Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."

Wow, it's been two weeks already since my last blog post, it's amazing how fast time goes by and gets filled with various activities. There's still some events I want to talk about from a month ago, but I think I'll focus today on recent events and will try my best to put up some of the other stories/thoughts later.

To begin with, this week has been pretty crazy - filled with a few new "firsts", celebrations, and important dates. I'll start with last Saturday and work my way through my week....

Saturday was the first US game in World Cup in South Africa, and as luck would have it, we played England - significant because there's a large group of "gringos" (Americans) here and we hang out with one guy from England so a bunch of us went to a local bar to watch the game. It was basically empty except for all of us so we had fun watching the game, especially since we tied (most of us thought we would lose). After the game, I ran around town to finish buying an outfit to go to a wedding. I met an english professor here through the British guy (Greg) and especially during my first month here, spent a lot of time with her (Alexia), her fiancee (Floris) and Greg. Some of you might remember me talking about them in an earlier blog post I think. Anyways, their wedding was this past Saturday and they had invited Greg and I to join in celebrating with them. I ended up buying a completely different dress (my third one of the week actually, hah!) but had fun trying on clothes with the sales ladies who were super helpful. I ran home and changed to go to the wedding. The ceremony was at 7 in the Lutheran Church here and was short but very nice. In many ways it was similar to American weddings with a flower girl and the entrance of the bride with her dad, but it definitely had a slightly chilean feel. For example, the bride and groom get ready at their houses and then drive to the church, and the ceremony basically starts when the bride gets there (which, she always arrives "late" on purpose). Then, after the ceremony the real party starts. They had the reception at a really nice restaurant just outside of town. It was a smaller reception (about 70 people) but one of the funnest weddings I've been too. It was a very relaxed setting, and everyone seemed to have a great time. This too had some similar elements like the first dance, cake cutting, and bouqet toss along with some very "chilean" aspects - the two main ones being that a "good" wedding lasts until at least 5 am, and that half way through the reception the bride and groom bring out cotillón. This surprised me since I had never heard about it or seen it but it was a lot of fun. Basically, cotillón includes varios party hats, masks, ties, whistles, horns, etc... (similar stuff to things at a New Years Eve party). Everyone had a blast putting the things on and dancing to all the reggaeton! Oh, and of course the food was delicous.

Sunday through Thursday were filled with a lot of homework and classes it seemed - I can definitely tell that it's the end of the semester (two more weeks left!). I'm getting a little stressed with everything that I have this week, but once I get past Wednesday I'm in the last kick which I anticipate will feel really good :). Memorable events included Chile's first world cup came, leading Bible study Wednesday night in spanish, "celebrating" four years of dating with Jake, passing the "one month until I'm home" date, and then of course... my birthday! I didn't get to do anything special with Jake (obviously) but we did get to talk and as always I enjoyed looking at where we've come from. This year was extra fun too, because we can look forward to a life full of the memories we've already been making, something that makes me really excited. Realizing I only have one month left here is a weird feeling. In many ways, I'm ready to be home - I want to see my friends, family, fiancee, and could REALLY use a good dose of sunshine, daylight, the beach and summer break. At the same time, I've loved my time here and have developed some really good friendships that will be hard to leave. Especially knowing that I don't plan on returning to Chile in the near future. Then... my birthday. The day itself was normal (and busy with school.. first time ever, and I can say I definitely did not like it!). Then at night I had a special dinner with cake with my host family and afterwards I went out with a group of gringos and a few chileans to a local bar that was showing the final game of the NBA playoffs. It was fun to just hang out and talk and they even bought me a cake and balloons! There was also a music group playing who came over and serenaded me in spanish and english! Afterwards we went out dancing at a local disco. It was a fun way to spend the night with some good friends here. I laughed A LOT and will definitely remember my first chilean birthday.

So, that's the past week. I think I managed to keep it somewhat short even. :)

Chau!