'Tis the Season

Celebrating the holidays with new friends in Chile has been great. We certainly miss our friends and family back home, but this holiday season has been more peaceful since we skipped the whole shopping madness scene.

Our Thanksgiving was actually three different awesome meals, very similar to our Thanksgiving dinners at home, though conspicuously absent were the sweet potatoes. Bill and I enjoyed a lunch given by the U.S. Embassy. I felt a little guilty about leaving the girls back at the apartment with their Subway sandwiches, since children weren't invited, but they were thrilled because it was the first time they were able to babysit Amelie (the adorable baby of fellow Fulbright teachers John and Melinda). Besides a delicious meal, we also enjoyed meeting several other Americans now living in Chile and some Chileans who would soon be leaving to study in the U.S.

After the lunch, Bill, John and Melinda went back to the apartment while I returned to my school because the Director had asked me to stop by, they had something for me. It was a roasting pan holding a big, stuffed, cooked turkey. Opting for a taxi instead of my usual bus ride home from school, I delivered the turkey to the thrilled astonishment of everyone at the apartment. Everyone but Bill and Sarah, the vegetarians, who would have been far happier with a sweet potato casserole. I called up a couple of Chilean friends to invite them over, and Melinda and I went to the supermarket to buy everything we would need to make our second Thanksgiving meal! Though we ended up eating quite late, this dinner turned out great and, again, the only thing missing were the sweet potatoes.

The third Thanksgiving dinner was an incredible meal cooked by Melinda, chef extraordinaire, in her tiny, little kitchen on her teeny, weeny stove and enjoyed by about twenty-five people in the beautiful, spacious San Bernardo home of Cecilia and Pedro, "the suegros". Click below to see more photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/bdoody61/ThanksgivingWithTheSuegros

Cecilia and Pedro and their children Camila and Felipe graciously opened their home to us again on Christmas Eve so that we could enjoy the holiday Chilean-style, where the party was still going strong at 4:30 a.m!
http://picasaweb.google.com/bdoody61/ChristmasInChile02

Much to be thankful for

It's a good thing we're going to be spending a whole year here in Chile. The first couple of months had gone by rather slowly; I came alone to start teaching and to look for a place for us to live before Bill and the girls joined me just in time for the Fiestas Patrias, the Chilean Independence Day celebrations in mid-September. But now that I've been here over four months and we're pretty well settled in, the weeks are starting to fly by. The upcoming holiday season is proving to be quite an adjustment. Our body clocks are being thrown off by the arrival of spring while watching the Christmas trees going up right alongside the palm trees. And we're all feeling the need to connect with family and friends back home in the spirit of love and togetherness that comes with the celebrations at this time of the year. So this seems like a good time to pause, reflect, give thanks, and finally get this blog rolling.

Bill's Thanks,

I give thanks:

for all of our family and friends back home. You are all in my heart and continue to show me that love knows no boundries of time or space.

for all of our new friends in Chile. You prove that no matter where we are on this earth we all come from the same source.

for this precious time spent with my three girls. Now is eternity.

for the mountains that surround us.

for this beautiful weather in Santiago.

for our church back home. I feel like you all are watching over us and protecting us. YOU are angels.

And for all those who continue to teach me that as long as I am willing to listen, I will be granted the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Roxy's Thanks,
I am very thankful for:

Food

My House
The Opportunity to Come to Chile

My Loving Family

My Friends

A Bed to Sleep In

A Good School

An Awesome Church at Home

Reeses Peanut Butter Cup
Licorice

Root Beer (which I haven't been able to find Chile!)

Sarah's Thank's

I am thankful for:

my mom, dad and sister, Roxy. I am also thankful for my best friend, Mandy and all my other great friends. I am thankful for my big, beautiful house in Des Plaines. I am very thankful for Nana, Aunt Margie, Grandma Sandy, and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. I am thankful for my mom and dad's jobs which give us money so we can buy food, water and a house. I am very thankful for our wonderful church, Unity Northwest, where no matter who you are, we are all family. I am thankful for God because She is watching over me and everyone else, too.

And Sue says, I am thankful for the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program and Niles North High School who have given me this incredible opportunity to live my dream, spending this year in Chile, where every day brings new surprises! And I am thankful for my loving family, who have been so supportive through this big move. I am so fortunate to have such great friends and colleagues back home, some of whom are coming to visit us here. I am also thankful for the new friendships that I've made here in Chile. And I want to mention a special thanks to Reverend Patti and our wonderful family at Unity Northwest who, in these past couple of years, have helped me to remember that God is everywhere!