Lunchtime

How To: Catch Crabs Edition

A few days ago we traveled a couple hours north toward Temuco and did some sample collecting for Tiffany's crab project. Dr. Jara, the mentoring professor, was a great help. He picked us up that morning, showed us the various steps of the crab catching process, brought us into the city after we were done and even bought us some ammmazing icecream (mine was blue-colored vanilla water icecream). Here is the wisdom that Dr. Jara gave to us, which I am now bestowing upon you, to effectively collect crabs.

1. Find a river with access (meaning a fence with barbed-wire that you can climb over or through).2. Simply walk straight into the middle of river. right in the middle.3. Next, set your net against the current and begin to shuffle the rocks in front of it. The crabs will be disturbed and the current of the river should force them into the net.4. After a few minutes of shuffling rocks, pull the net up and inspected the treasures that you have caught.Optional: At this point we also separated the two species that were present in this river and males from females.After a few short hours, we had over 60 crabs for Tiffany to study. Oh crab collecting!

Keep Your Mardi Gras, We Have Noche de Valdiviana

Every year, the end of summer is celebrated with Noche de Valdiviana. It is a week long festival in Valdivia with a fair, street vendors and artisans. The week concludes on Saturday night with a boat parade, fireworks and chillas.

Chillas are small bits of paper--fun when thrown in the air; however, they quickly become weapons of war. The goal seems to be to circle the Plaza, aka the battlezone, in the center of the city with thousands of other people, throwing them directly at others' faces then escape before retaliation. These little menaces get everywhere, and are the worst in your mouth or eyes. Here are pictures of the before, the beginning of the mayhem and the aftermath in the taxi, on the way home.

Sesame Street Taught Me Everything I Know

A Sesame Street classic frequently referenced in our family is "Which One of These Things is Not Like the Others". On Saturday, I was definitely thinking about that particular song.
Saturday morning, a member of our ward called to remind us of a ward service project that Tiffany and I notoriously forgot about until her phone call. Our informant told us that the ward was cleaning the church building at that moment...but she couldn't come. We rushed to get ready and run out the door. My thought process--(Make-up: no. Hair: no. Deodorant: yes. Shoes: on. Grab some bread for breakfast while walking. Done.)

When we got to the church, we noticed a couple sets of missionaries waiting outside the gate I think--(Obviously the activity didn't start on time, but Chilean time--20 mins later, duh.) Then shortly after--(Why didn't I at least comb my hair?) Within a few minutes, another set of missionaries come. (hmmm. What are they doing here? This is just our ward service activity.) Then a few more missionaries come and paranoia begins to set in (Wait. What are we doing here?! Are we in the right place?!) and (Good thing I didn't skip the deodorant part.)

The ward activity turned into a zone service project with the help of "the gringas" and the relief society president. Tiffany and I dutifully cleaned the bathrooms, while the missionaries tackled the exterior, the classrooms and everything else. A game of soccer followed and a bbq that the missionaries invited Tiffany and I to join.


The whole time, I couldn't help but think...
"One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?"

Check it

Those rims are off the hinges. These phat rides were just smokin hot. You can't even hear the systems these carz were bumpin'...at the same time. fo' shizzle. One day, I might be lucky enough to pimp my ride like dat.



This post is for my the men in my family, who made me attend many a car shows.

Who says Chile isn't H-core?

and yes, those are my previously mentioned pants. and yes, I haven't taken them off since I bought them.

Photo Poses in Purple Pants

I have been coveting these pants since I arrived in Chile. They are in every shop, on every corner, and in every color. Their vibrancy is always what attracted me to them and at the same time is what made me hesitant to actually purchase some. Yesterday I took the plunge and bought a pair. After debating for a long time between yellow and purple, I chose purple.

New Casino

This is the brand new casino in Valdivia. It is settled right next to the river and I like its modern architecture and the clean line it creates along the Chilean sky.




One of our friends from church compared it to the great and spacious building of the Book of Mormon. We hadn't previously thought of it like that, but now that she mentioned it...

Contact Info

Some have asked for my address and/or number here in Valdivia; however, I don't remember exactly who. Here they are:

Oslo 752 Huacho Copihue
Valdivia, Chile

cell: 62149752

Come visit if you would like.

American Freaks

Were we the freaky Americans that everyone wanted to take pictures with while at camp? I don't think so...

Christopher: Foto? Conmigo? Por favor?
Tiffany and I: Yeah, of course. Why not?

Rodrigo: Me too? Foto?
Tiffany and I: Sure. This is kind of fun.

Jamie: Me?
Tiffany and I: Yeah.

Jared and Juan: Fotos?
Me: You take Juan, I will take one with Jared.

Pablo: Foto?
Tiffany and I: Okey dokey.

Pablo didn't even know what hit him.

Booty Booty Booty

Every time Tiffany and I go to town, we buy a new candy or treat that we haven't ever seen before as a reward for ourselves. This time when we went to the store, we were really hungry.

Oops

Along with a long list of other blunders this week at the ysa conference in Puerta Varas, I forgot to pack my journal. I spent most of sacrament meeting and relief society class trying to play catch up. I got pretty tired and entries began to become direct and random lists like this:

Heard HBL library closing music. Mistake "sapitos de agua" (toad of the water) for "zapato de agua" (shoe of the water). Woke up grumpy at 5:30 am. You would too if you only got 4 hours of sleep. Someone asked me for directions again. This time replied, "No se. Lo siento." Wanted to puke, but couldn't. Snuck out of conference to play on the beach with other "sinners" in the stake. Chilean girls take too long to get ready. Asked if I wanted to play "One". Woke up thinking I was paralyzed. Dominated in volleyball tournament. Fit 21 Chileans in a 12 passanger van. Still don't know how it happened. Secret admirer willing to commute from Santiago to "make a relationship work"...huh?

Valdivia

Tiffany and I decided that we didn't have enough pictures of Valdivia--our home for the next two months. Today, during our Sunday walk, we brought our cameras. 

Southern Hemisphere: Am I upside-down?

A Three Hour Tour

Yesterday, we went on a boat tour of the rivers Valdivia and Calle Calle. Living in the Lakes District, it was great to orient ourselves with some of the water habitat surrounding us. I dragged my hand in the water until it went numb, relaxed and simply enjoyed the nature that I would never see again.

Curse broken. I win.

Fabio, is that you?

We recently rode the bus to Castro, Chiloe. It is a short 9 hr bus ride. Fortunately for us, we were amid a celebrity. We didn't know that Fabio spoke Russian or traveled with a group of other Russian ice skaters. He didn't know that we took photos of him.
After arriving in Castro, we saw these signs and things made a lot more sense.