Monday, December 23

Today, the day before Christmas, I woke up around 10 and went over to Jose’s house for a little while to watch movies (he really wants me to see the Lord of the Rings movies) and eat lunch with his family. I got back to my house around 3 and then went to the Jumbo with Katie H. We bought the last touches on Christmas (I just needed wrapping paper and tape), and then went to this coffee shop nearby where I tried my first Café Helado. It’s like a root beer float except instead of root beer it has iced coffee. It’s absolutely amazing. I walked back to my house around 8 and Nancy and I were the only ones home. We ate dinner together, and then started cooking Christmas gingerbread cookies. She made the mix, and then I helped her cut the cookies into shapes. It quickly became clear that she had made waaaay to much mix.

We ended up with like 8 batches of cookies to put in the oven, and we didn’t finish them all until almost midnight. It was a great conversation with Nancy though. I love when  I get her alone because she explains really interesting things to me and I feel like I can ask her or talk to her about anything. Today we talked about the difference in levels of freedom between kids in the US and in Chile. Here, if you ask to go somewhere and your parents say no, they are not required to give you an explanation of why not. They can just say “because no” and you have to accept that. I don’t know about all families in the US, but that would not fly in mine. I find it incredibly stupid and childish for a parent to limit their kid from doing something for literally no reason and I don’t think I would be able to deal with it. I guess I’m really fortunate that my parents in the US treat me like an adult and are always open and rational with me when I ask for things. I don’t mean that I want to be allowed to do whatever I want, I just mean that I want to understand the reasoning behind why my parents allow me or don’t allow me to do things. After we finished the cookies, Maxi and I shut ourselves in my room and he helped me wrap up all the gifts I bought for the family.

Eric—neck pillow and slippers because he loves to sleep and he should really get more rest

Nancy—cookbook for chicken (because I don’t eat meat) and another one for chocolate

Monse—hairbrush (so she’ll stop stealing mine), nailpolish (because I always steal hers), and Violetta pencils

Maxi—snapback and this metal puzzle

Whole family—Brighton picture frame that I brought from the US with the first picture we took together in the airport when I arrived