This week started out with meetings. One for the coordination team of Domodungu and the other for all the workshop facilitators plus the coordination team. In the future I probably won’t go to the coordination team meetings but it was good to see what goes on at their meetings. On Tuesday I made puppy chow :D Since Chex does not exist in Chile I improvised and used Oat Squares instead. The final result was not exactly the same but still very good. I brought some with me to Domodungu and everyone who tried it thought it was very good :D

On Tuesday I worked with the library group recording and categorizing books. We didn’t get too far we ran out of stickers to put on the spines of the books so we stopped and had tea, bread and jam. I really like the group of women in the library group and I think it’s great that Domodungu has books that people can borrow. Soon we will be getting about 150 more books for the library because Domodungu won a grant.

On Wednesday I worked with the greenhouse group. Domodungu has a greenhouse out back where they are growing lots of different plants, flowers and herbs. They have many plants for sale, right now the baby cactus are really popular, hehe. Another part of the greenhouse group is working on a mosaic on the back patio. Each member has a section of the mosaic to work on. I decided to do my section as an under the water theme complete with fish, a sand dollar, a starfish, seaweed and sand. Others are doing flowers, a mountain with trees, the sun with insects (ladybug, bee, butterfly), animals (giraffe, elephant) and others were not far enough along to tell what they are doing… I will update with pictures once I have them.

On Thursday I went to town and got my Visa paperwork done. In a month they will call me and I need to go back to the office to get the Visa put in my passport. After that I can get my Chilean identification card (which will involve going to the Chilean equivalent of the FBI to get a document and then to another office to apply for the actual card). Here in Chile your driver’s license is separate from your identification card, unlike our driver’s license which serves as both. Later in the afternoon I went to an organization called CODEFF which is an environmental organization. CODEFF stands for “Comité Pro Defensa de la Flora y Fauna” which for those of you who don’t speak Spanish that means they are the “protectors of flora and fauna.” They are just getting an office set up after the earthquake (Talca has TONS of earthquake damage) and are very excited that I want to help out. I will be going back next Thursday for a meeting and will then set up a work schedule. On Thursday night I met the last member of my host family, Milton. He lives with his girlfriend and has not lived at home for about four years. I am currently occupying his bedroom. He is currently going to college and is going to get me in contact with some people who use the trapeze and tissus at his university :D My host dad also has contacts with tennis coaches so I might join a tennis group soon.

Friday morning I peeled myself out of bed and went to the orphanage. The kids where a little crabby but I still had a good time. They are all just looking for a bit of love…. My plan is to go Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons but that may change in the future.

This weekend has been low key. Saturday morning I went on a walk with Domodungu through Talca. The point of the walk was to see how certain areas have changed since the earthquake. One interesting thing I learned was that in the damaged sectors of town you will notice that the buildings on the four corners of an intersection are most likely not standing. This is because the end of the rows of houses/buildings receives more of the shock that went through all the rest of the houses/buildings. Since it had nothing else to lean on/pass the shock to, it would most likely fall down(hopefully that explanation makes sense). Kym was in town this weekend but unfortunately she we were unable to meet up. Between her leaving her phone at home and then spending the entire afternoon at a family friend’s house things just didn’t work out so I spent my afternoon and evening watching House episodes online, napping and watching Chilean TV with my host family. I also spent time gawking at the pictures of the snow storm that hit MN. My host family found the pictures incredible as well. Today has just been a lazy day but later I might go with my host sister to a cultural event in town.