On Sunday, my host family took me the beach. I never imaged visiting a family friends camp and spending the day there. I had never seen or touched the Pacific Ocean and this was such a beautiful sight. After visiting the beach, we had a huge Chilean BBQ with steak, sausage, and my favorite Pebre.
On Monday, we visited a jail for kids between the ages of 14-18. These kids lived in little group houses and I was assigned to the all girls house. I was nervous at first to meet the girls, but I ended up having an amazing time. We brought cookies, chips, and candy to the houses and ate and talked with them. We talked about boys, makeup, and hair. The girls were so kind and great to talk with.
On Tuesday, I woke up feeling home sick. I'm not sure why it took me nearly 4 weeks to feel homesick, but it hit me. I was in a drag until we arrived to another city. We visited a school in T_____. This town was heavily impacted by the forest fires in Chile earlier this year. This school consists of one classroom and teaches kids from grades 0-6 and only had 9 students. Here I met a boy, Mateo. Mateo only spoke Spanish, but somehow we managed to team up and plant a few trees. He called me "Tia" meaning aunt and he was so happy we were visiting their school. After our planting of the trees, I felt back to normal. It's almost as if my host family knew I was feeling a little homesick because that night we feasted on papa johns pizza, that just the part of North America I was missing, the food.
On Wednesday, my teacher Carlos took a few others and I on a "field trip." Notice the word is in quotations because we skipped our classes to travel around Concepcion. Carlos showed us the most beautiful parts of Concepcion. He took us to where the Bio Bio River meets the Pacific Ocean. Here the sand is made from volcanic ash and I have never experienced something so beautiful. After, he took us to 2 other beaches just to admire the beauty of Chile. I was truly thankful for this trip because it was almost as if time had stopped and I was just in a picturesque scene.
During the night, we met up with our teachers to have a goodbye dinner. These teachers at this school are by far the best people to have teaching your children. The teachers have huge hearts and function as a big family. Here we had another BBQ. I had a blast at dinner, even though only half of our table spoke English. I learned that it doesn't matter the language you speak, there's always a way for communication. Even though most of the teachers I spent my time with did not speak my language, I still had an amazing experience with them and found a new appreciation for different languages.
On Thursday, it was getting real, this was my last week in Chile. What a day this was. We left school at 11am and had a going away fiesta. Here we played karaoke, learned traditional Chilean dances, and ate tons of red meat. By the end of this feast,
I couldn't even look at food anymore. Around 4pm we headed to school to watch an English song festival. This was so much fun and it was amazing seeing such young people master not only singing but singing in a different language. After, we had a surprise planned for our families. We presented to them a handwritten letter and a photograph of ourselves as a big family. The moment was so surreal and it all hit me that I will soon move away from their home.
Friday, the last day of school was basically just me wondering around the school the entire day. I also went on another field trip to a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities. I absolutely fell in love with the center and wanted so badly to work in an environment just like this one, where patients don't pay for their care.
Now it is time for me to start packing my bags and rolling all my clothes in the hope that my suitcase would be 50 pounds. I feel happy to see my friends and family but also sad because I may not ever see most of the wonderful Chilean people I met again.
After a weekend full of barbecues and pisco sours, it was time to head to the airport. It really didn't hit me until the security gate opened up and I had to say goodbye. I don't think a goodbye has ever been so hard. How crazy was it that this family had never met me 3 weeks ago and now I was part of their family. I can't wait to see them again and I know I always have a home in Chile. 
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