A little background + Week 1 !

Hey all! Welcome to Evan's new adventure in Chile blog! Thanks for coming and checking it out! It'll totally be worth your time, maybe! =) Well let's get to it!

The Background:

I'm here in Santiago, Chile as a study abroad student. Back in the states I go to Michigan Technological University in the U.P. I am in my third year of the Civil Engineering Program. I was getting really bored with math and sciency stuff so I decided that I would try to learn the spanish language for a semester! =) And that's why I am here.

The Background's Background:

I grew up in Eveleth, Minnesota. I am 20 years old. My parents names are Craig and Chris Johnson. I have one older brother, Rory. I love my family very much! For those who don't know, I am a christian and I love my Savior very very much. I desire to do what He says is right for these reasons:

-I love Him
-I trust Him
-I believe that He is the God who created us, is all powerful and loving, and He knows whats best for His creation.

Preparation + Week 1 1/2:

Alrighty, now you know who I am =) so lets get to it! So after months of waiting, I was finally able to pick up my student visa on Dec. 22. I needed to head to Chilean Embassy in Chicago to pick it up in person. So, I hung out at Michigan Tech for a few extra days after school was out and just drove straight to Chicago from there. On the way down there, I sorta of ended up in a tight spot! I was low on gas and I had overdrawn on my debit account, I had no cash on me, and I was about 50 miles short of my friend's house where i was going to spend the night! I stopped at a gas station, and after half an hour of talking with my parents trying to figure things out, the Lord showed that He can provide in any situation! The cashier at the gas station, who I had talked to earlier, waved me in and told me that he understood my position and said he would get $10 in gas for me! I told him if he gave me his address i could repay him, but he insisted it was not a problem! Thank you Lord! Once I got to Dave's house, he was able to lend me money for the rest of the trip, another huge blessing! The rest of the trip went smoothly and I made home safe with student visa in hand =)

So After 2 really really great weeks at home spending time with friends and family, being able to minister and have great fellowship, and grow in the Lord, it was time to leave the cold tundra of Northern Minnesota to head to beautiful Santiago, Chile! On the first plane, I had a really great conversation with the ladies I was sitting with, Karyn and Sarah. Also, when we were landing, I ended up talking to the flight attendants for a few minutes. I can't remember their names unfortuantely, but one was a Christian and after telling her what I was up to, she really wanted to pray with me and ask the Lord to give me safety and that I would be used of Him, and that was ultra encouraging! And then the other flight attendent was actaully a Chilean! She spoke perfect english, but I guess she grew up in Santiago! It was amazing! So she told me about the city some and it was crazy to see how small the world is =D Then, one more thing, right when I was getting off the plane, the attendants had a big bag of nuts left over and they asked if I wanted them! Those nuts kept me full all the way to Chile. =) My next flight (the over night one to Chile) went pretty quick, I was able to sleep for the majority of it, and the rest of the time I was talking to Deb from Australia and another guy ( can't remember name) going on a cruz around the cape.













So getting through customs and picking up bags in Santiago was no problem at all. I had talked with the Kunnari's, my friends who are a missionary family here in Santiago, and they had said that they would be able to pick me up from the airport and I could hang out with them for a day, before my program orientation started, a huge blessing for sure! Another fun fact, the day they picked me, Tuesday, was the last day that they were going to have a car, so the timing on that was perfect! (They had been borrowing it and needed to return it on Wednesday) So after we made it back to their house and had a little bit of lunch, we decided what we would do for the day. They had been planing on going to a Bible camp 15 min. outside of Santiago, Camp Pirque, and doing a little bit of organizing and cleaning of a storage building there. I was way pumped to go and be able to do something right away, compared to just sitting around and talking, which is good too, but I had had enough of that for a while! =D There wasn't enough room in the car for all of us, so a group of us got on the metro and headed south. Most people here in Santiago get around on public Transportation (the micro, the bus system, and the metro, the subway system).

It was a good time asking Troy and Dianna tons of questions about everything the whole way there =) At camp, we worked, got dirty, and went for swim in the pool when we were all done, pretty great day! I got to meet one of Leah Kunnari's friends, Betsy, and speak some spanish with her, my first contact with the Chileans!

The next morning, I met all the other students in the program, about 35 in all, and we 'got oriented' for the next couple days. =) Its pretty sweet how diverse our group is, we have west coast, east coast, north side (me!), south side and all over the middle of the U.S covered. I enjoyed getting to know a lot of those guys over the couple days.

So then, on Thursday afternoon, my host mom and brother came and picked me up from the hotel. I love 'em! Veronica is a single mom, a social worked, and speaks no english. Cristian is going to school for psychology, is 26, and can speak a fair amount of english, but he doesn't use it unless he has to, for my sake, so I can learn =) . I've been enjoying living here alot! My host grandma lives just down the street with one of my aunts, and I have another aunt and uncle on the other side of town. We, as a whole family, spend a fair amount time together, and I love it, I learn a lot talking with them. =)

So I'm done with the first week of school now, and I must say, its pretty tough only studying one subject and going to class from 9-12 everyday! I can hardly find time to do anything else! =) School is pretty cool, I really like all my profesoras (women professors) and it is pretty challenging, but it also a ton of fun, too. Everything that I learn in class as far as vocab and grammar, its exciting because I am able to start putting it to use right away!

I think I've gone much too long already on this post, but it is the first, so I'm still on the learning curve here =) Anyway, I think I'll finish it up with a list of fun facts that I've noticed in my first weeks here

Santiago from a gringos eyes:

-On Jan. 17 (today), Chile is having their second round presidential elections. There were 5 main candidates in the first, and since no one got the absolute majority (50% or more), there is a runoff between the top two. If you are a registered voter in Chile, you MUST vote, otherwise you get a pretty hefty fine. So, there is 22% of the people who voted for the other guys in the first election, who will now have to vote for one of the two finalists, so really its up in the air to who wins?

-There are dogs everywhere in this city! Every street you go on, you will see at least 1 stray dog. The funny thing is, for the most part, they are all pretty healthy, really well behaved, and never really get in the way. For real, the only time I've seen them bark is when a fire engine with its sirens on goes by, so really they just want help alert people, keeping them safe, you know!






















-Santiago is the third-worst city in the world as far as smog is concerned! Santiago does have over 6 million people living in it, but it isn't that industrialized, and like I said earlier, most people get around on the metro, so there isn't a ton of traffic. So why is it so smoggy you may ask? Its because the entire city of Santiago is in a valley, so the smog settles here and the air doesn't get changed out as fast as it would on a hill or plain. During the day, you can only really make out a shadow of the foothills of the Andes, but at dusk or dawn, you're able to see really clearly.


































-Because of the dogs, all the street garbages are baskets raised up on a pole so the dogs can't get at them. Whenever I see them, it reminds me of disc golf =)














-Everywhere you go, you hear U.S. music. On the metro, in restaurants, on the radio, everywhere! Most people have no idea what the words in the songs even mean! They play it because they believe it will help people learn english, at least that is what my mom says =)

-They have malls here, but they are pretty expensive. Where most of the population shops are at giant open air markets that happen in different parts of city on different days. They are huge, and I'm pretty sure that you could buy just about anything that you can carry there, and a little more! Yesterday was the first time I'd been, and the stuff part was probably a 3/4 of a mile long, with stands side-to-side on both sides of the street, and then the food part was probably 1/4 mile long at least with side-to-side stands again.

















-The architecture is really cool! A lot of the building really don't have a distinct inside and outside, they are kind of intermingled throughout. The climate here is pretty mild all the time, and they don't have huge central heating or cooling systems, so they don't need to have a definite barrier between inside and outside














Hope you feel more informed about what's been going on in my life now! Don't worry if you skipped a lot of the text and just looked at the pictures, I totally understand! =) Hasta Luego!