The extent of our Easter in Chile was going to the grocery store at 8 p.m. on Sunday and buying chocolate eggs at 30% off then spending the next three hours with girlfriends gabbing about the weekend.
While Chile is largely a Catholic country, the proceedings seemed far more under-stated than in Spain. More than anything, this weekend seemed to be about la gente escaping the city for the last sun-filled weekend of late summer/early fall. Walking around the streets of Santiago on Friday, Saturday and Sunday was eery, as everything was closed and the normally bustling streets were desolate.
It would probably be different if I lived with a Chilean family. Our landlords are gay and go against the grain of anything traditional. Easter to them was just another day of the week. We exchanged Easter grab-bags on Wednesday evening and they said it was the first time they´d ¨celebrated¨Pascua.
On another note, today in Paula´s 8th grade class, we were working on too many (used for things that can be counted) vs. too much (used for uncountable things) and enough. We were describing our cities using these words so I gave a short presentation on where I´m from and what my life is like in the United States.
I showed them pictures on the internet of the United States, Seattle and then I googled myself to show them an Education Abroad video I was in for Washington State University and a picture of myself, Chelan and Doris from the Farm to Market Bakery that was in a Seattle newspaper.
This followed with the class class proclaiming excitedly, ¨You´re famous!!!!!¨ They were quite serious. As soon as the Ed Abroad video finished, they stood up and applauded wildly. They now have a reverence for me as if I´m a Hollywood celebrity that starred in a blockbuster film. I was chatting with Paula after class and she said, ¨My cousin is famous in the United States too¨ ... apparently her cousin designs clothes that Michelle Obama has worn.
Famous. Me? No.
Paula´s cousin. Famous? Yes.
Hahahah... I don´t know if I should milk this famous thing for all it´s worth, as I probably won´t ever be called famous again or if I should insist that being featured in a five minute Education Abroad video for WSU is something fairly commonplace and nothing to get excited over.
You know how kids are too. By tomorrow, there´s probably going to be a mad rumor flying around that Instituto Bernardo O´higgins has a movie star hard at work teaching Ingles to the kiddies.
On another ´nother note ... we went to the Castle again for the first time in awhile. Mucho éxito. I met an aspiring orthopaedic surgeon. I might just have to kidnap his handsome self and take him back to the States to work with my Dad. Se llama Tomas. Just in case you see any headlines concerning a kidnapped surgeon named Tomas, you´ll know it was me.
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