Saturday, September 8, 2007 Adventures with Olga

Saturday, September 8, 2007

I slept in till noon and woke up to discover my voice was nearly gone. I’m not surprised since I’ve been sick and I stayed up last night laughing and singing HOLD ON TO WHAT WE’VE GOT… at the top of my longs. Olga and ate breakfast(?) and she laughed while I filled her in on everything I did yesterday. After eating I did the little homework I had and caught up on my journal. We had almuerzo around 3 and Olga told me that I’ve been good for her because she’s lost weight! I hadn’t noticed before, but in 2 months, she is actually quite a bit skinnier! She said she feels lighter and healthier and her husband even made a comment! She seemed quite pleased with herself but told me its because I’m here and help her eat healthier. I told her congratulations but that I think I’m the opposite. So she told me she won’t buy anymore desserts and will start buying less bread.

After almuerzo Olga and I took the metro to Quinta Normal, a beautiful park on the west side of town. While we were walking around, Olga told me she used to come here when she was younger because it reminded her of the south where she grew up. It really is like an oasis in the middle of the city full of huge trees, a laguna, flowers, and people everywhere having picnics, playing soccer, riding bikes, flying kites. I loved it and really made me miss Audubon Park in New Orleans. There are a couple museums in the park but they were closing right as we got there. But we did manage to sneak in one museum before it closed. It is a beautiful old building that they’ve converted into an Art center. On the first floor are copies probably 50 of the most famous works of art in the world. They had all my favorite Spanish painters, including Velazquez and Picasso, and even a Georgia Okeefe and a few other US painters. On the second floor was an amazing interactive art education area. It was all the things you learn in art class about color and perspective and light etc. in a great interactive set up. They even had a workshop on the side. I absolutely loved it and I’m going to bring Courtney because she studies art and can tell me all about the paintings I didn’t know about!

When we finished walking around the park I asked Olga if she wanted to go to mass. She was very excited and after discussing where to go, we decided on San Lazaro, the one closest to the apartment. So we took the metro and when we got to the church we saw that there was a wedding. I assumed we would just go to the other mass that is at 7:30, but Olga insisted it was fine! So thinking back to the funeral we had attended about a week again, I again followed Olga into the church, praying that no one would notice that we definitely did not belong! I was just glad I was wearing a black jacket instead of the bright pink sweater like I wore to the funeral! We sat over to the side but right in front with a few other people who were also there just for mass.

Before mass started Olga and I laughed about the fact that of the 7 sacraments of the Catholic Church, I’d now witnessed 4! I’ve seen a wedding (holy matrimony), a funeral (last rites), and holy orders and I’ve gone to communion! All I’m lacking is baptism, confirmation, and confession. Olga teaches a baptism class to parents, so we decided I would go to mass with her when the babies are baptized and she is going to find out when the confirmation mass is at her church. Then she explained to me how to do confession in Chile and assured me that once the priest noticed my accident, (right away, of course) he would help me out! So I’m thinking by the time I leave Chile, I’ll have all 7!

The wedding was quite elegant and the church was packed. There was great live music which I think it was actually Scottish music. They had a flute, a Peter Pan type flute, drums, a bag pipe and singers. I didn’t notice, but Olga said she saw they were wearing kilts! One interesting difference between Chilean weddings and US weddings: instead of having bridesmaids and groomsmen, they have Padrinos or Godparents. So the husband and the wife each choose one godmother and one godfather (can be their parents, cousins, siblings, friends, etc.). The godparents then sit on the side, where the bridesmaids or groomsmen would sit. It reminded me a lot of watching my parents wedding tape: most of the people had no idea what was going on during the mass, the women were crying, and about 15% went to communion.
One big difference was that the bride and groom looked nervous and somewhat uncomfortable the whole time. I kind of felt bad for them.

While Olga and I walked home, she kept saying how she couldn’t believe the odds of us deciding to go to a Saturday evening mass and there being such an elegant wedding. We had a great laugh and she kept telling me how special we are together and how much God is blessing us! We ate once and again recounted how great a day we’d had and I decided to lay low tonight and stay in. I’d had enough excitement in the past few days and I really tired/still trying to kick this cold/flu thing. So I called Jamie and my mom and they filled me in on the car situation back home. Everything is worked out with the insurance and they amazingly bought a car for Jamie today! Its incredible how these things work out! Now it’s almost 1 am on Saturday night and I’m warm in my bed, ready for the sandman to bring me a dream…