My beard is out of control and Ashley is mad about it

MY RANDOM THOUGHTS
1. Sorry we haven't blogged in a few days. We have been really busy since Friday. We planned a really fun day for a group of kids yesterday. We hid all sorts of treasures on a mountain and then gave the kids gps machines to find them. It was a great time and I think everyone really enjoyed it. We have also been working with a soccer team. Its a really cool soccer school because they teach the kids about life and not just about soccer. They are trying to prepare them to succeed in life since most of them won't make a living out of soccer.
2. In reference to the title of this blog, my beard trimmer doesn't have the right voltage to plug into these outlets so I haven't shaved in a very long time. Its not quite as bad as my brothers beard when he doesn't shave for months but Ashley really wants me to shave haha. I finally found a converter and I guess I will have to shave soon but I am holding out as long as I can haha.
3. Something else that is really cool is that you can find avocadoes for really cheap just about anywhere and they are very fresh and tasty. This is pretty much the avocadoe capital of the world so we eat guacamole just about every other night :)
4. There is this hole in the wall restauran near our house where you can eat (drink, salad, bread, meal) for $2! We can't even buy groceries for that cheap and the food is very good authentic chilean food. My favorite is charkikan (I'm almost positive I spelled that wrong). Its like the filling for shepherd's pie except without the crust and with a fried egg on top... Yummy
5. Its still pretty cold here which is great. It warmed up for a few days but today is pretty chilly. I won't be upset when it warms up though because everyone tells us that Spring is the prettiest time of year. Our bodies will be so confused this year because we went from summer to winter and when we return we will go from summer to winter again haha.
6. The picture was taken from the mountain where we had our gps hunt with the kids. The view from the mountain was incredible. You can see the entire city and the mountains surrounding it. The only bad part is that there is kind of a slight brown haze over they city. They have some problems with smog in the winter.

Well thats all I got so I hope everyone is doing well. We miss all you guys and we love you.
-Zach

This is going to be a short one, but I just wanted to share a random fun fact of the day with you. Chileans are brilliant- they include the tax in the price that you see at Jumbo (their walmart) and any other place. I was ordering coffee and thought ok 1950 pesos plus tax is going to put me over 2000 pesos (which is about four dollars) but I got up there and I paid 1950, exactly what it said...lol. I just laughed. It's brilliant.
Que tengan un buen dia.
-Ashley

The Mountains are Beautiful (Las Montañas son muy hermosas)

So we aren't sure if we mentioned this yet, but the city is beautiful. We can look out the window and see the beautiful snow-capped Andes Mountains. We took this picture from a place called Santa Lucia. It is on a hill that overlooks the city and the view is breathtaking. To see some more of our pictures, we have posted some of them on facebook. We are done with training so all of our friends that we made this week left today. We meet with our supervisor tomorrow to begin learning more about our specific jobs in the city. Life is good and we are really excited about learning so much through this experience.
Nos vemos,
Zach and Ashley

P.S.
Its not very clear, but the white in the background of the picture is the mountains :)

I don't know what day it is

So the days are blurring together right now. This week has been spent training with all the students who will be working in South America. We have been in and out of a conference room (unheated cinderblock building) all week and it is hard to keep the days straight. We have ventured out into the city just about everyday and it turns out that Santiago is huge. There are thirty two sections of the city and it is hard to keep them all straight. Training has been long but it has been really helpful. I would not have wanted to go into the semester without first going through this training. It will be over on Monday and then we will begin working on Tuesday. It has been really cool to interact with the Chilean people during our ventures into the city. They are very friendly and are more than willing to start up a random conversation. I am definitely looking forward to learning their culture and building relationships with them. Anyway I'm about to go for a late night jog with my new buddy Sean and he wants me to stop blogging so Ashley will take over from here.

So I love all the juices here! Pineapple and mango are my fav. I'm very tired right now (surprise to everyone I'm sure). I have one thing for yall tonight. So I have been praying that I would make a friend and I think I did. Pray that we get to meet again and we can actually understand each other. Turns out that the people here dress nicer than anywhere I've been in America. They are seriously dressed to impress and are very driven people. I didn't bring enough dressy clothes, but hopefully I can work something out.

Thanks for those who read this. Hope it is a good thing. Once we get settled we will try to be more consistent. We love yall.

Zach and Ashley><>

We're here!

So we got about two hours of sleep last night:) We are in Santiago and haven't been to sleep yet. We are going through training. We're trying not to sleep yet so we can sleep good tonight. So last night on the plane I was filled with such an amazing peace and excitement. It was so good to finally feel like this trip was becoming a reality. We are at the seminary which is definitely livable lol but just different. It's rainy and forty degrees outside with no heat inside. We have little space heaters that we can turn on every now and then which is good. We don't throw our toilet paper in the toilet lol. It is in a really great location though. Tonight we are going to the mall to change some money out and just get out a little bit. So the internet at the seminary isn't working on the majority of the computers except for the one that I'm on (which is not mine) so I'm not sure if we are going to be able to update as much as we thought. I know that Cliff and Cinthy have internet though so whenever we want to skype or blog we can always go over there. Currently there are 12 of us that are training right now so pray for everyone here as they go their seperate ways this week. We love yal!!!

Ashley><>

And we're off...

So we are sitting here in the Little Rock airport waiting to fly to Atlanta and then to Santiago. We had a slight holdup with a delay but everything is worked out now. Our original flight was delayed and was going to force us to miss our connecting flight to Santiago but fortunately they found an earlier flight to Atlanta so crisis averted . :) We will leave Atlanta at 10:00 PM and arrive in Santiago at 7:30 AM. Thanks to everyone who has supported us on this journey. We could not have done it without you and we are so thankful for how much we have been blessed. It has been overwhelming seeing all the love and support that people have given to us. We will not take this opportunity for granted.

As for tonight, sleep??? lol. We shall see. Until our next post, hasta luego!

Zach and Ashley><>