Busy! Busy! Busy!

I'm realizing that in this time leading up to the move to MN on July 31st and to Chile on August 19th(!), I might not have as much time to blog as I thought I would. Things have been busy! So I thought I'd give you a little update on what's happening in my life.

• I just talked to my mom and she said that my notarized degree finally arrived, and that the Chilean consulate signed off on it! Yippee! It actually took my university about 7 weeks to do their part and the Chilean consulate only a few days to do theirs. Who would have thought?...
• We had Totus Tuus/Vacation Bible School at my parish this past week and after spending five straight days with 4-12 year-olds I am pooped! Those kids wore me out! I came home on Friday night, ate dinner and fell asleep at 7:30pm. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I am officially a vieja (old lady). It was a great week and the kids had fun and learned lots, but I'm def looking forward to catching up on my rest.
• Speaking of work, the man taking over my position should arrive sometime this week! I'm looking forward to meeting him and his family. This also means that I should have a good amount of time to train him in- but not so much time to clean-up my office before he arrives!
• Cars hate me. My car broke down a few weeks ago, it got fixed and I drove it for a couple of weeks and now it broke down AGAIN! The first time it happened, a man from the parish kindly patched up the brake line and instead of me paying him cash we traded labor for labor and I fixed up some stuff around their house. This time, there is probably no repairing it (most likely something is seriously wrong with the tranny). So that same man and his wife let me borrow their car for the weekend so I could get to work at the golf course. I came out of work yesterday and the tire on their car was flat! Cars hate me. And it sucks for something to happen in somebody else's car. A spare was put on and all is fine, but I'm glad that I probably won't need a car for the next two weeks since I can walk to my job at the parish and...
• Today was my last day working at the golf course! I'm officially a one job woman! And in two weeks I'll be a no job woman. :( I look forward to the 3+ weeks of vacation but please pray that I find a job in Chile quickly.
• I visited one of the specialists that I had to see that I mentioned here and it all checked out-  everything is fine! :) The only thing is that it turned out to be a waste of time and money. The other specialist I have to see isn't that big of a deal (just a little painful), I'll be going to the dermatologist this week to have a number of moles removed (I'm a very mole-y person).
• It's starting to get very hard thinking about having to say goodbye to all the people here at the parish and in Wyoming. I'm going to miss them all so much! This has truly become my home and it feels way different leaving here than it did MN to go to college or college to come here. 
• With that said, only 33 days, 6 hours, 46 minutes and 19 seconds until I'm with Andres in Chile!!!

FAQs

I often get asked a lot of the same questions so I figured I would take this opportunity to answer them in a public forum in case any of you faithful readers are curious as well. Let me know in the  comments if you have any other questions you want me to answer.


When do you leave? Will you go directly from Wyoming?
I bought my plane ticket last week (yippee! but ouch on the wallet) and I leave from Minneapolis on August 19th and arrive in Santiago on August 20th!!! I leave Wyoming on the very last day of July and will get about three weeks in MN with my family. It's going to be crazy having that much vacation time! And on my way to Chile I have an 11 hour layover in Miami.... so if anyone there wants to come hang out with me or take me on a little day excursion in the area while I wait, just let me know! :)


Will you be in Chile indefinitely?
Kind of. My plane ticket says I will be in Chile for nine months but I'm hoping that I will be able to extend it for three more months. Then I will come back to the United States (MN) for 4-6 months probably and then I will go back to Chile to live indefinitely. And by indefinitely I mean 3-5 years and then we (BOTH Andres and I) will probably come to live and work in the U.S. until all student loans are paid off.


Are you getting married there?
Probably not. We are planning on getting married, although we are not officially engaged yet, but are hoping and planning for the wedding to be in Minnesota in the winter of 2012/2013. That will be the period when I'll be living in the states for 4-6 months and the hope is that Andres can also come for a good amount of that time and that is when we'll have the wedding. When we return to Chile we also want to have a second wedding/vow renewal/reception with his family and friends. However, sometimes I wonder if I can last that much longer without marrying him! If I weren't Catholic and know I have to wait a certain amount of time for wedding preparation, I think I would try to convince him to elope ;)

Where will you live?

I'm going to be staying with Andres' family. I'm looking forward to getting to know my future in-laws better and also I'm excited for when they will get to know the real me. And what I mean by that is that I feel my second-grade level Spanish doesn't always get my points across and so when my Spanish improves I think they'll be able to understand me and who I am a lot better.


Are you nervous?
Surprisingly, I'm not. But with how frequently I'm asked this question I feel like I should be. Honestly, I'm just so excited to be with the one I love and to be back in Chile. I don't know if I could do it if I was never going to be coming back to the States, but I know that I am so this is just a great opportunity for me to expand my horizons and get a little break from full-time parish ministry. And did I mention that I'll get to be with the one I love? So excited! The only things that I get a little nervous about is when I think about living with Andres' family. I think they're great and we get along really well, but I wonder how it'll be different now that I'll actually be living there and not a guest. I don't want to be treated like a visitor but like a family member, and I want to help out with household things. Some people have also warned me about the Suegra (mother-in-law) and how they are really protective of their sons and how they can seem to be really overbearing to gringas. Honestly, I can't imagine Andres' mother being like that and even if she is you'll never know because while I want to be honest, I also don't plan to write mean or degrading things about people on this blog- especially about my Suegra!


What will you do there?
Good question. I first plan to find a job teaching English at an institute. I don't and won't have one lined up before I get there, but I really hope that I can find one within the first few weeks. Please pray for me! After awhile, like maybe when I'm back in Chile the second time, maybe I can find a job teaching Religion in a Catholic school since that is what my degree is in. There's also a possibility that in the far off future (3 years or so) I might go back to school to get a degree that I can actually use there. We'll see I guess... 


Thanks for reading, don't forget to ask any more questions in the comment box. 
P.S. 43 days, 4 hours, 53 minutes and 45 seconds until I'm in Chile!