First of all, sorry I didn´t get these pictures up earlier BUT I thought the last post was a little more important! And I left out a few details that were important...the reason for the Olympic Fanfare playing on my blog is because just as Pablo was asking me to marry him, this song was playing on the TV with the fireworks. It was just too random and too...Chilean I guess you could say. We thought it was pretty funny! Also, I didn´t know but Pablo wanted me to pick out my own ring but he wanted to surprise me so he just got a ring and asked me but we got it exchanged yesterday and I got a new ring! I liked the old one, but Pablo insisted we go and find one I really liked. When I saw this one, I really liked it but it isn´t really a Becki ring. After I tried it on, I totally fell in love. So here´s a picture of my new ring...
Now, on to Christmas pictures. We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner with Pablo´s parents and the elders from my ward. Not very many of the pictures turned out because we ate dinner at like 10 pm here and it was pretty dark. After we had dinner, we played a white elephant gift exchange and it was really fun. Here´s a picture of Elder Krainik and Elder Torgerson getting ready to eat and Pablo and I with our sweet white elephant gifts!
Do I look tired? Cause I was! Oh, and the best part of my Christmas--Chorizo! Not, the sausage, but the bunny that Santa Claus brought me! I must have been good because Santa brought me the cutest, little bunny. Here are a few pictures we took at the park the other day of him.
We hope you all had a great Christmas too!
Okay, I try to stay positive about my experiences here in Chile because seriously I do love it here. The weather has been nice and HOT, there is always some place new to explore and visit and things are so much cheaper (2 pounds of fresh, juicy strawberries for 75 cents) But right now I really need to vent about my daily battle that makes me question if living here is really worth it. My enemy = the calefont!
Oh yeah, it looks innocent, doesn´t it? It is NOT. For those of you who have experienced a calefont before, I know you are on my side. For those of you who are innocent to how evil this machine really is, let me explain.Chile is really a very developed country but when it comes to heating water, that´s where it all goes downhill. A calefont is used with propane gas to heat water when you need it for showering, washing dishes, etc. Sounds like a resourceful tool, doesn´t it? Well, don´t be fooled. My daily showering routine now includes twisting the cold knob a few degrees so that the water is tolerable for approximately 8 seconds before it gets too cold for comfort. I then twist the knob the other way, waiting for my 8 seconds of tolerable water again before it gets too hot. (Scalding hot some would say...) And it goes back and forth, back and forth until I finally decide to just give up. Now, I´m not looking for sympathy. I know that I chose to move here and leave all those wonderful water heaters behind. I´m just venting in a public manner and reminding you to all be grateful for the water heaters in your lives. Treat them well. Give them regular check ups. And remember that it could be worse!
Just a little tag-a-roo from my favorite sister Laura--Enjoy! 8 Favorite TV Shows1. The Office2. Ugly Betty3. Private Practice4. Arrested Development5. NCIS6. One Tree Hill7. Casáte Conmigo 8. Amazing Race8 Favorite Restaurants1. Olive Garden2. Bajio´s3. Craigo´s 4. Melina's5. Rupe's Burgers6. The Backyard7. Mexivan in Rexburg8. Chili´s 8 Things That Happened Yesterday1. Made lunch (tacos) for the elders2. Ate `once´ with Pablo3. Helped Pablo with homework4. Sent my resume to a bunch of different places5. Chatted with Mark6. Checked my facebook7. Caught up on the watching The Office (www.surfthechannel.com) 8. Offered to wash my clothes but the lady I live with it did it for me8 Things That I Look Forward to1. Christmas package from my Mommy!2. Something sparkly on my hand3. Getting Christmas shopping done4. Going to the beach on Monday! 5. Pablo graduating 6. Seeing my family again and meeting my new nephew that will come in Feb! 7. Working...8. Seeing Twilight (gets to Chile January 1st)8 Things I Love about Fall/Winter (Spring/Summer here...)1. The cool evenings 2. The sunsets in Chile over the Andes Mountains3. Eating ice cream that was only like 17 cents4. Going to the beach5. Eating Mote con Huesillo YUM!6. Taking siestas7. Planning your day around the cooler parts of the day8. I´m just grateful it isn´t snowing! 8 Things On My Wishlist1. Peanut Butter M&M´s 2. New bag/purse3. a small little Bling-Bling on my hand4. Only having ONE roommate who is not female5. a JOB6. my own apartment7. A nephew 8. Lindor Truffles8 Friends I Tag:Katy W., Michelle Y., Hillary K., Teresa S., Lacey H., Shara H., Kayla G. and anyone else who wants to!
Though I didn´t spend my weekend eating lots of Turkey and early morning shopping, we did have a fun weekend! Friday night was the Azul y Blanco (Blue and White) Stake Dance for all the YM and YW. I recently got called as the 2nd counselour of YW in my ward, and Pablo is the 1st counselour of YM in the Stake, so we had plenty to do to get ready for the dance. Most of the day Friday was spent decorating and getting ready and then Friday night was the dance. Here´s a picture of three of my 4 Beehives (and the grand daughter of the YW President who is from a different ward) 
Here´s a picture of Pablo with the 2nd counselour from our Stake and the President and other counselours of the Stake YM Presidency--they are all single, RM´s if any of you are out there looking! (wink, wink!) Notice that they are all wearing the same blue ties--just following the theme I guess! 
Here are a few pictures of our humble Thanksgiving Day feast if you will! Pablo and I made chicken and rice ( pretty common Chilean meal!) I didn´t know how to make rice like chileans do so I got online and typed in Google--how to cook rice. And guess what--I found a page with step by step instructions, WITH pictures! Nice! (Click HERE if you want to try it at home!) 
And don´t forget our scrumpcious deseret of ALFAJORES! Not home made, but one of my absolute favorite treats here in Chile. Seriously, how do Americans survive without them?! They are chocolate dipped, cookie-ish, with manjar (kind of like carmel but way better!) My mouth waters looking at the picture! 
I hope you all had great Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekends--though mine was a bit different then usual, it was still pretty great! Now, onward and upward with Christmas shopping and Holiday plans!
The day after Christmas Pablo and I were able to go see The Nutcracker live at El Teatro Municipal in downtown Santiago. It´s this super old theater that is really neat and I´m sure when it was built it was something else! But, now it´s a bit old and without air conditioning...
The show was awesome and Pablo loved it. His eyes were glued to the stage the whole time! And he did say that he thought we each lost about 10 pounds just sitting there in the hot theater!
