my favorite thing

My favorite thing about being here in Chile is that I get to be with these people everyday with very few distractions. Sometimes it's nice to be in a smaller home, in a country where you hardly know anybody. You pack the basics and leave a lot of the overload of who-knows-what-crapola boxed up at home. Life gets simpler and your days are filled with things that matter most. It's nice. Really nice.

And despite the fact that there have been some challenging things... like dealing with cranky children, and really hot weather (with no AC), and feeling like an idiot when my neighbor tries to talk to me in the hallway and i'm ALL ALONE without Steve's assistance... (yeah picture that image real good in your head right now)...

it's all good.

i have these peeps pictured above in my life and for that i am a really lucky woman.

the weekend

we took it pretty easy this weekend. stuck close to home and did nothing too out of the ordinary as we're trying to get the kids adjusted here. we cleaned our apartment and did a lot of laundry. we played in the pool and made some yummy meals made complete with fresh bread and fruit. The cantaloupe here is the bomb-diggity.

We got dressed and went to church. Met some more people. 

Made smoothies. This one being peach, blueberry, banana, strawberry (and ice, bioculture, spinach and carrot). 

Went on a Sunday walk and took some pictures. I'll share some more in a separate post.  

One of my favorites from that day

And  there you have it. Hope your weekend was a good one!

five tidbits for your friday

just a photo of my loves at the pool

1. Steve didn't try out yesterday. Long story short: our contact that is helping him get set up with these teams called and said the coach wants him to come next week instead of this week. A little frustrating... but trying to be patient. I'll keep you posted the more I know.

2. They sell these cookies all over Chile called Alfajores. They are a soft cookie with manjar (dulce de leche) in the middle. Then the cookie is usually covered in milk chocolate but you can get all varieties. I bought some today to try them out and they were pretty delicious. Steve said you can buy them in Provo at the store by the hospital called Many Lands (or something like that?), incase you wanted to know. 

3. Jayne is starting to pick up on a couple Spanish words. We've been working on "gracias" and "por favor" and she is already getting pretty good at saying them without our help. Like today, when the concierge unlocked our building door for us, without skipping a beat she says "gracias!" all by herself. It is pretty cute. 

4. I went to a Relief Society activity yesterday at the church. We had a lesson on eating healthy (all in Spanish... so yeah, I don't really know what was said but I could probably guess) and then we ate ice cream afterwards. It made me laugh a little inside, but I sure didn't complain!  We also played a few fun games with some balloons. I met a couple other Americans, so it was nice having some people to talk to. Once again, I was reminded at how frustrating it is to not speak the language here. I hate that I have to segregate myself with other Americans,  I wish I could just sit and talk to everyone comfortably. Any way, just me venting a little. I realize it's up to me to do something about it. 

5. We've been itching to go and explore the city. Where we live is really beautiful, but it's not really 'typical' Chile. I figure if you're gonna live so far away in another country, then you've gotta really see the country you're living in while you're there, you know what I mean? We're gonna try and plan a day to go explore next week. I'm looking forward to it. 

That is all. Have a great weekend!

transition

 I think this move of ours rocked these two a little more than we realized. 

Since upon arriving here, Jayne has:

- asked for her "other home"

- asked for "grandma's house"

- says "I miss my home"

- says "I miss my room"

- got sad when she saw her room over videochat with my sister

- started crying when she saw her Grandma and Aunt Lauren over videochat. 

- has had major meltdowns and tantrums every day over little silly things

Vinny has:

- become insanely more clingy and wants to be held by me all.day.long, no exaggeration

- cries and screams a lot more than he ever used to.

It is easy for me to forget that a move like this could affect them, even as young as they are. Jayne couldn't have been any more clear that she was having a hard time, and yet we still didn't see it. In fact, it didn't dawn on either one of us that their unusual behavior had anything to do with the move, until I had a good long chat with a close friend of mine the other day who finally clued me in (and who had been through it all just before me). I was explaining to her about all the things they'd been doing, and telling her that I thought maybe they were feeling cooped up in a tiny apartment, having come from a larger home. While that may be a small part of it, it was definitely not the bigger reason. My kids are adjusting to a big move, and it's taking a toll on them. 

So, these next couple weeks are going to be concentrated on them and bringing some predictability and familiarity into their lives.  We're going to focus more on schedule and routine so that they can trust their new home and start to feel more comfortable and happy here. 

And to think we were about to start potty training today... what were we thinking?!

Any other tips and/or recommendations you might have with small children and big moves would be greatly appreciated. Send them our way!

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P.S. Check out our sweet grocery store below...

wanna go grocery shopping with me?

Like I've said before, little man loves the sunglasses

I thought it might be fun to show you guys where we grocery shop. Random, maybe, but we go there every day and the food is one thing that takes adjustment to when moving to a new country, so I figured I'd share. 

When we were in Denmark, one of the biggest things I had to learn to adjust to was the grocery store. There, they are significantly smaller and for the most part, they only carry the basics. You won't go finding little things like semi-sweet chocolate chips, thai curry paste, or green enchilada sauce. They carry the usual staples you'd think of (with the exception of stuff to make sushi- they love their sushi), and then they only carry 1 (maybe two) brands of that item. Also, food there was outrageously expensive, so every shop at the grocery store was a little depressing. This was very different from the states where you can get an array of different brands for several different items, and you can find pretty much anything you need for a recipe at the grocery store.

In Chile, it's a whole other story. The grocery stores are huge!  They have significantly more brands of one item than the states. For example, while you may have 1 or 2 large refrigerators full of a few brands of milk in the states, Chile has an entire aisle filled with various brands. While you may find a small section of butter in the dairy aisle, Chile has an entire aisle devoted to butter. Your grocery store might have 2 or 3 different brands of olive oil on one shelf in the baking section. Chile has an entire aisle shelved from top to bottom of, you guessed it, just olive oil. Various brands. Catch my drift?  At first it can seem a little confusing. When we went for my first time and walked down the milk aisle I asked Steve "So... which one is the milk we would drink?" to which he says "All of it. Just pick one." It's almost a little overwhelming trying to decide from so many options of all the same thing. 

At the same time though, you won't find the little things you might need in a recipe.... like baking soda (which I have yet to find). I'm sure they have something like it but I haven't figured that one out yet. That isn't to say the states trumps them all. I am sure people from other countries, who come to live in the states, fail to find items they typically use in their country. So it's just the way it is, and it's all good. 

As far as pricing, Steve seems to think it's slightly more expensive then the US (but nothing like Denmark), but I feel like it's pretty closely the same. 

My favorite part of the grocery store is the bread section. They bake the most amazing bread daily for customers. It is fresh, it is different, it is delicious. It goes without saying (but I'll say it any way) we've been eating a lot of bread since we've been here. They also carry packaged name brand bread as well. 

The left side of the milk aisle. 

The right side of the milk aisle. Yes, all milk comes in small cartons. Makes it much easier for storing, and fitting in your fridge when using. 

Tons, and I mean TONS of produce. 

 MORE produce.

This is where you get your eggs. I think we are one of the few countries that refrigerate our eggs. 

Oh yeah, even more, fresh produce. I love it!

That massive amount of yellow there, that would be your butter section... and it goes even further on the other side. 

The yogurt aisle... from beginning to end. I will say, I love this too. I love me some good yogurt. They have this greek yogurt that comes with all different additions- coconut, papaya, mango, etc. I haven't seen it in the states but I'm curious if they sell it there. It is amazing. 

Check out lanes. They have this place set up so you can't even leave without checking out your food. Well, I take that back, there is a small place at the far end where you could leave if you didn't buy anything, but it's guarded- not that we'd be sneaking anything out by any means, but just to show how it's different. Things here are much more protected. Denmark grocery stores were the same way. It's a tad annoying though because the lanes are SO narrow and close together that we can't fit our stroller through. So each time we go, one of us has to wheel the stroller to the opposite end while the other checks out, and then we meet at the exit. Not a big deal, but just how it is. 

The entrance/exit to the store

Wasn't that fun?

Good Luck Steve!

Steve, making me laugh out loud with this fake smile for the camera. It almost looks real! 

Steve will have his first day training/trying out with a team here tomorrow. We are very excited and praying that they will like his ability and ask him to play for them. He's worked so hard for this!  If he doesn't make the team, there is another team he will try out for, but it is farther away from where we live, and therefore, it is not as ideal. This one is just down the street so it's perfect.  If he doesn't make any team, all will not be lost. Steve will help coach youth teams here which will be a lot of fun and give him the experience he needs for what he plans to do in the future. So we are hopeful, regardless of what happens. 

Good luck babe! I know you'll do awesome!

gelato

I like to stick with chocolate. So good. Carlos mooched off me the entire time.

Meet Carlos

 and the mexican handlebar mustache.

Pink ice cream, forever and always

lots of good sharing...

for family home evening we went out for some delicious gelato. there are many places around here that serve gelato- a good thing and a bad thing. as in, good for my taste buds and bad for my self control. but it's just sooo good!  i figure i can limit myself to the occasional family home evening treat.

and walking there and back evens it all out, i suppose.