the end of the month, my daily agenda was about as full as it was during my college years (if you can believe it! haha)

It actually started on November 30, with a trip to El Quisco and the beach retreat house owned by the priests of the Holy Cross Congregation. They graciously lent Natalie, the ChACE teachers, and me the house for the weekend to celebrate Molly’s birthday (ChACE teacher – program out of Notre Dame, teaching English at Saint George, the high school I volunteer at). It was a lot of fun as we hung out on the beach, took in the sun, threw around a football, played paddle ball, and enjoyed the beautiful ocean scenery.

December 5th was my 24th birthday. Those who know me well know that my birthday is my favorite day of the year and I like to count down to my birthday, usually starting at 60 days. This year was different. I had already celebrated a birthday in South America before and to be honest, I had felt 24 for quite some time. Of course, I wanted to do something, but the only requirement I had was to be with the people I care about and for everyone to have a good time.

In the end, my birthday was by far the best birthday I have ever celebrated. My heart fills with unexplainable emotion every time I think about it. Father Erwin, who is a friend of the owners of Buenos Muchachos, had a table arranged for me and 30 guests at the famous dinner-show restaurant. The plan was for my birthday celebration to begin at 8:00pm. Yet, it really started at 12:15am, as I found myself up and waiting for the arrival of Deirdre and Colleen, two awesome girls I became friends with while in Bolivia studying Spanish (Deirdre and I attended the same language school.) They both had just finished their one-year program in Bolivia teaching English at a rural school and decided that before leaving to return to the U.S., they would stop by to visit me in Chile. As luck would have it, they scheduled their trip for my birthday :-)

Later that morning, I woke up to go to work at the meals on wheels program, and encountered balloons hung in front of my door with signs saying “Happy Birthday Michelle” as well as decorations around our apartment and my favorite homemade chocolate chip banana bread on the table for breakfast, all courtesy of Ms. Natalie Nathan. At work, I was surprised at lunch with not only wine, but lemon pie made by my dear friend Ana, a delicious double chocolate cake made by Natalie, and a beautiful silver bracelet and lapis lazuli earrings (national gem of Chile) from my friends Ana, Rosita, Chela, Magda, and Angelica. I was so suprised and greatful for the extra effort they each made, particularly Natalie, to make the day special. The rest of the afternoon was filled with a fun trip to Starbucks with Deirdre and Colleen (no Starbucks in Bolivia!) and a visit to the beauty salon for a much needed birthday pedicure. The plan was to get the pedicure and head home to get ready for the dinner party, but the pedicure took a bit longer than expected…so I ended up getting my hair and makeup done at the salon too, a nice little birthday present for myself.

me and my awesome birthday cake, made and beautifully decorated by Natalie

Despite a huge traffic jam that caused a little snag in my plans (arriving 45 minutes late to my own party – oops!), the rest of the night was one that I will always remember.At Buenos Muchachos, we drank wine, drank pisco sours (the national drink of Chile), ate from the parilladas (mini barbecue grills that sit directly on the table and are piled high with steak, chicken, and sausage), watched the dinner show featuring traditional dances of Chile, and danced the night away after.

At one point in the night, I looked up and down the long table of guests and realized how incredibly blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life and to have them all come together to celebrate my birthday. Everyone I truly care about from both my Chilean world and my gringo (foreigner) world here in Santiago were together in once place for my birthday. To see them interact and mix, from English or Spanish conversations to dancing on the dance floor, was an amazing sight. As the ultimate cherry on top, many of the guests were able to experience Buenos Muchachos for the first time. Along with the three ChACE teachers who were finishing up their year of teaching, the 6 señoras I work with at the meals on wheels program had never been to Buenos Muchachos because it is expensive for the average Chilean. Thanks to some amazing friends who paid a bit extra so that my señora friends could afford to attend, my birthday was not only a good time, but an opportunity to provide an experience to some who would have never been able to experience it otherwise. I honestly do not think I could have asked for anything more for my birthday. A week later, Angelica told me that her feet still hurt, but that she didn't mind because she hadn’t had fun and danced like that in the last 30 years. This certainly put a smile on my face and my heart is filled with joy every time I think about it.

Rosita, me, Angelica, Ana, y Carlos

The rest of the month of December flew by even faster than the first week. The days following my birthday, I did the tourist thing with Deirdre and Colleen, showing them the sites of Santiago (pictured left), ending their visit with a weekend trip to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, two beautiful coastal beach cities an hour outside of Santiago. There we enjoyed the scenery, took a night horse drawn carriage tour of the cities, and ate a great seafood dinner at a restaurant located in one of the many ports of Valparaíso. By sure coincidence, I had a few friends running a half-marathon or a full marathon in Viña that exact same weekend. What a blessing it was to see them cross the finish line and finish something they had been training for previously for months.

Exactly one week from my birthday, we had despedida (goodbye/farewell party) for the two ChACE teachers, Tony and Caty, who were finishing their year commitment and heading back to the United States. This party lasted until 4:00am, but Natalie and I took a taxi back home at 3:00am. Two days later, I went to a bar to celebrate Daniella’s 23rd birthday (another English teacher at the high school I volunteer at). That was fun (included December birthday tequila shots between Dan, Molly, Daniella, and me) and lasted until 2:00am. It would have gone longer, but the teachers had to get up the next day to go to work…adults, haha. I actually got up myself the next morning and went to the orphanage to hang out with the kids all day. Three days later, we had plans once again as we spent one last night with Caty before her departure to the U.S. by going to a Japanese steak restaurant (you know, the ones where they cook the food right in front of you). This was a lot of fun and the food was great.

This only puts us at December 18th, but a day with significance: One Year in Chile. That’s right, I have lived in Chile for over a year and honestly, it feels good to say it.

As I said previously, in between all of this, I have been working constantly: student exchange program work scheduled around all-day missions meetings while still visiting the orphanage kids once a week and helping two students at the high school apply to attend university in the U.S. next year. The meals on wheels program has ended for the year, and this free day has become one more day to work on the exchange program and missions, which is nice. All in all, my first day off in a while was Christmas Eve and Christmas, and to be honest, the only reason I actually took a break was that all my communication had stopped – for some reason, people do not check their email during this time…hm…haha :-)

Christmas Eve and Christmas were like no other that I had celebrated before. Last year, there were 7 of us and we celebrated as a group. This year, it was just Natalie and me. For a while, we were unsure how exactly these days would be celebrated. Luckily and thankfully, we were invited to the Oliva family’s home (family of Jenny and Michelle, our friends) to eat Christmas Eve dinner after mass. This confused me at first: mass starts at 10:00pm and should end around 11:00pm – “are we going for dinner or just for coffee and dessert?” I wondered. Yes, we ate a full dinner with deserts outside under their grape arbor in front yard (just like last year!) Throughout dinner we could hear neighbors outside of their homes as well, relaxing in the summer night, opening gifts. The kids were particularly happy, as Chilean tradition dictates that Pascuero Viejito (Santa Claus) passes by exactly at midnight and at this time their gifts are revealed (a little less mysterious than U.S. custom). Around 1:00am, we took our turns around the Christmas tree inside, opening up gifts and taking pictures. We returned home at 2:15am, tired from another late night.

I would dare to say that Christmas in Chile is similar to the United States in that it is an individual holiday in which families celebrate together in their own individual way. This is in stark contrast to how Chileans celebrate Fiestas Patrias. Chilean Christmas is different from U.S. Christmas in the fact that a big deal is not made of the day itself, but with Christmas Eve actually receives more of the attention. Not caring one way or another, Natalie and I woke up on Christmas morning and made ourselves a special breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon, hasbrowns, toast, and mimosas. We watched a movie until later that afternoon when we went to the ChACE apartment and had a very nice gringo Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casseroles, the three pies that I had made the day before (apple, cherry, and pumpkin), and more. Needless to say, I was full for the next two days from all the food I ate from both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Despite the fact that a lot of minor details and plans were left out of all of this, December has clearly been one crazy busy month. In my mind, there is only one true way to finish out the month: another trip! Later this morning, I will leave and go to Valparíso again, this time to celebrate the New Year with friends and see the largest fireworks display in South America. Over a million people are expected to be there and I am sure good times are going to be had by all.

Tomorrow I will return to Santiago, where I will pack for my January 2nd-14th missions trip with Saint George’s College (to read about last year’s trip, click here) as well as begin packing for my January 17th-February 9th trip to the U.S. for the student exchange program. My plan is to post a blog entry again in between these trips, this time about the missions trip. (I promise it will not be a novel such as this one, haha.)

Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed start to the New Year!