Chag Sameach!!!

Last night was the first night of Passover and I celebrated it at my friend, Daniel's house with his entire family.  There were roughly 21 people there, all Chileans except for one other gringo.  Yes, I am called a gringo.  To define gringo for ya'll, it is anyone who does not live in South America.

We did not start the seder til about 9pm.  I get there and see that I am completely overdressed.  I did not really care because I have to admit, I looked good!  We were all cramped up in the dining room, I sat next to Daniel's cousin and family friends.  This seder was a combination of Sephardic and Ashkenazi which was completely new for me, since I am only Ashkenazi.  They did all the same songs as I do, plus some other songs that I did not know.  Everything was in Spanish, and I understood 90% of it!  I was extremely proud of myself.  We had gefilta fish and matzo ball soup, sooooo Ashkenazi.  Then they brought out rice, that was the Sephardic part of the meal.  The entire family was extremely warm and friendly, but I must say it did make me miss home a lot.

My mother told me that she had 29 people come over for her seder.  That's a crazy amount!  I am sure her seder went beautifully and the food was incredible.  I did not come home until 1am.  Longest Seder ever!!!!  But extremely enjoyable.  This truly was a once in a lifetime experience.

Keeping Passover in a country where their main diet is bread, is extremely hard.  I walk along the streets drooling over the empanadas and all the pastries that I can no longer eat.  I keep reminding myself its a cleansing week, to try and ease my hunger.  It is actually nice not being able to eat the empanadas because a week before Passover I definitely went on a carb binge.  I just want to tell you that I did not gain any weight, just like to eat.

I am extremely sad that my program is coming to an end because I have made incredible friends and have fallen in love with Santiago.  I really wish we had more time :(