Happy Anniversary to Us!!

So, not exactly the most amazing picture collage you have ever seen. But... well, these are some of the special moments we have shared, beginning 366 days ago. (It was a leap year, so we have to count Feb. 29th).

You can't tell what they all are, so I'll tell you, going in a circle from the top left: a picture with our moms, soon after we got married; our names written in the beach sand of Vina del Mar; us as we watched the lunar eclipse together; the first public appearance of Familia Bustamante after we were sealed together for time and all eternity; the two of us inside this nifty thing called a telerifico or something like that; the two of us at midnight on New Years; our wedding waltz, in the Metro; put your game face on; Familia Delgado, the night before the plane trip; puttin' on the rings; one of many many kisses exchanged in happiness; the two of us after a beautiful dinner watching the sun set into the sea. And of course, in the middle, the two of us outside the temple on our wedding day.

Te amo, amor. No es gran cosa, pero era con carino.

update

Manuel is working as an accountant. He began working at Droguería Michelson (a pharmacy) in October, right before we got married. A couple of months ago he was promoted. I think he also has a fairly good work relationship with his boss. Although he is one of the youngest employees, he is treated with respect. I think this is because he works well, does his job with precision, and does not mistreat his coworkers. He also has the benefit, now, of having the internet in his office. This makes his job a lot easier, so that he can have access to numbers that change daily as well as numbers from past months. I would explain the statistical importance more if I really understood it... but I don't really get all of it. I understand him when he is explaining things to me, but I certainly couldn't call myself an expert on the matter.


I am working as a logistics assistant for an importation firm. We import parts and equipment for big machines. Among our clients are Codelco (the largest copper mining company in Chile... and I believe that it is also the largest in the world), the Panama Canal, BHP Billiton (they've got mines, too), etc. The down-lo is this. Joe Miner needs a bearing for his mining equipment. He sends a request out to the people on the supplier list with the information about the brand, part number, etc. We have two companies that we represent from the United States (Motion Industries and GL General Industries.) We determine which of these two companies has the part Joe needs and we send a price request. They send it back. We answer Joe. If Joe buys it, we help with that process, too, and help make sure Joe also pays for the part. That's it. I am involved in the international sales, that is, companies that are not in Chile (clients in Peru, Panama, Argentina...). I also do translations for work and am the receptionist. Now you know what I do. It's going well for me and at the end of this month I will be renewing my contract... this time an indefinite time as opposed to a trial period. =)


We recently had the missionaries, all four that are assigned to our ward, at our house for lunch. We made black bean enchilada casserole, (chicken) fajitas, pico de gallo salsa and guacamole. For dessert, chocolate icecream with fruit. But there was only one who opted for the fruit. Oh, and we had tortilla chips, too. We enjoyed the meal, as did the missionaries. I think Manuel may have enjoyed it better were it not for the jalapeños in the enchiladas and the zucchini in the fajitas (he probably steared clear of them while making his own fajitas.) It was a lot of fun to have them over, and Manuel and I were delighted to be able to do something special. It was awesome.


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Manuel está trabajando como contador ahora. Él empezó a trabajar para Droguería Michelson en Octubre, no tanto antes de que nos casáramos y hace un par de meses que le dieron una promoción (así se dice en español?) Yo creo que él tiene una relación laboral buena con su jefe. A pesar de ser uno de los trabajadores más jovenes, le trata con respeto. Yo creo que eso tiene que ver con la clase de persona que Manuel es. Trabaja bien, cumple bien con sus responsabilidades, y no maltrata a sus compañeros de trabajo. Ahora también tiene el beneficio de tener accesso al internet en su oficina. Eso le hace más fácil, o por lo menos más cómodo, el trabajo para que pueda acceder números que cambian a diario además que números de meses atrás. Yo explicaría más de eso, pero la verdad es que no me entra todo el significado de las estadísticas que Manuel tiene que ocupar todos los días. Simplemente hay detalles que me escapan. Yo puedo entenderlo cuando Manuel me lo está explicando... pero yo seguramente no soy una experta en el tema.

Yo sigo trabajando como asistente de logisticas en una oficina de importaciones. Nosostros importamos de dos companías de los EEUU (Motion Industries y GL General Industries) para clientes en Sudamerica que necesitan repuestos para maquinas grandes (como Codelco, el Canal de Panama, minas por BHP Billiton, etc). Lo que pasa es que el Pepe Minero necesita un rodamiento, entonces nos manda una cotización con la información de cual rodamiento le hace falta. Vemos cual de nuestras representadas lo tiene y le mandamos la cotización. Respondemos a Pepe, quien decide comprarlo o no. Si sí, nosotros ayudamos en el proceso de hacer la compra y asegurarnos que también Pepe paga. Yo veo lo de compañías extranjeras (Perú, Panamá, Argentina, etc.) Además, realizo traducciones y soy recepcionista. Ahora sí saben lo que hago. Al fin de este mes renovamos el contrato, cambiando de uno definido a un indefinido. =)

Recién disfrutamos de haber tenido los misioneros, los cuatro que están asignados a nuestro barrio, en la casa para almuerzo. Hicimos enchiladas de porotos negros, fajitas (con pollo), salsa pico de gallo y guacamole, con chips de tortilla. Para el postre, había helado chocolate con fruta. Sólo uno se atrevió a comer el helado con fruta. Disfrutamos del almuerzo mucho. Los misioneros también. Manuel quizas lo habría disfrutado un poquito más si no fuese por los jalapeños en las enchiladas y el zapallo italiano en las fajitas (sin embargo yo estoy casi segura que igual intentó evitar poner zapallo italiano en sus fajitas al armarlas). Fue muy divertido tener los misioneros en casa, y nosotros estuvimos muy entusiasmados al poder compartir algo especial. Fue genial.

4 months/meses

I just wanted to share that we have officially been married 4 months, which I am sure doesn't sound like much, but we're completely delighted. We've grown in these last four months, understanding each other better and understanding "us" better. Married life ain't too shabby, folks!

Simplemente quería yo compartir que ya hemos cumplido 4 meses casados!! Seguramente no suena como mucho tiempo, pero estamos muy entusiasmados. Hemos crecido en estes meses. Conocemos mejor a nuestra pareja tal como entendemos mejor el "nosotros." La vida casada no es tan malo, che!

Parque Arauco

Hola a todos,

Bueno, para seguir con las citas, fuimos al Parque Arauco a jugar DDR y otros juegos… pero a pedido del macho jugamos más DDR.

Nos fue bastante bien. Transpiramos harto harto :D .

Jugamos también un juego de basketball. La Karla dió clases de basketball, porque me ganó todos los duelos. Con muchos triples.

Jugamos Disco Lunar y lo mismo… Karla 7 Manuel 5.

Después sacamos algunas fotitos y paseamos por un parquecito. Llegamos planchaditos a la casa.

Les dejamos algunas imágenes del recuerdo.

Abrazos!

Date night!

We scoured the listings for cultural events this month. There were few options available for the day we had already selected, until we came across one. Danza Barata Natyam. Classical Indian (East India, not Western Hemisphere indigenenous) dancing. The interest in this event seemed largely one-sided, but it has as a motivating factor that it was available the day we wanted, in the schedule that was open to us, and was free. So we went.

We met up at the metro station closest to the theater hall. Since we were considerably early, we had time to walk around and see the other things that were nearby. This included a Lagoon (which seemed much more like a small lake) for rowing boats and expressly not for swimming notwithstanding the several dozen people doing precisely that. There were museums, a football field, a Catholic chapel, and lots and lots of very tall trees. Outside one of the museums, close to the Lagoon, were some columns. These were ideal for the creation of statues, hence the two statues that we created ourselves. See the pictures for yourself.

We almost couldn't find the building for the dance. We saw an outdoor theater that had been erected and heard music emanating from it, so we directed ourselves towards it to see if that was the proper location. It was not, but the gentleman who was standing guard was able to point us in the proper direction. We arrived in time to find a nice seat and all that, but the doors didn't open until the time that the dance was supposed to begin. As we waited outside, we saw the other people who had come to see the dance. Whoa. This is what we both thought. Neither of us were dressed like they were. We aren't the artsy sort, apparently. We felt somewhat out of place, like this wasn't our social niche. Which it isn't. We stayed just the same. We found some decent seats and watched as the program proceeded.

It was awesome! The ladies who danced were all very modestly dressed, which we noticed. In addition to that, the dance techniques focused deeply on rhythmic movements and facial gestures. The dancers smiled for most of the dances, and moved their eyes a lot. The dances were all part of prayers towards Hindi gods, all of them a part of adoration towards higher beings. It was quite beautiful. We felt out of place clapping, so we didn't until after the program ended and the dancers came out. It just felt weird to clap after someone's prayer.

Tamra, you'd have liked it. It was awesome. Not quite the Baliwood style, but still very neat.
Here are some pictures that we were able to take after the dancing, when the ladies came out to receive their applause.

Nos divertimos!

Come see how we Bustamantes have fun with our friends!!

Vean como la Familia Bustamante pasó un día con sus amigos!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Photo List
1. take a group picture in front of Boston College (school)
2. go into an Evangelical church and take a picture of the preacher
3. ask people in the street for 5 dress shirt buttons and take a picture
4. take a picture of a "pokemon" girl with a tongue piercing [Pokemon refers to a style of dress... somewhat similar to the human characters in the series of the same name]
5. take a picture of a citroneta [a car model, of debate in the game]
6. "cut" 5 red roses and take a picture
7. take a picture of the Chilean flag
8. take a group picture on the bus [transantiago is the system]
9. three members of the group take a picture at the same time holding a 100-watt bulb each
10. get 20 plums from a street tree, put them on the ground and take a picture
11. get together 10 people in the street and make a train and take a picture
12. go to a neighbor's house, who isn't participating in the game, wash dishes and take a picture
13. take a picture of two pregnant women
14. take a picture of the ID of a guy named Rafael, without showing his SSN
15. the whole group must paint their faces like Rambo with brown shoe polish and take a picture

Lista de fotos
1. sacar una foto grupal en el liceo "Boston"
2. entrar en una iglesia evangelica y sacar una foto al predicador
3. pedir a la gente de la calle 5 botones de camisa y sacarle foto
4. sacarle una foto a una pokemona con un pircing en la lengua
5. sacar una foto a una citroneta
6. "cortar" 5 rosas rojas y sacarle "una" foto
7. sacar foto a una bandera chilena
8. sacar foto grupal arriba de un transantiago
9. que tres integrantes se saquen al mismo tiempo una foto con 1 ampolleta de 100 watts cada uno
10. sacar 20 ciruelas de un arbol de la calle, ponerlas en el suelo y sacar foto
11. juntar 10 personas de la calle y hacer un trencito y sacarle una foto
12. ir a la casa de un vecino que "no este en el juego", lavarle la loza y sacar foto
13. sacar foto a dos embarazadas
14. sacar foto a un carne de identidad de un hombre que se llame "Rafael" sin que se vea el Rut
15. todo el grupo debe pintarse a lo "rambo" la cara con pasta de zapato "cafe" y sacar foto