One answer - Pipo

I mentioned in a post last week that we have been praying about whether Caleb will get to go to jardin (preschool) this month, as all the schools we asked in were full already.  It was seeming to be a closed door for some reason, but now it appears the door is back open.  On Thursday I received a phone call from Pipo (the preschool we were hoping to send Caleb to) telling me that two kids aren't going to come, so there is now space for Caleb!  I was very excited, and when I got off the phone and told Caleb what they said and that he was going to get to go to Pipo, he got a big smile on his face.

We are hoping that his enthusiasm for going to school makes for a really good experience for him.  The days that he spent at Pipo in January were only two weeks into our time here, and now that he has had more time to adjust, and pick up on a bit more language, hopefully he will be comfortable and have fun learning with the Chilean children!  He will start this Monday morning, so please keep him in your prayers... pray for restful sleep for him leading up to and during the month, pray that he learns a lot being immersed in the language, and pray for him to be so busy having fun that he doesn't think about and miss mommy!

Update to come soon on how it goes...

Grapes in Los Andes

Jimmy had to drive North a couple of weeks ago to check out some grapes near a town called Los Andes.  Looks beautiful there, though not too different from something you might see in California!  Our worlds are not as different as we imagine they might be...

Caleb + Bedtime = Exhaustion

(He climbed out of bed and over to this ottoman and was completely asleep like this)

Bedtime has always been challenging with Caleb, but these past few weeks have been harder than usual, and it is really wearing me out.  Caleb used to go down pretty easily at naptime, and bedtime was the hard one, but these days he rarely goes down for either without a huge production and tantrum.

A lot of factors are possibly playing into his behavior... new place, away from friends and family, without pacifier, later bedtime, and just so much change in general wearing on him.  We would appreciate your prayer for him and us in this, and for lots of extra love and patience until we get home and hopefully back to a better sleep time routine!

Chile returns to 'normal' in March

It's March, which in the Northern Hemisphere would be the equivalent of September, and means that most people have returned from their vacations, are back to work. and schools are getting started this week.  Everyone is returning to their routines, and there is a very noticeable difference in the volume of traffic and people everywhere you go.  Jimmy's work commute (which is still nothing compared to what he has while we are in Lodi) has gone from 20 minutes to about 30, and a friend told me today that she heard commute times on average will increase by forty percent in the month of March!  It takes a lot longer to get anywhere, which also means that if we take any taxis, they will be more expensive. :(

A Chilean school bus!
Amazing how small they are... Shows you that not many kids require bus services - most either walk or get dropped off.

The weather is also starting to change noticeably, and it started the day that March began.  It is much cooler at night and in the mornings, and we have actually started to close the windows at night - the first time they have been closed since January!  The cool weather is also causing the smog to compact, making it much more visible around the city.  Glad we got some good pictures of the mountains and city around us before this heavy smog started!

We are also noticing a lot more people, and some new faces that we haven't yet met, around our building and in the backyard playing.

On the right is my friend Mariel (from Buenos Aires), and her daughter in the pink, Mikaela (20 months).  Mariel is 37 weeks pregnant and having the baby boy this week... please pray for her and their family!

We're not sure if Caleb will end up getting to go back to Pipo this month (the preschool he went to in January for a week)...  We are having a hard time getting him a spot for the AM group, even at several other schools that we checked out, so we're praying about it and wondering if God is closing that door for a reason... We shall see...

Tourists for an hour in Plaza de Armas

This afternoon we were trying to decide what to do, and were feeling tired of going to the backyard and the parks to play, so we decided to take a quick visit down to the center of Santiago to see Plaza de Armas, the main square and touristy center of town which we hadn't yet seen in the 8 weeks we have been here.

It was certainly crowded, but nice to see the downtown area.  Due to the Spanish colonization, the architecture of some of the larger buildings is much more similar to that in Spain than the area where we live in Santiago, so it was also pleasantly familiar :).

El Catedral de Santiago.  Interesting contrast with the tall , modern building next to it.

 

Inside the cathedral

Central post office.  A big, stately building, just like in Madrid.

Clock tower on the Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum) in Plaza de Armas

I loved how the plaza has these back-to-back benches along two sides of the plaza - plenty of space to sit, relax, and do some people watching (which we of course didn't do, with two toddlers!)...

...Instead we stopped for a quick treat... This McD's has its own walk-up window just for ice cream! 

Quinta Normal and the Train Museum (Museo Ferroviario)

On Sunday we went to a park called Quinta Normal in another part of the city.  It is similar to Golden Gate Park (San Francisco) or Parque Retiro (Madrid) with grassy areas, wide promenades, a small manmade lake with paddle boats, and several museums within its gates.  It also had this guy with a real Llama!  (Anything to make money, right?)  We tried putting the boys on it for a picture, but they weren't into it. 

We came to the park mainly for an open-air train museum that Matt and Jessica told us about.  It has sixteen retired steam engines, among other trains, some of which you could climb on or inside of. 

This train had a pit you could go into to see the underside of the steam engine.  Not something you get to do every day!

Pulling the handle that rings the train's bell...

 I thought it was pretty cool that they have the same kind of old passenger cars as the ones in the Polar Express movie.  Of course Caleb loved that!

Inside the old passenger cars

Landon pressing his nose against the window and Caleb the thinker...

Hands-on learning

Landon looks very focused on trying to turn the wheel in this picture, but he was actually smiling and very excited to play with it, though the picture snapped and just the wrong time to capture that.

Grabbed a choripan after the museum
(instead of a hot dog it is a chorizo sausage - yummy!)

On our way home we were walking past the fire station in our neighborhood and were so excited and lucky to see that they had the engine and the hoses out for cleaning!  This was a treat, and rather rare, as people don't just go visit a fire station and get to sit inside of a fire truck like we sometimes do at home.  I don't think the idea would even occur to a Chilean to do such a thing.  Interesting fact: Being a firefighter in Chile - small city or large metropolis like Santiago - is 100% volunteer work.  That's right, they don't get paid a dime, yet they do it as full time jobs.  Pretty amazing. 

This engine is a brand new one that they just recently got - from the United States.  Not sure why they put British and Commonwealth Fire and Rescue Co....

Our friends, Matt, Jessica, and Evan.

Maitencillo - A second visit

We had Guillermo's car for a second weekend and decided to make another trip to Maitencillo for some beach time, this time without any friends - just us and the boys.

There is a section of the drive where there are a bunch of fruit and veggie stands along the side of the freeway.  I love how all the different colored fruits and vegetables look in the bags.  And I didn't notice until looking through pictures to do this post because I didn't know what it was ten days ago, but there is a sign that says "Charqui"... Jimmy learned at lunch with Chilean co-workers last week that it is a type of jerky made from horse meat (an extremely dry version of jerky, similar to Mexican jerky texture).  Yes, he tried some, and said it reminded him of the Mexican jerky.  They served it as a salad with chopped onions and olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and herbs.

I'm sure there is a name for this in the weather world, but it looked really cool... clouds flowing over the mountain like lava...

We packed pbj sandwiches and snacks and were able to have a bit more time on the beach than last time, though with two young kids that are still getting used to the ocean, and the strong Chilean sun, we could only be out there for about an hour and a half before needing some shade.  We headed over to a little restaurant along the beach promenade and had some snacks.

Spent more time playing on beach with boys and less time snapping pictures this trip, so we only have a few cute ones from the restaurant...

Landon and Caleb being silly back and forth with the place mats:

Caleb's widow's peak of sand (happened this way on its own)

People in this country like to order juices, and many restaurants serve several flavors.  We had no idea that they would serve one this big, especially for a kid!!  

Though he could barely reach without tipping the glass, you can guess that he certainly did enjoy it!

Out and about last week

Wearing mommy's tall wedge shoes

Wild hairs, pre-haircut

Drying bed sheets make great forts!

On Friday I thought it would be fun to walk to a little bakery nearby and get a special treat.  There is one that I have been wanting to try that is only a block away, so we went out exploring the neighborhood in some of the streets we haven't yet seen just to extend the outing a bit.  Well it turned out the bakery I wanted to go to was closed - perhaps for vacation I'm guessing, since it is still February and many people here go on vacation then.  As we were walking to a Plan B bakery, Landon fell asleep in the stroller in what looked like a very uncomfortable position...

Totally asleep, with his head hanging forward

We ended up going to the same bakery where we got Jimmy's birthday cake, Dulceria Las Bezanilla, for our treats...

Remember the cuchufli, the sweets that look like cigars?  Well they also make chocolate covered versions at some places (including Starbucks, which I noticed when I went there for the first time on Sunday)

If you know Caleb and Landon, you know that they love watching all the heavy machinery involved in any sort of construction.  Normally when we are in Lodi we will go sit and watch construction projects and bring lunch or a snack with us - Grape Bowl, Hutchins Street, etc.  When we were walking home from the fruit and veggie stand we saw a big truck backing in to deliver pallets of cement tiles, and the truck had a big crane lift on the back of it.  We slipped into the gate to watch as they unloaded the pallets.   The two delivery guys got a kick out of it when I told them we were just hanging out for the kids to watch the truck.  I think we made their day.

On street near our apartment they close down several blocks to cars every Sunday from 9-2pm to encourage people to get exercise (something that Chile is making a big effort all around the city for, since weight is a problem here).  People run, ride bikes, walk, skateboard and skate.  We decided to take a walk and bring a ball to play with to enjoy it too.

You might recognize this from the skyline views from our apartment.  It is still under construction, but will be the tallest building in South America, at least for a few years... word has it Brazil is trying to one-up them...

Kind of unusual to see cowboys riding horses down the sidewalk in the city... The one on the left has a traditional huaso hat on.  Huasos are the Chilean cowboys.

Jimmy drove us by the office that he works in while we had a car last weekend.  He works on the sixth floor of the taller building.