I am terrible at blogging.....

Good thing it is not my job, because I would have been fired a long time ago!  It has been less than a month since my last post, not by much, but still less than a month!

Where to begin.  Time is really flying by, and so much has happened.

The embassy came out and inspected 3 more apartments.  They denied two, and we were pretty excited that they accepted the last one, on one condition. That the building have a green gas certificate.  No biggie, the owner of the apartment said it was going to be done by last Wednesday.  Come to find out, the owner was only able to get his apartment certified.  The embassy then told us no because it wasn't the whole building, so that means we have to start the process all over again.  With the holidays coming up, I don't see us getting into a place before Christmas.  It is a good thing my kids are so used to not having a "typical" Christmas.  We have spent 2 in hotels, and this third one will probably be in our temporary apartment.  I guess it is a good thing because my kids really do know the true meaning of Christmas.

Kaleb has been on a school field trip to Southern Chile.  I haven't heard from him  for over a week,  I really miss that kid.  He is the only child, that if I am busy doing something, (like washing dishes)  he will just walk up to me and say "Mom, it looks like you need a hug"  and then will give me a wonderful hug.  (even if i have wet soapy hands)  From the pictures that I have received from his school, it looks like a blast.  Although the last 2 days I guess it has been raining pretty good. They have toured a mine, gone on a boat cruise, toured a winery, and have visited some other schools. On Friday he will finally be home and I am so excited to get my hugs from him!

The weather here has been amazing this last week.  It is November and I am wearing shorts.  On Mondays in Brody's class, he has sailing.  Yesterday he said it was the best day on the water.  I told him next week he has to take the camera so I can see what he is seeing.

On Saturday, we went with our friends the Smith's up to Zapallar and were able to take a boat ride to see some penguins out on a little island preserve.  The day was perfect, and it was awesome!
Here are a few pictures of kite flying on the beach, and our trip to see the penguins. 

Halloween was pretty laid back here.  The Chileans really only started celebrating it about 12 years ago.  We had our regular Halloween dinner, and just ate candy.  We had 2 trick or treaters.  They were really cute little kids.  When I went to order some candy online, I went to check out and it said my online cart was empty so I had to start over.  I didn't realize until after I placed my order that it found my "lost" cart items and I ended up with about $80 worth of candy.  I told Scott when it arrived it was my year supply.  All well, such is life, and the kids were super excited to see all the candy.  I just let them eat whatever they wanted Halloween night and  the rest is put away in a box.

Two weeks ago I was called as a 1st counselor in the young women program at church.  I am not sure what they were thinking asking someone who doesn't really understand much Spanish, or even speak Spanish to help with the young women here.  It has sure given me motivation to work on learning and understanding the language. This is making Scott really happy.  I think he is tired of doing everything that has to be done with the schools, church, banking, apartment finding, car shopping and work.

The Kids only have 3 weeks left of school before they are out for 3 more months.  It seems like they were just out of school for 4 months!  It is a good thing I like having them around.  (most of the time anyways!)  Here are a few pictures of the boys riding the mechanical bull at the boys school.  They had a huge celebration at their school where there were a lot of games, rock climbing, zip-lining, paint balling, tons of food, loud music and a lot of people.  It was pretty fun.  

Here is our Halloween grub!

Scott sick again.  He has been sick 3 times since moving here.  He has also been getting more grey hair.  He has never been one to stress about anything, but this whole housing situation has him stressed to the max.  He hasn't been sleeping very well and when he doesn't get his sleep, he gets sick.  Hopefully we can get into to something soon, because I want my healthy Scott back.  When he doesn't sleep, I really don't sleep!  At least he is a happy sicky most of the time!

One of my favorite things to do here is every Saturday we go to the "fairia" to get our produce and sometimes flowers for the week.  They have the best fruit and vegetables!  This is the one thing I will miss the most when we go back to the states.

Well, I think that catches me up for a little while.  Now back to studying my Spanish, and apartment hunting!

Really, it's been that long?

I can't believe that it has been 5 weeks since my last post.  So much has happened I don't know where to start. 

My kids finally started school!  Today they started their second week.  I think they look adorable in their uniforms, and they are picking up Spanish so much faster.  Who knew?  I was asking Scott what something meant yesterday and Mia answered faster than Scott and she was right!  I have a long way to go, but feel like I get about 10 percent of a conversation instead of none.  It is all about the little things right. 

Emmi told us that her first day of school here was the best she has had out of the 9 different schools she has attended.  That is saying something. It is an all girls school, and she stays with the same girls for 6 out of the 8 classes she has.  The other classes (Math and English) she is with girls in the same level academically.  All the girls in her classes were so excited to know that Emmi will be graduating with them, that she is from the United States and speaks English.  They all practice their English on her and she has to use her Spanish, it is a win, win situation for all the girls. 

Mia loves her class.  When I asked her how the first day was and if the girls were nice, she used her little sassy voice and said "um, ya duh Mom"  That is one thing I love about here, everyone is SO nice!

Kaleb and Brody are adjusting to their school.  I have to say, that I am not as impressed with it.  The school is still good, but the communication is not as good as the girls school.  Like today, there was a knock on the front door at 2, and Kaleb was home already.  The same thing happened last Thursday, Brody didn't know where he was after school and was freaking out when he got home without Kaleb.  It makes it really hard to go anywhere in the afternoons because I don't know what kid is going to be coming home early.  When it happened last week, I wasn't home and Kaleb just had to sit and wait.  We only have one house key for our temporary home.

Speaking of our Temporary home, I don't know when we will be out of it.  Trying to get into a permanent place is not easy.  The embassy has very strict requirements.  Some are that it can't be by any construction or empty lots, (which are all over) it has to be gated with a guard, railings have to be a certain height, and other crazy stuff.  So when we do find a place that might meet the requirements, then we have to set up a inspection from the embassy.  They come check it out and then we have to wait to see if they approve any of them.  The last time they came out, they looked at 3 places and didn't approve any of them and didn't let us know for a month.  They came out again last week and looked at 3 more places, now we just have to wait and see if they approve any of them.  If they do approve then we have to negotiate with the owners to see if they are willing to do the upgrades to the place that the embassy wants. (like screened in terrace, alarm system, windows that only open 10 centimeters  and other crazy things) If the owners are willing to do all these things, then the embassy comes again to reinspect to make sure everything was done.  After all of that we can then move in.  So it has been a long frustrating process.  The crazy thing is that the embassy won't approve our temporary place, but it is alright for a short term thing.  Living in Chile would be really great if we didn't have to deal with the embassy.  I figure the Lord has a plan that he doesn't want to share with us yet.  I feel like I am a pretty patient person, so I am not sure what I am supposed to learn from this experience. 

Well I better get dinner started.  Now that all the kids are in school all day, I will have time to update more often and even post some pictures. 

Happy Late Labor Day!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.  We had an interesting day yesterday.  Scott had to go into work in the morning and then was home just after noon.  We had received an email on Friday saying that our RUT cards were in and that we could come pick them up.  The RUT card is like a Chilean social security card, and without it we can't open a bank account, buy a vehicle that will fit all of us, or get into a permanent home.  Needless to say, we were super excited to be able to pick them up and get started with some of those things.  Since Scott was able to get out of work early we decided to make the two hour drive up to the embassy to pick those up.  When we got to the embassy it was a ghost town.  We couldn't figure out why no one was around.  While we were there, we did pick up our 2 pieces of mail.  There were a lot of local police outside the embassy and we asked why there were so many and were told that there was a demonstration that was about to happen.  We figured that was why the embassy was closed.  There were already people lining up along the streets, so we just headed back home and didn't bother to stick around.

The next part may be TMI, so just be warned.  When we got to the embassy, I needed to use the bathroom, but like I said, no one was around, so there were no open bathrooms.  I was driving and figured we could stop somewhere on the way back to use the bathroom. Lets just say that Santiago is really big, and Scott and I don't do well with Driver and Navigator.  Doesn't matter who is driving, it is not a great experience.   Anyways, we finally get out of town and onto the right road to get home.  There are also not many places to stop along the way home either.  I figured that I could make it home.  My stomach was cramping up the whole time, I couldn't even fart.  I have been constipated the last couple days, and I just really wanted to get home.  When Scott drives, he is a very courteous driver and usually follows all road laws. I on the other hand am a more aggressive driver and may or may not go faster than the posted speed, hence one of the reasons why I wanted to drive home.  We were making it home in record time when Scott tells me to take an exit that we hadn't taken before.  Thinking it was a short cut, I was all over that.  As we are driving the thought to be short cut, I notice that we are the only car on the road with several large trucks.  We keep driving and nothing is looking familiar, and there is not really a place to turn around.  Let me remind you that by this point I am in excruciating pain, and getting angrier by the second.  I just want to get home, Scott then points out that he can see our apartment complex, but it is still so far away.  At that point, (it must have been the death glare I gave him) he says out loud, I think I'll shut up now.  Still driving with all the trucks, we are coming down into the Valparaiso shipping port, I am able to take a right hand exit.  Good thing because if I would have kept going straight, I would have been on the loading docks with all the trucks.  I follow the shoreline and while doing that Scott (the sweet man that he really is) is pointing out all the beautiful places.  (his quite self didn't last very long)  We finally make it to the parking garage and I park.  I would have run to the elevators but I can barely walk the pain is so bad.  Did I mention that I live on the 22nd floor and the elevators are super slow when you are dying in pain.  We walk into the apartment, much to the kids surprise (they figured we would be gone for way longer) and Brody runs up to me with a huge smile and arms stretched out for a hug saying "is that my most amazing parents ever?"  In my not so nice mom voice, I tell him "do not touch me" as I rush (ok really limp bent over) to the bathroom where I stay for the next 20 minutes. 

My nice Mom self steps out of the bathroom, and we eat dinner then walk to the grocery store to get a few things.   After we get back, Scott is on the computer and it hits him what day it is.  He calls out, hey Jennifer, do you know what day it is.  Um, ya it's Labor Day.  It then hits me (I know, I am a little slow)  Hey it's Labor Day and the embassy is closed on U.S. holidays along with Chilean holidays.  We are so dumb!

What I learned yesterday.  Eat more fruit and vegetables!  Always call ahead to find out if the embassy is open. I am not a nice person when in extreme pain.  Enjoy the ride.  I do live in a beautiful place, and I have a great family, now I just need to learn to be a nicer mom and wife.  Good thing Scott is a very patient man, and puts up with mad Jennifer quite well.  Good thing kids are super forgiving.  Brody hugs are the best! (ok all hugs from my family are the best!)

I do hope your Labor Day was much more relaxing, and that you were able to enjoy being around your friends and family.  That's what life is all about.  Surrounding yourself with great people, and enjoying the ride.

Oh, guess what, I get to make the trip to the embassy again sometime soon.  Lucky me.  Now I just need to go eat me some produce. 

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.

Family reunion

Had a great, fun, hectic, crazy and tiring fourth of July weekend.  Five siblings were able to make it out for our annual siblings reunion.  The weekend included the aquarium, bike rides, beaches, the ocean, BBQ's and games.  Thanks to everyone who made the weekend great, and a special thanks to my amazing wife who made things run so smoothly.  Here are some pictures of the fun: