In The Middle Mish-Mash

Tomorrow we fly out of Puerto Montt to begin our three month furlogh, and we are all stuggling with feelings of excitement, anticipation, but also sadness and the other mixed emotions that accompany the closing of a chapter in life, for when we return, we will not have Deborah with us.

Deb and I have been sleeping together since Monday night. We have stayed talking to the wee hours of the morning of everything under the sun (including everything not under it) and when I'm the oldest sister by myself, I know I'm gonna miss her so much. Deb and I are complete opposites, and we either are at complete odds, or in complete agreement, like two legos that clash until turned the right way and fitted neatly together.

Anyways, this week has been filled with goodbyes. Deborah's birthday was Tuesday. She turned 18 and we planned a surprise party for her. It was a fun time, but as the "last time" it was also tinged with goodbye blues.



Saturday morning I had my last ballet class here in Puerto Montt for three months. It was a nice time together, and probably the easiest goodbye because it is my greatest constant amidst all the change.
Pati, I will miss our jazz pose!


Saturday night we had a large group of our oldest friends over for another fun/sad evening.
Sunday afternoon the Four Sisters (best friends Coni, Cole, Deb, and me) spent our last time together......... for who knows how long.


Today is crazy packing and cleaning, and I just want to get out of here. How many mixed emotions can a person feel without going crazy?

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I love C.S. Lewis. I love how he invites us to partake of his genius with his clear explanations of the divine. I love his fiction and nonfiction, and I LOVE the Chronicles of Narnia, which I hold as my favorite series ever.

Introduced to us when I was about 7 by our dear friends, Lee and Patti H., the series captivated Deborah, Jordan, and myself over long winter nights curled up on the sofa listening to Tía Patti's voice bring the books alive. Aslan comforted me when the wind howled outside, Lucy infused me with the feelings of invincibility as the youngest and most faithful Pevensie, and as I grew older, the books never lost their luster or ability to pull me into the Narnia world.

My personal favorite book is The Horse and His Boy. Maybe because its a rags-to-riches story, or becuase it involves a Persian/Turkish influence, I don't know. But I do so love it and really hope they make the movie.

That said, I do like the movies that have been made so far. Inspite of the not-exactly to-the-letter faithfulness to the books, it has been fun to give the characters faces and to see the events made "real". Or as real as the silver screen gets.

Yesterday was a holiday, so Pati, Coti, Pili, and I went to the movie theater so see Prince Caspian; it was hilarious and so much fun. Hopefully we didn't bug too many people with our "whispered" comments! We all eagerly await The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. What will Eustace Scrubb look like?

La Lluvia

Finally it has rained in Puerto Montt! After an abnormally dry year thus far, things are once again set aright. On Thursday it was very overcast with part clouds, part smoke and ash from the Volcano Chaiten that has been doggedly blowing north.


There was a hint of rain all Thursday, but mostly a tearing wind that buffeted to and fro. Friday the wind brought sporadic bursts of rain with it, as if the clouds parted with it painfully. I was hoping all afternoon to evade the imminent downpour long enough to get to ballet, and thankfully succeeded. In the evening the clouds finally unleashed their weightily burden upon the parched earth with much ferocity.

Coming home, I had to wait a full half hour for my bus under the eaves of a building by the road, and got thoroughly chilled. The rain was beautiful though, as it fell in enormous, shiny drops that burst on the street in clean splatters. The street lights were framed in auras of kaleidoscopical drops of rain, rain, rain.

Coti and I sharing the dregs of dessert.

The Dare was to drink this unknown concoction .


I guess it was pretty gross!


Revving up for more with coffee at 4am.


Always energy for goofy pictures!

I didn't post on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday because I've been trying to process what all happened at the birthday party Friday night-Saturday and deciding on how to share it.
The hours between 9pm and 5am are almost indescribable. It was a riot. It was a time of laughter and fun as we spent two and a half hours playing Pictionary. It was a time of soul baring honesty as we played Truth or Dare. It was a time of tears, and it was a time to remember and cherish as probably the best times I've shared with my dear friends.

A Ballet Junta

Before you look at the title and say "Golly, are they planning to rule the country, immediately after a coup d'etat, and before a legally constituted government has been instituted?", let me be quick to assure you that I am referring to "junta" only as Chilean teen slang for hanging out. Tomorrow we are presenting an excerpt of the Straussian waltz at a Red Cross event, but tonight my class is gonna party!(A junta relic. Don't worry! It only lasted three days.)

Before you conjure up an image of girls wildly carousing about in tutus, let me be quick to assure you that the purpose is to celebrate a birthday by having a sleepover. Maria Ignacia is celebrating another year of life and the rest of our class is going to help her do so. Who cares that we have practice this afternoon until 8PM and a show at 11AM tomorrow? We are going to have a rollicking good time tonight.(Sleepover at Cristina's over the summer. L-R: Pili, Cris, myself, Coti, and Pati)

These times of sharing together outside the studio have only just begin to occur over the past six months or so. Though everyone in our group of eight has known each other for at least six years, closer friendships have evolved slowly, and now are being solidified as we get to know each other for who we are individually, not as lumped with our backgrounds. Coti, Pati, Cris, Coni, Pili, Cata, Nacha, and I are so extremely different! Our ages range between 14 and 16 (I am third from the oldest), we represent five different schools, and our forefathers hailed from three different continents.

When we were younger these boundaries seemed unsurmountable, indeed, my younger years in ballet were painfully lonely. These past three years, however, as we began to have more classes together and more performances (both locally and outside Puerto Montt), we have spent more time together and are beginning to discover the uniqueness of each person.(Baking with Coni over the summer)

All the girls are from a staunch Catholic background, though some are more faithful than others, and my work has been to represent the Person of Jesus to them, as a personal Savior and Friend. We have had very in-depth and intense conversations, covering topics ranging from homosexuality to making good choices in the face of injustice, and I trust that God will orchestrate another such opportunity for me to represent Him in whatever pops up tonight!

All right. I have just created myself a blog, and in that joined the more than 12 million people who have one. My personal purpose of blogging is to invite you all into the part of my life labeled "ballet".
Now that I have begun, I want to kick myself for not having sooner, because though this is my eleventh year in Ecuela de Ballet, Cristina Ortega F. ballet school, it is also my last. Maybe this will be my way of saying goodbye to this part in my life.
Meanwhile, I still dance, and the best opportunity in my world of ballet is coming up in June! On the 22th I will be in Jackson Mississippi to begin a month at Ballet Magnificat!'s (www.balletmagnificat.com/E_summer.html) summer intensive workshop. Here I will spend six days a week, six hours a day, DANCING! Classes include jazz, modern, variation (classical ballet repertoires, as well as Ballet Magnificat! company ballets), conditioning, contemporary, pas de deux, improvisation, and creative worship. If the last tipped you off, you're right! The best part of this whole deal is that it is centered on Christ. The ballet school and company is comprised of dancers who love Jesus and worship Him through the art of dance.
I first heard of Ballet Magnificat! through an article in a '99 Brio maganzine that somehow found its way to Puerto Montt, Chile. Our furlough after that I was still too young to attend and the last time we went to the US the workshop wasn't a priority. But in December of '07 I printed the scholarship application and began to prepare for the audition video which I filmed and sent in February. March was spent waiting and wondering, and in April I was emailed with the incredible news that it had been granted to me! The scholarship covered tuition, and I am responsible for room and board, which will be at the Belhaven College in Jackson. The workshop ends July 19, and by then I hope to have a clear vision of what place dance is to hold in my life.
Well, that is the beginning, and I plan update frequently, so keep stopping by!

Hasta Luego (until the next)-
Elizabeth L.