Well, after catching up on some of my fellow blog writers and their adventures in what they are doing, I became a little embarrassed about my bland explanations on the going-ons in Chile. Apologies. Here, I’ll try to make up for some of that.
I am living with the Manquehue community here in Santiago. It’s not a monastery but a Benedictine community of oblates that live in houses together. There is some difficulty in drawing out the boundaries of the community – it’s not as though we have monastic grounds such as at St. John’s. I believe there are three houses in which the oblates live (possibly more). I live in a nice pink house just north of Santiago with six men of the community, plus Andrew. It’s a two story, with the upstairs having a slight similarity to my house in Homaha: big room with bathroom, hallway, hallway bathroom, two rooms at end of hallway (not three as in Homaha). The rooms are pretty basic: bed, dresser, closet, nightstand. The closet and nightstand are shared – luckily neither Andrew nor I are bothered with the lamp being on if we’re trying to sleep so we don’t have to stay in sync.
Downstairs is complete with a common area, kitchen, dining room, office, and prayer room. We only have one access point to the internet so I’m getting better at loading a bunch of websites and then reading them later – there’s a newspaper here daily but I prefer the English variety.
It is an odd time to arrive in Chile because they are in the midst of preparing for their bicentennial as a country (September 18th). The first week here was spent touring the schools and participating in celebratory events and this next week we have off as everyone is celebrating independence. Today was my first experience at a Chilean barbecue (not for independence, but for two birthdays) where, unbeknownst to me at the time, I help assist in procuring the beer on Wednesday. The party was very nice and I already have several nicknames lovingly given to my be my Chilean friends such as “machinera” (don’t know why), “Senora Gaga” (do know why), and “Ah…si” (also know why). We had a good time and they served a delicious drink mixing white wine and mango. It was a fancy wop, much fancier than American wops anyway. On that note, today I helped explain what shot-gunning a beer meant to one of the oblates (no worries, I didn’t give an example).
So far, our weekdays have been ones of waking up around 6:00, taking turns in the shower (there’s eight of us and 2 showers so we go in 10 minute shifts), going to school at 7:00, working/touring/visiting with the school all day, coming home, free time, eating, compline, bed. Lunches and dinners are later here, one dinner not happening until 11:00pm!
Some highlights:
Got to witness a new member of the community make his oblate vows (pretty cool) and met briefly with the founder of the movement.
Joined the school team that ended up winning the house cup (it was very Harry Potter-esque).
Understanding when someone asks if I understand so I don’t simply stare and say “si” because usually it’s no.
Going on a four hour beer run for the birthday party and getting the nickname “Senora Gaga”
There are, of course, many other things that I could write about, but it’s hard to describe the community with only a week under my belt. The guys I live with are really nice and have done a great job making Andrew and I feel welcome. One has a very good Texas chainsaw impression (inside joke suckas!).
To some degree, it still feels as though I am simply going on a service trip and I don’t think that it has sunk in that I am here for nine months. We’re still feeling/treated like guests here so I would say it’s still the “Honeymoon” phase of the experience. Maybe next big update will be in a month or two to see how it has really sunk in.
I hope all is well with you (yes, I’m speaking to you directly). Despite my earlier claims, I am doing a bit of emailing so drop me a line if you are so inclined. I don’t have any envelopes or stamps yet, but I have three letters sitting on my nightstand so sorry to those who will receive them embarrassingly late. A Dios!
Take Care,
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