On a clear day I can see a very long way.

We didn't go to school on friday as I had to go and order my ID card, it also gave Charlotte the chance to pick up hers. We met Ayoolu in Las Rejas metro station and carried on towards our destination. I was surprised at how quick it was to get everthing sorted out. No queues, nothing. Impressive.
We arrived home around lunchtime and proceeded to make Chocolate Brownies for Jessicas birthday party the day after. They don't use weighing scales here so I had to do alot of guess work. I had raved a bit about the amazingness of my chocolate brownies so I felt slightly under pressure to impress. They didn't last untill the party so I'm thinking thats a good thing. Charlotte and I are thinking of cooking something different each week for our hosts, so they could taste a bit of our background aswell. Charlotte, for instance, is going to prepare suishi next week.
That evening we headed into Santiago center again to meet Naomi and some of the other volunteers. We met Aaron, Tobias and Naomi outside the metro station and proceeded on to Bellavista. Bellavista is basically student central. It a lovely area with parks, buzzing bars and, for me, a good first look at Chilean nightlife. We hadn't sat down for five minutes when we bumped into one of the brothers living in Aaron and Tobias' house. He and his friends we're then with us for the remainder of the night. It was a good night all in all. I met some young Chileans who were all really friendly and it gave me and Charlotte the chance chat to some of the other volunteers and see how they were doing.

We slept in pretty late on Saturday. We had plans to go out during the day and see more of the city but we wern't sure what time Jessicas party started. Chilean families make such a lot of effort for birthdays. The house was decorated wth streamers and baloons and there was even a "50" made out of real flowers. Everything kicked off around 8 O'clock when all the family started to arrive. It was a really good evening filled with lots of laughs and abundant food. I was slightly worried about our present. We bought her a box of Lidnt Chocolate as she only like two varieties, Lidnt and a Chilean brand. It turns out, we didn't do so bad. She really liked the gift, even though she only got one as the rest of the family took it upon themselves to fill their boots. Nevertheless, it was brownie points (excuse the punn) all round.

Sunday was a very lazy day. As it was raining, we couldn't really go out so we decided to get some much needed RnR and chill out with a few films.
This gives me the oppertunity to introduce the family. There is Jessica (Mum of the house), Jorge (Dad of the house) and their 3 daughters, Jessica (31), Carolina (27) and Camila (18). This is where it gets slightly confusing. Jessica (daughter) has 2 children, Paula (9) and Benjamin (3 months) and she is currently married to Gabriel (Benjamins father). Apart form this, there are various sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles etc that are also worth a mention, but there are so many I cannot remember the names of most. Charlotte and I have been very lucky to be welcomed into this family. Project Trust weren't joking when they said that Chilean families treat you like one of their own.

Title.. Scrubs, Season 2, Ep 3