When it rains it pours

No, surprisingly this is not in reference to weather patterns here at 40°S, actually it very rarely pours with rain here.

This is probably one of my last entries as I head into the busiest, craziest two weeks of my life. I have two exams next week (I still have yet to read 3 full length novels by next Friday, one of which is not in the library or any of the book stores—any being one of the three), and at least two papers due the next week after that, although I can’t get started on one them since we haven’t got any of the texts or the topic (please, why would we ever get anything in advance) and since our library for all its books, seems to be a void of information. Chile is the world’s second largest salmon producer—apparently they don’t like to write about it. Additionally I am trying to simultaneously plan my trip to Torres del Paine with La Katie and Mary and help my parents (little Spanish spoken) plan the Chile part of our X-mas trip. Let me tell you, I know all about rental cars and ferry systems.

Life here is much the same, though the weather is slowly but surely shaping up. The new pensionista is proving to be a mixed blessing. He plays his music really pretty loud and often quite late, but the music that he plays—good Lord, I have never met such a musically well-read (well-listened?) Chilean. He plays everything from Dido, to bad 80’s music, to Arabic music, to the Amélie soundtrack. It is VERY refreshing after Christian rock and the radio nonstop all day for 4 months.

Oh, right. So, I the boys and I decided that we find out what all this evangelical hype was like and we attended mass last Sunday with my tíos. Two hours and forty-five minutes. It was exhausting to say the least and indescribably intense. There was a lot of love in that room, much of it directed at us, surprisingly. At the end, they do a greeting, much like Catholics do when they shake hands and say “peace be with you.” Well, here in Chile that translates to hugging and kissing ever little old lady (or man, or young man and woman, come to think of it) and saying “que Dios le bendiga” (may God bless you). We, the foreign visitors were the stars of the mass, but I don’t think we took any limelight away from God.

I will probably manage to crank out one last message before I hop a plane to the bottom of the world, so stay tuned.