1. Open the gas valve
2. Turn the knob on the califón to a low setting
3. Light a match, push the knob in and light fire to the califón
4. Turn the knob to the maximum setting and you have hot water!
5. After showering, turn everything off. And don't forget to turn off the gas! (This girl is guilty of doing so the first time =/)
One of the program leaders told us that last year there was a student who never knew to ask her family about the califón so she spent the whole two months taking cold showers! That would be incredibly unpleasant in this weather, let me tell you! I recently wrote a friend about the weather here and here's my lengthy description:
"The weather here is definitely dry. We're in a desert, so no rain for me =( But otherwise it's beautiful! In the mornings, it's usually in the low 60s and cloudy. Then around 10:00 AM it warms up to the high 60s and the sun pops out pretty intensely! Even though the temperature isn't very warm, the sun is incredibly intense and it makes it feel like it's super hot - when you're actually in the sun. Buuut...because we're right along the ocean, the wind is great and makes for a perfect mix! Because it's winter, the sun goes down around 5:00 or 6:00 and then it cools down quite a bit; mid 50s to low 60s. That's a bit chilly for me, but I'll take it over a hot day (or night) anytime!"
It's only the beginning of winter, so it will get chillier as time progresses...
I was keeping pretty busy for my first weekend here! Friday night, we had a dinner with all of the host families and get this: we ate pizza! It was Chilean style which basically meant it had different veggies and such for toppings. Then we were also served Pisco Granadilla, which is a mixed drink. Pisco is a hard liquor that is very popular in Chile - so popular, in fact, that Peruvians won't let you bring it into the country because of the tension between the people groups! And Granadilla, passion fruit, is the type of juice it was poured over. So the families were making sure to culture us for our first real outting! As you can imagine, there are a ton of different sabores, flavors, of pisco here. That night we also had cake to celebrate the birthday of one of our Gringas!
In an earlier post I shared more about our first night at a discoteca which was also that same night. I slept most of Saturday morning and our family had breakfast at 11:30 AM! Marcela and I spent several hours conversing in the garden and that was incredible. I can definitely see God's hand in placing me with her because we have so many similarities and often things that she shares with me are right in line with what God has taught me, especially in this last semester of some intense self-discovery!
Probably the greatest point she was sharing with me was about the typical perspective we, as humans, have on dating. Seriously, this is crazy to me that God can use a lady from an entirely different hemisphere to confirm that He is working in my life and teaching me things that can so often be counter to my culture! I don't even know how we got onto the topic, but Marcela explained that usually what happens is we make a mental list of what we expect in a partner. Guilty. Then anytime we meet someone or get to know them, we decide whether or not we can spend the rest of our life, doing life together with that person depending on our list. Again, guilty. Instead of helping us, this hinders us from getting to know the person and learning how we interact with them. We become so consumed with our list that we forget to pay attention to what's happening within us! So it's more a matter of the mind than of the heart.
This limits us in both areas, though. If a person doesn't match our list and we write them off we may be missing out on someone we connect with. And in the other case, just because someone matches every aspect of that list we've made, it doesn't mean that you're going to connect with them on a heart level. The way Marcela described this is that the only true important thing is that someone who is able to be your partner for life must be on the same "frequency" with you. You need to understand the way the other thinks and live with a similar motive in life. You need to connect in the way you think, and not simply in the activities you do/don't do. You could have so much fun passing time with a friend who enjoys all the same things you do, but if your ideas about the big pictures of life aren't on the same frequency, all you can have is a good friendship or shallow physical attraction. And again, you may connect very well with someone on a heart level, sharing many of the same world views and desires for valuable living. But if their specific lifestyle details and hobbies or interests don't quite match your list, you become very quick to question if this is actually good. If this is the case, you're depending solely on your mind.
Isn't it funny? I seem to remember someone once saying that we need to love with all of our heart and all of our mind. Both. Not separate. Oh! And wasn't that Jesus talking about the most perfect love relationship that exists? That between Him and His Father? And that which He encourages us to have with the Father? What a beautiful picture and example (Matthew 22:37)! One that we seem to forget so often and separate from our human relationships which were created to reflect the love between Christ and the Father; Christ and His Bride. That list becomes a veil that prevents us from loving others - you can apply this to all relationships, not just partnerships.
Now imagine all of that conversation happening in broken Spanish! Phew! It was quite the afternoon to be sure, and that was only part of it =) But so great!
Saturday night the gringas had a party with our primos (the word in Spanish means "cousins," but we are using it for our conversation partners). My prima still hadn't shown up by that night, so I was a bit disappointed for some time. As it turns out, my prima left the English program at the university, so I was prima-less. Buuut...to my joy, I was given a new primo whose name is Ruben! We were able to spend quite some time talking and it was so great because I would talk to him in Spanish and then he would respond in English. This will be great for both of us to practice this summer =)
At the party, we ate hot dogs - two nights in a row of what seemed to be American food! But una completo chileno is quite a bit different. Instead of our usual toppings, a completo chileno has avocado, tomatoes and mayonnaise on top! I wouldn't say they're my favorite, but I do like them more than the ones I'm used to!
On Sunday, we went on a mini excursion in the city of Arica for the morning, which last until about 2:00 PM here. We got to see el Morro, las playas corazones, el catedral Colón y one other beach on the Pacific! What beautiful places! There are pictures on Facebook, but I'm still working on figuring out this blog dealio...
I didn't make it to church yesterday because my family doesn't attend, but I'm hoping to find a place for next weekend! It's a little difficult to figure out this church thing in a completely different culture with a different language and all!
Today we had a short orientation at the university where we will be studying and then hit the beach for most of the afternoon. And tomorrow begins my first official day! But it starts at 8:00 AM - this will be something else as I've been getting used to late nights and late mornings! Interesting fact that they don't teach you in Spanish class: in Latin cultures, even though they are very relaxed with their time and schedules, they are very punctual for school and work. I will experience this one first hand tomorrow! I'm looking forward to the new adventure =)
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