Lost in Translation...Some mistakes can turn out GREAT!

Last Thursday my 6th grade student, Leo, came up to me and explained that he told his family about his new English teacher from the United States and that they now wanted to meet me and take me on a tour of the campo.  Flattered that one of my students actually liked me enough to go home and tell his family about me, I said yes and asked when they would like to give me the tour.  His face immediately lit up when I said yes and he told me we would go tomorrow.
Tomorrow (Friday) rolls around and I get to school around 12 to meet with all of the teachers to watch a movie about the need for education reform in Latin America (La educación prohibida--- if you speak spanish, you should DEFINITELY watch it).  It was then that my teacher informed me that she had spoken to Leo's mom earlier that day and they were all very excited for me to come spend the weekend at their house in the campo, they had a bed prepared for me and everything!! HUH?! When did I sign up for THIS?

Guess I miss understood him a tad bit...story of my life.

If nothing else, living in Latin America teaches you to just go with the flow.  In fact, the number one qualification for this English Opens Doors program is FLEXIBILITY.  We didn't go one day throughout orientation week without them drilling it into our heads at least 3 times.
SO in light of this "Just go with it" mentality, I said, why not? Let's do it.

So I called up my friends, cancelled my weekend plans and quickly ran back to my house and packed my bag for the weekend.  I didn't give myself much time to think about exactly what I was doing, which is probably for the better.  This was honestly the most spontaneous, scary, leap of faith decision I had made thus far in Chile and looking back on it now, I'm glad I didn't give myself the time to over think it and back out.

So off I went into the campo and off to the home of Leo Peñailillo.  I was greeted by him waiting at the front gate to his country home waving with a big smile spread across his face. His mother, Natia, was in the doorway and gave me a huge hug upon meeting me.  Natia showed me inside and to the bedroom of one of her older children that had moved out.  It's mine for the weekend she told me. I have my own bedroom?!

I spent some time settling in and talking to Natia and Leo as Natia prepared Once.  Once Daniel, her husband and Leo's father (also whom greeted me with a big smile and hug), got home from work we sat down at the table to have a HUGE Once/dinner.  There was homemade bread with her homemade raspberry marmelade, honey, cheese, these sweet bananas she sauteed in a pan with butter and sugar (INCREDIBLE), pancakes, longanisa (chilean chorizo-sausage), and pork.
They were so nice and welcoming to me, the true epitome of "Southern Hospitality".  They told me all about their 4 older children all of which had moved out of the house, showed me a million family photos, asked me a bunch of questions about myself and my family and did everything in their power to make sure I felt comfortable and at home.  We talked for the majority of the night drinking jota (red wine and coke) and beer (no Mom, I did NOT get drunk).
This was all followed by some maté in the evening while Leo tried to teach me how to play Poker.....Then chess.  As if these games weren't hard ENOUGH to learn in English... try learning it in Spanish.... by an 11 year old.  But Kutos to me!! Eventually I got the hang of it!! After Leo crushed me in chess three times in a row, of course.  I never won, but at least I was able to save face by the last game.
Laying down in my cozy bed that night, in my own room with TWO uateros (hot water bottles and/or pouches that you fill with hot water and snuggle with to keep warm at night--amazing by the way) I felt SOOO much at home.  It was a great feeling.

That next morning I was woken up at 7:53 am by one of their roosters cocka-doodle-doing outside right below my window.  Natia served me an amazing breakfast of eggs, longanisa and bread with all of the fixings of the night before.  Then we all piled into Daniel's truck (he's a truck driver and delivers wood to all different parts of the country) and wen't to the next town over so that they could buy a bunch of seafood and shellfish to prepare a special Chilean lunch for me.... yeppp you guessed it, more Mariscal--WINNING!!
On the drive back I sat up front and talked to Daniel about his past.  He was in the Chilean army during the Pinochet dictatorship and actually told me I could ask him WHATEVER I wanted--- needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store.  (For those of your that don't know, a. I'm a MAJOR history dork b. It's veryyyy difficult to get Chileans to talk about the dictatorship and c. I've never met someone who was actually IN the army at the time!!)
As Natia prepared lunch, Leo gave me the grand tour and lowdown of his house:

• They have 7 dogs, 5 of which are newly born PUPPIES!!! (pictures above)
• 4 Cats
• 3 Goose (geese but I don't like to say that cause I think it sounds funny)
• Roosters
• Really friggin happy chickens (which they get all of their eggs from!!!)
• 3 BEE COLONIES where Natia harvests all of her own honey!! ---By the way, I tried this honey and it is absolutely INCREDIBLE.  I've never been able to eat honey by the spoonful... until now.  And she went on to tell me how each year it tastes slightly different based on the type of plants that grow in the area and where the bees collect the nectar.  Apparently last years honey had a slightly minty taste from the Eucalyptus trees in the backyard
• They use 4 different types of eggs in their house: goose eggs (from their own geese), their chicken's eggs (brown), a different type of chicken egg which I never quite got (white), and then Mapuche chicken eggs from the neighbor's house (BLUE!)

Lunch consisted of amazing mariscal filled with muscles, clams, Cochayuyo (a seeweed that grows only in Chile and Southern New Zealand), Piure (some sort of red shellfish thing), erizo (sea urchin!!) and potato.  SOOO yummy!

Joining us for lunch was Natia's brother who came to visit for the weekend as well and their neighbor, an older woman who lives alone... and oh yeah, she's Mapuche!

I barely had time to digest my lunch when Natia started cooking sopaipillas.  And if there is anything the last 3 weeks in Chile have taught me, is that I can NEVER say no to sopaipillas!!  So we all snacked on fried dough dipped in her home harvested honey--heaven-- while Natia and Daniel cooked up a nice big asado and boiled some potatoes.  

To the right, you see the dinner being cooked, there was longanisa, beef, vacuno (baby cow), pork, chicken onions and white wine all roasting on this HUGE, well, I don't know exactly what it was, but Daniel was explaining to me that he welded it himself.  I don't really care what you call it, all thats important is that the meat came out SOOOOOOOO good!!

What a wonderful family they were.  They don't have much, but they certainly don't mind sharing what they DO have, so spending it in order to enjoy life.  A beautiful philosophy in my opinion.

Throughout the course of the weekend, they invited me to spend christmas with them, invited me to their beach house, tried to convince me to dump Preston and marry one of their sons instead, and oh yeah, they told me I was welcome back to their house whenever and as often as I could.  "So, you're going to stay with us every weekend, right?" Daniel repeatedly asked me.  It felt SOOO good to hear that they were enjoying my company as much as I was enjoying theirs.

The next morning was followed by another huge breakfast, but this time, Natia made crepes!! Ahhhh I ate sooooo good that weekend.  The only time I eat so much is at holidays..... but god it was soooo goood! hahaha

Who could have imagined that a weekend at my student's house would turn out so good!  I'm sad to say, that had i fully understood what Leo was inviting me to on Thursday, I probably would have let my "fria gringa" side get the best of me and thought of some dumb excuse not to come.  ---FYI Chileans have an impression that gringos are "fria" or "cold" which very odd behavior to the average chileno (but they're not far off)--- Instead, I'm ever so thankful for the confusion, it was honestly one of the best miscommunications I've ever had!! (And trust me, there's been many!)  It really is true, the best experiences in life are the unexpected, those you don't have time to plan.  They just sort of "happen".  What an incredible family and what a beautiful experience.  I can't wait to go back and see my (second) familia chileana!!!  

Oh, and did I mention they sent me home with 2 jars of honey and a REAL rabbits foot?! (They actually caught the rabbit themselves in their yard hehe)