I was too busy dancing to take photos during the JonBear Fourtet show the other night at the brewhouse, but I did let loose with my camera afterward. Thought I’d get these silly pictures up before they got lost under an avalanche of wedding photos (to come, of course…)
I am so proud of my friends Jordan and Max. Jordan is off to the Marshall Islands to teach with WorldTeach and Max is off to South Africa with the Peace Corps. I have cherished these last few days with them so much – enjoying food with friends and family, laughing, singing, dancing… here’s to watching the mailbox, and to having two really good reasons to start printing and mailing out my photographs again.
May and June are months of rapid growth, everything is fiercely green and storms can whip up out of the bluest skies. These big changes come on so quick that you’ll miss them if you blink, so here’s to staying up late to talk to these pretty gente, and appreciating the ones I love as they leave one by one for the promises of youth and the many corners of the earth…
Over the last few days, there has been an eerie silence here in Las Condes – our neighborhood didn’t suffer the proportion of damage others did, thanks to newly constructed buildings that could withstand the force of the earthquake, but the magnitude of the disaster can be felt all the same. We are here waiting for things to return to normal. I am truly lucky to be in a house that has food, water, electricity, and even internet. So, in these days waiting to hear news of a plane to take me back home, I can reflect on all the things I have to be thankful for.
I am so lucky to have such wonderful food to eat! I found a small grocery store and cafe called La Chakra, where they have many fresh, whole, and organic foods. I imagine if I were to stay in Santiago longer, I would frequent this place as often as I go to the Earth Cafe and grocery store in Norman. I enjoyed a glass of a fresh mint lemonade, and the best avocados I’ve had yet in Chile – which is quite a title in the country of palta.
Some of my best moments in Chile were spent with these women, pictured at the end of our third week of class. Four women, from four different continents, all in different stages of life – I think I learned more in these conversations than I could from reading a wall full of books.
I’ve seen amazing landscapes, buildings, things here in Chile… but the people I’ve come to know here have impacted me in a way that can’t be measured. These two girls, in particular, I will never forget – Vanessa and Annette, thanks for staying with me in a moment of crisis, while we found our way home in the dark, in a city that, for one night, saw the stars.
And so am I! Margaret and Reese hosted a surprise birthday party for my good friend Angela the other night. The food was great, we heard a lot of tall tales, and fun times were had by all.
