Changing Things Up a Bit

Last week the girls all started school. Since they are in school during the mornings, our hours have changed. I now work from 2:00-7:00. At first I was kind of apprehensive about working so late everyday, but I really LOVE it. When I started work in the mornings, I didn’t have time to do anything before work, and by the time I got home from work I would be absolutely exhausted so couldn’t really do a whole lot (like go for a run, study Spanish, and what not). However now that I don’t start till later in the day I can get a lot done before work. My days feel so much more productive now! I’ve been waking up around 8:30 and will either do some yoga or work out and then go for a run. With the rest of my time I’ll do whatever I need to get done, whether it’s something for work, studying Spanish, or bloggin’. I have never worked out first thing in the morning before; it’s incredible! I have this incredible level of energy that lasts all day long. There hasn’t been a day of work yet where I have been super tired; whereas, normally I have almost always been exhausted. It’s kind of addicting having that kind of energy and just feeling really good through out the day. So working late has been a blessing in disguise, and made me discover something new that I love doing.

One struggle that I have been having while being in South America is that the milk and yogurt products are not that great. I had finally found some milk that I actually like, but yogurt was another story. Every yogurt I have tried has been really liquidy and taste sour to me. I was so upset because I love yogurt. BUT I finally found some yogurt that is absolutely delicious! It’s Greek yogurt (which we have back home, but I have never tried it), and the coconut flavor is so good, it’s like a dessert. I’ve never tried Greek yogurt before because I was told that it’s really thick, and I’m not the biggest fan of thick yogurt. However, I think whatever they do to yogurt down here that makes it so runny turned Greek yogurt into the perfect consistency for me. Any who, that was just something very exciting that happened last week…oh how the little things can make one so happy.

I was really craving guacamole during the week, but hadn’t been able to buy avocados at the market last Sunday, so I decided to buy some from the guy who sells fruits and veggies right outside my apartment. His avocados have been the best avocados I have ever had! They were so fresh and just so perfect. I think I’m going to buy my avocados from him from now on, even though they are a little more expensive; it’s totally worth it.

The entire week I had been asking the girls if they wanted to perform the Miley Cyrus dance I taught them for this art festival VE throws in April. So far all of the girls had been saying no, and that they wanted to dance to other songs. I was a little bummed about it, and tried to explain to them that there was more to the song than just the chorus part and that they would be able to make up their own dance moves to the rest of the song, but they still wanted nothing to do with it.

Thursday was the best day ever! Since I’ve been working in Chile anyways…It started out with yoga, then I bought this really awesome, inexpensive, portable speaker. Brought it into work, and played the whole Miley Cyrus, Hoedown Throwdown, song for the girls and a lot of them wanted to perform it for Festival de Artes! They loved making up their own moves to the rest of the song. Ha I think the dance is going to end up with all the girls doing their own dance moves during the whole song, and then they will dance the same way to the part that I taught them. It’s a little challenging to get the girls to follow each other’s instructions, so they just end up doing their own thing. That could be really cute, we’ll see how it goes. So there was a lot of dancing this day, and when the girls weren’t dancing they were making shadow boxes. The girls were pretty well behaved all day (I’m pretty sure that that was the first time we didn’t have any trouble with any of the girls). For Once that day, I had the pleasure of trying my first completo. A completo is a hot dog with avocado, tomatoes, mayo, and mustard and ketchup if you want. It sounds and looks kind of gross, but it was actually pretty tasty. After work I had a late Spanish class, but everything finally started to click and I learned some more uses of the subjunctive. I learned how to express phrases like: If I had known it was going to be so hot today, I would have worn shorts. And: I have never eaten food this good before. Both of these type of phrases I had been wanting to say in various situations but couldn’t, so I’m pretty excited now that I know how to express them!

This past weekend we went on a retreat, called Jornada, with all of the volunteers and the people who work in the office. It was such a fun weekend! We were in the mountains, which were beautiful and so quiet. It was so strange being away from the loud city, but I loved it! We played a bunch of group games, did fun activities, and had a lot of really good talks. We meditated, did some yoga, ate some delicious food, and had a lot of laughs. There was a nice pool and there was a rope swing! Oh man that rope swing was so much fun. You could get really high up there, and it reminded me of my childhood (oh good times…). That was really neat, and it was really great to get closer to everyone. There were a couple cute dogs out there too, and a puppy! Life is always fun when there’s a puppy around ☺ I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but it was really great to get out of the city for the weekend and just relax.

Until Next Time,
Liz