Eats and Treats

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On Thursdays, I don't have any classes in the afternoon, so I took a nice long much needed siesta. After that I was ready to prepare dinner for the family and guests. We've been talking about me preparing something, and Francisca suggested I do it on the day we had 2 guests to sample it too. I needed a couple things at the grocery store first though so I gladly spent a little time there. It's seemingly never busy! I did go at a later hour though today and as a result, I ran into several students. One of them was picking up a shift of bagging groceries. The highlight of my trip however was walking down the aisles singing and dancing to my favorite Latino pop star, Juanes, sing over the speakers. I tried to keep the volume and motion to a minimum.

On the way home, I encountered yet some more students who asked me about Maria Gloria. She took a pretty nasty fall this week on our way walking to school. The sidewalks are an absolute disaster waiting to happen - crumbling and sandy, and a disaster it was on Wednesday morning. I immediately thought, "what am I going to do if it's broken! If she can't walk the rest of the way!" But luckily she did get up (a man nearby picked her up) and make it to school. The rest of the week however, she has stayed home. The students that I encountered on the street asked me where we lived to which I told them, and soon after I arrived at the apartment, they had come to the door hoping to talk to Maria Gloria! They stayed and chatted for probably an hour while I fixed pizza: pesto, cheese, ham, and an array of vegetables on pita bread.

I was glad to have vegetables. There was somewhat of a shortage today because fisherman have blocked every way in and out of Constitution in protest - not sure exactly why although it's quite likely to be something about money and/or wages. However, a lack of vegetables was not the greatest of problems. Many students and at least one teacher I know, were unable to come to school today because of it. I'm told, the ways are blocked with tires set on fire and people with weapons. No violence against the public though (so don't worry!) and I haven't even been to see them. We just hope we can make our weekend trip to Talca without and problems tomorrow!

And no problems at all... we made it just fine albeit a bit late. We made a stop at the grocery store first before heading to the Talca house to buy ingredients for chocolate chip cookies that I've been craving. Apparently, I'm making them for everyone here... and also paying for all of the ingredients. I found this out today. Who would have thought the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies would cost 8,000 pesos or about$16? They're so costly mostly because of the rarity of some of the ingredients. I just hope the cookies turn out ok for the sake of my craving and the enjoyment of everyone else. I couldn't find brown sugar, so I settled for "rubia" which means blonde - not quite sure what it is. Then, there was only one variety of chocolate chips which were expensive and looked questionable. I thought it was funny that Francisca drew my attention to the 5 or so varieties of boxed cake mixes on that aisle. I explained to her that at my own grocery store back home, these things take up at least a quarter of the aisle!

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