In spite of my chopped English, I did well with my grades. At the end of the first semester I was offered another semester of studies so I could obtain my Master.

To my surprise it seems that some of the studies I had done in Chile were equivalent to courses I needed to get my Masters at the University of Georgia, or something like that. So I could complete all the required hours for an MA in one year.

That summer the few students who obtained the same scholarship I had from Rotary Club were invited to a convention at Jekyll Island in Georgia. It was a beautiful resort with a golf club and trees full of Spanish moss.

I was escorted to my room by a couple members of the local Rotary Club in Athens, and they offered to pick me up later for dinner. The other students were also escorted by members of the Rotary Club to their rooms. Later, when we had the opportunity to interchange experiences, we learned that each student had been told how to dress for the dinner, and we all were asked if we knew how to use silverware.

That night before dinner we, the students, had to sit on chairs formed in a half circle on a stage. We had to answer questions from the audience, who were members of the Athens and other Rotary Clubs in Georgia.

The questions I was asked were amazing, some more legitimate than others. Q: Did you bring your traditional costumes? A: Yes, I had brought a folkloric dress because I had been instructed to bring one. Q: What kind of dangerous wild animals do you have in Chile. A: Mmmm, pumas (like a cougar), I guess, but they run away when they see a human. (Once a puma played for a long time with a cord being dragged behind my grandfather.) Spiders? Very few are poisonous. Snakes? None poisonous. Q: Were you scared by the cars and the traffic in Athens? A: What? I came from the capital of Chile with more than 3 million people (at that time) and I had my own car. Driving in Athens is too easy.

It felt like the only thing that was missing was the people throwing us peanuts. But I took it as part of the game and didn’t use my caustic tongue to express what I was thinking.

(God works in mysterious ways. Even before I met Christ, God evidently helped me to swallow my pride when I most needed to. 1 Peter 3:10 “For whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.”)

I confess that before this visit to Jekyll Island, I had been invited to a dinner at a Baptist Church where I enjoyed “pulling the leg” of two ladies who did not know what or where Chile was. One of the ladies asked me if I felt comfortable with the clothes I was wearing. Not knowing how to take this, I decided to have a little bit of fun. I said, “Well, not really, I miss my traditional cloth with feathers and leather.” Becoming more interested one of the ladies across the table asked: What about houses? What kind of houses do you have? I said, “In fact we don’t have what you call houses. We have very well built living facilities on trees. They are high on the trees so we have these Indians that pull the elevators for us. They pull the cables of the elevators until we reach our doors. I think the elevators come from USA.” Then the dinner ended and I was saved by the bell.