Happy birthday to you... Chile

I just got back from my celebration of the 18th of September--Chile's independence day--and especially since I don't have pictures to document, I have to write a little about it before I hit the hay. First off, I should say that the 18th seems to be a lot bigger party than our 4th of July. As someone said to me tonight, when it falls on a weekday, there are at least a few days of fiesta. When it falls on a weekend, like this year, it's even a bigger party.

I went with my parents María Inés and Rodrigo to a celebration at the home of the family of a niece of Rodrigo´s sister... or something like that. Although there were a few organized activities, most of the time was just hanging out, enjoying the beautiful weather and the good food (and watching people drink a lot of beer. lol). I managed to place third in the gunnysack races in my category. Maybe that´s not such an amazing accomplishment when you take into account that there were only four of us. Oh well.

I also played a little bit of "football," although we didn´t have a real soccer ball. It was fun, but I was probably about the same skill level as the 7-year-old Raimundo, whom we affectionately named "Rey del Mundo" (King of the World). I failed miserably at flying kites; I couldn´t even get the string attached properly. Some other time.

The food was really good. People brought a variety of salads, and there was bread and an abundance of freshly grilled meat. Very tasty indeed! I felt a little sorry for the two Rottweilers who had to sit in their pen lusting after the meat all day long, only to get a little relief when someone would toss them a scrap. We could have fed them one of the little kids present, but that probably would have been a bad idea.

I realize that this entry may be a bit fragmented, but if so, it probably reflects the nature of the day. Perhaps one of the funnier parts of the day was being compelled to dance by some middle-aged women, who then proceeded to teach me how it was done. The funny part was that it wasn´t even a particular type of dance, just boogeying. Is it a bad sign when you need middle-aged women to teach you how to groove?

The conversation of the day was also quite varied. When I arrived, it started out with everyone wondering if this gringo knew any Spanish. My Chilean parents, upon being asked questions about me, said, "Ask him yourself!" Those types of conversations always crack me up a bit. In a similar vein, one of the uncles later began to ask me questions in English. That part was cool. I enjoy it when people try to practice their foreign language skills. The funny part was that it seemed he thought that asking me questions in English would serve to facilitate the conversation, even though I could hardly tell what he was trying to ask me. It was entertaining at the least.

Another short conversation I was a part of made me think a little bit more. To preface it, I´ll just say that it was kind of strange to have the former spouses of both my parents there at the party. I don´t think any extraordinary tension was going on, although it´s certainly sad that the situation arose in the first place. Anyway, I was talking with my Chilean mom and a young guy in his early 30s, who isn´t married but has a 2-year-old daughter (who is absolutely darling :D). They were discussing my buddy´s love life and such, and ending up on the theme of who you can really count on. Here´s the list they came up with: 1) parents and kids and 2) friends. First, the significant absence: lovers or spouses didn´t appear on there list. The reason seemed to be that spouses are people you choose. You decide you love someone enough--and that your lives share a common enough purpose--to marry them. And, sadly but truly in too many cases, you end up saying that you´ll love till death separate you, and then what really separates you is infidelity and divorce. Seeing separated families, even ones that appear "happily" separated on the surface, makes me realize more than ever how important commitment and faithfulness are in a marriage relationship. If I decide to marry a woman, it´s going to be forever. Period. I wish that´s a dream that could hold true for everyone. Then again, the really issue is that people need to know and be satisfied with God. I want to be better at pointing people to Him. Something that did strike me about their list of "people you can count on," though, was friends. According to my amigo, real friends are ones who stick with you no matter what. I actually started thinking about my friendships, and how much better of a friend I want to be. I don´t mean that I want to try to please everyone, or spend all of my time trying to maintain friendships. What I do mean is that I want to be a true friend--a friend who loves at all times, a friend who really cares and is willing to sacrifice for others, a friend who loves others more than himself. Maybe that´s a resolution for this new year of life :)

Perhaps I´ll update some more on this weekend in a few days. Chao for now, fogies.