Southern Hemipshere blues

Today I suggested the mall because none of curly girl's clothes really fit. They are in the "I kind of fit but it also looks silly/homeless" stage. I thought its perfect, the mall has AC (it's super hot today) and we can get popsicles from this awesome popsicle place called Paletas. SO GOOD. When we departed the Northern Hemisphere it was freezing. So finding summer clothes (even online) was tricky. I thought it will be fine. I can buy clothes in Chile. No, actually I cannot. We looked in about 6 stores before I finally admitted defeat and told husband to please ask someone in his perfect spanish why there are NO shorts and t shirts for girls. Ok I am being dramatic there are like, 3 shirts and 1 pair of shorts, but they are covered with princesses and other characters and I just cannot even. That, my friends, is a whole other can of worms. I digress. Turns out little girls in Chile dont wear shorts and tshirts. They wear dresses and skirts. In fact the lady kind of made a "duh" face when she was answering us. It seems so silly but then it hit me. I HAVE NOT SEEN A LITTLE GIRL IN SHORTS AND A TSHIRT SINCE I GOT HERE. Well that solves that.

I went back to the hotel and ordered clothes from Boden and Carters like it was going out of style. Because it actually is. Its still full blown summer here so all these cute spring styles will disappear soon and be repaced by summer clothes right around the time it is winter here. I CANNOT WIN. This whole hemisphere thing is tricky. I should probably go ahead and buy winter clothes while I can still find them lest my child continue to look homeless. Oh wait. We kind of are. 

birthday party extravaganza

I thought all preschools were basically the same. I mean it is school for 3 and 4 year olds. I was wrong. 
The teachers (tias) are awesome. They hug and kiss the kids on the cheek without being hauled off and made to wear ankle bracelets. The horror. Also the kids play in the water in back yard style blow up pools. Its kind of awesome (its technically summer school right now, the school year begins in March. I am still adjusting to life south of the equator). I pack her bathing suit and a towel and on Fridays they have water day. They also have a garden that they grow veggies in and a rabbit named for Peppa Pig. She's big here too. They do ballet and yoga and have music time. Its just the cutest little school. I feel very lucky that we got curly girl a slot there.  
So we are 2 weeks into school. On Wednesday the kids were sent home with a birthday party invitation for a little girl in the class. Not really understanding what this meant I asked a friend who speaks English and has a daughter in curly girl's class. Birthdays are a BFD in Chile. Not only do the parents of the birthday girl/boy get to bring in homemade treats for the kids (State side it was store bought treats only still in original packaging.) I didn't even have to sign a waiver saying my kid was allowed to eat the treats either. Maybe America is slightly uptight. But all the kids bring a present for the birthday girl/boy and its a huge celebration complete with a disgusting amount of balloons and singing and streamers. They make a circle around the birthday boy/girl who sits in a special chair and they sing songs about giving and receiving gifts. Intense. I am grateful that I have 4 months before I have to organize something like this because maybe just maybe by then my spanish will have evolved past miming. 
So I hopped over to Jumbo (think Walmart) to get a present. What do you buy for a little girl you have never met? Something princess-y seemed like a safe bet. I feel like 3-4 year old girls and princesses is kind of a universal thing. And of course my miming because the translation for wrapping paper didn't translate (ha!)was comical. I looked insane I am sure. I think its cute that they make such a big deal out of the kiddos birthdays at school, also, this kind of takes the pressure off having to actually have a separate birthday party (woohoo!). I am super grateful to my friend who filled me in on the birthday extravaganza because the last thing I need is to be the mom who doesn't speak spanish and who didn't bring a birthday present to the party. 

Bienvenida a Chile!

So we have arrived in Chile. Well, actually we arrived 3 weeks ago from this very moment. I had been anticipating the move and in such a hurry to get here and then like magic, BOOM we were in Chile. We got off the plane exhausted and excited. However, once reality set in, enter the deer in the headlights accompanied by internal screaming "WHAT HAVE WE DONE?????" 

I will happily report that I don't feel like this anymore. 
Santiago itself is beautiful. Its busy and loud but also really charming. You can go from a huge major road make a left and end up on a quiet tree lined street with gorgeous apartment buildings. Its wonderful. Speaking of apartment buildings we are still living in a hotel (lame. I mean its a nice hotel and they have been wonderful but living in a hotel with a 3.5 year old is LAME at best), but we have our eyes on a lovely building close to curly girl's school that houses a fantastic apartment that hopefully has our name on it. Fingers crossed we are in it by the end of next week. 
I am loving exploring during the mornings while she is at school. I ride the metro and walk around and look at the open air markets and explore the coffee shops. (coffee here is not great. Its very sad for me) My phone is dead by lunch time because I am constantly running my google translator app. I do a LOT of miming along with my terrible spanish. We are starting to pick up some of the local words and meanings for things and its fun. I love watching curly girl interact with the children and practice saying things. All in all I am thrilled with the beginning of our Chilean adventure.