Meeting the Family and City

(Part of) MY FAMILY!

 Oh what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful day!!! I packed up all of my belongings in the morning and began to bring them into the main hall when I looked across the camp site to see these three beautiful faces looking around!
Right away, I recognized them from the photo I had received months earlier (and looked at almost every day leading up to the trip).  Without hesitation, they recognized me as well, so I dropped all of my bags on the ground and ran to give them hugs!
My mom and older sister Fernanda are not pictured with me because they had to stay behind to clean up the house and make lunch, but I was taken home with my papa, Monserrat, and Josefa.  Josefa is 12, Monserrat was 16 at the time, and Papa, well, I'm not too sure about that one ;)

I was the first student to be picked up, which I later found out was because the next Saturday is when The general public moves its clocks forwards an hour.  However, my host dad had messed up the dates, and therefore came to get me at 12:00 instead of 1:00!

Stunning flag I was greeted with!
(Made by Feña)

The drive from the site we stated at (I believe it is named, Salto del Laja, in Los Angeles) to our house was about two hours.  Enough time for an ice cream stop at a Copec on the way (gas station) and to get to know each other pretty well! I asked enough questions to drive them insane, that much I am sure of!

The house that I am blessed to be able to stay at is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! They have a pool, a projector as a TV, enough rooms for me to sleep in my own space.  The house is based off of natural tones and there is a lot of stone structures with green plants, and I just have to say, whoever designed this house did a fantastic job with the colors.

I would sleep in the guest bedroom for the first few days, before the departure of Monserrat (she is going to the United States on an exchange) after that, I will be staying in the central area of the house in her bedroom.
My favorite part of the guest room would have to be the view from the window.  It looks out over the pool and the staircase-garden.  It is absolutely beautiful, and I think it still might be my favorite part of the house even though I no longer sleep there.

First bus ride!

The next day, Fernanda and Josefa invited me to go into the center of Concepción with them so that I could get to know a little bit of the city and what it's like to navigate it in a
bus!

Apparently it's best to always sit in the back because there is a little button you can push to make the driver stop when you need him to, therefore you can avoid awkward conversations (that's at least what Feña told me :)
We went into the center initially because Josefa loves to dance, thus, we wanted to see how she would do in an actual class (she ended up hating the class, but hey, it was worth a shot)
We stayed and watched her dance for a while, but ended up leaving half way through so that I could see the plaza and markets and buildings.

Still haven't really figured out what this
building is, but I will at some point!

Church in the center of Concepción

The architecture in the city is very beautiful, and there are a lot of lovely parks and plazas with little shops and boutiques!

We went to the shopping market which, like in most cities, was incredibly crowded and expensive.  Nonetheless, the city is a beautiful one, and I'm sure I will spend a lot of time here this next year!

I ended up coming into the center of the city almost every day that week for various reasons, mostly having to do with their incredibly cheap, delicious ice cream :)

ICE CREAMMMM

Yummmy 

MORE ICE CREAM! 

Might be hard to believe, but that deliciously, scrumptious, large pile of happiness that you currently are witnessing was less than $2.  NO JOKE! How amazing is that! Man I am going to gain so much weight this year!

Okay, okay.  As I said in my first post in this blog, all of these events are long gone in my mind.  Time travels last the speed of light when you are busy, and you can trust me when I say, I have been quite the busy bee these past few months.

As I a, realizing that I would love to go into indeoth detains about every event that I have experienced, I will spend my whole,e trip sitting here typing.  Therefore, to handle my time wisely, I'm just going to keep it short and simple for these next few catch up posts.

Startinggggggggg NOW!

I met many of Fernanda's close friends who were kind enough to show me around the University of Concepción, including the museums and the Plaza Peru!

Lucy and Feña on the bus! 

Vogue, vogue,  vogue

Me at the Art museum 

I already can tell, we will get along mighty fine!

 To finish up the journey through the first week of the year, we had to say goodbye to the incredibly sweet Monserrat Perez-Silva.  Although I only had known her for a week, I still consider saying goodbye to her the hardest/saddest thing I have had happen to me through this trip (3 months in).

Final goodbye 

Monse was treated in the airport by all of her close friends from school, her family, grandparents, church friends... all of her goodbyes were together and sad and tear filled.

Having only known her for a short amount of time, I figured my goodbyes would be sad, as she has been incredibly kind to me, but I did not expect to feel the intense emotion that hit me.

Her leaving was like I was leaving again.

It is very clear that she loves her family dearly, just as I do for mine, thus I imagine that she felt similar to the way I did when saying my final goodbyes to them.  Absolutely awful.

Going away dinner for Monse

All of the family gathered together in the house before getting in the car to pray together.  At this point, I will admit that I honestly didn't understand as much as I made it seem like I did, but that prayer, I somehow understood each and every word, without hesitation.  As much as it was a prayer for Monserrat, the prayer was equally about me.  They prayed for out safety, for us to feel secure in our homes, to find ourselves on our journies, and to show the world the love of Jesus Christ.

I was already sobbing before leaving the driveway just from knowing how lucky I am to be staying with a family who loves the lord and will be there to help my grow in my faith through the year.

The beautiful family 

Even after all of her goodbyes were said, and she had gone through security, everyone waited my the window crying until she was long gone through the door.

One thing that I remember ever so clearly from that day is my papa.  He didn't shed a single tear while at the airport. the words that he said when I asked him about how he was still so put together still stay in the back of my mind.  He basically just said, it's only for one year, and after that, I will have the rest of my life to speak with my daughter and be near her.

As dimunitaive as that makes a full year seem, it is too true to discribe.  The time that I have with my family is time that I must cherish, as time flies fast.  But I also must not forget that the time will fly wether I am with them or not.  Thus, I mustn't dwell on the fact that they are far, for a year is short, and I only have this experience for one of them.

Un abrazo,
Sarah Rachel