A Very English Christmas

They astute reader may look at this title and think "I thought Jer was Chile." And if you did, then stop reading my blog - clearly we're not as good of friends as I thought if you fall for such a ridiculous antic and actually question whether or not I am in Chile. Silly reader.

Some say that Christmas only comes around once but here in Chile with Manquehue it not only came twice, but it came disguised in different cultures. Let me paint you a picture with some words - if I used paint as my medium it would look terribly good:

Christmas started on Christmas Eve with a lovely outdoor mass at one of the schools, San Benito. The sun was shining and there was a crisp heat in the air. Typical Christmas Fashion. Mass was presided over by a British Monk which was great because I could understand his Spanish the best out of anyone I have met so far.

At the conclusion of the mass, I was invited to partake in a dinner ceremony with the oblates at the house of the founder. It a very nice, formal dinner that lasted about 5ish hours. I'll try to sum up the highlights.

One - Vodka Tonic. We had a cocktail hour where I was served a vodka tonic. Normally I would opt for the gin and tonic relative but I never pass up an opportunity to have something exotic (first time having vodka down here - it was a nice vodka as well).

Two - Dinner. Most of the dinner was cold, due to it being so warm here. So I had some cold turkey, cold roast beef, hot potatoes, and other nice things. It was really nice. Tomato salad with peppers (I guess both cold and hot). Some very nice wine. And, I was sitting next to one of the British oblates so the conversation was easy.

Three - Dessert. Fruits, some sort of tort thing. Very, very nice. And it included number four.

Four - Coffee. New disclaimer. When I mention coffee on the blog, assume that it is real coffee (what's the point about writing about instant coffee?). I didn't get much (expresso cup for regular coffee), but it was so nice. It got me thinking about purchasing a Moka. I've had real coffee two times down here now, and I would rank this coffee experience as being one of the singles-greatest things I've done in Chile (mostly environmental, but let's let coffee have the day).

Five - Scotch. The night ended with a glass of scotch. Johnnie Red. I'll admit, in the past I have said some harsh words about Johnnie Red. I have a bit of a beef with all the Johnnies, although I've only had Black and Red. Anyways, it can be a delight at times. This was one of those times. Although they served it with ice. And I wanted to be polite, but when the British oblate spooned out his ice, I gave a quiet "Hizzah!" and followed suit.

Six - the priest came to dinner as well and ended the night with an old English ode. It was something out of the hills of Scotland, just beautiful.

A great night had by all. Thank you Chile for making it awesome.