Futebolada

Since the beginning, it was my quest and true desire to mix as much as possible with Chileans, as I believed that was the best way to make myself feel at home in here. After more than one year, I still believe in this and it was this attitude that now grants me respect wherever I go. However, after one year, it is absolutely rewarding to speak Portuguese, to talk about codfish or to taste Porto wine again. After the 25th of April, a series of Portuguese events were organized and I came closer to the rest of the community. First, one of the members made a photography exhibition entitled "Raza Chilena", about the stray dogs in Chile. It was excellent and in fact everyone has to feel somehow connected, because we deal with these dogs every day and there are really exotic breeds on the streets, that I had never seen anywhere else before. Then, on the day after, a football match among the community (and some Chilean friends) was organized. It is probably one of the events that is most successful in gathering Portuguese people anywhere in the world! We played for one hour, it was a challenging game (my team lost 7-6, though...) and, in the end, we tasted a Porto vintage wine in the middle of the soccer field to celebrate! These are the moments when you definitely feel proud of your roots.

(This is the last post of a series of Santiago events. During this past month I decided to stay around home, for many reasons: changed room, need to buy things for winter, birthday parties, need to find my place again. I promise that soon there will be more pictures of the latin american lands! There is a lot being prepared already!)