ok, it´s always good to get the bad news over with first, right? well, i was walking home from the metro station today after a long, fun day of hiking in la campana parque nacional when i looked in my backpack to find my keys and realized that my cell phone wasn´t in the pocket were i always put it. i decided not to worry about it, because there was nothing i could do standing on the sidewalk outside my appartment, so i went ahead and went in and got a shower. afterwards i thoroughly looked through my backpack and sure enough-no cell phone. so at this point there were too posibilities. a) i forgot it on the metro and one of my friends had it, b) i was robbed as i was walking home, which was quite possible because i noticed my zipper was unzipped when i looked for my keys and i never leave my zipper unzipped. so i decided to mention to my mama chilena and my sister that i´d lost my phone, so they decide to call it. sure enough, so random chilean guy answers. daní tells him that he´s got my phone and he insists that it´s his mom´s so she hangs up. we then confirm that we sure enough had called my number so we call back and a lady picks up and says she´d just bought a new chip for her phone-my chip (which is like a SIM card). so apparently this is what happened. i was talking back from the metro with my backpack on my back. i´ve been told a million times to watch my stuff when i´m walking places because petty theft is very common here, but i thought that because it was the middle of the day and i was in well populated areas and being very allert of my surrounds that i´d be fine. plus i thought that i´d surely notice if someone were lurking behind me or that i´d feel someone tugging on my zipper to open it. well i didn´t. someone got in my bag and took my cell phone without me having the slightest inclination. and i really wasn´t walking with my head in the clouds, i sware! then what happens is these thiefs take the phones, take out the chips and sell both the chips and the phones and they get more money. so some lady, less than two hours after my phone was stollen, had already bought my chip and was using it. crazy, huh? and the worst part is that people buy this stuff, knowing full well that it´s stollen goods. people wouldn´t steal if other people wouldn´t buy. ugh! i think my brother calls the people that do this ¨flietes¨ or something like that, and it´s really a shame because this small group of people give chileans a bad name because they have made these acts of theivery so common that you almost expect to be robbed. well i´ve been robbed. hopefully that´ll be the one and only time. i´m a little more educated now and i know how to be more carefull....
now, i want to be optimistic. sometimes i use my blog as an outlet to blow off some steam when i get frustrated (as i did below), but i want all my readers to know that aside from the at times negative things i discuss here, there are a bazillion wonderful things happening that sometimes go left unsaid. so here´s a list of some of the wonderful blessings thus far. and let me say that the blessings far outway the frustrations and dificulties. sometimes i forget that and let myself get weighed down, but that´s not the reality of the situation. ok, here are the things i have to be thankful for (yeah, i know it´s not thanksgiving, but we need to make lists of these things all year around!):
- my amazing family. i couldn´t possibly ask for a better family. and that´s the complete truth. i love every single one of them and i´ve been blessed with some really great bonding time with every one of them. they daily bless my life. my brothers and sisters have become my best friends. they´ve been willing to share with me their friends, their spare time, and are always willing to help me with my school work. i could go on for days about all the fun things, both little and big that we´ve all done together ranging from watching hours of 24 with seba to translating song lyrics with felipe to long conversations with my mom over tea to trips to the beach with daní and dancing and tickle fights with maría jesús. they are truly a gift from the Lord.
- las pololas de mi hermanos (the girlfriends of my brothers). both cata and eva have helped me feel so incredibly welcome here and have been wonderful friends to me. eva´s in santiago now so i don´t get to see her very much, but i get to see cata quite a bit and she´s quickly becoming one of my closest and most charished friends here. both girls speak english quite beautifully so when i just can´t express myself in spanish i can use english, so my feelings and emotions don´t get so lost in translation when i´m with them. cata´s also become a friend who will hold me accountable and tell me when i´m being dumb and need to snap out of it, something that i need dearly and am SO thankful for.
- american friends as well. i´m starting to develope some really great american friends too that i can hang out with and talk to about the things only we gringos/extranjeros understand.
- classes where i can learn. some of my classes are hard, but i know that i´m going to come away from this knowing so much more spanish. the teachers are very knowledgable about what they teach and also eager to help.
- a church to go to with a body of believers and opportunities to make chilean friends. sometimes the church overwhelms be because it´s just so much spanish, but all of the people have been so welcoming and understanding of my igorance at times.
- family and friends at home who love and care about me. i´m so thankful for the people that leave comments, send faceboom messages, write e-mails, answer cell phones, talk on skype, whatever because i really do miss you all and i can´t tell you how much it brightens my day to know how life back home is going.
- a beautiful country full of new people, new opportunities, new places, and new adventures.
- being surrounded by the beauty of God´s creation. from the beautiful beaches and seemingly infinite expances of the pacific ocean, so the excentric beauty of valparaíso, and the tropic more distant beauty of the surrounding towns in chile, i´ve really been in awe of God´s creation as i´ve been here.
- the fact that even when i feel most alone and most lost, i know that the Lord is with me. yeah, it may sound cliché, but that is really something to be thankful for. i have purpose in Him in all that i do here. that makes the day to day worth it. makes everything worth it.
- and so much more, but i´m getting tired...
No comments:
Post a Comment