Saturday, March 29

Today I woke up around 11 and went for a run. Then I got ready and packed my stuff to leave for Talca. I thought we would be leaving like right after lunch. Then I sat in my room for a while and worked on my blog, washed the dishes for my family, cleaned up the house, painted Monse’s nails in this elaborate French manicure, and watched TV with Maxi, Monse, Vicente, Joaquin, and Laurie. We just kept killing time until it got to be around 8 and we finally left for Talca. I was so bored and annoyed that we had basically just wasted the whole day but whatever. In the car, Monse and I watched movies. It was really cold (winter is coming now and I’m sad about it) and started to rain when we were entering Talca. We arrived at my great grandmother’s house at about 10:30. We walked in to meet a huge crowd of people that none of us knew. This was the 97^th birthday party of my great grandmother, and my family hadn’t seen any of these family members in 7 years. Nancy was really excited to go to this party and rekindle the family bonds that they had kind of let slip over the last 7 years. We met each other, and then went outside to sit around and talk and eat completos.

Everyone was super welcoming and excited to meet me and pick my mind about the US. They all complimented me on my Spanish and said that they didn’t even have to worry about talking slowly with me, which was a big compliment especially so late at night when my Spanish usually gets worse from being so tired.

I met this really sweet girl about my age named Faviana, and her, Maxi, and I talked, laughed, and looked through Maxi’s pictures from his trip to the US. Later on in the night, we sang to Lola (the great grandma), and took a bunch of family pictures with her. She took my hand and talked to me for a while and hugged me and kissed me on the cheek and although I understood almost nothing of what she said, I still really fell in love with the adorable old woman. Anyway, around 2:30, we all got back in the car and drove with Tata and Abelita back to their house in Talca after saying goodbye to this other branch of the family with the promise of staying in better contact. I went to sleep around 3.