We should celebrate more. Chile has a holiday about every other week. They find every moment to have a fiesta.

In the last week we had two big celebrations as a community. The celebration of the town we live in, Frutillar, Chile and then the Kopernifest, the English speaking festival at the school (Colegio Kopernikus).

The town was celebrating its 166th birthday. You can chuckle now. In the United States we would only celebrate the town for the centennial or some round number. Not here in Chile - Any excuse to bring people together! People began collecting on the main strip of town around 10:30 in the morning. Laughter, greeting and cueca dancing. Finally it led to a parade of all the schools and organizations in town. The rodeo horses with the huesos were a highlight for our family. But it was also so fun to see the differences between all of the schools in the parade from public, to private, to german and more. Some kids were in dress clothes, some in jump suit matching uniforms…Kopernikus, our boys school and the community we have come to love, looked exactly as it was- every kid dressed as they would representing the collection of creative minds and lack of rigidity.

Also this week Colegio Kopernikus held their English speaking fiesta. Every grade performed a song selected by them. Poetry was also read. English games were led by the 7th and 8th graders. Think Belknap messer field -All camp activity…Now come up with your best Chileano accent and belt out the music in English. Ok maybe it was one step less than the Belknap Coyne brothers dancing at the messerstock-a-paloozathon-fest…needless to say the same spirit was felt like a Belknap all camp activity. Our boys had a blast. See the videos of some of the performances below.

The feeling of celebrating brings endorphins and a desire to wrap your arms around the person next to you. We should all look for more reasons to seek and create the joy in our communities!