U.S. Bound

Well, like I said, my last week in Chile flew by. I cannot believe my time here has ended. When I was deciding if I should take the trip or not, I remember thinking, "It's only 3 weeks. I can do anything for 3 weeks." Really, 3 three weeks was not enough. Yes, I was ready to be home and sleep in my own bed, but I feel like I should still be there. I always thought being in a different country would feel weird, but it didn't. I felt like I was at home or just in a different state. It was hard to actually think that I was really on a different continent so far away from Louisiana. There is so much more in Chile that I would love to go back and experience one day. The landscape there is incredibly beautiful. Everywhere I looked there was something new that I hadn't seen before. In the last week I visited an adolescent detention center to talk with the kids there (Chile has a strange criminal system, ask me about it one day), planted trees in Talcamavida, experienced a Chilean BBQ cookout, traveled to Talcahuano to buy fish and see the sea lions, went to the Lagoon, and saw where the river meets the ocean.

The LSU group at the Chillan Thermal pools. I talked about visiting
here in my last blog, but this is a great picture. I had to share it!

My host family was wonderful. They are the true definition of "family". I am so thankful that I got to meet them and spend my time in Chile with them. They were more than welcoming, and I cannot thank them enough. 

Left to right: Gala (4, dog), Pablo (19), Mr. Lohen, Me, Ivania (14), Ian (24), and Ms. Carolina

On Tuesday, the LSU group and a class from our school traveled to a tiny (seriously) village called Talcamavida to plant trees with the Coastal Roots program at the local school there. It took us nearly 2 hours to get there. Many of the roads were narrow, hilly, and made of dirt. Every now and then, we would see a house, but there were very few. We were all a little skeptical of where we were and where we were going. I felt like I was on a TV show that travels to unknown places in the world. But, we made it safely to our destination! The school was one room with 11 students total in grades 1st - 6th. Just imagine the school in Little House on the Prairie. It was amazing to see the classroom setup and learn about how their school worked. Chile has recently suffered from forest fires in February and March (remember this is summertime). All of the forest around the school was burned. We planted around 100 trees to help rebuild the environment here. 

On Wednesday, I taught a lesson on Louisiana Blue Dogs to Professor Müller's 7th grade art class. I gave a little back ground info about where the Blue Dog came from and how it became so popular in Louisiana. The students had to then create their own Blue Dog and include things that had meaning

Professor Müller

and purpose to them in the painting. All of the students were very interested and excited to learn about a new culture. The student's paintings will not be finished until after I leave, so be on the lookout for pictures of their work! They were free to put whatever they wanted on their dog.

This student's Blue Dog included a ballerina costume and slippers. 

Professor Müller painted his own Blue Dog.
The dog is wearing a jersey of the Chile
National Football (soccer) Team, a crown to
represent the championship they won in 2015, and includes mountains to symbolize the landscape in Chile. 

The rest of this post will mainly consist of pictures! I have so many and want to share them with you! It is hard to talk about every single one, but I will give a brief description of most of them!

On the way home form the tiny village, we stopped on the side of the road to
take pictures of the river. It was very foggy that day. 

I finally got to see the sea lions! They were actually not as cute as I hope. They were very fat and seemed not to be in a good mood. The one pictured here was definitely the macho man. He posed for the picture!

 

Lauren, Kassie, Carla and I at the farewell teacher dinner. Apparently, I look like a real Chilean. I was mistaken for one several times. It was fine with me! haha

Tuna anyone? This was at the fish market in Talcahuano. This city was flooded by a tsunami caused by the devastating earthquake in 2010. Speaking of, I felt 2 earthquakes while I was there! The biggest was a 5.8, but they don't care about ones under 6.5 there. It was super weird and cool!

These are 2 of my favorite pictures from the Lagoon behind the school. The trees were beautiful!

The next 5 pictures were from my favorite part of the whole trip. This is where the river meets the ocean. There was a storm approaching, so the waves were huge! It was truly like what you see in movies.

Look for the tallest rock! Thats were I climbed to take the next picture! 

Standing on the edge of a cliff with the ocean below!

Well, this wraps up my time in Chile. I will never forget all of the wonderful people that I met and the places that I saw. I am more than thankful that I got to experience this wonderful place. I will truly miss everyone and everything. Ciao! 

P.S. If I kiss you on the cheek when saying goodbye, don't think I'm weird! It's a habit now!

Just for laughs, I thought I should include this picture for everyone to see.  I definitely wasn't  happy  at 4 a.m. Monday morning when we arrived in Miami. It looks like a mugshot. Haha! Sorry for the scare U.S. Customs!