Back from Chile

There's something about going some place beautiful that is also not super touristy. You just stand there and look at the scenery and go: wow. is this real? Am I here? That was Iceland for me, and also again, the southern parts of Chile. There were no tourists because we were going for business, to see salmon farms.

The people in Chile are really warm and hospitable, and the men are chivalrous. When I attempted to draw a comparison between the US's southern hospitality and Chilean hospitality, one of my white team members from the midwest was like: 'Southern hospitality is selective. Basically they're only hospitable to white people.' I heard another white American from the northeast say that he was fine with the southern friendliness in the US because it's "fake friendliness", but he thought the midwest genuine friendliness was creepy, since he was uncomfortable with random strangers really wanting to know how he was doing. Interesting right? Maybe the midwest isn't so bad after all

Hospitality. The Kosher Jewish guy on my team decided to visit a synagogue in Chile, and a family invited him over for dinner. He said that in every country where he has visited synagogues, he always gets invited to someone's house for dinner. I asked if that was the case in the US--if Americans would invite foreigners who came to their synagogues for dinner, and he said that was less likely, but it almost always happens in a foreign country. Interesting right? US isn't so great at hospitality, but the bible places a huge emphasis on we should be hospitable.

Chilean men greet women with a cheek-to-cheek air kiss. Women also greet women the same. Men just shake hands with each other. A guy on my team from California said that it wasn't that different from the US, because he shakes his guy-friends' hands first, and then it turns into a hug after that if they're close, but he would never shake a girl's hand if they're friends; he only gives girls hugs. I thought about my interactions/observations with guys at Ross, and I realized that it was true. Pretty interesting. After being in Chile and getting a lot of cheek kisses, I understood more of the heart of what the verses in the bible mean when it says to "greet one another with a holy kiss". It's a genuine friendly warm gesture. In the US, it's like a hug.

Anyway, the Chile trip was great for its breath-taking scenery, as well as reminder of the genuine warm hospitality/love that should be more prevalent in Church.