Chile is one long Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercial

As you read, listen to this. Play it in the background, and it will get you in the mood. Make sure no one who you don't feel comfortable crying around is near. (Don't worry, it won't be as bad as the first time you heard Adele's "Someone Like You")

I can't believe it's already been a month since I arrived in Chile! I remember back when my first day was over, and I thought, "Before I know it, the first week will be over, and then the first month!" Now I am mad at my past self for jinxing me and making time go by too fast. Why you little!!

The past two weeks have been pretty legit. I actually traveled outside my city, are you proud? Let's start there. With some others through the exchange program, I went to Santiago, the capital of Chile. The Andes are always in view...if the smog doesn't block them, and there are (unsurprisingly) dogs everywhere. So there's this super fun game (I just lost the game) I thought of that's actually spreading. Here are the instructions:

• Rule 1: Go to Chile 
• Rule 2: Walk outside
• Rule 3: Look for a dog
• How to win: If you see a dog, you win

I have only lost once. For all of you still listening to the song, I hope it's at the chorus right about now, because about 10 steps later I saw a whole pack of dogs laying on the grass nearby. One of them was dead. I still haven't decided if that's bonus points or not. Remember when I said this game was fun? 

This building was built to look like a cellphone.
So it was cool for one year...maybe

No matter how high we ascended up the incline on Cerro San Cristobal, Mother Mary was always looking down with a gentle smile . The view from the top was pretty sweet and we even got to see a glimpse of the Andes mountains. Oh and there was a dog up there. Did he ride the incline as well?

Look at that beautiful tower! Too bad there's something blocking our view of it.

We also got a tour of "La Moneda" which is like the White House...but it's for the Chilean president...so it's healthy. The president was actually there using up some of the rooms so the tour was cut short, but at least we got to be a room away from the president of Chile. It's sad the lack of security they had at the door. They literally looked at the top layer of the contents of my backpack and then I went through a metal detector. There was more security at my brother's graduation! But then again, Denzel Washington was there. Oh and there were dogs outside La Moneda.

Do you think the President's guards do duck-faces? 

We also went to the center of the city, "Plaza De Armas" which had street performers, statues (some alive, some not), pigeons, and La Catedral de Santiago. Oh and there were plenty of dogs. 

The school gave us a budget of 10,000 pesos each for lunch. That is $20! Are you alarmed that we went to a fancy place and ordered beverages and dessert with our meals? I mean, if you don't use the whole budget, then they give you less next time, right? 

I went to Chile so I could eat burgers! 

Mote Con Huesillos means wheat berries with a full peach plus super sweet juice.
I want my burger back. 

I stayed for the weekend to visit my brother's friend Gabrielle who actually came to Santiago with him for a semester four years ago. Fun fact (I promise the thing that's fun isn't about dead dogs this time) : she fell in love with a Chilean and now they live happily ever after. Her blog is quite informative and comical, so you should probably read it. THEY HAD PEANUT BUTTER AT THEIR HOUSE! And fresh honey from their own freakin bees. That was a good day. That weekend was full of card games, manjar, ice cream, cool friends, surprise visits, and more touristing! The surprise visit was on Sunday when I visited my brother's host family from four years ago. As soon as they saw me, their eyes got big and they said, "Iguales!!" which basically means "they look identical!" The day before, though, we walked up another hill, saw a beautiful view of the city, ate 'mote con huesillos', and saw our fair share of sad, hopeless, rejected, and lonely dogs (Donate to the ASPCA in the next 20 minutes for a free scratch-and-sniff street dog plush doll). 

My favorite moment of the weekend was on a bus when I heard a "My Heart Will Go On" saxophone solo on what I thought was the radio. This turned out to be a man on the bus with his own speakers, jamming to this heartbreak of a song. I lost it. But being the only gringo on the bus, I thought I had to sing along, so you bet I did. 

This part is called ConConConColin. Concon is a place. Con means 'with'. Colin is my friend. Cachai? We had one plan: to get on a bus to Concon. We literally planned nothing else for the day - it was an adventure. The things we ended up doing:

Walking along the beach.

finding really cool mini-crabs,

drinking Escudo (means Skold in Swedish / Shield in English),

eating both shrimp and crab empanadas,

seeing surprisingly amazing wildlife at a rundown park,

meeting some dogs,

and climbing sand dunes in Reñaca where we could see all of Vaplaraiso, Vina Del Mar, Reñaca, and Concon!

It was super fun. 

So everything is super fun and grand and exciting...until a Chilean tries speaking to me in English. It has happened too many times where I speak to a Chilean in Spanish and he/she responds to me in English. My first problem is that I came to Chile to practice speaking and hearing Spanish. My second problem is that they have such an accent that I don't understand what they say. Colin and I were paying for our subway tickets, and I asked in Spanish, "Two tickets to Puerto please" and I hear something that I totally don't understand. I look to Colin to see if he understood, and after she repeats it a couple times, she then says "In English! Espere!" I then realized that was she was saying was 'Wait' but since we were expecting Spanish and she had such a thick accent, we didn't understand. She wasted everyone's time.

Keep praying for me as I am praying for you all! There are some ministry opportunities that may be coming up, so pray that I will be able to take advantage of them. Love and miss you all!