I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

We made it to Chile, can you say culture shock? 

The kids and I have been here two weeks, it has been an adventure for sure.  It is a beautiful place to be and the people are so nice.  (Even if I give them that deer in the headlight look when they ask me something in Spanish) 

Scott is back to work full time this week.  It is pretty sad for all of us.  It has been nice for him to be home after lunch.  The afternoons are usually pretty busy with looking at houses, shopping, figuring out the area, trying to get the kids enrolled in school.  We have one car at the moment, and it's only a five seater, so going places with the whole family is always fun.  Now Scott has the car all day, and we are stuck walking everywhere.  Which isn't all bad.  We are in a temporary apartment that is in the middle of town, so walking to the huge mall, grocery store, or restaurants is only two blocks away.  I did decide that I am a small town girl.  It's winter here and everyone keeps telling me just wait until summer the population goes up 10 to 1.  People compare Vina del Mar to San Francisco, lots of hills, buildings on every corner, and tons of people. 

Trying to get into a permanent home here is a little difficult to say the least.  Finding a place is easy, we have 5 different places that would work for our family, but we have to have someone from the embassy to come and do a pre-inspection.  Basically the place has to have an alarm system and a 6 foot fence with an electric fence on top of that.  If it is an apartment, it has other requirements.  After the pre- inspection the embassy will either approve or have a to do list of things that need to be done.  They then have to approve a lease, and do a final inspection to make sure everything is done before we can move in.  We are still waiting for our stuff to come, it didn't even get shipped until last week, so we are looking at October before we have our things.  I really miss my stuff.  The furniture in the temporary apartment is not comfortable at all, and the kitchen stuff leaves a lot to be desired.

I had a local lady come by last week to go grocery shopping with me and to cook.  It has been really hard to find the things I am used to having, so I have to learn to cook a whole new way.  Her name is Karina, and even though we don't understand each other very well, I love her.  She is a great cook, and is just a really nice beautiful woman.  She made my day when we went out and then showed me how to cook some local food.  She only laughed at me... the whole time.  I am sure she just feels sorry for me, but I am looking forward to her coming back on Wednesday.

Trying to get the kids in school here is a pain in the rear.  I am hoping they will start the beginning of  September.  There is an all girl school, and an all boy school.  We took the girls last week to drop of their applications and have a tour.  They will go tomorrow for a placement test, which is a little weird to me since they will be repeating the school year that they just finished in June.They are British schools, that teach in both Spanish and English. The kids should be pretty fluent in their Spanish by the end of the school year.  The school year here goes from March to December, and the days are long, from 7:50 to 4:00.  The great news is that they won't have much homework, which is awesome.  I hated that in the U.S., my kids would be in school all day, and then come home with a ton of homework each night.  It is not common to have homework each night here,  they like to complete stuff in school.  How crazy is that?  One thing I was disappointed with was the library, they are so small.  Not like the libraries we are used to in the states. 

I haven't really taken many pictures because we already stick out like a sore thumb, and I'm afraid my nice camera would be taken, or my phone would be taken out of my pocket.  Crime on tourists is pretty high.  Karina already told me I need to be more careful when I am at an ATM making a withdrawal, I'm grateful she was with me.  I am the ultimate "gringo" and still have so much to learn.  I do learn more Spanish each day, usually at the end of the day I have a huge headache, but slowly it's coming.  I definitely can understand more than I speak, and that's not saying much.  One of the rental companies tried calling to ask me some questions about a house we looked at, and I had no idea how to answer her, so I was calling to Emmi to come translate for me, and she didn't know all the words either.  Looking back it was quite comical, but at the time very frustrating. 

Well I should probably go find something for all of us to do today.  We already spend way to much time inside watching TV, or on electronics.  We live on the 22nd floor of our apartment building, so we sometimes run up and down the stairs, that last about 20 minutes and my knee's can't take much more of that.  It's winter, so going to the beach is pretty cold, it is nice that it's only across the street.  The kids don't mind the cold at all, it is in the 50's, so I guess I can't complain about the cold too much.  Who knows maybe today we will brave the "cold" and get some pictures of our adventures.  Until next time!

The arrival

So I (Scott) made it to Chile.  Jennifer and the kids will arrive in a couple days.  I was able to find a temporary apartment while we wait for our personal items to get shipped here (could take a couple months).  So far I am struggling with the language, but it has improved.  I noticed at church today I was able to follow more than last week.  This part of the country is absolutely beautiful.  We are right next to the beach...I am actually listening to the waves crash as I type.  There are hills all around, very much like where we were living in California.  I am excited to be reunited with the family.  I know we are going to have trials these first few (6 to 12) months while we adjust to life in another country but I believe it will be well worth it.

California

While in California we went and saw a couple cool houses.  One in Fresno is underground, while the other, in San Jose, is enourmous.



A gentleman digging a root cellar in Fresno realized it was much cooler underground, so he kept digging and had plans of an entire underground hotel.  Before parts of the land were sold and developed there were 50 rooms, a grand ballroom and he was working on the driveway and parking garage before he died.  He even planted fruit trees underground and would graft the trees.  He had one tree which produced seven different fruit.

The heir to the Winchester firearms spent her life (after the death of her child, then husband) building on her house.  Construction took place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for something like 35 years.  This mystery house was definitely a one of a kind.  There are stairs that dead end into the ceiling, doors that open into an adjacent wall while another opens to the outside with no staircase, just a fall from the second floor.  It is one mixed up house, yet very elegant too.