One amazing birthday...

I am now 26!!! Whoooo hoo!!! As with most holidays or big events in Chile, this one made me a little sad at first, but then it only got better and better with each moment.

Jess, Allison and I went to Chiloe for our last trip together since I'm leaving in NINE DAYS! We had been talking about it forever and of course waited until the last minute to plan anything. Literally, we had one trip planned and realized it wasn't going to work and as a back up bought bus tickets to Chiloe, and island in the south, on Tuesday and left on Thursday.

It was a little colder and wetter than we would have hoped for, but all in all it was great. We just relaxed and enjoyed hanging out.

By the water in Castro

Pretty boats

We ate some local seafood.....

It was questionable, since I don't really like that much seafood.

Went to the national park and hiked out to a beach. It was a huge beach that went for miles (not normal for Chile) and we were the only ones there. Other than our two friendly dogs that we met. So we eat lunch and hung out all day at the beach.

Playing who's taller on the beach with Allison...

Stray dogs and old fishing nets on the beach

Shells in the water

Lots of laughter :)

We came back and waited for the bus while drinking hot chocolate in a cafe and playing Tabo.... in Spanish! We were actually pretty good.

The next day we were off for a bus tour on 2 nearby islands. Chiloe, is the name of the big island and there are something like 32 surrounding little islands and a lot of the people only have solar energy and only until 7pm. So it was quite interesting. We saw lots of churches and once again had the local flavor.... it was prepared in a very cool way. Literally, baked in the ground below leaves, but it was just not my cup of tea.

The last day we wandered the city before hopping on a bus to one city and then an overnight bus. We brought wine and cookies to make it more fun. The best part..... they showed Harry Potter as the movie. It was in Spanish, but still awesome.

Classy birthday on the bus.

Today at the hogar my 2 amazing co-volunteers made a carrot cake (part of our healthy eating lessons) with the girls and even got candles for my birthday. So they sang and all gave me big hugs and kisses and almost brought me to tears. One of the girls can't write so she had me write out what she wanted to say in the card and then gave me a heart made out of play dough.

Making the amazing cake

Best laugh in the whole world

Cake with the girls

Sweetest little birthday hug

I could not have asked for a better birthday. I spent the weekend with amazing friends who I've been through so much with in Chile and I could not be more grateful to have them. We laughed so much this weekend and even though the trip didn't work out at all how we planned it was still perfect.

Then today with the girls, I just felt so loved and so blessed. We were having a dance party in the kitchen just jumping around and one of the girls was just laughing her head off. I wish I could bottle up that little laugh and take it with me. They are my family here and I had a wonderful birthday with my amazing friends and Chilean family!

Romy

For those of you who don't know, Romy is my Spanish name here. In September, when I arrived at the hogar the girls were really confused by my name. They had heard of Batman and Robin and of Robinhood, but did not understand why I had a boys name. It was also just too hard for them to say. Some of the tias struggled with it so these little 7 year old girls just could not get a grasp on it.

Then on my second weekend in Chile, I took a day trip to the beach with some other volunteers. We were chatting about the hogar and one of the girls said I think we're going to have to change your name. She works in the VE office now, but had worked at my hogar for over a year so she knew these girls really well and that they were not going to get Robin.

So the serach began for a new name. We tossed out a lot of R names, but couldn't find one that fit. Then we came across a book of names in a local market and found the perfect one..... Romy.

At first, I thought it was a little weird. The only reference I had to Romy was from Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and that girl was an airhead, but oh well! I said let's give it a try.

Almost 8 months later I now catch myself introducing myself to other people as Romy by accident. It sometimes feels like I have two identities.  Robin, the American girl from the South and then Romy, the Chilean girl. It cracks me up on days when I meet people outside of the hogar (where I am strictly Romy) and introduce myself in Spanish as Romy. Or when I meet a Chilean woman who is actually named Romy and say "Oh, that's my name too" and then think, no it's Robin and then they just think I am completely weird.

I even have nicknames with Romy now.... Romes, Rom dawg, Romita.
The little 3 and 5 year old at the hogar call me Tia Lomy because they can't pronouce their r's.
It has become a part of me now.

So this past weekend, when Jess and I were in Valpo, I saw another name book and looked up Romy again. The description is in Spanish and this time I could actually understand what it meant.

Here's what it says:

ROMY

Origin: Latin

Significance: Pilgrim who walks to Rome

Characteristics:  A woman who is imaginative, sensitive and a dreamer. Loves material and spiritual progress. Loves reading and art in general. Is highly intelligent and as a result, takes on lots of various activities. Smiles easily, kind, loving and courteous.

Love: She has idealized love and men, so it is hard to fall in love, but when she does it is forever.

Famous people with the same name:

Romy Schneider (She is a German/Austrian film actress from the 60's..... seriously have no idea why they picked her.)

I've been pretty sentimental about things lately as my time is coming to an end (only 2 more weeks... ahhh!) and the name is no exceptation.

Ciao for now!
Romy

Easter Weekend

At the beginning of this week I was feeling a little down. It's just hard to be away from family on holidays and I didn't think I would care so much this time because not everyone goes home on Easter, but for some reason I was really missing home. I think it was because it had just turned cold here so it actually felt like Thanksgiving or Christmas, not a springy Easter weekend so it actually made me miss all holidays in general!

Luckily, we had a great little Easter weekend planned so it made everything ok.
We had Good Friday off so Jess and I headed off to the beach for one last warm weekend before it really turns cold here.

We went (with half the city of Santiago) to Vina del Mar for a day by the beach on Friday and it was lovely. Sun, sand, good books and a pinic.

Later that night we headed over to Valparaiso, another little beach town in Chile. I had been there once before on my second weekend in Santiago, but only for a few hours and had been wanting to go back to explore more of the city. We got in a checked in to the cutest little B&B up on one of the hills. Valpo is made of a port and then 45 hills that basically come straight up from the sea. So we checked in and then went over to a great little restaurant with views over the port and amazing views of the gorgeous full moon.

Moonlight and twinkling lights over the city.... to bad I couldn't figure out the best setting on my camera.

The next day we were off to explore the ciy. Valpo is known for their artists and bohemian feel through out the town. So we wandered in some of the main hills looking at galleries and wandering around the winding, twisty roads.

One of the coolest things is the open air gallery along the streets where the best artists get to paint murals. I have to say we were looking forward to it so much, with huge murals, but I think we got turned around in the streets and only saw parts of it.

Colorful houses and tile benches lined the streets.



One of the murals with a tree growing out of the wall as well.

More bright houses

Painted stairs and walls

Saturday night, we headed back to Santiago for a little house warming party at a friends house.
Then, Sunday morning we woke up bright and early for sunrise service at the local English speaking church..... only to find out it was at a park 30 minutes away from the church that we showed up to at 8am. Oh well! We went back and slept and came back to church at 10:30.

After church, we tried our best to do a little brunch that of course turned in to a "Chilean" style brunch with french toast, mimosas, fruit and bacon. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Allison and her amazing french toast.

Complete with easter confetti sent over from Jess' mom.

The best part...... at the end of the day I was running in the hills behind our apartment and all of the sudden it started raining!!! It has not rained in Santiago since I got here in September. ALMOST EIGHT MONTHS! I literally couldn't believe it. It only lasted for a few minutes and I'm pretty sure it was only in the hilltops, but it was so perfect! Washing the smog away and showing the beautiful snow covered mountains that you can never see.

Happy Easter to all! He is risen indeed.

horrible, no good, very bad day.

Today was not the best of days. Everything at the hogar was just not going well. Lots of misunderstandings and frustrations all day. I was almost in tears at one point and toward the end of the day. I was sitting in the kitchen helping to prepare once (the pre-dinner snack) and literally mid sentence complaining about everything that had happened when one of the girls came running in saying "Tia Romy, Tia Romy, tengo algo para ti!" (I have something for you). She handed me a card and on the inside it had a huge heart and said the following:

Tia Romy, te quiero mucho con todo mi corazon.
te quiero mucho tia.
de, Suzy

Which translates to.....
Tia Romy, I love you so much with all of my hear.
I love you so much tia.
From, Suzy.

Complete with giant hearts and stars galore.

I almost started crying again, but this time it was a good thing. I picked her up and hugged her forever and told her how she just made my day. The best part was no one even told her to make the card, she just wanted to. She's 7 and is very hot and cold some days with me so it really meant the world to me. She's never been so sweet and loving with me before.

So we hugged some more and I took some pictures with her and the card. That then led to a silly self photo shoot of the two of us making funny faces and then cracking up together after each one.
Needless to say, it turned my day right around.

Field Trip Fridays

Summer has now come to an end here in Chile and school has started back up for the kids. (It's still a million degrees outside though so my summer is still going strong) With the girls back in school, the hogar is changing as well. It was really relaxed during the summer with lazy days and lots of playing outside. While I am excited to see more structure come back with homework time and picking the girls up from school, I am sad to see summer fun go. 

During the summer we would go to the pool every Thursday with all of the girls. I couldn't go most of the time because I have Spanish classes on Thursday, but the few times I did make it we had the best time. It's so fun to watch a kid getting excited about a pool. It's literally the greatest thing in the world to them and they were all so cute in their bathing suits. Everyday Thursday after lunch when they put them on they would run up to us and show off their suits. Even after the 10th time of seeing a 5 year olds little neon green one piece I still wasn't pretending to be excited when she proudly showed it off to me.

The girls sleeping on the bus there... I just thought they looked hilarious.
If you put them on a bus or a car they all fall asleep in 10 minutes.

Cheesin it.

S and I in the pool

Playing in the pool

Tia Bri and I

We also had a field trip of some sorts on Fridays. My favorite one was the trip out of the city for about an hour to a random lake and camp site. Sixteen girls and 4 tias, including Briana and myself, loaded up in a mini van and headed out. We had a pinic by the lake and then everyone swam for hours. It was a perfect day, sometimes their lives are so weird and complicated and that day they were just kids playing at a lake. Smiling, laughing and having fun. It was perfect.

Kayaking in Patagonia

Last week I headed south for what I considered to be an intense camping and kayaking trip. My friend Elisabeth, her boyfriend and 3 of his friends were going to go on a 4 day kayaking trip and invited me to tag along. I had kayaked a lot at home so I said absolutely, I'm in!

One of the reasons this trip was so special, is because it is in one of the most beautifual places in the world.... Patagonia.  The trip had us starting out in the top of the Patagonia mountains and kayaking through canals and rivers that were in the middle of no where. The government is talking about putting a new road in that will connect this area to make it easily accessible, but it will also take away so much of the natural beauty of this place. This is also one of the main reasons they wanted to go, to see everything in it's natural state before the new road will be put in.

Our trip started with an overnight bus ride to Panguipulli, Chile, where Vicente's family has a house and we also needed to pick up his car there. So we got in and showered (for the last time for the next 4 days) and headed even further south. We drove for most of the day and met up with the rest of the group, took a ferry, and then drove for another 3 hours (on dirt roads) to our drop in point in Hornopiern. Talk about remote, we were in the middle of nowhere. It was beautiful.

Sunset on the ferry to Hornopiren

Views of the moutains at dusk

So the next morning we got up and drove another 2 hours to our actual drop in point on the water. Now, if you have ever taken a kayak trip before you know there is not much room in the kayaks for your things. I had never been on a kayak trip and I am a notorious over packer. So we spent a good 2 hours packing the kayaks, repacking and getting it all ready. Finally, after leaving many things behind we were off!

I have kayaked a lot, but normally in a single kayak and this time I was in a double with Elisabeth's boyfriend's room mate, Manuel. He is a super outdoorsey person and really nice, but he doesn't speak much English and my Spanish is ok, but still not the best. So we were in for an adventure in all aspects.

Elisabeth and I getting ready to head out.... it was instense kayaking. we had to wear the kayak skirts.

We kayaked for about 26km that day.... so roughly 16.5 miles. It was amazing, but so hard! We were in the ocean, but in the canals, so we did have land on both sides, but it was still kind of rough waters. It was also raining. My arms were KILLING ME by the end of the day. Parts of my arms were tired that I didn't even know I could use when exercising.

It didn't matter.... it was gorgeous. We were alone in the water, surrounded by huge green lush mountains that shot up out of the water and were covered in waterfalls in every direction. Sea lions and dolphins were swimming and playing all around us.

We arrived at our campsite for the night cold and soaked to the core, but happy to be there. So we hopped in the hot springs to warm up and it was perfect. The campsite was at the end of a little lagoon and it was amazing. It was just our group and 2 guys that "worked" there. The name is Fiordo Quintupeu.... if you want to read about it or practice some spanish you can check it out here.

We were planning on going out again the next day, but the weather was going to be bad so we decided to stay a day and rest and then hope for better weather on the following day. So we slept in late and explored and enjoyed the hot springs a few more times.

On Sunday morning, we got up early and headed out. It was raining again, but it didn't matter. We were going to be wet anyway in the kayaks. So we left the campsite and on our way out saw roughly 200 sea lions all playing on some rocks and swimming in the water. It was incredible.

That day we went about 20km and it was rough. There were some serious swells in the ocean, for a kayak and for some reason I could not find my balance. Manuel was about to kill me because I kept almost flipping us. It was stressful! But, then you looked up and realized where you were and everything was ok again. Our end point that day was a marine research center where we would catch a boat to a ferry to take us back. We had more planned, but the weather was only getting worse and the waters would be getting rougher so we decided to head back early.

(I don't have any pictures from the kayaks because my camera is not waterproof, but Manuel took lots and promised to share so I'll have to update with pics from there at a later day)

So we headed back on a boat with a local fisherman and then to the ferry to get back to our cars. After one more night in Hornopiern, we headed to Panguipulli once again and relaxed for a day before heading back to Santiago.

We passed the biggest waterfall I have ever seen in one of our boat rides.

Elisabeth and I on the fisherman's boat..... I had on a trash bag because my raincoat was soaked to the core.

Another gorgeous waterfall near our ferry pickup.

Rainbows :)

Views from the ferry

It was such an amazing trip. Something that is probably truly a once in a lifetime trip. It was even more special because we were with friends and locals. You can do something similar with a guide (and pay an insane amount of money), but this was special. We stayed in Vicente's house in Panguipulli with his family for 2 nights and it felt so nice to be in a home with a family. (Made me a little homesick.... Mom, don't start crying reading this) Overall, it was just beautiful!