Bucket list: survived an earthquake!

Dear all, 

I am very safe and well in Chile, despite the eathquake that we experienced yesterday evening. 

This week we have off school for Fiestas Patrias (Chilean Independence Day) on September 18, and so my Chilean family and I went about 2 hours south to stay at a beautiful place in a "campo" like area. It's a beautiful old house, well not really a house. More like a mansion. It's beautiful though, really, everything antique but in good condition. I feel like I'm in the 19th century haha. 

Anyway, so last night we were in the dining room just starting supper when the Papa said "there's a temblor!" And so we all went outside. Then they told me it wasn't a temblor, it was a terremoto. Basically the difference is the severity of the quake. I wasn't scared at all, I thought it was pretty cool and exciting. I took a video but it was pretty dark. 

Anyway, I'll post again later with pictures and all from this week but just to assure you all that I am safe and well. Please pray for those who did not fare so well, however. For them and for their families. 

Picture of the dining room where we were when it started. 

Selfie on a horse!!

An invitation to Curicó!

This past weekend (Friday-Sunday) I accepted an invitation to visit the city of Curicó, about 2 hours south of Santiago. I was invited by a girl, Rosario, who is in the university here in Santiago but whose family lives in Curico, who is part of the youth here at the Schoenstatt shrine at the end of my block. It was a very nice experience!
Well, on Friday we (Rosario, two girls we didn't know, and I) hopped in the car of another girl from Curico (a mutual friend of Rosario and another girl in the youth here in Providencia) and headed out of Santiago. The trip that was supposed to take 2 hours actually took 4, and we arrived at around 9 pm. There was nothing glamorous or interesting about that trip to be honest, but we survived.

The family lives in a beautiful house on a hill (to me it is like a mountain, but compared with the Andes it is a hill) from where you can see the lights of the city of Curicó at night. The view is spectacular.

The main reason I was invited for the weekend was to play violin on Saturday for a "cantata" they had at the Schoestatt Shrine in Curicó to honor the Blessed Mother's nameday. Basically a cantata is a singing time. In this event we were on this little stage in a room at their little center and we sang songs, for and with the people. Besides me on the violin, Rosario and a young man from Santiago played guitar, a girl played flute on one song, another young man played the cajón (it's a box that you sit on an play percussion on. Quite popular.), and two other girls just sang. I sang a solo with guitar in English at one point as well, actually.

Here is a picture of the little stage and the room where we were. I personally don't have any pictures of us playing, but I'll add them later when I receive them.

The shrine in Curicó is called "Tierra Joven", like "Young Land" or "Youthful Land". If someone has a better translation, please comment or send me an email and I'll correct this. :) 

 Their St. Michael is made out of wood like the altar!

 Me, Rosario, and the guitar player from Santiago, Francisco. Playing with those two I felt pretty incapable as a musician. They are both excellent!!

 Rosario and I.

 Pillars with the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit with the little center-ish building behind it.

 Everyone gathered to begin the cantata with a prayer!

Afterwards, at around 10 pm, we went over to one of the family's house for an "asado", a barbecue, for supper. These are ridiculously popular. We were tired and so we left "super early", at like 1 am. Rosario's parents and her 7 year old brother left about a half hour later. I definitely could not stay up that late at 7 years old. I also admire the parents for staying out late because this evening, after dropping me at my house, they flew to Milwaukee!! My home, my people, my center, my shrine <3 <3 <3 They are going there to experience the places where the founder of Schoenstatt was in Wisconsin, and then are going to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and encounter with Pope Francis, and then on to New York and Washington DC. Say a prayer that they travel safely! 

Today we went to Mass at a parish. It was my first experience of a parish in Chile. A random stray dog walked in and was walking around the church the whole time and no one did anything about it. I was rather confused...Last week at the Mass at my school/shrine celebrating the anniversary of Colegio Mariano's founding a dog ran into the Mass, but it was a huge surprise and several men were chasing it out. In the parish, it didn't seem to be a big deal. Interesting...experiences, right? ;)

On the way back to Santiago, we stopped by another shrine in a city called San Fernando. This shrine is called "Las Rosas de Maria", or "Mary's Roses". It is beautiful, and has a little room underneath with some pictures of Fr. Kentenich, the founder of Schoenstatt.

All in all, it was a very nice weekend! I enjoyed it very much, and it was a nice getaway after the crazy week I had at school! I will have to dedicate an entire post to this past school week, for that was quite the adventure, adventures of a little one, you know. :) 

Many greetings and a gran abracito de Chile!

As September begins...

¡Hola todos!! ¡Un gran abrazo de Chile!!! I hope you are all doing well in whichever part of the world you find yourself at the present moment. I am doing very well down here, enjoying every moment of every adventure. There have been so many lately, so many that I haven't had time to post any pictures, and so many that I don't think I will be able to share all of them now, but here are some pictures and some thoughts about these experiences. :)

First experience to share: visit to Sta. Teresa de los Andes pilgrimage place with a group of children who are given catechism class at a house run by the Sisters of Mary. My chilean parents help there nearly every Saturday.

 Anto is ready to get out of the car.

 Breathtaking view of the cordillera.

 Outside of the church at Sta. Teresita.

 Inside of the Church. There was an African lady leading the rosary on the microphone in Spanish and the sisters were teasing me that it was me praying because of her heavy accent. :P

 Another stunning view.

 The little children gathered around the tomb of St. Teresa.

 Picture time for the children! (There were some helpers and parents along too, who didn't make it in there, like me for example.)

 This little girl, Martina, was the cutest thing ever. I was trying to encourage her to play with the other children, and showed her these berries that had fallen off the trees and told her they were signs of spring's coming. Then we spent the next twenty minutes collecting them. :P But she was adorable and called me "tia" (aunt). It's kind of a common thing here when you know an adult well but they aren't your parents.

 More breathtaking scenery.

The next day, Sunday Aug 23, I went to a place called "Monte Schoenstatt". It's a beautiful new house with a wayside shrine that will hopefully be a shrine in the not-so-far-off future! The view is spectacular: inside and out. 

 I just LOVE this painting. It's now the wallpaper on my phone haha. I don't know where Father is supposed to be walking, but I think he's walking on the beach of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. :)

 Why did I go to Monte Schoenstatt on this day? The girls' youth from the different shrines in Santiago were invited to have an encounter with the postulants of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary - many of whom were formerly part of the youth from these shrines! I, too, came to see an old friend: Sofia Wahl, whom I had become very good friends with a few years ago when she came to stay at the Schoenstatt Center in WI for a few months.

 It was such a gift to be able to see her again!! I don't know which of us were happier <3

Please pray for her and the rest of the postulants! They are 8, and their "reception", when they receive their sisters' dress, is on November 21st. :)

On August 29th (Saturday) I went in the morning to "los comedores", which is a house owned by the Schoenstatt Sisters where they serve food to homeless people. Everyone was surprised when I said there are homeless people in the USA too. I understand thinking of the US as having less of a poverty problem than a developing country like Chile, but to think that there is absolutely no poverty in the US was a little surprising to me. 

I went with a group of girls from my school. A group from Colegio Mariano goes one Saturday every month to prepare the meal and serve the people.

 This little boy came with his older and littler sister to eat.

 In the afternoon I went with my Chilean parents to my school's gym to help set up for the "Gran Lomiton Baile 2.0", a dinner-dance fundraiser for the Shrine here which celebrates 25 years in November.

 A bunch of guys and girls youth that I know were there helping set up as well, which was fun.

 The lomitón is beginning! During the event I helped run the dessert stand with my Chilean mamá.

 Selfie with one of my friends from school who was helping too, Isa! :)

The youth kept dancing after everyone else had left. I was helping to clean up and didn't have a chance to join in. Besides, it was like 1:30 am by that point and I was ready to go to bed after the very long day! But both the comedores and the lomiton were a success!!

Aaaaand a few more pictures before I go to bed :) 

 Anto and I in our matching uniforms, although she is wearing her apron since this was taken during recess ;)

 On Friday we celebrated "Dia de la chilenidad" at school. I'll post again soon about more school events, because this week in the anniversary week of the school's founding so there's lots to do!

 On Saturday, Sept. 5th I went with my Chilean parents and Anto to a nearby city, Rancagua, to visit my Chilean mamá's aunt (who is recovering from an operation) and her cousins. Here is a picture of the mountains and a police car. Let's just say I got a nice close up shot because my Chilean papá likes to drive very fast :P

 Anto loves taking selfies so she can decorate them on my snapchat. Especially when bored in the car.

 The street where the cousins and aunt live.

 The family's yard with the two houses - one for a married daughter and her family, the other for the little old aunt and two unmarried daughters (they're at least in their 40s).

Tonight (I was going to write this evening but that's stretching it...) I had the pleasure of going over to my friend Daphnne's house to celebrate her birthday!! I got to know her in 2014 when she visited WI for a few months, and it was actually her idea originally that I come to Chile and study at Colegio Mariano.

 Here she is pictured with cousins, friends, mom and aunt. One of them I'm not sure if she's a cousin or a friend to be honest.

¡¡Feliz cumpleaños, Daphnne!!