Family

Well as you all know,  I've been severely neglecting my blogging duties and I cannot say I have a good excuse! Maybe I've just gotten used to writing about major events and traveling that I have forgotten how to write about the small, yet still important events. Because in the past three weeks or so, nothing really eventful or special has happened here in Valparaiso. However, more than anything, I've started to feel really at home in my home and in Valparaiso. However I realize this is a very relative statement. Obviously I feel more at home now than I did before because even a month ago I felt more at home than I did the month before that, and before that, and...etc. You get the picture. Maybe the difference here this time is that I think I've become a real part of my family here. I realized this the other day when my host brother and sister started bickering back and forth about something trivial and for the first time in 4 months, I said something about it. I didn't yell, or get upset, I just said "you guys I'm tired of this you guys need to stop this senseless bickering". Well, I said something along those lines in Spanish, not quite sure what the word bickering is. But anyways, it felt like a totally brother and sister thing to do, to speak up and say something to the other one and to tell them to stop. And it hit me in that moment how close I've become with my family here.

My host mom has become one of my closest friends here and I'm so thankful that I was put in this family. I was feeling sad the other day about how little time was left and she instantly knew something was wrong. She wrapped me in her arms and let me cry and told me we would make something yummy for dinner and that we would all spend the night together. Of course... we made completos. She also gave me a silver bracelet that her mother had given to her for her 15th birthday and I can't even stress how big this is. Her mother passed away 6 years ago and she never stops talking about how special and wonderful of a mom and woman she was. She considers her mom her best friend and she misses her terribly all the time. So the amount of love that she showed me with her giving the bracelet was just extremely touching. I've feeling very much loved from this family and I have so much love for them and my heart is going to break when I have to leave them all in january.
Now for my other family, my Casa de Colores family...they are just where my spirit lies here in Chile. I spend about as much time in this house as I do my own. I know exactly what needs to be put out at night for our daily "once", starting with the plates, the silverware, the cups, the bread, butter, jam, manjar...etc. And I mean, I know...it's setting a table, whats the big deal? But it's like the house has become my own. I had the same feeling yesterday as I was cooking our thanksgiving meal (more to come later) that the house has become my own, because I knew where everything went in the kitchen, all the spoons, knifes, butting boards etc. And it just feels really good to feel that security and comfort in the place that you are.

Anyways, this Casa de Colores family of mine decided that we should do a thanksgiving meal to celebrate thanksgiving and sort of the end of the semester. Me and the three other gringa girls that  spend a lot of time in the house decided to embark on our first thanksgiving without experienced cooks... for 22 people. And I'm gonna say it right now, we did a spectacular job. We went all out and did a whole turkey rubbed down with rosemary butter, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, an herbed green bean casserole, roasted asparagus with salt, pepper and a little cheese, stuffing, gravy and a carrot mash to replace sweet potato pie. Also latkes!! We made all of this in one day, in this tiny little kitchen, with little to no mishaps. For dessert we had two blueberry cobblers, two pumpkin pies, an apple pie and a peach cobbler as well. We made these the day before, which ended up being a really, really good idea.  Out of the 22 people, only 5 of us were not Chilean and so for most people there, everything we ate was the first time they had tried it. And we got great reviews! Everyone really enjoyed it and ate almost everything, which is impressive considering how much we had. In accompaniment, we had borgoña which is red wine mixed with strawberries and a little sugar. I'm so happy and so proud of what we accomplished!

Thanksgiving pics!

We also had a little "secret santa" event where we all pulled a name from a hat and we bought/made a little gift that we presented during our meal. It was a great event that really just pulled the whole night together. 

I'm off to Peru and Bolivia for the next 12 days and I'm sure I'll have lots to write about upon my return! Happy thanksgiving :)