Day Five update

Well, today has been a learning day.

I started it off my taking my first bus ride ever. It was about 20 minutes to the eastern side of Santiago with Lina and Paul... we went to the exchange bank that they call "Oz" because it is a green building and they talk in "code words" so as to detract from the chance of robbery. So I practiced all of my already-acquired city knowledge about buses as I stood there and watched the city fly past. The bus drivers are absolutely insane. They stop for a bit and open the doors for just so long as they please and then pull away from the curb with people often still hanging out of the doors. Then as they are driving, very rapidly and jerkily might I add, they take the passengers´money and make change for all of them. This could be anywhere from one to three or four passengers. That´s why when one is driving in the city, ALWAYS steer clear of buses!!! The drivers stop when and if they feel like it, so you are at the mercy of their wishes and feelings. So, we got off and walked a little ways to the exchange bank, took the very nice elevator (in which I did not feel sick or dizzy... especially after that jolting bus ride) to third floor, where I got almost all of my remaining USD exchanged into Chilean pesos. So I´m all set on spending money for a while.

Then Paul took a bus home and Lina and I took a different bus further into the city to go to her medical facility to pick up some test results. Then we got back on a bus and finally arrived back home. I had just enough time to wash my hands and then we headed out (the family-Jim, Lina, Paul, myself, and Elias who works in the studio here answering all the emails and such from 11 to 6 weekdays) for lunch... They said we were going to eat out, and we walked a couple blocks down to a BURGER KING! I was like, holy cow. Great. More fattening, fast food. I wasn´t even hungry and I hadn´t eaten anything yet all day. So I just ordered a basic cheeseburger. Everybody else got these huge, greasy meals. I just sat there and felt good that I wasn´t the one consuming all the grease, oil, and FAT! Oh, and I found a way to drink good water! I got a couple glasses worth there. I don´t think that I´ve mentioned yet how much EVERYONE here drinks refrescos=soda-pop. That is almost the ONLY thing they drink. Plus the occasional milk. Which is ALWAYS whole and like extra creamy which means FAT! So as much as I love milk, I´m livin without it until I can buy myself some good fat-free stuff next time I go to the supermarket (which will probably be in a week after I get back from Antofagasta). O and their milk here is in cardboard cartons which adds a different flavor, and non-pastuerized (is that how the word is spelled?). So it tastes REALLY different. Yuck. Especially when it´s not as cold as I´m used to. So I just drink pure, good, cold water out of the tap. I´m fine with that. And I realized this evening when Mercedes (if you can´t remember, she´s the housekeeper) had tea that there was herbal stuff in the house, I decided I´ll have a cup of tea every morning now. O and just to update, today has been a dessert-free day!!!

So anyway, after Burger King, Paul and I walked to the post office and he gave me more lessons on living in the city and we talked about video editing. Paul is the type of guy my brother and Whitney Macaulay would really get along with well. When I got home, there was a girl here talking to Jim and Lina. She´s a family friend... anyway, I get clued into all the connections around here real fast. So Jim and I went up to the studio to teach me about the editing equipment and edit a few interviews to put on the website from a youth conference that was held last month in Mendoza, Argentina. So, Jim and Paul taught me about all the equipment and the editing process for interviews. And so Jim and I got started editing, only to find that the sound wasn´t transferring. As it goes with video equipment and computer editing in general, something always goes wrong, and nobody knows why, and so a lot of time is spent figuring out, by trial and error and such, what the problem is, and then fixing it! So, it took around two hours to get the thing solved. And then we ate dinner.

We had this stew sort of dish. Very good. Then we watched some of my previous editing work that I brought with me. They were VERY impressed with my Satired Sequim and we talked a lot about the political implications and power I have as a young film-maker and political thinker, etc. There´s a huge way to go with this! We also talked about History Day, and it was a good way for me to look back and see all the work I´ve done in my life. I really enjoy being a historian, and also doing stuff that is new and current with technology and everything. Communications is definately for me! Wow. I had a lot of revelations. It has been really great.

Now I am back up in the studio working on editing interviews again... Waiting for a 20-minute one to transfer. So I thought I´d write an update now...

As for my language skills, today I really felt like I was in the feel of things. I really understood a lot more than it seems I did yesterday, and I spoke a lot more Spanish. Even though we did a lot more speaking in English as well, (just more talking in general I guess as I was learning about equipment as well as having more conversations) I had a lot of good conversation experiences. Plus, I greeted and said goodbye to a few people the traditional Chilean way... and I was comfortable doing it! So that´s a good thing. The girl that was over today already knew Elias, and the three of us had a couple conversations in Spanish. They speak almost no English, so I felt I did pretty well understanding all their questions and answering and even coming up with topics for discussion as well! It was sweet. It´s soooo cool to see how I´m learning and all!

And yesterday I got my own shampoo and conditioner--Audrey I am using L´Oreal for Kids Strawberry Smoothie and my hair smells so good all day!!!

October 14 the best youth pastor in all of Chile is coming! Jim just told me. There will be around 5,000 kids there. This pastor just had a meeting in Argentina where he had a turnout of 200,000 kids there! And I´ll get a good seat and in early and probably dinner with this dude because the Thurstons know him!

So, that´s about it on the update for now. I need to finish packing after this for my trip up north that Lina and I will be leaving for at five tomorrow morning. Jim and I were talking about how it will be much warmer and closer to the beach, where the water is warmer as I will be closer to the equator. And I´ll get an opportunity to take many more photos. I´ll have a lot of catchup to do on the Internet when I return! All the pictures, and reporting on it! So this is probably my last Internet connection for a while I think, unless there happens to be a computer up there I can have access to, and time for me to use it! All the pictures, and reporting on it!

I AM JUST SOOOO EXCITED TO BE HERE AND DOING ALL THIS STUFF. This is so awesome to experience all this at this time in my life and everything, and I can´t imagine what an exciting life that is to come! God is SO good!

Abrazos y besos (hugs and kisses)

-Larita!!