Kiki's Crossing

5.31.2015 Sunday Note to self: Don’t wait an entire week to write about life in Chile. A lot happens, especially when everything surrounding you is new. Hello my friends. Welcome back. I think I’m a little bit overdue on telling you what my life in Santiago is like. I’m sure you all love reading my thoughts as my personal internet therapists but I believe it’s well-past time for me to describe to you the beautiful country that is Chile. (Photos included!) Shall we begin with a breakdown of my first week here? … I will take your silence as a yes! (I promise. I’m not quite as crazy as I seem.) Sunday : Sunday morning my plane landed around 8:30 in the morning in Santiago meaning I had practically a whole day to relax a little and get comfortable in my new home. Upon arrival, I, along with others in my group who traveled on the same plane, was transported to my homestay for the next five weeks via a bus provided by the school. Nancy Martinez, mi Madre in Chile

5.26.2015 Tuesday You know how there’s those times when you bump into somebody that you haven’t seen in years (your BFF from the 6 th grade, your first neighbor, the former basketball coach of your kid)? It’s weird, right? You’re at the grocery store or pumping gas or out with the family and suddenly you recognize someone and think to yourself, “Wow… what a small world?” Well, my dear friend, you don’t even know the half of it. Today, during our walk to ECELA, the school in Santiago where we are studying Spanish, my friends and I had a strange experience. I feel that coincidence is not a strong enough word for what happened because the probability of it is likely incalculable. On a street corner near the school, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, probably in her mid-twenties, asked our small group of five clearly American girls where we were from. Abby, one of my friends began to talk with this stranger in Spanish. Another American in Chile… How bizarre! Don’t worry

5.23.2015 Saturday Five years ago, when I was finishing my freshman year of high school, if you asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life my responses would have been mixed. From the cliché “I don’t know. I’m only fifteen,” to my still ever present dream of mastering the culinary arts, it was clear I had no idea where life was taking me. I denied that I would ever attend Martin Luther College to become a teacher, though God clearly was leading me in that direction. I certainly never dreamt that I would be working towards being bilingual, again, part of God’s plan. Yet, here I am: officially a junior at MLC on a plane headed to Santiago, Chile, so I can continue studying Spanish. “ Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different...” – C.S. Lewis Wise words Lewis… Wise words. Numerous, seemingly insignificant factors change and shape us every day so that when it comes down to it, we never expected to be where we are.