La Navidad y El Año Nuevo

Holaaaaa!  Long time to write. hehe
So much has happened in these past couple of weeks!  Usually when I start writing another blog post, I look through my pictures to see what all I have done and what all I need to fill you in on...let's just say that I take a lot of pictures. haha

My first Christmas away from home, and, it doesn't even feel like Christmas!  This helps on decreasing my feelings of missing home.  The food alone is an example of how different it was...

Shrimp and avocado! On Christmas Eve! hahah!! We're definitely on the coast!  No, I didn't eat the shrimp, but yes, I did try it.  The avocado was delicious though!

Watermelon! Sign of summer here! First time eating watermelon for Christmas!

YES! You guessed it!  We ate CHILI on Christmas Eve in CHILE!!  Before I left for Chile in July, everyone was always asking me, "Are you going to eat chili in Chile?..hahaha.." and I would respond reluctantly, "he...he...probably not."  But..what do you know!? I did! This is due to the fact that my Chilean host sister's husband is from Colorado, therefore, loves chili.  His mom, taught my host sister how to make it.  And it was, delicious!! However, not as good as the best chili ever made by Grandma Lund!

There was one thing that brought me back to Christmas in the states...Pumpkin Pie!  When I made pumpkin pie for my family for Thanksgiving, they absolutely loved it!  My Chilean niece, Camilia, really wanted to make pumpkin pie for Christmas.  I taught her how to make the pie crust and gave a her a copy of the recipe.  Instead of canned Libby's pumpkin, we used yellow squash.  It turned out really well!  Great job, Cami!  The square pie is blueberry pie and the round one is the pumpkin pie!  Look at the lights on the hills in the background! 

Overall, Christmas Eve was very nice.  We played Clue (I won!), went to the Christmas Play at my church, came back to eat dinner, read a part of the Bible about Jesus' birth, and the opened gifts.  Here in Chile, they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, open all the gifts on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day is just a day of relaxing,playing with the new toys, going to the beach, etc.  I thank my host family so much for accepting me as part of their family and for loving me!  Even thought it didn't feel much like Christmas, with it not being cold, no snow, etc...I most definitely still felt the love from the people around me.  I thank God for that!

From left to right: Ingrid, Alan, Camila, Sonia (Osy), Julio (Cuyin), me.  This is in Ingrid and Alan's apartment.

Cami and me in the water!  It's COLD!!

Ingrid and Cami on the beach.  It was really windy, so we didn't stay that long.

New Years!  New Years in Valparaiso/Viña del Mar is HUGE!  The fireworks being the big attraction!  They lasted 25 minutes and were absolutely spectacular!  Here's a short video and some photos of them:

 

The view from Ingrid's apartment.  We could see about 7 points of fireworks...and that was probably just about half of them!  If I come to Viña/Valpo for another New Years, I'm going to watch the fireworks on the beach! :)  It was sooo nice to watch them with my host family though!

The Grand Finale basically just lookes like really bright lights. hahaha! SO many fireworks!

Later, after the fireworks, we gave everyone a hug and had a toast.  It's a New Years tradition to hug everyone you know and wish them a Happy New Year...even for about a week after the celebration.  They also put pineapple ice cream in their champagne...or in their ginger ale for the kiddies (me included..hehe).  It's basically like a root beer float, but with different flavors!  They also broke out the crazy hats...as you can see...

Esteban smiling!!!

My host parents and me before the fireworks.

Oh my...the laughter!

Sammy and Estefy on the balcony waiting for the fireworks to start.

My host mom and me

Julio, Ingrid, and Sonia celebrating the New Year!

After the fireworks, Estefy fell asleep and Sammy and I played Jenga!

Then, I headed out to meet up with some of my Chilean friends and Rachael, my only American friend still here (she left yesterday!).  Rachael and I were so surprised that here we were, at 2am in the morning, and just LEAVING to go out. HAHA!  That's how it's done here in Chile...especially on New Years.  In fact, my host family just told me to stay in Valparaiso until the morning as it's not very safe to come back in the middle of night...better to wait until the sun comes out.  So, that's what we did.  We went to a dance club in Valparaiso and danced the night away, literally.  The music was great as they played everything...rock, reggeaton, salsa, merengue, cumbia, techno, rap, pop, American music, etc!  One of my Chilean friends and I left the club around 6:50am and then the others followed at 7am, because the club was closing.  It was so weird when I walked out of the club and it was LIGHT OUT!  All in all, we had a wonderful night.  It was nice, because the group that I went with were friends from church, so we were all very safe.  I didn't drink anything the whole night, except for half a glass of coke and three ice cubes.  That was a mistake...I was sooooo thirsty when I got home...aguaaaa is what I needed!  hahaha  To sum up, I spent New Years the Chilean Style!    

All of the buses going to Valparaiso were PACKED!

2am...the streets still full with people! New Years in the Summertime!

Me, Rachael, Nicole, Benjamin in the club

SNOW!!! nope, just kidding, only paper. :) A girl can dream, can't she? (My friend, Paloma, and me).

In the morning, when we left the club...

New Years Day: I got home around 8am and woke up around 12pm as I didn't want to miss lunch at my host sister's house with the kiddies (and I didn't want to mess up my sleep schedule too bad)!  Yes, I was tried, but it was worth it!  We had yummy choripan, grilled chicken, watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, cherries, etc.  It was a great lunch!  Then...we went to the pool!

Best photo sequence ever:  Esteban is famous for being cute (this is the blanket my mom made for him!)...Julio is known for sleeping anywhere--anytime (not sure where this blanket came from).