You know you miss Chile when...

I wanted to note some funny things that have happened in the time of culture shock since I returned from Chile.  Yes, these are all things that I've done or things that have happened to me.

SO: you know you miss Chile when...

• You get nostalgic when you see Nescafe in the grocery store.
• You get overly excited when you find out the apple you’re eating is from Chile.
• You suddenly gain an interest in the Copa America.
• You suddenly gain an interest in soccer, period.
• You actually walk through the wine section of stores out of sheer curiosity to see if they have Chilean wine and/or Pisco (and no, I didn’t buy any!)
• You relate most every discussion to Chile, something that happened in Chile, a Chilean friend or one of your teammates.
• You freak out when you find canned dulce de leche in the grocery store, meaning you can make alfajores!
• You crave empanadas, sopaipillas, and jugos naturales on a daily basis.
• You freak out when you think you see the Chilean flag, and then you are disappointed when you realize it’s the Texan flag (they look REALLY similar).
• Your favorite way to start a sentence is “In Chile…”
• You (nearly) say things like “esta bien”, “permiso”, and “gracias” to people, despite them talking to you in English.
• You teach your friends and family the salsa and the cueca.
• You make a list of reasons you know you miss Chile. ;)

Stories from Santiago, part 1

I wanted to share with you a short story of one of the most awesome things I saw this summer.  I was blessed to have the opportunity to see someone led to Christ this summer, and it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. (Additionally, I talked about this briefly  before, but not as in depth as here.)

Back in the States...

Hello all,

First off, I want to apologize for not blogging sooner.  Things were super busy, and then we had our project debriefing in El Quisco (south of Valparaiso on the coast) most of this week, and we had no internet access there.  On Saturday, we headed back to Santiago, where we had one last get-together with the Chilean staff, and then we headed back to the airport.  About 15-20 Chilean students showed up at the airport to say goodbye, and we got to spend about two hours with them before we boarded our plane.