Friday, January 16, 2009

This morning Nate and I were dead asleep when all of a sudden I woke to giggling and whispering. I opened my eyes and saw Clemente and Salvador. As soon as they saw I was awake they ran out of my room. I was up as was Nate. Then all the kids came into our room. At first Nate was shy but he soon adapted. They spoke to him in Spanish and he answered back in English. And that’s how the rest of the day went for them. I guess really they spoke the universal language of kids because they seemed to understand each other with ease. As the day went by I noticed that Nate was actually using some Spanish words. I was so excited to hear it and surprised at how fast it happened. He may just be speaking fluent Spanish by the time we get home.

Sabine, apparently, fell asleep with a contact lens in and when she woke up her eye was infected. So Sylvia took her to the doctors. Carlos had a tennis game to attend which left me with all the kids alone for about an hour. I stress out with one child, 4 of them was a circus to me. Luckily it went really well and I did enjoy it.

In the afternoon we took the kids downstairs and outside to the play area they have. While they played on the swing set and slide, Sabine and I began to make plans for our stay. Then all of a sudden, Nicole showed up. Nicole is Sabine’s sister and my cousin. All the kids including Nate ran to say hello to her. They were all excited including Nate. I wonder if he remembers her from when she came to visit us last March?
Apparently it does not get dark until after 9 pm. Its summer time here and days seem to last forever. By the time we came back to apartment it was already 8 pm. Wow, way past Nate’s bedtime. He ate dinner and then gave him a bath. In the bathroom I was getting his pajamas on when we both heard Colomba asking for Nate - “Nate, adonde estas?” Nate’s response was “I’m right here”. Again, hearing them speak to him in Spanish and Nate responding in English only confirms my belief that he does understand. I felt so proud of him! I took him to bed and before I could even finish reading his first book, he was out.

Sylvia really out did herself. After the kids went to bed it was dinner time. The first course was a bed of lettuce with abalone on top. A little lemon, mayonnaise, and salt and it was delicious!!! The first bottle of wine was a Syrah from Concha y Toro. If you are not familiar with Chilean wine, I highly recommend it. Then the second course came and it was Chilean Sea Bass!!! Yum! I love seafood and Chile has exceptional seafood. And another bottle of wine was opened – Errazuriz Syrah. Cannot wait to try more!

Then it was dessert time. Fruit was offered but everyone turned it down. Carlos then asked about the Hershey’s kisses I brought them. Sylvia had hid them. You see, the last time I came to visit I brought Carlos a ten pound Ghiradelli chocolate bar. Apparently he ate it in 3 weeks and he did not share. This is why Sylvia hid it. But then she brought it out and that was dessert. All in good fun.
Tomorrow we head to the beach and empanandas…