El dia de los ninos!

Hello!

I just ate the most amazing chocolate ice cream cone in my entire life.  Don't worry.  I took a million picture of me eating it.  It was super rico.  Super super super rico!

Today is el dia de los ninos (kid's day) in Chile.  Just as we (along with Chile) have Mother's Day and Father's Day, they also decided to throw Kid's Day into the mix.  Today in Chile, children are the center of attention...they receive presents and get to celebrate their youth!

For me, the day started off by piling into my host parents' bed with their two children to open up presents.  They even got me one!  They bought me some really nice chocolates!  I've lived here less than one week, and they already know that I'm a chocoholic.  Nice.  They bought Cata (my host sisters) a couple stuffed animals, a new outfit, a bracelet...and, oh yeah, A FLAT SCREEN TV!  Holy cannoli.  Then, after we opened presents, we sat in bed and watched Fernando Gonzalez (Chilean tennis stud) play some dude from China in Olympic tennis match.  It was a great game!  Then, one by one, the family left the room.  The mom got up to go downstairs to make breakfast...Juanito (my 2-year-old host brother) left to follow mama...Cata went to the computer.  And then before I could comprehend the awkwardness, it was just me and my host papa, Juan, sitting in bed watching TV  (Kristen sits in front of the computer while making the "awkward turtle" action with her hands).  Upon realizing the weirdness of me sitting in bed with my new Chilean daddy, I quickly made some excuse as to why I needed to leave...I think I said I was going to play with Cata on the computer.  

Anyhoo, after the gift-opening-tennis-watching-awkward-session, the family and I ate a DELICIOUS breakfast!  My host mom, Yannet (pronounced like Janet, except the "j" sound is a little softer), made panqueques (Karli...it sounds just like I'd expect you to pronounce "pancakes" if you're being goofy), omelets with cheese and ham, bread, juice, and coffee.  Panqueques and basically crepes.  Not at all like our pancakes.  They're thin and rolled up...and there was this like dulce de leche (kind of like caramel) on the inside.  It was decadent.  By this point, it was about 10:30 AM.  We all were going to go to Mass at 12:30, so I had time for a quick run!  I asked Juan if it was safe for me to run outside (or if I should just run on their treadmill...yes, they have a treadmill.  Crazy!).  Juan told me that it was totally safe to run outside.  He said I should go run on the beach.  That sounded great to me!  So Cata and I went for a short run/walk down to the beach!  I decided I'm going to go running every afternoon after school on the beach by my house.  Running every day on the beach.  You can beat that.  Wow.  My life is unreal...

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a dream.  I live on the beach.  I'm surrounded by this crazy foreign language.  I have a swimming pool in my backyard.  I feel like I'm a celebrity at school.  I get served breakfast in bed (seriously, Yannet brought be breakfast in bed yesterday...and then Cata and I played Monopoly while eating our breakfasts!).  Surreal.

So, after breakfast, we went to Mass at the Cathedral.  It was a beautiful church.  The Mass was kind of weird though because it was special for el dia de los ninos.  All the kids sat in the first 10 rows.  There was super loud and intense music.  A lot of clapping.  A lot of shouting.  It was definitely geared towards kiddos.  Then, at the end of Mass, right before the priest blessed everyone, there was a little skit thing.  I'm still trying to comprehend what happened...all of a sudden, four adult women ran into the church from a side door dressed up as little kids with pig-tails and kiddy clothes.  They ran to the front of the church near the priest and started talking about how Jesus is our best friend and all that great stuff.  And the priest was a part of the skit too!  And then when I thought the women-dressed-as-children-madness was over, Mickey Mouse ran in from the side door (this sounds like I'm joking, but I'm serious).  Some dude dressed as Mickey Mouse busted through the side doors and ran to the front of the church.  Then, as Mickey Mouse reached the front, the priest said a blessing over everyone...

If that last story just confused you, don't worry.  I'm still pretty confused about what exactly just happened at church.  And, if you think I'm lying, I have proof that it happened!  I took tons of pictures of the chaos.

So, after church, my little Chilean family (including the grandparents) and I went to a Chinese restaurant.  I was really excited to see what Chinese food was like in Chile...I wanted to know if it was different than the Chinese food in the US.  The restaurant was completely packed.  Tons and tons of people...probaby because it was Sunday AND el dia de los ninos.  The food was good...the wontons and the chicken were a little different than in the US, but the beef stuff was the same.  Also, the fried rice had ham in it (is it like that in the US?).  Oh!  Another thing!  People here in Chile drink Coke like it's going out of style.  Juanito (my little bro) drinks coke in his sippy cup!  That's my only problem here.  I hate, hate, hate drinking regular coke, and it's really my only option.  Well, I drink tons of water at home, but when we go out I have to drink Coke.  We didn't order individual drinks...they just ordered 2 big bottles (one Coke and one Fanta) for the table.  

After lunch we went and got ice cream...and that's when I had the most delicious chocolate ice cream in my entire life.  Awww...what a dream.

Now we're back at the house for a descansito (little rest).  I'm kind of tired...it's already been a long day and it's only 5 PM.  I'm starting to understand why people siesta around here.  

In other news, I just bought the new Juanes CD on iTunes.  I'm very excited about it.  I have a couple Juanes CDs already (and have the songs memorized by heart), and I felt like part of the culture here when I heard a Juanes CD at the movie theater last Friday, and I was able to sing along!  :)

Okay, that's all for now.  It's laundry time...