Christmas in Chile

The weather is getting warm enough that I have started swimming in the pool after work each evening.

We finally got our Christmas tree out of storage and put it up. We had the now-familiar debate about which decorations are classics and which are tacky.

We finally hired some someone to help us at home. Most working couples in the Embassy without kids have somebody come 1-2 days a week, and it has really been nice to have the help. Her name is Petrolina, which she says is a very old-fashioned name, but what do we know? She prefers to be called Petty. I guess when we set out her salary in an envelope, we can call it Petty cash?

The orphanage my wife volunteers at farmed out all the kids for a day so the employees could get a break. My wife got Scarlett, a little 3 year old girl from a troubled home. When I got home from work, she was trying to play in the sink after having figured out how to use the crayons on the carpet. She was fascinated to watch me wrap Christmas gifts, but was eager to get back to the familiar surroundings of the orphanage.

The Embassy received several tickets to the final match of the FIFA Women's Under 20 World Cup in Santiago. We watched the U.S. team beat the Democratic Republic of North Korea 2-1 in an exciting game.



The half-time show involved dancers representing South American countries.



A couple days later the whole U.S. team came to the Embassy. It was fun to chat with them, and later they had fun stocking up on souvenirs in the commissary.

My honey made some strawberry short cake. Very delicious.

The evening view from our window. It doesn't get dark until about 9:00 p.m. now.

Some peculiar-looking but irresistible veggie wraps with avocado and sun-dried tomato filling. The home-made pizza was a good balance to such healthy wraps.

A Chilean Santa at the mall. Most little kids seemed afraid of him.

All the employees in the American Citizen Services unit had a fun dinner at a colleague's home. They must have spent the whole day preparing such a feast.

A few days later was the whole Consular Section office party at the Consul General's home. I ended up playing Santa to pass out the Secret Santa gifts for the exchange.

One of the local employees received some lingerie -- much to everyone's amusement.