Post 3

Well Howdy everyone! I feeling quite certain that you´ve been let down by this blog, and you have every right to feel this way =( I don´t think updates every two months really cuts it =) So, in this post, going to give a quick overview of the earthquake, and then just some pics from some different adventures. Sound good? =) k, let´s do it!

Well, I´m sure most know, but a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 27 at 3:30. This quake was felt thousands of miles away. The area near the epicenter was greatly damaged. Many buildings collapsed, and many more were left unusable. I personally have not seen much besides what I´ve seen on the news, but my host-brother went down for a week to help, and when he went, a week and a half after the quake, they were still struggling with getting water and food distributed to everyone. Most areas still do not have electricity. I´m not sure what the medical care situation is like. You also must understand that Chile IS definately doing all that they can to help there own. Chileans are very proud of their nation. Immediately they had a telethon to raise money, and they raised over 57 million dollars this way.

So my story is that when the earthquake hit, i was a good ways in the south on a spring break field trip with my program, and we were about 400 miles from the epicenter. Some of the students woke up when it hit, but the majority did not, me being one of them. So in the morning, there was no power, no internet, and no phone, so we weren´t to sure what was going on. During breakfast we found out what happened, but we still really had no idea of the effects it had. So our trip went on as planned, nothing really changed, and as time went on, we kept finding out more and more... Besides the power being knocked out for a half a day, there was no problems at where we were at, and so our trip continued on as normal, more or less. I wasn´t able to get ahold of my host family at all, but the exchange program had gotten ahold of all the families, and relayed to us that they were all ok! The airport in Santiago had taken some damage, so we got to stay a couple extra days on vacation while waiting for a flight back home. My apartment building at home was fine, just a lot of broken plates and glasses, and drywall dust coming off the ceiling and walls. My mom had everything cleaned up by the time i made it home. Our church took a pretty good hit, lot a plaster that fell off and/or came loose. There is also a large crack in one upper corner of the building, which is fixable, but we need some money and materials. Until then, we are meeting in a back building behind our church. (which you´ll see in one of the pics)

Here´s a couple of crazy facts:
1.)Chile has a one hour time shift just like the US, except they are in the opposite directions, so until now we have been 3 hours ahead of central time (2 hours ahead of eastern),but when the time shifts happen, it will only be 1 hour difference with central (and the same as eastern)!
2.) US already did their time shift, but Chile delayed theirs until april 1 because of the earthquake, to allow relief teams one more hour of work in the evenings.


Alright, so when i was uploading these pics, i wasn´t thinking really hard, and i did them backwords. The newest ones are on top, and the oldest ones on the bottom, you may view them in anyway your heart desires. If you want to see the pic full screen, just click on it, then when you are done, hit the back button on the browser =)



We went out to a mall closeby to my school for lunch the day after my birthday to get some icecream. The oppur


This is my family! Top Left: My brother Cristián In his arm: Marcela, his girlfriend In the middle in yellow: my mom, Verónica Bottom left: My uncle, Cesar On the Right: My aunt, Carmen Gloria and my cousin, Visante Top right: me




Delicious cake my mom made for me! We were lacking a one, so the wine bottle candle sufficed. It was ironic to me, but the drinking age in Chile is 19, so no one else felt that way =)


This is the back building at our church where the services are being held right now



This is our church. We were having a work day to get everything cleaned up, which first involved getting all the loose plaster off the walls.


The last time seeing volcano Osorno on our plane ride flying back up North to Santiago after our field trip to the south.


We went ziplining when we were in the south, it was quite fun! It was just as much fun watching the others go as actually doing it =)


We took a fairy ride across a lake named "All Saints Lake" because it was discovered on All Saints Day. Beautiful fresh water lakes surrounded my hills with water falls coming into it, very very cool trip.


A waterfall nature reserve area on the way to All Saints lake. The water fall was cool, but the color of the water was incredible. That morning was so beautiful with the water and the hills and the morning mist, this spot was probably my favorite of everywhere we went. I also found a bamboo shaft that had just been cut laying on the side of one of the trails. I kept that bamboo shaft for the rest of the trip =) (and then forgot it in the hotel...)


Same spot as above picture, just thought it looked cool =D



Beautiful sunset. This is looking off the back emergency escape at the hotel we stayed at for 5 nights, it was so beautiful. That´s Volcano Osorno in the back. People in this pic are Top, left to right: Michaela, Alex (only other guy on the trip out of 28), Michaela, Nora, Chastity. Bottom: Me and Sarah



Same shot as above, just without the people!


One of the towns we visited on our adventure in the South, don´t remember the name. Way in the back, the white, are actually the Andes mountains, not clouds, it doesn´t come through to well online here. People in the picture in clockwise fashion starting with me =) : me, lexie, hanna, michaela, kate


crazy huge, all wood church in one of the towns we visited


morning mist rolling away!


First night in the South, the night of the earthquake, beautiful sunset!


Playing around on the beach, running around looking for sea shells. Who doesn´t love doing a little bit of treasure hunting? =) This pic is us just being goofy =) (we did find some really cool sea shells!)


There was a lot of really cool colorful fishing boats all over the place in the south. These ones looked particularily Brazilian =)


This the group as we are arriving to our first hotel!


This is in Valpariso, a port town about 1.5 hours from Santiago. Wiring jobs like this are not uncommon to see at all, whereever you go in Chile =)




Cool vista shot of the ocean


Viña del Mar, sister city of Valpariso, big get away spot for all the Santiago city dwellers, and tourists in general. About 1.5 hours from Santiago on the Pacific coast.


Neat little lizard guy! Saw a lot of them on a trip I took into the mountains right outside of Santiago. In reality, most of them I didn´t even see, just heard as the moved into their hiding spots, but this guy was nice enough to pose for me =) They definately blend in pretty good!


Pic of me as I was climbing up a valley to see a glacier in the Andes. One of my favorite hikes ever! =)



This was a big event that we had going on in Santiago for a week. Because it is Chile´s bicentenial this year (they won´t actually be 200 years old until September), they were doing all sorts of special events, and this was one of them. The guys who put this on are from France, and I guess they travel around the world doing shows. (they were actually headed to New York after Santiago). It was pretty crazy how excited everyone got over this! This was going for three or four days, i don´t remember, this was the last day, and i found a little tree that was easy enough to get up into for a good perspective(nobody in Chile climbs trees, its wierd). After the giants went by, i had to chill for about 20 min until the crowd had thinned out enough to be able to jump down with out crushing someone, many many people, it was crazy!

CHI- CHI- CHI- .... LE- LE- LE- .... VIVE CHILE

Well Howdy Everyone! Yes, you can believe your eyes, this is indeed the much anticipated second post of MI AVENTURA EN CHILE! I feel like I can get away saying that cause if you didn't like the first one, you probably won't be reading this one =)

Well, just got done with my third week of school! I can hardly believe my eyes when I read that myself! Time has been flying! Well, I think I'll back it up to about two weeks ago, and pick up right where I left off! =D

Eleciones presidentales

Well, if you recall, the last time I wrote, it was the morning of the day that Chile would elect its next president! So around 10:00 A.M. , my mom, my aunt, my grandma, and I walked down to one of the local highschools (colegios) to go vote. It's pretty much the same as in the U.S. as far as the general set-up goes; you go to your registered spot, you get a ballot, you go in a little enclosed area, vote, and stick your ballot in a box. The one thing that I thought was a little weird
was that the voting locations were segregated by sex. Men have their places to vote and women have their places to vote...just a little strange =) . I got to go in though because I was pushing my grandma in her wheel chair. =) special!
So after voting (all for Piñera), the four of us went to our uncle and aunts house who live across the city to spend the afternoon there. Played some chinese checkers, had some food, played a little bit of FIFA on the PS2, in reality everyone was waiting for six o'clock to role around when they would announce the results of the election. Oh yeah, I got to meet one of my other cousins that day, Sabastian, who had just got home from working on a house in southern Chile with a group similiar to Habitat for Humanity (as far as I understood). He is also a civil engineer and speaks a little bit of english, and seems like a pretty cool guy. I haven't talk to him since, but hopefully we'll get to hang out, maybe play some soccer! =) So at 6:00 everyone gathered around the t.v. to find out that Piñera had won over Frei with a 51.3/48.7 split. So we jumped around and yelled a little bit in the house, and decided to head out after that! Check out the video to get a feel for the rest of the night =)



So one of the chants that we were yelling, and probably the most common one that Chile has is the title of this blog (if you were wandering what that was all about) =) then also, the title of this movie clip was another one we were doing alot.

SE SIENTE, SE SIENTE ... PIÑERA PRESIDENTE

those were the only ones i picked up on really well (the two easy ones =D ) the other ones i had to ask about after to find out what they were saying =)


The second week of school + weekend!

So on Tuesday during the second week of school, we had our first cloudy day since I've been here (and it still has been the only one), and I wanted to take full advantage of an oppurtunity to do some exploring without having to bake in the sun all day =) So after school was done for the day, I began my wanderings! =) I started about 1:00 and got home around 8:00, so it was definately a full day, but it was great chance to walk around and really be able to take in the city some. It is such a mix of ... ummm.... i can't say cultures because the only image of Chilean culture I have is what I've seen, but it is definitely a mixture of times. You can see the modern times, the modern trends that we know all to well in the States. Giant fancy office buildings, men walking around the streets in fancy-dancy suits, trendy coffee shops with way over priced coffee playing american music, tons of advertisements with scantily dressed women holding this or that product. There's these, but then there are twists thrown in, some of them are just cultural differences and also some remnants of what Santiago used to be i feel. There are the street vendors that line the edge of the sidewalks that are selling everything from egg rolls to childrens socks, some in booths, but the majority either just passing out their product or having them scattered on a blanket on the ground. Theres the seemingly innumerable statues of all influential characters in Chile's history. There's the church that was built 150 years ago across the street from a 30 story apartment building. There's the old campamientos randomly placed all around the cities. These were full blocks that used to be where the poor people lived, I'm not exactly sure what they consisted of, but now they are just full blocks that are completely empty and completely fenced off all around and serve absolutely no purpose except maybe a place for the passer-byer to throw there trash. So it is interesting to see the mix of new and old, and just the grand difference in lifestyles between the people

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Later in the day I walked to one of the touristy spots in the town known as Cerro San Cristobal (cerro = hill) . Its a hill right in the middle of town. On the top, I met a group of guys that were doing some traveling. There was two guys from Israel, Amir and Nir, and one girl from Germany, Lucia. I was wearing one of my good ol' Grace and Truth Bible Camp t-shirts, and Amir saw it and asked what Bible camp was like, and asked me what I believed about the Bible. We were able to have a good discussion and I was able to tell what Christ taught in the Bible. He definately believed in doing good, and doing right, but he thought it more honerable to want to do 'right' just for the sake of your fellow man, rather than storing up points for yourself for when you get to heaven. I tried explaining that that isn't what the Bible teaches, that that would be a selfish motivation, but rather Christ taught that selfless love is what He desires, and that Christ was the perfect example of that. *** So we hung out for a couple hours talking on the top of the hill, and I while we were talking the clouds we clearing away! It was beautiful!
***check out the end of this post for more on this! (pretty please) =)



K, So then on Thursday, I got to hang out with the youth group from the church that I've been going to here, and that was a great afternoon! We talked for a couple hours, played soccer for a while, and taught them a little bit of frisbee, too! It was a really refreshing afternoon! Troy and I were having fun teaching them english and I was having a ton of fun learning more spanish and getting to know them in the process =)!



So 2010 is Chile's Bicentennial, so for the last couple weeks they've had cultural stuff going on, that Friday all the Museums in Santiago were free, so me and a few friends wanted to go check some of them out! We actually only ended up making it to one, but it was neat. There was few cool things, but I didn't think most of the artsy-fartsy things were that neat, but the building was really cool! (that might be the civil engineer coming through a little bit =D )


Alright, so on that Sunday, I went to church which I greatly enjoyed again, and also was greatly challenged by trying to follow the message, and I love it! =) I can definitely follow the general path, but details are still pretty tough at this point =) After church, I went over to the Kunnari's to have lunch with them, which was a very spectacular bowl of good ol' american Chili! Oh man, that was the best bowl of chili I've ever had, easily! =) Later, our friend Betsy came over and we were having a ton of fun playing dutch blitz and doing the spanglish- englañol thing =) Then also, one of the other missionaries here in Santiago came over, and it was really cool getting to meet her. Her name is Sharon, she's a single missionary, and I can't remember how many years she's been here exactly, but im thinking it was around 20 ! She is super nice, and I'm grateful that she is here serving our Savior, and I look forward to seeing her again!


Week 3 of School!

I think we'll condense week three to one smaller paragraph, I'm guessing you would appreciate that, if your still with me at this point! And if your not, don't worry, there's more pictures ahead!
So two huge items were acquired during week 3
1.) A bike! I fixed up my host brothers old bike, works good, needs new pedals is all
2.) A NIV/NVI Bilingual Bible! I'd been searching for a while here in Santiago!

So on Tuesday, I biked into school for the first time. I looked at Google earth before heading out, and these were my directions I told my self. "just keep going west and you'll have to end up pretty close" =) surprising it worked! there was about 10 minutes I was sure I had to be lost, but then I popped out by a metro station just a few blocks away from school, so that was cool! Now on the way home, I wanted to do a little bit of exploring, and I ended up doing a lotta bit of exploring. One would think you would get lost on the first trip, not the second trip =). Anyways, I still did enjoy it, but after 2 hours of biking in 90-95 heat and in the intense sun, I had had enough. I walked in my door, drank three cups of juice, ate a little bread, went to my room, talk off my drenched clothes, and crashed on my bed for a couple hours =)

Then on Friday, we didn't have school because we were going on a field trip to the beach! I have mentioned how tough school is here? =) We stopped at this city that has been there a really long time, its just a small farm town, but also they do a ton of pottery for tourists! It was pretty neat seeing a lot of the stuff they had, didn't get anything though, the probability of me breaking it before getting it home is much much to high at this point in the trip. =) We got to the beach, and we were only going to hang out there for an hour-ish before going on a tour of this famous Chilean guys house, but I was over-run with joy to see it wasn't like a beachy-beach (sand, flatness, and boring) but a rocky beach with big rock to jump around on and climb and jump off.... ohhh, it was a very welcome outburst of running and jumping off stuff, cause I really don't feel very comfortable doing it in the city. =D
















The house was cool, lotta neat stuff, cept you can't take pictures of the inside, oh well. =) Then on the way home a few of the other students and I had a really good discussion again. It kinda started on how it is so socially unacceptable to talk about 'heavy' topics like your beliefs as far as abortion, or God, because people feel like it can only lead to an argument. But we were able to talk about about these things quite a bit and we definately did not agree on a lot, but I do think we were able to challenge each other other by being confronted with a different view or having to defend, or explain, our own with sound reasoning, more than, 'thats just what i think' =) it did sorta degenerate to 'whats your favorite princess movie?' by the end of the trip, but its fun and good to know those things about people, too! (I said 'Mulan' =) So I'm really glad that we had the discussion, and I feel like I am much better friends with these people now! Many times in the last month of my life, I have seen nothing but benefits of being completely honest with my loved ones and friends. I don't just mean 'not lying', but not trying to conceal anything that is pertinent to the discussion or situation at all, and it definitely isn't always easy, it often involves admitting that you're not perfect =), but it is always for the better I think!

Couple More Facts from Chile from the Gringos eyes:

-theres Pepsi products, but no Mountain Dew... WHATS WITH THAT!!!!

-Cell phones get perfect reception in the Subways thats are normally 5-6 stories down!

-Theres definately no food sanitation laws or requirements for the street vendors, so you can get like a pretty filling 1.50 lunch, but there's a little bit of risk involved =) (one that I'm normally willing to take)


-I don't what this is, but it is stinking crazy! I'm not sure if it was sucking out sap, or like laying it's eggs in the tree, but when it was flying around, it the stinger-sucker thing stuck like an inch! not a hornet i would mess with =)





-I had quite a few good ones, but that's all I can remember for now! I'm sorry, hopefully more come for next time =)


*** From above, Explanation of Faith some

Like I said in the first blog, this is something very important to me, so I'd like to explain it quickly here. I hope you don't skip this part or take offense, because that is not what I intend. I intend to share something that has changed my life greatly, and I believe to be completely for the better! =D I think I'll try to explain it in a story! WHOOOHOOO!!!: =)

Me and my friends are standing in a large room filled with atomic land mines scattered all over the place. I always thought of myself as very graceful person, so I thought that I should be the one to try and find the way out because I probably had the best chance of feeling a mine without actually setting it off. So while I was groping along the wall, concentrating very intently so as not to be vaporized, I bumped into a shelf, and a 10 Jillion candlepower flashlight fell and hit me on the head. I was a little hurt that I didn't sense the shelf being right in front of my face, and that I might not actually be as graceful as I thought I was, and also because of the somewhat large bump on my head. But then I realized what it was that had fallen on my head. I was overjoyed that I had been given this light, and not just any light, but a light that was more than capable of lighting up the entire room for everyone! Now there is three options I have at this point:

- I could refuse to turn the light on and leave it behind because I think I could do better without it or because I am mad with it still for causing a little pain inside and outside.

-I could use the light by shining it at the ground directly in front of myself, which may help me not step on a mine, but it really doesn't help me much on finding my way out, because I'm still not sure on the path that I need to take. Doing this also allows my friends to see a little bit in the room, but they wouldn't be much better off if it didn't give them enough light to show them the immediate dangers around them, and certainly not the way out!

-Or I could let the light shine across the room, clearly illuminating all the mines, doing away with the darkness, and clearly showing the path to freedom.

Well, which one should I choose? I think option three is pretty much a no brainer, right =) Also, doing this shows you just how helpless all of you were before you had the light, seeing how impossible it would have been to navigate the path in the dark.


Christ devoted His life to teach others the truth so that they might be saved from being a prisoner to sin. A quick explanation of what that means, being a prisoner to sin. We know in our hearts what is wrong, we can 'rationalize' some things, and try to make them seem less wrong, but we still know wthat it is wrong. If we tried with all of our might to stop doing wrong things, we would fail, without question. The Bible teaches us that these wrongs we commit, these sins, are deserving of death. (Romans 6:23) Christ knew our condition, and did something absolutely incredible, He gave HIS life on the cross and died in OUR place. He did not deserve that death because He had not sinned, He had done NO WRONG, but He knew that His sacrifice was the only way that we had any chance of being freed from the imprisonment of sin. How does Christ's death change our condition? Because He teaches in the Bible,"That God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16) So if I believe in Christ, or in other words, trust that He died on the cross in our place, I can have eternal life. ¿But if sin is deserving of death, and I know I've sinned, how can I have eternal life? It's because Christ took our punishment for our sins, and even more, the Bible teaches that He actaully takes our sins, so not just the punishment, but the sins themselves. And He still did one more than that, He said that He would give us the Holy Spirit, so that we would not be a prisoner to sin anymore. That we could have freedom.

I think passage explains it pretty well:

And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:1-6)

If you've got questions about anything, like anything at all, even if it isn't that related with this, I would be way pumped if you asked me =D (email: evancraig22@gmail.com) cause there are certainly a lot of good questions to ask! such as:

-Whats with this, if these things I do are actually wrong, and it is impossible for me to not do them, is that fair? Does that mean that these things actually are not wrong?
-How is it that Christ didn't have sin?
-Isn't there more to it than just trusting Christ?
-Is the bible really that trustworthy anyways?
-(tons of other questions) =)


Thanks all for checking out my blog, again I look forward to hearing from you! Whether it being questions, comments, critiques, or cue-tips, I welcome them all! Good night everyone!

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!